Having spent the night clearing the city, the group decided to finally visit the garden centre. It had everything one needed to survive, shelter, defences and food. Daniel's headache was gone after he got some sleep, enabling him to be in a bit of a better mood, especially since it was actually a nice shiny day.

Puddles had formed on the streets, and water was still dripping from roofs and overhangs, allowing everything to shimmer in the reflection of sunlight.

They were merely a few metres away from the entrance but they were unfortunate. A gunshot sounded, strafing them ever so closely. They were warned from inside, "Don't get closer! This is our land now, and you are intruding upon it!"

They expected to not be the only ones, so they had a strategy in mind already. Wulf was only visible to those who he chose, meaning the ambushers could not see him. Also, they knew about the telepathy, hence why they used thoughts to communicate, seeing as how Wulf was able to read their minds.

"How many are there; can you tell?" Daniel thought, asking his four legged partner.

"There are three people inside the building, one in the apartment left to us, and another one in the house to the right. It would be safe to assume that they are armed as well."

Daniel held up his hands, "I am terribly sorry for intruding. We did not see a sign, so we didn't know. If you would excuse us, we will turn around and leave you be-"

"Hell no! You stay right there!" a male voice shouted from inside. "You can leave, after you gave us everything you possess."

They knew they had no choice but to surrender, two against almost half a dozen, that is not even a fight. In that moment however, Wulf and Daniel noticed something. They heard the voice of a soul, meaning a demon was close by.

"When I give you the signal, do as I say," Daniel thought.

Leo, on the other hand, did not know about this new plan yet, and thus stepped forward, "We have nothing to give you, we came here in hope to change that. So please, we aren't worth the bullets."

Another shot was fired, aimed in front of his feet. "Shut up, or next time you will wish you didn't say anything."

At that moment a demon came around the corner and Dan took a deep breath, in and out.

"Listen! We may not possess any physical objects, however I am able of manipulating these zombies!" he shouted, facing the palm of his hand towards the demon. "I shall now order this being to halt!"

Wulf understood his cue, and howled, petrifying the demon for a short time. The howl could only be heard by the two men around him. The people inside were seemingly impressed and opened the gates, inviting them inside. Passing the entrance, the three of them saw three people, one of which was a man. He wore a tank top, was sweaty, and also a wore a red band on his forehead, holding a colt in his hands.

"You can speak to the dead huh?" he asked, lowering his gun.

The two women hid behind him, just slightly peeking over his broad shoulders. He walked up to the young men. They noticed just how big that man really was, about one and a half heads bigger than Leo, while it was two for Dan. Although in their minds, they thought that at least they had more hair than him, who had grey stubbly short hair.

Seeing the women, they understood why these people decided to attack. They wanted to protect them from strangers, even if it meant seeming like a bad person.

"Well, sorta," Daniel answered. "I can only make them stop, once."

"Well that is still a blessed feat, alright! Ya see, we are underhanded here, and could need a couple of watching eyes."

A sinister pressure spread through Daniel's spine, he tried to ignore it, "Thank you, sir. I appreciate your kind offer, but---" Dan collapsed, screeching in torment.

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A large number of voices, among them some of the loudest he had ever heard, came closer. Leo was alarmed, seeing his friend collapse, while Wulf was feeling pressured too.

"What's happened to ya lad?" the big man asked, kneeing down to help the screaming man.

In that moment, he was blinded by Wulf, who came out of his hiding. Surprised, the man stood up and stepped back, covering the two women.

"The hell's that thing?"

"I am an angel, a Guardian at that. This boy has an ability similar to mine, capable of hearing the voices of souls loud and clear," he explained in a hurry, nimbly climbing up the wall to look outside. It was as he feared, a large group, greater than the one that was in the city beforehand, was swarming the place.

"The heck you talking 'bout!"

"These zombies as you call them, are demons, who took control of the dead bodies, inhabited by souls. They make them watch the horrible things they do, and make them suffer. For through suffering, they can become stronger. This is the preparation for the judgement of Lucifer," he said in a worried tone, wagging his tail.

Leo was flustered, just like everyone else was. For the first time, the name of the devil was actually said, Lucifer it was, the fallen angel. Caged away in hell for his sins, promising to break out one day, to lay waste to the world, to the children of his father.

In Leo's hands, Dan fell unconscious, he couldn't cope with the amount of screams from the suffering voices. This left Wulf to be worried, or rather, it left him with less options. He was neutral to everything, he felt nothing. It was merely just impractical for him.

"Now what do we do? Without Dan, how can we fight them?" Leo asked, swallowing his pride as he asked the glowing being on the wall.

"I have no idea. Just look at them, can you see the dark mist surrounding them?"

Leo left Dan in the care of the bulky man and hurried to the wall, "What the?"

A dark mist drowned the group of several hundred demons, among them one of which seemed to be the source of it, leaving Wulf to think what it could be.

"That body, it is basically only made of bones, all joints are made from this dark shadow. Could it be that the demon is artificially keeping it 'alive'? What is happening now?" he watches the mist turning into black flames.

In difference to Daniel, Wulf could not only hear the souls, of both the dead and the living, but also see them, but what he saw wasn't a normal soul. It turned black, blighted by darkness, having lost the will to fight against the chains which bound it. Meanwhile, the flames swallowed the other bodies, torturing their souls, and seemingly absorbing them into a pool of souls, before turning the body into ashes. Once every demon, but the one source, fell to dust, the flames were soaked in by it. Considering the sight, Leo and Wulf understood the reason why their partner fell unconscious. It must be by far too overwhelming for a human. Listening to the suffering of that many souls, even Wulf began to struggle, it was too loud.

Wulf's tail lifted, spiking up towards the sky. He felt power equal to another angel, just worse. Eventually the flames lifted, revealing a horrid creature beneath. White bones, slightly covered in black, demonic matter, long arms, reaching to the feet and a tall body as well. A large skeleton, held together by demonic matter, stood proudly. Its skull disgusted Leo, the jaw was held up by black strings, and while one of the eye cavities was covered by bone, in the right one was an actual eye.

Its big hands, which could grip a human, had nails of bones on the fingers, sharp as a razor. Just its presence gave everyone nearby goosebumps, even Wulf was worried, slowly wagging his tail.

Finally, the thing opened its mouth, sighing, "I did it! I was able to nurture one of these pigs into a proper body," he excitedly looked at his bony hand, before sniffing through the flat holes in its skull. "I can smell, I can smell an angel!"

"Not good," thought Wulf.

Then all of the sudden, shots were fired at it by the men in the buildings from before. The tall monstrosity however, merely stood still, watching the bullets not even scathe him.

"Humans, good... I can have a meal," it said, revealing its blood lust, which woke up Daniel.

His body was sweating, he was drenched and breathed strongly. In his mind, the situation didn't change, the souls still existed, but were absorbed by one.

"No! Please let us go. Please help us!" the voices made his head nearly crack.

"Dan! Please, you must fight. Nobody here even has a chance, to be honest I don't even think we have a chance currently," Wulf jumped down towards him, moving from person to person. "This thing, it is not a mere demon, it is a rank two. It has made the host body, it's own improved body. Usually souls struggle, preventing them from immediately doing that, but this one seems to have weakened the soul earlier than expected."

"What does that mean?" the women in the background mumbled.

"It means, it is more powerful than me at this point. Only the regalia, might be able to damage him, however I do still rely on you Dan," he placed his paw on Daniel's shoulder.

The young man looked around him. His friend was petrified in fear, the women were crying in comfort of the tall man and even Wulf seemed to have a serious tone in his voice. He knew everyone depended on him, their lives did. He had to fight, despite the terrorising calls in his head, in order to protect his friends.

With his eyebrows frowning, his teeth scratching and his fists pumping, he stood up and yelled out, "Wulf! Let's do this!"