With my knowledge of the Red Zone's layout, I led dozens of Black Wolf gang members into position for an ambush. At last, it had come to this. Those Red Revival guys had crossed the line, going as far as kidnapping people.
Even Lykos was here. His movements were swift and nimble, completely unexpected from him. Although he was following me, his speed and awareness made it seem as if he were the one leading.
We reached the barricaded rear of their buildings. Lykos easily climbed several floors and slipped inside without needing a foothold. Judging by the others' reactions, they weren't surprised at all. I really knew nothing about him.
Soon enough, Lykos burst open the barricade from the inside. We spread out, and I made my way through the maze-like interior. The first few floors offered little resistance. Most of the Red Revival members were caught completely off guard, and I left them unconscious as I moved upward.
Eventually, I reached the third floor. Unlike the worn-down floors below, it was covered in carpet and polished wood. The narrow hallways were lined with proper doors and actual rooms.
As I walked down the narrow hallway...
KRAK!
A blade suddenly burst through the wooden door. I threw myself aside, narrowly avoiding it.
The blade slowly slid back. The door opened, revealing the attacker.
"You were just lucky, brat... Die!"
He charged at me with his sword held high. I stood and sidestepped his slash, then struck at his swordguard.
He parried and thrust forward, but I moved first, bringing my blade toward his throat. He stepped back.
I advanced, anticipating his next attack. Sure enough, he charged again, so I responded...
SHNK!
...Too quickly.
"A-Augh!! My arm!!"
"Crap..."
I didn't intend to go that far.
Blood now stained my blade. Looking at it, there wasn't much difference between demonbeast and human after all.
...
No. This wasn't right.
I looked at the blood on my blade. I flicked it sharply, trying to wash the blood away. Some stains remained.
Slowly, I reached for the scabbard and guided the sword inside.
Click.
Fighting bare-handed was slower and more difficult, but still manageable. I knocked them out one by one, taking a few bruises and cuts myself.
A dull ache throbbed in my chest again. It was becoming harder to ignore.
Ascending to the fourth floor, I noticed something was wrong. Dozens should have rushed at me as soon as I arrived, but it was eerily quiet.
And only when I approached the upper-floor stairway did I see something.
"What the..."
Dozens of Red Revival members lay scattered across the stairway, blood running between the steps.
Upstairs, there were even more corpses scattered around. Even stranger, some wore black-and-white uniforms bearing an unfamiliar eight-pointed star.
Following the blood, I soon heard faint noises ahead. It led to a broken doorway. Peeking inside, I saw Lykos, hand holding a bloody sword, and... Bren, collapsed on the floor and begging for mercy.
"You are... Cain, correct?"
"O-Oh, yes. I'm Cain."
The room had once been surprisingly refined, but its furniture was now broken and scattered among the corpses.
Lykos tied Bren up with a rope from somewhere, then started taking him away.
"Where are you taking him?"
"Downstairs. I need this guy to unlock their basement."
"There is one?"
Lykos said no more, dragging Bren across the floor. I followed suit.
Corpses and blood covered the upper floors. I carefully stepped around them as we descended, while Lykos paid them no mind.
His bloody footprints remained on the carpet as we descended. Eventually, they disappeared as we passed by more and more wooden doors.
The floors below were clean, save for the unconscious men I had left behind.
"You didn't kill them?"
"Yeah?"
"You scared?"
"...Not really."
Lykos scoffed.
"Someone else will have to do that for you, you know that?"
I knew what he meant. Someone else might eventually have to kill them because I chose not to.
"Yeah. Maybe I'm just delaying it."
"I should finish them off, then. Eridu's prison won't be big enough."
I thought about saying something. I wanted to argue with him. But the truth was...
"I don't know, but I want to tell you not to do it."
"Ridiculous."
"I know."
We said nothing more. More of our members returned along the way. The only place left to search was the basement.
Drakon slammed Bren down, pressing him about the victims' safety. But no matter how hard he tried, Bren refused to say a word. It seemed we needed to find this out ourselves.
Hidden behind a shelf was a doorway leading down. A repulsive wave of miasma swept out, making everyone take a few steps backward. In the end, they trusted me to take Bren down there.
And as we went down the long staircase, my eyes widened at the sight of something limping towards us. I drew my sword.
It was a Hollow. But not the rotten, without clear characteristics kind of Hollow. The kind of corpse that...
...must have been alive just days before.
The Hollow reached forward at my throat, and so I delivered a swift slash to kill it instantly. Once again, blood spilled, staining my blade red.
There was a clear line. Hollows were just reanimated corpses. They were not human. This was unavoidable.
There was no room for hesitation. As I braced myself and walked farther down, more and more Hollows appeared. And so, I cut through them, faster and faster as I descended.
At the end, I found a locked door with no keyhole. I asked Bren to open it. With his hands still tied, he traced a peculiar motion with his finger. The door opened just like that. Walking in first, I took a glance around the room.
It was clear there were no victims to save anymore. All I could see were melted candles and blood-drawn symbols everywhere on the floor. Walking around, I saw a large circle encompassing it all, on both the ground and the ceiling. Some forbidden demonic rituals definitely were done here.
Clang!
"Ahk-! What is..."
A chest ached and ached violently, as if something was spurting inside of me. My sword slipped out of my grip. And in a heartbeat—
"!!"
I rolled to my side immediately. Bren's knife stabbed through nothing. When did he...?
There was no time for that. Bren swung his knife left and right at me. When he missed a stab, I tried to knock the knife away, but he instantly retreated with unexpected swiftness. I quickly took a closer look at him.
His eyes were unfocused, and he quivered constantly, despite performing attacks with ease. Ah, it must be Corruption...
...But should I kill him now?
That slight hesitation was all it took for his knife to be right at my throat.
Tchk!
I caught the knife with my bare hands.
Bren used his whole body to push it further. I crashed into a wall. Forcing the knife down with his oversized frame, he inched closer and closer. I could even feel my breath on the blade.
Blood gushed out from my fingers. They felt flimsy. Like they would be cleaved off if I eased my grip just a little bit.
I don't know. I really believed my fingers should have fallen off long ago. But they held on somehow. I was holding on somehow.
But not for long.
Is this the end?
Maybe I should let go. I would regress anyway. That way, I could undo my mistakes. My relationships. My past...
...But one word lingered in my mind.
'Live.'
"You... bastard!!"
I pushed harder and harder. I ground my teeth. Blood oozed out. And as soon as there was a bit of distance, I kicked him as hard as possible.
BAM!
He was sent flying and smashed face-first into the floor. He rolled for a bit and then went limp. I hesitated before deciding to bring him back up with me.
Bodies covered the stairway, blood running between the steps. There was a difference, I thought to myself.
But would things be this clear-cut from now on? Again, I don't know.
But I know I must figure this out myself. Not running away anymore.
Finally emerging from the basement, I was swarmed by people with questions and concerns. My hands were in a miserable state after all. For now, I bandaged it up with some wraps. I would get this treated later.
It turned out Bren wasn't fully Corrupted. Just tainted. Bren was now tied up again and brought back by other members. The raid had come to an end, and now I could go back.
Or so I thought, as Lykos approached me for some reason.
"You awakened."
"...What?"
"Aura. You awakened it. That's why you survived."
Hearing that, I recalled the fight in the basement. I had felt unusually strong there.
"So... what should I do now?"
"What do you want to do?"
Lykos turned my question back on me.
I thought for a moment, covering my mouth with my hand.
"...I want to live."
I lowered my hand.
"I don't want to die."
Lykos looked me up and down. For the first time, he seemed to truly look at me.
"It's good to be honest. So, I will help you once."
"?"
"Tomorrow, come to the bar again. I will give you some basic advice."