Back at Uncle's house, we found it trashed, littered with corpses left and right; most of them belonged to the faceless maids and butlers.
They had been impaled and put on display all around the house's roof; the ones dragging their bodies and putting them on the roof were other butlers, like my maid. They weren't covering their faces, yet didn't have any colors to them.
The maskless, the armed force we brought from the surface—it was obvious that compared to the others, these guys would be more loyal.
"Well, it looks like we're going to have a couple of rough weeks until we get some new maids…" Leo commented as he guided me inside the mansion.
It was weird seeing him act so natural even though there were so many corpses around, so much blood and gore painting the walls of the hallways.
I was a lost cause. Even though I barely remember anything from the time I was kidnapped, my heart had completely frozen. The part that deeply impressed me was that my heart didn't even skip a beat.
What the hell happened here? Why did the… If they revolted, why did they revolt? Why today?
"Don't worry about it; all the unmasked were handpicked by my father. There's no way they would turn on him; they already know how powerful and ruthless he can be if you get on his bad side." Leo clarified it to me.
"Ugh, the smell, is there even a room that has been saved from this—" Leo complained shortly after.
It was true, the smell was horrific, and there were still some of the rogue employees left alive, being dragged away as they were screaming in pain. I felt disgusted at the sight.
It can't be helped… We're not in the wrong; we're just defending ourselves. They pointed their weapon at us first; it's only right that we respond in kind…
"So… I feel like—" I didn't know what to say; the mood was strange. My uncle had stopped to talk with some of the butlers that were impaling the corpses on the roof, so I decided to say something to lighten up the mood.
As I turned around, I saw Uncle Kiriam rushing back to his car and driving away.
"Something serious must've happened for him to leave us here." Leo whispered in my ear.
How many serious things can happen all in one night? Why did they all turn so hostile? They seemed so happy when they organized the parade in our honor just a couple of days ago.
"Anyways, how was your first day at school? Did you meet anyone exciting?" Leo then asked as he led me to his room.
It was one of the few things that hadn't been messed with; the door was fine, and there wasn't any blood or guts smeared inside. Then, the moment I got in, Leo slammed the door closed, opened the windows, and put some damp clothes all around the door to try and block the smells from coming in.
"God, this just… never ends." He complained.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" I asked him as I was helping him.
"It should." He responded as fire began to come out of his hands.
It quickly expanded, covering the whole room, burning away the unpleasant smell. The fire had no warmth, nor did it harm us when it engulfed the whole room.
"Wait—" I got startled by it and flinched when I saw the flames expanding towards me.
"Don't worry about it; I'm pretty good at controlling them already. I've had enough time to practice with them." He assured me as he expelled more flames out of his body.
"See? You're fine; there's not a single injury in your body now." He pointed out once his flames disappeared.
Oh, really? It's not like I would be able to notice it in my current state, so…
"It must be nice having such cool abilities." I commented.
"Oh, this? This is not an ability; it all comes from a contract, so it's classified as an artifact." Leo enthusiastically explained as he created a floating flame in the palm of his hands.
"And weren't you the one who received a demonic artifact first? What was it? Something about colors, right? Ah! Colorful Madness!" He immediately headed towards his nightstand to take his notebook.
He had already put everything he knew about my ability in his notebook. My ability had the first page and had a couple of free blank pages to fill up with the rest of the information.
What now? You're going to document it?
"I was always curious about that thing. You said it can restore colors; that's what I wrote here. What else does it do?" He asked me with the pen in hand, eager to start writing.
"Huh? What makes you think I'll tell you what it does?" I said as I lay down on his bed, I already had a long day. All I wanted was to play a couple of games to unwind a little and take my mind off my problems, not discuss my ability.
"Come on! Family first!" he kept insisting.
Now you're going to bring up that motto? Ugh, I need to take off these clothes; they're slowly suffocating me. Why are they so tight anyway?
"So?"
"Fine!" I gave up.
Leo was looking at me with his twinkling eyes, waiting for me to start, sitting on his knees next to me. I didn't even see him sitting there. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared from his previous location and appeared there.
Already using that teleporting ability… I guess you're lucky my kidnapper had hold of such a powerful tool.
"Honestly, I don't know much; the rules of this thing are all over the place and need some serious testing." I warned him as I was just as confused while summoning the gun.
"What do you mean by that?" He asked before I could even start explaining how my ability worked.
"That's what it means. I don't know how it works. When a bullet hits something or someone, the effect spreads to anything it touches and keeps spreading like that, but strangely enough, it doesn't count on the ground, no matter what material it's made of." I explained as I fired a round aimed at the ground.
The round bounced from wall to wall until it hit his TV.
"See?" I pointed out.
"No, I mean yes, I see, but that's not what I mean. When you gain an artifact or absorb a demon into your body, all of the functions of their weapons and power are immediately revealed to you." Leo explained while creating a couple of floating flames above his head and making them spin to create a halo.
"Ah, anyway, the things I've been able to confirm are that it can dispel illusions, no matter how strong they are; they can cause headaches, hallucinations, and—" The image of a spider made out of a human brain suddenly flashed before my eyes.
"I… I think it also strengthens demons." I added.
Leo was happily writing down every bit of news he could grasp when, when I added the last part, he stopped writing.
Is it that bad?
"How do you know that?" He asked me, his tone having completely shifted, now much more cold and contained.
I tried my best to remember the events. The events seemed blurry. I remembered a man hammering his head against the wall like a madman, the demon made out of its brain, and lastly, an image of the demon now towering over the buildings, having grown over a hundred times in size, causing havoc.
"I… A demon was able to corrode the mind of one of the kidnappers once he was hit by the bullets; it forced him to commit suicide and freed itself. The demon then wrecked a whole city." I explained.
My body was shuddering; those unpleasant memories were too overwhelming for me. I wanted to hide myself in a dark corner; my urge was to run away as far as possible. Even though I was in a safe place, I still felt as if those kidnappers were still within my reach.
"Hmmm, I never heard of something like this happening; you sure got ahold of quite the unique weapon. What about the bullets?" he then asked.
"I… I don't know, I really don't know. They're just infinite, I guess. Maybe they have a limit; who knows?" I was still feeling uncomfortable from those memories; I wanted to get over this before other unpleasant memories could resurface in my mind.