20 Pursuit

He stepped down the stairs, not too fast, not too slow, every step filled with dignity and solemnity, something one could only find in the mannerism of nobles. It was deeply ingrained in their education and absorbed into their muscles. This was one sign that separated a true noble from a commoner!

He looked down onto the entrance of the mansion, Tiberius close behind him.

The first thing his cold gaze caught was the image of a person lying on the ground as if asleep. But in the next moment that person's body twitched and began to move slowly around. The master of the mansion recognized the intruder as one of his underlings.

"You dare!", he bellowed angrily.

The guard on the ground started trembling uncontrollably and knew whose voice had sounded out from above. He didn't even look up, too afraid to appear insolent.

His master upon reaching this guard's side, grabbed him by his throat and left him hanging up in the air! The poor guy gasped for breath but achieved only small results!

He tried pushing away his Boss' arms, but they remained still and unwavering like a deeply rooted tree!

The guard had no other choice now but to look at his Boss. However, what he saw left him speechless! Instead of the clean noble face of his Boss, he saw the countenance of the devil incarnation! Fiery red eyes, crimson red hair, and red glowing veins illuminating the rest of his body, did his Boss make a deal with the devil?! Or was he devoured and being possessed?!

This sight left him tongue-tied, unable to form any coherent sentences in his mind.

"Speak, tell me where my belongings are that you robbed me from or I will give you the most painful death you could imagine!"

"I-I ... don't ... have ...", he tried very hard to bring out these few words, but they didn't calm down his Boss at all.

He threw the guard violently onto the ground, rage quickly building up on his face. He stomped on his right leg after which a 'crack' sound came out.

"Ahhhhh!", the guard screamed in pain, but right after that his left leg was next!

'Crack'

The guard wanted to fall unconscious and escape this horrible reality but his Boss didn't allow him so!

He lifted his stomping foot up again, aiming it at his underling's face, but right before the moment of impact a voice from behind told him to stop, and his foot stopped mid-air.

"Michael, my dear son, he is telling the truth. A man like him facing imminent death, how could he speak false words?", a blond haired woman appeared behind the Boss, her hair floating in the air as if underwater and her eyes closed. Her skin so clean and white, that it looked other-worldly, fitting to that she wore white garment, making her overall appearance resemble an angel!

"But mother, the book! The artifacts! They are gone, it has to be him!"

"My dear son, sometimes the most obvious sign, doesn't lead to the right path. Let me take a look."

All this while, the guard whose head was dizzy and distressed because of all the attacks, heard his Boss suddenly talk with a different unfamiliar tone. Yet, when he anxiously opened his eyes, he couldn't find another person his voice could have been directed at.

"Has he really gone crazy?!", were the last words he would ever think in his head, when suddenly a piercing pain assaulted his mind deep in its core!

The guard made anguished grimaces, and his facial expressions twisted and changed every second! His cries and pleas for help and mercy were destined to remain unheard. His body shivered like mad, and he pressed his hands against his head to suppress this brutal pain!

But it didn't work!

This process lasted for a only a couple of seconds but to him it felt like an eternity in hell!

After this torture finally ended, the guard's body stopped its spasms and lay there lifelessly on the ground. He was neither dead nor alive, his eyes had lost their glint and stared aimlessly at the ceiling above.

From within his body, another spectral figure rose up and walked up to the master.

"Mother, what have you seen?", he asked that ghostly existence.

"I saw ... children. Children like them!", she told him and turned her head towards the metal cages imprisoning Kyle, Lora and Owen,

"No wonder I couldn't sense them.", she whispered into the room.

"Why? What's wrong with them?", Michael asked confused. After the passing of that guard and in the presence of his angel, his monstrous outward appearance had changed back to how it looked before. Yet, his desire and yearning for those items lost, kept growing stronger by the minute. He didn't understand what was so special about these children. He had picked them up in the day and thought they would make a good deal if sold to the right people. At least the two white skinned ones probably had quite a high status and background. Maybe the dark 'Nuchsian' boy was their slave and servant.

"I guess your perception is still too dull, my dear son. I can see them, their young, small and weak bodies. But I can't sense them, not a single bit of aura is leaking out as if something ... or someone was intentionally shrouding their presence against me.

That's why your hellhound didn't notice their intruding companions. Its kind doesn't usually use mortal senses or relies on scent. Scent can be masked or faked, no, it can feel the auras of souls! Yet, these children, all of them that had sneaked into your territory stayed undetected under its watch as if .. they didn't exist or ... or they weren't part of this world ...", her voice got quiter in the end and fell silent.

"What?!", Michael was shocked when he heard that. Nothing should have been able to pass by his beastly servant. What powers did they use to achieve this? But there were more urgent matters that needed his attention now!,

"Is it some form of 'Blessing'?"

"No, it shouldn't be ... can't be. Only the most ancient entities or True Gods could hide them right in front of our noses, so close to us. And this ... is simply impossible!"

He walked up towards the metal cage and looked inside. The captives were still all there without an exception. They had woken up because of all the turmoil happening outside and looked fearfully at him.

"Tell me where your friends are and I will have some reasons left to keep you all alive in one piece!", he threatened them. But contrary to his expectations, none of the children spoke a word and the determination in their eyes astounded him even more. These eyes showed resistance as well as the will to sacrifice their lives if necessary. If not for their shaky arms and bodies, he might have even praised them.

"Good, if you don't want to talk then I will make you talk!", he told them with a deadly serious face.

"We, we don't know! We don't know *sob sob*", the youngest of the trio cried out loud.

Owen was awoken by the screams and shouts and expected the worst to happen to him. After all that had happened today with Professor Schneider, it was a mircale he could fall asleep. Now confronted with this evil person, he broke out in tears and couldn't control himself anymore. Lora and Kyle knew their chances of survival had been low to begin with, so they didn't want to cause the downfall of the rest of their friends as well.

Michael was sure one of them knew something, and that after beating some sense into their fragile bodies he could easily break their wills as well.

"Hmmm, maybe I should start with that small one? Break some of his fingers and pull his fingernails out one after another, maybe then the rest will finally start talking ...", he spoke out loudly while smiling creepily at Owen.

When the little group heard his words, their hearts sank and their iron will became unstable! If it really came down to it could they really keep up their resistance while one of their friends was brutally tortured?!

But before Michael could continue with his actions, the bizarre woman by his side halted him:

"Stop with your play. These children, they are interesting. Maybe they can be of use to us later on, so leave them be for now. As for the thieves, I think the hellhound has found something."

The beast went around the hall and sniffed for any clues. After some while it found blood traces on the ground. There was a faint scent in the air leading outside towards the southwest. Just because it didn't mainly rely on its mortal senses, didn't mean it didn't have any at all. With three heads working together, their capabilities were even better than those of the lowly beasts in this material plane! It just needed to consciously use its organs.

"It has found blood, one of the little brats was wounded! Gather your men and set off towards the southwest, we have to get back that book and the key at all costs necessary!", she then approached Michael and whispered into his ear reassuringly,

"Only then can we finally get our revenge, my dear son!"

Michael's eyes glowed in an eerie red and he answered obediently:

"Yes mother! At all costs necessary!"