"Ha..."
Diana turned back toward the Crimson Rose and forced out a smile.
Just as she had expected, the demons did not attack. They simply fled.
Diana had been quite certain of that. She knew that even if the one who had teleported down to face the demons had not been her, but her father—the kind of man whose presence caused ordinary people little discomfort—the demons would still have run.
Being blasted apart by a Titan or a Knight merely meant rolling back into the Warp, but being killed by a Soulless One meant truly being gone.
Not to mention that merely seeing a Soulless One was torment enough.
"You don't look so good," Donna said.
Diana nodded. She admitted it.
Though she could not feel the spiritual intimidation emanating from the demons, their appearances alone were horrifying enough.
Having stepped forward to drive away the demons in the simplest and most direct way, Diana gradually calmed herself and walked toward the altar.
In the dim surroundings, it was difficult to make out what had been placed upon the altar.
But when Diana approached it, the thing before her startled her.
It was a neat, square cube made of flesh and blood.
It was a living creature.
Yet it had no mouth or nose. Its entire body was covered only in ears and eyes.
Wriggling strands that looked like data transmission cables had been inserted into the gaps between those ears and eyes.
When Diana drew close, the creature trembled, clearly gripped by intense discomfort.
"Why were those demons here? What did this place have to do with them?" Donna's puzzled voice came through the communicator. "And what the hell is this thing?"
"I don't know. Maybe it's a demon, maybe it's some kind of device." Diana followed the strands