All the objects were broken, and the furniture was smashed to pieces. A shard from a broken vase brushed against my foot.
I crouched down, holding the brass shoe horn by the front door. My body grew rigid with tension.
And then, bloodstains. Fresh blood was splattered everywhere. It hadn’t dried yet, so it must have been recent.
‘An attack?’
But there were no signs of an intruder. No footprints, no sign of forced entry. Whoever trashed this place, if Liam was still ho, he could be in danger. I prayed that the blood belonged to the attacker.
I glanced at the kitchen to my right. All the dishes in the cabinet were smashed. Liam was nowhere to be found.
To the left was Liam’s room. There was a hole in the door, just big enough to see inside. My heart pounded as I peered through. I gripped the shoehorn tighter, ready to swing at any mont. But all I saw were torn pillows and signs of a struggle. No Liam.
‘Damn it, where are you?’
The only room left on the ground floor was the study. I carefully opened the door, trying not to make a sound.
A familiar tallic scent wafted through the crack. I knew this sll.
A large pool of blood in the centre of the room, torn curtains, a ss everywhere. Through the curtains, I could see rain splattering against the window. My head rang with a high-pitched whine. This was the sa scene I had encountered on Bailonz Street.
Sothing in my mind rapidly inford of the truth. That much blood ant a serious injury, and the attacker might still be in the house. I should be fleeing, not dazed. But my legs refused to move.
Then, I heard that unpleasant laughter. The kind of laugh a little demon would make. It was a grating sound, like nails on a chalkboard.
“Kikiki.”
I cursed under my breath.
‘Damn it. Not again.’
It was him. The marauding… sothing. I kept recalling its ‘real na’ but not its nickna. Seeing its true nature might have been a blessing. The mysterious creature I t during the auction on the train had appeared right in the middle of the city.
‘A summoning.’
The voice felt like soone speaking directly into my mind. It was different from El. It continued.
‘Things like this don’t just slip into our world. Soone summoned it here.’
My mind was working quickly, but I knew this knowledge wasn’t from Dylan. It was sothing ‘I’ had known. Whether it was innate or acquired later, I was ready to use it to save Liam Moore.
Rember what you saw. How did it move?
Reason answered.
‘From the void.’
The air in a specific part of the room wavered and distorted. A faint outline appeared. A substantial mass was floating in midair. I could recognize it now.
‘Like rippling waves.’
Waves, or tentacles, were undulating. It was voraciously lapping up the blood on the floor as if it were a gourt al. As it absorbed the blood, its elastic body turned a reddish hue. Unseen organs beca visible through its transparent flesh.
Should I run?
‘No. It’s too late.’
It already knew I was here. The ‘blood’ in front of it was too tempting. Transparent tentacles were waiting for to move, just inches from the door.
Where is Liam?
‘Here.’
I barely managed to spot a hand sticking out from under a pile of collapsed books.
Liam was down. His experience hadn’t been enough to catch this agile predator. It couldn’t be helped; he was still inexperienced.
What if this thing gets outside? There are so many people living near Cambridge. It would be a walking buffet for this thing. The thought made nauseous.
The creature seed to have finished its al. Its transparent and red flesh was visible. Now, its maw turned toward .
I couldn’t rely on Liam Moore. I had to act. I had to save him.
If I died here, the future would shatter. I had no intention of letting that happen.
As I crouched, I felt sothing pass over where my head had been. It was terrifying, but fear wouldn’t solve anything. I had to deal with it directly.
I twisted my body, striking at one of the tentacles with the shoehorn. The floor dented under the impact of the tentacle. The shoehorn was flimsy, easily bending with even a minor shock.
But luring the creature into the study wasn’t a major mistake.
The study was cramped and filled with furniture. The large creature couldn’t move easily. Liam Moore must have known this and led the marauding raider here.
“Even if your experience is lacking, your instincts are sharp,” I muttered.
As the raider struggled to retrieve its limbs that had pierced through the wall, I drove the shoehorn into its flailing extremities. A strange, drawn-out scream echoed. But this wasn’t fatal; it only agitated the creature.
It started thrashing its tentacles wildly. I had to dodge them carefully to prevent them from hitting the unconscious Liam. Naturally, I was pushed into a corner opposite him.
The creature seed to realise I had nowhere left to retreat. The grating scream echoed again.
I needed a weapon. Sothing to cut through and end this in one blow.
But I had no power. All I had was a notebook and El’s protection. Without that, I was just a regular person. My lips dried up as I swallowed nervously.
Ti seed to slow down around . Tentacles reached out. My back was against the wall.
In this desperate mont, I felt an intense heat around my neck. A welco sensation.
Lucita’s necklace. It had followed . The necklace floated in the air, emitting a light I had never seen before. A thin but strong barrier ford between and the creature. Despite constant attacks, the barrier held firm.
‘Don’t rely on that.’
I forcibly snapped myself out of my complacency. The barrier might hold for a few more attacks, but if it disappeared, I’d be dead. I needed a weapon.
Specifically, the one Liam Moore used to cut that thing on the train.
‘What did it look like?’
A glass sword. Transparent, sharp, cold. It might have been ice instead of glass. A cold, stark sword, just like Liam Moore. No decoration, just a sharp blade.
‘How did Liam use it?’
I didn’t know. But I was certain it existed and then didn’t exist. I had seen it in Liam’s hand one mont, then gone the next.
‘Can you summon it?’
The voice in my head asked. It shifted from Liam’s voice to Herschel’s, Owen’s, and even Plurititas’. But the final voice was always…
…mine.
It was the truth.
I realised this had started after seeing El’s true form. Whether a gift or a curse, I knew it would save our lives.
“Listen, I need your help just this once.”
The ‘truth’ didn’t answer.
“You don’t need to give any more information. Not until I ask.”
But it didn’t matter. I felt like I knew the answer.
A sense of incomplete confidence filled . It was like having thirty-year-old Liam Moore beside , my fear disappearing.
I lifted my chin and looked at the barrier created by the necklace. Cracks were forming, and it was reaching its limit.
One,
Two,
Three.
And then I leaped. It didn’t matter if attacks ca at . I slid backward, fully arched.
There was no need to draw the sword. No need to struggle to summon it.
It was already in my hand.
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