Doomsday Wonderland Vol. 14: Cloudwalk Heights [Complete]

1746: The Shadow Hall

Thud! The sound of Dreadlocks jumping up in shock and knocking over the box beneath him echoed far down the corridor. He pressed his back tightly against the wall; like Lin Sanjiu, he stared at Hagrid's body rolling onto the ground. The head bounced twice before finally coming to a still, releasing a final breath and growing motionless.

Blood slowly spread from his neck, silently seeping into the night.

"Why did you kill him?" Lin Sanjiu asked in a low voice. "If you didn't let him know we knew each other and just sent him away..."

Cyrus wiped his fingers, turned back in the dim corridor, and looked at her.

"Everyone I've met who has survived doomsday for long enough becomes numb." He smiled faintly. "You're the opposite. You seem even more sensitive and compassionate than you were back then. It seems fate has treated you well."

Lin Sanjiu was stunned.

Indeed, if she thought back carefully, she had killed far more readily when she was first thrown into doomsday, torn away from human society. Back then, survival on the narrow path meant life or death. Now, free from the constant threat to her own life, she had developed a deeper empathy for the lives of others.

"That's not a bad thing," Cyrus said. "Compared to someone who's bitter and tormented, I'd rather have someone content watching my back."

Lin Sanjiu glanced once more at the corpse on the ground.

"His death is useful to me." Cyrus lifted his chin, gesturing naturally to Dreadlocks. "Push his body down the hill. You didn't see anything tonight."

Dreadlocks still couldn't make heads or tails of the situation, but he did understand one thing: his life wasn't immediately at risk. He hesitated, looking at Lin Sanjiu. When she nodded, he bent down and picked up Hagrid's corpse.

"Come see me for payment after you're done." Cyrus patted his shoulder, as if inducting him into his organization. "You have a paper crane, right?"

Dreadlocks' eyes lit up, even as he carried the corpse, and he nodded eagerly.

Once Dreadlocks had left, Cyrus righted the overturned box and sat down with a sigh. "See? A simple kill. Now I have to bribe and instruct people, worrying about loose ends."

Cyrus had always been cool-headed, decisive, and efficient; if anything, he seemed even more so now. Lin Sanjiu knew he was being considerate of her feelings. Her emotions were a swirl of complexity. She shook her head and asked, "Tell me everything from the beginning. What's going on?"

As Cyrus frowned slightly, deciding where to begin, she didn't waste any time. She walked over and checked Eight-Heads De's pulse. His injuries were severe; she wasn't confident that her rudimentary first-aid skills and card inventory supplies would be enough. As she pulled out some bandages and medicine, Cyrus took them from her hands.

His practiced movements showed he'd been injured more than a few times before.

"My organization is called the Shadow Hall," Cyrus explained while tending to the wound. "It operates very discreetly within the Twelve Worlds Centrum, so few have heard of it. The Shadow Hall has several divisions for daily operations, like the Personnel Trials Division, where Irezumi and I started, the Item Verification Division, and the Execution Division. These are fairly standard operations. What truly gives the Shadow Hall its name is its role as the shadow mastermind of other organizations."

"Shadow mastermind?"

Cyrus let out a bitter smile tinged with sarcasm. "You're from before doomsday; you've probably heard of hostile takeovers in corporate warfare, right?"