In the early morning, daylight not only unwrapped the hues of Bradford but also the terror that struck the town. A dark alley that rarely saw more than five people hangout now had half of the town surrounding it. In front of the crowd, there were a couple of girls who wore revealing clothes to tempt the youngsters. However, no man was in the mood to enjoy the beauties as their eyes were locked on the bodies hanging on a rope between two buildings.
Many people were afraid to look at the large puddle of blood below the dead bodies. After seeing the blood splatters and the terror on the faces of the dead ones, some people guessed that they weren't killed by a person.
While the people were staring at the bodies, a girl who had perfect curves and glossy skin was looking at the nearby wall. If not for the gory scene in front of them, many men and women would drool and hope to get a glimpse of what's under her purple dress.
"Sister Sadie, do you think whoever or whatever killed them left behind that?" The girl in the purple dress was none other than Sadie Kaplan, the core disciple of the Silvermoon and one of the judges of the last Heaven's gate competition.
Although the girl who asked the question was also a great beauty, she was overshadowed by the beauty of Sadie. If Michael was here, he would have recognized the girl as Nyla Reid, the same girl who almost got herself killed by trying to use a telepathic attack on Michael.
"Yes, I saw the same symbol on the scene at Sarton"
"What do you think it means?"
"I don't know but it's not my job to know. My teacher wanted to find these guys and technically I did find them"
"Who? Teacher Hazel? what did she want with them?" Nyla pointed her finger at the hanging dead bodies and asked.
"Apparently these guys were harassing some of Teacher Hazel's clients and recently they took the harassment to the next level. Initially, they were a group of twenty men and when they heard the Silver Moon was searching for them, they started to run. Some of them went into hiding in Sarton and the rest of them came here only to get slaughtered by someone eviler than them"
Even Sadie had a hint of fear in her eyes. She had seen many killings but this felt dark and different. These guys were given no chance to fight or even take out their weapons. Whoever killed them was quick and cruel. All of their manhoods were cut off while they were still alive yet, none of the residents nearby heard a sound. However, Sadie felt no pity for the dead ones.
"So in Sarton"
"Just like here, all of them were slaughtered and hanged. Whoever killed them left no trace but this one symbol, L"
"What does it mean?"
"MOVE AWAY!" Suddenly, someone shouted from the crowd and Sadie turned to see a soldier of Bradford bringing a dirty-robed old man. Sadie could tell the old man was obviously a beggar by the look of his ragged tunic and the stink coming from him.
"Miss Kaplan, this old man is claiming that he saw what happened"
"De...vi...l..." the man stuttered something under his breath. He was pale and shivering like he's in the middle of a snow mountain.
"Tell me what you told the people back there" the soldier shook the old man by his collar as Sadie waved him to stop.
"Old man, did you see the person who did this?" Sadie asked the old man but his mouth stuttered in the horror he witnessed the night before.
"No...per...son...de...v...i...l" the old man still sounded unclear. His voice broke and the shivering wasn't any help.
"Nyla" The disciples of SilverMoon were very good at psychic attacks and playing with someone's mind. Nyla might have picked the wrong person to use the psychic attack but the old man in front of her wasn't a challenge.
Nyla stared into the old man's eyes as his eyes glowed for a second. Following this, the old man shivered less and somewhat looked better than he was.
"Tell us old man, what did you see?"
"I saw him" the crowd didn't make a sound as everyone's focus was on the old man.
"Saw who?"
"The devil" the moment these two words escaped the old man's mouth, there were several gasps from the crowd and some dropped onto their knees and started to pray.
"What nonsense are you spouting?!" Nyla had enough of this old man's mumbling but when she was about to slap some sense into the Oldman, Sadie stopped her
"Did you see his face?"
"Yes" the old man nodded but when he recalled the face he saw, Nyla had to use her powers to calm him again.
"Red eyes, wore nothing but black" Hearing the old man's description, the people trembled as he continued
"He came with darkness, the whole alley turned dark. I could only see his red eyes. Mere mortals like them didn't stand a chance against him"
"Mere mortals? All of them were Body Strengthening stage cultivators, you old fool" Nyla yelled again but the old man shook his head.
"We all are mere mortals in front of the devil"
"Save us, God!"
"Pray to the Almighty!"
"Save Bradford!"
Many people went crazy and shouted at the sky hoping God would save them from the devil. Ignoring the people, Sadie asked a few more questions to the Old man, not because she wanted to find the person but her curiosity got the better of her.
"Did he see you? Why did he leave you alive?"
"Again?!" Nyla Reid yelled and used her mind powers to calm the Old man again because he started to shiver after Sadie's question. It took him longer than before to calm down.
"He...wanted me to...announce...his presence" even after Nyla calmed him down, the old man's voice slightly broke in overwhelming fear.
"Did he say something to you?" The old man slowly nodded and conveyed the words of the devil to everyone.
"He...said" the people stopped their shouting and prayers and looked at the old man with eyes full of fear and terror.
"He..is here...to claim...the souls..of..the sinners and..." Some of the people who committed crimes such as stealing, beating their wives, or children fainted on the spot. Because they just paved their way into the devil's hit list.
However, the old man was not finished as he had few more words to tell the people.
"Lucifer...is...watching"
"L for Lucifer" Sadie turned her gaze towards the wall where the letter L was written on by blood. She felt a cold chill running through her spine because if he was really the devil who's here to kill the sinners, what could the people in this world do except sent to hell by the Devil.
She didn't even want to think about it.
"Take him to Baron Totonk, my task here is completed" she saw no reason to hang around here at the devil's hunting ground, so she took Nyla and left the scene.
Because Nyla couldn't use a flying sword with her level of cultivation and Sadie was in the mood for horse riding to calm her nerves, both of them bought two horses to travel.
"Where to, Sister Sadie?"
"River town, I want to buy some Iron ore"
**********************
Following their departure from Bradford, Sadie and Nyla traveled in silence thinking about the devil the old man talked about. The huge trees on both the side of the mud road supplied them with shadow and a cool breeze to calm their minds.
On their way to the River town, they saw no carriages or people. But when the outskirts of the River town was in their eyes, they also saw a trio before them. Sadie's lips curved upwards while Nyla swallowed saliva because they both recognized the person who was tiding before them.
"Is that who I think it is?" Sadie galloped her horse to catch up with them as Nyla followed her behind.
"Ghost!" The one who was traveling before them was none other than Michael. Sadie ignored the blonde guy on the other horse and shouted at Michael.
"Miss Kaplan, what a pleasant surprise" she was surprised to see him reach the Body Refining stage level 7 in such a short amount of time.
Other than his cultivation, he looked sexier and hotter than before. Just by looking at that smile of his, she wanted to eat him up. However, unlike Michael who showed a warm smile, the girl riding behind him had rather a cold look on her face.
The girl was a mortal yet she had a noble aura around her that made Sadie feel inferior to her.
"What's with the Miss, call me Sadie. I assume you recognize my sister here" Sadie chuckled as Nyla's face turned red in embarrassment
"Hiya, Nyla"
"Hi, Ghost" He seemed to have completely forgotten about what happened at the competition. His smile made Nyla feel somewhat less ashamed.
"I heard you're a 5-star Alchemist Ghost, why didn't you say so?" Ignoring the cold look of the girl behind him, Sadie brought her horse as close to him as possible.
"What can I say Sadie, I like to surprise people"
"Oh, you really surprised me," Saide said with a flirty smile. The blonde guy who was traveling with Michael was Jack and seeing a beauty flirting with Ghost, Jack almost fell off his horse because he was too focused on Saide and Nyla rather than the road before him.
"Hi Miss Reid, I'm Jack"