They haven't even started making love yet but Clarence already feels like reaching the peak of his climax, seeing the hopelessness and fear danced in his soon-to-be lover's eyes brought a different kind of ecstasy in him. He thought he wouldn't enjoy seeing her in this state but he realized whatever reaction or emotion Arisha expressed is attractive to him and he wants to drown in it so much that his senses would only be filled of her.

"Why?" Clarence repeated her question, tilting his head to the side. "Because you are mine, Arisha and I will not let you do a foolish action not under my watch"

Arisha cried in frustration, she got up and directed all her anger on the punch she plans to land on his face. "I told you I am not yours and will never be, you disgusting bastard!" But Clarence dodged her attack easily then he captured her fist while his other hand wrapped around her neck.

"You can't do anything about it" He pulled her closer by the neck, tightening it a little. "You still don't understand, do you?"

Arisha attempted prying his hand off her neck, "I r-rather not!"

"I am not called the conqueror without a reason, milady" Clarence's amber eyes became more vibrant and glowed like a crystal, from the normal shade it became a smoldering sparkling gold. His entire body exuded a white, shining aura and the casual attire he wore shifted slowly to a stunning silver suit lined with gold and ivory. A silver detailed circlet with Topaz and Diamond studs appeared on his head.

Clarence pushed the woman to the ground again, his excitement going higher fueled by the frightened state of the latter.

"What are you?!" Arisha dropped her mouth open; this is not the guy they found in the street and definitely not the one who cried during dinner. Are those all his pretend all along?

The stunning figure loomed over her, "I am the one who will take over Evergreen and turn it into a paradise, the lone utopia while the rest of this world turns upside down. In this utopia we will rule together, we will start brand new and populate it with our children" He raised his hands in the air, feeling proud about the plan he has for them in the near future. "Those who are unworthy of salvation cannot live in my kingdom so those souls and filthy undead will stay when I initiate the incineration, your so-called hypocrite friends will perish as well"

Arisha is having none of this shit, "You really are one crazy asshole with a delusion of grandiose"

"Empty words of insults, milady" Clarence grinned devilishly, "I may be an asshole right now but that perspective of yours will change after my plan, you will no longer have to bear the burden of carrying those dirty humans on your back"

-*-

"Oh, Jesus Christ!" Myrrh exclaimed, holding a hand to her chest. She got the sudden urge to hide behind her companion but with their height difference, it's impossible. How many surprises will she get? Can't she take at least an hour or day break? She may be an avid horror movie and books fan but it's different once happening in real life. Heart attack might also be the cause of her death.

Contrary to Myrrh's hyperventilation, Lazarus—the young boy—looks unbothered and didn't show any other reaction but curiosity at the woman's behavior. Internally, he found it amusing but he wasn't sure why.

Lazarus didn't let go of her hand, he squeezed it in reassurance. "We need to keep moving,"

"What if they hurt me? I doubt they'll attack you since you are one of them!" Myrrh asked in whisper, her eyes going back suspiciously at the grand sight before them.

She found out earlier the day that Lazarus brought her in a nearby poultry's slaughterhouse, where workers would do their routine on the pigs and cows that'll be sold in the market but instead of those animals, she found many humans hanging upside down, a lot are bathing in their blood others are already a mess in the floor. And the one which made her vomit is an upper body placed forcibly in a huge meat grinder. She barely moved on from that sight and now she was once again greeted with another one.

Out in the broad daylight a crowd gathered—the undead and tarantula-like people—all of them are staring ahead, with trance looks on their faces and Myrrh felt a tiny relief that she and Lazarus are not being noticed as they walked through the crowd. She couldn't fathom what made them look zoned out.

Lazarus became guarded after finally reaching the end of the crowd of diverse creatures, "I don't feel good" He went to stand in front of the platinum-haired woman, "This doesn't feel nice"

"What's wrong, Laz?" Myrrh raised the ax he handed her earlier. "Is someone else coming? Like another form of monster?"

The young boy shook his head then pointed at the large figure in their way.

Myrrh was in awe, "Whoa" She is astounded at the marvelous sight—at the end of the residential streets sat a large house, no it's a mansion! The kind of home she could only fantasize about living in, the walls lining it outside are white as well as the gate. It looks so out of place! The whole area glows white. "It gives so much of church vibes though" Its structures remind her of another religion in their country.

"HELP"

"DON'T LEAVE US HERE"

"LET US IN"

The creatures behind them talked at the same time, saying different things but the thoughts are aligned. When Myrrh tried observing them, it dawned on her that they all look in pain that isn't entirely obvious in the surface or at first glance.

This only brought more questions, "But why?" These beings attacked them, killed and wiped off majority of Evergreen's population. Her fear towards them is slowly melting even if she doesn't want to.

Lazarus' face is also troubled and angry. "This mansion needs to be destroyed; I don't like it"

In the sky, several white circles appeared like swirls of dimension, coming out of it are bows and arrows moving on its own—it was positioned above the mansion, the gleaming sparkling arrows pointed at the crowd's direction.

"Laz, look to the sky!" Myrrh screamed as she pointed at the arrows trained at them.

Without any caution in the air the arrows are set free, a whoosh sound as it rushed below and hit many in the crowd. Lazarus pulled Myrrh away, they ran near the edge of the wall to avoid the rain of arrows. After the arrows pierced either the undead or fallen people, it turns into licks of white flame which spreads quickly onto the target's body. Their cries for help and wails of agony floated thickly in the air, some tried ridding off the white flame but it stayed until they turn into salts.

"Not a good thing! Not a good thing!" Lazarus wanted to go berserk; he saw one of his previous companions also perished. "It will kill whoever it reaches!"

-*-

They were like a tidal wave.

Flood of zombies and tarantula-people alike came running in a state of hysteria and trance, their words are incoherent but they appeared to be in pain. He thought they are coming to get them—the probable only decent humans left in Evergreen and share their bodies with the rest like a buffet—but no, the creatures they used to fight simply ignored them.

"Where are they going?" Mikaela asked, her weapon still raised in case of emergency. They are standing in the sidewalk, hiding behind a long tarpaulin.

Alcel observed, peeking her head slightly out of their hiding area. "There's..." She squinted her eyes, "Look guys, something is attracting them far ahead"

"Let's get going then, maybe there's an important reason they are heading there." He winced a little when he moved his left arm.

The long-haired sunset-haired woman noticed the bandage wrapped around Roan's forearm, there's even a hint of blood through it. "Are you certain you are faring okay, Ro? That wound looks angry, where'd you get that from?"

"I am fine, don't worry it's far from the heart and I stabbed it with my arrow last night I have to deepen it to become effective" Roan replied without hesitation.

Mikaela, Paulo and Alcel look at each other sharing the same question in mind—why on Earth did he do that?

"Alright let us go now and see what's up" Paulo said, changing the subject. "Arisha, Myrrh and Clarence could be there"

The quad followed the swarm of creatures leading them in the residential area of Evergreen City—it wasn't that far from Ayala but they rarely went there because it's unfamiliar. They were in for a shock upon seeing many houses destroyed, dead bodies of undead and tarantula-people are in the ground engulfed by white flames. They saw precisely how the flame turned each one into a mountain of salt.

"Salt? Why? This is a whole new level of weirdness" Mikaela said mostly to herself.

-*-