Along with the slippery texture, the scent of rose water she washed with spread through her nose and mouth. When he had pushed in without hesitation, Dahlia bit his tongue. The taste of saliva mixed with the fishy smell of his blood made her even more confused.

Pulling lightly at her lower lip as she twisted her head in defiance, he asked her with her eyes dark with excitement.

“Sweet, isn’t it? This taste… . How can one time be enough?”

Slap-!

Instantly, Jurgen’s head turned to one side. Then, after being slapped by Dahlia, his eyes slowly returned to normal.

He looked down at her with a frown. Dahlia blushed and felt as if she would cry at any moment, but she did not show any tears.

“Dahlia.”

She took a deep breath, pulled her dress down, and pushed him away.

“Get out, now.”

***

In front of the fountain in the central square of Everdio after a deep night fell.

A darkness, the size of an adult’s fist, slowly began to gather like a whirlwind. The gathered darkness gradually expanded. What was only the size of a fist became the size of a cart and progressively grew larger and larger.

Cracks formed on the floor of the plaza, and street trees planted nearby were robbed of their vitality and withered.

– Kyaa

Strange and creepy cries leaked out from the swirling darkness.

– Kekeke

– Kiyiaaak

Late at night, people who awoke from the sounds coming from the gate opened their windows and rubbed their eyes.

Then, they found the monsters coming out of the gate and screamed.

“Kyaaaagh!”

The terrors that escaped from the gate all had human-like appearances. It had limbs, and it had genitalia. But the aberrations had no heads.

As if they had been decapitated, headless demons surrounded the gate as if protecting it and began to sway from side to side.

Then, the two men walked out of the gate. They looked around the plaza where the statue of an angel was erected and spoke.

“It was here. Unmistakably, I felt the power of the fifth piece here.”

At the masked man’s words, another man took in a deep breath as if trying to taste and savor the air and nodded.

“Yes, here. It was Marcania… .”

The man captured the scenery with deep blue eyes like the bottomless sea.

“Soon, the Sentinels will know that a gate has been opened. Now, we must go back.”

“I’m curious about the skills of the Marcania Sentinels.”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

The man burst out laughing as if highly amused, lifted his hand, and the magic circle covering the plaza began to beat powerfully. Then, the headless monsters quivered while making a grotesque sound. Next, they shook as if electrocuted, then slowly inflated and swelled up.

“You find the fifth piece. I’ll find the fifth regressor. How fun, Marcania… . The pieces are coming together.”

At the command of the blue-eyed man, the masked one knelt down on his knees and kissed his foot with deep respect. Then he replied using the same language, Ivelin, like the blue-eyed man.

“Yes, my lord.”

***

The long legs of the man reclining on the cabana sofa slipped off of the armrests and draped over.

Jurgen lit a cigarette and exhaled the smoke he had inhaled deeply, gazing blankly at the sculptures carved on the ceiling. He slowly rubbed the cheek Dahlia had slapped.

Every time he breathed, the sweet smell of ripe fruit, soil, and water vibrated as if to insist this was Tezeba.

Yes, to be honest, it was aproperiate to decorate and prepare to make it feel like Tezeba as much as possible. It was he who instructed and arranged everything to make her comfortable since she had lived in the South all her life.

But then, why did he get slapped? [t1v: bruh are you forreal]

Because he kissed her recklessly? Or… . By introducing her to the sweetness of lust? Was the taste not to her liking?

It was a time when useless advice and self-reproach filled his head, as he touched his cheek that stung even more for some reason. The Sentinel’s seal on the back of his hand began to glow. Jurgen rubbed off the lit cigarette and covered the seal.

Then, the images delivered by the seal as a medium unfolded out on a transparent plain. It was a vivid scene as if he were seeing it right in front of his eyes. It was the appearance of the Sentinels fighting against the demons that came out of the gate and engulfed the plaza. Even advanced monsters with no heads to cut off.

At that sight, instantly, Jurgen’s eyes trembled, and his fists clenched until his knuckles grew white with strength. Stunned and in disbelief, he stared at the video from the Sentinel Central Controller like someone who had been struck in the back head.

“Ha, oh… .”

He knew them.

He knew them all too well. How could he forget? But the timing was off. They were scheduled to appear in the capital five years later, not now.

Because it was The Prisoners of Ishiraya that gave him his first death.