The Verdant Orphanage was situated at the southeast section of Carnova city, a small distance away from the beach at the east section. It was six floors in height and had two floors of basement. The Guild Alliance officially designated this orphanage as the only adoption center in Carnova city.
It had fifty staff members and over three hundred orphans in the age group of 5 to 17. The orphanage was managed by a director in his early fifties. He was transferred here from the capital thus he had a bit of a reputation in this remote city.
Tonight however, this esteemed director was kneeling down in front of a figure and had a face that seemed subservient. In front of him was a child seated on the main chair of the director's office. He seemed to have had his dinner on the table that was used to work on important papers every day. Instead of rebuking the insolent kid he thought that it was natural for him to sit there and dine. To him it was also natural to be kneeling in front of the kid and serving him with all his being. The child asked,
"So? Is it done?"
"Yes, Lord Blue. The body has been buried under the second floor of the basement. I have already warned other staff members on night duty as you have ordered. They won't go anywhere near the basement and would also keep the kids away from it."
"What reason did you give?"
"I told them that I would practice alchemy there from now on so I don't want anyone snooping around the lab. I used to be an alchemist back in the capital so they didn't find any reason to question me about it."
"Alchemy, huh…"
The kid had a distant expression on his face as if he was reminiscing about something. The director dared not to interrupt his thoughts so he kept his head down and waited for further instructions. This peculiar situation was naturally created through the bloodline abilities of an abyss spawn.
°°°°
Azure Limbo, the lust incubating abyss spawn, arrived at the Verdant Orphanage two hours ago.
After emerging from the alleyway with blood and dirt all over his cloth and body there would surely be a commotion at the area but as an experienced abyss spawn how could he make such a rookie mistake?
Thus he first cleaned up all the blood that fell in the ground with the clothing of his body and a handkerchief he found in the pocket of his jeans. Any ability that could have helped him in this endeavor was also erased conveniently. The dried blood was tough to remove with just those clothes on hand so he first got near a drain pipe that leaked a trickle of sewage. He wet the clothes and then resumed to clean the puddle shaped stains, splatters on the walls and other blood marks that randomly fell within the perimeter.
He even went an extra mile to sweep clean a bit outward since he couldn't properly tell with the limited view at nighttime. Mortal humans didn't have night vision after all. It took him a bit more than half an hour to get the job done. As for the smell of blood, he truly didn't have any means to get rid of it. So he could only take a gamble and hope that this place would only be discovered after the smell passed. He hated this feeling of not being in control.
After thoroughly cleaning all suspicious points and triple checking everything he used his bloodline ability Anomaly Creation on the handkerchief. The handkerchief now became an anomaly with no specific anomalous traits. He then used Rules of Anomaly ability to give the handkerchief an anomalous trait which makes it invisible to the naked eye and swiftly floats towards the nearest individual weaker than him. He then gave it a second trait that made it able to slip into the pockets of those targets and influence their thoughts to slowly draw them to this alleyway. He felt a bit of weakness washing over him after granting it the second trait, the symptoms of his currently weakened state.
Rules of Anomaly ability was a common bloodline ability seen in all abyss spawns along with the Anomaly Creation. Usually the former could only be used on a created anomaly to set up the specific anomalous traits. However he had used this ability so many times and with many creative ways that over time he was able to take this ability a step further, using it on himself to temporarily transform into an anomaly.
Anyways, many would have thought that he was being too cautious since he would surely be on mortal human's territory. What could a mortal human do to an abyss spawn even if he has been severely weakened? But his 3 million years of experience weren't for nothing.
One of his peers once invaded a goblins nest. He was apparently bored and wanted to play around a bit so he decided to possess a goblin and wreak havoc in its nest.
By sending one's consciousness on a weakened entity through Soul Projection, bloodline ability across space-time with certain conditions was one of the common methods abyss spawns used to take possession.
But who would have thought that the seemingly weak goblin nest fated to be toyed around by a mighty abyss spawn actually was being destroyed by another local group at the same time. He thought that maybe he could attack to probe their strength. Even if they turned out to be powerful, at best this goblin shell would be destroyed, that's all. Things wouldn't have been so dire if only that was the case!
One of the members of that group saw through the possessed goblin's true identity at a glance and before that goblin could do anything his movement was frozen. Then that person took out a bell and shook it.
Nothing happened within the battlefield.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
However, the possessed goblin had a horrified look on his face as the abyss spawn behind it took a serious damage to his soul almost causing him to be dissipated on the spot. Whether it was luck or a coincidence, other goblin nests in the surrounding area were apparently waiting in ambush.
The group instantly found itself surrounded and a bitter battle took place. That bell-wielding person had no time to spare as about a dozen goblins zoned in from all around the place. Thus he was able to cut off the connection with haste and was able to survive to tell the tale.
That's why scouting ahead in unfamiliar terrain and gathering enough information was crucial to preserve one's life. If that guy had actually gathered intelligence before bothering with a possession then would he have been so helpless?
Back to the present, he would have liked to do even more reconnaissance in this unfamiliar territory before stepping a single foot in it but unfortunately his usual abilities for scouting was erased thus only leaving him with the most basic means to get the job done.
Ten minutes later, a balding middle aged man walked in and was instantly terrified of the sight before him. In front of him stood a child with dirty clothes on his body with dried blood all over the exposed part of his torso. His neck was especially crimson in color from the sheer amount of dried blood gathered there.
Before he could even shout for help or form any resistance he felt his vision blur for a moment and all of a sudden the child before him was not so horrifying but he felt that he was someone who should obey with all his heart.
After half an hour, the guy went to the nearest house from the alleyway and pressed the intercom on the main door. The people in the house woke up from the "ding! dong!" that echoed in the middle of the night. About two minutes later, another middle aged man opened the door with an unkind expression and asked what's the matter.
The balding middle aged man saw a handkerchief flew out of his pants pocket and first went towards the guy on the door and stopped for a moment. Then it entered the house. He couldn't see further but the handkerchief swept through all the occupants as if checking for something. Then it traveled every corner of the house it could possibly go in. After doing all that it came to him and entered back in his pocket.
As soon as it entered he remembered a certain child's command in his mind that seemed to pop up out of nowhere and he did exactly what he was told to do without a second thought. He shifted on his left and made a posture as if he was giving way for someone behind him.
The other middle aged man was puzzled but not for long as all of his family along with himself shared the same fate as that balding guy.
Then another half an hour later, a child in black clothing walked out of the house with a balding middle aged man who walked beside him with an expression that said he was his guardian. They walked towards a certain direction in this silent city at two am in the night, truly a suspicious scene. They avoided all places with surveillance cameras in a natural flow. Any occasional pedestrian who saw them only was able to perceive the balding man.
Ten minutes later, The duo then appeared in front of a gate which had a sign that read "Verdant Orphanage" along with the logo of a tree. The child then looked at the same handkerchief that had been very busy throughout the night on the balding guy's shirt pocket. In that handkerchief was a logo sewn of a green tree with vines dropping from the top of it. The same logo as the sign of Verdant Orphanage.
He looked at the balding guy and gave him the same instructions as earlier. Though he had a general idea of their strength, there could always be a variable. Thus the same scene from earlier unfolded.
From the vigilant guard behind the gate to the grumpy staff member who had to open the main door in the middle of the night and finally the sleeping director of the orphanage who joined the rank of the balding man without even knowing how he fell after the thorough sweep of the orphanage.
He later learned about the name, age, dorm room number and other crucial information of this body's original owner. Then he showed the director the knife that was used as a murder weapon. The director told him that it might be from the kitchen so he was ordered to bring the relevant guy who could give further details and a few moments later a still sleepy boarding chef entered the director's office.
Before he could even exclaim his surprise at the sight of a familiar face sitting at the main chair or a strange balding guy obediently standing at a side in attention, he felt his vision blur and then was interrogated thoroughly. Apparently a knife was missing from the kitchen when he checked for all the utensils after dinner and he had asked his student, who was apparently an orphan who showed talent in culinary arts, if he had placed it in the wrong place. What he found suspicious was that he couldn't find him in his dorm room at that time but he appeared about half an hour later with two bags of ingredients that were running low.
Why he would need to buy those after the curfew puzzled him but he didn't paid it much heed and asked if he—
"Alright, alright. I can already see what had happened. What an amateur…. get that guy here and also see if the staff member checking the attendance list after curfew saw me going with that guy somewhere or any staff for that matter. The guard outside is clear so don't bother him. Also check to make sure that guy's dorm mates and my dorm mates all stay within the room until I deal with them. Don't let them come out or get into contact with anyone else."
The child ordered the director in an impatient tone. He then looked at the balding guy and thought about the route he took which shielded the guy from being seen anywhere near the orphanage so he decided to lighten the mental burden that had been creeping up,
"You, take a different route that wouldn't link to your visit here and make sure to definitely be seen by the surveillance cameras when you're at a safe distance. Then go to the beach and take a swim. Don't bother coming back. Just keep swimming."
After telling the balding guy to die politely he then looked at the chef. The balding guy immediately left the room with a cloudy expression. Nobody paid any heed to the guy who was about to end himself shortly.
"Heat up the leftover food and bring them here once it's done."
The chef nodded his head to show his understanding but before he could leave, a question appeared on his head. He had to serve this child with all his expertise so he naturally had to dispel any doubt that would hinder his service.
"Lord Blue, shall I bring the same amount you ate tonight?"
Blue looked at the chef with a frown and replied,
"Bring all of it. All.The.Food!"
He uttered word by word to better relay his command. He sensed the mental burden increasing and his control over them decreasing. Hopefully he could satisfy his hunger and replenish his stamina quickly or things will get out of control.
"Sigh… What a long night."
Blue said in an exhausted tone as he slumped on the chair.