Chapter 64: First Night!

Chapter 64: First Night! Night has come, and the blood-red fog encompassed the village entirely. It wasn’t just the edges, as Ken first surmised; no, it was the entire village. One wouldn’t be able to see a centimeter beyond their hands if they were to step out of their houses with their mortal senses. But Ken, who was atop his cloud, just slightly over the roof of the village head’s estate, could see very well. His senses were far beyond that of mortals, but what truly made him different was his major accomplishment over the perception technique that came in handy in a way he welcomed with open hands. He wasn’t able to see as clear as day; let’s not forget this was night. And if the darkness with no light to pierce through it was already hard to see through, then the blood-red fog did nothing to alleviate that. Had it been a normal dark night, Ken would have been able to see around 60% as well as he would in the morning, which was phenomenal even compared to that of Darek, a trained individual’s morning vision. With the fog... he could only see half the village. But it was enough. If something moved, he would catch it before it noticed him, but it wasn’t his goal. His goal... was to observe. Couples were holding each other in their homes, and children were forced to sleep. Some cried due to the lost warmth of their parents, and some did after seeing how terrified their parents were, mirroring their expressions and fear. Within the village head’s house, most were asleep, but some were awake, fearing for the lives of others, and some their own. Ralf feared for another child to lose a parent, and one of his younger brothers feared for an untimely death. While the village head, whose body had long since won over him, couldn’t help but enjoy dreamland, Within the doctor’s house, Darek made sure to accompany him, as night was when the doctor did most of his job, preparing to take in another victim. And while all of this happened, Ken stood silently, gazing like a predator waiting for his prey. And the prey did appear; in fact, he had noticed it since it came out of the doctor’s second-floor window. Ken wasn’t going to waste his time making people suspicious of who exactly could be the devil’s contractor; he already knew it was the doctor before he even set foot in this forest. They told him of their identity to make him feel a sense of knowing more about the enemy than they did, and Ken asked him questions to let him think that they weren’t sure who the perpetrator was and they were suspicious of him, which would make him feel at ease and also cautious of them. He also didn’t disclose the fact that he knew everything about the devil, which all led to the doctor thinking he had the upper hand. Thus, with his lack of information, he would think they were planning on slowly taking care of this mission for the coming days... And that would make the wisest course of action. "Letting nature take its course." Ken smiled. His lips wore an upper curve that hid beneath it far more than a calm that would chill one’s spine. It held beneath it anger, fury beyond belief at a man who at the end of his life resorted to trading and studying his very own brothers, those who had welcomed him when he was at the lowest of his life... to live to see another day. Humans and their greed... no mortal who fails to accept his fate would win over the desire to live. Especially when they thought that death was the end... Who decided that? The devil, a female wearing proper clothing, a modern black dress that matched her hair color, leisurely walked through the village as if she owned it. On her head were two twisted horns, larger than a wrist. This meant that they were up against a warrior devil. One whose strength was her forte. Each step she took left a blazing red mark of her feet on the ground, which only disappeared after some time. And her destination was... "The village head’s estate today, huh?" Ken didn’t move from his place. He didn’t have to. He was more than hidden at the moment, and the devils weren’t known for their sharp senses. He could already guess who the victim would be today, but he was looking forward to something else, something funny. And while waiting, he traced his hands as invisible strings danced away and into the distance. The devil walked like nothing mattered, and with it taking step after step, the path behind it was becoming like a death sentence. The red foggy atmosphere and the chill night with noises from the forest, beasts, and insects covering every corner with their roars and croaks. In this tiny village a single figure walked a scene straight from a horror movie. Rain started falling slowly, and then its intensity rose with time, and in seconds, the entire village was soaked with rain that fell as if the clouds above gave up. It did nothing to wash away the fog, but... *CRACKLE* *CRACKLE* It sure did hit at the sanity of the villagers. The entire scene at the moment in front of Ken’s eye was laughable. He who could see what others could not; he who controlled the strings... Felt as if this mission was nothing but a small scheme to make him angry. A joke of a crime played by the doctor and this immature devil to make him furious. And it did its job. Thinking of the countless children who would grow up without parents, the victims who were slowly dying in the doctor’s courtyard, the village head who was on his last days having to take care of matters beyond his body’s capabilities, and a small-time villain who couldn’t accept his fate... His eyes focused on the devil. Or rather the entire scene behind it. Made visible by the rain droplets mystically floating in the air... was a jagged maze of strings as sharp as razors going as far as the blazing footsteps of the devil started. Within his fingertips was the key to ending this all. A single flick, and the devil would meet its doom before it even knew what was wrong. ------End------