Rade's Demon Elimination Service

Chapter 30: A Mission

Before Rade have gone amok, she did actually had a talk with the Aldeia clan's head, Geneva Aldeia.

That much was true.

She has been working on the investigation about Carys for as soon as she encountered Carys himself in the lantern parade. That chance of an encounter with Carys was a pivotal moment for Rade. She has never wondered about Carys for the course of the year that they have been separated.

And she has many reasons for that.

First, because Carys was pronounced dead and like Lauri, his supposed corpse was never found. Second was that Carys was not a hunter and, therefore, no one has any interests about him or that no one would hold any interest about him. And third, Carys, despite being timid and quiet, was actually very capable all by himself. He knew what to do in certain circumstances, he was, after all, from a prominent hunters' clan. He was extremely smart and intuitive that even when he was physically weak, both Lauri and Rade never have to worry that he will get himself into trouble.

But it seemed that Rade was very wrong to think that Carys would only keep to himself because of his plain and homey nature. Never did Rade anticipated that Carys would make a move against her, in fact, she never expected him to go up against any one for that matter. Carys has, for as long as Rade could remember, always been the sort of person who woukd rather talk amicably rather than fight physically.

He was never one for violence.

When she went up the Aldeia clan's manor to speak with Geneva, Rade was let in by the clan's hunters. She was suprised but then the head was probably aware of everything that goes on within her area and it should not be too shocking to know if she was actually aware.

Similar to how Rade's visit went the last time she met with Geneva, she was led to the mezzanine of the expansive library of the manor where the main force and intelligence of the Aldeia clan's hunters were all working together. Geneva was already waiting for her at the furniture set up the mezzanine. The smoke of the freshly steeped tea gave the atmosphere a very fragrant scent that was pleasing to smell but it did nothing to ease the tension on Rade's shoulders.

Looking at the woman sitting on a couch, Rade thought that Lady Geneva Aldeia was as intimidating as the first time Rade looked at her.

"I can see what you are doing," she said as soon as Rade was seen walking towards her. She was frank, unlike before when she gave Rade a couple of riddles and went a roundabout way before pinpointing what she wanted to say. "Though to be fair, you do nothing that will conceal your movements."

It was the day after Kalleid's father has sent his letter and announced the arrival of the Spatial Void. It was a complete two weeks before she went under ground and also a week before the end of classes. Rade thought that time really flies by.

"Am I here to be reprimanded?" Rade asked Geneva cautiously yet frankly. She did not want to go against the lady of the house but she also did not want to talk in circles, not getting into the topic that needed to be touched and talked about. "To be stopped?"

She was expecting that Geneva would try to make her stop with her engagements. If the other hunter clans know of this, they would certainly give the Aldeia clan a good beating and it would be because of the matter that they took the last descendant of the cursed bloodline and that they have been cursed.

That was a ridiculous notion but a lie uttered by many people could somehow make a blatant lie to be the truth.

Geneva Aldeia was being cautious as well, Rade knew that but she also knew that Geneva Aldeia has complete autonomy and sovereign over her region. Beating would equalled to scolding or, at the least, whispers.

"Someone is behind Carys Haeven," Geneva said coldly, her eyes scanning Rade carefully. "Find out who that is."

Rade was slightly taken aback. She did not know that Geneva Aldeia could care so much about this matter. To be honest, Rade did not strike Geneva Aldeia as someone who would give much attention to matters that does not pertained to her clan or to herself or anything to related for that matter so to be told in this way, maybe it shocked Rade a little.

"Why would you want to know who might be the one behind Carys Haeven?" Rade voiced out loud her worry and her question that bothered her.

Geneva sipped on her tea timidly and shifted from her seat, her facade was completely unbothered by the question thrown right at her. When she spoke, Rade immediately thought that her reasoning was logical and precise. Fitting to be the head of the Aldeia clan.

"Because Carys Haeven has been running around my own jurisdiction freely without any means of supervision," Geneva said in a very matter of factly tone that had Rade nodding along to her. "He does not even bow down to the Aldeia clan who has so obviously has the power over the region. A rogue hunter like him, that doesn't fear anybody and used to be so weak that he couldn't even lift a sword only a year ago, is a danger to himself and to the people around him. He won't be able to control himself and that will lead to more precarious problems which I would rather prevent than face."

But Geneva Aldeia wasn't with that, she kept on going that made Rade side with her and work for her from then on.

"You don't want the Aldeia clan's hunters to exterminate him, do you?" Geneva asked Rade who shook her head. "He has been acting on his own, or that is what he wanted us to believe. Over the course of weeks Carys Haeven has been here, he has done enough damage on properties all around the city for the clan to demand a considerable amount of money from the Haeven clan. Mortals have also been hurt from his hunts and we have no record of Carys Haeven putting anywhere the cores he has hunted. Find out more and, if you can, make him work for us."

Rade bobbed her head once to Geneva before speaking, "I understand, Lady Aldeia."

And so that was how Rade got herself into this kind of mess.

It was not exactly just the Aldeia clan's mess but also her own since it involved Carys Haeven. She knew that she will have to face Carys sooner or later so, without any hesitation, she accepted the mission right on the spot.

Even London and New York, Ai and Megumi, not even Kalleid knew of this assignment that was assigned for her by Geneva Aldeia. She could now use the properties and resources of the Aldeia clan at her disposal and can even have the help of some selected people chosen by Geneva Aldeia herself.

But until now, Rade has been running with fake leads, she was getting uncharacteristically impatient though she knew that she could always wait but this matter was different from her previous assignments.

This matter involved someone she cared for deeply.

She still has no idea who taught Carys to fight like that and they never have that close of an encounter again since it seemed like Carys was now avoiding Rade and she also thought that it was better this way in the mean time. She just glimpsed of him from afar. Not wanting to scare him off, Rade would always back down and flee first before Carys. She never engage him into talking, she was at fault and it was for Carys to decide whether he wanted to actually kill her or not.

Preferably, she didn't want to be killed, of course.

She looked down on her rough hands and rubbed them together. Again, Rade felt that she was alone and from the darkness of the sky, she could not tell how the sun would be able to rise and shine over the darkness again.

A few distance away from her, Carys was fighting flying demons with his rifle. There was a visible strain on his face, frown and exhaustion melding into one face. Either he was being overwhelmed by the flock of demons or that he was tired from fighting them all on his own, it was impossible to tell from the view of an outsider.

Most of Carys' moves could fool anyone from a distance, but not with a closer look. There was still the clumsiness and helplessness with his every moves as if he couldn't wait for that to be over and that he just doesn't have any choice but to fight which was never the truth, of course. His passable skills in fighting and demon hunting were all compensated and balanced with his wits and observational skills which helped him defeat many demons and also annoy many hunters.

Carys squinted his eyes and aimed at the flocks of birds flying around above him.

The bow was becoming heavier on his hand by every passing seconds he wasted. It was evident with his body that he was both being overly overwhelmed by the opponents and that his body could not keep up any longer.

He wanted to rest, but he was too hard on himself that he kept on fighting without any rest.

The flock seemed to be irritated by his shooting and a moment later he was being ruthlessly attacked from the above surface. He was dangerously standing on the scaffolding of a constructing building and it was rather precarious for him since the steels and metal bars seemed to have been extremely unstable. It became more evident when he was forced to close his eyes to prevent being blinded by the bird demons.

With a single misstep on the scaffoldings of the construction site of the building, Carys came hurtling down to his death but he was fortunate to have nailed his bow on one of the more stable scaffolding metal, halting his rapid descent down to the ground. His thin body dangled perilously, only the bow that he was holding was what was keeping him afloat.

He sighed heavily while his forehead was beaded with droplets of sweat. Carys could feel the strain on his arm and he wanted ro let go, but, when he looked down, he saw that he was still fairly up from the ground. If Carys let go, he would be worse than a smashed pancake on his way down and he wouldn't want his blood splattering across the asphalt ground. Besides, everything he did in order to get where he was now would be pointless if he just suddenly let go. He just needed to find the perfect opportunity to solved this predicament.

Who would want to see a smashed pancake once the construction workers finally arrived at the moment? He did not want the floor to be stained with his blood.

That seemed to be too unbecoming of him.

And so, he strained his arm that was holding him and he gritted his teeth as Carys thought of anything to get himself to safety before he kill any of the demon going around, flying leisurely and eyeing him with greedy beady eyes. Fearing that both of his arms won't have enough strength to keep him up since it had been quite a long time now that he was being dangle like this, Carys pulled himself up with a precise movement though the metal scaffolding was quite unsteady. Executing a small somersault, he landed, unbalanced, on the scaffolding.

At least he was not dangling like a pice of meat waiting to be devoured any longer, right?

He tried to balance himself but the winged demons came straight towards him and attack him while he hasn't regain his balance just yet.

Firing arrows made out of spiritual energy everything that come at him with his bow, demon cores clattered against the metal he was standing on. Kicking some of them up, he tried to pick the cores and get it inside his worn coat but a misstep meant instant free fall to his death and he tried to be meticulous about the cores yet he could not really get them all.

What a waste, Carys thought to himself, trying to not get killed by either the building or the demons circling around him.

Carys has been spending his nights out in the field, either scaling the area and feeling the landscape of the region or just demon hunting to where there was a high density of demons flocking. The people minded the ragged and battered child who wore worn clothing with dirt splashed across his face that indicated that he hasn't seen a bath lately.

They would look at Carys and he wouldn't know where to put his hands or what to do with them. He has never been seen as he was right now. He was used to being the invisible kid at the back of the room, clapping for his sister, Lauri, who would be better and praised at everything.

Though his beautiful face was innocent and something that will draw people to him, that was where it all ended.

It was not to say that he was envious of his sister. He has never been, but, recently, Carys was finally realizing just how he became so invisible that he sometimes can't even see himself.

Coming back to his senses, he sent another arrow yet again to the demons which had him taking a step back. He fell on another part of the construction site's scaffolding and gripped the ledge with one hand while he aimed at the demons trying to get to him.

At that moment, there was only one thought going on his mind.

He needed to get stronger so he would be able to fight with Rade.

He has always been standing at the back, behind the great backs of people like his sister and Rade who both have such great potential that he just doesn't have nor will he never have. And he would look at them have the greatest success while he stayed at the back because he was too sickly to walk alongside any of the two.

It was frustrating him the most that he had been helpless most of his life.

To be held back by himself and be stunted on that same level where he was years ago.

Now that he has the slightest ability to make things happen, he wanted to be stronger. He wanted to show Rade that he could be stronger.

"Hng..." Carys groaned while he was smashing his bow at the demon with one hand since he can't possible shoot with only a hand and was also being held up with the other.

"Oi!" someone called out, but Carys wasn't sure if it was for him or for other so he did not bother on looking down. "Let go, kid! I'll catch you!" the voice even said and Carys unconsciously loosened his grip on the ledge at the safety that voice was talking about before realizing he doesn't even know that person who was talking!

Shut up, Carys screame don his own head, refusing to talk.

"You'll dislocate your shoulder if you keep doing that!" the voice said and Carys found out within himself that the voice actually sounded familiar, as though he has heard of it somewhere before but he couldn't point where he did hear it from. "It'll take months to recover from a dislocated shoulder so there's your options, som!"

With that kind threat, Carys carelessly let go of the ledge, even surprising himself with the trust he put on that person. He closed his eyes tightly while his hand was still not letting go of his own holy weapon, not knowing what was waitng for him at the very bottom of the chasm which was the construction site, and he could almost feel the scaffolding all around him. Most almost touched him but he was somehow, and luckily, missed by a lot which did not further damage his own body.

He guessed by some sick luck, he still got lucky at this time with another hunter trying to help him out.

At the very end of his fall, Carys felt he was enveloped into a warm embrace of someone else's arms. Almost immediately though, he jumped away from the one who caught him and leveled the rifle he was holding on that someone's chest.

"Woah there, buddy," a woman in her mid-twenties told him and held her hands up. There was an easy smile on her face and a snake-like bracelet was on her arm. "Easy there, kid," she said soothingly which only made Carys even more triggered rather than be relaxed.

His muscles were tired out with the exercise (he was certain though that was not just some exercise, it almost killed him) and he wasn't sure if he could even take another step because of all the aching parts of his body.

"That bow," the woman said, her eyes were directed to the weapon on Carys' hands. Her eyes were clouded and the smile she was wearing suddenly turned smaller. "That is the Slaughter, isn't it?" she asked.

Carys' hands leveled the bow closer to her, threatening her with a fierce glare. "How did you know the Slaughter?" he asked her with the deadliest glare he could manage.

"Because I was the one who put that into the Huntsman Order's Consortium Hall," the woman answered, her hands were visibly trembling and she looked like she would cry any minute. "That used to be my husband's weapon. Well..." she paused and shrugged. "Also that used to be my own weapon. I used that when I was probably your age."

Carys' mouth opened slightly and it didn't take him a while to staggered on his knees and kneel on the asphalt ground. He coughed up blood and he couldn't held himself up. He has truly and utterly spent his remaining strength on that battle, and he couldn't even get all of the demon cores he has spent so much time and enegery gathering.

"Oh no!" the woman said and quickly carry him on her arms. "You're okay, yeah? Just some internal wounds, nothing too bad. You're fine," she murmured while with her other free hand, she was rummaging through her coat and tapped on a little glowing box. "Kal?" Carys heard her say. "Your home is close to the Global Tower construction site, right? Could you please pick me up. I have some emergency and I can't move right now. I really need your help now, sweetheart." She paused, listening to the person talking on the other end of the line. "Yeah, just outside. Thank you, Kal, so much!"

That was the last thing that Carys said before passing out cold, his eyes rolling back behind his head.