In a large room with no windows, two figures are seated across each other with a long metal table in between them. All four walls have this smooth metal-like texture to them. The ceiling has several vents that provide the room with a constant supply of fresh air. Bizzare-looking lamps provide light to the whole room

"So you are telling me that a third party rescued you" A man dressed in black clergy robes stopped writing on a booklet and looked at John.

"Yes," John nodded. 

After surviving a harrowing night at Arco's manor, John and Lucia were surprised to find out that the entire manor was surrounded by numerous carriages and people. Those people were equally surprised to see John and Lucia come out of the manor. They quickly surrounded John and Lucia, taking away their weapons of John and Lucia. Without delay, the two were blindfolded and escorted into different carriages.

"Can you please describe the intruders?" The clergyman told John.

"This is the second time you're asking the same questions. I need some rest." John irritatedly complained.

The clergyman waited for John to calm down and then repeated his question.

"What can you tell us about the intruders." 

"For crying out loud." John moaned and scratched his head. He continued. "Ummm... the only thing that stood out was all five were wearing colorful robes and full facial masks." 

The clergyman nodded his head and continued. "Okay, so what did those five people do afterward."

John recalls what happened next.

 

Four of the five intruders quickly disappeared from the center of the room. 

'Where did they go? Are they also enemies?' John ponders while shooting at an approaching monster. He also kept his guard up in case the intruders are enemies.

While John shoots at a nearby monster, he saw the nearby monster explode into bits of pieces.

"What...?" John slowed down in confusion.

Bzzzzzzzz....splat

He heard a buzzing sound rush past him. John quickly turned around and aimed his gun only to see a pile of flesh near him.

Throughout the room, the smaller monsters died in the same fashion. In just a few short moments, all of the smaller monsters have become a pile of flesh on the ground. From start to finish, John can only see the shadow of the four intruders. However, the four did not deal with the large monster as they disappear deeper into the manor.

The room started to be filled with the familiar strange scent. The more John smells the enticing scent, the stronger he has the feeling to gag. Lucia was also in the same situation. She put her hands on her mouth trying to stop herself from vomiting.

John's intuitions told him that the source of the scent was the intruder that have not yet moved. Incidentally, the intruder turned their head toward John and Lucia's direction. They then turned their head at the large monster.

"Haaaah" John and Lucia made an audible gasp for air. The moment the two saw the intruder look at them, they forgot to breathe.

The large monster, which had not moved ever since the five intruders arrived, let out an unearthly groan. With speed incomparable to its size, the large monster used its four legs and dash forward to the remaining intruder. 

John tried to shoot the large monster only to find out that his gun had no ammo left. He could only watch the large monster unimpededly dash forward. Even Lucia did not move, she is watching intently the intruder.

The intruder did not move as the giant behemoth got closer. As the large monster swung its raised fist, the intruder leisurely raised their hand.

With the intruder's outstretched hand, they easily stopped the falling fist. It was as if the fist had no momentum at all. The large monster did not give out as the other hand tried to grab the intruder's body.

The moment the large monster's hand was about to grab the intruder, the monster fell on his back. 

"What the f*** happened?" John murmured loudly.

"They pushed the monster's hand in such a way that the monster lost their balance," Lucia told John her guess.

The large monster got up quickly from the ground. It was about to launch an attack, but it suddenly wailed. With its two arms, it grabbed the other hand.

Under the moonlight, John can see that the hand was covered in holes. Chunks of flesh dripped down like mud from the hand revealing its deformed bone. This caused the monster to wail louder. With its two arms, it pulled out the rest of the hand from its body. A fountain of blood splurted out from the wound. 

The separated hand was thrown away and landed near John and Lucia. John saw the hand quickly turn to bones. The flesh became like paste on the floor. As John looked closely at the flesh paste, he saw hundreds of white worms wriggling in it. The most disturbing thing is that John can smell the familiar scent emanating from the hand.

While John was focused on the hand, another round of battle happened between the monster and the intruder.

This time the monster dug its finger into the floor and threw chunks of flooring into the intruder. The intruder finally moved and dodge the incoming fragments. Then in a blink of an eye, the intruder had already closed the distance between them and the large monster. The other two hands of the monster along with its shoulder just disappeared. It was as if something had taken a bite out of the monster. 

The shriek made John look up only to see the large monster in a sorry state.

"What happened?" John asked Lucia.

"I... I don't know" Lucia was at a loss for words.

"I..." John was about to say something, but he saw the whole upper body of the large monster disappear. The lower torso tumbled down like it lost its support. Soon it suffered the same fate as the severed hand and became a pile of deformed bones.

The intruder looked at John and Lucia for one last time before disappearing inside the manor.

John and Lucia were left in the empty ballroom. 

"We should leave quickly," John told Lucia.

Lucia nodded and slowly walked to the ballroom door.

John helped Lucia on his shoulder. He then noticed that Lucia was bleeding on her sides.

"You're hurt." John panicked.

"It is just a scratch," Lucia told him.

Luckily, the way out of the manor had returned to the original. Any corpses in the hallway had disappeared. Only the blood stain reminds others of what was once there.

John and Lucia finally left the manor. The stillness of the outside garden makes what they experience feel like it was all an illusion.

 

 

John ends his recollections.

"Then I met you guys outside the gates." John looked at the clergyman.

The clergyman nodded and left the room.

 

One of the metal walls in the interrogation wall is transparent on the other side. Connected to it was another room with a group of people observing the interrogation. Among them, three give an air of superiority.

"There was barely any change in his second story." A woman, who was typing down everything, reported to the three people.

"There are also no lies on his heart" added a man holding a beating heart made of flesh and gears.

"It seems he is very resistant to the erasure phenomenon." The short fat man on the left said.

"We don't know that, sometimes the phenomenon takes a long to take effect," the woman on the right replied.

"Any word from the Arco's family" The stern-looking man in the middle of the two asked.

"We got the news that they had already publicly and privately notified that Peter was excomunnicated from the family. They already spread rumors that Peter was a bastard son or an adopted orphan." A man guarding the room announced to everyone.

"Slimy cult worshipping parasites." The woman cursed when she heard the news. 

"If the boy is telling the truth, we are dealing with two cults in this city." She continued and looked at the man in the middle.

"...What about the girl?" The stern man asked.

"Lucia Ferenc barely said anything. Moreover, the Charmant family already petition for the release of the two." A man at the door reported.

"Charmant? Interesting." The stern man said with a rare smirk.

"Released them. Two ordinary people survived the cult ritual with only a few scratches and shallow wounds. They must have some interesting secrets so keep an eye on both of them" He continued.

"At your will, Bishop Osmond" the others answered.