The sun had almost set completely by the time Faela left the headquarters. As she headed to the church, she passed by the rubble that was shoved to the side to make room on the main street where the attack had happened. Even after hours, there were still a lot of people hurt, though through sheer luck, very few people died before Faela showed up.

Since there’s been attacks for almost a month, guess they’ve been preparing, Tetsuko thought. But no matter how much they prepare, it’ll end in death if whatever is making the monsters isn’t stopped soon.

“I know,” Faela muttered, walking by the people either resting or getting threated. After she checked everyone twice, she left the church. Outside was even more crowded than the inside; there were many people either worried about their friends and relatives or just curious. Among them, there was a kid who was neither.

“Leo,” she called the boy, who turned startled. He was about to run when he realized it was Faela who called him. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

“N-no…”

When he didn’t meet Faela’s eyes, she crouched and patted him all over his body. The instant she touched his ribs, he winced. “You are hurt…”

Leo said nothing. Instead, he looked at the opened church doors, where the soldiers, healers and anyone who could help was coming. “This is nothing… I just fell when I was running, that’s all. I’m not really hurt…”

The swordswoman flashed a gentle smile and patted the boy on the head. “Yeah, you’re right. You’re brave,” she said, making Leo’s face soften a little. “But I still wanna treat those wounds, okay? Let’s go to your home.”

The boy said nothing, but he didn’t reject when Faela held his hand and led the way.

Tetsuko wanted her wielder to ask the boy about the previous attack and get as much as they could before they got the hands on the reports. However, she restrained herself. Even she knew it wasn’t the moment for that.

By the time they arrived, it was completely dark. Leo raced to the fireplace and hit the flint against the wall, creating a spark. The wood on the fireplace burned and illuminated the house as the boy lit up a few lamps. The place was simples. Though it had two floors, it was cramped. The downstairs had two doors and Leo entered and came back from one of the rooms holding a box, which he handed to Faela.

The swordswoman flashed a tiny smile. “Good thing you picked up after your dad. Always with the materials to treat wounds at hand.” Despite forcing a cheerful tone, there was no response from Leo. Then, as she treated his wound, she spoke in a low voice. “So your dad hasn’t awakened since the attack?”

“Yeah… it was in the fifth attack… The first one inside the walls…”

The fifth? How many has it been?

Faela glanced down at Tetsuko, casting her a meaningful glance.

“What happened?”

“Dad was working as security for a bar… Escorting the supply delivery when… some of those monsters attack…” Leo started crying, and even though he tried to stop the tears, it made no difference. “He was bit… and then got sick… and fainted…”

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And hasn’t awakened since then… At least he’s not dead…

“And what the guards said? They didn’t want to help him just because he’s retired?” Faela asked. “There’s no way they’d let that…”

“The soldiers wanted him to stay in the headquarters… But with all the attacks, Sergio said they couldn’t afford to have him there taking a bed while many active soldiers were getting hurt…”

Faela closed her eyes and breathed out through her nose. “That idiot… He’s not wrong, but to deny help to master… He was once his captain… Bastard…” She took a deep breath to calm herself. “What about your sister? Where’s Anna?”

The boy lowered his head and cried again. “Sis is… she’s working to get the money to take care of dad…”

Faela’s face became pale.

“Where…?” When Leo refused to say, the swordswoman seemed to understand and covered her face with the hand. “Damn it…”

There was a long and heavy silence. “Can I see your dad?”

The boy nodded and led her upstairs. The second floor was just as cramped as the downstairs. There were three doors, one on the left and two on the right. Leo stopped at the top of the stairs. He handed the lamp to Faela and she entered on the door on the left by herself.

An old man lied on the bed with a chair on by his side. He was dressed in light clothes and a sheet covered him almost up to the neck. There were a strange round bottle and a wooden spoon on the small table next to the bed.

Faela picked up the bottle and squeezed it. “Because of this, Anna is…” the swordswoman grew quiet and put it down before turning to the man.

She sat on the chair and remained quiet for a long time, staring at her hands.

“Master… Sorry I couldn’t do anything for you… But I’m here now… I don’t know how much I can help though…”

After she managed to hold back her tears, Faela’s expression was back to the swordswomen Tetsuko had chosen as her wielder. She reached out, pulled the sheets, but when she was about to raise her master’s shirt, she faltered. With a deep breath, she pulled and breathed out in relief when she saw there was no demonic mark on his chest. The next moment, her face was tense again.

“Can you sense that vile blood?” she asked in a soft voice that didn’t hide her fear.

Yes… but it’s too faint… It’s not like with Alonso… Nor those dogs…

Faela grew quiet for a moment. “I don’t get it… He’s infected, but not enough to turn him?”

Maybe… If I could check…

Her wielder understood at once and untied the scabbard from her waist. “You’re a demonic butter knife.”

Faela brought Tetsuko closer to her master’s arm and drew just enough to make a simple cut enough to draw blood.

“That’s more than enough, right?” she said, pulling back the instant Tetsuko said yes. Then she pulled the bandages and wrapped the cut right away.

As Tetsuko drank the blood, she could feel something strange on it. It was the ancient Celeste, but too diluted, too thin. It’s weaker than in those smaller dogs… He wasn’t infected directly too… Then it must’ve happened when he was bitten… But even if the bite was strong enough to draw blood, unless the monster was bleeding, he shouldn’t have gotten infected.

When she said that to Faela, her wielder reached the same conclusion as her.

“There’s a worshiper involved… And he’s testing new ways to raise his numbers…”

We need the reports from the first attacks.

“Yes…” Faela looked at her master, her eyes watering again. “You told me you tried to drink the energy from Nicolas’ blood… Can you do the same with master?”

Maybe… But I need more tainted blood… His is too diluted… Unless I know what I’m looking, he’ll die by blood loss before I can extract the poison. I need a sample from others.

“Samples… Why don’t you just say you wanna kill more monsters?” Faela said in a tired voice. “I don’t know you for long but I think you’re becoming more and more like a demon, Tetsuko.”

If I was human, I’d worry about that.

“Yeah, you’re right…” Faela let out a weak chuckle. “I’ll give what you want. But before any of that, I need to help a dear friend.”