Chapter 21: This Demon

Chapter 21: This Demon The snow continued to fall, covering the streets and houses in pure white, while the commotion of the loud explosion at the orphanage drew the attention of the guards, who were hurrying towards the scene. In the orphanage, blood pooled in red puddles, soaked with a liquid that still steamed in the cold. The flakes melted as they touched the open entrails of the corpses, as if winter itself was trying to clean up the carnage and failing. The smell was unbearable: hot iron, burst guts. It was not just the stench of death, but the stench of slaughter. Smoke clung to the air, thick. The bodies were not corpses, but jigsaw puzzles of flesh: arms ripped off, heads split in half, torsos ripped open like burst sacks. The snow tried to cover them, but the blood melted it, exposing pieces of children, of nuns, of assailants... all equally mangled. The cries were not of pain, but of horror: nuns with habits drenched in red, dragging what was left of their legs; children clutching their intestines as if they could shove them back in. Kael, black Taoist robe splattered with blood and scraps of flesh, decapitated the last nearby attacker with his coin sword. Then, he glanced around with an indifferent expression. The scene did not shock him. On the contrary, it reaffirmed his vision of this world. Life and death always walk hand in hand. If I don’t become strong enough, I will end up like them: dead. There is no such thing as justice. Compassion is a luxury that the weak allow themselves just before they are buried. In this world, everything is a tool or a hindrance. Kael turned to look at the man who had cut off his arms and legs, who was passed out on the ground. Some of the nuns approached; they were stained with blood. "Thank you very much, young man. Your help has been invaluable... Without you, many more of our sisters would have fallen into the hands of those sinners." The nun thanked him with genuine devotion, although a shadow of sadness clouded her gaze. The attack had taken them by surprise, and despite their efforts, several of her sisters lay lifeless. They had finished off most of the attackers, but some had managed to flee, taking with them any clues as to who was behind it all. "Nothing to be thankful for." Kael wiped the blood that trickled down his forehead, keeping it from blinding him. "I just need a favor in return." "A favor?" The nun narrowed her eyes, expectant. "To borrow a room. Preferably... a basement." "Of course, no problem. Follow us," the nun said, without going into much detail, for the young man in front of her, covered in blood, only wanted a room. Upon receiving an affirmative answer, Kael grabbed the body of the attacker and began to follow the nuns. The nuns, seeing this, quickly understood what the young man was going to do. As Kael entered the destroyed building full of mutilated corpses, he felt no emotion. He had seen and experienced worse things in his first life, especially when the war broke out between the three kingdoms of this region. Kael felt someone approaching and realized that Lydia and Eren were coming towards him. Seeing that it was them and not an enemy, he continued walking, but with his senses on high alert. They continued to advance through the destroyed building, then down a wooden staircase and into a rather dingy basement. There were cobwebs on the ceiling, and several three-eyed rats hid in the sudden light. Kael dumped the body he had been dragging in the middle of the place and looked at the nuns, who had not yet left. "We will stay. We also want to know who caused this attack," said one of the nuns. She had no intention of leaving; she wanted to know the reason for this attack. She wanted revenge for her sisters and the innocent children who had died horrible deaths. However, Lydia, sensing Kael’s gaze, quickly understood what she had to do. "I’m sorry, but you cannot be here. The interrogation will be conducted under the name of the Medici Clan." The nuns present, when they heard the name ’Medici’, visibly tensed. One of them asked, pointing to Kael with a trembling hand: "Is that young master Kael Medici?" "Yes," Lydia confirmed. "And that’s why they can’t be present during the interrogation." The nuns looked at each other with mixed emotions. They wanted to stay and find out who the culprit was so they could send a letter to the Holy Empire and have justice served, but they greatly feared the Medici Clan. After eight seconds, the nuns, with frustrated expressions, left the basement, looking somewhat angrily at Kael. Kael didn’t mind the looks they gave him when they were covered in their own sisters’ blood, and ordered Lydia: "Keep watch." Lydia nodded, without saying a word. Although she was curious as to what kind of method Kael was going to use to interrogate the attacker. "It’s time to start the interrogation." Kael walked over to the passed-out man and gave him a hard slap that echoed throughout the basement. The fainting man awoke with a jolt as he felt the burning on his cheek and met Kael’s lifeless eyes. A deep fear settled in his heart; he had never seen such eyes. They were the eyes of someone who looks at all living things equally: neither love, nor hate, nor any other emotion. At that moment, Kael spoke, "You are awake now. Who sent you to kill me?" However, the man remained silent. He had no intention of speaking, despite the pain he felt throughout his body. "I see..." Kael took his coin sword and thrust it into the man’s stomach, making him scream. "You can tell me who sent you to attack me... or to attack this orphanage." Spitting out a mouthful of blood, the man laughed maniacally, "HAHAHAHA!.... So you want to torture me for the death of those orphans." "So you have the strength to laugh." Kael reached into the man’s mouth. He grabbed a tooth with two fingers and calmly pulled it out forcefully. The man screamed in pain as his mouth and chest filled with blood. His gaze was beginning to unfocus; he could see Kael’s indifferent expression, looking more like a demon than a person. Holding the tooth in his hand, Kael looked at it for a moment before tossing it aside. After throwing away the tooth he had knocked out of the man, Kael looked back at him. "Who sent you?" Although he already had an idea of who might be behind this, he wanted to confirm it to be sure. The man shuddered. He could do nothing; he felt helpless, and his heart was pounding. He could not commit suicide, for they had pulled out the tooth where he had the poison to take his own life. Nor could he fight, for his limbs were useless. He never thought that this person... no, this demon would capture him so quickly and cut off his limbs. In his mind, the concept of "human" had disappeared to refer to Kael, who looked at him indifferently, waiting for him to speak. Observing the man’s silence, Kael interpreted it as a refusal to respond. He reached out again and grabbed another tooth. He yanked it out forcefully, eliciting a cry of pain from the man. He threw the tooth to the ground as he said: "I have thirty teeth left to pull out. Will you answer my question or would you rather...?" The man continued in silence. He would not betray his master, who had given him everything from a roof over his head to a job. That little pain was nothing to him. Seeing that he had no intention of speaking, Kael, with an indifferent expression and eyes as cold as ice, began to pull out his teeth one by one as screams echoed in the air. Outside the basement, the man’s piercing screams could be heard, but none of the nuns seemed to care; they were more concerned with giving first aid to the children. Kael, who had not stopped pulling teeth out of the man who had not spoken all this time, had already extracted about ten more, making a total of twelve with the first two. The man lay sprawled on the ground, spitting blood nonstop, with occasional spasms. Kael reached out with his bloody hand to pull out another tooth.... But at that moment, the man finally opened his mouth. "I... I’ll talk... I will speak..."