"I can't believe she died just like that. She's supposed to be smarter than that," said a man whose face was covered in a hood. His voice hid slight sadness behind its calmness.
On the man's back, there was a pair of wings that were made of countless bird wings stitched together in a grotesque way. The wings were flapping slowly and heavily, carrying the man afloat while he was observing the scene below him. There were severed power lines that created blue sparks every now and then and a pile of ashes scattered about.
"Well, it's her own fault for running off like that just because she felt a 'coward' nearby. We were not even finished setting the barrier around this place," replied another hooded man coldly. He didn't seem to care too much about Ghastly's death.
Flap... Flap...
The flapping of the unsightly wings broke the silence of the cold sunny morning.
"You don't have to be so cold. She is--was still a member of our organization who had fought many battles with us," responded the man in objection at the other's tone.
"Yes, yes, my condolences yada yada. She is one with the Deity at least now..." he replied nonchalantly.
"Can you use Reconstruction to see what happened here?" requested the flying man.
"You don't have to ask. I was just about to do that," responded the man on the ground.
He lifted the cloak covering his body and took out three pouches of blood. Using his sharp index fingernail, the man poured the content on the ground very gently.
Once all the crimson liquid was out of its containers, the pool of blood on the ground started bubbling as if it was boiled in a furnace. The man was sitting with full concentration next to the boiling pool of blood and slowly after that, it rose to the air and began forming human figures, using a very thin film of blood to form only the outermost part of them. Inside, the figures were hollow.
There was a beautiful woman standing with two power line cables stuck to her body. Her expression showed both pain and anger, but there was no fear despite her nearing her end. Although the blood couldn't recreate the figure's color, the man knew what she must have looked like. He could also even imagine the smell of charred flesh, although none was currently present.
Standing a distance away from the woman was a tall man, probably about 185cm, wearing what looked like a trench coat. There was a layer of mist covering his whole body and a thicker layer around his face, making him unrecognizable. The shrouded man appeared to be staring right at the agonized woman calmly, not stepping back despite the woman's advance. He looked like someone who knew what he was doing.
Next to the shrouded man was a man completely naked floating several centimeters above the ground. The naked man looked more guarded, which was shown by both his expression and his body language.
Once all the figures had finished forming, the scene began to move just like a movie but everything was blood red. The woman who was being electrocuted tried with difficulty to get closer to the shrouded man, with every step producing a crackling of electricity that was captured by the blood reconstruction. The shrouded man calmly turned his attention to a spot and then flickered his hand a little. Something that was not reconstructed by the blood seemed to strike the woman, sending even greater pain, and after a short while, she exploded. After that, all the blood figures evaporated, leaving nothing behind; not even a bloody smell in the air.
"A Shroud and an Unseen... what a troublesome combination," said the man, "But I recognized that naked man."
"Who is he?" asked the flying man.
"He is Sergeant Paars of Kleurs. Which means, the Shroud would most likely be Rood. He is the only one that tall in the Police," he replied.
"Or he could also be that private detective. He got Shade's scroll, remember?" added the flying man, whose voice sounded beautiful for a man.
"True. Now that we know who the attackers are, we need to focus back on this... hastily made plan, or everything will come to ruin," replied the man who was standing on the ground with his hands behind his back. The manner in which he was standing made him appear dignified, but at the same, time radiated arrogance.
"It is true that this plan was executed too prematurely. But it can't be helped. A 'seed' has suddenly appeared and we have to make sure it doesn't get destroyed by the Police-- before we can utilize it, at the very least. Mr. Tenebrosity is even willing to go on a frontal assault against them for that," added the flying man.
"Then that means we have to wrap things up before their main force comes back from the capital. The barrier should prevent entry and exit for three hours maximum. Let's just get going now. I also have a personal beef with that Unseen for making me go through interrogation like that," replied the arrogant man.
The man in the air flapped his wings faster and took flight, away from the area. The arrogant man on the ground 'melted' and became a puddle of thick, gooey blood that slowly seeped into the pavement before disappearing.
...
Inside an office building, on the third floor, Graham was standing behind a glass window looking down at the street below, leaning on the wall beside him. His whole body was enveloped in a mysterious yellowish mist that shrouded his presence. He was breathing heavily as if he had just run across the whole city.
"Val, I didn't know using Implant could be very draining like that. Maybe it's because the targets were strong people, *pant* or maybe it's just the nature of the ability. But anyway, I am out of breath right now," he muttered with difficulty.
The street outside was still full of the members of the Police. They were still fighting a Ghoul which looked to be another one that had gone through the tiny black hole in the air. There was no corpse that was left by the first Ghoul, but there were ashes in the shape of a thin humanoid creature lying on the pavement.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
"Another one had come out of that black thing. What exactly is that, Val? I cannot even use my divination to find out," he muttered. His breathing had started to return to normal as his stamina recovered.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Loud sounds of gunshots were heard coming from outside. The Police were busy shooting the second Ghoul to distract its attention. Rood and another officer wearing a similar dress to Ghastly seized the chance and attacked the creature at the same time, wounding it but not enough to kill it.
"An organized force sure is different from our little group, Val," muttered Graham in self-mockery.
At that moment, Paars suddenly appeared behind the friendly-looking officer who was busy tending to the wounded. The naked man then beckoned at someone and an officer came running with a Police coat, which he put on right away to cover his exposed body. He and the friendly man seemed to engage in a conversation after that but Graham couldn't hear what they were saying since he didn't have Valentine's boosted hearing.
"Val, judging from their expression, that man must be telling the other guy about the barrier surrounding this area. And the fact that he was surprised means the barrier was indeed set up by the Pale Society, not them. I wonder what they will do?" he muttered while stroking his chin with his right hand.
"Also, the fact that they have set up a barrier means they are planning something. We should prioritize our safety first and help out only when necessary. We only have one more Illusion Substitute too, so things can get dangerous for us pretty fast," he said calmly.
Graham didn't know the extent of the secret organization's power and he was not really prepared for a prolonged battle. He was just unfortunate to be dragged into the fight between the two. He took out his lighter and sat down on the ground next to the window. Once he couldn't be seen from outside, he lit a fire and concentrated.
'Is it dangerous to stay in this building?'
The flame in his hand burned brighter and showed an image of a piece of paper being burned. The flame very slowly consumed the paper, which meant the answer to his question was yes. However, the rate at which it burned was slow, so the danger shouldn't be that great and he would be able to manage it.
Suddenly the whole flame, not just the image, went out. His lighter fluid had run out because of his previous action. Graham put it back inside one of his pockets and took out another, identical lighter from another pocket and lit another fire.
'What is the barrier that the Pale Society has set up around this area?'
As Graham asked his second question, the flame burned brighter and another image began forming from within it. The image became bigger and bigger until he felt like he was watching a movie at the movie theater. It showed him four cloaked figures who were setting up the barrier in a quiet alley. There was a bloody altar made of human mangled human corpses and the four figures were standing around the altar, pouring their blood simultaneously on it. Once the already bloody altar was drenched in fresh blood, one of them lit four black candles facing four cardinal directions and an invisible wave came out of them.
"So, the barrier is a product of a ritual. I wonder if it can be destroyed... although I don't think it will be as easy as just destroying the altar," muttered Graham once the image had disappeared, "This divination hasn't been very useful, Val. Usually, it would show us a page of a book from somewhere where we could just read the detailed information about something."
"So we know there are at least four--five members of the Pale Society here. One of them is dead and the others' locations are unknown. We should stay here for the time being and watch for things to unfold," he decided.
Suddenly, he felt a very dangerous presence coming from outside and the Police below seemed to have felt the same. Those who could, looked up to the top of the building where the presence was coming from, while those who were still engaged with the Ghoul couldn't afford to be distracted.
There were four cloaked figures standing on top of a four-story building, each one sent out a dangerous aura that made the hair stand. The weaker Police officers even had difficulty standing straight as their legs began to tremble in fear. The pressure that the cloaked figures emanated was enough to suffocate a weak Contractbound, let alone a normal person.
Swoosh!
The female officer wearing a floral pink dress fired a blood arrow at the four figures simultaneously without a warning. However, four giant worms suddenly came out of the surface in front of them and shielded the people, rendering the attack ineffective.
"That was rude of you, young lady. And besides, it is our job as men to 'shoot', heheh," said the figure who was standing on the far right. His voice was full of mockery and mischief.
Graham, who could also hear the man's words, became puzzled. The four cloaked figures were standing on top of the building all the way across the crossroad, far from where he was hiding. Even if he had shouted, his voice would have only been faintly heard from there.
"Val, he didn't even sound like he was shouting. His voice sounded like he was standing right in front of us. Is it yet another Contractbound ability?" he analyzed.
The Ghoul then attacked Roze, the pink dressed officer, so she had to defend against the attack. A giant sword made of blood came swinging from the air and attacked the Ghoul, giving her a chance to recover her standing. Meanwhile, the blood drum was still beating and empowered everyone on the battlefield. Graham, who could also hear the War Drum faintly, still got a little of its effect.
"You must have heard that this whole area is now sealed off from the outside, so there is no escape for you. If you are willing to leave this area without a fight, then we will let you since we also don't want some pointless bloodshed... do you?" added the hooded man.
Roze looked like she was saying something to Rood and the latter nodded. He then quickly got back to engaging with the Ghoul to give her a chance to focus on the four people above her.
"We don't negotiate with terrorists. Peacefully surrender and your sentence might be lightened," she shouted.
"If that is your answer, then so be it," replied the man calmly. He looked at the hooded figure next to him and then nodded.
"We will kindly accept your offer. We'll take your lives as painfully as possible, so please do not resist," said the man. His voice was morbidly warm and hid a deep menace.
Chime...
Suddenly, there was the sound of an eerie bell being chiming in the distance, followed by the sound of a bone-chilling melody that came from a lute. It completely overpowered the sound of the War Drum, negating its effect to some extent while striking fear in the hearts of the listeners.
The weaker ones of the Police force gave in to the sinister melody and collapsed to the ground with weak knees. There were drops of cold sweat on their forehead while the color had been drained out of their faces.
"Enjoy the slaughter!" said the hooded man.
Several giant worms came out of holes that suddenly appeared on the ground and spat bloody human corpses at the Police.
Bleeerghh!!
Mangled body parts and mutilated organs were splattered everywhere, filling the air with a bloody and putrid smell of decomposition. The fear-struck officers couldn't escape in time and were buried in mountains of dead bodies, although they were not actually injured. However, the attack didn't stop there. The worms were now spitting tiny 'horses' made out of human fingers that quickly drilled into the dead bodies.
"They became zombies!!" shouted a man on top of his lungs. His voice was full of fear and terror.
The corpses that had the tiny 'horses' inside became reanimated and stood back up one by one with difficulty. They began attacking anything alive near them, tearing flesh apart with their teeth. Although they moved slowly, their big number was enough to massacre a whole small town.
The situation looked bad for the Police force. They were still fighting the strong Ghoul and now there were four members of the Pale Society attacking them. Their formation had been broken and their line of defense was shattered.
However, there was a hidden smile on Roze's face despite their situation.