Blood of the Guilty

Memory 21: Dread Sells

"Sofia!" cried the mother, trying to take her daughter.

"Hey!" yelled Exodus, pulling the mother's arm, "Stay back!"

As Exodus pulled the mother back, waves appeared on the concrete, completely closing off the alleyway between them. The concrete began to morph together and rise up from the ground, creating almost jail cell-like poles.

"Don't touch those poles," said Exodus, with knowledge from the autopsies from the hospital, "Touching those would probably kill us. One contact would make us rot, which is what I'd assume had already happened to Kyle Karagami."

"Plague Magia is great, is it not?" asked Kaminaro, running his fingers through Sofia's hair as she whimpered.

"Let go of her!" yelled the mother, almost crying in Exodus' arms.

"Plague Magia..?" thought Exodus, "So it's not Poison Magia like what Minny had predicted."

Suddenly, Yosuke had appeared behind Exodus. Although he couldn't really heal Kyle back to the living, he wanted to support Exodus.

"Pssst," whispered Exodus, "Where's Minny?"

"She took another route," wrote Yosuke on his notebook, "Possibly to intercept him. We also have a name: Kaminaro Suzumiya."

"So you're the guys who that one person called in," laughed Kaminaro, "You know I thought he'd sent an army. Not two people and a crying mother."

"I said let her go!" yelled the mother, already in shock.

"This girl has already caused so much trouble for me," said Kaminaro, glaring, "You really think I'd let her go?"

"Kaminaro Suzumiya," announced Exodus, "As you can see, we already know your name. We know of your victims and the murders you committed. I'm gonna get quick to the point and ask you to let the little girl go.

If you do so, we'll let you go free for another day before we find you. All you need to do is to let that girl live."

Sofia was quaking in fear. Her life was truly in the hands of this man.

"And what makes you think I won't suspect that you'll try to take me down as you escape?"

Bang bang!

There were holes in Kaminaro's chest and forehead, with perfect accuracy.

"As you can see," glared Exodus as she lowered her smoking revolver, "It doesn't seem like we can kill you that easily. You're pretty difficult to kill with what seems like regeneration."

"This bastard doesn't know about Rotation," thought Exodus, "I'll take him down as he escapes with just that!"

"Interesting compromise," smiled Kaminaro, "Normally any person would accept but.... why would you even come here without any chance of defeating me? And I don't even know the Magia of that person with a notebook."

"I can guarantee you that his Magia is pretty useless," said Exodus, still trying to persuade Kaminaro, "I'm really telling you that we're at your mercy."

For once, Exodus wasn't focused on killing the target, but on saving the hostage. It's as if she saw herself within the hostage, someone who was just trying to help but unfortunately got caught in the fray.

"Please sir..." Sofia began to mumble, "Please let me go...."

The mother began to cry, collapsing to the ground and praying that her daughter would be safe.

At that moment, Kaminaro had realized of his past. What exactly was he doing? What was his purpose for all of this? He looked around him to find many scared people, and people who were just trying to help. Can't he just end all of this and run away? Go back to trying to live normally without having to be plagued by his past and habits?

"He's lowering his defense..." Exodus thought as he noticed Kaminaro's arm grip weakening, "What could be going through his mind right now?"

And yet for that very same reason was the reason that he had plunged himself into this darkness. This cruel habit that he couldn't escape from the beginning.

"It is finished," said Kaminaro.

At that moment, Sofia began to shake around rapidly, jerking her head here and there as if she were having a seizure. Upon the intense jerking, they had noticed that her eyeballs had slowly began to pop out. She began to try and make noises in panic as she choked on her own blood. She tried to cry but only the crimson jam had leaked out of her slowly drooping flesh. Her face had began to open up, revealing a part of her scalp, which tore open to leak out more blood, revealing her brain. Her hair began to fall off as she struggled desperately to get out, her neck popping open as blood had leaked out like a sink.

When, finally...

Plop.

Kaminaro had dropped her suffering body on the ground, which were quickly feasted upon by maggots who had crawled out of her eyeholes, tearing at whatever leftover flesh Kaminaro had provided them.

There were a few things that had happened afterwards: Sofia's mother had cried out and panicked, trying to rush over to her daughter. She got caught within the plagued cell that Kaminaro had laid out, and soon had suffered the same fate as her daughter. Upon this look, even Exodus herself couldn't keep it together, and vomited by the side of the alleyway, unable to react to what she was seeing. Yosuke had just been staring straight at Kaminaro, who was clearly enjoying what was happening.

Dash!

"I'm here!" yelled Minny, on the other side of Kaminaro's cell, just behind him, "I'm here!"

Yet, the hero had arrived too late, witnessing upon the two victims that Kaminaro had shown her. Minny had experienced a sense of dread and guilt, but it wasn't as powerful as her sense of justice and newfound hate for this person that she had just barely met.

"What the hell did you do?" glared Minny.