"Master, are you planning to kill him?" An ethereal voice out of the blue sounded from the deepest part of the alleyway.
Slowly, a figure approached him and its outline appeared in his vision.
It was a two-meter being with no legs. It looked like a ghost doll as it floated towards Zarakhtul with its black robe fluttering.
Its robe covered its entire body and the being had a round face. On the bottom part, the robe was torn as though it just walked through spiky flowers.
At a glance, it looked like a ghost doll which people used as a charm to prevent rain.
"Teru, any new great news?" Zarakhtul ignored its question and asked for any information.
"Sorry, great master. It's only a bad one. Would you like to hear it?" Teru asked and Zarakhtul's brows frowned.
"Tell me."
"Yes, great master. She's gone. Someone kidnaps her and I can't find her location. Apologize for this puny servant." It bowed with its gaze on Zarakhtul's toe, not daring to raise its head.
For a short moment, Teru could feel a cold and heavy aura coming from Zarakhtul and a few seconds later, it disappeared.
Teru silently heaved a sigh of relief.
After controlling his emotions, Zarakhtul brows frowned slightly and after a short silence, he said as he pinched his chin, "...Whoever caught her must get a rough idea of what we are planning. Abandon her and change of plans." His tone was firm and a bit hoarse unlike the usual as though he was someone else.
Teru nodded, "understood. Should we find out who kidnap her?"
"Don't, you are weaker than Furasa. Even if you find out who it is. I could do nothing but flee and you simply waste your life. I need as much manpower as possible. Proceed with what you usually do."
Furasa was a rank two sorcerer. Sorcerers in this rank could kill rank 1 to 4 Anomalies. Teru's strength was between 3 and 4.
How did someone target her? He silently thought. Only a selected few individuals know his plan! Did someone betray them? If so, Zarakhtul would know. For now, he's going to put this thought at the back of his mind.
"Yes," Teru replied as its figure gradually changed into black mist and scattered.
He then looked at the corpses and his heart winced as though seeing a newly bought furniture but end up destroyed the next day! Thankfully, his winced heart lasted shortly.
He retracted his gaze to Honza. He crouched down and put his index finger on Honza's back neck.
A bright glow that lasted a few minutes before Zarakhtul retracted his hand. His body felt great after sucking Honza's spiritual energy.
Staring at the unconscious body in front of him for a few seconds, he mumbled, 'Even rank six Anomalies can't kill him despite he's in a weak state. What a monster, I guess I should find a few puppets along the way." He turned around and walked away.
As he walked, an Anomaly rat ran past in front of him. Just as it was in the middle of the alleyway, it instinctively stopped as it felt a presence. Curious, it turned its head to the source and found a giant looking at it.
As it met the giant's eyes, its body spammed with danger and it dashed to the nearest small gap of a building that was just a few centimeters away.
However, before it could enter it. Its movements turned sluggish and stiff. It can't move as though petrified. Zarakhtul approached it as he was satisfied and then, he bit his thumb, causing blood to flow out.
A drop of blood fell to the ground and the rat opened its mouth. A tongue reached out and on it, rows of teeth and lines of mouth suddenly formed. The tongue suddenly had a mouth and opened its jaw to consume the blood!
Following that, it withdrew its tongue to its mouth. The rat greatly trembled as its size slowly increased and stopped as it was the size of a car!
"Very good. Un, I decided, your name is Bob." Zarakhtul smiled as he gave his new "puppet" a name.
His figure and the big monster gradually turned illusory before finally disappearing into the thin air.
Not long after, a four-legged creature. A cheetah leaped down from the three-story building and as it landed, it surveyed the surroundings.
Its gaze stopped at Honza. It came to his side and sniffed his hair, body, and legs.
After a round of sniffing him, the cheetah bit Honza's collar and jumped forward to the building on the other side of the alleyway
The alleyway went back to its usual, quiet state as though nothing had happened.
.
.
.
On the peak of the skyscraper, Narukami sat down and stared at the city view from above. He could hear car engine from the distance, once in a while, a muffled honk of a car found its way into his ear.
Police sirens echoed in the air and made the city a bit more lively. Crowds on the street walked by, some focused on their phones, some talking with their friends and some covered their ears from reality to listen to some music as they transcended to another world.
Narukami watched all of this with an expressionless face. His eyes were looking into the distance. It was quite a mystery what was in his mind.
Suddenly, his spiritual sense triggered and he looked around.
Six creatures approached him. Some from the air, some climbed on the building as though walking on land and some walked in the air.
Narukami stood up and waited until they arrived. It only took them five seconds for them to arrive before their master.
"Good job," he said as he extended his hand, opening his palm and the creatures turned to a surge of light. One by one they entered his palm and became one with him.
Lastly, it was the cheetah. Narukami frowned as to why it stayed and he soon found out the reason.
His brows creased as he asked, "a person?"
He looked at the cheetah and it simply tilted its head. Didn't understand its master's question.
Narukami willed it and the cheetah opened its mouth, the person fell with a light thud and the cheetah went into his palm after turning into a surge of light.
Narukami crouched down and examined the person's exquisite face with fair skin, "she? No, he?" He wondered as his mind figured out the person in front of him was a girl or a boy.
"Why did that cheetah bring it in the first place?" He asked himself the most important question and soon he ignored it temporarily as he couldn't find a definite answer, only speculations.
"Whatever the reason, that cheetah was interested in it and decided to bring it to me. Perhaps as a gift?" He said to himself and chuckled self-deprecatingly.
A cheetah was considered a cat family. One might know that ordinary cats frequently bring back dead animals to their owner because they treat you like family.
Regardless of the reason, Narukami had to take this person somewhere else. Should he leave without taking him, it would leave a bad taste in Narukami's mouth.
Just as he was about to carry him, his pupils constricted as his spiritual senses triggered, a a danger was approaching.
"SIXTH!" A man's voice growled as he called out his name.
Tracking the source, it was a man raising his axe. He slowly descended from the air into Narukami. It appeared this man just jumped from the nearest building to launch a surprise attack.
Because this man appeared behind him. He didn't see Narukami's face clearly.
Before Narukami faced him, he hurriedly put on a mask after he flicked what appeared to be a paper crane.
With a simple flick, it transformed into a black masquerade mask! Putting it on his face, he turned his head to the man and raised his hand.