Rade's Demon Elimination Service

Chapter 16: What's Behind Rade

Rade was only six years old when her family died.

They weren't good to her in the first place. Papa would always drink outside, and when he come back home, there would be the scent of blood together with the alcohol. He would grip the bloody blade and slashed anything on sight.

It was from Papa that Rade got her first scars.

Mama, on the other hand, has always been indifferent towards her own daughter. Rade would always hear people say that her Mama went crazy on the head because of her Papa. And it was such a bizarre thing that a child would take care of her parent despite only being six years old.

She didn't have any siblings.

It was only her.

Then one night, when Papa drank one too many drinks, he mistakenly thought Mama as part of the furniture and mindlessly started to slaughter her. Until when Rade was eleven, she could still remember how, for the first time in her life, she heard Mama say something.

Mama egged Papa on until there was no more light on her eyes.

The blood was on the walls, the chair that Mama was sitting on and her own body were also both broken into smithereens, and there was Rade that got splashed with blood on her cheek.

She wiped it away calmly and put Papa to sleep herself, wiping her newly acquired weapon which gleamed with the blood of its victims and herself. She found out that it was painful to hold the weapon without a hilt, but it was even more painful on calling forth to it and getting it back to where it now settled— her own skin.

It was midnight that Rade cried, looking at how blood has dried on her hands.

The morning came, and the Haeven clan of the region took the bodies of her parents. They washed the house and they also washed Rade's body where the blood has dried off on. It took Rade three full months before she could tell them what transpired on their house.

On the big manor of the Haeven clan, Rade first heard of the two words she was now being associated with. The cursed bloodline. All her life, which only now consisted of seven short years, she was deemed as a bad luck. There were whispers of hushed words even with her face at the front of the people.

With those memories circling around the current Rade, the duo stopped. Rade quickly wiped away her tears, feeling ashamed of them. What Kalleid did was to pat her back gently, seemingly comforting.

"Kalleid," she called to him, "you should have gotten yourself out of here."

She was ignored by that person though. Kalleid started to appreciate the scenery and the dimension in which the Fantasm created with itself. They were both in a long hallway, far from the atrium Rade fought off the demons. Countless doors were all over the hallway, on the ceiling and even at the floor.

All the bizarre details made Kalleid frown.

"Just where are we exactly?" he wondered out loud, looking at their surrounding and not really expecting an answer from his companion. When they walked further, Kalleid saw a headache inducing arrays of staircase. Going up to a ceiling, going down to who knows where, and even placed horizontally.

The dimensions and placements of the things made Kalleid's sence of direction jumble out of the proper order.

"We are currently at the old mansion of the Haeven clan," Rade finally responded. She wouldn't look at Kalleid and preferred looking at the scary darkness of a distant place. "This is the place I grew up in."

"I'm not really understanding anything here," Kalleid said casually while hopping down a flight of stairs. "Why would the Fantasm create such an illusion?"

"It draws the memories of the people inside of it. Now its taking shape of the place where we feel most connected to. Maybe later we'll be seeing yours. Or honestly, I'm unsure, you being half a demon could change the odds."

A silence occured between the two while they walked aimlessly, or maybe not since Kalleid's statement was anything but false. He doesn't really have any idea what was going on, but he wouldn't bring up the topic of getting out just yet to Rafe in any case that she deserted him out of annoyance.

"I wonder what would be mine if the Fantasm did touch my mind," Kalleid suddenly uttered, earning him Rade's gaze. "I've never been on one place that long. Your childhood consists of this stuffy old mansion, mine were all laboratory and long hallways."

"What do you mean?" Rade asked in curiosity while Kalleid nodded at her. "Laboratories?"

"Yeah, my old folk didn't really want me around since I don't have any hunter abilities. I also lived with HODE's scientists and magicians to know my whole anatomy as an immortal. My old folk, he left me at the Aldeia clan's manor." Kalleid smiled at Rade softly as if remembering something from his memory. "I never see him again. In fact, I don't really remember what he actually looks like. Every year that pass, my memory of him just fades too, those videos he sent me are the only reminder that I've still got a father. And, of course, the allowance."

It was a long time before Rade spoke again that Kalleid thought she would stay silent all the way to who knows where. There was pain on her voice that mirrored Kalleid's, and while Rade spoke, the other person just stayed silent.

"The Haeven clan has a daughter and son, their daughter's name is Laurinette Haeven while their son's name is Carysia Haeven and they are my best friends and family," Rade finally told Kalleid. The redness on her eyes turned redder, and there was a gleam within those dark eyes that shone brightly. "They're my only friends actually. My life..." Rade clenched her jaw, she suddenly felt an overwhelming anger that attempted to drown her. "My life has always been hard. The Haeven clan used me on various experiments too before letting me inside their mansion and be training partners with their children, mostly Lauri though. In this world where people shun the different, I'm not an exception."

They both stopped walking. Kalleid was still gazing worriedly at her.

"I'm six when Papa killed Mama and when I killed him for killing Mama." Rade closed her eyes, the memories that she thought have almost faded in her mind came back and became even more painful. "Like you, I don't remember the past well. Only how I have suffered and made people suffered."

"What actually happened to thos Haeven children?" Kalleid asked cautiously.

"A year ago, the Shadow Fantasm appeared like how it did fifty years ago. Lauri was like London Aldeia in attitude, but she's said to be the next Geneva Aldeia when it comes to her power. She's a very powerful hunter, or she used to be at least, and because her brother doesn't have the same power as her, she's the only hope the Haeven clan left to continue their legacy.

"Despite their family hating me, or even the whole hunters' community hating me and my ancestors, they're the only one who treated my like I'm a human being. Even those old men who says they're educated by the most prestigious schools looked at me like I'm only a tool. When the Fantasm appeared, the region that the Haeven clan is looking after was unprepared and Lauri was the one who volunteered to guide the Fantasm out of their clan's region."

"She was possessed?" Kalleid whispered as though the Fantasm was actually listening to their conversation.

"Not just possessed," Rade, however, contradicted and shook her head. "She became a vessel for the Fantasm. To avoid the Fantasm using her mortal body, I have to... I have to destroy her now."

Rade looked around the place, her face was filled with both nostalgia and wrath.

"This was also how this place looked like a year ago, when Lauri and I both entered," she remarked. "It's like being mocked by something that fundamentally shouldn't really exist."

"What about that boy though?" Kalleid asked.

"He went in and was swallowed by the Shadow Fantasm. Just after Lauri and I went in, Carys also did. Or at least that's what they kept on insisting since I never saw it happened myself."

"Rade..." Kalleid suddenly said and shook Rade's shoulder. "Rade!" Quick as a lightning, Kalleid pushed Rade away from him before a gigantic hand crush them both. "It's her! The vessel!"

At the same time, a figure of a girl ran on the corridor opposite to them. It caught Rade's attention and suddenly, she wasn't by Kalleid's side any longer and was running towards the figure of the little girl, shouting as she did so.

"Lauri! Lauri!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, not thinking about the other person with her that only watched with exasperation.

The hand rose again, Kalleid braced himself with the earth shattering impact. Though the enormous hand was great in strength, it wasn't so with its speed. It took a moment before it lifted itself to get ready for another attack again, but when its finally prepared, Kalleid was already running after Rade himself.

"We should stick together, Rade! What are you doing just running away to some place!" Kalleid said angrily. It was very uncharacteristic of him to explode in anger, but Rade was really cutting the rope of his patience. "I don't know how to get out!"

"This room," Rade whispered, her eyes were both brimming with unshed tears that made Kalleid stopped on ranting, making him guilty of shouting at her. "This room is Lauri's."

It was the first that Kalleid finally took a glance around where they were. The room was a mess with colorful stains on the carpet here and there. There were blank canvases stuffed at the bottom of the bed like whoever put them there tried in vain to hide them to no avail. Paint brushes and empty bottles of acrylic paint were strewn all over the floor, like it was just used earlier.

Clay figurines, both finished and unfinished were displayed at a wooden high table where it was disgustingly caked with all kinds of colors of the clay. Sharp daggers and knives were all hanging on the wall which was very contradictory of the colorful doors of the walk-in closet.

It was a room of an artist.

These observations were all voiced out by Kalleid to Rade who didn't seem to have noticed his arrival or even the fact that he just spoke. Kalleid just watched Rade, it seemed like she also didn't noticed that she was already crying. And she was crying so hard.

"If you're not done with mourning over a lost company, then let your soul heal until it wanted to," Kalleid whispered softly, though his heart was still racing from his encouter with the Fantasm from earlier that seemed to have been wanting to eradicate them instead of using their bodies to feed itself. "Even the leaves of a tree that seemed to have last forever fall and will be replaced anew from how those left the tree bare."

Rade was now sobbing so hard that she knelt down. Her forehead touched the paint stained carpeted floor. Her shoulders shook and there was the sound of her breaking down that Kalleid had to look away when she started screaming her throat out.

He just let her even if they don't have the luxury of time to just lounge here.

"I... I'm really s-so so-sorry!" Rade shouted, her fist clenched into a tight ball and just beat the floor angrily. "How... How am I su-suppose to live... like... like this, Carys? Lauri? Would you... would you all tell me?"

Suddenly, the floor changed and they were plunging into the oblivion. The wind was strong and it carried a pungent scent that made Kalleid gag. As disgusting as it sounded like, Kalleid only swallowed the upcoming vomit back to his throat, threatening his stomach to act accordingly and time its release in a more appropriate setting.

He really can't have his vomit flying around with them with the threat of slapping them in the face.

"Kalleid!" Kalleid heard the familiar voice of Rade. As he was about to reply to her, the ground struck him. It abruptly just appeared that Kalleid wasn't prepared for its arrival. "Ugh!" He heard at some distant.

So it seemed that he wasn't the only one unprepared.

"Rade! Rade!" Kalleid called out to her.

"Rade! Rade!" An unfamiliar voice echoed Kalleid's own.

"Lauri!" Rade called. "I mean Kalleid! Where are you! Come quickly here! Wait, on the other hand, don't!"

The shing! sound of a drawing weapon came next, and Kalleid just heard Rade cursed and shouted blasphemous words that have never appeared on Kalleid's vocabulary. With Rade engaging in battle, Kalleid stayed and waited on where he was, not even attempting to help in case that he messed up Rade's chances or just be in her way.

It was really dark and Kalleid was standing in the very middle of the darkness until the different lamps placed all over the place, on the ceiling, the walls, and even the floor, lit up for no apparent reason.

After the place has been lit up, Kalleid realized why it must be this way. Standing in front of them was a fifteen foot tall figure of a girl. She was about the same age as Rade with pretty blonde hair. Thick and heavy water, similar to a waterfall, dropped from her eyes and she was looking at Rade with a vehemence. Using her paint stained hands, the tall figure of the girl tried her hardest to wipe at her face but the tears still came stubbornly.

"Rade!" she screamed, the same voice of the girl that echoed Kalleid's voice earlier when he also called out to Rade.

At the farthest side of the room, which actually looked like a ball room completed with mini platform and drapes all over the windows, was Rade gripping her scimitar with both of her hands. She was gritting her teeth so tightly that even Kalleid could her her grinding teeth.

"Why did you kill me!" the gigantic girl said.

Because of how loud the girl's voice echping throughout the whole room, Kalleid has to cover his own ears with his hands. Wincing slightly, he tried to walk to where Rade was, rooted on her spot and couldn't move even an inch.

Rade's face was wet, similar to how it looked like earlier when she was lamenting over the room that resembled Lauri Haeven's bedroom. She wasn't even trying to hide the pain on her face like how she had been earlier, and let it took over her whole body. Her shoulders were both shaking so hard that Kalleid felt someone invisible was actually shaking her physically.

What was heartbreaking to see was her eyes, full of determination just a few moments ago but now, they were both dead.

"Why would you do this to me!" the figure of the girl bellowed yet again.

"It's the vessel," Kalleid said to Rade, imploring her to look at him and not at the gigantic girl.

It wasn't that Kalleid was extremely clueless, it was only that Kalleid didn't want to ever say anything about the very reason why they were both inside the Fantasm's consciousness and risking their lives. He didn't know what Lauri Haeven looked like, but the girl in front of them that was stomping her foot on Rade's body was extremely pretty.

But also extremely ugly.

Her features were all exaggerated and her loud voice only made her more unpleasant to both the eyes and the ears. When Rade didn't made any to attack it, the enormous girl figure attacked first. It rained punches and kicks on where Rade was, making the watching boy ran towards Rade's direction, shouting with all of his might.

There was dread on his chest and it constricted how he was breathing.

"RADE!" he shouted, but within the blink of his eyes, the enormous girl have been chopped into pieces. It fell on the parquet floor of the ball room, making a fifteen feet tall crater on the wooden ground.

"That wasn't Lauri." Kalleid heard Rade say, brandishing her weapon and standing against the Fantasm. "That wasn't Lauri! You're not Lauri! You're the one who killed Carys and her! Why does the blame have to be on me? Why! I lost everything! I lost everything! I lost my brother! And my sister! My friends!"

But the Fantasm wasn't done yet. Numerous spikes was hurled towards Rade, all of which she deflected easily with the scimitar. Her eyes were bloodshot and, for the first time, Kalleid saw her as an actual killer and not the girl he wanted to lend a helping hand.

After the spikes, Rade's both foot became cemented on the ground, eating her like a quicksand and the rain of spikes started all over again. The blood dripping on her weapon was splashed towards the ground, making the red known and dominate the floor where her feet were both buried.

As if vomiting something disgusting, the Fantasm suddenly let go of its iron grip on her feet and started to attack Kalleid instead.

The cursed blood, Kalleid thought immediately, momentarily distracted while he watched the battle unfolds.

Maybe because he was half a demon that he got away as long as this from the Fantasm's notice, Kalleid thought suddenly as he ran away. But numerous spikes stabbed him through, making him waver until he was a bloody mess of ripped flesh and dripping red liquid.

His body heals itself fast, but the pain never did subside even how much he was healed so quickly that he wouldn't sometimes see the cut.

He would only feel the inexplicable pain.

When he thought he would experience the second wave of the raining spikes, someone put his arms around their shoulders and dragged him away.

There was the pungent scent of the demons around and the floor suddenly became a wall. Kalleid and Rade stumbled to regain their footing, an enormous hand was already crushing them in place. Rade held Kalleid close to her side and used her scimitar to slashed at the hand, turning it to dust.

She wasn't satisfied with only that, but even launched an attack. Gaining momentum from the how she planted her feet on the wall, she jumped forcefully and launching herself to the unrecovered persona of the Fantasm.

On mid-air, Rade gracefully chopped off every piece she could of the Fantasm's illusion, splashing her blood all around the place. There was a low hissing that could be heard around the walls of the Fantasm's illusion, and Rade landed on her two feet with the lightness of a cat on the shifting floor that even had Kalleid sprawled on. Kalleid scrambled to get his glasses on the bridge of his nose, holding it on place.

Absorbing the holy weapon Aíma on her skin as markings, Rade closed her eyes and held out her hand where Aíma went and reappeared again. There was the low hissing yet again, and when Rade opened her eyes, different parts of the Fantasm exploded. The holy weapon has already run through the Fantasm, dissolving some of its body.

There was an audible groan from all around, almost cracking Kalleid and Rade's ear drums. After fighting against the Shadow Fantasm, Rade quickly went to Kalleid's side, deflecting the futile attempt of the Fantasm for an attack.

"No!" screamed the same voice from earlier, it was Lauri's, and she was running towards Rade. "Don't you want to see me? Why are you doing this? Why are you hurting me again? Isn't once enough?"

Lauri's face materialized, and this time, she was as big as they were. She was crying, trying to get to Rade. When Kalleid looked at the little girl beside him, she was also crying but she was no longer lamenting for her lost of her closet friend, Lauri.

"You're not Lauri," Rade muttered softly, "she's been dead for a long time now. You're just using her body now. There's nothing left of her."

Rade walked closer to Lauri, crying still. Her sobs were soft and she didn't wiped her tears anymore. Rade stopped near Lauri, her bloody hand was shaky so terribly that Rade had to take a moment. She touched Lauri's face with the barest of her skin.

It was a quick movement that Kalleid almost didn't see it. The next thing that happened was Rade impaling Lauri, the Fantasm, right on her chest.

There was surprise and pain on the other girl's face until she evolved into a gruesome and ugly monster, finally shedding the beautiful countenance of the little girl it killed one year ago.

With the Fantasm letting go of Lauri's face, there seemed to be a part of Rade's pain that had also been let go.