187 Devoured

"Wallace, are you at your house? Your property is under attack."

Officer Ray from the Golden Trident Group immediately said over the phone after Wallace answered the call.

"Yes." The young man answered as he deliberated what to comment about their exceptional security service.

"Are you safe?"

"I am. Don't worry about me. Are you sending the police?"

"Mhm. We'll be there in 5 minutes, hold on!"

"Oh? Alright then..."

"Don't panic... In case they needed something, just give it to them. Don't fight recklessly, prioritize your safety. Okay?"

"Eh? Yes, sure. I will."

'I'll have to make this quick, huh.' Wallace added in his mind.

He ended his conversation with Ray while not leaving his eyes on the plasma screen. He noticed that the group had failed to execute their plan as the Force Field had only trembled for a bit before becoming stable again.

"Cut off the feeds." Wallace instructed to Avalon.

There is no longer surveillance camera from the Golden Trident Group within the property since those cameras came from the five automatons as their 'eyes'. Now that all five of those were destroyed, the security company was no longer aware of what's happening inside his property.

But the police might ask for his surveillance camera so he decided to cut off any recording for now as he wanted to try something with these people.

Right now, the Elysiums managed to apprehend the five intruders. The Centrifugal Gun stopped firing and the Laser Focus remained on standby.

It seems that the four who tried to control the explosion's direction had exhausted too much of their mental strength and failed to fight against the Elysium.

On the other hand, the last intruder alive who was holding the sack of cores, remained standing on the ground. The Elysiums were initially wary about him but he didn't respond when he was approached. He was probably too shock at the result of their operation here.

The five of them were handcuffed by a metal or a machine with a size of two adult's head. The arms were wrapped with black squared chain and from their wrist to their hands were covered by a large metal. It was even a bit familiar.

"Avalon, where did you get these?"

[ Those were made after the first intrusion within the property. ]

"Oh? Why didn't you report it to me?"

[ You instructed to strengthen our defense structure within the property. Capturing enemies were part of the process. ]

Wallace raised his brows as Avalon further explained.

[ This is in order to learn the objective of the enemies attacking the property to avoid future attacks and retaliate in order to defend. Twenty handcuffs were made in the process. ]

"Is that so? Good work! Just do what you think is the best."

[ Affirmative. ]

"Eh, wait! Just don't go overboard. I mean, you still have to prioritize our safety and the construction of our plans."

[ Affirmative. ]

"Okay. I would like to talk with them. Can I do it, now?"

[ No problem. Elysiums are in the process of removing any dangerous weapons on them. ]

[ Two minutes and forty-three seconds before the police will arrive. ]

"Mhmm..."

He was about to go out and ask some questions to the intruders but a sudden sound of alarm came from Avalon.

[ Anomalies detected. Recommending not to approach the entities outside. ]

'Entities? You're no longer referring them as humans?'

He stopped going out and listened to Avalon's recommendation. He watched from within and noticed that there were some changes within the bodies of four intruders.

They were being shrouded by the black miasma as sound of bones snapping as the intruders started to wail in extreme anguish.

"What's happening with their bodies?!"

Avalon didn't answer. It may be unaware of the answer or concluded that it was a rhetorical question from him. Nevertheless, the four intruders were in extreme pain. The other guys wasn't experiencing this and he was only looking at them in fear. His eyes tells that he knows what was happening as pity could also be seen in his eyes.

Only about 30 seconds had passed as the four stopped wailing, vanished on the spot and only leaving a ball of smoke behind.

It was a very unexpected turn of events for Wallace.

But this time, Avalon no longer stopped Wallace from coming out.

***

Nineteen couldn't do anything as he was restrained by the abnormal automatons.

Yes, he considered them as abnormal. These automaton's movements were extremely life-like. The minute details of their movement, their steps, their way of handling people as they handcuffed them, how they helped his comrades from sitting up, how they agilely remove their weapons, and how they smoothly searched their clothes almost without feeling that they were being searched at all.

It was very impressive. It was probably very convenient to have them as maids or butlers.

The country of Maja was the top creator of automatons and based on his knowledge, it hasn't reached to this perfection.

"What are you going to do with us?" Nineteen asked the automaton as he waited for a reply.

It only looked at him but didn't answer.

'It can't speak and hold a conversation, huh.' Nineteen heaved a sigh of relief as it would probably be too much if it could indeed hold a conversation. That was just too much of perfection if it could.

Right now, he was aware of what was about to happen to him. He wasn't too worried of being captured and tortured as he can kill himself if it is necessary. As for being rescued? Not a chance. He would never believe that their master would even bother to do so.

"Aaaurghhh!!"

"Help! Stop it! Arrgh!"

"N-no k-kill me! Please! Someone! I c-cant-"

As he gave up on himself, he suddenly heard the wailings of his previous teammates. They were in extreme pain and couldn't even kill themselves.

"Hallowed Eye's devouring..." Nineteen mumbled as look of fear and sadness showed in his eyes. Their cloaks and armors were already removed making their expression easily read this time.

After their pointless struggle, they were devoured by the black miasma and formed into four faint orbs made of black smoke. Their previous bodies can no longer be found.

Soon, he heard the sound of the door opening from the workshop as a breeze of cold air went out to remove any dust in front. He then heard the footsteps coming from the owner of this property. Based on the light sounds, it seems that the owner was relaxed and not worried or anxious about meeting them. Instead of striking fear to the owner due to his brutal killing of their comrades, it seems to have a reverse effect.

At the same time this happened, he also noticed the ball of smoke that came from the four had actually floated and tried to escape from here but got stuck above the spherical force field covering this whole terrifying place.

Nineteen then saw a young and handsome man with gray hair and black eyes walked out of the workshop. The man wore simple clothes but he still looked very dashing as he approached him without anything on his hands.

He was definitely confident in his power. Nineteen assumed as he saw the young man's eyes that were looking above and probably trying to comprehend the action of struggling balls of smoke.

"What happened to the four?"

Nineteen didn't answer. Wallace expected this.

"The police were about to come here. You have more than a minute left. If you answer all my questions truthfully, I'll let you go."

There's not much time to explain so he didn't bother to elaborate and give time for Nineteen to think.

"Again. What happened to the four?"

"Are you telling the truth?"

"Yes. I won't repeat my question anymore."

Nineteen gritted his teeth. He was aware that once he was captured by the police, only suicide was his best choice. He was prepared to die but since he was given a chance, he wanted to gamble and see to it whether this young man would keep his words.

"Fine... The four were devoured by the Hollowed Eye's curse. It is a side of effect of using the Sealed Artifact's power."

"Side effect? Why are you not being devoured?"

"It will only happen if we overuse its power." Nineteen answered since this information isn't that too sensitive.

"Alright. Why are you targeting those cores?"

"I don't know. It was an order given to us. We only followed them."

"What's the name of your master and organization?"

"I don't know his name. Our organization? Its called Order of the Black Knights..." Nineteen smirked as he was hoping that this would make Wallace afraid to go back on his words.

"I will not seek revenge and I will speak with my leader not to send another retaliation if you let me go." He added.

"Of course. That's our agreement. So, are you the leader of this team?"

"No. I'm not..."

[ 20 seconds left before a group of police will arrive. ] A message from Avalon was heard from Wallace's earpiece.

"I don't have time to try my spell, huh."