1 Prologue: A unanswerable question

'Pick up your sword, don't bow your head.' His very words echoed in his head.

As much as he would not admit it his trembling body sold him out. The curled up lips that farmed themselves perfectly with his eyes, wide and awake, burning themselves on her. He felt lost with the way he kept closing his mouth as they opened subconsciously.

"You have become a monster of your own creation." Her voice came out clear to him even as her blade dragged across the concrete.

His legs gave out on him as he attempted to stand up, resulting in him at the mercy of her blade, "So what? I don't regret it."

Her grey eyes trembled the tiniest when she heard his chuckle, one of a trembling cowardly child standing up for someone else. She squinted them while a light breath escaped her slightly pale lips.

"Your chuckle is betraying you Noir. Such bold words coming from you right now." Her fingers tightened their grip on the hilt.

His chuckle still held the feel as before, "Even your eyes give out on you for that single moment."

She raised the sword in his right hand and took another step, pointing the end of it close to his throat. 'Noir' could feel the blade grazing his skin, his gulp stuck on his throat. If his throat made any significant movement, it could dig into his skin, ending his life right then and there.

A bitter laugh escaped from his lips as he could not contain himself. His body was bruised and nearly battered, would go as far as to say that most of his bones were broken. His left arm along his left leg was bleeding out. The refusal of 'them' to help only solidified that this abandoned building would be his grave.

The entire building was a high-rise office, supposed to be one. The construction was cut off due to the sudden spike of death rates around the area, making most residents fled for their lives or made this area their graves. Effectively making the property price dip and halting (eventually stopping altogether) the construction of any plans.

'This place wouldn't be too bad for a grave.' He thought once he closed his eyes.

The shattered glass panels allowed the winds and full shining moonlight to illuminate the entire floor. He could feel the cold winds brushing through his skin along with the steel blade still on his throat.

A sigh, then a faint smile, 'death huh.'

Another gust of wind blew through the floor, their skins once again brushing by the night breeze.

"Ironic. But you won't die here." Amelia's voice burst opened his bubble of thought.

She pulled her sword away from his throat and stabbed it on the concrete. Her lips curled up into a warm smile, one that does reach her eyes. It did not last very long as her body disintegrated into mist and completely disappeared.

'Noir's glowing yet incredibly dark scarlet eyes dimmed down slowly. His left hand massaged his right shoulder and moved his right arm as well. The blood still was on his body even if the wounds had already closed up.

He still could not stand up properly, however his laughter echoed throughout the floor with a bitter tone from the very bottom of his heart, "You should kill me next time then, Amelia."

His eyelids slowly closed as his body started to lean on his side. His head registered a faint voice calling out to him. 'Shit, she got me.' His pupils looked below while attempting to focus themselves to get a clear view of the person right in front of him.

"Leader… lead... LEA…."

With a loud thud, his body came in contact with the concrete. Oddly enough, he looked so peaceful with his eyes closed as if he was just taking a nap. He could not feel the pain of his sides crashing on the concrete or is it just him being unable to register the pain?

He did not know. He was not sure if he needed to know.

A person with a deer mask picked up his body. They make sure he was still alive by checking his pulse and breathing. 'All normal, nothing wrong.' They picked up his body with his torn cape hanging off of their arms.

"I will keep you safe!" They exclaimed to the now asleep 'Noir'.

The mist reappeared four blocks down the abandoned construction building. Amelia's body formed itself through the mist and she took a step forward.

"So you did let him leave." Aeon's grin said everything to her.

Her lips let out an intensely annoyed sigh, even her entire facial expression showed so as well, "So? You're going to rat me out?"

He let out a restrained chuckle and waved his left hand, "Nah~ They are going to figure it out themselves sooner or later."

"Besides, when have I ever judged your decisions hmm~? As far as I can recall, I've never done so."

Amelia scratched her head and let out an annoyed 'tch'. Her black hair that reaches below her shoulders was stained with blood, especially the ends of it. It contrasted with Aeon's thick and long wine-coloured hair with snow-coloured ends. They were different in almost every way as their eyes reflected that.

Amelia's dull grey eyes; Aeon's deep purple and black that resembled the universe.

Amelia's jacket and pants hid some bloodstain as it was black and navy blues each. Aside from that, the rest of her outfit did not help in hiding the stains. His eyes scanned her clothing condition, "You never felt bothered having visible blood on your clothing and shoes huh?"

"I can say the same to you." Her questioning gaze made him chuckle.

There was no form of visible blood on both his clothing and shoes. His white hoodie was still in a pristine white condition even when the shadows were cast on him. It made Amelia looked stained while Aeon remained pure.

"But mine doesn't have blood anywhere?"

Her expression screamed annoyance, more so than before. Aeon blinked a couple of times and decided to turn around and start walking. He much rather not question it before she got more annoyed than she already was.

'Is it even possible for her to get even more annoyed?' That thought lingered in his head.

She followed him along whilst raising her left-hand midair. The blood on her outfit was being dragged out. The blood swirled around it before ending up in the shape of a dense bubble, floating above her palm.

She raises it to the moon, allowing the moonlight to shine through it.

"This is how a blood moon will look like…" She muttered while her eyes were entranced by the beauty of it.

The bright red moon looked like it should exist in a dream, dyed in the blood of the slain. Imagining the air so dense with blood, smelling it even days later. Bodies on the ground, blood continued to spill out of their freshly slaughtered bodies.

His footsteps slowed down as he turned around to face her, "I like how you follow me without another word."

She brought her hand towards her lips and blew the bubble. Her light breath made it disintegrated into the air instead of floating away. Amelia rolled her shoulders and continued walking forward, not batting him an eye or making an attempt to talk.

"You…"

He opened his mouth to say more, he stopped himself from going through with it. He shook his head and continued walking, this time right alongside her.

"There is no need to communicate if we are here under the same goal."

She glanced over and rolled her eyes, "If something was off about you, I know it."

"Some confidence there." He laughed at her comment.

Their footsteps were the only sounds filling up the barren streets. The way it felt like echoing but did not and the way the houses and shops lined from street to street. There was no street lights lit, only the moonlight served as a source of brightness. The utter darkness made it feel more hollow than abandoned.

There was once a bustling city, an economically growing one. There was.

Aeon's body shivered once his eyes made contact with the dressed mannequins in a boutique. His face was filled with visible unease, the way his eyes took glances at the empty shops and by the sound of his footsteps.

"I thought you've been in places like this," Amelia commented.

He let out a shaky sigh, "I have. Just never felt the lingering presence of life so prominently alive."

Her eyes squinted at his words as if figuring out whether or not he was lying. She looked at his body language, from the way he walked to the way he talked just now.

'He's lying.' The conclusion she eventually came to.

She knew what was going through his mind, she was not interested in confronting him immediately. Instead, she decided to wait for him to show it later. She took another glance while continuing to walk forward.

"Besides, aren't you at least worried that they will find you? We are walking in broad streetways for Mother's sake."

She replied right after he asked, "When have I ever worried about such things? Besides, the life of their leader is more important than me right now."

"Then where are we going?" He blinked while staring at her.

She tilted her head slightly and closed her eyes, "To free the lives they've taken."

"Was this your actual mission?" His tone was clearly confused.

"Nope. I have already done it."

She shrugged and stopped at the front of the cathedral. They had walked 3 blocks down from where she appeared, currently at the center of this particular town.

He blinked again and looked even more confused than ever. His left finger pointed at it whilst placing his free hand on Amelia's shoulder which caused her shoulders to jolt for a millisecond.

"I thought... We weren't going here..?"

She shrugged his hand off and walked towards it, pushing the large door open without exerting much strength.

She looked over her shoulder and sighed extremely loudly, "I don't wanna come here~"

'This..' His right eye twitched when she said that.

Amelia walked right in and took a deep breath. The cathedral was like any other, nothing remarkable or different about it. The only thing that distinguished this from the rest of the cathedrals was the strong smell of blood. She pinched her nose with her fingers hoping to not catch too much of the smell.

Piles upon piles of bodies stacked on each other making a mountain out of it. Presumably, all the citizen's bodies are placed here.

"They used the cathedral as a cemetery?" His face of disgust resembled anger if his tensed fist was to go by.

She glanced over to Aeon though did not seem too bothered by anything aside from the smell.

"It is a fast way to get rid of the bodies. Or more like, pile it then sacrifice it somewhere."

The moonlight coming through the glass shined down on the priest on the platform. Amelia took the stairs and inspected the body; Aeon was still disgusted and frustrated at the sight of it all.

'His bones are all intact. Aside from the stab wound on his chest and head, the rest of the body is relatively fine. They purposely lay him very flat on the ground to act as a summoning medium. I still haven't examined whether the rest of the bodies were lured here or were placed here after their death.'

"Amy, can I borrow some mana from you?" Aeon abruptly appeared right behind her.

She nodded and gave him her hand, "You sound more like you're stating it than asking for permission."

He closed his eyes and held her hand gently between his own. His hands were visibly larger than hers as he was much taller than her (around 20 cm). Her left hand glowed very dimly like a small night lamp, just barely bright enough to illuminate their surroundings.

"Have your hands always been… this small…?" A faint smile crept on his face.

"Compared to yours, of course."

He breathed in and out slowly then let go of her hand. He turned his attention to the piles of bodies in the cathedral. Aeon placed his hand together and curled up his thumbs whilst walking closer to the bodies. His eyes opened up slowly as he muttered some words from his mouth.

"Moya Cailuraene, sakaivie yaoura owune emotoionesak ainede toelulu ome aruoay pekaine"

It might have sounded like gibberish but both of them knew what it meant. His eyes stared at the piles of bodies although she could feel the intense concentration from the fact that he did not move at all. After a minute she noticed that his lips were trembling.

This time it was not out of fear but out of sympathy.

He closed his eyes and let out his breath very slowly before he placed his hands back to his side. He did not talk or move, only staring at the floor with his body starting to tremble as well.

"It isn't the first time you've seen a situation like this."

Her footsteps were light enough that he could only hear them if he gave them some attention. She leaned in on one of the bodies on the ground and took a look at the surroundings.

"Ah. That's why you were trembling before even walking in."

She could see a nearly invisible trail of what looked to be smoke. It trailed out to the door and presumably to where it died. The smoke colour becomes more apparent as she stares at it being able to see and notice the very essence of their life.

The fading memories of genuine happiness.

"They died relatively peacefully. Just with their rather mundane pain and suffering being dragged out to fuel it."

An image of their deaths formed in her head. They were only going about their day when it happened. Their souls were dragged out from their bodies, the crystal ball was turned into a black mist by someone.

Their memories were foggy from that point onwards as if something was intentionally hiding away what happened to them in a fog. He eventually gave up after struggling for another moment. Nothing gave away within the fog, only the fleeting feeling of mundane remained.

She was calm compared to Aeon who just stands there without as much as a word. Amelia narrowed her eyes as if saying something rather important, although her eyes darted back to the front when she realized he was not going to do much.

At least she thought so.

He took a deep breath and calmly stated, "You're bringing me here for your benefit."

"When have I not?"

She straightened her back and sighed rather offhandedly, "Sometimes I don't understand why you ask questions you know the answer to. Then again, they aren't really questions when the way you said it sounds more like a general statement."

"Sometimes I want you to show a bit more compassion to these souls," his tone stern and serious.

She waved whilst placing her other hand in a pocket, "I can't when my job is to literally eliminate all traces."

He raised his head and turned to see her walking out of the cathedral, her hands in her pockets. His left foot took a step and his body turned in the direction, though his mouth opened fast yet words were unable to come out of it.

"Don't come looking for something you can't."

'What are you referring to? Is it your own humanity? Or the truth about the leader and your relationship? Why did you bring me here in the first place? Why did you even call me here?'

No matter what he thought her words were referring to, there were too many variables to be able to trace her thoughts. A direct yet somehow ambiguous warning.

One he got too many of but did not know the answer to. Even he questioned if he needed to know the answer.

"Why do you always do this to me, Hana?"

His eyes wandered down back to the ground as the moonlight illuminated his figure, creating a lone shadow amidst the shadows of the dead.

He felt insulted in a way, the light forming such shadows between the deceased and alive. Unfortunately, he doubted if the Gods above ever cared about their life. What could he have done? Was it anything he could even do?

The shadows gave him too many questions to answer, despite having too little to.

Blares.

His head was making a blaring sound. It was so annoying yet so fitting for an occasion like this.

"Fu… ck... "

'Noir' could feel some strength coming back to him. It was not enough for him to speak properly. He gulped down the feeling of anxiousness floating up in the air. His eyes that were now returned to their original colour unveil themselves.

His eyelids were still threatening to fall back down and return him to the darkness.

His fingers were trembling, even so, he attempted to lift himself up with his arm. His eyes stared at his arm with the feeling of suffering registering in his own mind. There was something else that concerned him as well.

He could feel some sort of… liquid. A liquid coating the back of his arm as his eyes saw them drip down from it. As the bright moonlight started to fill both his mind and surroundings with light, he got to see what the liquid dripping off of his arm was. His nose got hit with a familiar smell one he got accustomed to from his years of living with it.

The smell of human blood. A fresh one at that.

'Noir's body was suddenly fueled by strength to be able to immediately jolt up. He could feel some stinging pain akin to a bee sting on some parts of his body still, he was not going to let that stop him. His eyes and brain were now wide awake to take in his surroundings.

There were 4 bodies on the ground. Blood splattered all across the ground, pooling underneath the corpses. Their face was facing the ground. He was unsure whether they were attacked from the front or the back. Yet there was this sudden realisation in his head.

He killed them.

He dragged his legs towards one of the bodies to get a closer look. The thing he immediately noticed was their face mask, a sheep-shaped black mask.

"It's… one of our own." He stuttered.

His left leg trembled as it lightly kicked over the body to get a full view since there was no visible wound on their backside. His eyes widened more and more until they started to shake. His breath became hitched, tears started forming in his eyes clouding them from viewing too much of the body.

He fell to the ground and wrapped his arms around his body.

The body seemed fine from the head to the shoulders. Beyond that, their body was entirely empty. There were no skin, flesh, or organs left; Some had their bones broken or missing. Their eyes stayed in a state of pain that he could feel what they went through.

The reason why their body seemed fine from the back was because of their clothing. The jacket-like quality of the shirt hiding the fact that most of the body is gone.

He repeated the same sentence, "I ate them… I killed them…"

'Noir' looked down and stayed in a crouching form as if protecting himself from someone that would come and kill him. His entire body still trembling from that regret while tears streamed down his eyes.

The way he was crying was as if they were his children.

"I'm sorry…" He mumbled.

His eyes now stared at the bodies in front of him. He held himself tighter like a scared child while his tears continued to cloud his vision more and more. It had now obscured his vision.

The moon was now covered up by the passing clouds, covering up some of the light that shined down on this town. A form of uncanny stillness now could be felt all over the once prosperous city.

Not even the moon wanted to give him a shadow.

Although to those who were watching, they would notice something off.

Despite his rather loud crying noise… there was this odd feeling of being faked somehow. It felt like an actor crying crocodile tears. It was clearly different from those actually crying their hearts out. There is a form of restraint in his voice.

There was something wrong with it.

His eyes wandered to the empty shops and stores in front of him. Everything was still so new and fresh that he could feel the atmosphere. Whether it be people doing window shopping; the clerks and workers who had to please the customers; the homeless people with eyes of envy and unspoken sombre.

Then, the 4 bodies around him.

Liam's lip curled up to a smile. Then it turns into a laugh; Laughter erupted from him.

"This is so amusing... Oh my…"

He loosened the grip on himself and stood up without much problem as if the lack of strength earlier was faked. He took a good look at his outfit, noting that it was stained with blood. Liam rolled his eyes like it was nothing but an inconvenience to him.

He wiped his tears away and sighed, "What a waste of energy."

"You are worth nothing but snacks. Not nearly enough to fill me up."

He attempted to do some stretches but he was forced to stop. It looked like his body was still suffering the after-effects of the mist which was assumed to be some kind of drug. However, that was not the priority on his mind right now as he looked around.

'Someone is watching me.' The feeling of paranoia crept up to him.

He cracked his knuckles and stared in a direction where only a sparrow was there. The way he smiles implied that there was something more to the sparrow than it met the eye.

"Yahoo~" He whistled loudly.

The sparrow jumped around for a good moment as if ignoring Liam. His smile never faded as it only widened. He proceeded to throw a knife that blended in the shadows of the street to strike where it was at, a lamp post.

It flew up before the knife got to hurt it, not even a single feather was even grazed. It quickly flew away once the sound of it colliding with the walls was heard. His smile dropped, turning back to being unimpressed.

"I thought you were going to put up more of a fight."

Liam's mind suddenly wondered about what to do with the bodies. Despite his cold and unnerving stare, a drop of tear fell down his right cheek. He only realized this when another tear dripped down his left cheek.

There was this unspoken confusion in his eyes, wondering what happened to cause such reaction from himself.

His voice sounded forced, "Well, I did lose. But what do you want?"

Liam's palm had a deer mask on it as if it just reappeared in his hands. He wore it back as his eyes turned back into the dim shade of red. Using his half-torn cape as a medium, he swung it to the front and disappeared.

'Noir' left behind the bodies to rot. And his own emotions were abandoned along with them.

The sparrow landed on a nearby rooftop. When one of its feet touched the tiles, it transformed back into its original form.

"I never thought you were fit to be a leader of such scale. And you proved it completely."

Amelia's legs landed rather gracefully on the tiles without looking like she was going to fall off. Her head turned around to stare at the bodies and shook her head. She was in such dismay that she had to deal with them.

"I don't think I need to do anything more. Seeing as 'Noir' there have at least ripped out their soul and ate whatever it felt like."

She shrugged and went back to the cathedral by jumping across the street. She did it with so little effort that it felt like she was floating through the air. She jumped off another rooftop and landed without much issue on the ground.

"They made this place a massive graveyard and I have to be the one to clean it up." She shook her head.

One of Amelia's hands was placed in her jacket's pocket, the other free hand extended out to the cathedral. She was in front of the same cathedral she brought Aeon to earlier. The door was within arm's reach and she could lean forward to push it open.

But her intentions were not such as her hand was extending flat.

"Aeon is no longer here. Makes it easier to do." She muttered to herself.

She let her breath came out of her mouth as the temperature around her raised every second. She closed her eyes whilst her hand was still extended. Amelia was not too bothered by the sudden rise in heat since it was something that she needed to do.

"This place. This town. Will remain a memory to those that once lived here, and a story of tragedy to those that live in this world."

A loud snap.

The entire city went up in flames. It felt like the collective pain of the souls roaring at the inhumane acts that they acted upon them. However, it was also burning away every memory and history that itself held. Everything valuable by the citizens going up in blazes.

"A bygone memory, given only the earth will remember their existence." She mumbled.

The orange and red flames brighten up the place for one last time before everything turns to ash.

"And another place goes down in flames for the relentless experiments…" She sighed.

She opened her eyes to stare at the burning cathedral. Even the blaze gives those iris some light they had not seen in ages.

"Now then, let's go back to work."

Her body was masked by the flames of her creation. She turned her head and walked into the flames, disappearing into the void along with the city.