After agreeing to join Geofrey's group, Bryce intended to go home and rest for the night but the man asked for him to let them stay. He said that it was too late for them to take a bus ride. Not wanting to be bothered, Bryce however still agreed because he didn't want the loneliness to remind him about Lily. Better letting suspicious people come over than remembering sad stories, he thought.
When they went to his place, they met the sight of a standard apartment. The walls were decorated with neatly aligned symbols from poker cards. The tableset and the TV were placed at two opposite walls. A shelf was put next to the wooden entrance door for putting shoes in case of use. Two armchairs were on both sides on the bench.
With a simple "make yourself comfortable" uttering from his mouth, Bryce proceeded into the kitchen and grabbed some drinks. Lucy helped herself and lied down on the couch while Mabel and Geofret sitting on two opposite armchairs. Suddenly, Lucy remembered something urgent.
"Crap, we forgot to do homework."
"You didn't? I already finished it before uncle even contacted us."
"Sorry for bothering the two of you. I just wanted to prepare for the... bad case." The middle-aged Geofrey let out a sigh.
"We know, uncle G. It's just that the homeroom teacher of our class can be a bit bothersome."
"That, I could agree." Mabel nodded. "One time, I was called to the principal office due to educating his son about fencing."
"I saw that too, our homeroom teacher doesn't even try to prove her innocence. The prick never taught his son not to woo any females in five-meter radius.
Geofrey rubbed his moustache. "You two are always too much to handle. I don't even need to guess. Good thing our organization backed you up."
"Oh right!" Lucy became excited. "Mabel ended up as the savior of the school thanks to her forcing the principal to resign himself."
"Oho? That sounds like something to tell my curious ears." Geofrey smiled.
Bryce came out from the kitchen only to see his "guess" making themselves at home a bit too comfortably. He told them that the two girls could use Lily's room and the man would be sleeping on the couch. He came in his room and closed the door, sitting on a chair as he grabbed a photo placed on the desk. He felt thankful for the chance fate has given him. Without Geofrey's seed, he wouldn't be revived and died in a regrettful manner.
He asked himself how he would live on without Lily. The only optoin was to walk down the path of vengeance, to remind himself about the kindness that was taken from him. It was too priceless to be forgotten by the flow of time. Whatever power he had gained from the unexpected rebirth of his would be something he could rely on, if not the only useful thing.
...
In the living roof, Mabel was cleaning her blade with Lucy playing with her cap. Geofrey was occupied with thinking about something. He was in reality, worried that something big will be happening later on. One day, the shadow that loomed over the night would decided to declare its dominance as the daylight was shrouded by the invasion of bizarre creatures.
In order to prevent such catastrophe, mankind must assemble their strongest and most capable. Only the unnatural could strike down the unnatural. Somehow... Bryce would be one of those on the frontline. Therefore, Geofrey felt compelled to aid him on the path of discovering and mastering his inner power. Deciding to break the awkwardness, Lucy said something.
"Are we really having him as a companion? Shouldn't we let him recover from his lost first before doing anything?"
"As true as those words of yours are, we cannot afford to miss out any opportunities." Mabel gripped the scabbard. "I hate to involve someone in all this but we need all the help we can get. If uncle said he could assist us, so be it."
"I'm sure he has chosen to be in it. We can give him what he wanted so it's a beneficial cooperation." Geofrey added.
Speak of the devil, Bryce went to the living room and sat on the couch. Lucy spared some space for him. The place was overwhelmed in silence until the blonde himself spoke up.
"So, what exactly do I have to help you all with?"
"Basically, we'll do a heist on the next night?"
"Heist? You don't meant bank robbing, do you?" Bryce raised his eyebrows.
"No no no, a bank would be too simple. Money isn't what we are looking for anyway."
"Then what do you ne-"
"An artifact." Mabel chimed in.
"Artifact? From a museum?"
"Well..." Lucy took a deep breath. "We're not after the museum but the facility hidden beneath it."
In Bryce's case, he had on joined in an operation to steal some valuable substance in order to make high quality drugs and further improve the business. But he never had his spoil thanks to Ericson Goldsteam.
Right at the present, three strange people were hoping to have him on board with them for stealing some lab research artifact. If said Item was hidden way down, that would mean the place was heavily guarded. The difficulty of the job still depended on its participants on a certain level, and we were talking about the extraordinary here. Geofrey proceed to explain.
"The artifact we're after is rumored from our intel that it could help the scientists in breaching into a different dimension. We believe that said artifact could lead us to the world where the ghouls live."
"Ghouls?"
"Oh you know, those creatures that you fought against earlier in someone's house." Lucy answered nonchalantly.
"Wait you all were watching?"
"From afar, yes. We did have an artifact that allowed us to look far away but without any method to reach to you." Mabel explained.
"Alright, let me explain it to you now that we're here."
According to Geofrey, Ghouls are creatures that came from a different worlds. They fed on souls of human beings from Earth. There were supposedly five different types from weak to strong: Ghouls, Grand Ghouls, Great Ghouls, and the extremely rare Gigan Ghouls, Ghoul Gods. Bryce had only seen a horde of ghouls led by a great ghoul slain afterwards by Mabel.
Ghouls would drop souls when they died, each type of ghoul dropped a soul matching its level. With would mean the stronger the ghouls, the better quality the souls they dropped would have. It was said that those souls could be used to strengthen the tainted ones. Even more insane, the harvested souls could be used to forge weapons exclusive to a specific tainted and the power they bore.
Mabel took a small cube from the backpack she was carrying behind her, giving it to Bryce. She believed that the souls contained the said box rightfully belonged to him because of his contribution in the gunfight before. He looked carefully at the high-tech cube.
"How did you learn of all this?"
"We'll tell you soon, little Bryce. For now we just hope that you could assist us."
"It's not like I have anything better to do anyway, now that I've become a tainted."
"Thank you, young one. I promise you won't regret it." Geofrey sighed in relief. "We still have plenty of time before tomorrow night, so rest well as you wish."
"Right." Bryced nodded slightly.
Ending the conversation there, Bryce headed to his room and the two girls went to Lily's bed, leaving only Geofrey to lie down on the couch. He made himself comfortable on the softness. He admired the blonde lad's strong spirit even after what he went through. But then again, he was chosen just like the rest of them so he must've forced himself to stabilize. The challenge one had to overcome in order to prove their worth to be a tainted was also traumatizing. How cruel fate was, to only bless people when they'd fallen into despair.
Geofrey himself felt sympathy towards the three young tainted. They had no choice but to put themselves together so that the despair wouldn't take them away. One could never know if the power given to them was either a chance or an endless reminder of the tragedy they had.
...
Coming inside Lily's bedroom, Lucy and Mabel looked around, admiring the tidiness of the place. Even though there were items that looked old, the room still looked appealing. The bed smelled comfy enough, it would feel good on one's skin. Mabel put her sword on the cabinet next to the bed, looking outside the window.
"Mabel? Is something wrong?"
"It's nothing, really."
"Then let us rest. Also, can I copy your homework tomorrow?"
"Sure, I wouldn't want you to be in trouble. We need to have the time for our work."
"Night, Mabel."
Lucy yawned and lied down on the bed, covering herself with the pink blanket as she drifted off to sleep. Mabel however, could not rid off the thoughts in her head. She decided to talk with Geofrey. Surprisingly, the man was also awake. He noticed her approaching the seat, realizing that she must have something to say.
"What is it? I know that you don't stay awake for that long without thinking about something important."
"Uncle, I... saw something when I touched the sould firmly with my hand."
"The one from the great ghoul? What about it?"
"The strange thing was that before she turned into a ghoul, a figure stabbed something into her." Mabel pondered.
"That's indeed odd. I've never thought that such possibility could happen before. But if it was actually the case, then danger indeed is lurking in this city." He sweated for a bit.
"Then-"
"Pondering on that would do us no good, we should focus on what we could do. The truth will show itself in time, Mabel. You must never waver once you draw out the blade."
"I understood." She nodded. "See you tomorrow then."
"Sleep tight."
With that, the man shut his eyelids as he drifted off to the sleep as he was embrace by the quiet darkness. Mabel let out a sigh and lied down next to Lucy. She covered her body with the soft blanket. She drifted off to sleep, trusting that time will tell her what is to come. The following day would be the first time she work with a guy around her age.