Immediately heading back downstairs, Shinso darted into the room from where the sounds came from, trying his hardest to appear shocked whilst having previous knowledge. He caught sight of the floorboards—ripped up from under—reveaing a grizzly sight. He caught sight of a half-withered body lying in a mass of dirt.
Half of the person's face had been weathered away, revealing skeletal structures underneath. The decayed skin trailed down their chest, allowing everyone to get a view of their upper rib-cage. The skull's mouth was open in a silent scream, as if they had been making such a sound before being murdered and buried.
"Dear Mother..." Humphrey knelt down, closely inspecting the disturbing sight.
For the most part, everyone in the room held their breath—as the smell of rotten flesh and maggot-worn wood might send anyone into shock. Everyone watched in silence as Humphrey put on a pair of gloves, and began slowly scouring the corpse's clothing. Though the fabric was torn and stained, Humphrey's observant demeanor didn't fail to shine through as he cleverly maneuvered through hidden pockets and potential dangers.
"Why do you need to look through the corpse?" Shinso asked, taking a slow step back.
The corpse was a gut-wrenching sight for sure—but what he had read regarding Catherine's daughter couldn't help but tear at his very being. After all, she had to sacrifice her daughter to demons for the sake of personal survival.
Humphrey momentarily ceased his ministrations, looking up at Shinso with a curious expression. "Our wonderful Ulysses Steiner always said the best way to discover something is to look past what the eyes can perceive. He said that secrets are meaningless in the face of a human, as nothing can truly surpass divine intervention."
At this moment, Humphrey reached behind the notched lapel of the corpses suit and pulled out a small piece of paper—wrinkled and stained with age, and substances. Everyone watched without saying a word as Humphrey unfolded the paper, scanning its contents with narrowed eyes.
"Wait ...this is Orson Malvov—that wealthy entrepreneur whose case the Pollinators never finished!"
At this moment, Shinso recalled something from a few days ago, something Catherine had told him: "The original owner of this house, someone who loved to mingle with those two times younger than himself, is buried underneath the floorboards."
"I-I heard he was a pedophile," Shinso chirped up, straightening his posture in an attempt to appear formal.
Humphrey turned his head, gazing at Shinso as his eyes widened. "How do you know that?"
Shinso suddenly froze, his face paling slightly as he shuffled his hands behind him. He cleared his throat before letting out a shaky sigh.
"I-it's just a rumor that circulated around, nothing that special."
Humphrey abruptly stood up, slowly walking over to Shinso, his brows furrowing only a millimeter. "From what I know, Orson's public figure faded well over ten years ago. And from what I see in you, you only began to develop any thoughts in your head while all of this was happening."
He leaned in closer, his breath gracing Shinso's ears. "Did your parents tell you that rumor or something? Or were you wondering where you shouldn't be in our underground operations?"
Shinso's entire body stiffened for a moment, his stomach plummeting to his feet. He clenched his fists at his sides, swallowing the torrent of nonexistent spit accumulating in his throat. Humphrey's gaze bore into his, threatening to burn him to a crisp. Suddenly, a wave of numbing cold engulfed the room, causing everyone to shiver.
The shadows in the corner of the room crept up the walls, growing pairs of illusory, crimson eyes. Within the darkness, mouths, filled with sharpened, dagger-like teeth, opened, whispering and cackling with an illusory, grailing tone that shook the entire building.
"Godammnit," Humphrey turned around, taking out his gun from a hidden compartment in his outfit.
"The Blood Moon's early this year..."
...
"You seriously expected me to put up a good fight like this?" Ayumi ducked under a table, barely dodging a wraith that swooped down, opening its mouth large enough to swallow her entire body.
Raymond moved through the bar with the agility and precision of a prowling tiger, conjuring mystical abilities and beams of dark energy that chilled the air to an unbearable extent. Even whilst under the control of the ghouls and demons, the people in the bar couldn't help but shiver. He looked back at Ayumi, smirking.
"Aren't you on the Saint pathway? That's the perfect counter to demons and monsters!"
He kicked a demon in the face, and a small coil of dark energy protruded from his palm, pulling the demon into the hole in the center of his hand. A few moments later, the hole pulsed and rippled, spitting out the hollowed, dried-up remains of a demon. Raymond's eyes lit up with a fiery purple energy as he laughed, a bitter, layered sound that gritted the walls and floors of the bar.
At this moment, he turned his head and gazed down at an object sticking out of Ayumi's pocket—the flower-painted disk!
"You have a pathway fragment, use it!" Raymond called out.
"Huh?" Ayumi took out the item, holding it up to the lights.
"I know what it is, but I don't know how the hell to use it!"
Raymond waved his hand, fending off a few more demonic creatures before jumping off the bar, approaching Ayumi who was nestled under the table.
"Pathway fragments are tools for Order advancement, but they're also 'abilities in a jar,'" Raymond explained, taking the flower disk.
"What does that mean?" The black-haired girl watched as Raymond held the object to an oncoming ghoul.
The boy's lips curled up as he tapped the flower-disk, causing it to emit a radiant, burning light. The light didn't scorch or harm any physical objects around it, but every demon in a one foot diameter let out a high-pitched, demonic shrill as they were all burnt to a crisp.
"Anything the light touches is holy, able to purify and exterminate evil spirits." Raymond turned back to Ayumi, smirking.
"Wow..." Ayumi's eyes widened as she took back the object from Raymond, her lips twitching into a smile.
"You asked for a dance, then a dance you shall have."
Wasting no more time, Ayumi leapt out from under the table, tapping the flower-disk again. Instead of instantly disintegrating any nearby enemies, it shook and trembled violently in her palm, letting out a high pitched ringing noise.
"What's it doing?" Ayumi turned back to Raymond, her voice also vibrating from the force of the artifact.
"It's your spirituality, Ayumi. You haven't honed your abilities yet!" Raymond shouted, turning a demon to nothingness with the wave of his hands.
"Easy for you to say, you're out here killing those things left and right!" Ayumi turned around, dodging another demon that flew directly in her direction.
The door leading into the bar suddenly opened, and Mr. Ryujin burst in, gazing directly at Ayumi. "Get out of here, it's too dangerous for you! Let Raymond handle it!"
Ayumi's body stiffened, but she managed to look back at Raymond one last time. The boy was smiling ear-to-ear across the tables, narrowly avoiding the men, women, and children that laughed and got themselves drunk. He seemed to be enjoying himself more than fighting.
"I can't leave him like this, he needs my help!" Ayumi called back to Mr. Ryujin, a wave of reluctant defiance crashing over herself.
"You're gonna get yourself killed, I don't wanna lose a friend of mine to some demons!" Mr. Ryujin ran forward, grabbing the end of her sleeve, tugging the girl towards the door.
"He seems capable of doing this himself, we gotta leave and find someplace to hide!"
"No, goddamnit!" Ayumi suddenly twisted her body, quickly wringing loose of Mr. Ryujin's grip. She ran back into the restaurant, clenching the flower-disk close to her chest. Her hands moved to her dress, and with a sharp tug, she tore off a small amount of fabric.
With nimble hands, she tied it around her head, lowering it over her eyes.
"You said that Katshinese meditative training was to help me balance my spirituality, right? "In order to see the battle, you must do more listening then seeing.""
"That's not..." Mr. Ryujin paused mid-sentence, watching in silence as Ayumi moved forward.
Raymond looked back at Ayumi, his gaze swiftly switching to one more discerning. He observed Ayumi and the blindfold over her eyes, standing in the center of the bar as ghouls flew at her. He couldn't help but smile as he watched this happen.
"Grab that broom, see if injecting the characteristics and powers of the flower-disk help balance the spirituality!"
Hearing his words, Ayumi smirked as she extended her hand, feeling for the wooden broom she saw leaning against the counter. Every few seconds, she had to duck and weave to dodge an oncoming demon that threatened to tear her apart or consume her. A wave of relief coursed through her as she felt the cylindrical handle of the broom, holding it tightly in her grip.
Her hands tightened around the flower-disk, and with a mighty thrust, she surged the object into the broom. The wooden handle of the broom crackled and exploded with mystical energy, illusory, sun-filled cracks slithering down the wooden handle, just above the bristles.
From behind the blindfold, the darkness from the proximity of the fabric lit up, giving way to a surreal scene. The all-blackness shafted in gradience, heightening to more of a grayish hue. Within the gray, a countless number of spirits and ghouls flew around, cackling and laughing as they barraged Raymond, who fended them off with the precision of an ornate fencing champion rather than an brutalist fighter.
She ran forward, swinging the broom right into the head of an oncoming demon. The impact sent her forward a little bit, catching her off-balance. The moment the two forces made contact, the spirit let out a high-pitched shrill as its body disintegrated into nothing but ashes. The ashes ascended into the air, circling around the handle of the broom before sifting within the illusory, sun-colored cracks of light.
"Why not give your siblings a few of those pathway fragments, whatever pathway you're on seems especially powerful!"
Hearing her words, Raymond momentarily stumbled, almost falling off a table. "Every Blood Moon I sent them into their rooms to hide, not fight. You saw what that Tremebrus was capable of!"
"A what?" Ayumi swung her broom again, disintegrating another demonic entity.
"Right ...you weren't there..." Raymond's face flushed a little, but he never wavered in his assault of the demonic creatures.
Outside, Mr. Ryujin watched the scene within the bar, observing Ayumi and Raymond attack seemingly nothing. At this moment, a low growling sound was heard down the road. His head snapped to the left, and he caught sight of a countless amount of people sluggishly walking down the road, their mouths open—and drooling feverishly.