Chương 37: Chapter 36 - The Preacher

The rain had truly begun to pour by the time Ren finally caught up with Alice. Cold water hammered down from the overcast sky, leaving the streets slick and glistening. His cloak kept the worst of the rain off his clothes, though the freezing winter air still managed to bite at whatever skin it could find. Alice had chased the preacher across nearly the entire city, following him all throughout the North-West and North-East Quarters, eventually ending up in the South-East Quarter after almost three hours.

It had taken that long because the preacher took countless detours along the way, doubling back on himself and circling entire blocks more than once, yet Alice had somehow managed to keep on the man's trail the whole way through. Her [Shadow Veiled] Attribute kept her presence hidden, the rain only offering her more opportunities to make use of it. And after losing Ren back at the docks, the preacher apparently hadn't bothered taking any serious precautions.

Now the two of them stood under a small awning across the street from a quiet building.

"Should we go in?" Alice asked, turning toward him. Ren's body ached with exhaustion, and he was far from peak condition, but they'd found one of Mr. Jester's targets now. If the preacher were to realise he'd been followed all the way here, he might abandon the location entirely. Not to mention the man himself had to be exhausted after running around for so long too.

"We might not get another chance," Ren said finally, crossing the street. Heavy rain pelted down against his head and dripped steadily down his face. The building he approached was nothing out of the ordinary, just another simple two-storey structure packed tightly between its neighbours, like most buildings in the South-East Quarter of The Crossroads were. Ren reached the door and tried the handle to found that it was expectedly locked.

"Leave it to Alice," the doll-like girl said, stepping forward and placing her hand over the keyhole. Alice closed her eyes as she began to focus, and for several seconds nothing at all happened. Then, a moment later, a thin rod of condensed shadow slowly pushed its way out from the keyhole. Alice exhaled softly before twisting the dark rod, and with a soft click of the lock, the door swung open. Ren looked at her in surprise.

"You can just pick any lock?" he whispered as they slipped inside.

"Technically," Alice replied quietly.

"But for Alice to maintain a condensed shadow shape, she needs to know the form very well."

"So for the lock, Alice just forced shadows to fill all the available space inside, luckily it wasn't a complicated one, or she would have had to use a lot more essence." Ren couldn't help but feel impressed.' There really isn't a useless Soul Power, is there?' The interior of the building looked to be the long-abandoned remains of some old shop, every surface coated in a thick, undisturbed layer of dust that felt thick to breathe in as they crept deeper inside.

Old wooden counters stood crooked and cracked throughout the space, their surfaces buried beneath years upon years of accumulated grime and residue as well as various bottles and books.

Broken glass vials and rusted metal tools lay scattered haphazardly across the floor and atop the sagging shelves, remnants of a trade that glinting faintly whenever lightning flashed in from outside. Aside from all the dust, the air itself hung heavy and stale too, carrying the musty weight of a place that hadn't seen any proper use in a very, very long time.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Ren whispered.

"Yeah," Alice responded quietly as shadows gathered in her hands and Ren's, forming two longswords. He stared briefly at the deep black blade in his grip.' That's right…

'he thought grimly.' We're here to kill him.' You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Glancing around the dilapidated room in an eerie silence only broken by the steady hammering of rain against the windows, Ren spotted a staircase off to the side. Its base had been noticeably cleared of the debris that littered everywhere else. He gestured to Alice before slowly creeping toward it, the two of them beginning to ascend as the old stairs creaked faintly beneath their weight.

Looking closer, Ren noticed that the dust had been cleared from these steps as well, worn away from passage.' These have definitely been used recently.' Lightning flashed outside, briefly illuminating the stairwell before a roar of thunder followed close behind it. In that same moment, Ren caught a faint clatter coming from somewhere above, only for the silence returned a heartbeat later. Ren swallowed hard, pushing down the unease.' Why did this guy have to choose such a creepy place to hide…?'

Upon reaching the second floor, Alice close behind him, a single door waited for them. Not wasting any time, Ren slowly pushed it open, revealing the room beyond as a pitch black void.' It's so dark…' he thought, tightening his grip on the sword. [Survival Instincts] hadn't activated at all, which gave him some small measure of peace of mind as he and Alice cautiously stepped forward into the darkness.

Ren strained his eyes against the black when the door suddenly slammed shut behind them, causing him to jump slightly, Lightning flashed through a window, lighting the entire room up for a split second, revealing the silhouette of a man in full plate armour standing at the far end of the room. Ren's heart nearly leapt out of his chest as he raised his blade immediately, Alice quickly following suit.

"I didn't think I'd been followed," an annoyed voice echoed from the darkness.

"Assassins, maybe?"

"I thought Lady Darla had the Church under control." The sound of someone clapping their hands together echoed out twice throughout the dark room.

"Homunculus! I need some light!" Small flames suddenly sputtered to life above the armoured figure's palm before quickly scattering themselves throughout the room. One by one, the floating flames spread out and hovered in place around the walls and ceiling, bathing the entire room in a flickering orange glow. Now that he could actually see, Ren noticed the man who'd summoned the flames wore a set of Flameguard armour, the symbol of the Eternal Flame etched proudly across its breastplate.

But something about him was deeply wrong. His skin was grey and sunken, blood slowly seeping from both his mouth and nose. The hair atop his head was thin and patchy, and his eyes looked dull and empty, as though there were no mind left behind them at all.

"Oh great Dark, what do we have here?" the preacher said casually, stepping into view from behind the armoured man and examining Ren and Alice from across the room.

"A pretty girl and... the surprisingly fast boy." Still dressed in his barely-held-together clothes, the worn tome he preached from still clutched in his hand, he offered them a wry smile.

"I don't know what your grand plan was for coming here, but now that you've seen our homunculus, I'm the great Abyss has delivered you to me to die, I'm afraid." The preacher thrust out a hand and pointed at Ren.

"You. Truthfully tell me who you are and what your aim is here."' As if I'd voluntarily tell you that,' Ren thought, tightening his grip on the shadow sword he was holding, when suddenly—"My name is Ren," he heard himself say, "and I'm here to kill you." He froze, fear and confusion surging through him.' What?!' Ren had not wanted to say that.

"Hahaha!" The preacher burst into maniacal laughter.

"That look on your pathetic face is hilarious! Thank the Abyss he delivered you here. Ahh, and I suppose it doesn't matter since you're both about to die, but the reason you couldn't help yourself just when was actually because of my Soul Power."

"You have to do anything I tell you to," he finished, a mocking grin spreading across his face.' What a terrifying ability…' cold sweat formed on Ren's neck.' How are we supposed to fight someone like that?'

"Now you," the preacher continued, pointing at Alice.

"Tell me who you are and who sent you to kill me."' Calm down,'Ren told himself, focusing his thoughts.' There has got to be some kind of weakness he has.' His eyes flicked between the preacher and the armoured homunculus as his mind raced through possible options. Could it be that the preacher relied on a guard like this precisely because he lacked any real fighting capabilities of his own? No, that couldn't be right, because he hadn't brought the homunculus along with him while he'd been out preaching. Wait...

could it be that he simply never feared capture in the first place? Elroy was the newly appointed captain of the Flameguard here in the Crossroads, so perhaps the preacher felt untouchable for that reason. Did that mean this homunculus had once been the old Flameguard captain? It certainly seemed to possess a Soul Power of its own, and it wore the same armour. The thoughts spiralled endlessly through Ren's head as Alice gave a small nod beside him.

"Alice is Alice," the doll-like girl said coldly.

"She is Ren's new family, and Mr. Jester sent him to kill you. Alice is just here because Ren is." A sudden realisation struck Ren at the same moment the preacher raised a confused eyebrow.' The best option is to just defeat him before he can use his Soul Power again.' Ren drew in a deep, slow breath before closing his eyes and beginning to circulate the essence throughout his body, forcing it downward and into his legs.

"Mr. Jester, you say?" the preacher said, "I've never heard of him."

"And you said your name was Alice?" It was true that Ren essentially had only a day and a half of swordsmanship training under his belt, hardly enough to call himself anything close to skilled, but right now it was simply going to have to do. He shifted into position for Night's Opening Bar, raising the shadow sword up before his face as he continued to focus on keeping his essence circulating while fixing his gaze on the target ahead.

"Wait… wasn't that the name of one of Master Ohba's apprentices?" the preacher asked. Ren exploded forward.