"Wait, hear me out, I think we can..."
"Bang! Crash!"
A strange noise came from the back door of the Forgotten Bar. The three of them immediately tensed up, Constantine turned to Jim and asked: "Did you not close the door? Could there be some animal that wandered in?"
"The back door of the Forgotten Bar leads to a small alley in London, how could any wild animal be there?"
Jim had already picked up the Night Blade and was walking towards the back door, Constantine and Bennett followed him.
Before they reached the back door, Constantine stopped Jim, frowning, "There's a smell of blood."
A red light flashed in Bennett's eyes, he transformed into a bunch of bats with a "whoosh" and flew after the smell of blood. Then next to the backdoor's alleyway, he found a bloody young man.
Jim rushed over first, he held the upper body of the young man, lay him down on the ground, and lifted up his hood. He exclaimed, "You, aren't you the apprentice of Master Kaz, Bianca?! What happened to you?!!"
"Someone...someone attacked...the Cemetery of Ten-Thousand Spirits..." Apprentice Bianca stuttered, "Master Kaz...they...took him...I came, I came for help..."
The young apprentice didn't finish talking, he exhaled his last breath, and lay lifeless on the ground.
Jim lifted his clothes to see a massive gash in his abdomen which had been maintained by magic until now. The severe injury had consumed all of the young man's energy, and the moment his magic power dissipated, his life force did as well.
"Perform Soul Reading immediately!", Constantine blurted out without hesitation. "Take out his soul before his covenantor arrives!"
"No, that would shatter his soul!"
"That's still better than being tortured by the demon! Master Kaz wouldn't have given him the luxury to choose who to make a pact with, and the demon would make his life a living hell!"
A struggle flashed across Jim's face, but he still pulled out his longsword and plunged it into Bianca's chest.
At the moment when the light erupted, the soul was extracted. But, a wind carrying a dark aura blew from the end of the alleyway, and an evil whisper echoed in everyone's ears.
"Don't touch my offering... No one can break our pact... You audacious humans... You… Constantine?!!"
"Sharp-toothed Boer?!" Constantine stared stiffly at the direction from where the dark wind came, shouting out the demon's name, then turned to the others, "It seems Kaz has already sold his apprentice's soul to this greedy demon, don't bother with him, take the soul back to the bar!"
With a "whoosh", Jim pulled out his sword, Bennett turned into a bat and carried Constantine and Jim back through the door at an incredible speed. After a loud "bang", the door was shut leaving only the demon's roar outside.
Jim sighed in relief and said, "We're safe. No one dares to forcefully enter the Forgotten Bar, otherwise they'd be in conflict with the entirety of Maya. Now we need to see what is recorded in the poor young man's soul, I have a bad feeling about this."
"Of course, he said his mentor Kaz was taken away. Although Kaz's promotion to the Grand Mage was recent, the Skeleton Lord he made a pact with granted him abundant powers, enabling him to manipulate the dead, and the Cemetery of Ten-Thousand Spirits is filled with materials. If he was taken away under these circumstances, our opponent might be more powerful than we can imagine."
They cleared the bar of tables and chairs. Jim placed the longsword on the ground, knelt, and started chanting.
Soon, the power of the soul gathered at the tip of the longsword. Jim touched the tip of the sword and one scene after another flashed across his mind.
"...vampires?" Jim muttered a word.
Bruce and Constantine turned to look at Bennett at the same time. Bennett frowned. Jim said, "I saw a woman and a lot of vampires looking for something in the Cemetery of Ten-Thousand Spirits, but they didn't find what they were looking for, they took Kaz instead, probably to interrogate him."
Instantly, Bennett and Constantine exchanged glances and blurted out a name in unison, "Blood Moon!"
"I remember you guys mentioned this name before, what is it?" Jim inquired, furrowing his brows.
"An international heresy organization belonging to the vampires." Constantine's assessment was extremely precise, "Led by an idiot and composed of idiots."
However, Bennett sighed heavily, "Blood Queen Mary is both my wife and my progeny, she has been bewitched by the Blood Demon Clan, and founded a cult organization with the manifesto of vampires taking over the earth, that is, The Blood Moon."
"Since I was turned into a vampire in the 16th century, I have been trying to stop them from causing harm to ordinary people, but only in this century, they have set up not only a religious group but also legal corporations, transforming human beings into bloodthirsty monsters under the guise of employment."
"About ten years ago ..." Constantine began, "At that time, I was just starting, I encountered a vampire that killed the owner of a baker shop where I often purchased bread and I happened to find him."
"After the investigation, I found that he was a member of the Blood Moon and while I followed in his footsteps to wipe him out, I came across Sir Bennett, who shared the same purpose, he had an acquaintance with the ancestors of the Constantine family, he recognized the familiar smell in my blood."
"Thus, we joined forces. We originally intended to eliminate a clan of vampires nested in East District of London, However, after the investigation, we discovered an even more terrifying plot launched by the Blood Moon."
"In Black Havelin, they constructed a live altar aimed at summoning a Blood Moon to transform everyone in London into vampires."Bennett added.
"We found the location of the altar, John figured out how to destroy the altar. Just when we were about to succeed, we were ambushed. After a bitter battle, we were almost out of strength. Then Mary appeared in front of me again, blocking our way."
"I told John to go first, to dismantle the altar and protect the general public of London, while I stayed back to deal with Mary. I had to, because all of this tragedy was caused by me."
Constantine reached out, patted Bennett on the shoulder and said: "It's not your fault. We saved London together. Moreover, you injured Mary and significantly weakened the Blood Moon."
Bennett looked at Constantine solemnly.
"However, they're back, and this time, Mary will not show any mercy, she will kill me and then destroy entire London!"
On the second floor of the Forgotten Bookstore, Bruce, who had found a perfect solution for the codes in his mind, was reading by the window.
All of sudden, horrific screams echoed from downstairs, Bruce looked down and saw a man collapse in the street.
Bruce left the window and went to the balcony, leaned over the railing to have a look, then jumped down, and walked to the man.
At this moment, he heard a booming sound in his head that grew louder as he approached the man.
When Bruce turned the man over, he found that he was already breathless but his hands were tightly clutching his coat, protecting something inside.
Bruce pried his hands open, then from the inner pocket of his jacket, he found a strange black diamond.
As he touched the surface of the black diamond, a faint voice echoed in his mind: "I hear the rage in your heart. I will give you unparallel power. Take me, let me merge with your soul ..."
"Alright, no problem, come on."
"...?"