The violent and sudden death of their packmates did not strike fear into the hearts of these wild beasts; instead, it only served to ignite their feral, bloodthirsty nature. With low, guttural growls, they charged forward simultaneously without a single moment of hesitation, aiming directly at Flandre and the rest of the companions from the Scarlet Devil Mansion standing behind her.
Flandre remained perfectly motionless on the grass, looking as if she had been momentarily stunned by the beasts' frantic, synchronized charge.
However, the instant the pack crossed the threshold of her defensive perimeter, she suddenly split into four identical figures and lunged back at them. The four Flandres, accompanied by wild laughter and manic shrieks, performed a display of absolute, frenzied slaughter right before Clever's eyes.
A dozen or so massive Fanged Beasts were violently torn to shreds before they could even mount a decent counter-attack or offer any meaningful resistance.
This was not a literary exaggeration of being "torn to shreds"; they were literally ripped into scattered pieces in a physical, gruesome sense. Aside from the two fortunate beasts that had collided and died earlier, the rest of the pack was reduced to fragmented tissue scattered across the soil.
The metallic scent of fresh blood immediately flooded the air, growing so thick and oppressive that it made one's eyes sting.
Clever swallowed hard, her throat tight with fear. As she watched Flandre lightly fly back from the crimson mist—her entire dress spotless, without a single drop of blood clinging to her skin—for a brief, terrifying instant, she felt as if she were not looking at a playful child, but rather at the Sanguinarch of Vampires, Duq'arael himself.
In that fleeting moment, Clever felt she finally understood why the ancient Sanguinarch of Vampires had gone out of his way to invite Flandre back to Kazdel. Though there was absolutely no direct blood relation between them, when they unleashed their inner madness, their destructive natures truly made them feel closer than kin.
Just as Flandre skipped back to the campfire, Patchouli, who was standing quietly within the group, gently waved her hand. A massive column of water spiraled up from the nearby river, arching through the air before crashing down onto the spot where the butchered remains lay.
The flowing water seamlessly transformed into a giant hand, scooping up every trace of the flesh and blood before rolling back into the river's depths. Immediately after, a sudden, powerful gust of wind swept through the square, instantly carrying the spreading scent of blood high into the heavens. Within seconds, the plaza returned to a state of absolute peace.
To any outside observer, it would be physically impossible to tell that a brutal, blood-soaked slaughter had taken place here just minutes prior.
Once Flandre sat down by the warmth of the fire, it took a long, hesitant moment before Clever gathered enough courage to slide back onto the log beside her.
"Are you afraid of me?" Flandre asked, tilting her head to the side.
"The way you fought just now... it was truly too terrifying!" Clever admitted, nodding her head honestly. She then confessed that she had never witnessed any Originium Arts quite like Flandre's. A simple, empty gesture in the void could instantly turn a living target into a twisted clump of flesh or cause them to detonate into minced meat.
Flandre let out a smug, proud laugh, explaining that this was her unique, absolute specialty—a signature ability that not even Patchy or her older sister Remilia possessed. As long as the target was something that truly existed in reality and she could perceive it, she possessed the power to destroy it directly.
Upon hearing this explanation, Clever stared at her with an expression of deep awe, though in truth, she did not comprehend the mechanics behind Flandre's words at all. What could she possibly mean by "as long as it truly exists, she can destroy it"? It sounded far too abstract to be real.
Flandre merely offered a mysterious smile and did not elaborate further on her reality-bending powers.
After sitting quietly by the campfire for a short while, Flandre's active nature took over, and she began to feel thoroughly bored. She swept her gaze across the dark, vacant buildings surrounding the plaza and suggested, "There are so many empty rooms here, why don't we play a game of hide and seek?"
"Young Mistress, everyone here knows you can easily locate us by tracking our blood aura and heartbeats," Hong Meiling pointed out, raising her voice in gentle opposition. "We wouldn't stand a chance of hiding if we played a standard game of hide and seek." After all, Flandre had proven herself to be an exceptionally keen tracker; using only her nose and ears, sniffing out anyone hiding within these decaying structures would be child's play.
"Then we simply won't be permitted to use any of our supernatural abilities! We can only play at the level of ordinary people. Let's just have Patchy temporarily seal our powers—how about that?" Flandre declared enthusiastically, offering a simple solution. With her older sister and Patchouli supervising, there was absolutely no reason to worry about external dangers.
"Do I... do I really have to play as well?" Clever asked hesitantly.
Patchouli swiftly placed specialized, temporary sealing restrictions on both Flandre and Hong Meiling. Naturally, along with the two of them, Sakuya Izayoi and Clever were also drafted into the game.
Although Clever was fully aware that these stone houses were entirely vacant, the prospect of navigating the pitch-black rooms—which had been abandoned for untold years, likely crawling with wild insects or containing old skeletal remains—still filled her with an undeniable sense of trepidation.
Noticing Clever's fearful expression, Flandre generously designated her to be the first "seeker," allowing the rest of the players to scatter into the nearby structures to hide.
"Are you entirely certain she won't encounter any danger?" Sakuya asked, keeping Clever's fragile strength in mind. To prevent the seeker from wandering aimlessly in the dark for too long, they explicitly marked out a strict boundary for the playing field.
Once the countdown officially concluded, Clever stepped toward the dark, imposing building complex with a racing heart.
They had designated a single, three-story residential building for the game. Each floor contained four separate apartments, and each apartment was divided into multiple inner rooms. Even within this restricted space, Clever would have to conduct a highly thorough search to cover every corner.
Soon, Clever arrived at the main threshold. Looking into the deep, pitch-black interior, she subconsciously attempted to trigger her sensory Originium Arts. However, after holding her breath for several seconds to no avail, she remembered that because they had agreed to play a fair game, her arts had also been temporarily locked away by Patchouli's magic.
She swallowed hard, steeling her nerves as she stepped cautiously into the dark corridor.
The moment she crossed the threshold, she subconsciously let out a soft "Yikes~" and shivered. Sitting right near the entrance was a bleached human skull, its hollow eye sockets staring directly toward the door. By the pale moonlight filtering through the cracked ceiling, she could even see tiny bugs crawling lazily through the bone.
Feeling her scalp tingle with fright, Clever let out a tiny shudder but forced her legs to carry her deeper into the building.
Fortunately, before she had wandered too far, her foot brushed against a long, solid object. She knelt down and picked it up, examining it in the dim light to find it was a discarded aluminum alloy broom.
This specific household tool had been wildly popular across the territories because of its remarkably lightweight design and incredible durability; purchasing a single one essentially meant you were set for life. The primary marketing slogan for the product had always been that a single broom could easily outlast three generations—the owners would pass away, yet the broom would remain pristine.
Furthermore, the specialized alloy possessed excellent resistance to rust and insect damage, meaning that even after decades of abandonment, this particular broom was only covered in a light layer of surface dust.
With a solid "weapon" now gripped firmly in her hands, Clever felt her courage bolster slightly.
Using the broom handle to prod the shadows ahead of her, she carefully pushed open the door to the first apartment.
The interior was in absolute disarray, looking as though it had been ransacked by scavengers multiple times over the years. Not a single item of value remained; only shattered wooden furniture, broken chairs, and overturned stools littered the floorboards.
After conducting a brief sweep of the main living area, Clever ventured slightly deeper into the inner rooms.
After a quick scan, she retreated without hesitation. The reason was incredibly simple: the thick layers of dust on the floor showed absolutely zero signs of recent footprints or movement. Even the air inside felt completely stagnant and "dead."
She confidently concluded that none of the three hidden players had stepped foot inside this apartment.
She repeated the process for the second and third apartments. In both cases, a single glance after pushing the doors open was more than enough to confirm that the rooms were entirely empty.
However, the moment she unlocked the door to the fourth apartment, her expression instantly shifted.
The air circulating through this particular living space felt significantly fresher than the stagnant atmosphere of the previous three units; it was glaringly obvious that someone had crossed this threshold very recently.
Realizing she was on the right track, Clever's expression turned serious. She gripped her aluminum broom tightly, stepping silently into the apartment to begin her search.