An Unexpected Revelation

Valentine and Mastro Gianni were rushing back towards the center of the street as fast as they could. The mafia boss had received a distress signal on the radio coming from one of his underlings. It seemed that they were currently engaging with strong enemies, that even their strength combined with the Police Contractbounds was not enough.

"I have a feeling that someone powerful has shown up. Kindly lend me a hand, will you?" requested the Mastro politely.

Valentine was the only outsider there, but all the parties involved had their own reasons to want the Pale Society to disappear from the face of the Earth. The Police wished so for obvious reasons, while Valentine could only guess the mafia's reason; they must need the city intact in order to still be able to conduct their business safely. As for Valentine, the organization had been hunting him the past few days, so it was also in his best interest to see them arrested.

"How did they get in? Did they break a portion of the barrier like you did?" asked Valentine.

If the enemy was indeed able to break the strong barrier, they must indeed be at least at Mastro Gianni's level. Valentine didn't know the detail about how the man was able to break a part of the invisible barrier, but it mustn't have been easy.

"That's the only possible explanation for now, or they can somehow 'bypass' the barrier they set up themselves. But if that were the case, wouldn't it make more sense for them to just use that method to run away? They are clearly outnumbered now," explained Mastro Gianni. His voice was calm and his breathing still steady despite the two of them running at their highest speed.

"Anyway, I have been curious. Why didn't you take the motor carriage on the way to the barrier before? You wouldn't have to run like this if you had done so," asked Valentine.

Mastro Gianni chuckled and smiled widely.

"To be honest, young man, I cannot drive," he replied shortly. There was no embarrassment in his tone, but his voice sounded sincere.

Valentine didn't say anything after that. The two men kept on running and arrived at the center of the street, where the injured members of the Police were resting.

In the middle of the intersection, several ghouls were fighting with the mafia members stationed there. Although they didn't seem to be at a total disadvantage, their weapons didn't appear to be able to kill off the creatures. The ghouls must be summoned ones since they felt much weaker than the ones that had been wreaking havoc earlier.

Seeing their boss had come, the expressions on the faces of the mafia members became somewhat lighter. They began fighting even fiercer.

Valentine readied his knife and quickly dashed towards the supernatural creatures that failed to detect him through his Concealments. Although he was weakened by the artifact's restrictions, he was still strong enough to handle some summoned ghouls. Like a shadow, he moved around the battlefield, slashing the creatures without mercy.

Click!

The paralysis bullets inside the chamber of his revolver were quickly replaced by blood bullets that he had taken out of his bullet pouch. He aimed at the injured ghoul in front of him whose wounds were rapidly healing and pulled the trigger.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Valentine shot three bullets in quick succession and the blood bullets drilled through the creature's head before blood veins burst out of the bullet holes. The countless blood veins enwrapped the ghoul and then raptured, covering the ghoul in red blood that began bubbling right away.

"Growl!!"

The boiling blood burned the ghoul as it screamed in agony. Its whole body was cast aflare before turning into ashes, leaving behind an object that resembled compressed flesh. Valentine quickly picked up the object and shot two more bullets at another ghoul near him.

Mastro Gianni didn't have any blood attacks, so he used the grey thorny vines to capture the undead creatures. The vines were lashing and stabbing everything in its path, leaving the ghouls no chance to regenerate their wounds. They were chopped down repeatedly by the violent vines until they were nothing but pieces of squirming flesh. Even then, the vines didn't stop attacking.

Stab! Stab! Stab!

The sounds of flesh being pierced and mutilated filled the air. The rotten smell coming from the ghouls' wounds made those with weak stomach want to vomit.

"Where is Bianca?" shouted Mastro Gianni.

Just in a matter of minutes, all the ghouls in the area had mostly been taken care of thanks to the two of them. The ghouls that he had minced into pieces didn't seem to be able to regenerate back into their original forms because of the constant assault from the vines.

"Miss Gonella ran off to chase after a person wearing a cloak! She went that way!" replied a mafia member while pointing at a direction.

"That hot-headed woman," he facepalmed and then turned to Valentine, "Mr. Hymes, would you mind shooting this pile of flesh with one of your blood bullets?" asked the man politely.

Valentine looked at the 'mincemeat' near the mafia boss's feet and raised his eyebrow. The thing looked like a piece of meat that had been through the meat grinder.

He reloaded his revolver and aimed at the thing on the ground.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He shot it three times just to be safe and blood veins came bursting out of the holes that the bullets created. Blood ruptured and burned the pile of squirming flesh into ashes, which left several objects resembling compressed meat.

Valentine looked at Mastro Gianni for permission and the latter smiled kindly and nodded. He then picked up the ghouls' remains and stuffed all of them inside the pocket of his coat.

With the situation in the intersection under control, Valentine and Mastro Gianni rushed in the direction that they had been shown. It was towards the west, where Roze and Groen had gone. The two of them arrived not long after and were welcomed by a friendly laugh that rang right in their ears.

"Hahaha!"

There was a man with a cloak covering his face standing straight on top of a six-story hotel. The man didn't seem to be bothered by the restriction on concealments placed by the Police's artifact, and despite his friendly laugh, the aura he was emitting was shouting at everyone to get as far away from the man as possible.

Behind the man were the surviving members of the Pale Society. There was the corpse woman, Macabre, with deep wounds all over her body that were still healing. Her left leg was missing, although the blood had somehow been stopped from flowing. Standing next to her was Obscurity, who didn't look injured at all; the same mischievous smile was still adorning his roguish face.

"It seems that Morbid and Horror are indeed dead. It can't be helped then," said the cloaked man in amusement. His voice sounded like someone who had experienced all facets of life-- it was strangely charismatic.

Standing on the street below the building were the Police Contractbounds: Roze, Groen, Rood, and Oranje, and the members of Fratello Maggiore: Bianca, Diogini, Lucio, Pier, and Pietro. They all had seemed to gather there because of the appearance of the new enemy.

Swoosh!

Roze fired a blood arrow straight at the man's head, but for some reason, the arrow disappeared midway. There was some kind of invisible creature that 'swallowed' the arrow that Valentine saw only for a split second.

"Explode!" shouted Roze.

The blood arrow that had been swallowed should have exploded by then, but there was nothing but silence. Her attack had been rendered ineffective for some reason.

"Please listen to what I have to say," said the man again. His voice almost sounded like he was begging.

Roze didn't lower her short bow, but it seemed that she was willing to listen for a while. She also needed time to think of a strategy anyway, and Bruin wasn't there to destroy the building, so she could use the time.

"Thank you for your cooperation," said the mysterious man; his voice rang right in everyone's ears just like Obscurity's. It was either they were using the same ability or Obscurity's ability could be used on someone else.

"Now, I must apologize for causing trouble to this city," he paused. His tone was sincere, and his mysterious charisma made people want to believe in what he said, "But please know that we've been doing all this for the sake of the greater good."

The man took a deep breath while everyone listening to him felt skeptical.

"What 'greater good' can you achieve by massacring innocent people?!" shouted Roze angrily.

Valentine looked over his shoulder and started muttering, "G, that Police Lieutenant is very short-tempered,"

The cloaked man started speaking again.

"Did you know that the world is going to end soon?" the man's voice had suddenly turned solemn. His question sounded ridiculous, but the way he said it made it difficult to dismiss what he had said.

No one said a word. There were various expressions on everyone's face; Roze looked like she had just heard the words of a mental asylum patient, Rood looked calm but he was visibly thinking about the man's words. Mastro Gianni a strange change in expression as if he had heard something similar before, while Valentine raised his eyebrows. The notion about the world ending was not something he would easily dismiss as some crazy person's paranoia.

"It seems that some of you think that I am crazy. However, what I am saying is the truth. The world is going to end in a matter of years, and only the Pale Lord, the Deity that we worship, will be able to stop it," explained the man passionately, "In order to hasten the descend of the Lord, some sacrifice is necessary, but in the end, what is a thousand of people if we can save the remaining billions?"

His voice echoed in everyone's heart and his passion was clearly felt. If he wanted to, the man must be able to sway the general mass with his speech alone, creating waves of suicidal people willing to sacrifice themselves.

"What proof do you have for this supposed... 'end of the world' and how can your 'Deity' be the only one to save us?" asked Rood calmly. His voice didn't carry any judgment, only genuine curiosity.

"I cannot provide proof as the Pale Lord only gives His revelation to those he deemed worthy. I can only give you my words that what we are doing is for the sake of mankind and this world." replied the mysterious man fervently.

"Then how can we know that you're not just uttering total nonsense to justify your twisted sense of heroism?" shouted Roze irritatedly.

It was understandable for her to feel angry at the man who seemed to be the leader of the criminal organization. Because of their action, a lot of innocent people had lost their lives and they had even caused a mysterious 'black hole', which had allowed dangerous creatures to spawn, to appear in the middle of the city. As a member of the Police, it was her job to keep the people safe, but right now it was as if she had failed to do it.

"I really cannot show you anything but my sincerity, and it seems that his discussion will go nowhere. We, the Pale Society, will still try to prevent the apocalypse by letting the Pale Lord descend as soon as possible. You are free to try to stop us, but don't think we will just sit back and watch," replied the man without a shred of anger in his voice, only conviction.

The cloaked man then clapped his hand and three giant worms appeared from behind them before swallowing them whole. The worms then quickly burrowed back into the ground and disappeared from everyone's sight before Roze could even fire her arrows.

The enemies had successfully escaped!

Valentine quietly hid in the shadows of the building while listening in to the conversation between the Police and the mafia.

"Gianni, do you know anything about this 'apocalypse'? You looked strange when that man mentioned it," asked Groen in a familiar tone. It was clear that the two of them were good friends.

Roze and Rood looked at the mafia boss in expectation, while the members of the mafia were listening intently.

"I might know about it vaguely, but not anything concrete," replied the man with a complicated look on his face. He appeared to be recalling something from the back of his memory.

"You can tell us anything. Any information right now is valuable," reassured Groen.

"It's something that happened long ago when I was still a young child. I won't go into detail about my childhood, but at one point, there was this strange old lady who came to the village where I used to live. I remember that she was of Longese descent and her laughter was very creepy although she was really kind."

Mastro Gianni paused while Valentine wrinkled his forehead.

"This lady would often help the villagers with their problems while only asking for odd things for payment, like an old vase or a broken gate hinge. I used to come over to her house to play and talk with her, and she always joked around with me. However, one day she told me about an apocalypse that would happen in the future. At that time, I thought she was joking, and I've forgotten all about it until now," explained the Mastro.

"What happened to the woman after that?" asked Groen seriously.

"She disappeared the next day," replied Mastro Gianni with a calm voice, "There was not even a trace of her ever being there except for the missing stuff that we used for paying her. Even her house vanished completely."

Valentine looked over his shoulder and muttered quietly, "G, don't you think that sounds familiar? But how is it possible?"