communion

"Rachel." Cantrella waved to Rachel who was sitting on the branch of the ancient tree, "Come down."

"Okay!" Rachel showed a sweet and bubbling smile, and threw herself into Cantrella's arms with incomparable precision, but was cut off by Cesare halfway, and was forced to straighten to compare her height.

Rachel said that César was really deceiving people too much, kicked César's calf angrily, and ran away in a hurry.

César did not catch her and beat her up as usual, but shrugged Cantrella and said in a very soft voice, "It still hasn't grown taller at all." His eyes were full of seriousness and worry The human father of one's own child is no different.

Cantrella frowned, "There is nothing wrong with her body, why did she stop growing?"

"Maybe." César rubbed his chin to guess, "Rachel will secretly throw away food she doesn't like—just like a picky eater human child."

However, this unreliable conjecture was quickly overturned—at lunch time, Cantrella and César were secretly observing Rachel under the pretext that they had something to go out, and saw——

Rachel poured the stew over the rice, scooped up a big spoonful, and blah blah.

Rachel peeled a handful of nuts, crack crack.

Rachel picked up the mixed juice and gurgled.

Rachel ate and drank enough, jumped off the chair, and went to swing in the courtyard with two short legs.

Cantrella turned to César: "Is this what children eat?"

César coughed in embarrassment: "After all, Rachel is very... full of energy."

Since then, why Rachel didn't grow up has become the biggest unsolved mystery of Tartaros, and it is also the most troubled question for Cantrera and César. The speed of growth, while thinking of various methods - after all, it is too cruel for a girl to stay at the age of five forever.

However, turning points always appear inadvertently.

One night, the barrier of Tartarus was touched again after two years, and the ones that fell were still artificial demons, much larger than before, with thinner human features. Completely dead, the densely packed eyes on the torso are half-opened, as if looking at the two of them.

"Bad taste." Cantrella was disgusted by this strange looking monster, "You do it."

"Okay." César responded lightly, but just as he was about to "destroy the corpse and wipe out the traces", a child's soft voice suddenly sounded from behind.

"What are you doing?" Rachel rubbed her eyes and looked behind Cecil curiously.

Cantrella took a quick step forward, and together with César, blocked the artificial demon behind him, "It's an animal corpse, it's better for children not to look at it."

"Hmm..." Rachel pondered for a moment, "Then can we take this animal home and cook it?"

"What... what?" Cantrella was dumbfounded.

"It smells really delicious. Rachel was sleeping, but its scent woke Rachel up." Rachel showed a pleading look, "Just take a small bite, okay?"

"Yes." César suddenly said, "But it looks a little scary, you have to be mentally prepared."

After César finished speaking, he pulled Cantrella aside, squeezed his palm reassuringly, and whispered in a low voice: "Don't worry, Rachel is not that fragile. This might be a turning point."

On the other side, the half-dead artificial demon showed its full shape in front of Rachel's eyes. Rachel was shocked, and the bear doll she was holding fell to the ground.

"You scared her." Cantrella frowned, "The growth of artificial demons is too bad for children's physical and mental health."

"Not necessarily." César showed a meaningful smile, "I don't think she's afraid, but rather...excited."

While the two were talking, Rachel had already walked in front of the artificial demon. Her eyes were wide open, showing hot red gold. Instinctively, Rachel stretched out her hands to the artificial demon. Countless red thread-like tentacles sprang out. They hardened rapidly in the air, wrapped the body of the artificial demon, and ground it into a meat paste like a meat grinder. Immediately afterwards, Rachel's palms turned outward, and her two sharp teeth The staggered mouths appeared in the palms of the hands respectively, and soon turned into big mouths taller than adults, swallowing the artificial demon cleanly.

Cantrella was dumbfounded again.

Rachel wiped her mouth, ran to the two of them with a smile, said shyly, "Hi."

Rachel blushed, and said again: "I..."

Unexpectedly, before the words were spoken, there was only a sound of "stab--", and Rachel's pink nightgown with ruffled leaves was torn a big tear.

"Huh?" Rachel looked at her body suspiciously, "Rachel swelled up."

"That's not bloating." Cecil took off his coat and put it on Rachel's head. "You've grown up—you look ten years old now."

"Really?" Rachel also found that she had grown a lot taller, and ran around happily.

"Go back to your room and go to sleep." César slapped Rachel's forehead with an impatient face, "I will make you new clothes tomorrow."

Rachel accepted the words and ran back happily.

"What's going on here?" Cantrella was completely out of touch with what happened tonight, and looked at Cesar in some confusion, his purple eyes were as moist as if they were soaked in dew.

César chuckled, gently wrapped his arms around Cantrella's waist, raised his chin, and placed a kiss on his lips, speaking at such a short distance, "I had a vague guess earlier, Maybe Rachel didn't grow up because of my blood."

"Blood?"

"Artificial demons have a part of human genes, that is to say, they are living creatures, they have birth, old age, sickness and death. In order to treat Rachel, I fed her my blood, so the internal balance of her body was destroyed—— Apparently my blood had the upper hand and as a result, Rachel's life stood still."

"So Rachel needs to eat other artificial demons to absorb some kind of 'gene', plus the original one in her body, to temporarily restrain your blood so that you can grow?"

"That's right." César snapped her fingers, "In short, Rachel wants to hunt artificial demons if she wants to grow up."

"Can't you take your blood away?" Cantrera sighed, "It's too much to eat artificial demons..."

"Without my blood, Rachel will soon become an artificial demon."

Cantrella lowered his eyes and smiled wryly, "Rachel acted so much like an ordinary child that I forgot..."

César hugged Cantrera tighter, "It's okay to forget, she is just a child in Tartarus."

"Hmm." Cantrera smiled slowly.

After that, the memory became blurred—intermittent like a broken video tape, and Cantrella could only vaguely see César taking Rachel out several times, and finally let Rachel grow into a ten-year-old girl. A girl of five or six years old.

In the end, Cantrella saw Rachel's blood-stained face, she was holding a sword, her original gorgeous dress became tattered, her usual carefree expression was replaced by hatred and killing intent, She hugged Cantrella heavily, gritted her teeth and said, "I'm leaving."

The girl turned and left resolutely, wiped away the uncontrollable tears, and said loudly: "Mom, you must come back alive!"