A figure jumped out of the darkness while Stanley was distracted. Something reflective glinted in the dark and the next thing he knew, a sharp pain flooded his arm.
"Argh!" Stanley shouted loudly while the figure quickly changed direction to attack Bradley that was coming in.
Bradley grabbed his own hand on instinct and closed his eyes. He felt the attack go past him without touching him at all. A moment later he opened his eyes and quickly grabbed his brother before pulling him back.
"Stanley! Are you hurt?" Bradley asked.
He could hear his brother panting and knew that his trauma was attacking him again. "Can you speak?" he asked again.
"Y-ye," Stanley said and slowly got up.
"You!" Bradley looked at the figure in the dark that was rather hard to make out. There were lights in the alley, but it was in the distance, so nothing could be seen as clearly.
Bradley pulled out the sword on his hip and looked at the man. "Why did you attack my brother?" he asked the figure.
"How is it?" a woman's voice spoke from around the corner. It was the voice of the panicked woman who wanted them to help their child. Only, she wasn't panicked at all.
It was then that Bradley realized that he and his brother had been baited into coming here. For what? Were they planning to kill them?
If that was the case, then he needed to disarm the man and neutralize him before he could do anything else.
"Bad luck," a man's voice came from the figure in front of them with the sword. "This one is only a trainee. He knows nothing at all. Poor kid, his mother only died 3 months ago and they're already making him work."
"Ah, poor soul," the woman's voice came with concern filling her voice.
'Are they mocking us?' Bradley thought. 'How do they know about our mother?'
Without wasting any time, he charged for the man.
The man turned around in time and moved aside as the sword fell where the man previously stood. The knife flipped in his hand and used it to stop Bradley from moving his sword up.
Bradley went to pull the sword instead and the man took the opportunity to slash at his arm. Bradley barely dodged the knife attack and moved back.
"Shouldn't we run?" the woman asked.
"The trainee's blood is useless. I need the other ones," the man said. "Don't worry, that kid is quite the fighter. I can defend myself for now."
'Blood?' Bradley was surprised when he heard that. 'Why do they want our blood? For their powers? What sort?'
Bradley needed to know if the man had powers, and if so, what it did, and how it could be activated. Without those answers, things could get a little problematic in the dark.
Stanley clutched his arm and focused on the pain to stop thinking about his mother right now. Since the feeling had faded away, he could focus on the danger in front of them.
He slowly stood up and looked at the fight that was taking place. "Let me help you, brother," Stanley said as he pulled his large sword as well.
"Hey, hey! That kid is strong. I can't fight against two at once," the man shouted.
Something flashed in the dark and Bradley saw the knife flying toward the woman that he couldn't yet see. "Take care of the trainee for me," the man said.
Neither of the brothers knew what was going to happen and was worried. In the next moment, however, Stanley suddenly dropped to one knee as his mind went dizzy for a second.
"Stanley?" Bradley quickly grabbed his brother with an arm. "Are you okay?"
"No," Stanley said. "My entire body hurts all of a sudden, my head more than anything. I can't focus."
Just then, he heard a voice speak to him. He couldn't tell what the voice was telling him, but he could hear it quite clearly. With his head hurting so much, he thought he was unable to understand what the person was saying because he couldn't focus. However, even when he clearly heard it, he still couldn't make sense of what the voice was saying.
Whoever was speaking the gibberish made it sound like they were speaking directly into his ear canal too, like they were inside of his ears right now.
"What did you do?" Bradley shouted at the man.
"Huh?" the woman's surprised voice came from the alleyway. "How has he not fainted yet? Everyone fainted after I drank their blood."
'Drink our blood?' Bradley thought. 'The knife?'
"Do it again, more," the man said.
"Argh!" Stanley felt the pain increase by twofold while his brain felt like it could split in half at any moment, but he still held on.
"How?" the woman's surprised voice sounded. "How is he still not unconscious?"
Whoever was spouting that gibberish inside Stanley continued speaking, regardless of whether he was listening to it or not.
"Don't worry, he will only faint for a few hours at most," the woman's voice came. "We are not here to kill, or even hurt you."
"You expect me to believe that?" Bradley shouted while getting ready to attack again.
"It's true," the man said. "Give me two drops of your blood and we will let both of you brothers leave."
"You expect me to believe that?" Bradley asked the two.
Stanley continued grabbing his head as it flared in pain, while the gibberish continued. "Stop speaking!!" he shouted. "I can't understand you!"
"Translating to Old Eylish," the voice suddenly became clear. "Host is showing signs of being poisoned. Varinox is unable to locate the source of the poison, so the poison cannot be removed. Attempting to call nearest medical aid."
"Varinox is not paired with any of Host's devices. Unable to call any medical services."
"Please visit the nearest hospital as soon as you can if you believe your life is in danger. You can also upgrade your shot of Varinox to the latest version available at any Varinox-affiliated store."
"Thank you for using our services."