Let us turn back the time for a little. It was the story about last night.
Harsh waves crashed against a rocky shore. The full moon was looming around the sky as a cold breeze hit the surrounding area.
A severed head was washed to the sand to a quiet deserted shore. The severed area had already closed with an unusual color.
Usually, the wound would show flesh and blood color. However, the severed neck didn't show that usual color. Instead, it looked metallic. The severed part reflected the moonlight as the metallic flesh wriggled around.
As it turned around by pushing the sand with its liquid metal flesh, the severed head smiled and let out a sigh.
"Aaah~ The Boogeymen refused to join my pity party~" He dragged his sentence and sounded disappointed, but his expression betrayed his words. "Well, it can't be helped. Maybe that person will be interested instead."
It was a miracle that a severed head could still talk and think. Normal humans would die, but this man was a being far from a normal human.
His flesh began to wiggle wildly as it fed to his pale blue Spirit Power, the color found in every human. However, a silver color was mixed in his Spirit Power, which was unusual. That was what made this man different.
Then, the metal suddenly spurted out from his severed head, bubbling like a balloon and creating a shape like a body. The head laughed crazily as his body was rebuilt from the metal. His crazy laugh echoed on the deserted shore.
He didn't care about the crashing wave that hit his body. The new metallic body slowly moved. The fingers, hand, then arm. Slowly but surely, they could move again.
"Hmm, a bit more." The man hummed, concentrating on rebuilding his body as it reached the last steps, giving it a human-like color instead of silvery metal. "I want to be a bit muscular too. Let's fix it here and there~"
ραпdα Йᴏνê|(сòm) The laughter stopped as the body regained color. Color enough to make it similar to a human. The process of his body changing color was similar to octopus and chameleon, which made it scary. Once again, no human could do that.
The man, whose body was rebuilt, tried to move. His hands and legs could move as he pleased. The edge of his lips curled up as he picked himself up, satisfied with the result.
"Hup!"
He was still naked, but that wasn't a problem for him. With just a flick of his finger, a liquid metal covered his body and formed the luxurious-looking tuxedo he had worn before. The half mask on his face reflected the moonlight as he touched his chin.
"Hmm~ What to do, what to do? What can I do to gauge his strength? Oni Village was one thing, and I could see him perform really, really well~ Still…" The man who was speaking while dragging his sentence stopped.
His grin widened from ear to ear. His mouth looked like it was about to rip, but it still turned wider as he looked up.
"Maybe I can do that~ I destroyed one of the barrier cornerstones on the edge of New York a few days ago, so let's target that one tomorrow! Ahhh, I can't wait! All for immortality! Long live, Memento Mori!"
A deranged, crazy laughter echoed once again in that unknown place, accompanied by the sound of crashing waves.
***
Kai looked above as he arrived in front of the building, where an unknown man stood above the billboard. He squinted his gaze to see the man's appearance.
A luxurious tailcoat and a half mask. He also wore a hat from the 18th century atop his black hair while holding an ominous book with a silver skull cover in his left hand. His appearance looked like a British noble from the middle century.
For now, he couldn't determine whether the man was the one behind this incident or not. He could also be a person from the Slayer Organization, sent by them to observe what happened.
That was why he couldn't attack him carelessly.
"Hey!" He called out to the man loudly. "What are you doing there, inside this barrier?!"
"My~ What am I doing, you asked?" The man replied with an amused tone as if he was joking. He closed the book in his hand and touched his chin with the other. "I guess you can say I am here to free something and watch a show." He grinned from ear to ear.
That spectacle made Kai raise his guard. For some reason, his instinct told him something. It wasn't just some false alarm or something. But a feeling of danger was coming from that man.
[That man is dangerous, Master. Possibly, he's the one who created this barrier as his Spirit Power matched the one that served as the core of the barrier.]
Ibaraki's shyness was nowhere to be seen since the ghosts appeared. Her analytical mind as an experienced fighter also told her that the man was a bit dangerous for Kai, who hadn't much battle experience yet.
'I understand. Do you think I should attack him?'
[I don't know. The rules of the human city are strange. Maybe you will be in trouble attacking him, or you won't be in trouble. I don't know about it.]
'I believe I won't be in trouble. Still… What is that man's purpose, then? He said he wanted to free something.'
[Maybe he talked about the ghosts earlier? I remember in Oni Village, the barrier around the village served as a barrier against vengeful spirits like those ghosts from earlier. There is something similar around this city, so maybe that's his goal.]
'Then…'
If that was the man's goal, Kai felt he needed to stop him. He ceased his brows, and the man chuckled in a low voice.
"That's it. Aaah~ You're really scary, after all. However, now that I've seen you by myself, I am certain that we won't get along at all~"
For some reason, the man began to wiggle around as he hugged his body. Kai felt disgusted looking at him, but he wouldn't be a fool who put his guard down in front of an unknown person who possibly planned to do something bad to the city he lived in.
"The Boogeymen are cuter than you. Bad boy! It seems that we are destined to be enemies. Your spikes from earlier are really, really scary~"
"Boogeymen?!"
Kai's eyes widened. 'Did he just say Boogeymen?'
[Yes, Master.]
The fact the man said the Boogeymen was cuter than he meant the strange masked man had met the real body. That was a hint he didn't miss.
With a low growl and a serious tone, Kai asked him.
"Who are you?"
"Me?" The man pointed at himself and spun around like he was dancing.
"Wahaha! What an honor! The Ruler himself asked for my identity! You're interested, aren't you? I changed my mind. We might get along well!"
He began to raise his hand, and the book opened by itself, guided by a pale blue mixed with silver Spirit Power.
"Let me introduce myself then." The man kept laughing crazily, then he bowed his head and body. The book pages turned around wildly as if a strong wind had hit them. But then it stopped at a certain page, which the man tore as he raised his head slightly.
There was a symbol on the page he had torn from the book. It was a Latin symbol that meant the number 5.
"I am the one who sits in the 5th seat in Memento Mori. You may call me the Alchemist." He raised his body and let go of the page. It flew slowly, descending to the ground where Kai stood. "I hope you remember me, Ruler."
As the paper fell, it clouded the man's figure at one point. A voice then rang loudly as Kai grabbed the paper from his sight with his hand.
"Shall we meet again in the near future!"
The figure of the man from earlier who called himself Alchemist disappeared. The only proof of his existence was the torn paper in his hand.
"He left? Just like that?"
Kai thought the man would try to fight him or curse at him for defeating the three ghosts earlier, which the Alchemist might possibly summon. However, he just left like that after introducing himself.
"Memento Mori 5th seat, the Alchemist?" He muttered the name of the strange man. "Should I be wary of him?"
[I think you should, Master.] Ibaraki replied in his head. [The only people you should trust are your friends and us. The people like that man from earlier smell sketchy, even more so when you don't know their goal.]
"I know, Ibaraki," Kai replied. His hardened expression melted as his lips curled upward.
"We can visit the Slayer Organization to ask about that man. I think they might have a clue about him. And I am a Slayer. It's time to use this position to get some information."
[I agree.]
"Well, first…"
He turned his head toward the condensed Spirit Power located on top of the building where the Alchemist was earlier.
"Let's destroy whatever fueled the barrier with Spirit Power and escape from here."
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