Farma city was reached in the afternoon. This legendary place is the citadel of medicine and alchemy. It's founder, Farma de Medicis, flourished when, together with the townspeople and nobles, they successfully defeated the plague known as the Black Death. Since then, this place has offered both cheap medications and medical care for anyone, who needed. But the team was not sick. They wanted to look for a sick truth about Project Nemesis.

They waited until tonight for this. Until then, Alto and Vermeil went shopping hand in hand at the market. He kept looking behind his back.
"What's the matter?" Vermeil asked.
"I feel like someone being followed us."
Even she looked back at this, but it would be impossible to spot anyone from this crowd.
"Surely your mind plays with you some trick."
"I hope so. There is no harm to be prepared for anything."
After half an hour they sat down at a confectionery with four full bags of food and ordered two ice cream.
"This is delicious. My mouth filled with white, creamy..."
"You shouldn't say that so erotic." alto said with blushing, and vermeil laughed. Having eaten the frozen treat, they decided to cut the road at an alley. Vermeil spotted something.
"Honey, would you take this?"
"Yeah, but why?"
Alto received no response to this, only to see his girlfriend rushing at frantic speed and then jumping over the fence to land on someone.
"Get off me, you son of a..."
After a while, she returned with a familiar figure in her left hand. Alto's got pissed in no time.
"Professor Obsidian! It's been a long time."
Once handsome and well-to-do teacher was devastated by his continued escape. His face was hairy, his light-blond hair matted and untidy, and his fancy teacher's clothing hung in shreds. Moreover, he did not have his right hand either.
"Well, well. Alto Goldfield, my favorite student, and Vermeil, his demon familiar. How are your hearts doing?"
Alto hit him in the face from full power, causing blood to ooze through his mouth.
"You have some nerve, to run away from justice." Vermeil hissed.
"Come on, it was just a joke. I didn't mean anything bad. I did it in the name of science to elevate man to a superior species."
"I don't care what pathetic reasons led him to do this disgusting thing. Rather, my question is, how much use are we going to have at the moment?" Alto said with angrily tone.
"You don't wanna kill me, do you?" Obsidian asked fear in full voice, before Vermeil aimed her claws on her free hand at his throat.
"Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, I see. Strange, since he taught at the Ortigia Academy. I hope you're aware that your death will not be mourned by the fleas. So it's better to really cough out some reason to not kill you, otherwise..."
"I know what you mean. I bet you're here about Project Nemesis. I know that abandoned factory building. I'll help you and you'll let me live, okay?"
After a short silence, Vermeil spoke.
"We believe you for now. And now follow us quietly, or else..."
"Are steal that line from Robocop?"
"The hell is Robocop?" Vermeil asked confused.
"Stop joking, and move to the camp." Alto said firmly. Vermeil let him go a little harder, which made him fall big. He summoned a crystal in his hand and then nailed it to Obsidian's back. "If you try to escape, I will kill you, without hesitation."
Okay. Then I'll start following you. Show me the way."

When they returned to camp, the company noticed the Obsidian ahead of them.
"Alto! I have only one question. Why are you bringing everyone to our camp? First the demon kids, now a homeless?" Dan asked curiously. Lilia immediately recognized the former teacher.
"Professor Obsidian! Are you still alive?"
"Ah, Lilia. You were my second favourite student. Please save my life."
"Who is this tiny puke, anyway?" Neider asked.
"obsidian. He taught at the Ortigia Academy, but he's actually an experimenter filth who shot students in line with demon blood, including me. She raped the girl students." Vermeil answered.
"Stop the lying! That absolutely didn't happen!" Obsidian protested. "I didn't rape them. They went into it voluntarily. I just shot them after that with demon blood."
"That's not save you, asshole! Thanks to you for saving your damn life! But what cost? I lost my heart when..."
Alto couldn't even finish his sentence when Dan grabbed Osidian's throat and threw him to the ground, then took out his gun and pointed it at the forehead. He was try to escape, like a fish, when get caught.
"I get it now. You didn't want to kill this bastard. No problem, I understand you. It doesn't matter to me that the blood of one or fewer people dries on my hands."
"I don't think they brought him here to kill." Rachel noted and turned to Alto. "Am I right?"
"He claims to have information about the Nemesis Project. and even know the building."
"Anyone can say that. He just wants to save his shitty ass." Neider replied. Like Alto, he was very angry. "I think we should kill him and figure something out..."
"I have an idea to see if he's talking about the truth." Dan said.
"Some magic?"
"Or do we get rid of some of his body parts? His arms are gone, then we cut his ear, toes or even genitals?" Vermeil asked hopefully as Obsidian began to move even more.
"Almost. You hit the torture part. We will use the Italian Gangstar method. To do this, I will need some tools and spells."
The company went into it and followed Dan's request. By the end of the preparation, Lilia looked at the whole thing in disgust. Obsidian's head was separated from his body with a spell. They hung hooks into his eyelid and looked him right at the sun. They covered his mouth with a cloth and put on a pair of glasses. Alto made sure he could heal him in case his retinas burned out. Since the camp itself was secluded, no one bothers them.
"How are you feeling, professor? It's a bit of a headless mess, isn't it?" Vermeil asked mockingly.
"Something is missing. Oh! That's right! Good old Torture Dance!" said Dan and summoned a music box. He started some kind of fast-paced music that he started dancing to. Neider joined after a while. It was a strange mix of choreography and movement culture, but it seemed familiar at the same time. Half minute later, all but Lilia joined. Obsidian's retina literally smoked before Alto healed it back with a single spell. It went from two minutes to twenty-two seconds.
"Will you tell the truth now, piece of turd?" Dan asked at the end and took the rag out of obsidian's mouth. "If not, we can play this music one more time."
"It doesn't need! I'm telling the truth! I really am the only one who can help!"
"How?"
"The building of the nemesis project was sealed with a blood seal. Only I can break it effectively."
"Nice, only the problem is that the rumours said something completely different." Rachel interrupted. "An old abandoned building is often visited by a homeless person with one hand. Looking at you, it fits the description, so the seal is just empty lie."
"We are starting to lose weight our patience, professor." Vermeil noted. She step's to Obsidian's body and then aimed at his heart with her claws. "You have ten seconds to say something value information or you'll die. Ten, nine, eight... sevensixfivefourthreetwoone, die!"
"The files! I know where they're hidden!"
"Excuse you?" Alto asked, while taking off his glasses.
"Your files! You must have come to dispel the obscurity of your past, right? I know where the head of the project's office is, where all the clones have documents in a secret safe."
"That's fine, but how do you know you didn't steal it or destroy it?"
"Because I don't know the password. They say he used a code name. I can help you with that. I swear on my mother's grave! I know how to crack it, but I didn't want to crack it because there's no food in it! That's enough to let mi live?"
Alto thought and then called the company aside to ask their opinion.
"I say we kill this scumbag." Dan whispered. "We have time to worry about the safe."
"We can't kill him. He is also human and can help us." Lilia said.
"Sister! You're talking about that son of a bitch who experimented with demon blood on humans, and I paid a huge price for it. I agree with Dan...though it shouldn't be killed either. Then we wouldn't be any different from him"
"I agree with Dan, but 100% percent. I am not a believer in letting him live." Vermeil said cracked her fingers.
"If the safe thing is true, he's worth more alive than dead." Rachel said. Neider agreed with her with a nod. The company turned back toward Obsidian.
"You have a lucky day! You come with us but we keep our eyes on you." Alto said and turned the spell back and removed the hooks from the former teacher's eyelid. Neider made a special leg cuffs for two of them.
"None of you are going to get out of this until this is over. When we're done, you should be thankful you don't end up in a body bag."
"Thank you."

Everyone tried to rest until evening. One person was not happy about this situation: Vermeil. Since Alto and Obsidian are chained together, private training is completely out of the question. Moreover, there is someone nearby who you would rather gut out.
"I'm not comfortable either, believe me." Obsidian remarked when Vermeil told him not to look at them when she kissed Alto again. It was ready to refresh when they reached the former building of the Nemesis Project. Lilia was watching at the camp so that thieves should not steal something. It was completely abandoned and empty, as expected. Rachel stopped the company and then summoned three ghosts who searched the building.
"There is no other person besides us." she said succinctly and indicated to proceed.
"I don't understand. Why wasn't there an authority here to review this place?" Alto asked.
"Since no one knows about this whole building and they don't want to know about it because of what happened here." Obsidian expalined. Slowly they went on the main entrance and moved inside. The noise of their steps echoed on empty rooms and corridors.
"Where is Mizudaria's office?" Alto ask silently.
"In the basement. The old man liked to keep all the papers there. So if they even hit this place, then..."
Obsidian's explanation was interrupted by Neider, who raised his hand and listened.
"Is there something wrong?" Rachel asked telepathically.
"I don't know, but I swear I heard something crackling from a distance." Neider answered the same way. They stood like that for a minute, but were greeted by silence. No one else could be here, so no one else could make any noise. Neider indicated they could continue. After a while, they arrived at the basement room, which was reserved as an office. When they opened, thanks to the rusty hinges, everybody also heard from the end of the world that they were going in.
"Obsidian! Show me where that safe is." Alto whispered. In such a creepy silence, he didn't want to speak on normal volume.
"We'll stand guard at the door." Dan and Vermeil whispered. Obsidian pulled a bookcase aside, where a man-height safe showed up. It was almost starting to crack when they became aware of another crackling sound. They stopped and watched the further noises outside, but again they were welcomed by the silence. Alto would have just been about to urge Obsidian when the hell began.

In front of the office, Dan and Vermeil watched the hallway. The telepathic dialogue continues.
"Are you seriously sharing a heart with your boyfriend and letting the cause of it live?"
"Yes. Alto defended him. He didn't want me to kill him."
"Then it really is different from me or the others. If it was up to me, I would have had a slow and painful death. He's so naive that it hurts."
"Maybe, but that's you, but there's only one Alto. Yeah, and if you try to belittle him again, I'll prove that you're replaceable."
"Very fu... wait!"
Dan drew his pistol and fired almost immediately. The bullet whizzed past Vermeil's head and hit something that shattered into pieces on the floor.
"What was that?" Vermeil asked telepathic.
"Looks like a puppet. I should take a closer look."
Then Vermeil stormed Dan and pushed him out of the way. A huge needle ran where the wolf man had the heart. Vermeil took it and held it toward the window. In the moonlight it seemed that it was swimming in the poison. However, it is simply paralyzing.
"Guys! What are you doing out there?" Rachel asked with her normal speech, but she saw the answer with her own eyes. Twenty puppets came from both sides at a time.
"Wasn't it about the fact that there are no other living beings besides us?" Dan and Vermeil asked.
"True, but they are not alive. Ghosts only scream, if they fins a living person."
"That's right, only someone controls them. It is already a living being."
"Only someone can do this... Puppet Master!" Dan said.
"Who?"
"A member of Hell's Assassin with an insane mindset. If I remember correctly, he fell in love with the puppets as a child, but when he grew up, he literally transplanted his body, soul and mind into the perfect piece he built. Since then, he has been able to subjugate complete cities with his puppet army."
This information would be shocking, but the voice that sounded took the prime. Namely, the voice came from the puppets, moreover they spoke at the same time.
"That's right, Angel of Death! This art is a mixture of eternal beauty and destructive power. So you have no chance against me. But if you hand over Vermeil and Belial, you can leave alive."
Rachel sent everybody telepathically.
"Vermeil! Dan! Find this crazy person and deal with it! Until then I and Veider will protect Alto and Obsidian!"
"Understood." everyone replied. Neider broke out of the room and cleared the hallway with a dark orb. Vermeil and Dan immediately rushed upstairs.

Getting to the ground floor was a tough task. All sorts of puppets tried to stand in their way, using different weapons. Dan kept firing at anything that wanted to attack them, and Vermeil cut them to pieces with her claws. However, the problem did not go away. Since it is well known that every part of the battle puppet's body is also a weapon, so they took the matter rather hastily. So they successfully reached the ground floor, where Dan picked up Vermeil and jumped up. Then his wings grew out of his back so they flew up to the top of the building with an extra stroke.
"What the..."
"my mother was an angel. I inherited it from her." Dan replied. "But now I don't have time to tell my life in one chapter. We have a much more important thing. Find out where Puppet Master hide."
"All we know for sure is that it is not a living creature."
"That's not a problem for me. I can tell where he's hiding with my sense of smell. Plus, we can hit him with this. However, I'll leave that to you."
Dan threw his gun at Vermeil. She just looked at him questioningly.
"Don't worry! Manna works with bullets and is driven by thoughts."
"Why don't you use it?"
"I used my Manna quite a bit, since I took down quite a lot of puppets and besides, the wings are eating my supplies too."
"Okay. Then show me where it is and I'll shoot." Vermeil declared firmly and turned the pistol out of instinct, then stretched his finger to the cunning. Meanwhile, they heard Rachel spoke telepathically.
"Alto! How's it going with the safe?"
"Slowly but surely."
"Just do it! Do not disturb yourself with the tiny fact that we are under attack."
"Enough with the cynical comments, Neider! Vermeil, Dan! What's your status?"
"We're on the roof preparing to raid Puppet Master." Vermeil answered.
"I think it will be harder. I caught the smell in three different places. The first on the ground floor, on the left wing in a small nook. The second is located in the middle of the first floor, in a very spacious room. The third is on the right side of the second floor. We can only hit it once for the ambush!"
"Then hurry up!"

Rachel and Neider suffered with this fight. Even the first wave was cremated, new ones came in its place. moreover, these withstood the fire better. Neider could still use his demonic abilities here, but that led to no more. However, they noticed that none of them would go into the room even if they were near the door. None of them understood. Among the targets of their client is the destruction of past traces. So why didn't they try to go in? Inside, Obsidian tried to break the lock as Alto grew impatient.
"How long are you gonna go around with that shit?" he asked with full of anger.
"Good work and breaking safes takes time."
"Which we don't have! So you have one minute to open the safe, or your ribs will be cracked!"
"You shouldn't play that disrespectful speech with your professor." Obsidian replied, when the safe opened. "There you go."
But they didn't get ahead of themselves with that either. The safe was a lot of files, all full of information to read.

On the roof, Vermeil kept changing her target. In her hand, the gun trembled. Dan is totally snuggled up to it, thus stabilizing the pistol.
"Calm down. When you shoot, keep the air inside. Remember, you need three quick shots."
"I can't do this. I have an idea."
She gave the gun back and put her hand on his back.
"You shoot, I'll give the manna. Feel honored because I only allow Alto to do such a private thing."
"Then that means two things. Either you do it because of an emergency or because you love me." Dan noted cynically as he felt claws at his spine.
"One more word like that and I'll rip your spine whole."
He just laughed and aimed. He played the sequence of shots in his head and took a deep breath. He shot at all three targets in one instant. The bullet was dark demon aura and thin for a precise hit.
"Two of the three targets were camouflaged and their smell ceased. The smell is still stable on the first floor."
Then the roof broke in front of them and a huge puppet jumped out. Puppet Master appeared.
"Not a bad raid. You fired my surprise, so I have no choice but to kill you with my own hands."
Dan put away his pistol and took out his knife. Vermeil was also ready to fight. They also saw the weak point, as one of his points was protected in every way. The heart. They attacked in two separate ways, pretending not to see his weakness. Puppet master grew 16 arms full of all kinds of weapons. Dan successfully dodged the sword and mace and cut off those arms. Meanwhile, Vermeil successfully launched an attack against the shell, so a part of his heart was already visible. In exchange, one dagger cut her back.
"Are you ok?" Dan asked, while he cut another arm.
"Yeah... but..."
That's when the wolf man saw the trouble. The dagger was drenched with paralyzing poison. He had to be immediately distracted. He took the sword from the severed arm and threw it at the heart of his opponent. It didn't hit it completely, but it widened the hole in the shell further.
"Damn traitor! How did you dare to turn against our master?" Puppet Master asked, while pointing all his weapons at Dan.
"No one is my master! Especially a bold filth that can't do anything herself." He answered, while dodging the attacks. "However, if I want to say more concrete then..."
"Then?"
"Defending the love and goals of Alto and Vermeil is a thousand times better than supporting you!"
Dan came forward and stabbed him with his knife in the heart, which was now clean hit. A sound resembling a squeak left Puppet Master's mouth. His body fell apart until only a small piece remained. He was barely smaller than a preschooler and had a green light. Dan looked down at his former opponent and sighed.
"You know, I'm not a big fan of sentimentality, but when I look at the company, I get this weird feeling. Alto and Vermeil's love affair is the kind of relationship, that I will never have. Lilia represents behaviour that I've had to put down since I was four years old. Rachel's mind and thinking is something I envy as an adult. If I had made decisions like her, maybe my life would have turned out differently. And Neider I can see the suffering on him because of his past actions, yet he doesn't live in it. As funny as it is, I've never recovered from my own past. On some level, they'll always be in my head and come out every time I close my eyes."
"I see. Thank you for the answer."
Puppet Master's green light has gone out. Dan approached Vermeil and raised his hand.
"The paralysis went out of your body?"
"Yes."
They had no time to breathe.
"What the... Obsidian will escape! I feel going back to the stairs!"
"Let's go after him immediately!"
They both jumped through the hole.

Obsidian and Alto kept reading the files. The former teacher, meanwhile, was constantly trying to remove the magic shackles from himself. Because of this, he stared at the couple not to fall. In addition, this is why it was slowly progressing with the softening. He didn't want to die by their hands as he knew whatever was happening here, it would be the end for him. Here, however, two things happened at once. He found the counter-spell and saw the document that made him start laughing lunatic.
"The puppets collapsed! Vermeil and dan were successful." Rachel said outside. That was the sign and Obsidian couldn't have wished for a more suitable date. He cut open the door and ran towards the stairs, while tossed Rachel. He was almost there when something broke his abdominal wall. Looking down he saw that a fist reinforced with a crystal. Opposite him was Alto. Rachel and Neider were completely stunned by this. They felt that there was some huge aura change here.
"Did you feel that?" He asked with cold and angered tone. "I felt the same when vermeil pierced me. You know when I protected you. It was a huge mistake on my part, as it was a shame to give my life for your corrupted and inherently evil mind. But now, it's time to fix things."
Obsidian laughed with a wide grin.
"What I read is true! The whole Nemesis Project is a lie!"
"What?" Rachel and Neider asked.
"That's right! Solidare was not a demon hunter, but Odio's most loyal servant! The project was about creating Odio's new host! Suck that, assholes! My die in not for vain!"

Alto pulled his fist out of Obsidian and looked at the double. His eyes were black and his voice began to change. It became much deeper and more threatening. Vermeil and Dan arrived and were shocked to see the altered Alto.
"At last! This body will serve the finest purposes. Destroy THIS WORLD!"