The night descended as it always did, with nothing to distinguish it from countless evenings before.
The streets lay strangely deserted. By deliberate arrangement, civilians had been driven away from the area, while barricades sealed every intersection to keep curious bystanders from wandering in. Men clad in maintenance uniforms moved back and forth beneath the dim gaslights, and among them walked Red Falcon. Though Old Dunling's bitter winter had long since passed, the lingering chill still clung to the damp air. He shoved his hands into his coat and paced along the roadside.
"Almost finished?"
A man stepped out from the nearby manor. As he drew closer and recognized Red Falcon, he spoke.
"Just about. According to the reports, Lloyd dealt with the fiends himself. But once the fighting ended, he didn't stay behind. No one knows where he went afterward."
Joey rubbed his hands together against the cold before glancing around. Faint silhouettes lingered at the edges of the blockade, watching with quiet curiosity.
The moment Lloyd had clashed with the fiends, the corruption they unleashed had triggered one of the district's massive Geiger counters. Not long after the battle ended, the Purging Bureau arrived and secured the scene. Now only the Cleaners remained, carrying out the final phase of their work. To the public, they claimed a ruptured steam pipeline threatened to trigger a chain collapse beneath the streets, justifying the temporary lockdown.
"Lloyd, huh? He really comes and goes like a ghost." Red Falcon smiled faintly. "Wasn't he home?"
"No. I already had people check."
Joey shook his head with a helpless laugh.
"But his efficiency is unbelievable. It's like the man never gets tired... Does killing fiends really make him that happy?"
"What happened this time?"
Red Falcon became curious. Clearly Lloyd had been busy before tonight's incident.
"During the operation against Lawrence, he burned through every weapon he owned. Even his beloved Winchester was blown to pieces. He needed replacements, so I delivered a fresh batch this morning."
"And by nightfall he'd already eliminated another fiend..."
Red Falcon's voice gradually faded.
That level of efficiency bordered on absurd.
Fortunately, Lloyd had never signed any formal employment contract with the Purging Bureau. Otherwise, Red Falcon sometimes suspected he might lose his own job before ever reaching retirement.
"Exactly..."
Joey recalled the underground scene.
The fiend had become trapped inside the interception net, its mangled body hanging from the familiar grappling cable Lloyd had fired. He could almost picture the battle unfolding—the Demon Hunter making his dramatic entrance, charging into the darkness while terrified fiends scattered in panic beneath his relentless assault.
Unfortunately for that creature, there had been nowhere to run.
Lloyd had caught it.
Its execution had been swift, effortless, almost merciful in its brutality.
"Find anything useful?"
"A great deal. We recovered hallucinogens mixed with Secret Blood. The fiend was called Banir. He overdosed on the drug, mutated, and became what we found. There were several other corpses nearby as well. Preliminary examinations confirmed they'd also been injected with the hallucinogen, but someone killed them before the mutation could complete."
Joey's expression hardened.
"Lawrence's remnants are still hiding inside Old Dunling. That's the important part. Arthur has already been informed."
The casual conversation vanished between them.
Neither man smiled anymore.
After Lawrence's death, locating the Book of Revelation had become the Purging Bureau's highest priority. Yet now fresh traces of Secret Blood had surfaced. The Book of Revelation was still somewhere around Old Dunling, while Lawrence's followers continued lurking within its shadows.
"What about Arthur? I thought he'd come personally."
"He already did. He's probably at Black Mountain Hospital by now."
"Questioning everyone involved?"
Red Falcon sighed.
"Looks like he's taking this very seriously."
"It's more than that."
Joey continued.
"The Royal Mounted Police from the Suaran Department were involved too. According to their captain, they had intelligence on a smuggling operation and launched the raid. They simply never imagined it would involve fiends."
He smiled bitterly.
"And why would they? To ordinary people, the worst possibility would have been armed smugglers."
He glanced toward Red Falcon again.
"His daughter was on that team as well. Apparently this whole incident has something to do with her."
"Arthur must have a headache over that."
Joey looked upward.
High above the clouds, the great steel leviathan drifted silently across the night sky, just as it always had.
Fiends...
Always fiends...
"Red Falcon."
His voice suddenly grew quieter.
"Do you think that'll be us someday?"
"What do you mean?"
"When we retire."
Joey stared into the darkness.
"You know the Bureau's regulations. We'll be transferred into logistics, slowly separated from everything connected to fiends. Eventually that dark door will close forever, and everything we experienced here will become nothing more than some bizarre nightmare."
"When the dream ends, we'll return to ordinary life. They'll keep sending us our pensions. Monthly psychological evaluations. Year after year."
He drew a slow breath.
"And maybe we'll die in some accident before any of it ever ends."
Even Joey didn't know why melancholy had suddenly overtaken him.
Perhaps it wasn't sadness.
Perhaps it was confusion.
Or perhaps it was the faint realization that the future he'd imagined had never truly existed.
"But can anyone really wake up from this nightmare?"
He spoke almost to himself.
"It's like that mysterious connection. Arthur tried harder than anyone, and yet his family was still dragged into all this. First his wife... now his daughter."
He lowered his head.
"I understand him."
"I wouldn't want my own children anywhere near this world."
The words stopped him cold.
A realization crashed into his mind with frightening clarity.
Nearly every generation of the Joshua family had produced one or two members who joined the Purging Bureau. Joey had always believed it was simply family tradition.
Now he understood.
It wasn't tradition.
Each generation had merely been pulled deeper into the darkness than the last.
He himself had never been meant to encounter fiends.
And yet, somehow...
it had happened anyway.
"I've never thought that far ahead."
Red Falcon shrugged.
He couldn't quite understand Joey's sorrow.
"I used to be nothing more than a street thug."
"My only friend probably thinks I left Old Dunling years ago. Like you said... connections."
A faint smile crossed his lips.
"I never wanted to drag him into this."
"So after joining the Bureau..."
"I never saw him again."
He paused.
Well...
Not exactly never.
"If Burrow hadn't given me work, I'd probably have died in some alley."
"So I'm grateful for everything I have now."
"If I actually live long enough to retire..."
He laughed.
"I'd probably get down on my knees and thank every god I know."
"So I don't waste time thinking about depressing things."
He patted Joey's shoulder.
"Come on."
"Let's finish today's work first."
Beneath the endless night, people continued their grim labor.
One corpse after another disappeared into transport wagons, destined first for autopsy, then for the furnace.
The Cleaners would remain here for several more days, searching every street and every residence for anyone who might have been exposed.
Those they found would quietly disappear into psychiatric hospitals.
This...
was the world they truly lived in.
Gray.
Cold.
Endlessly damp.
Yet within that darkness, people still kindled small flames.
Though every flame flickered only briefly—
they were worth protecting all the same.
...
"What are you doing here?"
"I thought you'd go straight to Black Mountain Hospital."
The carriage door swung open.
Merlin looked at the newcomer with unmistakable surprise. Knowing Arthur, this was the last place he expected him to appear tonight.
"Eve has faced fiends before."
Arthur's expression remained grim.
"She's stronger than you think."
"And compared to her..."
"Tonight's business is more important."
Whether his mood stemmed from Eve's encounter or the negotiations ahead, even Arthur himself couldn't tell.
Merlin remained as expressionless as ever.
Occasionally he attempted to force movement into the lifeless muscles of his face, but the result only made him appear even more unsettling.
"She'll have to face this world sooner or later."
Merlin spoke quietly.
"All you've done is delay the day the fiends find her."
He had offered Arthur that same advice from the day Eve was born.
Even without children of his own, Merlin understood.
Beneath that cold exterior beat a heart not so different from any ordinary man's.
"Perhaps..."
Arthur finally admitted.
After everything that had happened, even his conviction had begun to waver.
That invisible bond with the darkness resembled an ancient curse.
No matter how fiercely mortals resisted—
they could never escape it.
"Let's leave that discussion."
Merlin changed the subject.
"Our guests are waiting."
"They're far more troublesome."
The carriage rolled forward, racing through the silent streets.
Midnight had arrived.
Old Dunling seemed almost devoid of life.
Only the occasional hiss of escaping steam disturbed the stillness.
Above the city, however, clouds churned violently.
Massive war airships descended through the darkness.
Countless searchlights enveloped the carriage, ensuring its path remained bathed in brilliant light.
Somewhere beyond the darkness echoed the sound of galloping horses.
Soldiers rode unseen, guarding every step of the journey.
"So these are our guests."
Merlin handed Arthur a dossier.
Arthur flipped through several pages before exhaling wearily.
"Anthony Russo."
"Based on the information exchanged between both sides, he's the central figure of this delegation."
"Officially he's a priest."
"In reality..."
"He's the High Pastor of the rebuilt Demon Hunter Order."
Merlin visibly disliked that title.
The last man who carried it—Lawrence—had caused them more trouble than anyone cared to remember.
"Fortunately..."
"He doesn't seem to like the title himself."
"He prefers simply being called 'Father.'"
Seeing Arthur's exhausted expression, Merlin continued reading aloud.
"He was once an ordinary member of the Templar Knights. Nothing remarkable."
"But he had secretly pledged himself to the new Pope long before the succession."
"When the new Pope ascended the throne, Anthony personally led a strike force against the opposition."
"He crushed every last one of them through overwhelming violence."
Arthur frowned.
Another fanatic.
"He's the one negotiating with us?"
"There isn't... anyone more unusual?"
"There are."
Merlin nodded.
"They've been completely transparent."
"Several Demon Hunters will accompany him as personal guards."
Demon Hunters.
Arthur felt another headache forming.
After witnessing Lloyd and Lawrence firsthand, he knew all too well what those monsters were capable of.
Now...
there would be several more inside his city.
"I know what worries you."
Merlin sighed.
"We've already granted Gawain and the other Knight Commanders temporary authority to mobilize the Old Age Divine Armors."
"I only hope we never have to use them."
The concern in Merlin's voice was genuine.
In truth, recalling the Knight Commanders mattered far less than recalling the Divine Armors themselves.
Among all available forces, they alone possessed the mobility necessary to respond instantly to unexpected disasters.
"They shouldn't have any Secret Blood left."
Arthur suddenly remembered something.
"The Book of Revelation has been missing for so long."
"Without it..."
"How are they creating new Demon Hunters?"
"Perhaps they have some reserve resource."
Merlin answered thoughtfully.
"Never underestimate the Gospel Church."
"It no longer possesses the glory of its former age..."
"But it is still the Gospel Church."
"We've never seen what lies behind its curtain."
"So none of us truly know what secrets remain hidden there."
As an alchemist, Merlin understood better than anyone what organizations like the Gospel Church could accomplish.
Alchemy itself had begun as the delusions of madmen.
Given enough time...
enough knowledge...
and enough resources...
Who could say Demon Hunters were the only monsters they had ever created?
"But one thing is clear."
"If they could manufacture Demon Hunters on a large scale..."
"They wouldn't fear us."
Arthur nodded.
Power was exhausting.
The endless struggle between nations and factions drained him more with each passing year.
"What do you think this delegation really wants?"
"Besides technological exchange."
"The Book of Revelation."
Merlin answered without hesitation.
Only he and Arthur occupied the carriage.
There was no reason to conceal his thoughts.
Arthur fell silent before speaking again.
"Have you ever considered..."
"...that perhaps we've never found the Book of Revelation because we aren't members of the Gospel Church?"
He slowly voiced the suspicion that had haunted him for months.
"It was too important."
"Too valuable."
"Surely the Gospel Church must have protected it somehow over all these years."
"Just as Demon Hunters can sense the darkness..."
"What if the book possesses some unique property we've never discovered?"
"What if that's why we've never been able to find it?"
He continued.
"And from beginning to end..."
"We've never actually seen the Book of Revelation, have we?"
"Even Lloyd only knows it exists."
"He doesn't know what it looks like."
He looked toward Merlin.
"Is it really..."
"...a book at all?"
Every question he had buried inside finally surfaced.
Then came the greatest concern of all.
"Merlin."
"Sometimes..."
"Life forces impossible choices."
"What happened?"
"I'm Arthur."
"Director of the Purging Bureau."
"But I also serve Queen Victoria."
"I serve all of Englevig."
"There are times when I have to cast aside my own emotions..."
"...and become nothing more than a machine that makes cold decisions."
His gaze drifted toward the carriage window.
Ahead lay the harbor where the delegation awaited.
"I can't shake the feeling..."
"...that Florence's delegation isn't nearly as simple as it appears."
"And officially..."
"We aren't enemies."
"You're worried about Lloyd."
Merlin immediately understood.
Arthur gave a bitter smile.
"My decisions cannot be guided by personal feelings."
"They must serve only one thing."
"National interest."
"Technological exchange..."
"...is an exchange between Englevig and the Holy Evangelical Papal State."
"Not between the Purging Bureau..."
"...and the Demon Hunter Order."
He lowered his eyes.
"They'll recognize Lloyd the moment they see him."
"From Florence's perspective..."
"He's nothing less..."
"...than a Demon Hunter who betrayed his own Order."
Arthur said no more.
Some omens were too terrible to give voice to.
As though speaking them aloud would be enough...
to make them come true.