For the first time during the whole day, the man in the red robe was communicating directly with Alis; although the white-haired youth whose hair stood on end looked like he was scared, he drew a deep breath into his lungs.
"I want to be strong, I want to be at least as strong as you!"
Alis spilled the beans; he straightened up at that moment as if tons of burden lifted off him, and a breath later he returned to his former state because Anticuado had started speaking pulling his tone one pitch up.
"How do you know I am capable of such a thing, and most importantly, in what capacity do you want this from me?"
The words landed on the head of tiny white like a sledgehammer; he wasn't aware himself but a transparent shield wrapped around the duo before these words.
"I don't know who you are but someone else whispered the words you said in the morning to my brain, I don't know why but I am sure you will give me the power I want!"
Throwing off his dizziness, Alis answered the first question in a single breath, but he thought for a while for the second question and gave a short response compared to the previous one.
"I am someone who wants to get stronger, isn't it enough?"
It wasn't easy at all to speak while looking right into Anticuado's eyes; when his words ended, Alis felt his tongue went numb, his throat went dry.
"I am simplifying my question enough for you to understand, who are you? Why should I bestow power upon you, a mount tied from its throat with a rope, told to come when wanted, go when wanted?"
Alis trembled from head to toe; the man across him was aware of who, or rather what he was, and the treatment he suffered since the beginning of the day was completely because of this.
Now Alis understood the reflection in Anticuado of him asking for power merely as a power animal; despite this, his feet didn't want to take even a single step from the point they were.
"So what if I am, if my creation is helpless or even wretched, can't I want to be strong? Whatever the price is I am ready to pay, show me the way!"
Anticuado waved his hand slowly; time and space bent. Now they were in front of a door on which there were dozens of large locks; almost all of these had been opened, only one, the one in the most important place stood intact.
"The thing you want is behind this door, I cannot say you will reach it as soon as it opens. Pain, agony, and struggle are waiting for you, first you must open the biggest and important lock!"
Alis's tiny heart was about to come out from excitement; without waiting even a breath, he asked the question in his mind.
"I am ready, please tell how to do it!"
Anticuado started laughing, then he put his two hands on Alis's shoulders and leaned towards his face.
"Why do you ask a question whose answer you know?"
The surroundings changed again; they were in front of the transparent door opening to the library once more. Anticuado wasn't speaking anymore; he turned his back and disappeared from sight in two steps.
Alis started running too; his direction was the Garbage House. The white-haired youth was so fast that the trunks of the thin trees he passed by were bending towards the ground.
"Nora, I need to talk to you!"
Alis opened the door as if he would tear it from its place; his excitement had overflowed from inside him but all his emotions bounced back as if he hit a hard wall. The first thing he saw was Nora and Count Jashua squatting on the ground, then he paid close attention to the scene inside the house.
The house cleaned yesterday was in a state painted with a blood-red color right now; the floor, the wall, even a few poles which were the remnants of the roof were the color of blood. Limbs were everywhere. Alis searched for a single one-piece corpse remaining from the residents of the Garbage House but couldn't find one.
Stepping on the blood puddles coming up to his ankles, Alis proceeded; he came next to the duo examining the surroundings in a silent manner.
"Well, I..!"
Alis didn't know what to say; unlike him, Nora's voice came out unexpectedly calm.
"I know everything Alis, first I have one last request from you!"
The two were connected to each other; although Nora respected Alis and closed most of the communication channels for a long time, it was impossible for her not to witness the experience lived with Anticuado.
Being quiet, Alis said yes; thereupon Nora continued in the same calm tone.
"I want you to find everyone carrying the smell of this house on them!"
The request was open and clear. Without making her say it twice, Alis started twitching his little nose and rapidly shot out of the door.
"Jashua, I am taking the bloods, I want you to throw the bodies to the valley!"
Nora raised her two hands into the air; together with the bloods remaining on the torn apart bodies, all red liquids proceeded towards her, towards the ring on her finger.
Within a few breaths, not a single drop of blood remained around; Count Jashua swung the pale white-colored meat pieces to the silent bosom of the valley. The beings who didn't find peace while their lives were still inside these bodies would perhaps find what they looked for here.
When the job was finished, Alis returned too; after coming and whispering something to Nora's ear, he passed and sat across her. Sensing the expectation in their looks, Count Jashua left the duo alone going down from the part of the Garbage House opening to the valley.
"Well Alis, tell me, are you persistent in your decision? You know this has many other ways!"
Knowing the power animal's desire, Nora was soft but clear as if talking to an old friend. Alis thought for a while; the bashful expression settling in his eyes never changed.
"Alis, you have nothing you owe me. In your existence, in what you lived until today was only special to you. Don't blame yourself, whatever decision you make I am always behind you!"
Alis couldn't answer; tears setting off from his eyes, passing his cheeks, and falling drop by drop to the ground spoke instead of him.
"Since it's like that, come on let's fight as a single body for the last time tonight!"
These words became the last conversation passing between the duo; closing their eyes, they started meditating. When the weather darkened thoroughly, screams started rising from inside the valley. Wild animals were roaring so pitifully that there was no need to know a lot to understand this was a cry for help.
Then suddenly the sounds were cut off; two solid feet stepped hard on the ground in the part of the Garbage House facing the valley. The one coming was none other than Count Jashua; there was only a black sleeveless leather shirt on his upper body.
His face was covered with blood just like his arms. The particles dripping to the ground and the steams coming off him were telling that these bloods wandered in the veins of another living being not much, a few minutes ago.
"Jashua, no restrictions! I want you to redefine what brutality is!"
The Young Count was looking ahead with his blood-red eyes; there was no word to describe the image his lips formed by curling upwards.
"Alis, show the way!"
In the pitch darkness of the night, three shadows proceeded without making a single sound, so much so that even Alis's snow-white hair was pitch black now.
A few minutes later they stopped; they were in front of a three-story large building. It was obvious from the lights coming out of wide and high windows that its inside was bright in defiance of its outside. The windows not existing in the Garbage House were added to the ones here as if; Nora's facial expression became thoroughly distorted.
"Jashua, Alis, not even a single person will leave this building alive. The top floor is mine!"
Drawing his two katanas, Alis jumped from where he was, and a breath later dived inside through the window of the second floor. From the fluctuation in the lights, Nora understood the sound coming out startled those living in the building, but this was only the beginning.
The Young Count took down the entrance door with the giant club consisting of blood in his hand; now he could fully see the hubbub inside the structure.
Nora hadn't been able to witness this, because the Blood God had shown herself on the third floor.