Rade's Demon Elimination Service

Chapter 10: London Gathers Information

"You went demon hunting?" Lyu asked Rade with a pout. "So that's why you're late. Can I check?" he suddenly asked and nodded at the demon core on Rade's hand.

Rade gave it to him obligingly.

Both of them were sitting at the side of hallway that no one really walks around on. Rade was wearing her old cardigan, a fresh one, to be clear, that was devoid of any stains of blood. Her skirt was carefully down to cover her legs and feet, while the boy beside her had one of his feet propped up on one of his knees.

In an instant, Lyu was already scrutinizing the core, squinting his eyes which glowed a faint golden light— an indication that the Sky Teller was doing its job.

Sometimes, often times actually, Rade would wonder if Lyu ever felt guilty of putting a monetary price on the head of the demons that hunters have hunted. Although Rade knew this was all just a job (and Rade knew that she did a lot worst than putting monetary value on top of someone else's head for the sake of a job), even someone like Lyu needed something like a job to survive himself.

Rade thought that she wouldn't feel remorse any longer. She was way past that stage of her life but, earlier, when she hesitated to give the half demon immortal the final blow to kill it, Rade wondered about one certain thing.

She wondered if those demon she killed were very much like Lyu, his sister, and even Kalleid. They were all just killing each other to survive and, for that, Rade doesn't understand why the world was created in such a way that one needed to step on others.

The world is full of cannon fodders, Rade would think and she would shake her head at thinking that way. Not all cannon fodder, Rade thought suddenly, there were also those people who were main character style like New York and Kalleid.

And maybe there were also the kinds of villain types like herself.

"Do you know how much it is?" Rade asked curiously, her toes curling in anticipation while Lyu still looked at the core on his hand.

"Oohh," Lyu hummed quietly, "this is quite a high-grade demon core. Tell me, how much you have to pay for the Watchtower for the mess this demon left?"

Rade froze on the spot she was sitting on. With that expression of horror on her face, Lyu immediately knew that there was something wrong that happened. He gave her a toothed smile, not quite sincere and actually awkward before asking her what was wrong or telling her that something must be wrong to be more precise.

"It's a mess, right?" Lyu stated and handed the demon core back to her. "What exactly happened?" Lyu finally asked and that snapped Rade back from her daze.

"Another hunter was there when I was executing the hunt," Rade shared and her eyes turned into little slits. "He said to take the core with me—" Rade put the still glimmering core inside her skirt's pocket "—so I did, but I forgot that there are still things to settle. I'm sure he would call the Watchrower."

"Well..." Lyu said with hesitation. "Let's just hope he would actually call."

That got Rade's attention. Her head immediately sought after Lyu's eyes and questioned him through that glance.

"What? Hope? So there's a chance he wouldn't?" Rade asked in succession, with each question, her expression turned from casual to ugly and uglier. "I thought around here hunters usually call the Watchtower?"

Lyu shrugged before he answered Rade's last question. "Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. It really just depends. Most of the time, when demons around the area just go crazy or caused property damage, the Aldeia clan would usually take care of those kinds of things. But, a friendly warning, the Aldeia clan bans anyone who left too much damage without paying." Lyu even made the gesture for money, his forefinger and thumb touching together to create a small circle with three of his fingers straightened— a symbol and gesture for money. "Not that I'm tryna scare you."

Rade suddenly felt guilty for just leaving hastily, not thinking about the damage she caused to that side of the marketplace where she engaged battle. Worse was that she just let a complete stranger, a fellow hunter, to take care of the mess she created.

I panicked because that hunter fellow wanted to inspect Emma, Rade thought to herself. Or it was more like she was convincing herself that she panicked. It was a first for her that a person, a hunter actually who was a skilled swordsman like her, wanted to take a good look at Emma which was always called as a cursed holy weapon.

Being treated as worse than demons themselves.

"Should I go back?" Rade asked Lyu worriedly. "I just left like nothing happened," she added, "I'll feel guilty if he pay the Watchtower since he told me to keep the core."

"What, now?" Lyu asked her in return. "Not now, we'll have our aftertoon classes. Maybe later, I'll go with you just in case."

Rade nodded, some of the weight on her shoulders and chest was lightened. It was rare for her to have someone she could deped on and maybe Rade was quite thrilled with this friendship she found with Lyu.

It made her feel light— as if she was floating.

"But I thought you're not suppose to go out?" Rade asked yet again, remembering how Megumi was too worried about her brother's safety. "You know, the Shadow Fantasm?"

Lyu gave her a lopside grin, only waving his hand as he said offhandedly, "Nee-san is just overprotective of me. The Fantasm wouldn't really hurt me, unless I slipped from my mentality. Not really gonna happen if I don't let it, you know? Besides, it'll be a great mental exercise."

Rade lowered her head, there was suddenly a forlorn glint on her expression that surprised Lyu for a second before it disappeared. It only flashed for a moment, but Lyu couldn't mistake it for another.

"The Shadow Fantasm is really powerful," Rade said quietly.

"I know," Lyu said brightly, "but Nee-san is quite powerful too, Rade."

But just then, a voice rang from the window of the room above them which was supposed to be empty and desolated like earlier.

"Lyu is much more than a brother to Megumi," the voice said. It was low but there was still a softness within it. Both Rade and Lyu looked up to where the voice was coming from.

A pretty (or handsome?) boy was standing, with his chin propped up by his palm, his elbow sitting at the sill of the sliding window. He has such a deep shade of blue and the way his lashes arched and framed the pretty eyes were all somehow familiar to Rade.

How odd, Rade thought.

His hair was cut short to his ears, and his sharp cheekbones revealed just who se resembled. There was the hint of warmth within his slanted eyes that Rade never saw on the person this boy resembled.

He looked exactly like the Aldeia guy, New York his name was, was it not?

"London!" Lyu said excitedly and hugged the boy though the sliding window only enabled him to only wrap his arms around the boy's broad shoulders. "You're back, London!" Lyu exclaimed cheerfully. "Welcome back!"

"Aiyoh!" London said, patting Lyu's back with a slender hand. "I miss you too, Lyu. How're you, eh? I see there's a new addition to the gang. Why are y'all here, by the way? Let's go to the Supernatural clubroom!"

"Rade is still too shy," Lyu said, taking pity on the shocked Rade who was still sitting on the floor of the hallway.

"New York... another version, short hair version," Rade said mindlessly, her forefinger was almost pointing at the boy inside the room whose head was outside of the window's frame.

Lyu only laughed slightly at Rade's still surprised expression while the boy, London Aldeia, howled and finally got his head off the outside of the window. Instead, what he did was to jumped straight out of the window. Next thing Rade knew was that London Aldeia was already sitting beside her.

"London." London pointed at himself and then he pointed to Rade who was still dumb stricken. "Your name?"

"I'm... I'm Rade," Rade stammered and nodded as though she wasn't sure at first what she said.

"We should go to the clubroom, Lyu," London suddenly said after Lyu sat down beside Rade, now Rade was sandwiched between the two of them. "Why are you shy though?" he then asked Rade, turning his head to Rade's direction.

Lyu laughed awkwardly, a smile full of guilt plastered on his lips. Because Rade has now turned her head to the one who was speaking to her, her back was now in front of Lyu, and with that, Lyu slightly shook his head to London who only looked at them clueless of the events that happened in the last month that she was gone.

"What?" he asked, his eyes were wide and unconscious of the sudden tension on Rade's shoulders. "What?" he repeated, nudging Lyu's feet with her own.

"Rade tried to kill Kalleid... um, I'm not really sure how often or how long it has been, but Rade is a changed person now," Lyu explained in his little voice, his cheeks bounced a little as he spoke innocently. "Right, Rade?" he asked Rade whose ears have gotten quite red it was as rosy as a freshly picked rose. For added comfort, Lyu patted Rade's back which seemed to have helped her quite a bit since her reddening was toned down a little.

"The household I grew up with is very conservative with the difference between the demons, mortals, and hunters," Rade explained, but not going any further than necessary. Only touching the topic she knew would justify her reaction towards humanoid demons.

"Oh! London, Rade even tried to kill me!" Lyu stated, sounding very proud that someone actually thought he was a threat to anything.

"Yeah, right," London said and holwed in laughter again. He even did the same thing as Lyu, but instead of gentle taps, London slapped Rade's back rather violently. The boy then proceeded on howling with laughter that his pretty face also turned red with the lack of oxygen.

That puzzled Rade.

Or maybe the worst was yet to come, Rade wondered as she lowered her head, listening to London Aldeia's laughter.

"That really f*****g got me, Lyu," he finally said after wiping the tears on the side of his eyes that spilled while he laughed mercilessly. "Damn it, people! You really got the guts, Rade and what ever is your last name. I mean Kal got my bro as a companion and partner, I can imagine how stressed he must've been dealing with Kal who doesn't want to get rid if you. Haaays!" London shook his head and tapped on Rade's shoulder. "You're really lucky that Kal didn't let my lil' bro get rid of you or you'll end up in some river, floating coldly. Anyway!"

London stood up and dusted his slack pants then he held his hand out to Rade with a smile on his face.

"It's nice meeting you, Elora Isolde Aldam," he stated with a small chuckle.

Rade stilled with the regard of her name by the boy. She looked at him and his bandaged hands before accepting it and being hauled up by London.

"Call me London, yeah?" he said and put one of his arms around Rade's shoulder. "Come on, Ai, lezgo!" He gestured at Lyu who also stood up. "I'm older than y'all by a year so ask away whatever y'all need or want to know. This senior of yours would try to guide you as best as I can."

"Eh heh, I'm sure it's not just a year though?" Lyu said but got a smack on the back of his head in return.

As it turned out, London only wanted to get both of them to their classroom, uttering a promise before leaving them looking at the window of their classroom.

"We'll check later the place you got the demon core, Rade," he muttered, but his hand waved to some upperclassmen that he knew, greeting them all with a smile that reached up to his slightly slanted eyes. "And Lyu—" the boy looked at him seriously "—give her a damn good price with that core."

Lyu beamed and nodded.

"I'm really going to do that, by the way," he complained to London, "it's a high grade core so no need to tell me."

London clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and messed Lyu's curly hair with his hand teasingly.

"You think I don't know how low your rates are, you ass?" London snarled at Ai who only gave him an toothed smile. "Anyways! Gotta go, babies, see 'ya!"

"London! Long time no see, bruh!" someone shouted enthusiastically at London who only waved again and smiled yet again. Some more people greeted and talked to him on his way to the clubroom where he was expecting to find a certain immortal that lingered there by this time.

"So that's him," London muttered and pursed his lips, "should I get rid of her before the Shadow Fantasm comes in or nah?"

To be honest, London knew of Elora Isolde Aldam a long time ago— since he started attacking Kalleid to be exact. He knew New York was worried about the descendant of the wielders of the holy weapon, cursed blade, Aíma.

"What do you mean?" London asked New York, his android phone, which miraculously have a signal, was in placed precariously in between his shoulder blade and chin.

Phones weren't allowed inside the training grounds of the Romanian training camp that London attended for three months, but where there was a road, London was prepared to walk down the dangerous one. The living condition weren't that great, but as the middle child who does absolutely nothing, showing some face to these fancy hunting camps that most fancy clans' children attended was one of the things he could do to contribute to her own clan.

New York's voice was almost indiscernible with the poor signal, but London could feel his anxiety.

"When are you coming back, London?" New York demanded though the intensity of his voice was decreased greatly because of the choppiness. "At this point, Kal will die!"

"He won't," London said and rolled his eyes. "He's a f*****g immortal for eff's sake, New York!"

"They are cursed, London, and what are you trying to say is to—" static "—then let Kalleid handle—" static "—I can't do that!"

London cursed internally, not saying out loud in any case that New York would think it was him he was cursing. He took a deep breath, almost knocking himself out.

"Fine! I'll go back home, New York!" London conceded, shaking his head and clenching his jaw. "But what makes you think that I could do something about Kal? You know the guy, lil' bro, he's a gentle soul..." London paused. "Demon, a gentle demon, who want everyone to be happy. If there's an earthquake, he'll rather talk to it to stop rather than run to save his life."

Before London could finish his sentence, he noticed that he doesn't have her little brother talking to him through the phone anymore. There was only the long 'toot' noise from the other side of the line.

London brought down the bandages he was supposed to encircle his whole arm and cursed again. He clicked his tongue.

"Latka!" he roared at his holy weapon. The bandages that was limped and lifeless earlier suddenly turned to life, jumping up and down the room. London held out his naked chest and Latka, his holy weapon obediently wrapped around him. "It's time to go fish for infos."

Grabbing a sack full of demon cores, London went out of his ancient room only to barged inside the other room. The people who were explicitly doing some exercise froze in place, but London remained unfazed and threw the demon cores at them. Some clattered to the wooden floor, but some remained at the bed. Another one was grabbed mid-air by the guy lying on it and barked a laughter.

"What is it this time, London?" he asked and stood up. Though he was nude, London didn't even blink, but disgust was evident on his face.

"I need information," London stated neutrally, very unlike his boisterous and loud self.

"As usual," muttered by the person London has business with then turning around, he said, "Cathy," the boy purred at the girl lying in the bed, "London Aldeia and I need to talk, would you mind stepping out for a bit?"

"No need to step out, it's her room," London said, "you only need three words, Merced."

"I love you?" Cathy, the girl, was the one who asked. "Is this a confession? Should I really just step out? I don't mind."

"Oh for f**k's sake, y'all," London retorted and snorted, but turned towards the boy who was already dressed up. "Elora Isolde Aldam. I need you to get as much information about her as soon as possible."

"Wait, as in the cursed bloodline descendant?" Dre Merced asked London.

Dre Merced has the ability to get information through connecting any devices he holds to whatever server he wanted to. When it comes to getting information, he has always been London's go-to man. Not once did he disappoint him.

"What cursed bloodline?" London demanded. "You know her? Tell me."

It wasn't that London was threatened with the presence of the girl. She knew damn well enough that cursed part of Elora Isolde Aldam's cursed bloodline might actually be false or a myth meant to scared off the cowardly officials inside the HODE and the hunter clans, but after hearing what Dre Merced, her trusted informant told her, London became wary.

"She's killed the only hunter heir of a big clan, well, what used to be a big clan," Dre told him. Even with his mischievous smile has faded as he told London, quite unusual really. "Almost a year ago. Then, you know, what happened, the Shadow Fantasm gained a new vessel."

After that, only two weeks later, he went back to his clan's region to take a better look at this cursed descendant who wielded that scimitar and deadly Aíma, a holy weapon known for its brutality towards its victims and even its users and masters.

Now London just met her, the cursed bloodline's descendant. It was a pity, he thought, the girl looked too innocent to have stained her hands red with blood. His feet were still walking until he stopped in front of the door of the Supernatural Clubroom.

"Hi'ya, people!" he greeted enthusiastically, only finding New York, his beloved little brother practicing his ugly calligraphy with a level of seriousness that even amazed London. "Hello, bro!"

New York ignored him as per usual, focusing deeply on his calligraphy. While London didn't mind it at all, something else was actually bothering him at the back of his mind.

"Where's Kal?" London asked casually, taking a seat just beside New York and also picking up a brush to show his brother how to do it. "It's like this," he muttered lowly and made a few elegant strokes.

London heard New York took a deep sigh and glared at him, clearly minding him meddling to his project.

"I don't know, and—" he pointedly looked at the brush on London's hand "—nor do I care so get off my back."

Instead of saying a cheeky remark, London faced her brother without the usual mirth and humor.

"We need to talk, New York," London muttered and physically took away from New York's hands the brush dipped with ink that has already trickled down a single droplet on the rice paper he was writing on. The single droplet was such a stray distinguishable detail on the otherwise fairly neat paper. It now created a mess, not salvageable if either New York or London wouldn't write over it.

The pursed lips and the glint on London's eyes made New York's back straightened, his face became stiff and rigid with anticipation.

I swear if you're only messing with me, New York thought in his mind. He was used to his older and only brother pulling on pranks on him, sometimes funny pranks but there were also times that those weren't funny for New York.

"About what?" he asked, keeping his voice nice and neutral. It wasn't that he doesn't trust his own brother, it ws just New York knew London well enough and he was honestly expecting that he was just indeed messing with his mind.

"Latka!" London cried and the bandages covering her arms and neck down to his chest and stomach flew, leaving London's bare skin exposed with only his uniform on.

The bandages, that seemingly coming to a life of its own, created a magnificent boundary that prevented any person from the outside to come in and prevented from anyone from the outside of the room from eavesdropping their conversation.

"What?" New York repeated his question.

To create such a strong boundary using his holy weapon, New York instantly knew what it was his older brother was supposed to say was actually real business.

"About that girl," London finally answered, "Elora Isolde Aldam—" a pause "—and her connection to the Shadow Fantasm."