The dead young master Kirei's body had been twisted into shreds, and warm blood flowed down the altar steps.
The cold wind carried the sickening stench of blood into every corner of the space.
In that warped, crimson world, only the boy in a white robe and scarlet hakama stood at the very center of the altar, his whole figure seeming to bear a sacred halo.
The scene before them was truly chilling.
The torch-bearing warriors stopped what they were doing in shock.
Seeing what had become of his beloved son, the head of the family's face twisted with terror.
He trembled in fear and tried to turn and flee.
The next second, his body also began to tear and warp, his agonized cries trapped in his throat.
An invisible force crushed his body into fold after fold before it burst apart.
He and his most beloved son died in the same way.
"Ah... ah!!! Ah!!!!!"
The maids let out piercing screams.
The bizarre, grotesque, bloody scene dealt a tremendous shock to those meek maids.
The young child on the altar was no longer the bullied little thing they pitied. She seemed to have become some unknown demon, devouring the family head's soul.
The warriors stared at the scene before them in confusion.
The people who held power in this family were all dead. Were they still supposed to carry out the sacrifice as that man had ordered?
"What an interesting scene."
Just as everyone was panicking over the sight before them, a somewhat unfamiliar voice reached every ear like a sudden thunderclap.
Alluka looked toward the voice.
It was a pink-haired boy her own age. Unlike ordinary people, he had another grotesque face on the side of his cheek.
Resting his chin on his hand, he gave the figure on the altar an indifferent glance.
"Monster!!!!!"
At the sight of him, the maids screamed and tried to flee.
But it was already too late. Fierce slashes swept through the air like a raging storm, forming a densely woven net.
The slashes pursued the fleeing maids and warriors, cutting them into countless shreds.
It was a one-sided massacre.
The swaying figures before them let out agonized wails.
As though he had witnessed something amusing, the pink-haired boy let unrestrained laughter spill from his throat.
Lead-gray clouds hung overhead, and silently falling snowflakes melted one by one into the still-warm blood.
A long time passed before it was all over.
The shattered estate had long since lost yesterday's splendor. Stone lanterns lay toppled amid broken trees, withered plants, and remains scattered everywhere.
Looking at the warped monsters newly formed within the estate, the pink-haired boy laughed. Several more slashes shot from his fingertips, cutting every one of those monsters into the same shreds.
He lifted his chin slightly and stroked the side of his neck, ready to leave.
"Are you my big brother?"
The child bound to the altar gazed at him with dark-blue eyes, her curious gaze wandering over his face.
Unlike ordinary people, he could tell that her gaze held none of the fear and loathing he knew so well.
Alluka looked at the pink-haired boy with curiosity and confusion.
As though she had never noticed the surrounding stench of blood, she simply stared, unblinking, at the boy's second face.
She had heard one of the maids say that her older brother was a monster with two faces and four arms.
That description closely resembled the person before her.
For some inexplicable reason, a strange sense of connection and kinship born of their shared blood made her utterly certain.
This person was her monster of an older brother.