Beep beep.. - 77
"Wha… wabot yo.. Bell?" Marc asked, his words already beginning to slur with drowsiness.
Bell chuckled softly. "I'll sleep after you. Don't worry."
Marc seemed satisfied with that answer. He slowly lay down, his eyes closing as sleep finally caught up with him.
Bell stayed beside the bed for a moment, watching as Marc drifted off to sleep.
…
As soon as Marc had settled down, he quietly remarked, "This place feels weird."
"Well, any place can feel weird if you're not used to it," Juro replied casually.
Bell glanced around the room, taking in their surroundings. There were no windows, only a single door leading outside.
"It might get noisy tonight," Bell commented.
Somewhere inside the orphanage, the woman who had been carrying Nery set her down in front of a man wearing gloves. The man looked at the little girl before breaking into a smile.
"Nery brought us three people. Such a good kid you are, aren't ya?"
Nery could only tremble in silence. She couldn't even bring herself to look at him, her eyes fixed on her own hands.
A drop of red liquid fell to the floor.
It resembled blood.
The man held a small glass vial in his gloved hand, watching the liquid inside. "I need a few more," he muttered. "Just a little more human blood, and I'll be finished with the enhancer…"
The woman standing beside Nery smiled brightly. "That's amazing! You'll be able to achieve such great power with it!"
The man chuckled. "Yes…"
Still smiling, he reached for a black collar and fastened it around Nery's neck. "You still have a few more tasks to do, little Nery."
His smile grew eerily wide.
The woman then guided Nery out of the room. As the door closed behind them, another man and woman entered. Both bowed respectfully toward the doctor.
"Greetings, Doctor. We have successfully settled the visitors into one of our rooms," the woman reported.
The doctor reached beneath his desk, retrieved two glass vials, and handed one to each of them.
"Here. Keep these with you, just in case. Let those visitors rest, but make sure you don't take too much blood. We need every single drop…"
Both of them nodded before taking the vials and leaving the room.
Once the door had closed, the doctor was left alone. He turned toward his desk, where piles upon piles of papers and research covered nearly every inch of its surface. A satisfied smile spread across his face as he let out a quiet chuckle.
"Finally… I can achieve the title of the best Blood Alchemist with this invention!"
..
Back in the room where the three had been staying, Juro and Marc were asleep on the bed while Bell sat on the floor, meditating in silence.
After a while, Bell opened his eyes.
He rose and approached Marc, gently shaking him awake.
"Euh… huh… Bell?" Marc mumbled groggily, barely able to keep his eyes open.
Bell placed a finger against his lips, signaling him to stay quiet, then pointed toward the door.
Still dazed from sleep, Marc slowly sat up before getting to his feet without making a sound.
Meanwhile, Bell quickly adjusted the blankets on the bed, arranging them to make it look as though someone was still sleeping underneath.
Bell and Marc quietly moved to the corner of the room.
"What's going on, Bell?" Marc whispered.
"Don't you sense some people heading this way?" Bell whispered back.
Marc immediately closed his eyes and focused. A moment later, he sensed them too. Bell was right. Three people were approaching their room.
"What about Teacher Juro?" Marc asked quietly.
Bell simply waved his hand. "He'll be fine."
The door slowly creaked open.
Marc watched as three figures slipped inside, each carrying a knife. Without a word, they rushed toward the bed and began stabbing the figure beneath the blankets, driving their blades into it repeatedly.
"Teacher Juro!" Marc blurted out before he could stop himself.
"I'm fine."
The voice came from above.
Bell, Marc, and even the three intruders looked up. Juro was lying casually on the ceiling, seemingly unbothered by the sight of his own bed being stabbed to pieces.
"Damn, what kind of service is this?"
He dropped from the ceiling and landed on the floor.
The three intruders exchanged glances. Then, as if they had silently agreed on what to do next, they charged toward the group, knives raised.
Bell and Marc quickly darted aside, avoiding the incoming blades.
"W-Why are you guys doing this?!" Marc demanded, irritation creeping into his voice. They had seemed like nice people when he'd first met them. Why were they suddenly trying to kill them?
None of the attackers answered. They only chuckled as they continued swinging their knives at the two boys.
Juro stepped forward and knocked one of them down with a single motion. Bell did the same to another, leaving only the man attacking Marc still on his feet.
Bell was about to move in and help when he noticed something. The two men he'd knocked down were reaching into their pockets, each pulling out a small glass vial.
Juro noticed them too.
Before either man could bring the vial to his mouth, Juro snatched both of them away and knocked the two attackers down again.
"Hmm, this looks like blood," Juro remarked, examining the vials.
Bell's expression remained composed, but his thoughts immediately turned to something else.
"A Blood Alchemist…? But using human blood should be illegal."
A faint beeping interrupted his thoughts.
Both Bell and Juro turned toward the sound. It was coming from the man still fighting Marc.
Marc continued dodging the man's knife swings, desperately trying to get an answer out of him. Then he noticed something around the man's neck: a black collar with a small orb that blinked red in time with the beeping.
"What's that beeping?"
The sound grew faster.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Bell watched for another moment before realizing what was happening.
"Marc, hurry! Knock him down!"
"Huh?"
The attacker swung his knife downward. Marc dodged just in time, and the beeping abruptly stopped.
Bell's eyes sharpened.
He immediately grabbed Marc's hand and yanked him away.
A split second later, the man's head exploded.
"W… what…"
Marc could only stare as blood sprayed across the room. Right in front of him, another human being had just died in the most horrifying way he'd ever witnessed.
Before he could even process what had happened, two more beeping sounds came from the men lying unconscious on the floor.
Juro turned toward them and raised both hands. Mana spread around the two bodies, enclosing them within separate barriers.
The beeping quickened.
Then both men's heads exploded.
The barriers contained the blood, leaving it suspended inside the mana-enclosed spaces. A moment later, Juro released the barriers, and the blood fell to the floor, splattering across the room.
Silence followed.
The only thing left was a floor soaked in blood.
The sight of three people having their heads explode, followed by their limp bodies collapsing to the floor, was too much for Marc to process. His mind and body seemed unable to understand what he had just witnessed. His gag reflex kicked in, and he began coughing and retching, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes.
Bell stood beside him, gently patting his back.
Marc lowered his gaze, only to find himself staring at the pools of blood spreading across the floor. His stomach twisted, and his thoughts raced in every direction. Most of them were telling him to get out, to run as far away from this place as possible.
But then, another thought surfaced.
One that mattered more than his fear.
His hands tightened around Juro's jacket.
"What's wrong? Wanna get out of here?" Juro asked, looking down at Marc, who was still struggling to compose himself.
"Nery…" Marc managed to say. "We need to find Nery! And the other kids!"
Juro was taken aback by his response. Even after witnessing something so horrifying, Marc was thinking about the children. Juro had a feeling that would be his answer, but hearing it for himself still caught him by surprise.
"Alright! Let's go find them!" he replied.
..
The three of them left the room together.
As soon as they stepped outside, the people around the building turned their attention toward them. The fresh air helped Marc regain some composure, and he took a few deep breaths, trying to settle his stomach.
But as he looked around, he noticed something unsettling.
Everyone wore the same expressionless stare. And around every neck was the same black collar.
"Would they explode too…?"
Marc's gaze moved from one person to another, unable to shake the thought.
"Stay guarded," Bell warned, his eyes scanning their surroundings.
Marc nodded, forcing himself to remain alert despite the uneasiness still churning inside him.
"Hoho, look at these kids go," Juro thought, glancing at Bell and Marc.
"Oh, our precious guests! Why are you all outside? It's cold out here. You should go back inside!" one of the women exclaimed as she approached them.
"Ah, well, we need some service with cleaning up our room," Juro replied casually. "There are, like, three headless bodies lying around."
The woman's expression changed instantly.
She reached down toward her footwear, pulled out a dagger, and slashed at Juro without warning.
Juro merely smiled, shifting aside to evade each swing. After letting her attack a few more times, he caught her wrist.
"Quite feisty."
With a quick twist, he forced the dagger from her grasp, turned her around, and pinned her to the ground.
"You should just behave."
He glanced at the people beginning to gather around them.
"But I guess you all won't."
The surrounding people suddenly rushed forward, each carrying a knife or dagger.
Bell and Marc immediately moved to evade the incoming attacks. This time, however, Marc wasn't content with simply dodging. He watched for openings, slipping past the attackers' swings and striking their hands whenever he could, forcing them to release their weapons.
After disarming one of the women, he seized her arms and held her in place.
"Why are you people doing this?!" Marc questioned. "Shouldn't you all be taking care of the kids?!"
The woman only laughed. She didn't answer him.
Then her collar began to beep.
Marc froze instinctively.
His grip loosened for just a moment, and the woman seized the opportunity to snatch up a nearby knife. Before Marc could react, she turned and plunged it into another person standing beside her.
Even though they had been fighting on the same side, she stabbed them without hesitation.
The moment the blade struck, the beeping stopped.
Marc stared at what had happened, his hands still frozen in place.
He couldn't understand it.
Why would she attack someone on her own side? Why had the beeping stopped the moment she did?
And what was wrong with these people?
His mind was already struggling to make sense of the three deaths he'd witnessed in the room. Now, with another inexplicable act unfolding right in front of him, Marc could only stare, unable to piece together what he was seeing.