Five minutes later, figures appeared in the sewer, surrounding it from all directions. The sound of footsteps splashing through sewage made the originally quiet area lively again.
Most of them wore well-tailored military uniforms, with a few in black windbreakers moving nimbly. The one leading them carried a pure white bone sword, his face resolute but full of exhaustion—it was the "Sword of the Goddess" Crescent Cesima. He hadn't even had time to change his tattered windbreaker and casually wore it draped over him. His face was still somewhat pale, his strength not recovered much.
But he knew clearly that Lanervus, who had escaped from the union dormitory, was in even worse condition.
The trackers arriving from all directions soon discovered that earlier battlefield. Several Nightwatcher "Red Gloves" members with dark vision quickly stepped forward and surrounded the corpse lying face-up in the sewage.
Cesima leaned on his bone sword, half-squatted down, and extended his hand to test Lanervus's vital signs. A Nightwatcher with dark vision retrieved the severed arm. He took it and aligned it with Lanervus's left arm that was severed at the elbow—it fit perfectly.
"It seems someone carried out a massacre."
A Loen soldier who approached with an oil lamp to observe said. He had been waiting on the perimeter to prevent any incidents requiring civilian evacuation and didn't understand the details of the battle. Seeing Lanervus's miserable death state, he even showed sympathy.
Several Nightwatchers disagreed. As the chief culprit of the Tingen tragedy, they didn't mind how ugly Lanervus's death was. They were just curious about who had killed this fleeing Beyonder ahead of them.
The corpse riddled with wounds had Tarot cards spread all over Lanervus's body. Cesima reached out and lifted several cards, discovering that like those face-up, they were all "Empress" cards.
The cards looked new, seemingly just opened, but the design was ordinary and featureless—the kind you could find anywhere, impossible to trace their origin.
Setting down the Tarot cards and looking at Lanervus's severed arm, the ritual dagger at his chest, and the wounds on his chest and shoulder, Cesima pondered thoughtfully.
He felt this wasn't a massacre but rather a carefully designed ritual with symbolic meaning.
Looking up, the soldiers around him were discussing in low voices, and the Nightwatchers all wore puzzled expressions.
This senior deacon had some thoughts but needed to return to Saint Samuel Cathedral for verification.
Avoiding the gas lamps visible everywhere on the road, Angel returned to the safe house in the East Borough with trepidation.
She first changed out of the cloak and pants covered in blood and sewage, took a bath, and washed off Lanervus's blood from her body—especially the dried blood on her right hand that had pierced through his body. Then she carefully stored the clothes, pants, and weapons, ready to clean them with black flames tomorrow to avoid divination, and changed into another set of clothes she had prepared in the safe house.
Only then did she have time to reflect on this "killing" operation.
That Lanervus could escape from the siege led by "Sword of the Goddess" Cesima was somewhat beyond Angel's expectations. This was most likely related to the trace of the "True Creator's" divinity in him.
But she had planned ahead, fully armed and waiting nearby. Using the magic mirror's divination, she successfully determined the escape route of Lanervus, who had lost his divinity and could no longer interfere with divination. She blocked his only path and killed this fraudster who had created the evil god descent tragedy in Tingen City.
And before his death, Angel returned all the wounds from Klein and Captain Dunn who sacrificed in Tingen City to this chief culprit.
She had originally wanted to trigger his loss of control during battle, letting Lanervus die with blood flowing from his mouth and nose and all his blood vessels bursting, to avenge those innocent civilians who died in the park but left no names in her heart.
Unfortunately, time was limited. Angel still followed her selfish desires and prioritized those two people she knew.
But it didn't matter. There was still another chief culprit at large—Ince Zangwill.
He couldn't escape punishment either.
For some reason, the Aurora Order had begun attempting to summon their "True Creator" again in Backlund, and the Witch Sect seemed to be stirring up trouble too. Behind this, there might be Zangwill and his sealed artifact at work. Angel believed that as long as she improved her strength and patiently tracked him, she would eventually catch that guy's trail.
At that time, everything that happened to Lanervus today would happen once more to that apostate Archbishop. And perhaps by then, Angel could think of some new tricks.
With a relieved smile, gripping the citrine that made her feel secure, she quickly fell asleep on the simple bed in the East Borough safe house.
"Coming to visit so early doesn't seem like your usual style."
At the Hall Earl's mansion in Queens, Audrey looked at the excited Viscount Glaint in the reception room, then glanced at the sun just rising outside the window.
"That's because I have important news I want to tell you."
Glaint looked around cautiously and, finding that the maids had been dismissed by Audrey and there was no third person present—only Audrey's golden retriever lying by the table—he lowered his voice to continue.
"On my way here, I ran into Constance—you know, the one who joined MI9. He told me shocking news."
"You should have heard of the Aurora Order, right? The cult that claimed responsibility for assassinating the ambassador. They were raided by the military last night in the middle of the night. Airships were deployed for the siege, foiling a dangerous plot and taking down several important members."
Aurora Order... I remember they worship the "True Creator." So, could this be a secret operation by the Church of the Evernight? Hugh should have reported Lanervus's matter yesterday afternoon...
As Audrey pondered this, Glaint, unable to contain his words, had already continued on his own:
"One of them was the previously wanted fraudster named Lanervus. I heard he swindled over ten thousand pounds in Tingen. Who would have thought this person was connected to the 'Aurora Order' and escaped to Backlund planning some major plot."
"You said he was taken down, meaning..."
Audrey thought of Hugh's earlier request and pressed for details.
"Of course he's dead, but not at the hands of those pursuing him. This is the strange thing I wanted to mention. His body was found in the sewers. His death was horrific, covered with a pile of Tarot cards—all 'Empress' cards. Just imagine how bizarre that is..."
Tarot cards, and Empress cards at that!
Audrey's eyes widened, almost unable to maintain her "Audience" state.
This was done by our Tarot Club—by Miss "Empress"!
So she had disappeared from the Tarot Club for so long because she was tracking Lanervus, from Tingen City to Backlund, and ultimately beat the official personnel to kill this guy carrying the "True Creator's" divinity.
More importantly, "Justice"—that is, me—also played a key role, providing intelligence and assisting in the investigation.
She almost wanted to pump her fist to cheer herself on, but ultimately calmed down and continued listening to Glaint's endless chatter.
But her eyes wandered, her thoughts completely absent from this reception room, instead floating above Backlund, floating to the level of deities.
Lanervus carried the "True Creator's" divinity, so his plot must have been significant. If he and the Aurora Order had succeeded, they would surely have brought disaster to Backlund, even the entire kingdom. But these plots were easily resolved by a small figure like me under Mr. Fool's coordination.
Of course, in the end it was Miss "Empress" who took action and killed Lanervus.
But I also participated in this deity-level game, and that was really...
Too cool!
Susie, who was somewhat sleepy nearby, looked at Audrey whose cheeks were flushed and Glaint who hadn't noticed the person in front of him had zoned out, and blinked in confusion.
"Please help me retrieve the files on the Tingen City god descent incident."
The exhausted Cesima, having changed into a new windbreaker, sat in a high-backed chair in a conference room beneath Saint Samuel Cathedral and spoke to a Nightwatcher beside him.
After the other party nodded and prepared to leave, he added:
"Also, help me summon all squad captains and deacons for a meeting."
Then he looked at the action report placed on the table before him and fell into contemplation.
Before long, Daly Simone entered the room. She had returned to her previous outfit of a black hooded robe with eye shadow and rouge on her face. She casually found a seat, her eyes sweeping over the unfocused Cesima and landing on the report before him.
Making a sound of surprise, Daly picked up the report and quickly flipped through it. Soon her face showed anger as she inquired in a low voice:
"Why didn't I know about last night's operation?"
"Why didn't you call me when arresting Lanervus?"
"You clearly know what he did!"
Cesima awoke from his contemplation and looked at Daly, who was suppressing her anger, answering:
"Precisely because I know what he did, I didn't notify you. Your participation in the operation would bring unnecessary risks to everyone." He seemed to think of something, the corners of his mouth pulling into a smile, revealing a tooth with an invisible face surfacing. "A Tingen City Nightwatcher currently training in the sanctuary also thinks about revenge all day like you, but I'm responsible for the entire operation team and must eliminate any unstable factors."
"I'm not some new recruit who can't control their emotions. I would be very calm and follow orders." Daly sneered. "My anger would only explode after Lanervus was captured. I would use every punishment I could think of on him. I would make him understand that men are also very fragile..."
She fantasized without any propriety about how to torture Lanervus until Nightwatcher captains and deacons entered the room one by one, making Daly stop her stream of profanity.
Seeing this side of Daly for apparently the first time, Cesima looked at the angry "Spirit Medium" with complex emotions until all participants were seated.
Those squad captains and deacons also looked over with concern. Most had heard about the Tingen City tragedy and Daly's relationship with a certain captain.
A Nightwatcher entered the room and handed Cesima the Tingen City incident files.
The latter flipped through the files while requiring squad captains executing different tasks to report their work. Daly, after her earlier outburst, lost all her strength. Her gaze remained fixed on the report about the siege of Lanervus before her, unmoving.
"The autopsy report on Lanervus shows that besides the massive wound to his chest and abdomen caused during his battle with Cesima, there were four other major wounds and over twenty small wounds distributed throughout his body, many showing burn marks. The fatal injury was a penetrating wound to the chest—not caused by a sharp weapon but seemingly a bare-handed attack from behind. Additionally, there was his left forearm severed at the elbow and a stab wound to the chest caused by a common ritual dagger. Well, we can't rule out that this ritual dagger severed the left arm."
A captain read from the report in his hand.
"Furthermore, there was a similar penetrating wound on his right shoulder, but strangely, the clothing there showed no damage, as if..."
"As if the wound was transferred there from elsewhere, right?"
Cesima, who had been reading the files, raised his head and interjected. He then threw the file in his hand onto the table. The nearest deacon took it and glanced at it.
"Very similar to those three people's death states, right?"
He seemed to be asking the deacon examining the file, but his eyes were fixed on Daly.
"...Yes," Daly answered, her voice somewhat hoarse, as if from her earlier shouting. "Dunn's chest wound was moved to the right shoulder, but he still bled out... Klein's left arm was severed by a sharp weapon, his chest pierced from behind, and Angel..."
"That Tingen witch was killed by a sharp weapon piercing her heart."
The deacon holding the Tingen City files took over.
"No, she wasn't a witch!"
Daly, still angry, glared at the deacon, then as if coming to her senses, said "Sorry" and sat back in her high-backed chair.
The deacon looked somewhat confused and offended but, seeing the complex gazes from his colleagues around him, said nothing.
"This isn't the time for arguing, is it? Besides, aren't we discussing Backlund matters? Angel Granger was our colleague and a hero who died for Tingen. Please don't refer to her that way again in the future."
Sost, sitting on the other side of the long table, smoothed things over, though his inclination was very obvious, drawing a strange look from the deacon who had misspoken.
"Alright, continue the report."
Cesima brought the topic back on track.
"Lanervus's body was covered with many Tarot cards. This may be some kind of symbolic ritual, or perhaps the killer's personal habit. We lean toward the former. This is very likely an organization we don't yet understand conducting activities."
"Any leads from the informant?"
"The tip forwarded from Silveras Field was an anonymous letter, and the tip to Saint Samuel Cathedral was arranged by a bounty hunter whose companion was killed during the investigation of Lanervus's activities, making the bounty hunter resentful enough to report him."
Another captain answered.
"Following this lead, we traced it to the gas explosion incident on Darawe Street in the East Borough on Friday night. Police at the time discovered traces of Beyonder power and reported it to the Machinery Hivemind squad responsible for that area. The final investigation hasn't come out yet, but local witnesses saw a female fighting a tall enemy. From testimonies, we determined it was a 'Witch' and a 'Rose Bishop.'"
Rose Bishop?
Cesima remembered Lanervus saying "stupid Rose Bishop" before escaping. It seemed very likely to be this Beyonder who killed and set fires in the East Borough.
But who was that "Witch"?
Lanervus's body had multiple burn marks—this also belonged to the "Witch's" ability to control cursed flames...
Looking at the deacon who had just called out "Tingen's witch," he remembered the woman he had seen at the Tranquility Church—Angel Granger.
He hadn't expected she would find leads so quickly and begin her revenge operation.
Putting away his thoughts, Cesima didn't continue discussing the "Witch" topic but instead talked with them about the "True Creator's" plot and possible follow-up actions the Aurora Order might take.
Daly, having regained her composure, looked thoughtfully at Cesima, who had shifted topics, and fell into contemplation.
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival... 4000 words, shall we count this as bonus content?