"The cleaner is here!" Brad announced as a group of creatures arrived.
"Adam, have you managed to trace the direction?" Brad asked.
"Yes, we can proceed. I've traced the mana signature," Adam replied.
As the cleaners carried the body, it instantly seemed to absorb into them. "Did they eat the body?" Adam asked.
"No, the cleaners will take the body and embalm it while patching the missing parts with their ability. It will look like the body is whole for the family to decide," Brad explained.
"Alright, then let's proceed to the location of the creature," Adam said. All of them followed Adam as he led them towards the outskirts of the city. They rushed through the forest, seeing hints of the creature's movements left behind with stains of blood. Moving deeper, they approached a house in a rural settlement, its lights still on.
"It's a human!" Juro said.
"How does it work? A human becoming a werewolf?" Adam asked.
"In ancient times, many humans seeking magic and power learned dark arts. These dark arts usually contracted them to a creature, from which they would take traits, turning their body into the specific creature," Emily explained.
"So it's a werewolf creature that contracted with the human?" Adam asked, wondering if such black arts still existed in this day and age.
"Just like many magic and black arts sealed during the time of Solomon, many of the humans who retained the memory from the books passed it down through generations. Though much of the correct information was lost over time, the current world now has such people existing, but their magic and black arts are still weak compared to the time of Solomon, where magic was at its peak. Solomon sealed it due to how humans destroyed each other using those black arts. It caused so much destruction that every book was sealed for the sake of humanity," Emily explained.
"If it's sealed, how did this human manage to become a werewolf?" Adam wondered.
"There are usually two ways: either the human passed down the knowledge throughout the generations or learned from the creature itself. Which is why we need to find the source," Juro said.
Juro knocked on the door, pretending to be a police officer, and they all entered to have a chat. The family consisted of both parents and a son. Juro influenced their minds, making them spill information, but neither parent had any knowledge of black arts. As the parents sat in a trance, staring at the wall, everyone went up into the room. They saw a teenager lying down with torn clothes on his bed. Adam traced the mana signatures, finding them similar to the attack on the woman.
"This is the culprit. The mana signatures lead to him," Adam said.
"We need to take him away," Brad informed Juro.
"Wait, what's going to happen? Are you going to kill him?" Adam asked.
"Calm down, Adam. Our elders can remove the ability from the boy. We can get information and find the werewolf that made the contract with him. He would be a danger to humans, and his life would be in danger as well from the contract he made with the werewolf," Emily said.
"So what happens if he breaks the contract?" Adam asked.
"The creatures will kill them. Unless they make a sacrifice, which gives either their family members' or their partners' lives. This also happens when the creature follows the human's orders but gets attacked while doing it. The creatures would imply that the human sent them to their death fighting against something that could kill the creatures. So in retaliation, they will hunt the human they made contracts with for what happened to them," Emily revealed more about the contracts.
"So it's a double-edged sword for the humans. So what now? Teleport back to the Spiritual Realm?" Adam asked.
"Yes, we're bringing him back with us until we figure out which werewolf made a contract with him," Brad said. Before Adam could teleport all of them, someone entered the room.
"So you guys are taking care of it?" Joseph said. A priest appeared at the door in a suit.
"Yes, we will deal with it on our own. Thank you for coming so quickly, Joseph," Brad said.
"That's good, I have a lot on my hands as well. I saw the disturbances and traced it here. Why is a human among you?" Joseph asked, looking at Adam.
"This person is Adam, and he's married to his wife beside him, Emily," Brad said, introducing them to Joseph.
"Does he realize Emily is a creature?" Joseph asked.
"Yes, I know. Emily is a Phoenix," Adam said.
"Is he one of the contract humans?" Adam asked Brad.
"No, many humans with abilities exist here and at times work with us to maintain peace. Which is the reason why we manage to keep many incidents at bay. Joseph is one of them that has abilities to see us for our true form since birth. So we approach them to work with us as we help them as well," Brad said.
"Nice to meet you, Adam. It's rare to see humans marry creatures, but it seems you have some aptitude for magic and abilities. We are from the Religious Sect, unassociated with the Sanctum. We work in unison with different religions and creatures that help humanity. We understand there are creatures like us humans, with good and bad existing, so we work together instead. If you meet the Sanctum, you better be careful, as they treat all creatures as hostile and would eliminate them regardless. The unlucky ones are taken and used as experiments. It feels good to see another human working with the good creatures," Joseph explained.
Adam smiled as he put his hand out for a handshake, and Joseph reciprocated, smiling as their hands met. "I'll take my leave with them. Hope we meet again!" Adam said.
As Adam teleported the others with him to the mana point, Joseph was shocked to realize Adam had just used teleportation ability on his own. "Who exactly are you, Adam?" Joseph mused to himself.