Modern World Warlock-Chapter 316: The Ex-Detective and the Vampire Lady

While the different mafia groups were fighting and scouting the corrupted districts of the city of Limsa, ex-detective Alice and the vampire lady, Claudia, made their way to an old train station.

The city of Limsa didn't have a subway system like other big cities in Novaria, but they did have a tram system with small train carts that traveled around the city.

Of course, after the districts were corrupted by death's ichor, the trams stopped all of their operations, so Alice and Claudia decided to check it out for themselves.

As they made their way through the corrupted streets, they took down a few zombies and ghouls that got in their way while making some small talk with each other.

Claudia was Asphodel's oldest daughter, and while the vampire seemed to take her missions seriously, she was also pretty laid-back and easy to talk to.

When the pair got closer to the tram station, they felt an eerie energy coming from within its walls, prompting Alice to get a hold of her gun.

Claudia extended her arm to signal Alice to calm down, as the energy felt unsettling, but it wasn't threatening them.

Inside the station, the pair saw a couple of trams that were fully corrupted by death's ichor. The cart's doors were closed, and they could see from the window dozens of zombies trapped inside each of them.

"Check this out," Claudia beckoned Alice to the other side of the station, where she was staring at a tram cart.

When Alice approached her companion, she saw a large, glowing orb with shadowy strands inside the tram, and she suddenly began to listen to very faint whispers around her.

If Alice hadn't been briefed on the existence of necrotic cores and their effects on people, she would have been more concerned. However, the two women were familiar with the core after Sami destroyed the one hidden in the Alanigan Mountains.

"Help us!" The whispers of the dead became louder.

"How many of these cores are there?" Alice pondered, knowing that her companion didn't know the answer.

"I can't give an exact number, but to maintain the death's ichor with this intensity, I would guess there are at least fifty of them," Claudia replied.

Believing they had a long way to go, Alice kicked the tram's window and shattered it, allowing them to listen to the whispers and cries of the dead much louder than before.

Alice tried to keep her composure. Since she knew how the necrotic cores worked, she believed she would be able to resist the cries of the dead. However, she began to get overwhelmed by sadness, though she couldn't understand why.

"I know it's sad. I know it's unfair… I already know all of this, so why do I still feel like this?" Alice pondered aloud.

Claudia kept looking at her partner with curiosity, and she could see that Alice had a strong sense of justice. Even when the woman tried to portray herself as an unemotional detective, her sympathy for the deceased was apparent.

Before Claudia could speak up to help ease some of Alice's concerns, the ex-detective unsheathed her double-edged black sword and stabbed the core in the center, making it shatter.

'No hesitation… I like this woman,' Claudia thought.

As Alice started inspecting inside the cart, she looked for a way to start the tram, wanting to use it to travel to another corrupted district.

Claudia had been the one carrying Alice since she could fly with her vampire wings, but the ex-detective wanted to scout the areas from the ground, as it made it easier to spot the necrotic cores.

However, when Claudia sensed something powerful approaching, she quickly entered the tram and grabbed Alice before rushing out from the other window.

Not even a second after leaving the cart, a beam of light appeared from above and landed on the tram, burning it and leaving it entirely charred.

"What the fuck was that!?" Alice pondered loudly, looking up and noticing an armored man hovering in the air.

"The supposed Holy Death Knight…" Claudia replied.

The vampire lady had heard about Isidor from her older brother, Balthazar, who encountered the knight in the city of Cerulis, but the two of them were forced to retreat as they couldn't kill each other.

"Hmm, he looks a bit tired, though…" Claudia continued.

The pair wasn't aware that Isidor had encountered Dante less than half an hour ago, and after Netherius healed his wounds, he was sent back to the city to take care of the other mafia members.

The Death Knights were ordered to stay away from Dante, but anyone else had to be killed, and after Isidor sensed one of the cores being destroyed, he traveled to the tram station to check on it.

"Another vampire and… Hmm?" Isidor said aloud, focusing his gaze on Alice.

At first, Isidor couldn't recognize the strange aura flowing from the woman, so he began descending to the ground as he delved into his own thoughts.

"How blasphemous…" Isidor muttered, slowly realizing the type of person that Alice was.

"A dark paladin!? Who do you think you are, woman!?" Isidor said, pointing his finger at the ex-detective, who raised an eyebrow in confusion.

While Alice knew that she was denominated a "dark paladin," she didn't truly understand what it meant, especially to people who praised the gods of Terra.

The fact that Alice had such a strong sense of justice, combined with her contract with Dante, turned her into a dark paladin.

She didn't care for other gods who didn't have anything to do with her world, and she didn't care where the source of her power came from. As long as she could fight on the same level as her opponents, none of those details mattered to her.

"It must be destiny that I survived my encounter with Hellslayer…" Isidor continued muttering, grasping the long sword on his back.

"I will not allow such blasphemy to exist. Not even in this world," the Holy Death Knight stated, prompting the two women to prepare themselves for a fight.