What The Future Holds

"How was he?" Sao asked Rain who came out of Lorian's room.

"He is doing fine. The damages were healing well with the help of my healing potion. It's just that he is still not waking up," Rain said with a face filled with worry.

His left leg was dislocated and both his arms were broken. Lorian was comatose for 3 days after the battle against the Astral: Tier B-, Cursed Doll Kaleb Balagtas. Rain reported what happened inside the house and what information Kaleb shared.

Kaleb Balagtas was one of the founding members of the Four Finger Mafia. He led a group of hunters that hunted supernatural beings to collect their parts and sold them in the black market. Kaleb suddenly vanished without a trace. People speculated that it was infighting among the members. However, it was far from the truth.

From Pastor Opium and Rain's analysis, the necklace was the root cause of his disappearance. The necklace was a cursed object. It provided the user the ability to simultaneously control five wooden dogs.

However, cursed objects will always have drawbacks when using one. And in Rain's inspection, the drawback of the necklace was that it would slowly consume the user's soul. The greatest mystery was, how is it possible that Kaleb's soul was still intact, surviving being consumed by his cursed object.

Even Pastor Opium didn't know why. He even had trouble exorcising Kaleb's soul inside the necklace. Pastor Opium ended up breaking his book's cover because there was a force that shielded Kaleb.

Pastor Opium asked Pablo to bring the cursed necklace to their church to be cleansed. Pablo agreed with Pastor Opium's decision and let him handle the necklace, while the obedient dogs stayed inside the containment room.

Rain also reported the names Sirius and Kurydon to Pablo. These names were mentioned by Kaleb many times, especially Sirius.

Based on Pablo's knowledge, Sirius was the leader of the Four Finger Mafia. In Sirius's leadership, the Four Finger Mafia consumed other gangs and grew bigger at an unprecedented speed.

But Pablo didn't know who the Kurydon that Kaleb mentioned was. There was no record of him being a member of the Four Finger Mafia. Even the national census organization doesn't have any records of this person.

Why did Kaleb want to rescue this person? Nobody knows but Kaleb. Nevertheless, there was a more pressing matter at hand. Was the Four Finger Mafia had any connections to this?

But they couldn't just place the blame on them without any evidence. The only thing that Pablo could do was monitor them. Other than that, there was nothing they could do but hunt supernatural beings.

"Tell me if he wakes up," Sao said as he headed to the gym.

Rain bowed to Sao before going to the kitchen to eat her breakfast. She was the one taking care of Lorian at the moment. Her knowledge of healing was the best in her class.

Yet she didn't know why Lorian wasn't waking up. Rain even thought of electrocuting Lorian. But she didn't try it, instead, she patiently waited for Lorian to wake up.

The next day, Sao and Rain were tasked to dispose of a Corporeal: Tier C- Headless Man. It was reported that it was devastating villagers' heads in the village of Don Marcel.

Sao was surprisingly silent in their travels. Only saying a few words before shutting up. Rain wasn't bothered by this, as she was also lost in her thoughts.

This was the first time she experienced having an injured teammate. She prided herself in her skills and couldn't accept that she became helpless when supporting Lorian.

They arrived at the village in Don Marcel. The night came and the villagers all evacuated inside the village hall with axes and plows on their hands.

"Thank God you're here. Please help us, this monster already killed three people in a single night. He decapitated their heads trying to fit it on his own, but- but-," the village chief said in distress.

"Don't worry. You're safe now," Sao comforted the chief.

The night encompassed the village, some houses were dim without their lights on, making the village darker. A silhouette can be seen, slowly walking in their direction. As it slowly walked, the silhouette was getting clearer, revealing a headless body walking in their direction.

"Give me back my head! Give it back!" the Headless Man said.

The residents quivered after hearing the Headless Man's voice. That voice had been haunting them since yesterday. Sao looked at the Headless Man getting nearer, thinking that something was weird with it.

"Give me back my head! You imbeciles!"

Rain took a light blue vial from her pouch. She inserted her wand inside, making the tip of her wand glow blue.

Pointing above the sky and down to the body of the Headless Man, she chanted, "Ri-pa-ku!"

A flash of light fell down the sky, leaving a crooked line afterimage followed by a loud boom. The Headless Man dropped down to the ground convulsing, as sparks can be seen flashing in its body.

"My- My He-Head, Give it to- it to me," the Headless Man stuttered as it tried to stand up but couldn't.

Sao faced the headless body, stepping on its stomach. Pointing his revolver at the side of the Headless Man. "Your head is here dumbass," Sao said as he fired shots at a head strapped on the Headless Man's hip.

Sao then pulled out a small bottle containing enchanted oil inside. He poured it on the Headless Man's body burning him to dust.

Rain bowed to the village chief and went back to the jeep. Sao also did the same as he followed behind Rain.

"Wow, that was fast," Sao said.

"I hope we can do this to the higher tiers too," Rain murmured.

Sao only shook his head and started the jeep's engine. Just like Rain, he was also troubled. Troubled by the words Pastor Opium told him and this made him start considering his words.

"The holy spirit in you is thinning. If you want to help your friends in the future, your ability is necessary," these words kept on echoing inside Sao's mind.

Their jeep zoomed, traveling back to their base. People from the village celebrated as they waved their hands to Sao and Rain.