Bailonz Street 13

Screams echoed loudly in the distance. I instinctively turned my steps towards Bailonz Street instead of heading towards the cries.

“Help!”

“Monster, it’s a monster!”

“Run away!”

As we moved against the flow of fleeing people, an inexplicable anxiety crept up on me. It was like… how should I put it? Like knowing a tragedy awaited us, yet still heading towards it.

Ahead, an overturned carriage came into view. The horse was nowhere to be seen. A few officers were using the carriage as a barricade, buying time for civilians. They shouted at us:

“Don’t go that way! It’s crawling with monsters!”

I stopped and asked, “What about Bailonz Street? What’s happened to Bailonz Street?”

“We don’t know! That area is swarming with monsters, we can’t get anywhere near it!”

Bang! One person fired a gun while another reloaded. One of the reloading officers seemed to recognize us. Pointing at Liam, he shouted:

“Wait, you’re Mr. Moore, aren’t you? Inspector Jefferson left a message! He said to take shelter in a safe place! Somewhere underground where those things can’t follow, with no way out!”

Bang! He fired again.

Unfortunately, the bullets fired did not reward their courage at all. They couldn’t even scratch the monsters’ hides.

Seeing the bullets bounce off flatly, their expressions turned to despair. Firearms were the most lethal weapons of this era. Yet they couldn’t inflict any critical damage. The bullets only served to enrage the monsters who were hit harmlessly in the head! It must be that only weapons imbued with magic, like the ones we use, can effectively combat these creatures.

“Fighting is pointless. Evacuate right now! You can’t keep holding out here!”

I tried to dissuade them from wasting bullets. My plan was to evacuate with the civilians.

“But…”

“No buts, we’ll all die at this rate!”

While they hesitated, debating whether to flee, one person was snatched away by a monster’s claws and disappeared. A terrible scream echoed through the night sky, followed by the sound of something falling with a splat. Witnessing this, the remaining officers finally started taking shelter inside the building.

“What should we do, Jane?”

Liam lifted the edge of his cloak to deflect an attack. The cloak hardened like a shield, protecting us from the assault. Clang! The deflected claws retreated, only to strike again. It seemed intent on ramming us repeatedly.

We should flee too. I know that.

“…I’m not sure. I think evacuation should be our priority, but…”

I don’t know. It seems like the Black King’s doing, but why choose to trample London like this? I don’t know what to do in this situation, or what we should do next. I don’t know anything. I just want to sit down and rest, or rather, die once and wake up again.

But I didn’t even have the luxury to whine. If I had time for that, I needed to move.

Bang! Another attack was deflected.

The monster let out an enraged roar. It seemed to be calling its companions with that cry. Monsters clustering together glared at us with gleaming eyes.

However, our defense only grew stronger. Lucita’s necklace had joined forces with Liam to create a protective barrier. This should hold out safely until we could retreat to a safe place.

Liam was looking at me with eyes full of trust. With his usually slicked-back hair falling forward, he looked even younger.

“It’s okay, Jane. If you’re unsure, just follow your heart.”

I was about to respond when something came rushing from afar.

A red flash, and the claws striking at us weakened. I saw bat-like beasts being cut in half. Something had come to our aid, dispatching those creatures.

As the obstructions to our view cleared a bit, a blurry figure came into sight.

“A leopard?”

It was a leopard with golden fur and red eyes.

A leopard in the middle of London? Very uniquely, it didn’t seem to be an actual animal. How should I put it… A hologram? It looked like it was formed from the surrounding air. It was here and not here at the same time.

As I stood there dumbfounded with my mouth agape, the leopard spoke.

That is, it literally spoke.

[Found you.]

A familiar voice came from the leopard’s mouth. It had been a very long time since I’d heard it.

[Hello, Miss Jane. I’m glad to see you’re safe.]

“No way… Lucita?”

The leopard raised its front paw to cover its mouth and chuckled.

[I was able to find you thanks to the necklace. Well done. You’ve returned well. London is in shambles, as you can see. Hybrids are hunting people indiscriminately and taking them to altars. It started suddenly just a short while ago.]

“Hybrids? Altars?”

[This isn’t the place for this conversation. There are too many ears listening. Let’s quickly cover the main points and be done with it.]

Listening ears? I looked around. But there weren’t any notable living beings in sight. Perhaps I just couldn’t notice them.

Lucita continued speaking.

[Come to my mansion. Ah, I’ll give you one piece of news that you’ll be happy to hear.]

I was about to ask what it was. But in an instant, the leopard’s mouth opened wide and a voice completely different from Lucita’s husky tone burst out. It was a bouncy, clear, and lively voice.

[Miss!]

There were only a few people in London who would call me “Miss,” so I immediately recognized the owner of the voice.

“Mary?!”

It’s Mary! Mary is safe! I don’t know why she’s with Lucita, but finally, the tension eased and something like a laugh came out.

I asked,

“Mary, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? What about George and Mrs. Mayer,”

[We’re all safe! This person suddenly came and brought us here!]

Ah, what a relief. Learning that not a single person from 13 Bailonz Street had died put me at ease. Thanks to Lucita’s quick action, we had avoided the worst-case scenario.

As Mary retreated, the leopard’s eyes turned red again.

“Thank you, Lucita.”

The leopard shrugged at my thanks. It didn’t seem to think much of it. Then, it said to me:

[Shall we meet at the mansion?]

“I’ll be there soon.”

[I’ll be waiting.]

The leopard leapt over us. Despite its massive size, it landed surprisingly quietly and sprinted through the streets of London. Soon, Lucita disappeared from our line of sight.

With Lucita’s departure taking the commotion along, the street became very quiet. The corpses of the monsters that had been attacking us lay strewn about haphazardly on the ground.

I stood there speechless, filled with gratitude and joy. Connections are the best, Lucita is the best.

Liam pulled me along.

“Let’s go rescue your brother-in-law.”

Hearing those words snapped me back to reality. This isn’t the time for this. I still had many people I needed to save.

“Right. He should be holding up well.”

He smiled and comforted me.

“Your brother-in-law can take down suspects with his bare hands, right? He’ll be fine.”

＊ ＊ ＊

Fortunately, Haledon was only a five-minute brisk walk from here. Bailonz Street was thirteen minutes away, and not far from Haledon was Whitmore Gardens, where Lucita’s mansion was located. It’s closer than I thought.

Liam and I began to cut across the city center, weaving between buildings. To be honest, with those things flying around outside, we couldn’t just run down the middle of the street. Even though Liam’s cloak and Lucita’s necklace could block attacks, it would be insane to practically announce “Come and eat me!”

Burn marks and debris from collapsed buildings were everywhere. Haledon seemed to have been reduced to ruins as well. People appeared to have already evacuated. Only empty houses remained.

We headed straight for 278 Minette Avenue.

“Plurititas! Hey!”

I shook the tightly closed black iron gate like a madwoman.

Plurititas’s mansion was in considerably better shape compared to other places. For some reason, the monsters didn’t seem to have targeted this place. No, looking at them circling above the mansion, watching for an opportunity, it seemed they couldn’t attack here. Had Plurititas done something?

“Old man! Are you alive?”

At my shout, Liam, who had been quiet, cleared his throat once and stepped forward. His expression was quite ominous.

“What are you trying to—eeek!”

Bang!

Why on earth did he have to kick the gate?! The place he kicked caved in. Is it okay for it to bend like that? Is it… is it really okay?

As I was looking back and forth nervously, the mansion gate began to open slowly with a heavy sound.

The butler, that is, the automaton we had blown away before, was there to greet us at the entrance. The sharp cries of beasts echoed across the sky that had turned red from the inferno.

“The master is waiting for you.”

Liam responded as if spitting out the words.

“Well, isn’t that just perfect!”