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It was a human, there was no doubt about that. However, this human was faceless.

Yes, without a face.

Where there was meant to be a nose, eyes, and lips, there was nothing but smooth, glossy skin.

This was beyond the realm of sorcery and had not infringed on witchcraft.

\'Could the Blood Moon Goddess be a witch?\'

It wasn\'t too farfetched. After all, how else would he come about such an abomination?

Boulder walked over to him and leaned forward as well.

The blood on his relatively calm face only served to create a slightly terrifying aura around him, making Cain a bot uncomfortable. However, he himself was also covered in blood, so maybe it was all just on his head.

He sighed, "There\'s no trace of Aether in them, so they definitely aren\'t some strange breed of humanoid Aether Beasts. Meaning they can only be human."

Boulder nodded, "Indeed. They are Blood Moon Assassins. Running into these guys is always a headache. If they are out here. It means someone important is here as well."

Cain was confused, "Someone important?"

Boulder nodded, "Apparently, should a Blood Moon sect appear on a world, it will have twelve elders and a Matriarch. The supreme authority in the sect belongs to the matriarch, but the elders hold a lot of power as well. These elders are heads of the twelve branches that make up this cult..."

Boulder ripped off the Blood Moon insignia on the robe and gave it up Cain,

"This Blood Moon represents the sect, but look a bit closer; right there, these bastards belong to the Viper Branch."

Sure enough, just below the insignia of the Blood Moon was a smaller symbol of a black snake coiled around a red moon.

Cain ruffled his hair, "How do you know all this?"

Boulder folded his arms, "Well, knowing your enemies gives you and edge, doesn\'t it?"

Cain could only nod in agreement.

Staring at the faceless humans, Cain was filled with a deep sense of disgust.

Boulder sighed, "They call it the Initiation. A ritual that binds their souls to the Goddess. Once it is completed, they do not have an identity anymore, as their lives and souls are now tied to hers. This means they do not needs faces. A faceless being doesn\'t have a sense of self, so it cannot go against its master."

Cain chuckled, "That seems unnecessarily extreme, doesn\'t it?"

Boulder shook his head, "The world we are creating is going to be filled with things like this, probably even worse from now on. Best get used to. That, and the fact that bastards like this can kill your people without a second thought."

Cain fell silent.

Boulder sighed, "Please, help me put the dead to rest."

***

The burial was nothing complicated.

Their bodies were burnt to ashes. If they were buried, the sharp claws of the Aether Beasts would have no problem digging through the ground to consume them, prevent them from resting properly.

Lucia\'s eyes were dark as the watched the vigorous flames consume the corpses,

"Let\'s get going. Those guys are probably still watching us."

Cain shook his head, "They are gone. That ordeal just now was probably a test."

Lucia\'s eyes snapped to him, "If you can tell, why didn\'t you notice before they attacked?! Are you on their side?! Are you a spy?!"

Seeing the blood-hungry lady ready to draw her weapons, Cain could only roll his eyes in exhaustion.

Khan spoke up calmly, "Lucia... Now isn\'t the time to point fingers."

Gloria nodded, "He\'s right. I almost died. Cain saved my life! We should be grateful to him!"

Lucia clicked her tongue before turning around and walking away.

Khan sighed tiredly.

Boulder signalled to the group,

"Let\'s go. We\'ll be extra cautious moving forward. Now that Jasper is gone, Miller and I will be on scout duty."

To exercise more caution, they were forced to slow down their pace and check the surrounding buildings thoroughly for threats before making a move after they crossed the intersection.

During this time, Cain was able to work on a few things.

For one, he discovered that just as he had thought, the blood of the Aether Beasts was a terrible conduit for mana, practically useless, as their blood was already saturated with Aether.

When it was time to rest, he would sneak off to kill a few lone Devils for the purpose of harvesting their blood.

Overtime, he had come to realize something about Devil society.

Not all of them were deeply connected to the main matrix.

There were some Devils that could be considered outcasts, or more accurately, failures, the reason being they were weaker than the bunch.

Devils society could be considered a meritocracy, but one based solely on individual strength. Weaklings had no fate there. They were either consumed by their betters, or they were cast out from the litter, forced to consume scrap until they died.

Despite this, Cain had come to a shocking conclusion.

The potency of Devil blood to become a conduit for mana wasn\'t lower in these Outcast Devils.

In some of them,.the potency was even higher.

Sitting by himself in a dark corner a little bit farther from where everyone was seated and conversing, he pulled out a vial of Devil blood, a vial of Mutant Beast blood, a vial of Aether Beasts blood, and a vial of his blood.

He pulled the cork off of the first vial. His hands swiftly wove a symbol on the air, and a strange looking metal device was created from nothing.

He tipped the vial over and poured its contents into the cylindrical part of the metal item before sealing it.

This item he had created was something he liked to call a Brush. He made use of it to engraved runes and magic circles into weapons and equipment. Since Runecraft was a delicate art, it required precision.

Sometimes, the soul couldn\'t follow the intentions of the mind well. The body, on the other hand, was simply an instrument.

It was better he used his own hands to do the engravings sometimes. Besides, it made him feel more productive.

Using the Brush, he engraved a series of runes into the ground to create a magic circle.

Once he was done engraving the magic circle, he placed his hand at the center and poured a miniscule amount of mana into its nexus.

Immediately, the lines, curves, and geometrical shapes that made up the magic circle lit up with a subtle, ethereal glow.

At the center of the magic circle, the soft light quickly began to converge until it formed a shard of golden metal.

Its lustre was beauy, and just a look at it would tell it was magic of high quality.

Cain nodded, \'Looks like I was right again.\'

He moved on to the others, testing them again, just to be sure.

\'Mutant Beast blood is effective, just not as effective as Devil blood.\'

Finally, it was time for the last sample; how own blood...

Compared to Devils and Mutant Creatures, humans weren\'t supposed to be able to control mana so well. He was an exception.

Perhaps he could reveal somethings if he tested his blood.

Pouring his blood into the Brush, he began engraving.

Immediately, it was like a part of him had been created outside of his body. It was a strange feeling. He ignored it and continued until he was finally done.

Placing his finger at the center of the magic circle once again, he poured in the tiniest portion of mana.

The magic circle, this time, didn\'t glow subtly. The shine was radiant, attracting the attention from Boulder and the others seated far away.

Lucia frowned, "What the hell do you think that bastard is up to this time? I thought we agreed not to light any fires?"

Khan chuckled, "I don\'t think that was a fire. Still, I felt a surge of mana. Perhaps he is experimental with a spell?"

Lucia sighed, "Not again..."

Boulder shrugged, "As long as it doesn\'t put us in trouble, I\'m fine with it."

Khan smiled, "It\'s too faint to be detected from far away, I assure you."

Boulder nodded and didn\'t say anything more.

Clicking her tongue, Lucia turned back to stare in Cain\'s direction.

Cain on the other hand had no time to care about what was going on over there.

Instead, he was trying his best to calm himself down.

\'Incredible!\'

Staring at the shard of metal floating above the magic circle, he almost couldn\'t believe it. This piece of metal wasn\'t just golden. Itself colors and properties were rapidly changing, such that its phase and state was not constant, repeatedly changing from solid to more solid, to liquid as well.

It was strange.

\'What type of property is this?\'

The magic circle he had engraved onto the ground was a mana condensing one. Its purpose was simply to gather the metallic elements scattered in the air and condense it into a solid, physical object.

All the other strains of blood had done just that, each to varying degrees.

But his blood...

His blood had managed to be capable of influencing the state of the accumulated mana, changing itself form with just a thought from him.

Could this be a new form of sorcery he had discovered?