Rade's Demon Elimination Service

Chapter 29: Dark Rade

Rade felt as though she was floating in the air.

Not in a good way though.

The Spatial Void was not in effect just yet and Megumi told all of them that it would be some time before it completed its descent all over the region under the Aldeia clan yet the hunters all around the region were gung-ho on capturing every demon they could find and extract their cores once it was confirmed already that the Spatial Void was indeed descending over the region. They don't care any longer whether the demons were weak and valuable, just that they know that this time was the only time they would be able to capture any demons before the Spatial Void manifestation arrive and settle. They couldn't just let the opportunity go by in a blink of an eye.

The Watchtower of the region, instituted by the HODE as the clean-up crew for the hunters in every region, have also put up a scoring board for two categories which only aggravated and added another whole level of excitement of the hunters. First was the most kill, the first position was being by Sis Nina with over a little two hundred kills(for Rade, it was a lot and it would most certainly create a lot of money too). Unsurprisingly, Sis Nina was being succeeded by the Aldeia siblings, London and New York Aldeia, with kills close to two hundred, similar to Sis Nina.

Meanwhile, the second category was for the person who have the most wreck after a fight (yes, even Rade and Kalleid could not believed their ears when they first heard of that kind of category, who would have thought that the Watchtower would that kind of creativity?). This one, it was quite extraordinarily suprising. Rade didn't know that Felif, a humble scholar from the Observatory of HODE, would be a messy fighter but, then again, he was just ahead from the Aldeia siblings by a couple kills.

The first night that the coming of the Spatial Void was confirmed, Rade felt the tension upon the air. The whole city literally came at a stand still. It was more prominent and pronounced with Kalleid who wouldn't eat and have completely stopped from going to the classes because he was too worried of losing control over himself. New York and London said that Rade shouldn't worry, because of the coming of the Spatial Void period, Kalleid felt weak and easy to tire because of the friction between his demonic and mortal side. Occasionally though, when they were inside the clubroom, Rade would often see and catch New York and London texting over their phones, both of their heads were bent down and their attention were obviously split, clearly worried about Kalleid's current condition with the Spatial Void and everything.

Lyu has also stopped from attending classes, filing a leave of absence to their homeroom adviser with the excuse of going abroad to meet relatives but, despite that, the usual scenery was still happening over at the Attic. The customers, mostly still girls and now even women, were still coming over to the shop so they take a faithful gaze at the newst model of the Attic— Fannie formerly known as the mighty Shadow Fantasm. Rade would also go to the Attic regularly, helping Megumi with the cash register and also helping out Lyu to restock the books, dust the shelves, and other simple tasks that needed attention. Between helping out in the café and hunting demons, Rade was relatively distracted but not quite too tired that she would be extremely exhausted.

All of the hunters were trying to hunt as many demons as they could while the manifestation Spatial Void has not manifested yet and the demons were still relatively weak against them.

"I do have one question, Miss Megumi," Rade said out of nowhere. Megumi smiled at her and waited for her question to be uttered, as patient as always with Rade. "If you closed down the appraisal shop because there is a chance or a possibility that most hunters in this region would come for you and Lyu, and quite possibly at Fannie too, why didn't you just close down the whole store? Is it not safer to be completely off the grid? What if the hunters just barge in here? Destroying the whole store and even endangering the customers who would come visit us... or just Fannie."

Megumi chuckled at the bombardment of questions to her by the girl. She put down the book she was placing on top of another and faced Rade properly. The smile on her peach blossom eyes did not fade and instead drew wider on her face.

"What Kalleid said is right," she murmured with amusement, covering her mouth with the expansive sleeve of her kimono and chuckled lowly yet again. "He said that Rade is not good with guiding wisps and lights. Did you not ever noticed? Hhmm," she hummed in contemplation, her eyes were narrowed but held a certain kind of amusement. "I guess you have never really otherwise you won't be asking this kind of question."

Rade's forehead knotted with the sudden bringing up of the guiding wisps. It was difficult for her to deny that she was never one for the magic usage and she has long accepted that before and even now. Her parents were long dead and even though the optimal age for learning magic was around when she was four years old, a good two years before she killed her father and her father killed her mother, they never bothered on teaching even just the basics to her. Meanwhile, the Haeven clan chose for her to be Carys and Lauri Haeven's bodyguard and playdate so it was not like Rade has a choice to turn that down since it was better than being stuck in an orphanage. Since Carys doesn't bave any physical abilities his whole clan would want to boast for, they decided that Rade would have fare better as a hand to hand combat fighter though Aíma was rather fitting as a catalyst for magic with all of the magical and special blood it has consumed.

Because of those reasons, Rade never learned any magic. She even has a hard time seeing guidng wisps as an indicator of a location. Besides that, she never bothered. Rade was too busy trying to survive life than be overly too engaged by other things. And even without actually learning magic, Rade's own abilties and sheer power could instantly break any boundaries she encountered.

It was only a shame that she has never learned. If she did, with the Aíma scimitar on her hand, who could have stopped her really? But then maybe it would be for the best interest of everyone if Rade would not learn magic, it will only cause more people and officials alike in the HODE to be envious of her power and abilities.

Maybe Rade would not be able to savor this kind of freedom since it came to her that they could really just lock her up.

"There are guiding wisps around the Attic?" Rade asked Megumi, puzzled upon the fact that she never actually saw one though she has been around for almost two weeks now.

Megumi chuckled lowly again, bowing her head and looking at the little blue light that immediately hid behind the feet of the table nearest to them. It was a very cute flame-like being that neither have any life nor intellect, its sole purpose was only to guide people to the creator's desired location and place.

Rade caught sight of the cute little ball of blue light, hiding behind the pillar of a feet of the table ever so timidly. It shyly came back when it was urged by Megumi to come out.

"Yes, there are various guiding wisps around the Attic, Rade," Megumi finally explained. She gathered the skirt of her kimono behind her knees and bend to sit down, though her bottom wasn't touching the ground, beside the little blue light of the guiding wisp. She gently touched the guiding wisp, its light was blazing gently, and she smiled at it as though the little light could understand what the smile could have meant. The blue light burned brighter and cuter with its creator's touch of hand to it, energized by the spiritual energy that Megumi was feeding it— very slowly like the little blue flame was a newborn baby. "I'm utilizing them to get customers in the Attic, visiting when ever they would like, and at the same time be avoided by the hunters loitering around so recklessly because of the Spatial Void happening. That's why I'm indeed a little—" Megumi leveled her thumb and index finger as if she was pinching something to indicate how little it was "—confident that we won't be seen even when I keep the bookshop and the studio open. I'm confident on my skills of magic and even my physical prowess. It would be a shame to close it anyway, so I'm letting the Spatial Void pass before I open the appraisal shop again, leaving the café and bookshop out of it. I do not know when the Spatial Void be ending so it is better that income would be continuously flowing inside."

"What if the guiding wisp break?" Rade asked, she was almost worried about the safety of Lyu and Miss Megumi. Then again, she almost always forgot that Megumi is still a powerful immortal. Magic would never be a problem to her and failing at it would be inconceivable— difficult to imagine.

"Unless an extremely powerful magician or hunter enter here, we would all be safe," Megumi assured her. "And Lyu is looking out too with his Sky Teller." Megumi finally stood up from where she sat, waving at the little blue flame which glided along the shop's floor aimlessly. Her peach blossom eyes remained on the blue light until it disappeared, her smile was getting smaller. "Even if someone did break the guiding wisps and the boundaries around the Attic, I would still be able to fight against anyone. You need not to worry too much, Rade. We'll be fine in this Spatial Void if we do not provoke anyone else. I hope that the Spatial Void won't be affecting us too much though."

Rade nodded, her shoulders were loosening and relaxing with the way Megumi was speaking and acting.

She couldn't do anything anyway even when she would like to help.

But those memories were a week ago, a lot of thing have happened and Rade didn't know where to start picking her life up again. It was as if Rade reverted back to bloody old days where her lunch appointment would be to kill a person, her whole body was aching from using the cursed scimitar while her heart was numb.

But her heart was not numb, at least not really when she thought of it. There was a raging fire inside her heart and her eyes could not see anything but the red fluid that she was continuously spilling— similar to how she had been almost five months ago.

And this was why she felt like she was floating and that wasn't good.

"Tell me where Carys Haeven is," Rade said while pointing Emma at the master of some random clan that she investigated on.

She has been haunted by her past and now she was being hunted like the demons she hunted and killed.

Rade didn't stop the day Carys attacked her on the lantern parade and festival. She kept on trying to investigate what had happened over and over again. Before she go on her way home from helping out at the Attic, she would patrol around the city to find him. Often time, she wouldn't even be bothered attending her classes just because she was too tired and exhausted dealing with Carys.

He never told her anything though. Not even when she repeatedly asked him to resolve the matter between them amicably. He wouldn't listen and he wouldn't talk. It was quite frustrating for Rade. She was desperate to know everything about Carys.

So she opted for something she was better at doing: hunting.

She began investigating about Carys' whereabouts for the past year that they have been separated. After being convicted as someone who practically killed the heir of the Haeven clan, Rade was sent to various clans to repent— mainly in the Consortium Hall were officials of the HODE were all a member of— but, in reality, those clans were actually only just using Rade in order to assassinate people and not to make her "repent." She was forced and ordered to kill.

But not demons.

Breathing and alive people were what Rade forced to face and kill as though those people were only livestocks.

That was the year that HODE and Watchtowers were all so stressed and disorganized. Unlike what they were used to, they were waiting on a hunter like themselves and they were cleaning up people's blood. Rade was never actually punished of killing those people, just some trauma of death where her whole body just shook but can still s***h her blade like it was nothing.

Meanwhile, she thought that Carys was indeed dead, completely unaffected by the matters of the hunters' society, since what the HODE told everyone in the hunters' society that he went after both Lauri and Rade went inside the Dimension that the Shadow Fantasm created.

What Rade didn't know was that despite not having any vitality to become an excellent hunter, Carys trained and he trained hard. Now, he was carrying that bow that Rade found out was actually a spiritual energy eating monster of a holy weapon.

It was as unnatural as the scimitar holy weapon Aíma and Rade would never judged blindly, but she still needed to know what exactly it was that Carys has gotten himself into. What kind of things he went through, Rade has to know not because she wanted to save him but because she wanted to be there for Carys.

She was not a stranger to him, she was a sister and a friend. She has already neglected him when she was given up to the HODE, now that she has the semblance of a freedom, why won't Rade help Carys?

There was nothing holding her back, much less so that it was Geneva Aldeia that told her she was supporting her to do this investigation.

Her investigation started at the relatives and family friends of the Haeven clan until it led her to this clan where she was currently pointing her blade at someone's neck.

She supposed that the year before actually provided her some edge which she was unsure whether a good or bad trait (Rade supposed it was not a good trait though). Though her hands hand shook with the thought killing someone, there wasn't any hesitation on her eyes and her captive saw it and it only made her childish face more fearsome— like a fallen angel who has come to collect some debts.

"If you do not tell me—" Rade started to say but was rudely cut off by the man under her, shouting and pleading with his spit flying all over. His neck was already bleeding by being pressed down by Emma and the red fluid was absorbed by Emma greedily, ready for more bloodshed.

"Please don't kill me!" he pleaded, but Rade wasn't cruel and she didn't made him beg her like some desperate pathetic fool.

Rade has always been efficient on her assassination missions, she never prolonged anything except when needed. She never terrorized anyone, her strikes were all smooth and swift— not permitting her target to utter even a last word.

"Then tell me who trained him," Rade said pointedly, looking down at the slick design of her red blood blade that still drip blood down. The acidic blood that came off of it was suppressed heavily by Rade and it was painful truly but she only gritted her teeth, her face was as expressionless as a brick. "Who trained Carys Haeven?"

"I don't know! I don't know! I don't know!" the man exclaimed and responded at Rade. His beady eyes were wide with anticipation and fear of what Rade would actually do.

"I'll count from one to ten," Rade said with a thread of threat. "If you don't start yapping about how Carys Haeven got his hunter skills, then you better say your last words until your head is still connected to your neck. I won't hesitate. But I supposed you know that already, don't you?"

The man under her was one of the head of those clans who only used her to gain advantage because of the lost of the Haeven, he was no official from the Consortium Hall but those officials from the Consortium Hall would not hesitate to let others "borrow" their very own killing machine. And Rade never forgot about cruel they all have been, not just to her but also to those people they asked her to kill in a very specific way.

She made her peace already, of course, her vengeance was sweeter and was the reason that enabled her to move from the darkest moment of her entire life.

"Please, please! Please!" the old man screamed as though Rade was already driving her scimitar's blade on his neck.

"I don't like people begging," Rade said. A certain gleam could be gleaned on the girl's pure black eyes. "Makes them pathetic, don't you think? Makes me cruel if I let them grovel."

Out of nowhere, Rade suddenly took away the blade from the man's neck and reabsorbed it back on her skin like markings. She walked around the office of the man, making a mess out of the drawers and bringing out a bunch of papers. On the next drawer that she opened, she saw a bunch of pornographic materials. She looked at it very coldly then lit a match to throw at those sheets of paper quietly burn holes through the papers. Upon contact, the fire made sizzling sounds which were very painful to hear if one was being targetted by Rade.

"Well, that's satisfying," Rade said, "do you know why I'm not afraid to do this?" asked Rade coldly at the man.

The man in question, whom Rade doesn't want to have a name because he was too monstrous and doesn't deserve to be remembered, was actually the Heatherington clan's head, Johnson Heatherington. Rade was his favorite toy a few months back, making her injure other hunters to death though Rade would have mercy on those hunters and would only kill them swiftly. She would make sure that they did not have to suffer under the hands of this man.

That was until she moved to the Aldeia clan's region and she hasn't heard a word from him since then.

Johnson shook his head, sweat trickled down his chin and he looked fearfully at Rade with wide eyes that reflected her delicately.

"Because the Aldeia clan would cover me up no matter I do," Rade finally answered her own question, a shiver inducing smile appeared on the girl's lips and her eyes glinted red. "They wanted you, all of you, dead and you know my abilities are just right for such occassions. I once did it and got away, I could do another execution as easily. And they would compensate me handsomely too."

Rade further looked into Johnson's things and saw more horrendous things she didn't have the stomach to look at any longer.

"You really are a dog," Rade murmured, "so, would you tell me anything? Anything at all to bargain for your cheap life?"

"I will shout for the hunters outside!" Johnson said to Rade, threatened her even with that kind of tone. "I will make them make you disappear! And you'll be sorry you came back to this region!"

Rade smiled, a sinister smile that made shivers ran through the man's skin.

"Why do you think I'm here now?" Rade said with that kind of smile. "And they are not? Use your brain sometimes, Heatherington. Now, what happened to Carys Haeven?" she demanded.

Sweat continously trickled down Johnson Heatherington's chin. His sallow skin became more pallid and there was that craze on his eyes that told Rade he might be fainting soon. She wondered if the mental torture might be too much but then she considered what kind of person this one was and just went on with it.

Calling forth Emma, the holy weapon that has now become something that this kind of people feared, Rade steadied it again on the man's neck.

"If you have nothing to say then maybe your life isn't that important to you," Rade said and prepared to drive the sword into the neck of the man.

"I'll tell you! I think..." the man paused and looked uncertainly at Rade.

"You think?" Rade questioned, raising one brow. "You're not certain?" she asked again, putting one intimidating foot on the other's shoulder.

"No, no, no, I'm sure that I know... I know where Carys is," he said with trembling voice but Rade was already knocking him down.

"Useless cheap dog," Rade whispered, looking down at the man.