Magnum encountered a few infected animals as he walked around. He found a bell tower near the church and climbed it. All of the small town can be seen from the tower. The fire earlier that ravaged the bank and other parts of the town had subsided, it made the night quiet but the burnt smell of everything remained. Several houses had a faint light aside from Sina's and another beyond the town. A campfire in the woods near the hill.

"What's happening there?" Magnum pulled out a small instrument from his bag, a transparent cylinder about as long as his hand. He then pulled the bottom of it, doubling its length and then he looked at the hill through the cylinder.

"Mercenaries!"

Five armed men were drinking and eating around a fire. Beside them were three tents, then on the opposite side was a cage. Magnum's eyes furiously zoomed in on them. Then he saw an infected bull inside the cage. It looked calm which astounded him.

"Bastards!" he said and then went down the tower.

He went to the houses with lights. The nearest one had a group of people in it, but they don't want to get out.

"Go away or we'll shoot!" One of them said so Magnum walked away.

The others, only dead bodies. Not killed by demons but by blades and bullets. Furious, Magnum went to the mercenaries.

Dogs started barking and the mercenaries stood to see who was coming.

"We have a visitor!" one of them said after drinking booze from a dark bottle, the guy was the smallest of them.

"Why do you have that thing?" Magnum said stopping before the fire in front of them.

"Why? You want to buy it?"

The mercenaries laughed and looked at the bull, the smallest merc again, smirking at Magnum. They were all armed and still wearing their dark leather armor. At the back of the tents were several wagons with horses full of stolen goods.

"You fucking demons! What did you do?" Magnum took a long breath, trying to control the rage burning up inside him.

The mercenaries didn't laugh this time. They knew that Magnum knew what they did; they used the bull to infect the animals in town, causing panic and the exodus.

One of them pulled a gun. "Why you here?" A thin but tall mercenary asked.

"To clean up demons!" Magnum said.

A gunshot echoed, a warning shot from the tallest mercenary but Magnum wasn’t fazed.

A woman's face came out of the tent behind the mercenaries. Her long black hair almost touched the ground. The wind kept it afloat and flowing, showing her smooth, brown, and perfect face.

"What's this noise?" she said. Her eyes glowed like fiery marbles, flickering from Magnum's view.

"Deal with it Kip and make it quick!" she commanded before going inside the tent again.

"I will!" the smallest mercenary answered.

Magnum then put his left shoulder in front and tapped his spaulder. Smaller dark shells had expanded up and down to his arms. It covered his whole arm, his chin up to his nose, showing only his eyes.

"Demon scales? Where'd you get those kid?" Kip said looking at Magnum’s armguard while gesturing for the others to surround him, "You can only get those from the big ones!"

"She's your leader?" Magnum asked observing their movements. He kept his left shoulder on Kip.

Kip pointed his pistol at Magnum, "I'm the leader!" he said then pressed the trigger. The others followed and started shooting.

Magnum anticipated it. He jumped to the right and ran behind the infected bull's cage. A bullet grazed his left leg. Nothing serious.

The mercenaries stopped shooting. "You want the bull?" Johny, the mercenary with the biggest belly asked.

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"Give him the bull!" Kip said then Johny ran to the cage and opened it. Magnum was on the other side of the cage, watching him. Johny dropped all four sides of the cage. The bull didn't move but Johny kicked the bull's head and then ran away. Its eyes glowed and it got furious instantly.

The bull looked at the mercenaries and ran after them.

"Shit! Hiraya!" Kip said looking at the tent.

Magnum followed the chaos he punched one of the mercenaries. The man fell down but the bull saw Magnum and went after him. He met the bull with a single swing accompanied by several explosions. The bull's head exploded.

"He freaking killed it!" the tall man said in shock. The bull's body flailed and demon dust crept out of its body. It floated above forming a semi-circle, then jumped into the face of the mercenary on the ground.

The dust entered the mouth and nose of the man. Its body shook, and then his eyes became red as he stood.

"Shoot it!" Kip said.

They shot their comrade but it had no effect. He was still standing and started to mumble words only a demon can comprehend.

"The--the Demon's Call!" Johny said walking away from the infected. Some Demon Dust started to come out of its mouth and it jumped to the others. Kip and Johny tried to run but it was too late. Whenever the dust came close to a living being, it can never be shaken off.

The mercenaries stood there and they started to chant the same words the first one said earlier, the Call of Demons. It had always reminded Magnum of hell. From stories of the priest who frequently visited their home. This time it bothered him, five of them chanting in unison as if they were performing a ritual.

Stories told that you will be converted when you hear it, Magnum proved that to be false. He went near them and his crystal necklace vibrated, it reacts to live ones. It protects him from the plague because it thinks he is already infected but it will not protect him from the aggressive ones. Those that become aggressive will eat another infected and will start to grow stronger and stronger as they eat more.

The woman went out of the tent. "Dumb mercs!" she said walking out.

"You're not going anywhere!" Magnum said after jumping into her path.

The woman smiled, her eyes glowed blue this time and she looked into Magnum's eyes. "Yes I am, boy," she said.

Magnum heard stories about the race that have eyes that change colors depending on their mood, the Duwendi. Survivors from the old world from a faraway continent.

Magnum felt a presence behind him. He evaded and looked at his attacker. It was an infected human. Shocked, Magnum kept on evading its attacks. Infected humans were stagnant on the first six hours of being infected, they only chant the Call, but after that initial six hours, they start to move. They walk to the south. They say the Grand Demon is there amassing its army. Animals are different, after they are infected they are either passive or aggressive. The passive will immediately go south while the aggressive one will kill or convert any non-infected it encountered or eat other infected to get stronger. As one demon grows, it starts to influence other infected and a hierarchy starts to build.

"See you around," the duwendi waved at Magnum then jumped into the wagon. Still evading the attacks, Magnum threw some marbles at her but they exploded in mid-air as if hitting a barrier. He watched as she ran away.

"She was controlling them!" he said as the infected stood still again when she was gone.

Magnum doesn't attack infected humans, unless it's infecting others. Priests said that only the light of God can save them. They'll go to hell if you kill them through other means.

Magnum went inside the duwendi's tent. He found clothes; thin and light but strong. "I can sell this!" he whispered. Empty bottles, lamps, and letters neatly stacked. He browsed through all of them and they looked like recipes in a different language.

Something sweet caught his nose, it was his first time experiencing this kind of fragrance. It came from a cloth. He took it and smelled it. The fragrance was so good it made him closed his eyes, but something fell on the ground. An instrument, a compass. It looked old. It has two buttons on the side and with a faintly glowing arrow pointing southeast.

“South East? What’s there? The mountains?”

He pressed a button and it changed direction, to the east now and the glow went a little brighter. Magnum pressed it again and it went back pointing southeast.

"I'll make sure you pay for what you did here witch. I’ll find you or maybe you'll find me," he said putting the compass in his bag.

Magnum went back to Sina's house bringing some horses and goods stolen by the mercs with him. It was midnight.

"Goodness! We heard gunshots!" Sina said when Magnum entered the house.

"Didn't I tell you not to worry?" Magnum said.

"You're wounded!" Sina pointed to the blood on Magnum’s legs and arms and went to Magnum.

"Give me the gun. Let me clean it," Gerry said then smiled.

Sina glared at Gerry and then pulled Magnum. "Follow me! I'll tend to that wound," she said.

The morning came. Gerry and Magnum burned the bodies in a big pile of wood. Brena was also burned but on a separate smaller pile. The two finished preparing the wagons and the horses as the fire consumed the bodies and released the souls to the gods.

"You can easily catch up to them now," Magnum said.

"Come with us?" Gerry said.

"No, the next depressed town needs me. Also, tell the chief… He raised a brave daughter," Magnum then gave him a nod.

Gerry nodded back and off they went.

"Find me in Midandria! I'll cook food for you again!" Sina said.

Magnum smiled back, a half smile then pulled the compass in his bag.

He fiddled with the compass, "So where do I go?”