"You're…also a Meta?" Shinso was caught off guard, momentarily pulled away from the current situation by Raymond's revelation.
"My siblings are unaware of the fact, neither is my mother or the servants. Since you'll be killed by the Tremebrus, I figured why not tell you," Raymond replied with a smile.
"Tremebrus?" Oboro asked, pulling the duo back into the room with the servant's corpse to learn more.
"Creatures depraved of morals, only controlled by their insatiable lusts. I'm honestly surprised that I didn't realize my servant Florence was one the entire time."
"Florence? Isn't she dead?" Shinso's eyes widened. "Her corpse is down the hall!"
Raymond crossed his arms. "Then I guess that Tremebrus's can also shape-shift and steal identities to a certain degree."
"Can you help us find Isaac?" Shinso asked, stepping forward towards Raymond.
Raymond adjusted the collar of his pajamas and sighed. "I won't assist you in that, but I can hold off the Tremebrus whilst you look for him."
Hearing the offer, Shinso let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you."
Just then, the trio heard a terrifying screech coming from outside. Raymond instantly opened the door and leaped to the side in time to dodge the attack from the Tremebrus. The demonic woman instantly phased from the shadows, gaining her physical form as she leaped off the walls and towards Raymond.
Shinso watched the fight, almost entranced as Raymond continued to dodge and weave the attacks with ease. He was suddenly tugged back from his position, rousing him from his daze.
"Oh my god," Aizawa let out a low sigh as he wrapped his arms around Shinso from the back, letting out a long sigh.
"Aizawa?" Shinso looked up at the man, momentarily confused by the sudden appearance of the familiar figure.
"Yes, me and Olivia both went out to look for Isaac, but we realized you had a similar predicament. If you're here, I guess we have a similar goal."
The duo didn't need to exchange any more information, tactically nodding and running down the hallway side by side.
"Let's check downstairs first."
Aizawa, Shinso, and Oboro all darted down the stairs, hanging a left and entering the foyer of the manor. Upstairs, the trio could still hear the ongoing fight. In the dim lighting from the crimson moon, mixed with the door which had been left open, they could see a large portion of the foyer.
"Do you think there's a light switch around here?" Shinso asked, turning in Aizawa's direction.
"This isn't like our world, so we'd have to find another way to light up this place," The man replied, vigilant surveying his surroundings.
"The lamps are kerosene-powered, you'd have to light them yourself with the oil reservoirs within the lamp," a hushed voice sounded behind them.
The trio felt their hearts leap as they sharply turned around. Standing behind them was a boy of about twelve years old, messy brown hair, and wearing pajamas. It was Wilfred!
Upon seeing him, Aizawa instantly recalled seeing the figure inside the apartment complex. He was one of the servants who served them dinner!
"You're that servant at our apartment," Aizawa knelt down and spoke softly to the boy.
"C'mon!" Wilfred suddenly grabbed the collar of Aizawa's shirt, tugging him down the hallway.
"Isn't that one of Raymond's siblings? Didn't he say that he kept them in his room?" Shinso turned to face Oboro as they ran down the hallway.
"Hey, kid," Oboro prompted, running up beside him.
The shorter boy looked up at him, his grip on Aizawa's collar loosening. "Why'd you disobey your brother?"
At that moment, Wilfred ran over to one of the kerosene-powered lamps, flipping up a metal flap in the steel base. Within the compartment was a small amount of oil. Wilfred then reached into his pocket and took out what appeared to be a small match.
"Maybe if we light up the house, we'll weaken the monster!" Wilfred moved vigilantly, his movements quick and precise as he reached into the lamp and extracted the wick. Following this, he turned back and began to tutor the others.
"Let the wick soak in the oil for a short period," he instructed, doing the same whilst his attention was gravitated to the trio rather than his own ministrations. He had done this hundreds of times before; the most common scenario of lighting his candle to use the bathroom.
Shinso and Aizawa moved quickly, soaking the tip of the wick in the oil, slowly dipping it in and out to ensure the time of soaking wouldn't be dangerously slow. Following the wicks being soaked to satisfaction, they looked back to Wilfred.
"Now place the wicks back in their spots, then turn the knob!"
They all did as instructed, picking up the wicks from the oil and positioning them within the holders. They then scanned the metal base of the candle holders, before finally finding the knobs.
"On three…" Wilfred's eyes narrowed.
"One…"
"Two…"
"Three!" Wilfred and the others all turned the knobs. They all closed their eyes in anticipation of the blinding light, but they didn't see or hear any changes. Oboro peeked an eye open, surveying the surroundings whilst his brows furrowed slightly.
"Nothing changed," at that moment, the man let out a yelp as an invisible figure pulled him back.
"Oboro!" Aizawa bolted forward, darting down the hallway regardless of the visibility. Oboro was the beacon of his current situation, the only reason he would even consider running in such conditions. His hands habitually darted for his binding cloth, but his heart sank upon realizing its absence.
"Shit," he growled, speeding up.
Oboro writhed and clawed at the invisible grip on his shoulders, even sinking his teeth into the unseen hand. But nothing serious changed in the entity's demeanor.
Aizawa and Shinso watched as he was dragged up the stairs and down the hallway. The duo didn't hesitate for a single moment, pursuing the unseen entity in the shadows. They continued down the countless corridors of the manor, weaving past pillars and bookshelves.
The unseen figure suddenly extended one of their limps, pushing over a bookshelf in Aizawa and Shinso's direction. The duo leapt back in time to dodge the assault. When the shelf landed, the collision echoed throughout the entire manor with a low rumble.
Once the dust settled, neither Oboro or the unseen figure were nowhere to be seen.
"Goddammnit!" Aizawa pounded his fist against the wall, stumbling back and glaring down the empty hallway.
"He just disappeared like that?" Unlike Aizawa, Shinso seemed momentarily confused by the action.
"Yes, and so did Oboro!" The man barked, facing Shinso with widened eyes and a cold sweat.
Seeing him, Shinso's eyes widened slightly. He had never seen Aizawa in such a condition before.
"Calm down, we'll find him," Shinso's voice lowered to an almost comforting whisper. He refrained from touching the teacher, as the gap in sheer strength between the two was akin to a mountain.
At that moment, one of the nearby windows burst open, letting the crimson moonlight shine through the curtains, which had been blown apart from the frigid winds. In the now dim lighting, Shinso's eyes widened when he caught sight of numerous illusory footprints etched into the carpet.
They shone a deep orange color, and they were a few times bigger than a regular footprint of a human.
"You see those?" Shinso pointed down at the carpet.
Aizawa's eyes, which had glossed over slightly, managed to focus on the sight.
"Maybe that's them!"
The possibility struck Aizawa like a hammer to his skull.
…
Raymond leapt back again in time to dodge the attack from the shadow woman. Her yellow eyes were fixed on his form, hypervigilantly scanning his every move and decision. A strange sense of cold filled the air, but the boy brushed it off in time to counter the next set of moves.
At that moment, the Tremebrus woman leapt down from the ceiling, focusing a barrage of attacks in his direction. Raymond instinctively leaped back again, before raising his fists and landing a punch to her right cheek. The impact sent the Tremebrus back a few feet, but she recovered her equilibrium in time to kick Raymond in the chest.
The boy coughed up a faint amount of blood from the force of the attack, but his lips curled up, showing his meaty, pink gums. Suddenly, he stomped his foot on the ground, conjuring a faint black mist that quickly permeated that specific section of the hallway.
As the mist flowed through the air, the malicious look in the Tremebrus's eyes seemed to falter and die out.
Seeing this, his smirk widened as he quickly reached into a hidden pocket of his pajamas and extracted a sharp knife. His grip tightened until his knuckles were white, and the boy instantly shot forward, raising his hand to land the decisive blow.
Just then, the Tremebrus woman regained a semblance of rationality, gazing at Raymond and performing an action in the next half a second. An illusory, rope-like stretch of shadow extruded from her palm, piercing through Raymond's lower gut.
The boy let out a pained yell as he stumbled back, collapsing to the floor. In the dim lighting, he spotted the dark red blood bleeding through the green silk of his pajamas. His vision began to darken around the edges, and a wave of nausea overcame him.
He watched as the dark mist in the air gradually receded back into his body, slowly sealing the wound and healing the injury. Even with the ongoing process, Raymond felt like he would lose consciousness at any second now.
The Tremebrus women leapt forward once again, jumping off the walls as she conjured up another rope-like shadow. This time, it landed directly through Raymond's left arm. The boy's eyes widened as he grit his teeth, stifling a scream.
Her lips formed an inhuman smile that stretched to her eyes as she unleashed another one, this rope-like shadow branching into three more sharp weapons that pierced the rest of his limbs.
Raymond was now completely incapacitated, his eyes rolled back and showing only the whites. He felt his body being lifted into the air, although the sensation was hazy and beyond his usual senses. In what was left of his senses, he felt the white-hot agony of the tendrils pumping deeper into his tendons and muscles, coiling to the base where the bones connected beneath the corresponding layers.
The boy let out an inhuman scream as he felt his body slowly being torn apart by the Tremebrus.
With a final, quick surge, she severed all his limbs from his body. Blood, organs, and bodily tissues were splayed in every direction, painting the hallway in a canvas of red. The carpet below had also been darkened from the macabre scene.
At that moment, the Tremebrus heard an inhuman laugh echo in her ears.
She watched, her eyes widening as the organs, bodily tissues, and remnants of his demise all disappeared, turning into a dark, illusory smoke. The smoke gathered in a particular spot in the hallway, reforming back into Raymond's form, now donning his black and purple vest from earlier.
Seeing this, the Tremebrus let out a shrill, banshee-like scream and shook the entire manor to its core. The scream echoed off all the walls, causing the bricks and marble to visibly ripple as if they were composed of a thin liquid.
Raymond's gaze flickered to the wall, enraptured at this sensation. A sudden surge of arousal engulfed his being as his pants tented below. The Tremebrus remained silent, yet it moved like a phantom in the shadows. The illusory woman leapt up, before slashing downwards directly onto Raymond's face.
The boy didn't have time to react. He let out a low growl as the warm blood coursed down his face and into his eyes. The sensation stung away, causing him to raise his head and wipe away the blood. Whilst distracted, the Tremebrus took the opportunity to crawl behind him, lifting him up from behind.
With a guttural, inhuman chuckle, the Tremebrus walked over to the railing overlooking the foyer, before tossing Raymond downwards, his body hitting the marble tiles with a clamor.
Wilfred, who had been silently watching the encounter from the first floor, covered his mouth as he darted back to his room, slamming the door behind him.
Frantic tears streamed down the boy's face as he silently began praying.