Chapter 130: Chapter 129: Terrible Thing

Shadow Madeleine number 9 here, and I'm on the case! As of recently, people in the slums have been losing their faces! Oh no! Fortunately, I'm here to crack this case and bring down the perpetrator! Just kidding, that's what my detective girlfriend is here to do. As for me… I'm bait. I'm always bait, and when I'm not bait, I'm sneaking into serial killer dens, secret mob hideouts, or phantom thief hoards. Well, I've gotten used to it, especially since shadow clones can't be killed by traditional means… there are some schools of magic that can kill shadow clones, though. I know Daemon Magic can, which might explain why there's a rule for us shadow clones to not piss off Merry. We're figuring out other ways since we have a lot of cannon fodder.

Now, how am I acting as bait? I'm literally a maid in the bad part of the slums in the middle of the night. That's prime serial killer, or in this case, face-stealer material. Another reason is that the face-stealer is clearly a new face around town. None of the gangs in the slum seems to be associated with them, and they all know how powerful I am in combat. They won't dare touch me, unlike the face-stealer, who probably doesn't know a thing about me. Also, do shadows even have faces to steal?

If only I had a voice. I could say, "Look at me, I'm a maid all alone in the middle of the slums, with such a pretty and stealable face. Woe is I if mine face were to be plundered!" or something like that. Physical Madeleine wasn't always the greatest at drama class at the Maid School. Huh? Why is there a drama class? Why does a maid need to know how to act? For assassination purposes, obviously.

Now, my dear girlfriend has more or less come up with a criminal profile, and she seemed almost disappointed when she figured it out. I wasn't listening, so the only thing I caught was, "I thought a face-stealer would be much more interesting, but they're just like every other murderer. I guess my sister really is the criminal for me." Their sibling rivalry sure is cute… sometimes. Other times, it makes it feel like I'm going to lose my girlfriend, and I don't mean because she died… 

Ooh, there's a hooded figure walking towards me now. This might be the face-stealer. Haha! Come at… me…? Did… did they just walk by me? I guess that isn't them. I'm getting bored… what's that? I think I just heard a sound from the nearby alley? Time to investigate! I sneakily slide over to the wall and peek around the corner to see… that it was just a bottle knocked over by a sleeping hobo. Damn, Tarrick, your sleeping posture still sucks. Ah… it started raining… I guess that's enough baiting… I'll make a shelter for Tarrick before I go, though. 

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"So the perp didn't steal your face? Why?" Maybe it's because I was obvious bait.

"Hmm… it could be because you were obvious bait… or maybe you don't have a face to steal!" You've literally said I have a pretty face.

"Ah, the last victim also didn't have a face." That's cause her face was stolen.

"Hmm… what a difficult case." Ah, I forgot to mention that. Sure my girlfriend is a detective, but her speciality is murders committed by her sister. That's it. I didn't even know she took other cases.

"Hey, sis, I got the milk!" And there's the sister. You'd think a detective wouldn't live with an assassin, but you never know here in Mendass. "Umm… hey, sis?"

"What?" My girlfriend and I looked at her sister and saw her staring at the ceiling. Well, probably a new stain.

"Was there always a face on our ceiling?" Huh? I quickly turned my head towards the spot she was looking at to see that there was indeed a face. Oh, now there are two faces. Four faces… more faces. Now the entire ceiling is covered in faces. Huh.

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""AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!" Ow… my ears. You'd think in a room with an assassin, a detective, and a maid, the maid would most likely be scared, but nope. Then again, Madeleine seems oddly… numb, when it comes to fear. Well, the Maid School will do that to you.

Haa… time to deal with the perp, I guess. I'd ask miss detective for help, but… she's hugging her sister and trembling on the ground right now. Geez… and to think she works with dead bodies… and so does the sister! Eh, whatever. Looking around the room, I can't see anyone… but I do feel malice right behind one of the walls… time to surprise our little attacker. I stomp my foot, sending a shockwave through the ground and up the wall, making it collapse and revealing the guilty party. It's a… floating eye? That's… eh… that kind of disturbs me. Oh god, it's making eye contact with me.

Face Off You can take people's faces off. Side Note: Ripped right off.

An actual monster… I immediately throw a shadow dagger, which pierces straight through it, killing it. Huh… that was easy. Now for the hard part… calming down two screaming women.

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Character profile: Sharabalow the Face-Stealer

Sacred power: Face Off

Time spent in Mendass: A week.

Description: The floating eyeball that steals faces. Sharabalow is a low-level demon who just so happened to come across one of the Gates of Hell that led to Mendass and, by yet another instance of pure chance, was gifted a Sacred Power. Ever since its escape from Hell, it has been terrorising the slums it found itself initially in. Eventually, it found out its activities were being investigated by a detective. It knew of the detective's plan to bait it with a maid made of shadow, and when they abandoned the plan, it followed the two home, hoping to kill them while their guard was low while also feasting on their fear. A shame it ran into something that can't feel fear anymore.

Chapter namesake: Terrible Thing by The Killers