KABOOM!
In the midst of the silent moment, a loud explosion occured and killed a lot of people in a mere few seconds.
Following this were the collapsing of walls, floors, and ceilings.
The mansion was abandoned and old. Due to the lack of care, it quickly crumbled like a cookie placed in hot milk.
[Location, basement]
Half of the basement floor collapsed. It was almost as if a sink hole had formed.
Dark, River, and Shin were spared from this due to River's quick thinking. He recovered from the shock of the explosion first and pulled to other two to a corner before the ground beneath them fell open.
Though that did not mean he was unaffected.
Right now, his ears were ringing with a painful white noise.
"Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!"
Shin covered his nose as smokes of dust surrounded them. Because of his highly sensitive senses, the damage of the explosion was worse on him than on River.
"Are you alright?"
River asked.
Shin nodded wordlessly while clutching the side of his head. His eyes searched for something and stopped at the side of River, where a man with raven black hair is slumped on the floor.
Something clutched Shin's heart and his body turned cold.
"River-san, is he-"
"He's not."
River immediately answered.
His hearing were returning to normal much faster than he anticipated. With one hand, he carefully fixed Dark's body.
"Hiik!"
Shin made a funny surprised sound when he looked at Dark's face.
Blood dripped from the side of his head and his eyes were open. They were blank and unfocused but still open.
"He's unconscious. He doesn't notice but sometimes his eyes opens when he sleeps."
"Oh."
The two of them waited patiently until they saw Dark blinking. His eyes focused and he scanned his surroundings in a calm manner.
"Shit. I forgot about this."
'Crazy! Does he not notice that he's bleeding?'
Shin warrily looked at Dark.
He knew all too well that he's just a weak human but there was always something about him that made Shin alert.
'When his eyes look like they're calculating something, I feel like I'm just a card in his disposal.'
It was a cold feeling that made Shin afraid of Dark during some times.
"Dark, you're bleeding."
River ripped a part of his bandage and wrapped it in Dark's head. The latter didn't glance at him, almost as if he hadn't heard River spoke.
While that was happening, Shin kept his guard on a lookout. Since he had a very good eyesight, he could see some things in the cloud of dust.
There was a man on the door with a lot of paper in his hands. He was looking at the altar where they stood just moments ago. The man with papers in his hands dropped the papers and instantly reached for something that Shin saw to be a communication device.
Noticing this, Shin turned to the side with a concerned expression.
"I think they noticed the missing ancient stone. We need to get out of here."
Dark stood up with River supporting him. The calculative look in his eyes were gone and he was looking around in the dust. His sight seemed to linger somewhere in the dust before he looked back at Shin and River.
"Well, shit. With this crappy situation, it looks like we'll need to escape separately."
Hearing this, River and Shin nodded.
They already memorized escape routes in their head before they inflitrated this place. The problem was if they encountered someone powerful on the way.
'But with the noises I can hear, I guess they're all busy fighting each other.'
Shin thought to himself.
When the explosion happened, the minions of other houses aiming for Pheregor also showed up at the same time. It would keep them occupied until they could escape.
"Shin, let's meet in your house."
Hearing Dark's voice, Shin turned to him.
"W-What are you planing this time?"
Dark looked so solemn that it caught Shin off guard.
'I don't feel good about this. Something is going to happen. I just know it.'
Shin felt cold sweat dripping down his back. When Dark smiled, as a shiver ran through his spine and started to get goosebumps.
"I'll definitely make it there and when I do, I'll tell my official name to the both of you."
"What?"
"Also, this is payback for laughing earlier."
"What? Ugh!"
Before Shin could notice, he felt something kicking him in the stomach and his body fell into the black hole.
Everything felt slow motion for Shin who was falling down.
"Be a good bait, okay?"
The last thing he saw was Dark's haunting smile and his still solemn voice.
That was when he noticed that he had been tricked.
"Y-You crazy bastaaaaard!"
With wide and panicked eyes, Shin screamed as he fell into the black hole and disappeared into the darkness.
Seeing this, River turned to look at Dark.
"Did you really have to do that?"
Dark shrugged.
"It was necessary. There were enemies below climbing up and someone needed to distract them. That can't be you."
"Why?"
"Because you'll be stopping someone else here."
"What?"
River, who currently has the same confused expression Shin had earlier, felt a shiver down his spine.
Krr! Krr! Krr!
Slowly, River turned to the side and saw flashes of red lighting in the cloudy dust that was turning thinner by the second.
"Ah, he might kill me before I can try annoying him again."
"What?"
River did not hear what Dark said because of an unimaginable amount of pressure.
Dark didn't care and stole the ancient stone from River's hands.
Noticing this, River turned to him with shaking pupils.
"Why is the Pillar here?"
"Who knows? Just take care of that one for me. Thanks."
Before River could complain, a red lightning bolt sliced through the air and in their direction.
Crackle!
Boom!
The wall they have been leaning against exploded into a hundred pieces, causing dust to blow everywhere again.
"Dark?"
River pried through the cloud of dust by waving his hands but by the time there was any visibility, Dark was long gone.
'Ah, he tricked me too.'
River finally noticed and stopped waving his hands around.
He turned to where the red lightning came from and kept his lavender eyes there.
On his line of vision was a beautiful man with crimson hair surrounded by red bolts of lightning. He had seen this man earlier, albeit only for a short while when they entered.
"Pillar."
River held back a sigh and prepared himself for a fight.
While all this was happening, Dark was walking in one of the hallways. His footsteps were steady and blood still dripped from his bandaged head.
"River should be fighting that Pillar and Shin is holding back the enemies below so they can't interrupt the fight above. That way, River won't be ganged up with fighting with a Pillar."
While saying those words to himself, Dark played with the ancient stone.
After a few more steps, he stopped in the middle of the hallway.
"I know you're there. Get out."
His voice echoed.
Nothing happened at first but then slowly, a figure appeared in the other side of the hallway.
'Haa. The things I have to do for survival.'
Dark thought while trying not to flinch in front of an old lady. It was an old lady he had seen before in the bookshop located in the Mammien section.
"You're so good at hiding yourself, you know? If not for the slip you made after the explosion, I would never have noticed."
"Kekeke!"
The old lady laughed.
Dark's careless voice cracked her up.
"You're a really interesting person. From the moment you entered my bookstore, I knew you weren't right in the head."
Dark nodded.
"Well, I can't deny that I have a loose screw in my head. After all, if I was sane I wouldn't be speaking in such an arrogant tone in front of a Pillar."
As he finished speaking, a silence broke out.
Then as if all at once, Dark felt a heavy pressure akin to the pressure he felt when facing the crimson-haired Pillar.
He had felt this a split second after the explosion too.
He wasn't sure then but he was sure now.
'It's only slightly, but the pressure I feel from her is stronger than the crimson-haired Pillar.'
Dark felt a bitter taste in his mouth.
'It's so weird.'
When he arrived in this world, Dark escaped from the people who were trying to make him a slave.
Yet after everything, he came walking into their turf with his own feet.
Similarly, he's trying to survive this world that he's bound to die in.
However, he's currently standing in front of a person that can kill him with just a simple snap with his own will.
It was funny how his paths diverged but he ended up in the same place.