Chapter 104: Murders in Opera Houses

Opera Houses, enormous buildings where the rich and well connected gather to listen to musics and plays performed on stage. But on this night, in an Opera House located in Oriana capital, a horror show is unfolding, with no one but the victim as its live audience.

*TAP TAP TAP* The sounds of a man running echoes throughout the halls of an empty Opera House.

"Somebody! Anybody! HEEEELP!" Shouted said man in absolute terror and desperation. His aristocratic clothes have several cuts and are stained with his blood which came from wounds inflicted by the one currently hunting him.

The man desperately searched for an exit but it was futile as the doors and windows leading to the outside has been closed and sealed and won't budge.

His shouts are loud and echoes throughout the dimly lit building but it was unheard by anyone other than him and his hunter.

*SLASH*

"Uaghh!" The man shouted as his back was slashed by a blade that he cannot perceive. He fell on his knees and took a peek behind him, only to find nothing there. He recovered quickly and ran towards a private VIP room and locked the door and moved some furniture to barricade it, believing it would protect him from the one chasing him.

*BOOM*

An explosion destroyed the door completely.

"Waaaaghhh!" The man screamed again as he scrambled around the room, trying to find a weapon or some place to hide, only to find neither. As he saw nobody entering from the destroyed door, he gathered his courage and ran towards the door. When he got out of the room and returned to the hallways, he saw nobody around. He decided to immediately run again to search for a hiding spot or an exit.

He unexpectedly arrived at the Opera's stage and chose to hide underneath the grand piano whilst praying for the Goddess to save him. It didn't take long for him to abandon his current hiding place when suddenly someone played a song on the piano. The melody is familiar to him, it was the famous Moonlight Sonata. But when he looked at the seat, he saw no feet there.

He got out of his hiding place under the piano and saw nobody on it and the piano suddenly no longer playing. The stage went silent the very moment he emerged from underneath the piano. He chose to run away again.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit!" He repeated the word over and over again as he panicked more and more, noticing how the one hunting him is merely toying with him.

He ran around the building, not having specific destination in mind, only wanting to get away from his hunter as possible. His adrenaline pumping, allowing him to exceed his usual physical limits, allowing him to run for several minutes non-stop before he eventually ran out of breath.

He stopped to catch his breath, feeling a little safer now that he's far away from his hunter.

*Tap Tap Tap*

The sound of footsteps echoes throughout the halls. But it was not his footsteps. The footsteps are not the footsteps of someone running, rather it was of someone walking leisurely as if not in a hurry to chase after someone. He looked back but saw nothing but darkness. He looked around and found no one. There's no one around him but the footsteps continued to echo across the hall, slowly getting closer and closer.

Horrified by the sound of footsteps that didn't come from his feet, the man shouted desperately "Wh-Who the fuck are you!? What games are you playing!? Show yourself!"

*SLASH*

"UAAAARGHHH!" The man screamed as a slash that came out of nowhere sliced his stomach open. He tried to clutch his stomach to prevent its contents spilling but it was no use as he had to keep running. His attempts at running failed miserably though due to how open his stomach is.

"Arghh…. No… I can pay you… 20 Million Zeni…! 50 Million Zeni…! Just… spare me! Please!" The man, clutching his bleeding stomach, dropped to the floor and started begging for mercy towards his hunter, whom he saw finally appearing behind him. Said hunter is cloaked in all black, with the exception of an ominous white mask.

The man trembled, his teeth clicking, his fear caused the pain in his wounds to be forgotten in favour of focusing on the terror before him.

"Why are you doing this!? Is it because I framed that stupid guard after I assaulted his wife!? Is it because I mistreated you Spellswords!? I-I promise I'll do better! Please spare me!" The man pleaded once again as the masked figure approached slowly and lifted their blade.

"No! Wait! Wait! I know what it is! It's because I'm in the Perv faction, isn't it!? Who sent you!? Count Rajta, was it!? I thought we had a deal! Wh-Whatever he's paying you, I'll pay it double! No! Triple! Please! Don't kill me!" He shouted again but his pleas fall on deaf ears as the blade falls, slicing his chest open, spilling his organs out.

"Uagh….!" He tried to shout but with his ribs and chest muscles cut open, he was unable to draw breath. He witnessed his blood and organs spilling into the floor in complete horror. He eventually succumbs to his wounds and dies.

His black clothed killer silently left the scene after tying his corpse up in the chandelier with chains.

On another night, in a different Opera House still located in Oriana capital, another man is being chased around by an unseen figure. Once again the Opera House's gates, doors and windows leading outside have been sealed, not allowing the victim to escape.

The well dressed man ran desperately while clutching his right shoulder, which is missing its entire right arm.

"Heeelp! Heeeeelp! Somebody! Heeelp!" He shouted for help desperately but like with the previous victim, his shouts are unheard by anyone other than him and his hunter.

*SLASH*

"AAAAGHHHH!" A slash came from the darkness, slicing both his legs off. He shouted in complete agony. When he looked around him, he saw no one in the dark hallways.

"What the… fuck…!" He cursed as he looked at where his legs is supposed to be. He also noticed that the legs that was just sliced off is missing, not on the floor, presumably taken by his hunter without him noticing.

"Fuck…!" He cursed again before crawling desperately with only one arm, still clinging to life even though he has lost three limbs, fearing the approaching shadow of death more than anything.

*Tap Tap Tap*

As he crawled, he suddenly heard footsteps, footsteps that are clearly not his own considering he just lost both his feet. The footsteps startled him, made him grew more desperate and made him start crawling faster.

After crawling for awhile whilst listening to the approaching footsteps, he eventually arrived at the Opera House's stage where he saw his lost right arm and both his legs hanging in the barely illuminated ceiling. The limbs were impaled by violin bows.

"Fuck… Who the fuck…!?" He murmured, now fully convinced that he's currently dealing with a crazy person. Suddenly he noticed a person appearing in front of him. Said person's arrival went unnoticed by him. He noted how the person is wearing all black and had a white mask. Said person's eyes stared at him through that eerie mask, scaring him even more.

"P-Please, spare me! I have money! I'll pay whatever it takes! I'm a Count! I have plenty of money!" He pleaded to the black cloaked figure desperately, only for said person to approach him with a blade in hand.

"No! No please! Nooo!" The man shouted before being decapitated by the black cloaked figure's blade. The last thing he saw was his own headless body and the black cloaked figure's boots approaching his head.

On another night, in yet another Opera House in Oriana capital, another horror show is unfolding. The victim this time is well dressed like the previous victims but he's not an aristocrat like both of them. He's a musician. Due to the beautiful pianist Silon going missing some time ago, he became the most sought after performer in Oriana capital.

His true identity is a First Child of the Cult. But such title means nothing tonight as he is just another helpless victim before the hunter he's currently running from.

"Dammit! Do you know who I am!? I am Schaumann the Requiem! You think you can get away with this!?" He shouted whilst running through the hallway of the Opera House.

Unlike the previous victims, he have a destination in mind, his changing room, where he kept his weapons. When he arrived there though, he saw a black cloaked figure already there waiting for him.

"You… Are you with Shadow Garden!? Know that I am more than any Cult minions you've faced before!" He shouted, trying to intimidate his foe and empower himself with false bravado.

It proved futile however as he found himself suddenly tied by chains and forced to sit on his chair. Due to how tight the chain's grip is, his bones cracked and eventually broke, causing him to scream.

"UAAAAGHHHH!"

The hunter approached him with his own music sheets in hand.

"No… please no!" Finally begging for mercy like the previous victims, he helplessly watched as his hunter forced his jaw open and fed him his own music sheets, causing him to choke to death.

The entire kingdom of Oriana is in turmoil, on the brink of civil war. Its citizens were taxed heavily and yet not given the protection they were entitled to by the state. Even though the vampire threat is over, they are still oppressed by local bandits, who are having the time of their lives committing crimes with no one to punish them for it.

But for the aristocrats and high society, it's Tuesday. They went to Opera Houses in the capital to enjoy some musical performance as if nothing's wrong in the world. That is how disconnected some of the Oriana nobles are from reality.

They entered the Opera House, enjoyed the show, and went back home like usual. But one day, someone didn't make it back home. Said person is Viscount Gelatin, a minor noble who is part of Duke Perv's faction. At first people just assumed he got drunk or went to a brothel after leaving the Opera House and thus would come home late. But after not returning to his mansion in the capital for an entire day, his family and servants started searching for him.

At night they eventually found him… or rather, his corpse… tied up in the Opera House's chandelier and disembowelled along with having numerous slash wounds on his body and an agonized expression that never left his face even a full day after his death.

The murder is terrible and the Oriana guards immediately investigated but the nobles aren't worried. It's just a death of a minor noble after all. They moved on with their lives and the memory of the terrible murder was put in the backs of their minds… until the next murder happens… this time in another Opera House in the capital.

The victim this time is another noble, Count Isomalt. He didn't return home after attending a concert in said Opera House and was later found mutilated on the Opera House's stage with his limbs and head hanging around the ceiling and impaled by violin bows. This still didn't scare the nobles yet, although it did made them nervous. They moved on with their lives again and pretended like nothing is wrong… until the third murder happened on a third Opera House in the capital.

This time the victim is Marquis Pectin. As usual he attended the aforementioned Opera House and never came back home but was found dead in the Opera House instead. This time it was a simple murder with the victim merely being slit on the throat. Despite the simplicity of the murder, the nobles are scared as they are now convinced that the murderer is targeting them.

The investigators tried to discern the killer's intent, why they are targeting the people they killed in order to try to figure out their identity or at least guess their next target.

Was it for revenge? Was it a Spellsword who hated aristocrats? Most nobles think so and their treatment of Spellswords worsens each passing day.

A fourth murder was found. This time it's not an aristocrat but a rich and famous musician named Schaumann who dominates Oriana Opera Houses after the pianist Silon mysteriously disappeared from the public eye. Schaumann was found in his changing room in the fourth and last Opera House in the capital chained on his chair with broken bones and his music sheets choking his throat.

This fourth murder is a sign that aristocrats are not targeted specifically but it didn't make the nobles feel any better as they are convinced that artists and Opera attendees are the target now. These murders made Opera Houses in the capital less popular and have less attendee than ever before, a shocking reality for Oriana.

With the Opera Houses unable to distract them from the upcoming civil war, Oriana aristocrats became more and more nervous, some of which became paranoid enough to not leave their luxurious homes and mansions, believing that if they didn't die from the murders, they will die from the upcoming civil war. Lower class to middle class citizens delighted at the fact that rich people have started to share their feelings.

But even in the safety of their homes they are not safe, as they found out with the fifth murder.

Count Fondant was found in his room in his mansion with a stab wound on his chest. A servant managed to witness a figure wearing black and wearing a mask, suspected to be the killer, escaping the mansion on the night of the murder. This incident caused an uproar among Oriana nobility, particularly members of Perv faction whose members just so happens to include the murdered aristocrats.

Author's Note:

Serial Killer time! This chapter was almost posted starting from the last segment but I decided to add some horror scenes so you got three of them in this chapter.

HundredMasks: THE WAR IS STARTING, AGE OF BLOODSHED LET'S GO, good writing author-san, I am thoroughly impressed, as well as excited for the atrocities soon to be committed, I'd pull a sundowner speech but it might get your fanfic reported so I won't, just imagine a sundowner speech about love for war tho

Answer: Before the war there is one more arc I wanna do. You shall see what I'm cooking... Or perhaps you can already guess.

Anime0CC0Manga: it would be funny to have some kind of role reversal, they exchange places, Necromancy becomes a hero and Shadow becomes a villain type of thing

Answer: I've thought about such scenario but nothing concrete yet. We shall see if I'll find some scenario that fits that trope.

Guest: The lie Claude told Sherry and Yukime about why he became evil is becoming more and more true. He went from plotting to kill his sister back in chapter 1 to actually trying to protect her now. And here I thought he would be like Harm from Young Justice and kill his sister to become pure evil.

Btw this fanfic is really good, how does it not have a tv tropes page yet.

Answer: Indeed. But I certainly have a plan on how it ends.

Thanks. I'm glad you think so. If I were to guess, no one wants to make a tv tropes page because I work too fast. In mere months already over 100 chapters. XD

Knolleg: What is Claude's villain personality inspired from?

Answer: Mostly from Cid himself. The idea was to have a rival that parallels Cid's personality. Similar but different in many ways.

Guest: What do you imagine claude's insane laughing sounds like? I'm thinking he sounds like the medic from tf2 though that's just me.

Answer: I'm thinking of Alucard from Hellsing Ultimate. The Crispin Freeman version.