Chapter 20: Cruelty of fate

While searching inside the building, Maria stumbled across a strange wall. But this was nothing new for her. She quickly managed to find the odd brick and pushed it, revealing a passage behind. The two followed the long stairways to the underground.

"What the..." Alastor uttered as he saw where he was.

They were now inside a grand hall. The room was dark as there was no source of light from the sun down here, except for the numerous candlesticks being lit on. At the end of the hall lay an altar.

At first Alastor found it weird because of its red color but then he realized it. Traces of blood were present on the altar. Based on the trail, something or something must have been left to bleed to death on it.

Examining the altar, images of Shana bleeding on the altar came to Alastor's mind. The mere thought of it terrified the boy.

But when he looked at the woman beside him, she had an even grimmer expression. For she knew what kind of place this facility was. A living hell she wanted to let go, together with her dark past. The altar it reminded her of an unforgettable scene. And if she was correct, she knew what she would find next. Maria took a deep breath in, preparing herself. She thought she hardened herself enough after all these years, all the killings. Nonetheless it was not enough.

"Are you okay?" asked Alastor.

"Oh..yes... I am fine! Let us move on!" Maria shrugged.

The two continued their progress, taking the door on the side. This place was huge. Room after room, Alastor found vials containing a red liquid in many of the chambers which seemed to be used as research room. But this many, just how many demons did they have to kill to have such a large quantity of it?

Then Alastor heard a noise coming from the next room. The small voice of someone mumbling about something. He gave a silent gesture to Maria who has heard the voice as well. Together they carefully prepared their weapons, approached the door and kicked it down.

In the corner of the room, a young boy was standing, moving his head forward and backward against the wall. He muttered so small Alastor could not understand what the boy was saying. He put his hand on the wall in front of the wall to stop him to hurt himself any further. As the poor boy saw someone else, he started screaming.

"Please make it stop! Make it stop! I will do anything! I won't be a bad kid anymore." pleaded the boy as he covered his ears. Then he started to convulse violently.

Alastor and Maria tried to hold the boy down without hurting him but the boy seemed to be much stronger than they thought. Then it stopped. The boy stopped shaking. He started talking to Alastor.

"They are calling for me. Can you hear it too, Alastor?"

Alastor was shocked. He did not know the boy yet how did he know his name? He was not one of the kids at the orphanage so he could not have heard his name before.

The strange boy raised his hand to the dark ceiling above him as if he wanted to reach for something but he collapsed. Just like that the boy died.

"Just what the hell is going on in this place?" Alastor turned to Maria. "Tell me!"

"More than ten years ago, a researcher discovered that the key of the demon power resides in their blood. He wanted to harness that power and used against the demon threat. And so he kidnapped countless children and injected demonic blood into them. This place is one of his testing ground, or at least people who shared his ideal.

I learnt from the document I retrieved back from Terrick that there is one such facility right outside Cedra. Sanctus uses the cover of an orphanage to take the children in without gaining suspicion and a quest from the guild to gather demon blood in pretense for medicine in case they run out. Unfortunately it did not say where it's located and I only found the orphanage this morning when I stumbled on you this morning.

But now you understand. To those who live in comfort, who would care about some homeless kids disappearing or some demons turned up dead in the street? That's the society we live in." explained Maria.

Alastor grinned his teeth at the lifeless body of the boy. They dared use children for their selfish goal. Alastor swiped his hands to close the dead boy's eyes. He stood up and walked to the next room but he was held back by the silver haired lady.

"I just want you to know one thing Alastor: there is no helping them once the injection is made. Most will die shortly after. The ones who survive will suffer the constant pain for the rest of their life. It might be better if you...just end it quickly."

"What? What are you suggesting?" exclaimed the boy.

"You know what I am talking about. It's for their own goods. Trust me! I know!" said the woman in a sad voice.

"No you don't! I won't do it!" Alastor furiously fumed. "If you have any problem with that, leave!"

With that, he just left her and continued by himself into the next room. Hall after hall, Alastor ran as fast as he could. Until he could something else. This seemed to be the lowest level. Behind this door where the constant sound of ing came from, Shana must be somewhere inside. She had to.

He pushed against the door, opened it, only to stumble on a frightening sight.

This was a prison. On both side of the wall were cell after cell. Inside each were children. At least more than thirty of them were trapped in these cages. Their clothes were dirty. Their bones showed through the skin, a result of a long term malnourishment. A few lay lifeless motionless inside, waiting for death to come. And their screams.

"Make it stop! I don't want to hear it anymore! Please *hic hic*!"

"ARGGGGG! Kill me please!"

"I am scared mommy! Where are you mommy?"

Others were just screaming in pain. Their voices echoing through the hallway. The agony, the despair, the fear. This place was truly hell on earth.

'This is....' Alastor could not find the words to describe what he was seeing. But he was disrupted by a voice inside his head. A voice he did not hear for a long time.

"Abominations!!!" said the voice in Alastor's mind.

"Magnus? Is that you?" asked Alastor out loud.

"Alastor, listen to me! Kill all these accursed immediately! You must not let a single one alive!" shouted Magnus.

"What? What are you saying?"

"There is no time to explain. Do it now before it's too late!"

"NO! I will save them. Why do all of you just want to give up on them? These kids have already been abandoned by the world once. I will die before I let it happen again. I don't care what you are planning. I am not your pawn!"

"You misunderstand child! They are not trying to create a powerful army to deal with the demon here. They are creating a ..." but Alastor shut his mind, making the voice vanish. He refused to give up.

Meanwhile in the Abyss, sensing the boy's resolve, Magnus knew he could not persuade him any longer. 'Those damn humans! With this many vessels, She will surely notice! We could only hope that these children will die before that!' thought Magnus.

"Ikarus, I need you right now! Follow the chain!" Alastor thought inside his head. In fact he was sending a message to Ikarus thanks to their bond, allowing them to communicate wherever they were as long as both remained conscious.

Alastor decided to leave the children inside the cells for now. He has killed all the bad guys so no one should be able to harm them any longer. But he must find Shana.

"Shana, where is Shana?" Alastor ran toward the end of the hall. His mind was filled with dark thoughts of what might happened but he shrugged it all.

Finally he found a cell at the end of the hallway. Inside was Shana. He called out her name but she remained inert. Alastor broke the cell open and ran to her side.

"Shana! SHANA! Please wake up!" he called out to her.

The little girl slowly opened her eyes. When she saw Alastor, she made a gentle smile, showing how relieved she was to see him after all the horrors they did to her.

"Big..bro! You..are...here!"

"Yes I am here! I am sorry for taking this long to come! I am sorry Shana!" the boy cried out, hugging her gently. "I will get you out of here. I promise!"

He took the little girl on his arm, like carrying a princess. But as he turned to the exit, Maria was standing in the way. She looked at the girl on his hands. And the spot on Shana's arm caught her attention.

"What are you doing Maria? Help me getting the children out!" shouted Alastor.

Maria showed some hesitation but complied in the end. The two needed to make several trips back and forth from the surface to the cell as many kids needed help to even stand up.

"That's the last of them!" said Alastor as he put the last child laying down on the surface. Ikarus and Stella should arrive any moment by now. The kids were severely ailing but they would live. At least things started to brighten a little bit. Or so the boy thought.

At that instant, all they children started to scream loudly. This time it was different from earlier.

"It already starts! I knew it was a mistake." said Maria.

"What? What is happening?" asked Alastor. Then Shana too started shouting in pain. Her hands were covered her ears, her body shook violently.

"It's too late Alastor. She is already infected. If you don't her to suffer anymore then put her out of here misery. If you can't then I will!" affirmed Maria. The woman took out both her swords and slashed down toward Shana.

"No I won't let you!"

The attack was stopped by Alastor as he pulled a stone sword from the ground below.

"It won't work!" said Maria as she put her strength into both swords, cutting Alastor' stone blade, sending him a few steps back. "Just because you want it doesn't mean you will get it. This world is not so kind to you or anyone else. Let me use this opportunity to teach you the cruelty of fate!"

Without a moment to waste, she charged at him.

"" a spear made of ice appeared in Alastor's hands. But it only gave him enough you to parry again. This strike this time was much more powerful as it staggered the boy. Usually the twin sword fighting style focused on speed to catch the opponent off guard as it was hard to follow two blades at once. However this style had a weakness: using one blade in each hand meaning you couldn't use all of your strength in one arm so the blades could be easily parried.

However it was not the case for Maria. Each swing was as hard as a hammer strike and as sharp as a curved blade. And the most annoying thing was how she was able to move that fast. Alastor could barely follow her. He needed to do something to slow her down.

"" Alastor activated one of his abilities The control of gravity of surroundings objects.

Suddenly Maria could feel a change in the air before succumbing to the pressure. She felt so heavy that she could not even move a finger.

"It ends now!" shouted the boy at the crawling woman in front of him.

"Not without me saying it!" in an instant, Maria used all of her strength to move her right arm and grabbed Alastor' leg. ""

Alastor could see the hand which was once pale white now turned into complete black as night. But not just the hand that was weird. He felt strange as he realized his nose was bleeding. At that moment Maria stood up casually despite being under the effect of .

"How...how did you?" uttered Alastor as he breathed heavily. Something inside him was bleeding.

"I can damage one of your organs, make it bleed internally with a single touch. That's why they call me Bloody Mary. Everywhere I go, blood will spill as they said. Now stay there!"

"Never! " Alastor raised his hands.

Five magical orbs rotated around Alastor as he stood up, still in pain.

'Another strange ability! I have to be careful!' thought Maria before resuming her stance. But before she could react, she could feel the earth below her shaking.

"I call upon the elements. Obey my command! Fire burns my enemies to ashes: Conflagration"

Reacting on instinct, Maria jumped back a few foots to avoid the incoming danger. A column of fire bursted from the ground where she stood. Lucky for her she reacted in time to narrowly dodge it.

"Water cleanses the sinners: Water Prison"

Water appeared in mid air, rotated surrounding Maria and converged to her. The woman was now trapped inside a giant ball of water.

"Lightning strikes down the wicked from the Heavens: Judgment Bolt"

The sky darkened as black cloud filled the sky. Suddenly an enormous bolt of lightning struck the ball of water, electrocuting Maria. As the water orb vanished, she felt to the ground, still breathing. Still it was not over. She looked at Alastor.

"Wind guides the lost to their path: Cyclone"

Before Maria could even stand up, she was lifted by an air current and was taken inside by the sudden tornado. Using her blades to cut off all obstacles flying toward her, she tried to escape but to no avail.

"Earth where all creations will one day return to: Forced Burial"

The earth trembled as it split into two, creating a crack. The wind stopped and dropped Maria between the cracks before the ground closed again.

Alastor has won. He leaned on the tree behind him, breathing heavily. He has never used so many abilities at once. It was risky but he did it. Too bad he had to kill her but Shana was his priority. He must protect her.

Alastor stood up and walked toward the convulsing girl on the ground, together with the other children. He must do something to save them. But suddenly he felt the ground shaking again.

""

The ground bursted to the air as a red liquid stream gushed out. Blood. It was blood. The area now was soaked red as if it was raining blood.

Alastor was surprised to see that Maria was still alive, walking from the geyser.

"Don't bury me so easily my dear!" she charged to Alastor, ing a sword to him. Could he defend in time?

But he did not. The sword impaled the boy right to a tree, making unable to move.

"I did ask you to stay down, remember? Don't blame me for this!" said the woman. Alastor now had a closer look at her. All the injuries she sustained from earlier were now gone. She healed already? How did she?

At that moment, Maria realized something odd. Even though she pierced the boy with her sword, there was no blood. He even remained calm, not showing the slightest of pain.

"Yes and don't blame me for this too! " Alastor's body changed to a transparent liquid, just like a slime's body. The Slime Scion allowed him to change any body part into a slime.

Since slime was immune to all physical attack as it could just regenerate itself, a high level slime was considered a nightmare for all warriors.

This was an improvised plan to be able to attack Maria head one. While she was confused by the act, Alastor pulled out an ice blade and it into her heart.

"Aaaaarrrrggghhhh!" Maria screamed in pain as blood gushed out of her chest. "Your body...."

"Yes. No matter how much you slash me with that sword, it won't work. I want to keep you alive but I cannot let you harm Shana."

"Ha...ha...ha....HAHAHAHAHA! We are so similar you and I!" Maria laughed out loud, despite her injuries. She slowly but firmly grabbed Alastor's hand and pushed his blade into her further. But no matter how much blood she lost, she still remained conscious."Do you get it? You are not the only one with a freak body!"

* * *

Ikarus and Stella were traversing through the woods toward Alastor. At first the celestial was startled by the message she received inside her head. Alastor has told her about it before but he has never actually used it. Right now an invisible chain, only visible to her, was coming out of Ikarus and pointed toward the direction where Alastor was, leading her to the right path.

"What an useful contraption!" thought Ikarus.

But again why did Alastor not make a similar bond with Stella? Was it because the doll was not considered a living being and therefore a connection could not be established? Or was it because of something else? Ikarus pondered these questions in her head.

Suddenly Stella halted and looked above. Not understanding why, Ikarus did the same thing, only to realize that someone was flying right above them. A tall man with bat wings, the devil Mephisto.

"Where is Alastor?" asked the man.

"Why are you here? You are not supposed to follow us until we get back." said the doll.

"I have heard the situation from Alice. Listen to me! You are not to engage with the Children of Dark. Bring them back unharmed to the castle!" Mephisto affirmed.

"Why? What are the Children of Dark? Why do you care about them?" those same words again. Ikarus remembered seeing them inside Terrick's diary.

"I have my own personal reasons. Let's just say it's an atonement for my sins. But it's not important right now. I have prepared a portal not far from here. Once we secure them we will bring them back through the portal. Now bring me to him!"

Without a moment to waste, Ikarus led the way. At that time, Mephisto reminisced about what happened a few hours back at the castle.

....

....

"What? The Children of Dark? Are you sure?" shouted Mephisto.

Together with the usual members of the demon royal guards and Alice, they were holding a meeting inside the court chamber.

"Yes! Alastor told me that he is going to save them now. However judging from the situation, they might die before he could make it. But you know what I am talking about don't you Mephisto?" Alice smiled at the tensed devil. He was being played by a little girl.

Yet aside from Mephisto, the others were confused. They did not know what the two were talking about and theirs questions remained unanswered.

"Amelia, can you make a portal to Cedra right now? No need for a big one! Only I will go. Then while I am gone, try to create another big enough for a large group at the same location."

"I can. I don't understand what is going on but perhaps at least one of us should accompany you." answered Amelia.

"No need! This is something I have to deal with myself. Let's just hope I will make it in time this time." with that Mephisto left the room to prepare for the departure.

As he went through the hall, a flash of memories came back to him, making pondered. "Will I see you there, Maria?"