The Kind of Evil

‎"Your Holiness..." Thalior looked at Astrea's weary expression as she walked out of the building.

‎"I'm fine, Your Grace," Astrea put a fake smile on as she turned around to look at the entrance to the dungeon for one last time. "Nobody should see what's in there... and those three are going to bury them in there..." she said, her voice was barely above a whisper.

‎Thalior, Xena, Novia, and Uriel were surprised that Rasmus could handle such a grotesque scene. Thalior decided to go back inside to help Rasmus and the others, and he also wanted to see what Rasmus planned to do with the bodies.

‎Thalior had been thinking about the possibility that Rasmus had made a deal with the demons and the emissary. He knew that Rasmus never cared about humanity, as he was the victim of the cruelty of humanity. He wanted to make sure that his suspicion was right or wrong.

‎As soon as Thalior reached the deepest part of the dungeon, he covered his mouth and nose with a piece of cloth. He saw Javi and Aris create a massive hole in the ground that would be used as the grave.

‎"I never thought you would do something like this, Count," Thalior said as he watched Rasmus observe the corpses. He decided to grab a shovel and jump down into the hole to help.

‎"To understand the threat, Your Grace," Rasmus answered as he squatted and looked at the pieces of flesh, skin, and nails on the ground. "They were doing an experiment on humans, to create something..." he muttered as he looked at the countless pieces of flesh and skin on the floor.

‎"They dismantled them to understand how the human body worked..." Thalior muttered and realized this after he had seen the room thoroughly for the first time.

‎"Yes, and we can assume they have found out what they were looking for..." Rasmus nodded in agreement. "To think the Holy Nation and the Sancticus family hid the knowledge of demons from the public would be their biggest mistake," he continued as he stood up and looked at the bodies on the walls.

‎Thalior furrowed his brows slightly, trying to understand what Rasmus meant by that. Once he understood, he couldn't agree more with Rasmus's words. If only knowledge about demons and their power, everyone wouldn't fall for false saviors like the emissaries. Everyone would know the danger and how strong the demons were, and everyone would work together to get rid of the evil before it grew.

‎Thalior noticed how Rasmus was fine being in that room filled with corpses. He had seen countless wars before South Neva got united, he had seen bodies that normal people would stay awake at night for the rest of their lives from the horrors, however he couldn't withstand this scene while Rasmus was completely fine.

‎"How can you be so calm over there, Count?" Thalior asked as he stared at Rasmus in the room. "Doesn't it disturb you in the slightest?" He added.

‎"What makes it different from seeing cattle or livestock being butchered? Almost every animal is made from flesh, bones, and organs," Rasmus answered as he noticed the limbs and the bodies of specific corpses didn't have the same skin color as if they were mutilated and reattached with different limbs.

‎Thalior couldn't understand Rasmus's way of thinking at all. He was disturbed that Rasmus was beyond human, but he remembered that Rasmus was half Orthias, a race that didn't fit with humans in both physical and mind.

‎"They were alive when the demons were experimenting," Rasmus pointed out after he noticed the stiffness of the muscles and flesh of the limbs when he touched them. "Or the most convincing one is the expression these heads are making," he stared at the stacks of heads with their eyes and mouths wide open.

‎"Should we burn them, Count?" Thalior tried to change the subject because he didn't want to imagine the horror in the expressions of the dead.

‎"Yes. I believe if their souls are still here, they will beg us to burn their bodies," Rasmus nodded.

‎Once Rasmus put all the corpses into the pit, he burned them with blue flames that Thalior had never seen before. Rasmus fed the fire with hydrogen, and the heat was too much for Thalior, even though he coated his body with Aura.

They walked out of the dungeon and gathered with Astrea and the others. Thalior told them about what they had discovered, about the demons experimented on human bodies. Astrea was quiet the whole time, she seemed to be deep in thought, not because of what was going on, but rather the conversation she had with Rasmus back then, about the Saint.

"Your Holiness?" Novia asked with her brows raised, worried that Astrea had been oddly quiet.

‎"Yes?" Astrea raised her brows as she looked at Novia, realizing that everyone was staring at her.

"Do you have any idea what those demons are trying to create from studying the human body?" Novia asked and wondered at the same time by Astrea's empty gaze.

"There's a record in the Holy Nation about a specific powerful demon who's capable of creating a living being, superior to humans but inferior to angels. They're called the Nephia," Astrea answered with a blank stare pointed at the sky. "It was said that that being had roamed this world long before human existed," she added, and then stared at Aris.

Everyone turned their gazes toward Aris, wondering if she knew anything about the being called Nephia. However, Aris didn't want to tell them since she didn't care if she knew or not because she didn't want to speak with humans in the first place.

Rasmus didn't expect the name of the being to be similar to what it was called on Earth, Nephilim. He and Videl had discussed this being, a half human and half angel that was powerful enough to destroy Earth based on the record. However, he didn't expect that Nephilim existed in Neva long before humankind.

It was a bit awkward since Aris stayed silent even after a whole minute, and then Astrea cleared her throat.

"It's still a mystery even for me or the previous Saints. Nephia is supposed to be half mortal and half immortal. In religion, the only beings that are immortal are God, angel, and perhaps demons. However, there's a difference between an Eternal being and an Everlasting being. We don't know what the immortal is, except for God, but God doesn't breed, God creates," Astrea explained as she rubbed her bottom lip with her index finger.

"If a demon is capable of doing so, what kind of demon is it, Your Holiness? Is it Kiel?" Uriel looked at Astrea with her brows furrowed.

"No, I don't believe it's him," Rasmus answered, surprising everyone.

"What makes you think so, Count?" Xena stared at Rasmus with suspicion because it sounded as if Rasmus knew Kiel than anyone else, proving her suspicion that Rasmus might have played on both sides, demons and humans.

"It's simple to understand. How many masked beings that you saw beyond the Blackcliffs, Your Grace?" Rasmus stared at Thalior from underneath his helmet.

"There were twelve of them, Count, including Ermaine, the false prophet," Thalior answered, curious where Rasmus was going from that question.

"Now, let's count how many continents are there in Neva? Five, South, East, North, West, and Central Neva. There are twelve masked beings, there should be at least two or three masked beings on each continent who pretended to be emissaries. Kiel is the face of the savior for the lost humans in South Neva, and so far we only know him, only him. Not all emissaries are capable of becoming a savior, some are capable of causing chaos, like in East Neva while Central Neva has an emissary that also acts as a savior, a deceiver. With that being said, we can assume different masked beings have different roles on how to take over Neva," Rasmus explained in a calm manner.

Everyone began to see the dots that made them see the bigger picture of what was going on in Neva. Rasmus's words made them understand that the threat wasn't just the emissaries that pretended to be saviors, but the others who hid behind them, the rest of the masked beings that did things in the shadows.

"With that being said, we can decide which masked beings that we need to eliminate. We shouldn't focus on Kiel alone, but the other one that's hiding behind him, the one that did countless experiments on human body to create a being called Nephia," Rasmus continued.

Astrea was surprised that Rasmus could understand demons as well as hers, who had spent her entire life reading records about demons that only a family of Saints knew.

"Count Blackheart is correct. Demons have so many entangled layers that no ordinary human can understand. The reason why knowledge about demons is hidden from the public is because everyone can interpret it differently, creating discord, an opportunity, distrust, and other bad things. There aren't a single good reason that knowledge about demons should be publicize," Astrea said with a serious expression.

"Count, your understanding of human nature is admirable and terrifying. However, your understanding about demons and how you have dealt with them shows that you seem to have known about them long before this moment," Astrea pointed out as she narrowed her eyes, hoping she could see what kind of expression Rasmus had from underneath the helmet.

Everyone's suspicion grew even bigger because even Astrea revealed that his knowledge of demons was terrifyingly precise. At that moment, everyone stared at him, waiting for an answer that would decide if he was a dangerous ally, or a dangerous enemy.

"Yes, because I have met and spoke with Kiel personally, a few times," Rasmus answered.

Thalior, Uriel, and Xena instantly held the handle of their swords. Novia clenched her fists as if she was ready to cast a spell to immobilize Rasmus while Astrea flinched her eyes, shocked by what she had heard.

"Why is it a surprise? To get to know someone, you need to speak with them. Am I not that type of a person?" Rasmus asked. "To know a threat, you need to understand it," he continued.