I travel further down the stairway, beginning to hear faint murmurs coming from multiple people. As I reach the bottom, I see a large dark hallway and a faint orange glow in the distance. Traversing across the passage, I sense a certain premonition, just like when I saw Alice. That’s never a good sign with these types of areas.

After a short while, I reach a section of the underground passage where a rack leans against the rough stone wall. The rack held nothing but black cloaks, the kinds with hoods meant to conceal one’s face. Next to the rack are a couple of empty oil lamps on the floor, along with a drum of kerosene, probably to provide fuel for them. If I were to take a guess, I’d say that these are what’s causing that orange glow in the distance. That is to say, whoever’s at the end of this hallway is relying on these oil lamps for light. That would make sense if there isn’t any electricity hooked up to this area. Considering everything else so far, it seems that whoever made this passage wants to be really secretive, not even letting the electricity provider know about it. All of this just screams “secret society”.

Secret societies basically fall within two categories. The first is a rebellious organization against an oppressive force, the kind of stuff I would see in the more dystopian worlds. These groups tended to keep silent for fear of being snuffed out by whatever opposing force they’re up against. Not all of them tend to meet a fortunate fate, in fact, most of them don’t, but that’s what tends to happen when people try to play the hero.

The other kind is when a group of absolute freaks meet together for the sake of whatever balls-to-the-wall insane goal they have in mind. Unlike the first kind, these groups keep silent since their members would most definitely be sent to insane asylums if revealed to the public. Not many of them work out all that well either. In most cases, they self destruct through mass suicide campaigns, internal strifes, or by attempting to dabble in forces outside their comprehension.

Either way, I want nothing to do with this. Nothing but trouble ever comes out of these kinds of things. Haruka and Yuma can do whatever they want for all I care, but they better leave me out of it.

That being said, I can’t help but feel that someone’s trying to make me a pawn for this organization. The whole ordeal of my existence being kept secret is the biggest factor in me thinking so. I can’t think of any other reason for why Haruka and Yuma would do that other than if they’re going to make me play a large role in this group. What better person to enlist for the deeds of a secret society than a person whose existence has been kept secret as well?

Eventually, I get closer to the source of the orange glow, which reveals itself to be a large rectangular room at the end of the passage. The entire area seems to be made of stone, just like the hallway leading up to it. Inside are multiple people, about thirty, and all of them are kneeling while wearing black cloaks. The very back of the room features an elevated podium with a staircase leading up to it. Two cloaked figures stood on that podium, the giant crate-on-a-cart next to them. One of those people is most likely the doctor, or perhaps I should say “Member No. 18”.

Just as I suspected, the entire venue is illuminated from oil lamps held by these people. However, two giant torches stood on both the left and right side of the podium, as if to signify the importance of whatever’s up there. I keep myself hidden within the passageway, making sure that none of the light coming from the room is reaching me.

Thereupon, an unknown voice speaks out from the podium.

“Now that all members have arrived, we will now begin our next meeting. Everyone, rise.”

It sounds like the voice of an old man, perhaps nearing the limit of his lifespan. As soon as he finishes speaking, everyone kneeling begins to get up. Once the cloaked figure sees this, he resumes speaking.

“Now then, recite the rules of the council.”

Immediately following, everyone else speaks out loud in a monotone voice, regurgitating some kind of spiel they memorized.

“Rule number one, keep your two lives separate from each other. Never have them cross”

“Rule number two, never reveal the existence of the organization to outsiders.”

“Rule number three, always work in the interest of the organization.”

“Rule number four, never be swayed by the enemy.”

“Rule number five, pay tribute to our supreme lord.”

I’m starting to think that this type of organization might be the second kind.

After the members finish reciting what seem to be the rules of whatever organization this is, the old man then continues once more.

“I, the one and only Member No. 1, officially declare that the Council of Vainglory has resumed. Now then, Member No. 18, please share with us your progress.”

The cloaked doctor then steps forward and speaks up.

“With pleasure, Member No. 1. Due to certain circumstances regarding the enemy’s power appearing to resurge, we have decided to hasten the process of offering the designated sacrifice to our supreme lord. As we have discussed in a previous meeting, we have sensed a large amount of power coming from the child known as Alice Williams. Due to an earlier failed attempt to sneak into the Williams residence, the household has increased security tenfold, and we have deemed that it is no longer possible to investigate the child any further. The Williams family appears to be richer than even I am, allowing them to maintain top-level security 24/7. So, we will err on the side of caution and assume that Alice Williams is one of the guardians our prophets warned about. With this in mind, we have decided to go through with the sacrificial offering sooner than expected. Please explain the details of this matter, Member No. 26.”

It seems that my intuition was right once again, Alice Williams is no ordinary infant. She’s apparently involved with whatever this “guardian” business is, of which this “Council of Vainglory” seems to be against.

The cloaked figure of Haruka steps forward and begins to speak.

“As per the ritual, Member No. 27 and I performed the necessary steps to give birth to a child with an aptitude for darkness about a year ago. We offered items representing greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, sloth, and pride to our supreme lord, laid them out on a heptagram drawn in chalk, and offered up my blood. Upon completion, we both felt a connection to the forces of darkness, confirming the success of our rites. As such, we assumed our other identities of Haruka Nakamura and Yuma Nakamura while raising the newborn child as the darkness within him would grow.”

It seems that she’s talking about me. According to Haruka, my birth was a deliberate decision in accordance with some bigger scheme in this organization. Could it be that I was brought to this specific world due to those rites Haruka and Yuma performed, or was that just a coincidence? Well, I suppose there’s a bigger matter to be focusing on. Namely, this so-called sacrifice, and how it might connect to me.

Yuma then steps forward as well and continues from where Haruka left off.

“All was well until a few months ago when a new family who moved in, the Williams family, greeted us. When Mrs. Williams showed us her baby daughter, we felt a disturbance, a certain resistance, in our connection with the forces of darkness. As you all know, we brought this up in a past meeting, leading us to speculate that she may be a guardian. Due to that, Member No. 26 and I urged that we hasten the sacrifice of the child.”

I should’ve known that it would lead to this. It seems that I was brought into this world in order to satisfy some satanic ritual. Why can’t I ever catch a break?

Satisfied with their explanation, the doctor nods and takes over.

“Indeed, I was there during the child’s birth while under the persona of Dr. Yami, and can confirm that he does in fact have an innate pool of darkness. Now then, we must act without haste. The time is now to offer the sacrificial child so that our supreme lord may absorb his darkness.”

Dr. Yami. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that she shares the same name as the library I’m currently in, the Yami Library. She must be insanely rich if she can afford a whole library under her name. I wouldn’t be surprised if this library is just an entire ruse made to house the secret base for the Council of Vainglory. Then again, nothing surprises me anymore.

Dr. Yami then turns towards the crate, lowering it from the cart and setting it on the floor. She then unlocks the container, revealing a jet black, rectangular slab with a heptagram engraved in the center of its surface. The old man speaks while the audience is focused on the slab.

“Member No. 18 has prepared the necessary component for our sacrifice, an altar made of coal. We will cut open the child’s abdomen and drain his blood onto the altar, placing his cold body on the center of the heptagram, and then ignite it with our oil lamps. Once the last of his flesh burns away, his darkness will be bestowed to our supreme lord, helping to return him to his former glory.”

Dr. Yami suddenly looks away from the crowd below her and stares in the distance. In fact, it’s almost as if she’s staring at…

“Luckily, it seems that our sacrificial child is so very eager to comply. He even brought himself over here.”

Well, it seems like she knew I was here all along.

“Look what we have here...”

I hear a familiar voice from behind me. Immediately following that, I’m suddenly given the boot from behind, forced out of the dark hallway and into the lit room. Upon hitting the stone floor, I hear several gasps from the crowd as my figure is revealed to them. I look behind me to see the cloaked figure who kicked me into the spotlight. As expected, I can’t see any of this person’s features, but that voice was a dead giveaway for me.

It was the same voice from the intercom. A female, secretary-like voice.

The cloaked intercom woman grabs me by the back of my neck and lifts me up for all to see. The doctor then steps down from the podium and walks up to me.

“You’re a very interesting specimen, you know that? Did you miss your mommy and daddy that much? Being able to walk around and cover yourself in darkness is no small feat for a one year old. I could almost smell the raw darkness extruding from you as you walked by me near the library entrance. Though, that’s all the better of a reason for sacrificing you to our supreme lord. I almost want to take you home and run some ‘experiments’ on you, but unfortunately, there’s no time to waste.”

Hmm, it turns out that I would have been better off not using my darkness aura. Well, who would have thought that I would be dealing with people who were well-informed about darkness?

Whatever, I don’t want to get involved in this cult voodoo they’re trying to perform.

I conjure my darkness aura to take the form of a pole with a pointed end, similar to the shape of a primitive bamboo spear, that remains affixed to my hand. With this, I thrust the pointed end backwards to pierce into the intercom woman behind. The tip ends up stabbing her in the chest, albeit a bit shallowly, causing her to reflexively let go of her grasp on me.

The doctor and everyone else in the room are stunned in surprise to see this form of retaliation coming from a one year old infant of all things. Not letting the moment go to waste, I turn towards the fallen cloaked figure behind me and make one more stab, this time right in the throat.

The woman convulses for a brief moment, crimson liquid seeping out from beneath the cloak, before laying motionless.

Stabbing someone's throat is the optimal choice in this situation. The first thing to note is that as an infant, I don’t have much strength. The sharpness and rigidity of the spear conjured by my darkness aura can compensate for that, but only up to a certain extent. This means that I probably won’t be piercing through bone any time soon. The throat however is mainly protected by cartilage, which isn’t as tough to cut through. Second, stabbing the throat severs a couple vital arteries and veins, which then prevents blood from reaching the brain. As a result, victims are quickly incapacitated and will soon die. I know that from personal experience.

Everyone in the room soon snaps out of their dumbfounded state and begins to back away while pulling out a dagger from their cloaks. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, I don’t think they’ll let me walk out of this underground passage scot-free. Though, if everyone in this room were to suddenly “disappear”, that would be a different story.