The same night, William and I agreed to wait and observe the area till dawn, or till things feel abnormal. If things really were suspicious, as Charlotte had said, it shall not totally hide the whole night. William maintained his silence, quietly observing every visible street in the area. The town, being situated on a piece of land in the great lake, at night, the air travelled through the cold lake waters, entering the town from the West, making the weather in the town freezing, but it didn't bother him. William and I were sitting on the rooftop for a better view.

I enjoyed the cold winds passing by me. While William, lost in his own thoughts, kept running his eyes on the areas and the streets nearby. When it was almost an hour after midnight and the moon started descending on the other half of the sky, with a faintly audible clicking sound, the door of the old lady's shop opened, and she came outside.

Her eyes were half open but seemed lifeless. With an expressionless face, lightly oscillating her hands in calm air, she walked silently on the road. Her head leaned down the whole time, and she took smaller steps. At first glance, it felt normal, but then William concluded: her body was refusing to perform the actions she was doing, at the moment.

In my mind, who still failed to find any logical explanation for the situation, this conclusion gave birth to two possible assumptions: first was, her life energy might be manipulated to some extent. Or second, she was possessed. A feeling arose in me that she might be possessed. But William would have noticed the change in energies right away, so I passed on that presumption.

William and I quietly followed as she moved ahead. Soon, many other people in the area and nearby areas joined her. Many, if not all, people in the nearby area walked outside their houses and moved in the same direction, just like the old lady. No talks, no gossip, like they were walking together, but still alone.

Anxious feelings rose in William. Heavens, that's terrifying. Where are they heading?

"Can't be sure, but it seems as if they are gathering," I said in a low voice, "They are moving in the same direction."

If this, in fact, is a possession, I asked myself. How can these many people be possessed, and stay out of sight for so long?

We climbed down from the roof and followed the people. It was not long before our feet caught up to them, but none of them noticed. The group, including us two, soon reached the infamous streets of the 'red light area.' The lights in this area never went off and lit up the place the whole night, for obvious reasons.

As the group of people reached the area, their heads turned to each other and conversation broke out, making things look normal, and totally freaking us out noticing how their behaviour changed as they entered the area. Gorgeous, young and adult female lives walked out of their balconies, calling out in their obsessive voices, trying to attract the group, who presented themselves as normals.

William's eyes, for a moment, diverted toward a female in one of the balconies, stuck on her beautiful round face with a mole under her lips. The young lady smiled with amusement and embarrassed William looked back at the group of people. Laughter escaped the young lady, noticing embarrassed William, and her eyes stuck on him until we were out of the area.

Once the group walked out of the area, the conversation reduced before stopping completely, and the group was back to no gossip and eerie vibes.

The people slowed down, eventually standing in their place. I realised we were beyond the bridge, on the border of the old capital ruins. This place, around 50 years ago, was the main commercial area in the capital. After Industrialisation increased, the commercial area was shifted to the third arc, on the other side of the entertainment streets.

We took a different lane and walked forward to see the front end of the crowd. As we reached one of the road intersections in the area, the people were divided. A few people walked forward and the rest stood in their place. My eyes followed the smaller group, which walked forward in the middle of the large area of the road intersection.

"The time has arrived, honourable." The sound came from the small group. A man, with a fairly built physique and dressed in a wraparound, walked forward towards the small platform. He crouched down, placed his hands on the concrete layer and an image was manifested in front.

"Everything goes as he wished, honourable." said the man, looking toward the image.

"It better should, he hates to fail."

"There won't be any failure."

William and I observed the person, his words, his voice, his life force emission. "What's up with him. . . Is he talking to that image?" William said to himself.

The manifested image in the air soon disappeared and the person turned around. He walked down the platform and stood near the old lady. She said nothing and her chin dropped to her chest.

"You have something to say?" The person said.

"There was a person. Who was sent here for investigation," the old lady said, "I know, you faced many humans before, but this time it was different. His life force felt almost similar to you."

"The human life force can't match ours," the person paused, said, "Did you get to dispose of them?" His glance had a weight in it which made the old lady shiver.

"N- no, I did not." She stuttered. "There were people around."

"The audacity, you show us your face with that failure." His face expressed frustration. He grabbed the lady to her neck and held her up in the air. Our eyes stood fixed on the situation, hiding behind the cover of the chariot.

His intentions aren't right. I subconsciously said to myself. His life force can be sensed all the way over here.

William moved a step, "He's not in a good mood. He might kill the women."

Before I realised, William stood up, the chains manifested in his arms and his body rushed forward, towards the person and the lady. Before the person could realise, he reached closer to the woman, grabbed her with one hand, turned around, landed a faint hit on the person's arm with his blade and took the woman aside.

His blade, connected with a thin energy chain, escaped from his hand and he used a chain to swivel it around, making the move difficult to evade.

The person, reading the situation and his life force, predicted the move before the hand, backed off. The person jumped some distance behind and looked back at William. His eyes fixed on William while his face showed no emotion.

A blade connected to a thin energy chain. The person thought. What is this human doing here?

William covered the woman and looked at the person. "What is happening here?" He said in a loud voice. "Why are these many people gathered here?"

The person stood quiet and kept observing William. His feet fixed on his place while his eyes examined William all over. He dared to interfere, The person thought. Even after feeling my life force.

"Speak up!" William shouted. "What is going on in this place? Why are these many people gathered here?"

"Leave us alone." The person finally spoke.

"I'm not leaving until you explain this!"

"I was not speaking to you." the person said and soon, the small group standing behind, motionlessly, backed off. The woman escaped William's arms and walked back to the group, and they walked away from the square. Confused, William saw her and other people walk away and glanced back at the person.

What does he mean by that? William asked himself.

After the small group was out of the square, the person's eyes turned to William. "Who are you?" he asked. "What are you doing here?" His glance, with his tone, was cold, eerie.

"I'm from Eva, I was sent here to investigate."

The person leaned his head on his left shoulder, glancing towards the old lady, standing outside the square. "Is he the one you were talking about?"

The lady nodded.

The person straightens back his head, meeting William's glance. "They call me Sallos. I am here to enlighten these people to wisdom. To help them escape their painful lives. These people have accepted their fate and voluntarily joined me."

"Who are you talking about?"

The person brushed his fingers through his hair, and dark colour covered some portion of the left side of his face. His eyes turned black with crimson-red pupils, revealing his identity.

A dark entity. William realised.

"Valefor, my honoured from my world, DeSadia," the person, Sallos, spoke. "A world higher and far superior to this one. We wish to change this world for good. For both your and my people."

"How dare you say that with that innocent face," William said and in a blink rushed towards Sallos. He released his blade and swivelled around using the chains. Before Sallos could realise, the blades reached his neck, but he managed to evade them. Sallos, again, jumped back to the other end of the square.

"You know my strength is far superior to yours-"

"Stop babbling!" Consumed by his anxious feelings, William shouted before the person could complete. And threw his blade like a bolt of light toward Sallos. With frustration, Sallos evaded and simultaneously grabbed the weapon. With his strength, he pulled the chains with the other hand, and William was pulled towards him. He used the same hands to smack William's face, and he was sent back, tossing on the ground to his position.

Before William stood up again, a red spear, overflowing with dense energies, came cutting through the air. Subconsciously, noticing the sharp tip of the spear, my body walked out of the covers and threw the small blade I possessed. My blade crossed his glance, deflecting the spear away from William's face, and the entity glanced at me.

"Stay away from him!"

The person, Sallos, glanced at William. "You got company, eh?" Another spear was summoned and he glanced at me. He struck down the spear, creating a strong air pressure, pushing me and my weapon out of the area. "I said. . . leave us alone."

His cold gaze glanced at William. "I gave you the easy way."

His eyes were dark; as if evil lurking all over his mind. Looking at how these many people were manipulated, I was convinced he was not a normal being. After I was pushed back, I stood up, grabbed the blade and ran forward. But, as I entered the area of the square, my body froze, and I felt immense pressure, laid on me. Like the air molecules were getting heavier, pushing me down to the ground. My efforts failed to stand, knocking me to the ground.

His gaze. I realised. He's looking into my eyes. How strong is he?

Looking at me almost on my knees, William grabbed the chains and his blade tighter and his eyes met the person's glance. "Keep him out of this!"

"Look out for yourself first," The words came coldly. Sallos blinked in front of my eyes and appeared beside William. His spear swivelled and landed on William's stomach and he was thrown away in the deserted building ruins nearby. The walls crumbled as William collided, spreading dust in the air.

The person possesses a denser life force, just like us. Sallos Thought. If kept alive, it won't be long until he turns the tables.

Sallos didn't hesitate and jumped into the building ruins. Searched William, removing the fallen concrete away and raised his crimson red spear pointing the blade toward him. William's blade crossed, taking the hit and impact of the descending spear to his neck. William resisted, and the entity applied more strength to the blade.

"Stay away from him!" My body rushed from behind, breaking through the air pressure. William's blade broke, but before the spear could pierce his body, I struck my blade in his ribs. William grabbed the spear's blade and pulled it away from Sallos' hands. He stood up, heavily breathing, and got away, towards the fallen spear. Sallos turned around and, swivelling his hand, knocked me back out of the square's area. The hit was strong in my belly, making me hard to stand.

"That's my spear." Sallos glanced at William.

"Then come and take it."

"There's a lot of disturbance. . . I hate disturbance."

The devil entity, Sallos, said re-manifesting a different spear. His spear struck down on the surface, creating an irritating sound, and summoned a translucent air-pressure dome around the square. I and the other people were thrown out of the area, and the buildings around crumbled and collided. The dome expanded, only keeping him and William inside. From the outside, I could only see a blurry image of the inside.

This is taking too long. Sallos thought. Said, "I do not need a spear to dispose of you."

With his other manifested spear, Sallos rushed toward William with a denser life force to read. The spear swivelled around his body at different angles, one-sidedly giving Sallos an upper hand against William. William, not knowing spear combat, waved the spear randomly, in his efforts to evade Sallos' strike and to keep himself alive.

The opening! William realised.

In a brief moment of opening, William, using an enforcement skill, slid below Sallos and stabbed the crimson spear, piercing Sallos' chest. Sallos crouched and William, concentrating the energy flow to his limbs, landed a strong knee in his belly, throwing him some distance away in the old ruins. The hit released tremendous energy, creating a strong wave of impact on the dome. The building crumbled, falling on Sallos' body, and creating a dust cloud in the area.

Please tell me that hit made an impact. William said to himself. There's no way he can resist that amount of energy flow.

William stood on his knees, placing his hands on the ground to sense the life energy flow. His body, bleeding, tired, and heavily breathing. His eyes, ran all over the ruins, hunting the sight of Sallos. As the clouds started fading, an intense spark ran all over his body and he froze in his place.

Sallos Walked outside the ruins as the clouds faded and raised his spear at William. Sallos' hair fell down and the dark colour, till that point, had spread around the left portion of the bald head and his left hand. His pupils shone brighter.

How is his life force still so dense? William's eyes widened. How did he resist that hit?

"You went too far, Man-child," Sallos said. "Time to end this foolish theatrical!"