"It's coming!"
Caesar shouted, jolting awake from the sofa bed. His tone was terrified, and his loud voice echoed in the quiet lounge, waking up the few people who had been sleeping.
Royale Reideen, across from him, put down her newspaper and looked at him calmly.
"Had a nightmare?"
She asked indifferently.
On the other beds, Klein woke up, and Cecilia also groggily sat up, rubbing her eyes.
Caesar's heart pounded violently against his ribs and his breathing was ragged. He looked around blankly; the missing people seemed to have been in the lounge all along, and there were no strange noises in the corridor.
Was it a dream?
It seemed like a dream.
Caesar instinctively wanted to let out a sigh of relief, but a sense of anxiety suddenly surged into his heart.
No!
Something was wrong!
A dangerous premonition kept stimulating his nerves, like seeing a steel needle suspended before his eyes, slowly approaching, about to pierce into his head. Although he hadn't been pricked yet, an extremely uncomfortable, illusory pain had already appeared between his eyebrows.
"It's not a nightmare! There's real danger!"
Caesar shouted to Royale Reideen, "I don't know how to describe it… but but, something is coming!"
He explained pale and gaunt waving his arms in vain looking utterly unconvincing. At first, Caesar thought Royale Reideen would think he was going crazy. But to his surprise, she merely frowned then got up swiftly and with a whoosh, drew her revolver from the holster at her waist.
"Which way?"
She asked, "Which way do you feel something is wrong?"
Which way?
Caesar froze for a moment, unable to answer. He only instinctively felt danger, but what it was specifically, and where it came from, he couldn't say.
"Did you see any images? Tell me I can try to divine it," Klein also stood up and said seriously.
"Who are you! Don't come over! Ah——"
Just then, a girl's scream came from outside the lounge.
"Rosanne!"
Royale Reideen's expression changed slightly, and she quickly ran towards the lounge door, while not forgetting to instruct Caesar, "Protect your sister, hide here! Klein, come with me!" Before Caesar could respond, she charged out with her gun raised.
Caesar jolted, and quickly pulled Cecilia to squat down somewhere.
...
Klein gripped his revolver and followed Royale Reideen out of the lounge.
Rosanne was still screaming outside, which inevitably made him anxious. After all, there were only two Nighthawks present at the moment, including himself, a newcomer. If the enemy was too strong, he worried that the situation might become worse.
Royale Reideen, who was rushing ahead, had already crossed the partition, holding her gun with both hands, aiming it in a certain direction.
"Stop, don't move!"
This elegant and aloof lady let out a loud, undignified roar.
Klein ran past the partition, holding his revolver, aiming its muzzle in Royale Reideen's direction, and the situation in the hall immediately came into view. Rosanne was sitting on the ground, unharmed, but looked very frightened, dragging her legs across the floor, desperately moving backward.
In front of her stood the intruder.
When he clearly saw who it was, Klein couldn't help but be shocked.
"Hanass !"
He cried out.
"He's Hanass ? Did the captain and the others not catch him—I told you not to move! If you move again, I'll shoot!"
Royale Reideen said, the first half asking Klein, the second half warning the uninvited intruder.
"I don't know…"
Klein was very surprised, not only because he saw Hanass , but also because of his current state.
Dark circles under his eyes, thick, stiff brown hair, a serious and anxious middle-aged man—this was Klein's original impression of Hanass . But the Hanass before him, apart from his unchanged appearance, had undergone a drastic change in his overall demeanor. His face was filled with an unprecedented intoxicated smile, as if immersed in immense happiness. His eyes were unfocused; even though he was being pointed at with a gun, he didn't even glance at it, instead staring at nothing, murmuring to himself with a smile.
Even more terrifying, his entire body was covered in fresh blood, as if he had just been drenched in a rain of blood before entering. On his face, hands, and the black classical robe he wore, fresh red blood dripped continuously.
Looking at such an abnormal Hanass , Klein felt a chill down his spine.
Just then, he heard Hanass speak.
"It was the Lord who guided me here."
His voice was hazy, and something bulged and wriggled under his robe, as if hiding a living creature. "It is right the Lord's aura is here… My salvation is here… Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord!"
Hanass 's expression gradually became fanatic. He ignored Royale Reideen's repeated warnings and stepped towards the partition. The corridor behind the partition was where Caesar and the others were hiding.
Royale Reideen gritted her teeth.
"Rosanne, get up and run inside! Klein, you shoot with me, understand?!"
She shouted.
Klein immediately responded, and Rosanne also recovered from her fright, got up, and ran past the partition. Seeing Hanass approaching step by step, Royale Reideen pulled the trigger without hesitation, and Klein followed suit.
"Bang bang bang!"
Gunshots and gunpowder smoke immediately filled the Blackthorn Security Company's hall. Hanass stopped, his body swaying back and forth as if struck by a hammer. He even took a shot to the face, the bullet piercing his eye socket, and red and white matter splattered out.
Seeing a familiar face in such a state, Klein couldn't help but feel a wave of nausea, and he instinctively stopped shooting.
"Don't stop!"
Royale Reideen shouted.
But he was shot in the head… Klein thought, and then he saw that Hanass , despite his gunshot wounds, didn't fall! Amidst a sticky, dense, nauseating sound, fresh red tumors wriggled out from Hanass 's wounds, and even the bullets embedded in his eye sockets were pushed out by the tumors. The still-hot metal bullet heads sizzled as they burned Hanass 's flesh, then clattered to the floor.
Under their astonished gaze, Hanass bared his teeth at them, revealing a hideous smile.
"Are you going to stop me?"
With a tearing sound, he reached into his overgrown eye socket, tore off the tumor, crushed it, and then raised his arm…
"Watch out!"
Klein suddenly felt his body lighten, then involuntarily shifted to the right. It was Royale Reideen who had pulled him away from his original spot. He looked closely and saw that the place where he had just stood was now covered in splattered flesh, those disgusting things corroding the floor and partition, emitting smoke and sizzling!
Oh my god…
Klein felt his scalp tingle. This Hanass guy had mutated; he wasn't afraid of handguns, and his flesh could corrode things. How were they going to deal with him now?
Besides the revolver, he still had a "Slumber Charm" in his pocket. There were also two Sealed Artifacts stored in the captain's office behind them. If he could break away and retrieve them, no, those two Sealed Artifacts had no offensive capabilities, they could only be used to detect if a target was harmful. Was there any other way…
Klein's mind raced, while he also had to constantly dodge the flesh Hanass threw at him, occasionally returning fire with his pistol. The hall quickly devolved into chaos, severely damaged.
Perhaps use the power from above the gray fog…
The situation was slightly tense, and Klein even had such a thought for a moment.
Fortunately, Royale Reideen called out to him, "Klein! I need to switch to demon-hunting bullets, can you buy me a few seconds?"
"Okay!"
Klein's eyes lit up at the words. Right, their revolvers were currently loaded with ordinary bullets. Switching to demon-hunting bullets, which were specifically for evil, might just work!
So he quickly pulled out the "Slumber Charm" from his pocket. It was a silver piece the size of a baby's palm, inscribed with Hermes incantations, as well as various symbols and spirit numbers. Just holding it in his hand, he could feel the calm and peaceful power emanating from it.
"Crimson!"
Klein shouted in ancient Hermes, activating his spirituality and pouring it into the charm, then swung his arm and threw the charm at Hanass .
"Bang!"
The silver piece exploded into a dark red flame, engulfing Hanass 's head. His body swayed, the twisted smile that seemed fixed on his face quickly faded, and his eyelids involuntarily drooped.
It worked!
Royale Reideen took the opportunity to empty her cylinder, loading silver bullets inscribed with exorcism patterns and the Evernight Goddess's holy emblem into her revolver. She softly chanted the Goddess's prayer, and the Evernight Goddess's calm, hidden power silently manifested, resonating with her and the revolver.
After the prayer, Royale Reideen's eyes were calm, and she aimed her revolver at the still-slumbering Hanass .