"Duke! You-how could you come here?!" Allen's face was filled with shock.
This was an infected zone, yet Elliot had come in person?!
Elliot glanced at him. "To exterminate the monsters, of course."
The compartment fell silent in an instant.
The Communion's believers looked at Allen. He had already suffered multiple wounds, and hair scrambled out through the flesh at each one. The blood sprouted hair as soon as it dripped onto the floor.
His body was also unnaturally distorted, with several faintly visible bulges writhing slowly beneath his skin.
He looked more like a monster than a human.
Yet even so, Allen could be counted among the less severely mutated of these believers.
Most of the believers had already been distorted, and several were barely maintaining human form.
They exchanged looks, remaining silent.
It was naturally a good thing that the Duke had come in person to exterminate the monsters, but did believers like them count as humans or monsters?
"My lord, we..." Allen's throat felt dry. He felt he should not make things any harder for Elliot, but looking at the believers behind him, he simply could not say it.
"What, can't you hear me?" Elliot raised his hand and pointed the gear on his scepter at Allen.
Allen swallowed and closed his eyes.
But the attack he imagined never came. The scepter merely nudged him aside, revealing the compartment door behind him.
"Everyone, rejoin the ranks. Come with me to exterminate the monsters."
Allen's eyes snapped open. The believers beside him froze where they stood.
Could they... still rejoin the ranks?
"My lord, we've already... been infected." Allen's mouth filled with bitterness. Elliot's trust moved him, but he could not conceal the fact that this mutation was contagious.
"Look into my eyes."
The words seemed to ring