David looked at the white building with a tall roof, the windows were boarded up behind the broken stained glass. The pure white color now had a healthy coating of dirt, and the sign had fallen off the building. From the belfry, he was able to see a bedsheet flapping like a flag after hearing a call for help. 

 

“There is something wrong, why don’t they just come down if they want our help?” Harry asked.

 

“We need to be careful, this could be a trap,” David said calmly. “I say we check the van first. We also don’t want to be encumbered if we have to fight something nasty. While the vehicle might not save us, it can buy us some time.”

 

“So we are leaving and coming back?” Harry asked.

 

“There are too many questions and not enough answers,” David said. “Assume it is dangerous unless you are given proof to the contrary.”

 

“Won’t you spend a lot of time with suspicions?” Harry asked.

 

“Better suspicious than dead,” Lena replied.

 

“Right, you can’t think that people still have their old sensibilities, it’s only been six months and the government still isn’t here. We also aren’t getting anything from the radios, there is just silence.” David said. 

 

“A month ago we got something from KOA, they said that the Faceless Giant was after them, and then they cut their broadcast. They also warned any other broadcaster that it will go after you if you try.” Harry said.

 

“The Faceless Giant?” David asked.

 

“Yeah, have you heard of it?” Harry asked.

 

“No, did they describe it?” David asked.

 

“No, they just called it that, it was mentioned by some broadcasters two months ago before they completely stopped,” Harry said.

 

David was running through every single monster in his memory for something that fit such a simple description. He realized that it could be a lot of different things but nothing fit how he wanted it to. Most giants have a voracious appetite, the ones that didn’t feed off things like elemental energy.

 

A thunder giant? 

 

David knew that they could eat lightning, but he couldn’t see any reason why it would have any interest in a radio tower. He had considered the possibility that the Machine Lord’s knowledge would have limits, but he didn’t think he would reach them this fast. Any true giant was at least high-tier, with all titans being in the supreme-tier but these were extinct on Edea.

 

“We still haven’t seen any monsters in the town,” Lena said.

 

“I have noticed that too, the empty houses should have been turned into dens by now, same with the sheds and garages,” David said.

 

“Who do you think could be in that church? How could they have survived this long?” Harry asked.

 

“Donations,” David said. “The basement is filled with spare food from the farmers that were supposed to be donated. Most churches network with each other if they are of the same faith,”

 

“How do you know about that?” Harry asked.

 

David sighed sadly and smiled as he looked in the direction of the church. 

 

“When Susie’s husband was still alive, he used to play the piano at the church. I used to go down there with Trey and watch him play hymns on the weekends. That man had quite a voice as well, he could outsing most of the choir.” David sighed sadly.

 

Most of the people in the small town had moved on to other areas, it made David realize how cold the modern world was. All it takes is not answering a message one time for a friendship to begin to fall apart, this became clear when he was trying to find another place to stay. The long list of friends he used to be able to rely on was suddenly barren.

 

“I need to repaint this thing,” David said as they got to the van.

 

Behind him, Harry was continuing to drag the sled that was filled with gas and bags of meat, and Lena had her eyes on their sides and back. This allowed the three of them to move relatively safely through the empty town. They soon spotted the van off in the distance next to what used to be an ice cream parlor.

 

He placed his hand on the vehicle and began to use his mechanical sense to feel the condition of the vehicle. He realized the vehicle was in good shape, then he paused when he realized something else about the vehicle that he didn’t think about.

 

“Fuck! It’s diesel!” David said in anger.

 

“Did you check the diesel at the gas station?” Harry asked.

 

“I did, it was bone dry, they didn’t leave any of it,” David said.

 

“Why would they have left some gasoline then?” Harry asked.

 

David kneeled in front of the door and began taking picks out of a pouch on his side, he then started picking the lock. The security on this one wasn’t as good as some of the locks he had picked in the hospital. Harry also felt like he needed to comment on it.

 

“Where did you learn how to pick a lock?” He asked.

 

“Do you want to learn?” David asked.

 

“No, I don’t think I will need it,” Harry said.

 

David laughed as he watched the large man seem to feel miffed when he was trying to think about how to summarize his feelings.

 

“I used to think lockpicking was only a useful skill for criminals, so I didn’t want to learn it either,” David said. “I had to tell myself that without a knowledge of how locks can be attacked, you can’t design a lock that is resistant to it.”

 

Lena reached forward and used a towel she had to wipe the sweat off of David’s face, he didn’t need his eyes anyway to pick a lock. She was always attentive to his comfort, David had wondered if she had some kind of ability like empathy. This thought disappeared when he thought of her constant deadpan expression when the two of them weren’t alone.

 

Click!

 

Lena pulled her hand away and tucked the handkerchief into her pocket, David nodded as he stood and climbed into the van. It smelled abandoned and dusty, and he soon climbed into the back and found the lever for the back door using his mechanical sense. Light streamed in and David was able to see inside of the back of the van.

 

“I might leave one of these freezers,” David said as he looked at a set of freezers that took up most of the back of the van.

 

“It will need more chairs, how many people are you planning to recruit?” Harry asked. “4, maybe 5?” 

 

“Are you crazy?” David asked.

 

“What do you mean?” Harry looked hurt.

 

“Do you think that the monsters will take turns fighting us?” David asked.

 

“No,” Harry said.

 

“Then why should we limit ourselves to something like party size?” David said. “Can you toss the meat and gas up, we are leaving it all in here.” 

 

“Of course!” Harry said happily.

 

Harry began tossing one bag after another, which David caught and placed inside an empty freezer; he was also using this as a way to gauge how much it could hold. In the end, he had to assume both freezers could hold 40 gallons(~151L) each, or very close to it. Above the freezers was shelving for various supplies, it even had a rack for things like shovels and other tools.

 

Once all of the meat was placed they next moved in the red gas cans filled with gasoline and stored them in the space between the freezers and the two seats in front. Satisfied with this arrangement, David closed and locked up the doors again and climbed out of the back door. While unhappy with being unable to take the vehicle, it was now acting as a stash if they needed to run away.

 

As they started to approach the church, David took his poleaxe off his back and held it in his hand as he began to approach the front door. Harry raised the mace that David loaned him and Lena had Artemesia. Soon the trio made it to the white wooden church walls and David began trying to look through the gaps in the wooden windows.

 

“It is dark inside, it also smells like dust,” David said as he looked through the gaps in the boards. 

 

“I don’t smell any sewage,” Lena said.

 

“They aren’t calling out anymore,” Harry said.

 

“I don’t like this at all,” David said.

 

David’s instincts were screaming out that something was wrong, this wasn’t helped when they got to the front doors of the building that were sealed shut with chains and a padlock. This would normally not be a problem if they weren’t sealed from the outside. This also made David reconsider the position of the boards, they were on the inside of the windows.

 

“Do you know where you place boards if you want to prevent a thief?” David asked.

 

“Over the doors and windows,” Harry said.

 

“Over, not inside like this was done. This looks like it was done to seal something inside.” David said.

 

“Like what?” Harry asked.

 

“There are a lot of different things that people might want to seal away,” David said. “This would have taken quite a bit of work though, and it doesn’t look like something you would use to trap a human. I don’t know why they did this.” 

 

David was torn by the situation he was seeing in front of him, that was because he knew that this was dangerous. The Machine Lord would have turned away and left, he wouldn’t have even bothered to check if he was in David’s shoes. That is why David wanted to follow what his emotions were telling him, and that was that he should see if the person needed help.

 

Click!

 

It took David less than 5 seconds to open the lock in front of him. Even he was surprised at how weak it was, once he saw that it had a similar design flaw to a lock with the same brand he saw in the hospital he was able to open it easily. Harry looked shocked to see the large padlock open and get tossed to the side.

 

“That was fast!” Harry said.

 

“Get your head in the game!” David said.

 

“Sorry!” Harry replied.

 

“Help me!” A girl's cry came from inside the building.  

 

“David, did you hear that? We need to go inside!” Harry said.

 

“No, there is something wrong here,” David said definitively. 

 

That was because this cry had come the moment he opened the door, and inside he could see the ruined interior of the church, with light streaming through cracks in the windows. Multiple of the large wooden pews were broken into pieces, and thick dust covered the inside of the building. In the back, a large cross hung on the wall, and two doors could be seen that led into the back.

 

Just as they were getting their bearings one of the doors in the back burst open and they could see a young girl who looked to be a teenager. She wore a nun’s uniform that looked ragged and she stumbled through the wooden door. This was followed by a large arm that looked like it was made from bones reaching out and grabbing her ankle.

 

“Help me, please!” She called.

 

Harry suddenly began to move forward before David could stop him, he went right past his outreached hand and inside of the building. A flame was already coming out of the mace as he hit it on the ground to twist it into the active position. He yelled out a warcry as he barreled into the building towards the pretty woman.

 

“Shit! I thought he was gay!” David roared angrily. 

 

David charged forward after Harry with Lena closely on his heels, they could see the woman wearing the habit being pulled into the hallway. David was running as quickly as he could, but Harry was faster than David was. He could only yell out to Harry and hope he would listen to him.

 

“Harry! Don’t touch her! Something is wrong!” He screamed.

 

As soon as the large man reached the woman who was at the edge of the doorway he reached forward and grabbed onto her hands. He looked heroic as he tried to help her, but David finally saw what was giving him the eerie feeling. On some of the planks of the windows, he could see runes that were painted onto the boards.

 

“It’s a demon! It is just playing with you! Let it go!” He roared to Harry. 

 

“You should have listened to him.” The woman said with a kind tone.

 

“What?!” Harry said with shock.

 

That was because his whole arm suddenly felt ice-cold, and when he looked down he could see that it was missing from the elbow down. Blood flowed from the freshly cut wound, it was so rapid that Harry could only feel disbelief as he saw the culprit responsible for taking the limb. Then they could hear the sound of the heavy wooden doors shutting behind them, sealing them into the boarded-up church.

 

“ARRRGGHHHHH!!!” Harry screamed in pain as it finally registered in his mind.

 

In front of the door was the creature responsible for maiming him, it looked like a pitbull with a man riding it. The pitbull was slightly smaller than a horse and it was squatted down as it chewed at the arm that was in its mouth, sending blood and bone flying out along with its drool. The man on the back of the creature was even scarier, that was because he was joined to the large hound by his waist that was fused to its spine.

 

“H-h-he told you! Y-y-you should have run!” The creature on the back of the dog said in mockery.

 

“Damnit! What is that!” David said in horror.

 

The creature on the back of the dog looked like a doll with cloth armor covering his body and two eye slits that showed burning red orbs that released light. Its right arm was a large scythe blade that extended out of its right arm that was much longer than it should have been and was made of bone. The arm had multiple elbows as if they had been duplicated, and it Allowed the large limb to stretch to an absurd length.

 

David watched the creature pull back the large arm, it looked like it was almost rolled up before it darted forward, aiming right at Harry’s neck. The man missing an arm was still in shock, and he didn’t even try to defend himself as the bone blade met the flesh of his neck. It cut through it as easily as butter and sent the head spinning in the air.

 

“DAMNIT!” David roared in anger.

 

“H-h-h-he died like a fool.” The demon said as it pulled back the bloody limb.

 

David could feel a burning rage start to grow, he put the creature on the back of the large dog ahead of the Ursok that he needed to kill. Looking at Harry’s body he could see that his headless corpse had hit the ground, and the head was rolling across the floor. The dog had finished eating the arm noisily, and it was currently standing on four legs eyeing Lena and David.

 

“N-n-n-now, who do I k-k-k-kill first, the man, or the woman?” The demon muttered to itself.

 

David paused as he held his poleaxe at the ready, with the doors locked and the windows boarded up he couldn’t leave. When He had fully entered the room on the boarded-up windows he was able to see Infernal runes that were painted on the back of the boards. The entire setup was designed to trap this demon, and they hadn’t left any kind of warning of what was in the church.

 

David reached the creature, it swung its scythe lazily at him which he used his poleaxe to block. He knew the force would be extreme, but it was much worse than he expected and he was sent flying. A crack spread in the wood of the poleaxe, as he was forced to block the blow. David watched as the dog and man charged past him towards Lena, the pitbull opened its savage jaws that were filled with bloody saliva reaching for her face and got only air.

 

David watched an incredible maneuver, one where he saw her step on top of the bull dog’s head then use the top of the cloth monster as a handhold to do a flip over the top of the monster and its conjoined mount.  It tried to reach her with its non-bladed arm, but she was also able to avoid it, she made it look easy as she completed 3 turns in the air using her waist and landed nimbly before turning it into a roll to get further away from the monster.

 

Holy shit! Did she do gymnastics?

 

Even though all of the anger and rage he was feeling, he was still able to be shocked at how agilely she was able to avoid the attack. She also wasn’t done, as she kept Artemesia in her free hand, he could already see sparks dancing on the knife blade. These soon turned into a bolt of electricity as they shot towards the demon who was starting to slow its charge so he could turn, crashing through several wooden pews in the process.

 

The reason spellcasting was phased out in favor of runes was because they did not make the mage a sitting target. With runes and weapons that acted as storage, they could fire off spells while moving around just like a warrior. It was also possible to cancel a rune mid formation without any negative effect, unlike a spell where if you stopped in the middle of the cast it was dangerous to the caster.

The bolt of sparks hit the back of the creature and left only a minor mark and a few twitches out of it. Both the dog and rider seemed unaffected, as they completed their turn. It was now targeting David and had its long arm curled up with the blade at the ready.

 

“David, watch out!” Lena called out.

 

David paused as he suddenly felt something grab onto his leg.