Late that day, when the stars awake, exchanging with the people who were asleep, shadows roamed the streets. They flew from the roof to another, leaving but a tiny sound that disappeared soon after like their presences. As if playing hide and seek with the moon, they moved while hiding behind the shadows of buildings. They were so stealth that, even if by chance, someone woke up from their sleep form dry throat and turned their sight outside the window, their figures would still go unnoticed. They blend so well that they were the darkness itself.

Nay. They were, in fact, not the darkness. Darkness wouldn’t wear a robe with a hood that hid their identity. It also won’t breathe nor it would creep with two shoes on their feet. So, they weren’t the darkness, but a bunch of figures blending in the night in silent. They moved in a circular direction, avoiding the bright of the entertainment district as if fearing, toward the north side of the town. Their destination was somewhere within the business district. They went straight and gathered at one building that still had the lights on despite the late hour. Relaying their thoughts with simple hand gestures and eyes contact, they spread out and sneaked in from various routes. It went smoothly as their entry didn’t alert anyone. They breathed a sigh of relief for but a moment before they kept their guards up again as they entered the second phase. Surveying the surrounding, they found no sign of people, only chairs and desks without its owner. One thing standing out from the room was the incredible amount of papers there. Other than that there was nothing worth mentioning. Apparently, they had no business there as they moved upstairs without searching the room. The second floor was clearly fancier than the one below. There were carpet laid on the floor and flower vases decorating the long corridor. From there, they could see doo lead to their destination on the other side. They wasted no time and strode with the utmost caution. Upon reaching, they put their eyes on the keyhole, peeking. They saw a man with a fine suit, a cravat on his neck, sitting behind a mountain of documents. He had a stern face, with a mustache that didn’t suit him, as he looked through the document, occasionally scratching his head as if searching for a flea. Every adult recognizes the man. He was the Lord who replaced Selv to govern the town, Vincent. The face hairs that didn’t suit him moved as he mumbled something difficult. They found their target. What they need to do next was simple. Taking out the weapons beneath their robe, they reached out to the doorknob when,

“I suggest to keep your hands off it.” someone whispered behind their ears.

Reacting to the sudden voice, they jumped back, taking a distance to identify the situation. In front of the door, there was a man they hadn’t noticed before, standing tall, blocking their path with a plate of sandwiches on one of his hand.

“You shouldn’t enter a room without knocking. It’s a breach of manner.”

His words baffled them. It was like he didn’t understand the situation at all. There were a group of people standing in front of him with weapons, ready to strike him. Of all the things he talked about manners? There got to be something wrong with him. As if to further support their suspicious, he now went and introduced himself.

“Good evening, uninvited guests. I’m the head butler who takes care of this town lord’s needs. Haust is the name.”

He bowed, an action unthinkable in a life-threatening situation. Obviously, not missing the chance, they took advantage of his foolish action to assault his defenseless head. They did it with the intention of separating it from his neck.

In the next moment, however, the people who attacked him fell to the ground with a thud, as if their strings were cut. Confusion. They were perplexed by the unknown. Despite having their eyes locked to him, they were unable to figure out what had happened.

It, however, only stayed for a moment as Haust lifted his head, asking with a clear voice.

“Now, what can I do for you, Uninvited guests?”

They experienced a paralyze which froze them on the spot. They saw it. Behind his well-mannered behaviors was something vicious and violent. It overwrote their previous confusion into fear, sticking them to their spot for few good seconds.

They hadn’t expected this hard hurdle. They were informed of the individuals around the lord, including Haust, but there was no information on his prowess ness. The lack of information was the result of him not going out to show it since Selv handled most of it.

This caused some unexpected damage, but there shouldn’t be much problem in the plan. They had the confidence to handle the minor problem, which was Haust, without a problem.

Nodding to each other, they went into position and surrounded him.

Haust showed no signs of agitation and only briefly gave each one of them a look.

“I take it you have no intention of talking this out. Very well. I gave you a fair chance and you decided to brush it aside. I shall take you as enemies,” he said, pulling out something from his chest pocket with his free hand. What he took out was a lump of metal, shaped in such a form that fit to his hand, a barrel pointing at the enemies.

“Six bullets,” he declared. “Try to survive six bullets and I shall give you some sort of reward.”

His words were taken as that of ridicule. No matter how they thought of it, they would survive, or at least some of them will because their number was greater than six. Nine to be exact. So, they took it as his declaration of killing more than one of them with one of his bullets. That was bold of him to assume, not only he could skilfully kill at least two of them with one move, but also they couldn’t dodge it. They felt insulted to be considered that weak. No. this was no longer the case of insult but belittle.

And that, to them, was more than enough for a reason to give him a slow, painful death. They would strip him of his limbs, hang him upside down, and beat him like a sandbag until he begs for mercy. No, that was no longer enough for them. Eating him alive sounded more appealing to their bloodthirst self. So appealing their drolls were leaking out from their mask. They couldn’t help but fantasizing eating that forbidden meat in their mind as their ancestors did

Biting into the tender meat, savoring its distinct flavor until the last marbles of fat. Human? Nay. What stood before them was not a living being with the ability to think, but a mere cattle they were about to feast upon.

The mouth with sharp fangs hidden behind the mask let out a small growl as if agreeing.

“It seems we have dogs on the loose,” Haust said, showing no sign of being disturbed or surprised. He was as calm as anyone could be

Then, or finally, perhaps, they were unable to hold themselves and lunged at him. They moved fast, bouncing all over the ground and wall at an incredible speed. They made use of their superior physical abilities any humans couldn’t possibly hope to attain even with the most gruesome training to close the distance.

Haust, however, was unfazed by their speed. He moved his hand, ever so slightly, and made his shot. An explosion sound, followed by a heavy thud. One of them was down. How he killed one with such easy shocked them, resulting in a slight speed down. He wasted no time and repeatedly made his second, third, and fourth shots in a fraction of a second. More bodies fell anticlimactically. They fell so easy like leaves during autumn. All had a hole in either their head or chest. Flesh blood poured out from it, dyeing both their robes and the carpet dark red.

They didn’t allow him to shoot further because they finally reached him, weapons ready to slice him into two. They brandished without hesitation, but only managed to cut the air. Haust had ducked. Pushing the barrel to someone’s chin, he fired yet another, killing the poor man instantly. Not only that, he utilized the man still warm corpse to block an attack, causing the attacker to hesitate.

He took no mind to his mentality and swiped his legs, interjected with a kick to another who was approaching and shot him. He did all those stunts while still holding a plate of sandwiches with one hand.

There were still three of them left while he had used five of his bullets. It was time for their counter-attack. They went with the formation of two people attacking in the front while one was at the back, mumbling something incoherent. The front two covered each other as they attacked, leaving no gap for counters. They engaged in close quarter combat, sending each other’s hands away, all while minding the gun. They managed to throw away Haust’s hand quite hard. It was their chance. But, Haust pulled it back fast and coiled it on the nearby man’s arm. He then twisted the man’s body, immobilizing him, while at the same time, used him as a shield to obscure the other’s attack. Done using him, he smacked him in the nose with the back of the handle and threw him like trash.

The other person managed to slip between the fast exchange and grabbed Haust’s hand, pointing it downward. He now won’t be able to shoot. The one just smacked in the nose recovered himself and at his open side.

Haust, however, still had a trick on his sleeve. He intentionally dropped his gun, just to the right position for him to send it flying with his knee. It splendidly hit the target, right in the face. He used the now free hand to grab the hand that was holding a knife, twisted it straight and to the other direction, making him lost his balance and fell backward. The knife slipped out of his hand because of the fall. Haust picked and threw it without looking. It flew and hit the gun he had dropped earlier out of the reach of his enemy who was about to pick it.

The gun rolled just between them. Their eyes met for a second and the next moment both moved at the same time. The robed person reached it first, but Haust knocked it away the moment he pointed it at him. It once again rolled to the ground.

Without waiting for it to reach the wall, Haust jumped, picked it, and did a side somersault. In one motion, he regained the same position when the fight started. Oddly enough, he was still with the plate for whatever reasons he had.

Only after this late in the fight that they admitted Haust’s strength. He was a master of fighting. He had shown them enough of his prowess ness. A group of them gathered together was far from enough number to handle a monster like him, even with a handicap.

They, however, even when reduced to this number, still believed in their victory. There was still hope within their eyes. Then, as if not learning anything from the previous lesson, they made another frontal assault. Haust didn’t move even an eyebrow as he shot his sixth, unsurprisingly, right in the forehead.

As if waiting for this moment, the last front member sprung up, catching him from the blind spot, locked him in place. He made sure to do it tightly. With the overwhelming strength, he left no option for Haust to break free by relying on strength or tricks.

The gun, which was his only means to overturn this situation, couldn’t be aimed to the back because of the limit a man’s arm could turn. Not to mention, he had used the six bullets he declared.

The finished was the person who was mumbling something incoherent since a while ago in the back. He trusted his hands to their direction. Then, defying every science laws that one could possibly know, a flame sprang out from his hands. It was a flame so big it filled the corridor. It burned the flower on the side, making a burned smell that denied the possibility of it being an illusion. There was also no huge fuel tank in sight in case it was something from the product of human’ machinery, like a flamethrower.

Furthermore, if it were, there was no way for the flame to reach Haust while still retaining the force without going upward. It went straight to him, ignoring all common knowledge.

There was nothing strange. After all, this was the other law presence in this world. The law which humans no longer could touch again. It was magic.

Haust finally showed a clear change in his expression. He was impressed as he saw the approaching flame that defied from his realm of norm. There was no way for him to escape from this situation. Even if he could break the lock, he would be burned by the flame to crisp. They were sure of this vision of victory.

Hidden to them, however, was Haust’s face who didn’t break its cool. He moved his hand just behind his head. Then, he pulled the trigger for the seventh times. A loud explosion sound reverberated to both parties’ ears and brain. But, it was especially effective to his enemy and made him loosened his hold. Haust shook him off with ease. Once freed, he aimed to the other side of the flame and shot his eighth. Done with it, he put his gun back to the pocket behind his vest.

Then, for the third time today, he grabbed the stumbling person and used him as a shield against the flame which about to engulf him. It passed and disappeared not long after hitting the wall, leaving black stains, black bodies, and black plants. At the same time the flame disappeared, a thud was heard from the other side of the corridor.

Haust threw away the shield that had finished its purpose to the ground, forgetting that it was a living being in the first place. He was reminded of the face when it groaned upon hitting the ground.

“Oh, you’re still alive?” Haust asked, not sounding impressed or surprise of the man’s survival. To him, his state was as unimportant as wrinkled advertisement pamphlet. Still, he tried to think otherwise since he had promised them something if they survived six bullets. Although, the other party had changed from a plural into a singular.

“I suppose you deserve a price or another for making me use more than six bullets,” he said, bending down next to the fallen survivor. He whispered to his ears.

“Do you know that sandwiches taste great if you fill it with something and melt it with something like the flame just now? The point is to be careful while melting the inside while keeping the surface from being hard. After all, soft bread is best serves somewhat soft.”

He let him see a glimpse of the sandwiches that now was gouging out some kind of liquid, butter and chocolate perhaps, from between the bread.

Until the very end, he was messing around with them. That was annoying, but there was nothing the collapsed man could do. Even with a group of nine people, they were helpless against him. So, with the last remaining strength he had left, he asked.

“H- How did you fire more than six…”

To his question, Haust politely replied.

“The answer you’re looking for is hidden behind the words I said. I never said I only have six bullets.”

Hearing how they were tricked right from the start, he laughed to himself and fell silent with a mocking smile on his face.

Haust lightly brushed his clothes after successfully obliterating the intruders. Now, he was to deliver the midnight snack while it was still warm.

Haust, however, was oblivious to the meaning behind the man’s last smile. He was forced to realized when the ground shone ominous light. An unpleasant feeling struck him and his instinct kicked right into the action, faster than his thoughts process.

He barged into the room without knocking and shouting.

“Run!”

That was the only word he managed to say before the building was enveloped by a bright red light and exploded. It was a big explosion enough to reverberate through the town, waking up everyone from their peaceful slumber which was but a fleeting moment that lasted longer than anyone’s expectation.

Smoke rose up, clouding the light on the sky as if covering the town with true darkness.

On a place not so far away, someone was watching everything unfold. He stood there, wearing similar outfits with the robed people, without feeling even a speck of desire to help anyone caught in the explosion. He silently observed as the explosion started a fire and slowly spreading from one floor to another, creating a flame big enough to cover the whole building.

Upon closer look, there was something bulging from the man’s hood. It was well hidden, but a layer of cloth was unable to hide the horns on sticking to his head. No human had such thing growing on their head. No one.

That means the man was, in fact, anything but human. He was a demon. Yes. The very same as one who attacked the building a while ago and caused the fire.

He watched the flame eating the building for a while but soon lost interest. He saw a group of robed people escaping farther away from the scene of the crime in a dash.

He thought about what he should do. Standing here, watching until the flame burned the building down was a choice. But, refrained on doing so because it spelled trouble if people find him there. So, he decided to chase them slightly a distance away.

He then realized that there was someone pursuing them from another direction. After pondering for a bit, he decided his next course of action. He was to greet the pursuer with a warm greeting of his. Surely, he would find it as enjoyable as he did. He licked his lips in anticipation.

Just in case, he applied something to the hood that hides his face before approaching the other party.