Hearing his words, the group felt a cold chill run down their spines. The sheer, casual disregard for human life was something that even those accustomed to the harshness of the tundra found difficult to process.
"There is no way there is no reason!" Yelena shouted, her voice echoing sharply against the damp cave walls. She clearly didn't believe a word of his dismissal. A jagged, crystalline icicle suddenly appeared in her hand, radiating a freezing mist, and she thrust it violently into the stone floor directly in front of the Blood Demon. The sudden burst of sub-zero air caused the dripping pools of blood on the floor to freeze instantly, locking them into a grotesque, jagged sculpture of crimson ice. "How could you slaughter an entire village for no reason at all? There must have been a purpose, a target—something!"
Perhaps the sudden, biting cold from Yelena's ice cleared the prisoner's head a little. He looked up at her, his pale face illuminated by the faint glow of the suppression runes, and then broke into a bone-chilling, predatory smile that showed too many teeth.
"Let me think... ah, right, I remember now," he hissed, his voice like dry parchment rubbing together. "When I was passing by that miserable little collection of huts, an old man looked at me and said, 'Damned Sarkaz just go die already.' Do I deserve to die? I don't know... but I do know that he and every other soul in that village had to die for it!"
Now, the evidence of this Blood Demon's crimes was crystal clear and undeniable. He was a creature of pure, unrestrained malice who viewed the lives of others as nothing more than fuel for his petty spite. Everyone in the room looked toward Alina and Yelena, seeking a decision on how to proceed with such a monster.
After discussing the matter in hushed tones for a moment, Yelena walked over to Remilia. "Since this Blood Demon was captured by Lady Remilia and Flandre, it is only right that you are the ones to handle his final disposition. He is your prisoner by right of combat."
Remilia didn't speak immediately. Instead, she glanced over at Flandre, who was standing nearby trying her absolute best to look serious and intimidating, and then gave a slow, dignified nod. "Then I thank you for the courtesy. Could you please call for Yukari Yakumo? Her assistance will be required for the transport."
Alina reached for the walkie-talkie at her hip. "Of course. I'll have a soldier bring Miss Yukari Yakumo here immediately."
Soon, having received the urgent message, Yukari Yakumo arrived at the cave entrance, led by a vigilant Reunion soldier. She stepped into the suppression zone, her parasol held at a jaunty angle as she surveyed the scene. "What happened?" Yukari asked, her eyes darting between the sisters and the prisoner. She was curious as to why Remilia would suddenly call for her specifically. After all, Sakuya Izayoi and Patchouli were both back at their residence; she wondered why her particular skill set was needed for a common interrogation.
Upon her arrival, Remilia pointed to the dying Blood Demon chained to the wall and recounted the entire sequence of events—the massacre at the village, the ambush at the well, and the cold confession they had just witnessed. Yukari Yakumo listened intently, a small, knowing smile playing on her lips as she realized what was going on.
To take this Blood Demon away safely without the risk of him escaping or being seen by the public, the best method was undeniably a Gap. Moreover, the Gap was entirely her domain, a space between spaces; once he was thrown into that void, she could do whatever she wanted with him, even if he managed to fully recover his strength. He would be utterly at her mercy.
With a graceful wave of her hand, a pitch-black Gap, lined with unsettling, blinking eyes and tied with silk ribbons, tore open in the air beneath the Blood Demon's feet. Remilia reached out and yanked the red spears out of the prisoner's body with a wet sound. His form went limp instantly, his strength failing as the magical support was removed, and he tumbled headfirst into the darkness of the Gap.
After sealing the Blood Demon away in the void, the group walked out of the cave together, the suppression runes hummed quietly behind them. Yelena excused herself first, as she had other pressing military matters to attend to at the command center. Alina then began leading the sisters and Yukari back toward the mobile module.
"Whose idea was it just now to hand that Blood Demon over to us?" Remilia asked, looking between Flandre and Alina as they walked.
Flandre raised her hand high into the air, a look of pure excitement on her face. "It was me! It was me!" Flandre happily explained that Aunt Eirin Yagokoro had mentioned only yesterday that she wanted some fresh subjects for her medical and biological experiments on Terra. A sudden flash of inspiration had told Flandre that using their own allies or the local civilians would be inhumane, so why not use a confirmed enemy?
Besides, this Blood Demon was heinous and unrepentant; even if the sisters hadn't taken him, Yelena's strict personality would have inevitably led her to execute him on the spot. Flandre felt it was much better to give him to Eirin Yagokoro to make the most of his resilient Sarkaz physiology before he reached his end. To facilitate this, Flandre had secretly used a thread of bloodline Magic to transmit her thoughts directly to Alina during the capture.
Alina had felt there was no problem with this arrangement. She had talked at length with Buldrokkas'tee about the history of Blood Demons and knew exactly why the world loathed them—it was because there were far too many lunatics like this one among their ranks. Since the prisoner was already a mass murderer, she wasn't worried at all about handing him over to Flandre and the others.
After thanking Alina, Remilia's group returned to their residence. Eirin Yagokoro was both surprised and delighted upon hearing the news of the "gift." However, she didn't have Yukari Yakumo release him from the Gap immediately, planning instead to keep him stored until they could return to Gensokyo to use her full laboratory. In the meantime, Eirin had also successfully established contact with Rhodes Island and planned to conduct deep research on the Infected and the nature of Oripathy with their technical help.
Over the next few days, with no major crises to manage, Flandre and Remilia wandered around the mobile city every day. They occasionally helped out with minor troubles—like the time Flandre spent an afternoon moving a pile of massive, multi-ton iron blocks to a newly built high-rise nearby because the cranes were broken. Remilia honestly didn't know why her sister was so interested in doing such manual labor. But regardless, there was nothing else to do. For her, being idle was just being idle; she treated this entire trip to Terra as a vacation, though she usually didn't have much to do back at the Mansion anyway. So, she simply accompanied Flandre in doing good deeds everywhere to pass the time.
Their behavior caused their reputation within the Reunion Movement to skyrocket to incredible heights. Almost everyone in the modules knew there were two powerful Blood Demon girls wandering the city; if anyone ran into trouble, they knew they could ask them for help, and the problem would usually be solved with a smile. For Flandre, she simply liked the feeling of people saying "thank you" after she helped them. Thus, amidst the growing gratitude of the people, she worked even harder.
A week later, however, the peace was shattered. The Reunion Movement suddenly received urgent intelligence that an army of unknown size was arriving from Victoria in the south, while the Ursus Army Group in the north was also starting to make aggressive moves. Upon hearing this, the Reunion Movement immediately went into full combat action.
For the Reunion Movement, the Ursus Army Group wasn't the biggest problem right now. As long as the mobile block was positioned against the only entrance to the east, and given that the canyon Flandre had blocked to the north with massive boulders hadn't been cleared, there wasn't much pressure from those directions. Since the previous diplomatic events, the west had fallen under the Emperor's sphere of influence, making it very difficult for the Ursus Old Nobility to attack the Reunion Movement from that side.
Therefore, the only real trouble was the army coming from Victoria. Talulah wondered aloud in the command room why Victoria would join forces with the Ursus nobility to deal with them. Logically, the Reunion Movement's presence in the north acted as a buffer that was beneficial to everyone.
Alina and Yelena immediately thought of the village massacre. Although they had told Talulah about it, the leader had been distracted by other administrative things and had forgotten the specific details. They immediately recounted the situation Flandre and the others had described upon their return from the forest.
Talulah realized the disaster that had unfolded. The perpetrator was a Blood Demon, and that creature had been captured and taken away by Flandre's group. But before they had left the scene, they had encountered Victorian scouts, and those people had only seen the two sisters. This led to the inescapable first impression that the ones responsible for the village massacre were Remilia and Flandre. Coincidentally, they were also Blood Demons. Furthermore, they had even fought with those Victorian soldiers before flying away.
"It is like mud smeared on your pants," Talulah sighed, rubbing her temples. "Even if it is not what they think, it looks exactly like it to an outsider. Even if we tried to explain now, who would believe us in the face of such a massacre?"
Thus, this battle was seemingly unavoidable. The only way to gain their trust now was to defeat them so quickly and decisively that they could be forced to the negotiating table without causing too many casualties. Otherwise, this conflict would only continue to grow into a total war between Reunion and Victoria. But this was the regular army of Victoria, the pride of the continent; defeating them without causing casualties was much easier said than done.
Just then, the doors to the command room swung open, and Flandre burst in from outside, her eyes glowing with determination.
"We'll take care of the Victoria side!" she announced.