The Deceitful One

Saturday, 7th May 1581.

Twenty km northeast of Damascus was an abandoned coal mine that once belonged to a wealthy local businessman. However, that person mysteriously vanished about a decade ago.

The person had a family that consisted of his wife and two kids. But one fine day, ten years ago, they simply disappeared. No one knew where they went. It was still a mystery, to the common people that is.

However, like all things, within a few months, this matter died down. And to date, no one knew what happened to that wealthy businessman and his family.

Right now, in front of this very same coal mine, Bryan, Andrew, Elijah, Emma, Henry, and Ron were standing. Almost everyone from the Strike Team was here.

"This is the location of the ruin mentioned in that scroll?" Ron asked dubiously.

Bryan confidently nodded, "Yes, this is the place."

Andrew and Emma confirmed as well. Apart from the people present that night at Lara's house, only Old Larry had read the content of the scroll that Bryan had found. This was done in order to maintain the utmost confidentiality.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get inside and set up the runic traps." Henry urged.

Ron shook his head, "No we can't do that yet. This entire place might have the presence of Holy Blood Sect members. We should scout the area around the mine first."

He then looked at Henry and asked in concern, "Are you all right? It's unlike you to mention something so rookie-like."

Henry smiled bitterly, "I'm just worried about my mother back at home. I want to get this over with as quickly as possible and return. I apologize."

Everyone nodded their heads solemnly. In the last few days, the public unrest had reached levels never seen before in Damascus.

People had begun to protest throughout the city. Many low-class workers even began to resort to looting the local stores.

There were high casualties among civilians in the last few days because of this. However, the only good news was that there hadn't been any deaths reported.

Elijah clenched his fists as he stated, "The low-class workers have been most likely instigated by the Inferno Order. And now, a full-scale riot is about to begin. Perhaps it has already begun. Just what the hell are these bastards planning?"

He knew about this situation very well because he and his father, Dele, have been victims of one such public outburst.

Emma chimed in, "Let's split up and check out the area around the mines. This way we'll be able to rendezvous quicker. And then we can set traps inside."

Everyone agreed as they split into two groups. Bryan, Elijah, and Ron went one way whereas Andrew, Henry, and Emma went the other as they began their scouting.

…

Augustus Street.

A crowd of thousands of people had gathered in this affluent neighborhood as they chanted in unison,

"Give back our jobs!

"No to machines!

"We want justice!"

The people residing in this area had all shut their doors and were afraid to come out. After all, seeing such a large crowd, who in their right mind wouldn't be intimidated?

They kept peeking outside through the windows. Although they had known that there had been small-scale riots and public unrest happening before, they didn't expect today's protest to be this huge.

Amongst the massive crowd that had gathered here, Alice was walking hand in hand with her father as she looked around curiously. However, with the people sticking so close to each other, she was starting to feel a little claustrophobic.

Noticing this, her father picked her up into his arms and asked, "Better?"

"Yes!" Alice nodded with a smile and then spoke in amazement, "Daddy, I didn't know that so many people were going to come for this protest."

Her father smiled bitterly, "It is to be expected. It has been far too long since people like us have been oppressed."

Alice didn't exactly know what her father meant. She kept looking at the large and beautiful houses on both sides of the streets with bright eyes.

She pointed at one of them and asked, "Daddy, will we be able to live in such a house one day? It's so big and pretty!"

Her father's eyes turned teary as he replied, "Yes, my dearest Alice. If you promise to study properly and work hard every day, you will also be able to own such a house one day."

"Really!?" Alice clapped her hands excitedly.

"Of course! Has daddy ever lied to you?" Her father smiled dotingly.

"Yay!" Alice hugged her father tightly, "I promise I'll work hard. And one day we'll live in a huge mansion and have lots of delicious food!"

"That's the spirit, my dear." Her father chuckled.

As the duo continued to walk along Augustus Street chanting the slogans along with the rest of the people, Alice's father's eyebrows furrowed. As he was holding Alice in his arms, he could feel that her skin was becoming hotter.

He looked at her in concern and asked, "Alice, are you feeling all right?"

Alice tilted her head and looked in a confused manner, "Yes, I'm feeling all right. Did something happen, daddy?"

Her father was about to reply but much to his horror he saw blood trickle down from Alice's nostrils. He began to panic as he screamed, "Alice! What happened!? What's going on?"

His loud scream alerted the people around them as they turned to look at Alice. Their eyes widened when they saw the little girl's skin turning a shade of red and blood beginning to flow from her eyes, nose, and ears.

Being stared at by so many people, Alice started to get nervous as her body trembled, "Daddy, what's going on? Why is everyone looking at me?"

All of a sudden her vision began to redden. She touched her eyes and found that it was bleeding, "Eh? W-What is h-happening to me!?

In the underground canals, right below the neighborhood of Augustus Street, tens of figures in black robes stood on specific points of a large runic formation that was in the form of a pentagram, which seemed to have covered the majority of the neighborhood.

At the center of the formation, the blond middle-aged priest had a maniacal grin on his face as he announced piously,

"It is time!

"Let the Ruler of the 7th Circle of Hell!

"Duke of Destruction, Abaddon!

"Descend!"