"Explain."
"The townspeople disappearing means they've all been gathered together to be sacrificed to the..." She frowned. "...Demons."
"How are you so sure? It could be something else."
"Because... I've experienced something similar." Her frown deepened as she stared at the ground, likely remembering something.
"You having a flashback right now?"
"..." She glared at me.
"Okay, okay, I'm just kidding, sorry."
"...Regardless, we need to get out of the town before the sacrifice begins." She spoke.
"Wait... why can't we stop it?"
"It's impossible... we are too weak."
"Hmm... but how would one stop it?"
"Haa..." She sighed as if I had asked a stupid question. "...You would have to get rid of the sacrifices or... kill the demon involved."
"Wow... that's really hard."
"Exactly, that's why we need to leave now." She spoke firmly, almost commanding.
But I smiled, as if I'd let a demon go without confronting it. I'd be an idiot to lose this opportunity.
Noticing my smile, she frowned. "What are you planning?"
"Nothing yet, I just need some more info from you, okay."
------
I stood atop the rooftop of the warehouse staring at a large building in the distance.
'The mayor's mansion.'
At my side stood Elara, untied, with her red hair swaying in the wind.
"Why are we on the roof?" She asked.
"Because it looks cool."
"..."
After speaking with her for a bit, I learnt a few things. Firstly, just like how humans absorb mana from the atmosphere, demons did the same. However, they could do something different... absorb another being's mana.
They could directly absorb mana from another living being. This explained why they attacked humans in the first place... to absorb them.
There were restrictions, though. They needed a specific ritual-like act to effectively absorb another's mana, and the more mana they absorbed, the bigger the ritual would be, and the longer it would take.
After discussing a bit, we concluded that the ritual would take place in the mayor's mansion, as it was the largest building in the city with enough space to hold all the townspeople.
There was one problem, though. There was no way to know whether this was the work of one demon or multiple, and how strong they were, making the risk of death a lot higher.
"Okay, let's move," I spoke.
We moved through the town, passing all the crumbled and burnt buildings, but there still wasn't a single noise, no scream, nothing. Just the sound of our footsteps as we ran.
Eventually, we stopped in an alleyway near the mayor's mansion. Looking out, we could see it...
At the entrance stood hundreds of people. They were silent and unmoving.
I put my finger against my lips to indicate to Elara to stay quiet.
She nodded.
I pointed up and started climbing up the wall.
She followed, climbing alongside me until we reached the rooftop.
There, we could see the entire crowd of people gathered. I felt my heart tighten slightly at the sight. Just a few hours ago, these people were living their lives, and now they were puppets.
Looking toward the mansion, I have to say it was massive. I felt like an ant looking at a human's house.
We observed for a bit, noticing a small group of people would enter the mansion periodically.
'Are they being sacrificed in groups?'
I put the thought aside and signalled to Elara to move.
We moved to the edge of the rooftop and jumped off over the gate blocking the mayor's mansion.
-Thud
Our landing wasn't very graceful.
We immediately hid behind a nearby bush.
I channeled mana to my ears and listened...
-step
-step
Someone was approaching.
-step
-step
'Shit.'
My eyes darted in all directions, searching for something to use. But before I could do something, Elara acted. An object I couldn't recognise appeared in her hand, and she threw it over the gate outside.
-step-step-step
The figure rushed in the direction of the noise, and Elara signalled at me to follow.
"..." For a moment, I stared at her back in a daze, but I quickly snapped out of it and followed.
We moved until we reached a window.
Taking a peek inside, we saw the townspeople being led by a shadowy figure upstairs. I couldn't get a proper look at the figure, almost as if it was being blurred.
I tried channeling mana to my eyes, and the figure was clearer, but I still couldn't tell what it was. It had a humanoid figure, but it was pure black like a shadow.
"...seems like the demon is an illusionist class," Elara whispered at my side.
'Illusionist class?'
I had no idea what she was talking about, but this reminded me once again how little I knew about this world.
'Maybe I should've read more books before I left the mansion.'
"What do we need to do?" I whispered back.
"The demon seems to have hypnotised the entire town, which shouldn't be possible unless..." She paused.
"Unlesswhat?"
"..." She didn't reply and seemed to be thinking about something beyond me.
"We can't get rid of the illusion, or it'll attract the demon's attention... but we can get rid of the path it follows." She whispered.
"And how do we do that?"
"By destroying the mansion."
"...Excuse me, what!" I screamed as softly as I could, dumbfounded at her words.
Before I could question her, a voice came from inside.
"Hello~"
My body tensed instantly.
"Welcome to the meal, if you would follow me, please."
It was the shadowy figure. It spoke to the group of people that had just entered, signalling them to follow it as it went up the stairs.
The people's lips began to curl up into an unnaturally wide smile that creeped the hell out of me.
"It's like the Joker."
"Joker?" Elara questioned.
"Nothing, just thinking out loud."
"...We need to get up to the top floor as the sacrifice is most likely going to take place in the ballroom." She whispered.
"You know the layout?"
"I've been here before." Her expression hardened slightly.
Noticing her expression, I decided not to question it and began climbing up the side of the mansion alongside her.
'I'm climbing a lot of buildings today.'
------
We eventually reached the roof and walked across until we reached a skylight or roof window, whatever you call it.
Looking through, we could see the ballroom.
It was wide and luxurious. It was clearly used for large parties, but I couldn't admire it because...
All the townspeople gathered were...
Dancing.
Yes, they were dancing across the ballroom, wide smiles plastered on their faces, but what creeped me out even more...
'There's no music.'
They were dancing with no music at all. It felt like I was looking at ghosts that possessed human bodies.
Only the sounds of their footsteps echoed through the ballroom.
Looking around, I spotted a familiar old man on what looked like a throne at the far end of the ballroom.
He sat calmly watching the scene with a smile so wide it sent shivers down my spine. It was as if he were playing with his food before taking a bite.
My face twisted slightly.
'So it's him.'
"Is that thedemon?" I pointed at the old man.
"..." Elara didn't answer and simply nodded, her expression unreadable.
She opened the window, and a small ball appeared in her hand.
"What's that?"
"It's a veil canister."
"You mean a smoke bomb."
"..."
Ignoring my words, she threw the smoke bomb directly into the middle of the ballroom, and in a split second, the entire ballroom was swallowed in a cloud of smoke.