Rise Of The Anti God

Just as Damien got into the room with Nathasia, he frowned as he said, "We shouldn't stay here for too long."

Nathasia had a confused look and asked, "Why? What's wrong?"

Damien slightly shook his head with a thoughtful expression, "I don't know...I just got a bad feeling from that guy downstairs."

Damien noticed the slight shiftiness in the innkeeper's eyes when he came in and felt that he might be up to no good.

Nathasia thought back to the moment they met the innkeeper but didn't feel anything was out of place. She then wondered if Damien had a kind of sixth sense in these things because of how long he had been on the run.

"I will go and search for some fuel. You stay here and if anything happens, just run. No need to protect the stuff we brought in such a situation," Damien instructed and turned around to leave.

"Wait! I have something to give you," Nathasia quickly rummaged through her bag and quickly took out an A4 sheet that was folded in half.

She then handed it over to Damien, "Take this and open it only when you are on your way. Don't open it now."

Damien knitted his brows as he took it but didn't open it. He then looked at the visible nervousness in her eyes and wondered why she was being so fidgety about giving him a piece of paper.

Damien nodded and left out the door.

Nathasia let out a sigh of relief as she sat back on the bed with a flush appearing in her neck and face.

"Haa...was it the right time to give it to him? No...there couldn't have been a better time…" Nathasia mumbled as she bit her nails. She had been working on it for a long while and wondered if her hardwork would finally pay off or if it might backfire.

Meanwhile, as Damien walked through the lobby, he looked at the innkeeper, who noticed him and smiled at him.

Damien gave a long stare but the innkeeper managed to hold in his nervousness and also his wide smile.

Damien then looked away and went out.

Sweat trickled down the innkeeper's forehead, wondering why he just got intimidated by his stare. He wondered if he should call off whatever he had planned but his greed didn't let him.

As Damien walked for some distance, he took out the paper Nathasia gave him and unfolded it.

He suddenly slowed down his steps as they came to a halt, his eyes still glued onto the sheet of paper.

On the paper, it was a painting of him tending to the trapped deers in the woods he used to cut trees. He clearly knew this was from the day he first met Nathasia and had no idea that she was working on the same drawing for all this time.

He knew Nathasia had scavenged for paints in the past and also saw her painting. But whenever he came anywhere close to her, she would hide it saying it was private, which he didn't mind at all.

However, only now he realized she was working on this one all this time, and it looked so beautiful, he couldn't even imagine himself as the same person in the drawing.

Every detail, color, and space had been used so perfectly, it would even put to shame famous artists of the past. One could even feel as if they were standing inside the painting, looking at the scene.

And the title read, 'Happy Birthday to the most beautiful man in the world.'

Damien felt a prickle behind his eyes as his lips quivered before forming into a soft smile, thinking that he even forgot about things like birthday and seeing how she referred to him in the painting, he could only slightly shake his head, wondering why she would even think so.

He then saw something scribbled in small letters at the bottom-right of the painting, 'P.S Turn over the sheet >_<'

Damien raised one of his brows and turned over the painting to see three words written in the most beautiful handwriting he had ever seen, 'I Love You…'

Damien's body went completely still as he closed his eyes shut tightly, his fingers which were holding the painting, shaking slightly.

"Why…" Only a single word came out of his mouth as a whisper. Damien couldn't help but wonder why she would even have such feelings for him when he felt that he had done nothing for her but only used her to fulfill his purposes.

But seeing those three words, he couldn't help but feel a lightening sensation in his heart, as if something was being lifted.

He then carefully folded the paper in half and kept it inside his coat before moving forward, his pace faster than before.

Meanwhile, back at the inn, few men in grey uniforms entered with guns holstered to their hips.

The one in the front seemed to be leading the group of four.

The innkeeper beamed upon seeing them and said, "Sir Brock, a pleasure to see you. They are in Room No.110. The man left just a while ago, but the woman is still inside. I bet they are runners, and they are definitely hiding something fishy."

Brock nodded with a smirk and said, "Got it. Good job, Timmy, as always."

Before they could leave, Timmy eagerly asked with a flattering smile, "Sir, I hope there is some cut for me as always, right?"

Timmy nodded as he patted his shoulder, "Of course. Don't worry about it."

Nathasia was lying on the bed thinking about the various ways Damien might react upon seeing her 'gift' and smiled foolishly whenever she thought up favorable outcomes.

*Knock* *Knock*

But the sudden knocks on the door startled Nathasia as she got up like a startled rabbit and quickly tiptoed to the door since even though she was nervous and excited to think that it was Damien, she didn't feel that he would return so quickly.

Through the peephole, she saw five men in grey uniforms and guns, making her wring her hands.

"Madam, please open up. We apologize for disturbing you, but we are conducting a routine check-up, and we request your cooperation. We promise to make this quick."

Nathasia held her breath while frantically thinking of her next move. She looked at the window and wondered whether she should jump out and run.

But at the same time, she would have to leave behind the bags, which contained a lot of money, guns, and other vital supplies.

Getting no response, Brock wasn't disappointed but instead smiled, thinking that Timmy's guess was right. Only those who had something to hide would stay so silent. He clearly knew that the woman inside the room looked through the peephole since he saw her shadow behind the door.

"Ma'am, can you slip out your ID, please? We won't search the room if you got one," Brock asked again just to reconfirm.

Still, there was no response, and this time, his expression became shifty as he banged the door,

"Ma'am, open up! Otherwise, we would be forced to enter as per the New World Act!"