Upon hearing the singing voice, Azariah's heart skipped a beat.
He had an ominous feeling about it.
Stepping back, he grabbed Nella's hand tightly before a golden thread bound their hands together.
"No matter what happens, stay close to ," he whispered, his voice serious as he looked at her.
She nodded her head, reflecting his seriousness.
The singing voice started to grow louder, the soft lody making Azariah's mind go numb.
Just as he took a step forward, ignoring the lodic chis, he stopped.
A pair of bright yellow eyes were glaring at him.
He stepped back as the fog slowly parted, giving way to a Redom.
Its body, bigger than most buildings, slowly moved closer.
It brought the skeletal head, which resembled a human torso topped with antlers instead of legs, closer to him.
But as if the lodic voice had an effect on the monster, it ignored their existence completely and walked past them.
"What happened?" a confused Nella asked, her own head starting to ache.
Thinking quickly, Azariah gently loosened his grip on her hand. Instead, he looped the thread around both their wrists.
"Stay close and yell if you feel even a little problem," he said seriously, looking at her.
Nella nodded awkwardly, feeling weird at his concern.
Azariah started to walk into the fog, the eerie song echoing.
A sense of dread gripped his mind, giving him the urge to kill the singer without any rcy.
"Is the voice controlling the monster?" Nella asked, making sure to stay beside him.
"I think so," Azariah affird as he looked around, "but it's hard to pinpoint the location."
The voice was echoing throughout the town like an opera with no specific place to go.
Looking up from the dense fog, Azariah found a tall building at the corner of the town.
He ran toward it before flexing his muscles to jolt up to the top.
Nella closely followed behind him without questioning.
The singing voice made him groan. He had never heard such a beautiful yet jarring voice in his life.
"I prefer echo," he whispered softly as he looked around from the tall building.
But imdiately, his mind turned numb as he noticed the bizarre scene unfolding in front of him.
"...What the fuck?" Nella gasped, bringing her hand to cover her mouth.
Redoms moved around the town.
Not one or two—almost fifty of them.
They moved on every street of the town, glancing in every house with their glowing eyes.
It was completely different from what they had imagined for tonight.
Nella bit her lower lip as she noticed a few of them trying to pick up sleeping children from their houses.
"We need to stop them," she said, turning to look at Azariah, who quietly observed them.
"...A ritual."
He whispered softly as sothing clicked in his mind.
"Azariah!" Nella yelled quietly, making him snap out of his thoughts.
"...The voice," he said as he looked around the town, "...we need to stop the voice."
"How so?" Nella asked urgently.
"Whoever is singing isn't in the town," Azariah replied matter-of-factly. "...It's a pre-recorded voice."
"How can you be so sure!?" Nella asked, as his words didn't make any sense.
"It's a ritual, idiot," he replied, glaring at her. "...Redoms are monsters that are offspring of saintly mythical elks."
"And?" Nella asked, still not following his words.
"Their fresh blood is most useful when making ritual circles," he explained, taking a deep breath. "...Whoever is controlling them won't risk getting caught when they have to control the monster later for its blood."
"Then are they using speakers to sing?" she asked, doubtful.
"No, a magic circle," Azariah replied, glaring at her. "...At least four of them to make the song echo in the entire town."
"We need to break the magic circle, got it," Nella replied, nodding her head.
"Breaking just one will work," he said, calming himself down. "Let's go."
Azariah jumped down from the building, and so did Nella.
They moved in opposite directions, but Azariah quickly turned toward her.
"Hey! Together!" he yelled before she could vanish into the fog.
"Why!?" Nella asked, looking at him.
"I don't like the idea of us getting separated," he replied before tugging on the thread binding them.
He knew how things worked if two people parted ways in tis like this, and he didn't want her or him to beco an easy target.
Nella looked at him weirdly but, thinking about the town, she quickly returned to his side.
A Redom erged in their path, blocking their way.
Neplh!
The surroundings chilled instantly as an ice creature resembling a snake materialized from thin air.
It coiled around the Redom, retracting its body while making the Redom's grueso figure move closer to Azariah.
He curled his fingers as he punched the monster in its face.
Its head burst open, splattering blood and brain matter everywhere like rain.
"Urgh, was that necessary?" Nella groaned, wiping the blood from her face.
Azariah didn't reply. Instead, he rushed past the monster.
Thinking again, he could find so flaws in his plan, like the location of the magic circle and how to find them.
But given the small size of the town, that didn't bother him much.
Walking through the empty streets, he quickly arrived at a place where the singing seed louder.
"Search around," he said seriously, looking at Nella.
Nella moved without wasting ti, searching the empty streets, walls, lampposts, or anything that a magic circle could be carved on.
Azariah did the sa but took more ti, listening to the song even though it hurt his brain.
And the results were in his favor as he quickly found a black magic circle carved on a tree.
"Nella!" he yelled, looking back at her.
She turned around and ran toward him.
Muspelh!
Without a second thought, Azariah snapped his fingers, engulfing the entire tree in scorching fire.
The voice died down as if sensing sothing was amiss.
And just as it did...
"ARGHH!"
Azariah groaned in pain as a screeching sound echoed from the circle.
It felt so bad that it made him want to kill himself.
The ground around them started to shake, while the voice that had been singing monts ago now scread at them.
Tens of Redoms rushed toward them, seemingly ready to crush them.
"Azariah!" Nella yelled as she readied herself, but before they could reach them, Azariah burned the entire tree.
The Redoms stopped in their path, the fog clearing, making everything visible again.
"Told you that would work," he said with a sigh, glancing at Nella.
"...Yeah," Nella whispered softly as she watched the Redoms turning around and walking away.
But without giving them the luxury of ti to celebrate their win...
...The song continued.
This ti, the voice beca clear.
It was a child's voice.
Their expressions hardened as the Redoms turned back toward them once again.
"Nella!" Azariah yelled, snapping her out of it. "Grab onto !"
She did as she was told without thinking, wrapping her arms around him.
Azariah's shirt tore from the back, his shoulder blades shifting to make way for his wings to erge.
Flapping his wings once, Azariah jumped up, flying high into the sky.
His gaze turned down as he watched the Redoms utterly destroy the place where they had stood.
"A-Azariah," Nella's trembling voice echoed, her grip tightening around him.
His gaze shifted to where she was looking.
He imdiately noticed a few Redoms running into the forest, holding children in their human-like hands.
The rest of the Redoms followed behind, empty-handed.
"...."
Azariah turned toward the source of the child's voice that was singing the song.
His gaze landed on a boy who stood alone in an empty street.
The boy with rough blonde hair looked up, his gaze locking with Azariah's.
"Hehehe."
The boy let out a cheerful laugh as he turned around and started running away.
Azariah gently flapped his wings, following the boy.
"Azariah, we should capture him," Nella advised as he quietly followed the boy.
The boy soon left the town's concrete road and started running toward the unpaved path.
Azariah stopped at the edge of the town.
"Hehehe."
The boy's cheerful voice echoed in his ear.
Neplh!
"Azariah!?"
Nella yelled, startled.
He extended his hand. A spike made of ice erged in front of him, aid at the boy's head.
"Azariah, you are not going to kill him!" Nella yelled, but he wasn't listening.
"Hehehe." The child's giggling echoed once again as if mocking him.
A chill ran down Azariah's spine as he slowly lowered his hand, dispersing the spike.
"Hahahaha." The child's giggling turned into heartfelt laughter.
Azariah recognized the path the boy was taking.
...It was the sa path that led to the graveyard.
"HAHAHAHA!!!"
The child's heartfelt laughter now turned into the eerie and maniacal laughter of an adult, the mockery clear in the voice.
"HAHAHAHAHA!!!!"
...Now, only the laughter of a madman echoed.
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