Rueben looked at the large library infront of him, he dusted off some books as he started reading some old books. Behind him were Sara and a doll named Jamaica talking with the latter having little to no expression on her face, Jamaica was unlike Jun, who felt mischevious and was calm yet very shy. She refused to talk to him, leaving only Sara as she was once their friends.
Jamaica was the second doll that he had found after Jun, he was curious if she gave him something like what Jun gave him after he touched her but waited for the two children to finish their talk. He found quite a lot of old books within the library, some telling the history before the Hunter Era or the appearance of the God's Blood, some tell myths and legends, others were just some research papers and such.
The book he was reading was all about how to make good use of steam related machinery, Riza would be happy if he were to give this to her. She wanted more steam related knowledge, she was obsessed with them due to how much potential it had. If she were to create a steam powered weapon that could be used by anyone, even a normal person, then they might make the fortress even more powerful and sturdy.
Most of Arkvem had used steam machinery due to it being more convenient than manual equipment. He had even heard that there was a steam locomotive in the South Yarvem District , one of the 3 districts of Arkvem city. The South Yarvem District was where the people with influence and wealth gathered, they are people who made this city stay up on its legs even till now.
They were one of the 5 backbones of the city, the Nobles.
Nobles, Hunters, Inventors, Craftmans and Royal Army. The 5 backbones of Arkvem City.
In terms of rankings, of course the Royal Army was the first. They were elite Hunters who was loyal to the crown, each of these Hunters were experienced and masters of their own rights, the weakest of these Royal Army was an A Rank hunter, the same rank as Rueben. They follow the lead of Arshavin, the general that the crown wholefully trusted with their whole being.
The reason why Rueben was calling the crown "They" is because no one knows what gender the Crown was. Maybe Arshavin, the Head Marshall of the Royal Army knew as well as The Lady, who was a dear friend of the Crown.
Next were the Hunters, you already know what they are. Lead by the First Hunter himself, Klein Heilms.
Then the Nobles, they are people who made the economy as well as laws and such within Arkvem City. They serve directly under the Crown and gave massive amounts of funds to the Hunters as well as other organizations that hunt down beasts or monsters and try to explore the outskirts of this imprenatable fortress.
The Inventors were people who do everything in their reach to invent anything that could help Arkvem win the war against monsters beasts. They are madmen and women that would do any disgusting acts if it meant that the whole Arkvem gets protected from the beasts and monsters, they actively support the Hunters and would even let blacksmiths and craftsmen create some ridiculous weapons that were effective against beasts and monsters of all types.
Finally, the Craftsmans, these people are equipped and skilled in terms of making something, blacksmithing, clothes making, furniture, food, steam machinery, anything you name, they can create it as long as they have the material.
"Then Jun must be somewhere, right? Have he found the others left?"
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Sara shook her head as a visible sadness flashed across her eyes, but it disappeared as fast as it appeared, "No, he sucks at hide and seek more than me! He gets found first every single time we play yet he accuses me of not being good at the game!"
"Hehehe!! But Sara, it is true that you suck at the game!"
"What!? I do clearly not, for your information, Jamaica, I found mister and Jun all by myself!"
"Really?" The doll let out a non believing and sneering tone.
Sara pouted her mouth and said, "Its true!" The doll and Sara looked at each other before letting out giggles.
"I see. Okay Sara, I'll help you find the others, though, I may not be able to find someone…"
Sara's smile brightened and she patted the dolls head and said, "Don't worry about that, Jamaica. As long as you follow me like Jun, we'll find the others in no time with mister!"
The doll nodded its head and it disappeared into a white mist, a small white dot appeared in the white mist which then expanded into a screen. Rueben put down the book and looked at the screen, wondering what kind of things he would see in this one.
This time, the screen swallowed him whole and he appeared to be on the scene itself. He looked around, ignoring the looming figure of the woman beside him as if he didn't see her, he looked at the child hiding inside countless stacked books, she hid inside as she softly sobbed. He walked towards her, footsteps sounding out as he did so.
The child stiffened and desperately grabbed her mouth and forced it shut, she wiped the tears away with her bloodied hands, she shivered as she waited for the footsteps to disappear. Rueben stopped when he heard the footsteps. He looked behind him as shadow loomed over him.
Kill.
A voice said from within him.
And he did so.
A large rat faced beast was looking straight at him, face to face. The two stiffened before Rueben immediately punched the rat under its chin and took out Caneswordwhipumbrella and turned it into sword mode, he stabbed the monster thrice on its neck, creating a wound that he could put his hand into and take out its spine, to which he immediately did so.
The rat beast screamed and screeched as it trashed around, a tail rushing to slam towards him, he dashed forward and gave the rat beast a kick on its head, then stabbed it through its brain, he continued for a few seconds, he didn't stop even though the rat had died, he only stopped as blood stuck through his pants and clothes, his face dirtied with blood and his eyes glowed red.
He heard the stacks of books crushing down and hurriedly looked behind him, he saw the child looking at him in fear, she shivered and her whole body froze in agony and despair, she felt her heart up in her throat, desperately trying to breathe as she clawed her throat. Tears fell down her eyes as she saw the man infront of her soaked in blood looking at her like prey.
His red glowing eyes resembles that of a predator, blood dripped from his face as the flesh of the beast he just ate fell down from his chin, he held a sword with blood stained, she could see countless skeletons under this man's shadow. She looked back and fell down, she looked at her legs shivering as she pissed herself in fear. She looked at the man slowly walking towards her and swiftly yet desperately crawled.
Yet the man grabbed her and forced her to look at him face to face, making the poor child let out a shrill scream that shocked anyone who heard it, it was a scream that sucked the life out of anyone, it was a scream that was pure fear and despair, agony and deep fear for death.
"Monster!"
Rueben looked at the child and saw his reflection from his weapon, red glowing eyes, a grin so wide that he could see his own gums, blood dripped and dirtied his whole face, flesh parts of the beast that he just mutilated. He looked at himself and at the child and let out a scream of his own, he put down the child and fell to the ground, giving the child a chance to run away.
He grabbed his face and started scratching it, he murmured as if he was possessed, "No, no, no, not yet, not yet, not yet!!!!! Noo!!! You can't control me! I refuse to become a beast!!! Leave! Leave!!!" His voiced started becoming more gibberish as he started trashing around, breaking everything in his sight, leaving damages every where as he pulled on his hair.
"LEAVE!!!!! YOU WILL NEVER CONTROL ME! YOU ARE JUST A BEAST TRAPPED WITHIN ME, A BEAST CAGED FOR ETERNITY!!!!!!"
His shrill screams and cried could be heard all around the library, he looked nothing like a man anymore, he looked, ironically, like a beast out for blood.
Madness has started consuming him.