"Hah..."
Alfia sighed in her living room, sitting in her armchair. It was early morning and Bell just left to go to the dungeon. She saw that he was worried about the fox girl and the message he got. This message was also the cause for Alfia´s problem now.
I had to lie to Bell...curse you Orario, you made my lie to my son!
Since his god and his captain didn´t knew what to do with the message, Bell had asked her. Alfia had a great knowledge about magic and magic items, so she knew what a Killing stone was. But she couldn´t bring herself to tell Bell the truth, not before she made a decision on what to do.
Bell seemed to really like this girl, Alfia still hoped not in a romantic way, but that was mostly her fear as a mother. Prostitutes weren´t bad people, but her baby was just so pure, she felt he would be tainted by loving a woman that had slept with many, many men...for money.
And yet, the way Bell described her was strange, especially her backround.
"Hm."
Her eyes wandered to her table, some of her most precious possessions stood there. The framed picture of Meteria that she had gifted to Bell, he wanted it to stand in her house for now, since he had no own room in his familia´s home for now. The other was a framed picture of Bell, of course she had one, even when she saw him every day.
"Sister, what would you do?"
It was more than obvious, Meteria would help the girl, even when she had no power to do it. Meteria would find a way or just try her best, well and would be supported by the Hera familia.
Alfia´s eyes wandered from her sister to Bell.
"My baby..."
She never wanted him to have to pick up a sword, but he wanted to do it. Now he fought by himself in the dungeon and as the good son he was, he listened to Alfia and never went too deep. He understood how afraid she was of him getting hurt or worse, that he was her reason to live and if he was gone, she would have nothing left. She wanted him to be happy, every mother would want that for her son.
And Bell had put his eyes on the fox girl, if he had fallen for her or not, Bell wanted to help her.
"A killing stone..."
Alfia sighed again, it all started to make sense now. For the last days she had strolled through certain locations in Orario, asked the right people, spent a bit money here and there for informations. All that while being cloaked and using one of her own, favorite magic items. The magic item was a small necklace, when she wore her favorite, black, goth-style dress with an extra hood to it, the magic item would conceal her eyes and a big part of her face with a deeper shadow than the hood should have.
The people she talked to noticed that she was a woman, the cleavage and her big chest wasn´t something she could hide, but no one saw her haircolor, her eyes or her nose, only her mouth.
Some questions were easy to get answered, she just wanted to know about the situation in Orario in general. Asking about the mighty factions was a normal thing to do and she got these informations easily. Next she wanted to get some gossip, most people didn´t knew how many informations were hidden there. Two goddesses of beauty resided in Orario, Freya and Ishtar. Freya stood at the very top of Orario, literally, since she apparently were most of the time at the top of Babel. Both goddesses were already in Orario at Alfia´s time and she held a personal grudge against Freya...and Loki.
Alfia knew that a little bit of this grudge had rubbed off on Bell, not to the point that he hated the familias and their goddesses, but he at least didn´t liked them. Alfia knew that was her fault and she felt bad for it, not because of the familias, but because her son now disliked people he had never met. She just hoped he wouldn´t get into trouble because of that. Normally Bell wouldn´t be like that, but as he said, Alfia was his everything, since he spent most of his life with her. So he disliked people who harmed her in whatever way.
The gossip that Alfia caught came from a few male gods. Getting informations from them was easy, they did their best to not oggle her cleavage too openly. And while Alfia would never use her body to get informations, in this moment it had helped. She played the innocent, mysterious woman from far away and just wanted to know about the big city.
The male gods told her many things, they always wanted entertainment and some didn´t knew when to shut their mouths. In more than one Denatus´ it became clear that Ishtar didn´t liked Freya very much and Freya seemed to enjoy to show Ishtar her place with her words. Many male gods favored Freya, for obvious reasons. But some, only a few, favored Ishtar, for also obvious reasons. Reasonable, calm male gods like Miach were rare in Orario, most of the others would do everything to get into Freya´s or Ishtar´s beds, mostly in Freya´s.
And that was the point, most male gods favored Freya and not Ishtar. That led Ishtar to resent Freya more and more. Alfia had seen this in the past, most female gods hated Hera, but she was too powerfull to do anything against her, then when the chance was there, Freya used her chance.
This was something that Alfia could understand more easily than Bell, since she was a woman too. It was obvious that Ishtar wanted to stand on top and see Freya in the dirt. But Freya´s familia was the strongest in the city, Loki´s familia would give them a hard time, but she doubted they could defeat Ottar. He really became strong since the last time that Alfia saw him.
But then again, she heard from Bell that Ishtar was accused once with having children much stronger than they actually were, which turned out to be false.
Now her thoughts circled around the fox girl, she wasn´t reported to be an adventurer, so maybe a non combatant member.
Alfia picked up the note that Bell left at her house.
"Ishtar Familia. Fox girl. Killing Stone."
The killing stone had just one purpose, to trap the soul of a Renart in it, so that the one who carried it could use her magic by themself. And if they split the stone...a whole familia could do that.
"And the girl would be dead and her soul shattered..."
Which meant, she couldn´t even be reincarnated, if this was truly possible for mortals. If Bell would get this knowledge, it would destroy him, it was far too soon for her son to face such cruelity.
The question was, what kind of magic did this girl had? It didn´t really had to be her that the killing stone was meant for, but how many golden furred fox girls did the Ishtar familia had? Probably only her.
If that was the case...what should she do?
A fight breaking out between the strongest familia and one that gave themself good chances to win the fight, that could turn Orario into a battlefield. Also, Ishtar reigned over the Pleasure Quarter, Alfia couldn´t allow such a goddess at the top of Orario.
But what to do? She felt pretty good recently, Alfia had bought the best healing potions from the Miach familia. But not to support the familia of her son! She had promised to not do too much and of course she didn´t did it because Miach and Nahza seemed to be decent people!
These potions helped her to be stable, to hold her illness back a bit.
Alfia was still a level seven and with her magic, strong enough to wipe out the whole Pleasure Quarter, probably even Orario if she used her strongest spell.
Her problem wasn´t if she could wipe out the Ishtar familia, but if she should. No sane person in Orario wouldn´t get suspicious when a shadowy figure appeared out of nowhere and destroyed a part of the city, wiping out an entire familia. That would mean investigations and not even Alfia could hide from everyone. Which meant, by saving this girl, she could bring an end to the peaceful life that she wanted for Bell.
She could live with being threatened, but not with Bell being threatened.
Using brutal force wasn´t always an option.
And yet the time was running out, tomorrow night would be a full moon and Alfia didn´t wanted to wait and see if they would wait another month.
If that was the case, then whoever sent Bell the message wouldn´t have done it now.
But why did this certain someone sent Bell the message in the first place? Was he watched how he went to the brothel again and again? He was a young man so there was nothing suspicious about this. It wouldn´t be the first time that a young adventurer spent all of his hard earned money to have a good time in a brothel.
The situation wasn´t easy at all.
So before she made a decision, Alfia had to do something else. But whatever her decision would be, Bell´s safety came first.
.
.
"Soooo Haru Haru, how was it with that delivery guy? Was he nice to you? Gentle? Rough?"
Haruhime just smiled slightly in her usual way. "Ms. Lena, I didn´t did it with him."
"Whaaaat?! And here I thought he would play the old "What´s-this-in-the-box?" game!"
"Huh?"
"You know, when he brings over a delivery, cuts a hole in the bottom of the box and before you put your hand inside he puts hi-"
"Mmmmh! M-Mr. Cranel wouldnt do that!"
"Then what did you two do all night?"
Haruhime´s smile became a tiny bit genuine. "We talked to each other."
"What?! Which guy comes to a brothel every night to talk?"
"One like Mr. Cranel."
"Wow...hey..don´t tell me he fell in love with you?"
Haruhime shook her head. "I don´t think so, someone like him wouldn´t love a prostitue like me."
Even Lena had seen through Haruhime´s smile for a long while now, that this girl was incredibly sad.
"Say Ha-"
They got interrupted when the sliding door to Haruhime´s room got opened.
"Haruhime, you have a customer."
"Huh?"
"You were especially requested."
"Understood."
Lena got up to her feet, she wanted to say something, but didn´t knew what.
"I will come to see you later, Haru Haru."
Haruhime smiled slightly again. "Okay."
After Lena left, Haruhime sat down in the expected position for this brothel, for when a customer came especially for a prostitute. She lowered her head and waited, until the door got opened and closed after someone came inside.
"Welcome dear customer, thank you for chosing me. This Haruhime will take care of all of your needs."
For a moment she hoped it would be Bell that had come in, but then they wouldn´t have said it was a customer.
Haruhime got no answer.
Eventually she looked up, the hands placed next to each other in front of her knees. What she wanted to say died out, instead of a man standing before her, it was a woman.
Haruhime had the same amount of experience with men and women...so zero. But at least she thought she had experience with men, so a woman was a first time for her.
But the rules of the brothel were the rules of the brothel.
The woman in front of her wore a simple, brown robe and wore a hood. Her eyes were hidden by the edge of the hood.
"So you are the fox girl I heard so much about."
The voice that Haruhime heard was very low, almost a whisper, but her ears were very sharp, so she heard her well enough. It didn´t sounded to her like the woman didn´t wanted to be heard by people outside, but more that she normally talked like that.
"You have heard about me?"
"Very much, yes."
Following the far eastern rule, the woman took off her shoes before she stepped on the tatami mats. Haruhime was a bit taken aback, the woman acted so different from every customer she ever saw.
"So, since I paid, I am allowed to do with you what my desires tell me?"
"Except from hurting me in any way, yes..."
"Is that so...so you don´t mind if I strip you naked and have my way with your body?"
Haruhime just smiled. "No, I don´t."
"I will touch you at very embarrassing places."
"That is fine."
The woman went silent.
"Dear customer?"
"You are shaking."
"Huh?"
"You are slightly shaking and your voice trembles a little bit."
"I-I don´t know what you mean."
Eventually the woman took off her robe and the hood, a cascade of silver hair fell down and two heterochromatic eyes looked at her. The woman was really beautiful or at least could be beautiful if she had a more gentle expression.
Under her robe, which was actually more a coat, she wore a simple skirt of a black color and a long sleeved, black top. This woman was definetely an adult, and Haruhime felt a bit shocked.
To think that a woman wanted to do that with her...and then what she just said.
The woman moved closer and Haruhime leaned slightly back. Slowly a hand moved towards her obi and she tapped it with her finger.
"I am going to take off your clothes, strip you naked and then explore your body..."
"Please do, dear customer."
The woman only pulled a little bit at the obi, then she stopped.
"You are afraid."
"What?"
"Your tail, even when you try to hold your body still and endure it, your tail is pushed against your body and you tremble. There are reactions of a animal person´s body that they can´t fake. Also your ears twitch, but not in a way as if you were excited.
Now tell me, are you afraid of me?"
"N-No, I´m not, dear customer! This Haruhime is so sorry if it looks like it!"
"Then are you afraid because of the things I want to do with you? With your body? I am a woman, I can´t do the things that a man could do."
"N-No, I´m not!"
The woman moved her hand away and crouched down in front of Haruhime. A normal person wouldn´t have noticed the tremble of the girl, because most normal people would picture how she looked naked when they came here.
"My name is Alfia."
"It is an honor to be chosen by y-"
"Alfia Cranel."
"Eh?"
Haruhime blinked multiple times.
"Wh-What did you just say?"
"My name is Alfia Cranel."
Alfia saw no real danger to tell Haruhime her name, nearly no one outside of her familia had known her real name, she was only known as "Silence". The only ones who knew her real name were Astrea´s children and probably the goddess.
"Cranel?"
"Yes."
"D-Do you know b-"
"If you want to ask about Bell, he is my son."
Haruhime looked shocked.
"Y-Y-Y-You are Mr. Cranel´s m-m-m-mother?!"
"Yes I am and I came to talk to you. About the things that you have done with my son."
"Hauuu..."
Haruhime was trembling for real now, she was afraid of a probably agitated mother that thought her son went for THAT to a brothel.
"M-Mr. Cranel only brought deliveries on his familia´s order!"
"And why was he here all night? And...had your smell on him?"
"You can smell that?!"
"No, not you at least. But you just admitted it."
"Hauuu..."
"Now tell me one thing honestly."
"Yes?"
Alfia glared down on Haruhime. "Did you have sex with my son in any way? Or have you shown him your naked body? Or he yours to you?"
"I didn´t! And he also didn´t!"
"Really?"
"Yes! I mean no! Or is it yes? A-Anyway, we didn´t did that, nor did he did that with any other woman in this district!"
"Good, I believe you."
"Really?"
"Yes, you seem to be a person that is terrible at lying, just like my son. Also you said the same thing as him."
"So you didn´t believed him?"
"Oh I completely believe him, he is my son, he wouldn´t lie to me."
"Hm, but then, why?"
"I would like to ask a question first."
"Yes?"
"Why did you flinch so strong when I spoke the word "sex"? Hm, you just did it again."
"I-I don´t know what you mean."
"Oh you do, I can see it in your reaction. Now I wonder why a woman that is "supposed" to be a prostitute, reacts like that when I say this word. You didn´t reacted like someone who is afraid of that word or what it means. But..."
"But?"
"But like someone who is old enough to know what it means, but too young to actually dare to do and think about that. Like someone...who is too pure for that, for now."
Alfia noticed the smile that appeared on Haruhime´s lips. It was empty, hollow and false.
"You are wrong, lady Cranel."
"Ms. Cranel is enough."
"Then, you are wrong, Ms. Cranel. I am by no means pure, too much have happened."
"The way you reacted to my touch told me otherwise."
"Maybe I am a bit shy or just surprised that you are a woman, but...you are wrong, I´m sorry."
"Then do you enjoy being a prostitute?"
"My life here isn´t so bad, I have a few friends and the women are nice to me."
"This doesn´t answer my question."
"I am allowed to follow my hobbies."
"But you don´t enjoy your job."
"What brings you to that?"
"Because you don´t react like a woman who is used to sleep with men, every day."
"Maybe I am not like the others, it doesn´t change what I am."
Alfia looked at Haruhime with a serious expression.
No matter what this girl says, I doubt she is a prostitute.
"Ms. Cranel, may I ask a question?"
"Of course."
"Why did you come here?"
"I wanted to talk to you."
"But...why?"
"Because my son likes you, he wants to help you."
"Help me?"
"Yes, even with only this short conversation so far, I can see clearly that he told the truth."
"What do you mean?"
"To be honest with you, I was mad, very mad at first, wanted to come here and crush you, without knowing who you are. I really thought for a moment that my son spent a night doing lewd things with a prostitute. But then he explained it to me. He saw that you are unhappy and really wants to help you, to get out of here."
"I don´t need help..."
Alfia nodded to Haruhime´s right side. "Your tail betrays you again."
"Mmmh..."
"You don´t need to put on a strong front, even when I am still pretty young, I have experience."
"Young? But I thought Mr. Cranel is sixteen, that you mean you are at least s-"
Haruhime shrinked back in fear when she felt sudden killing intent from Alfia, it looked like her hair was waving up behind her, like the Medusa in one of Haruhime´s stories. One that she loved for a certain reason.
"S-Sorry! I´m sorry! I´m sorry!"
Alfia calmed down again.
"I have no idea what number you just wanted to say, but anyway."
Haruhime gulped, she understood immediatelly that Alfia was one of those women...one of those that should never have her real age mentioned in her presence.
I wonder how old she is.
"Bell wants to get you out of here."
Haruhime had heard this before, she slightly shook her head.
"This is really nice of him, but my answer won´t change."
"Why? It pained him to ask me, because he thought it was selfish, but I have enough money to pay goddess Ishtar for you. You would be free."
Haruhime smiled. "She wouldn´t let me go, lady Ishtar is really fond of me."
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
"And you really want to remain here?"
"Even if I ran away, they would know where I am."
Subconcious, Haruhime touched the collar around her neck.
"I guess this is a magic item that helps them finding you?"
"Yes, they will always know where I am."
"This isn´t something you give to someone if that someone is at such a place out of her free will. But someone who is locked in here...like a bought slave."
Haruhime´s eyes widened.
"Yes, I heard about your circumstances from my son. But please don't blame him, he was overwhelmed by the situation and sought my advice. My beloved son worships the heroes of the past, he wants to be like them, he told you that too, that's one of the reasons why he wants to save you."
"One?"
"He sees you as a maiden in distress, but this isn´t the reason why he wants to save you, at least not the only one. Bell likes you, he doesn´t have any friends when I don´t count his familia. And you two share the same hobby. And..."
Alfia sighed.
"He has this habit and mindset, that he wants to save women in danger."
"I am not in danger."
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
"And the killing stone is for what?"
Haruhime´s eyes widened in shock and horror.
"Your expression just now answered all of my questions at once."
"H-How do you know of that?"
"Let´s say I got the information."
"...I..."
"You are the sacrifice for the stone, correct?"
"Yes."
"I won´t ask which magic you possess, don´t worry. But judging from all the informations I got, goddess Ishtar´s target is to overwhelm goddess Freya, right?"
"I don´t know what plans lady Ishtar has."
"You call her lady when she plans to kill you?"
"She was very kind to me, gave me shelter and food, I have to repay their kindness."
Alfia was silent for a moment.
"Bell really wants to help you, save you."
"Does he k-"
Alfia shook her head.
"I didn´t told him or he would have run here to get you out of here, most likely."
"Mr. Bell is really kind."
"Yes he is."
"Please don´t tell him."
"Why?"
"Because, if he would try to help me...it will only bring the wrath of the Ishtar Familia down upon him. I don´t want that, I have seen this before."
"And if he said he will still try to rescue you?"
"I would decline, I can´t let his kindness for me getting him destroyed."
"My son doesn´t want to help you because he pities you or feels guilty."
Alfia saw and heard that Haruhime started to sob.
"Please...stop it..."
"Tell me something, Haruhime was it? Why? Why do you insist on giving up? Don´t you want to live? Don´t you want to be free? If you would ask my son for help, he would never abandon y-"
Haruhime shouted. "You don´t understand!"
Alfia looked a bit surprised, the girl finally gave in. If she was honest with herself, Alfia wasn´t a kind person, except towards Bell...and maybe a little bit his familia. In the past she had mercilessly pushed people forward, not even sparing children. As she said to Bell, it wouldn´t make sense trying to save Haruhime if she was too afraid to go.
"I am a prostitute! I give my body to people I don´t even care about! And then I take their money! I am filthy!"
Tears ran down Haruhime´s cheeks now, Alfia spotted self despise when she saw it.
"How could I ever forgive myself for that?! And asking someone like Mr. Bell for help? Do you think I could just ask your son for help?! He wants to become a hero, he told me that!"
Haruhime got a bit louder.
"You think that I can just beg him to save me and let me stay by his side with this tainted body of mine?! I would be his demise! And all that while knowing that I´d put him in danger?!"
She slammed her hands on the floor.
"I dan´t do that! I can´t! I will not bring his life in danger even when I don´t want to die! He was the first man that was ever so kind to me, I can´t do that!"
Alfia saw no lie in Haruhime´s eyes, heard in her voice or noticed in the behaviour of her body. Her respect for Haruhime grew, this girl was just too afraid. But then again, Haruhime didn´t knew who or what exactly Alfia was.
"Alright, thank you for your honest words."
"Please don´t tell Mr. Bell about the stone!"
"I won´t, but it sure is a pity."
Haruhime wiped her tears away. "Thank you, Ms. Cranel. I hope Mr. Bell will reach his goal and become a fine hero."
This girl...only thinking about him...
.
.
Alfia was back in her house and looked out of the window, the evening came and the moon slowly started to rise. Tomorrow would be full moon. Bell already went to his familia´s home, Alfia told him she didn´t had a chance so far to talk to the goddess Ishtar, which wasn´t a lie.
Alfia would hate to have to lie more to Bell.
"Hah...Bell, you really changed me..."
Her eyes wandered to the two pictures on her table. Meteria and Bell smiled at her out of their pictures. Alfia hadn´t shown it in her talk with Haruhime, but this girl´s behaviour reminded her very much of her sister. Haruhime´s crying face hit deep into Alfia´s heart, this girl was afraid of dying and yet cared more about Bell than herself.
Alfia looked at the pictures again and thought about the consequences or all possible actions. Helping Haruhime and risking Bell getting in danger? In the past she would have said no to that.
Meteria...
The gentle smile of her beloved sister and Bell´s smile tore deep into her heart. She thought about Haruhime´s life, what Bell told her. Haruhime got framed for stealing an offering, disowned and banished by her father, abandoned by her bodyguard and captured by bandits, sold into prostitution at the age of ten or eleven.
No matter if she said she didn´t minded her job, Alfia was sure she had nearly a panic attack every night when customers chose her. All the while knowing that Ishtar fully intended to sacrifice her for a ritual that will destroy her soul, and much more.
That this girl´s mind wasn´t broken was a miracle.
"Hah...screw it."
She made sure all the curtains were drawn. Bell had found a possible friend so fast in Orario, a maiden he wanted to rescue, Alfia couldn´t take this away from him. Alfia went to a certain spot in her house, after she bought it, she went to receive something that she had hidden in Orario years ago.
It was a large, long box made of wood.
"I will not ask for forgiveness for using it, but I will follow what you once said."
She opened the box and took out what was inside. It was a scimitar. The weapon that had belonged to her familia´s captain, the Empress. The blade was made from purest adamantium, but darkened except for the cutting edge. The shaft was made from a kind of wood, but Alfia didn´t knew what wood.
It was all that had remained of the Empress after the One Eyed Black Dragon was done with them.
The Empress had said something once that Alfia took as a bad joke, but there was truth in it.
"It counts as sneaking...when there are no witnesses left alive..."
For a moment she held the scimitar in her right hand, looking at it. It felt wrong for her to use the sword that she got from Zeus, also since she intended to use that in the future, people could recognize it.
Her next decision would bring a certain person in Orario trouble, without intending to do that.
Alfia put on her black robe and closed it completely, hiding her cleavage and chest as much as possible. Of course any person would see that she was a woman. Next the put on the necklace and pulled up the hood, this time she used the magic item completely and covered her face by a shadow.
The last part were gauntlets, made of darkened adamantium.
She didn´t knew how familiar she looked now to a special person in Orario.
.
.
Inside of his home, Bell couldn´t hold still. Even when there was no delivery today, he wanted to go and see Haruhime.
He whispered in his room before he left the house. "Lord Miach, lady Nahza, Mom...I´m sorry."
To be able to talk with Haruhime tonight, he would pay as a customer...which would take away all of his savings, but Bell couldn´t help it.
Just to be safe, he took his sword with him, Orario could be dangerous at night after all.
.
.
High up in Babel looked a beautiful goddess over the city below her feet.
"Lady Freya, everything is ready."
"Excellent, Ottar."
Freya turned around and smiled, all of her high executives were here.
"You all know what I except from you, run wild, destroy the place, block Ishtar´s escape routes, but leave her to me."
Her smile was not gentle at all, but it was to die for.
Ottar was eager to follow his Lady´s orders, but in the next hours, he would see something that would shake his very being. Something from the past, that he thought had fallen into oblivion.
"Lady Freya."
"Allen?"
"The two shadows are also in the District again."
"Oh my...I will deal with them when the time comes, don´t lay your hands on them."
They all nodded.
"Ottar, you will stay by my side, a real lady needs to be escorted, this is something that Ishtar never understood. It´s all about elegance and style."
Freya´s eyes glew purple for a moment while she smiled.
.
.
"Leon, something is in the air, I can feel it."
"I can sense it too, something feels not right."
The two shadows that had observed the Pleasure Quarter for the last days didn´t knew what was coming for them.
.
.
"Hm...it looks like all the players are on the move now...Hehehe."
"Are you sure it is wise to stay here?"
Two additional shadows stood on a rooftop that gave a good sight of the whole Pleasure Quarter. One of the shadows had just received a message that one of the players was on the move now, had left his home with his sword.
"Of course I am, Asfi. Also thank you for delivering Bell the message."
"You asked me to do that, lord Hermes. Do you know the boy?"
"Not directly, but someone asked me to have an eye on him."
"Hm, what happens now?"
The deity´s smiled intensified. "Entertainment, Asfi...Entertainment."
.
.
"Uaaaaahn..mnml..."
"What, are you tired already? The night has only begun."
"Just tired of this work...I want to have fun in one of the shops, serve the customers, you know?"
"Yeah, I understand you."
The two guards talked to each other, there was not much to do since most customers were already in the Pleasure Quarter.
Then they heard steps.
"Hm, oh?"
A shadowy figure in a black robe walked towards the entrance of the Quarter. That was nothing unusual, many men covered themself, so that no one would see who they were.
"Welcome to the Pleasure Quarter, if you want to know a direction, just say something."
The figure stopped before the magic lanterns could show much of the robe.
"Sir?"
The figure raised it´s right hand, that was covered by a gauntled and pointed the palm towards the entrance, with the two guards on both sides of the entrance.
A voice mumbled too low to be understood.
.
.
"Satanas Ve-"
.
.
Haruhime flinched suddenly, she sat with other women in the shop and was visible from the street through windows.
A loud explosion echoed fromt he entrance of the Quarter.
And then...screams followed.
.
.
Debris flew through the air and hammered down on houses. Magic lanterns flew into every direction and some exploded by contact, setting things on fire.
A shadowy figure came out of the cloud, all that remained from the entrance, the two guards were knocked out somewhere.
The voice that came out from the hood scared the people that came to see what happened.
.
.
"It doesn't matter if you're the happiest person..."
A dark, scythe like weapon appeared in the right gauntlet of the figure.
"Or an unfortunate weeper..."
The figure slowly walked forward and visitors backed away.
"A powerful beast..."
Guards of the Ishtar familia came running from their home.
"Or a terrifying creature..."
The figure raised the scimitar that looked so similar to a scythe and aimed with the right palm at the running guards.
"The mightiest king..."
A gust of wind waved around the robe a bit.
"Or the lowliest creeper..."
The guards were nearly at the figure.
"You're all the same..."
The hood of the robe rose slightly as the figure looked forward.
"In the eyes of the Reaper!"
The next that the people witnessed, was that the guards of the Ishtar familia flew through the air.
.
.
.
Chaos broke out.
.
.
.
