Kaizen stared at the keypad phone's display screen and felt sothing cold and heavy settle in his stomach.
The image showed a fat man sitting peacefully on a wooden bench that overlooked a golden wheat farm stretching into the distance.
The man's face bore an expression of extre happiness, the kind of blissful contentnt that made the entire situation infinitely worse.
His shirt hung open down to the last button, and where there should have been a normal chest, Kaizen could only see white bones curved outward in an unnatural arch, as though the ribcage had been carefully bent backward and splayed open like the petals of so grotesque flower.
In the center of that hollow cavity where a heart should have been beating, there was instead a single brilliant red rose in full bloom, its petals perfect and undisturbed.
The graphic violence of the image hit Kaizen like a physical blow and he had to look away quickly.
He had very little experience with violence, or at least that was what he could confirm from the fragnted mories that made up his current existence in this world.
But no matter how desperately he wanted to forget what he had just seen, the image remained burned into his mind like a brand.
He retched slightly but managed to compose himself through sheer force of will.
The Professor imdiately offered his hip flask.
"Hair of the dog, my boy. Works wonders for the nerves."
Mr. Finch slapped the hand away with a sharp glare.
"For God's sake, Professor, the boy just saw a corpse with botanical arrangents where his organs should be."
He offered Kaizen a glass of water instead, his movents precise and professional.
The Professor rubbed the back of his hand with an offended expression, glaring at Mr. Finch like a scolded toddler who had just been denied dessert.
"I was only trying to help. Perfectly good whiskey going to waste."
Mr. Finch ignored him completely.
Kaizen grabbed the water glass and chugged half of it in one go before setting it back down on the table with trembling hands.
A question ford in his mind almost imdiately, sothing that had been nagging at him from the mont he saw that terrible image.
"Why is there not a single drop of blood in the picture."
Mr. Finch shook his head slowly, his expression darkening.
"No idea. This photograph was taken approximately one hour after the incident was discovered. Logically, there should be blood everywhere. Pooling on the bench, soaked into his clothes, dripping onto the wheat below. With that kind of injury, there should be gallons of it."
"But there's nothing."
"Precisely. Not a single drop, not a sar, not a stain. Which leads us to conclude that this was most likely the work of an evil cult. Or worse, an occult."
"Evil cult. Occult."
Kaizen's voice cracked slightly, fear creeping into his tone like frost spreading across glass. The knowledge implanted in his mind when he awakened in this world included basic information about these kinds of organizations.
Evil cults and occults and various other secret societies that operated in the shadows. Since this was fundantally a demon hunting ga world, such dark organizations were simply part of the natural landscape of threats and dangers.
So of these cult mbers even operated within the academy itself, hidden among the students and staff, and they were more than likely the ones who would eventually be responsible for summoning the demons that Leo would need to fight.
Mr. Finch pushed his round glasses up the bridge of his nose with the tip of his finger, preparing himself to deliver a proper explanation.
anwhile the Professor was still glaring at him with wounded dignity, caressing the back of his slapped hand.
The man looked like he would not look away or stop sulking unless Mr. Finch acknowledged his existence and offered so kind of apology. It seed equally clear that Mr. Finch had absolutely no intention of doing any such thing.
"Yes, evil cults and occults both. Groups of people who are actively trying to destabilize this entire world. The worst part is that most of the people involved in these kinds of practices are actually from within our own Republic of Peace Alliance."
Mr. Finch slumped down in his seat with visible exhaustion and drank a long mouthful of water directly from his bottle, mimicking the exact sa drinking style that the Professor habitually used.
"We can only hope and pray that this particular incident is the doing of an evil cult and not an occult."
The Professor perked up slightly at this.
"Oh, I would not be so sure about that, old boy. Did you see the precision of the ribcage arrangent. The way each bone was positioned at exactly the sa angle. That kind of symtry suggests---"
"Professor, please."
"I'm just saying, if they went through all that trouble for aesthetic purposes---"
"Not. Helping."
'Evil cult and occults. What is the actual difference between them.'
Kaizen turned the question over in his mind but could not find a satisfactory answer. He only knew that these organizations existed and that they were dangerous.
And just like Mr. Finch had said, mbers of these evil organizations were more than likely already operating within the boundaries of the Republic of Peace Alliance, hiding in plain sight among ordinary citizens and mages alike.
That was simply how things worked in this world.
Mr. Finch paused for a long mont and then glanced left and right as though checking for eavesdroppers, very deliberately and obviously not looking at the Professor who was still sulking beside him.
When he spoke again, his voice had dropped to a hushed whisper that made Kaizen lean forward automatically.
"Evil cults are relatively tar compared to occults, you see. Evil cults attempt to summon demons through the use of rune magic and ancient symbols drawn in specific patterns.
"Circle within a circle within a circle, that sort of thing. They follow rituals and procedures that have been docunted and studied. We've got entire archives dedicated to cataloguing their thods."
He paused to take another sip of water, his hand steadier now that he was in full explanation mode.
"But occults perform their summoning through blood magic and live sacrifices. Human sacrifices, usually. They believe that terror and suffering add potency to the ritual."
Kaizen raised an eyebrow, feeling a strange disconnect between the gravity of the information and what seed like a relatively minor distinction.
"That is it. That is the only difference."
The end result seed identical regardless of the summoning thod.
Even if evil cults did not perform live sacrifices during the summoning ritual itself, once a demon actually manifested in the physical world it would spread destruction indiscriminately until Mages and Hunters arrived to destroy it.
The Professor let out a bark of laughter that made both Kaizen and Mr. Finch jump.
"Oh, that's rich. The boy thinks they're the sa. Tell him, Finch. Tell him why we all wet ourselves when we hear the word occult."
"I do not wet myself, Professor."
"taphorically speaking."
"No, no, no."
Mr. Finch waved his hand dismissively at the Professor before turning his full attention back to Kaizen.
"You do not understand what I am trying to tell you, Kaizen."
Mr. Finch leaned forward as well, and his voice dropped even lower into that hushed conspiratorial tone that suggested he was about to reveal sothing truly significant.
"Demons are creatures like us in many ways. They have rankings and skills and the ability to progress in power over ti. They follow certain rules and limitations. Rules we've spent centuries docunting and understanding. We can study them, we can predict their behavior, and most importantly, we can contain them or destroy them."
What Mr. Finch said was absolutely true based on the knowledge Kaizen possessed.
Demons had clear ranks among their species and humans could defeat them through proper preparation and sufficient power.
Obviously there were certain racial advantages that demons possessed, but rank was ultimately what determined power levels in this world.
Demons could be contained and eliminated. That was the entire point of Leo's journey.
Leo was supposed to defeat demons, gain ability points from each victory, and rank up rapidly through combat experience.
That was precisely why this academy suffered demon invasions on a semi regular basis so that Leo and other students could defeat the threats and grow stronger through actual battle.
The Professor had stopped sulking now, his expression grave as he watched Mr. Finch build toward his point.
Mr. Finch beckoned Kaizen even closer with one finger, and Kaizen found himself leaning in until their heads were nearly touching across the table.
His heart was beating loudly in his chest because he was getting this premonition that Mr. Finch was about to say sothing that would change his understanding of the dangers in this world.
Mr. Finch wetted his lips nervously. When he spoke again, his tone had taken on a quality that was genuinely ominous.
"But what these occult mbers are trying to summon are not demons at all."
The words hung in the air like a death sentence.
Kaizen swallowed hard, his mouth suddenly dry despite the water he'd just drunk.
"Then what are they trying to summon."
For a mont, Mr. Finch did not answer. He simply stared directly into Kaizen's eyes with an intensity that suggested he wanted to make absolutely certain that the gravity of this information was properly understood.
The Professor had gone completely still, his usual fidgeting and complaining silenced.
Even the ambient sounds of the room seed to fade away, leaving only the sound of Kaizen's own heartbeat thundering in his ears.
Mr. Finch's voice dropped to barely above a whisper, so quiet that Kaizen had to strain to hear the words.
"Devils. Beings that could rival the gods themselves."
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