The pervasive stench of death makes him feel nauseated as soon as it enters his nostrils. Abgere clicks his tongue and tightens his fist, as he knows it is coming from the church he is headed towards – the place where his next target hides.

Abgere: "What's going on in that church!?"

Whatever it is, he knows it is nothing good.

But, he also knows that he is no savior, he is only a destroyer. His purpose is not to save those who are in the church. His purpose is to kill the person they need to be saved from. If that saves them, so be it. If he ends up being late and that doesn't save them, so be it as well.

He can't let something like this get in the way of his life's purpose.

Abgere: "But still, I have to wonder just what the h.e.l.l is that a.s.shole doing in the church? What is causing this stench of death?"

While keeping that question in the back of his mind, Abgere goes to the back of the church, which happened to be a free s.p.a.ce filled up with garbage. In that pile of garbage however, is a ladder he once threw with the excuse of it being broken and useless. Obviously, when he had done that, he didn't have the devil mask on and was dressed casually, blending in the crowd like the rest of Halogen's believers.

But now, time for all of that was over. What he has to now is to bring up that ladder, which he does, and climb up the church to land on the ledge of a window at the first floor of the church. As soon as he keeps his foot on the ledge, he grabs the railings attached to the window and prepares himself to break through the window … or not.

What would be the point of coming through the back if he's going to break through the window and turn it into an entrance anyone inside could notice because of the noise and flas.h.i.+ness.

He came through this route because he wanted to be stealthy, and he would continue with that approach.

Carefully and soundlessly, he touches his hands through the window, making sure there is nothing like a bomb on it. After making sure there isn't,

Abgere: "To think I'm checking for a bomb on a church window! Hah! I might be getting a bit paranoid to be honest. Still, better safe than sorry!"

Murmuring to himself, he brings out a screwdriver and inserts it horizontally into the little gap that can be opened up between the window and the wall. He leaves the screwdriver there, the first one at least, as he takes out another and sticks it the same away, only a little lower.

And repeating those steps for many a times, he finally makes it so that the window has disjointed a little from the wall on all sides. After that, comes the crowbar, a very thin crowbar. He inserts it through the little gap he had created and pushes it sideways, slowly and steadily, causing the gap to start adjusting to the widened shape instead of trying to get filled.

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After having opened up the windows and entering the church, Abgere finds nothing of note right away.

The stench from earlier seems to have gotten worse, but nothing out of the ordinary has happened.

The church is empty, at least from what he can see. Since he is seeing the view from the first floor to the ground floor, he might miss something.

Keeping that in mind, he starts descending the stairs carefully and silently, while keeping the crowbar with him in case of any emergency.

But it turns out all of his stealth was not necessary as there really isn't anyone on the ground floor, even in the places he couldn't see before.

But then, where is the stench of death coming from? The answer is an opened door to the bas.e.m.e.nt of the church.

Abgere: "What's going on down there?"

He murmurs under his breath and, first of all, carefully a.n.a.lyzes the entrance.

The reason for all this caution and stealth is that even though he researched Halogen Dietrich as much as he could, he couldn't go any further than what a normal person could find out about him.

The secrets of this man were as well kept as they could possibly be.

Now, left in this scenario and with a lack of information no less, Abgere has no choice but to descend the stairs as cautiously as he could. And that's what he does … or at least tries to do. Unfortunately for him, the wooden stairs creak as soon as he gets his foot off from them.

Abgere: "s.h.i.+t!"

There's no way he can turn back now. Even if that's the safest choice, it just goes against the very purpose of coming here.

After all, Abgere knows well-enough that if he tries to run away and come back more prepared, Halogen would be more prepared than he ever could be. A man who can keep his secrets so well protected won't let a chance like that slip by.

And so, Abgere can't give him that chance. He has to finish the job now. He has to kill Halogen Dietrich today.

So, as swiftly as he can, he moves down the stairs. That is not to say that he doesn't keep the possibility of no one hearing the creak in my mind, and so he doesn't make much noise.

Now, on the bas.e.m.e.nt floor, he can clearly see a trail of blood.

Actually, 'clearly' might not be the right word as he can barely see anything. The said trail of blood only happens to be visible because it starts at his feet.

Abgere: "I do have something for this occasion."

He murmurs and takes out a pair of night-vision goggles. As soon as he puts them on from under his devil mask, he is able to see much better. He sees the trail of blood leading to a room to the right while a room to the left also exists. These are the only two paths he can take and since he doesn't know what awaits at either junction, he decides to follow the trail and take the path to the right.

Abgere: "I hope I am not wrong about this."

Even though his conscience screams at him about the possibility of this being a trap, taking the side the blood trail doesn't lead to is still the worse choice because at least when following the trail, he can make decisions based on where the trail is leading.

If he goes onto a path where there is no piece of evidence or clue to follow on, he'll be much more nervous than he is now.

Abgere: "All that aside, this is pretty creepy."

Bas.e.m.e.nt of a church that, so far, seems to be isolated and following a blood trail in the dark in an unknown area – the combination definitely is pretty creepy.

Abgere: "Hah!"

He takes a deep breath to calm himself and focus on what he is doing, which is, following the blood trail.

But, following this trail, a s.h.i.+ver runs down his spine. A feeling of someone standing right behind him comes and-

Abgere: "Oh no!"

As soon as he turns back, those two words escape his lips right before a cry in agony caused by sharp nails entering his abdomen and spilling his guts all over the place. The atrocity that caused this is a vampire, covered in blood, and as strong as it can possibly be.

Abgere tries to get away but that only results in the vampire pulling his nails back from his abdomen and kicking him hard enough to throw him at the wall.

As his back gets bashed on the wall and blood keeps coming out of his wound at the abdomen, he tries to take a breath to stabilize himself. And just as he does that, his eyes fall on what is at his right – a room filled with a pile of dead bodies, all having some organs missing.

And then he realizes that the stench of death he had felt before was actually the stench of this vampire's leftovers.

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