Chapter 82
The air around him felt suffocating as Zavi descended the stairs with careful steps and a growing sense of unease.
He spun the knife in the air to ease his anxiety, catching it several times before stopping the motion as his foot touched the second floor. He slipped the knife into the right pocket of his coat before stepping down the final stairs.
As he moved steadily through the hall of the building shrouded in darkness, lit only by moonlight slipping through broken windows and vents, his steps halted instantly when a chilling sensation seeped into the gaps between his toes, rising and spreading throughout his body.
'What's happening?' he thought in confusion, and in an instant he realized his consciousness had shifted to a place that felt strangely familiar—the house where he had performed the ritual in a remote area of Vica. For a brief moment, he saw a woman in a lace dress adorned with black rose patterns staring at him with a confident smile, before his body jolted as his awareness snapped back.
His jaw tightened, his fingers gripping the edge of his shirt as anger burned within his chest. He didn't know why, but one thing was certain, he would find that woman after finishing what he had to do.
"That bitch is starting to show herself," he muttered with a sharp gaze. "I'll find you and... I'll make you pay."
Once again, he saw a woman dressed in the same style as the one he had encountered before not just once, but three times including today. Zavi had no idea who that mysterious figure truly was, and it left him both puzzled and restless, pushing him to seek out Aurora for answers. That same figure even knew his real name.
'Is she the reason I ended up in this body? But... maybe I should thank her.' Zavi smiled faintly at the thought, already sick of Earth and somewhat grateful to be in this world, even if its condition wasn't much different from where he came from, he was still grateful.
His plan remained unchanged. Find the group to gather information about the requirements to reach the second level of Prisoner, Motivation, and track down that mysterious woman. After that, he would think about finding his family, whose fate remained unknown, whether they were still alive or not.
After thinking it through more thoroughly, Zavi stretched his neck muscles and flexed his fingers before continuing forward.
After taking two steps, he tilted his head back again and observed how the effects of the explosion he caused were spreading more and more erratically.
"Is that all?" he muttered while scanning his surroundings, especially the building where the man's corpse was.
'There's no way he was alone. Where are his allies, or maybe...'
Not wanting to dwell on it, Zavi continued walking. Eventually, he stood right in the middle of the intersection, deliberately making himself conspicuous, hoping the strange unease gnawing at his mind would disappear.
He waited for far too long, yet not a single person attacked him despite his exposed position.
....
Elsewhere, on Main Street No. 3 Huween, specifically in Neolo, Zuhen and Felina had set their trap in the area several minutes earlier. Now, the two sat on the edge of the sidewalk, disguising themselves as ordinary people, though they both knew it made little difference.
They sat side by side, but oddly, the atmosphere around the sidewalk was eerily quiet as each of them remained absorbed in their own thoughts.
Felina wanted to voice the thoughts that had been troubling her all this time. But she hesitated, even though she had asked before and never received a clear answer prior to meeting Zavi on the road to the town square.
Having made up her mind and feeling that this was the right moment, Felina finally opened her mouth and spoke in a soft tone directed at Zuhen.
"There's something I want to ask. Will you answer it?" she asked, looking at Zuhen with watery blue eyes.
Zuhen turned, his pale blue eyes staring deeply into hers.
"Just say what you want to ask. Depending on the question, I'll answer."
Felina took a deep breath and spoke with a slightly raised voice, "About your goal of going to Havanuheta to capture that man, and continuing all the way to Moran, do you have another motive in helping him find information about advancing his ability level?"
"That..." Zuhen hesitated, but after carefully observing Felina's face, he continued, "it's simply my own desire. Before this, I didn't have any purpose in life at all, except to escape and survive, until my curiosity about the destruction of this city, and the news about a man being hunted by the Finiscya organization and sect led me to search for him.
"After arriving in Moran, you and I fought the demon horse with great difficulty. The battle lasted quite a while until it reached its peak, and I noticed something strange about one of the demon horses we defeated. I figured there had to be something causing it. When I tried to confirm it, I heard a whisper telling me to leave the barrier immediately and meet the man outside. When we fought together in the forest, I saw, or rather, Tell informed me—that there was another Recipestele creature residing on his left shoulder, and that creature was categorized as a type of ghost. Tell began acting strangely after seeing it, urging me to distance myself from it, saying I would end up carrying out that same plan you already know about."
Felina nodded in response.
Zuhen paused briefly, taking a breath before pulling out a cigarette pack that contained only one stick. The last one.
He tossed the empty pack into a trash bin behind him and lit the cigarette before returning to his previous spot.
Thin smoke lingered in the air for a long moment, as if reacting to the tension.
Zuhen held the cigarette between his fingers and continued.
"And when I was hit by Aaron's Exorscist attack back then, I saw something strange that reminded me of an incident six years ago. It revived a goal I had buried back then, something I had given up on because of my own weakness. And to pursue it, I'll search for information on the location of a man named Hein Warlock from the group Zavi Actitus is looking for."
"Does that answer your curiosity?" Zuhen asked, taking a drag while tilting his head back.
"No," Felina replied calmly.
Zuhen was clearly surprised. His gaze immediately locked onto Felina's flushed face and her tightly clenched hands resting on her thighs.
'Wait… could she know that man was the one who had her kidnapped and used as a ritual sacrifice along with others? And also… killed her brother?' Zuhen thought, taking another drag to bury his thoughts in fleeting comfort.
Felina exhaled before speaking firmly,
"I don't want you getting involved with that man again. And you being hunted by major hidden organizations and underworld groups, won't that only make your life even harder?"
"You're too naive, Felina," Zuhen said calmly.
"What did you say?" Felina's eyes widened at his response.
"Hein Warlock is the key to a peaceful life in the future. And it's also time for me to repay what he did to me… and because I saved you from that vile ritual." Zuhen could no longer suppress the anger boiling within him as he spoke the man's name.
Felina fell silent. She wanted to speak, but the words refused to come out. This time, she had truly lost—and yet, from the bottom of her heart, she was grateful for being saved and freed from that living hell.
....
Elsewhere, in a corner of Negees Alley, Aaron had completed his task far more easily than the others, acting as the trigger for the explosions within the barrier and the barrage of invisible needles.
Now, he stood atop the roof of a house with a chimney beside him, waiting for the signal launched by Zavi before making his move.
....
Meanwhile, at the same place where Zavi stood, right in the middle of the intersection to draw attention.
'Looks like I'll blow this place up too,' he thought as he continued walking straight ahead.
He stopped after putting some distance between himself and the spot, then summoned two foxes. The moment they fully formed, they instantly collapsed and triggered an explosion.
Boom!!
Zavi continued walking as thick black smoke rose high behind him, and the flames spreading to nearby buildings made the scene even more chaotic.
After walking for quite some time, he realized the diversion wasn't going as smoothly as he had expected. It made him hesitate before causing more explosions across Street No. 2 Syrp.
'Where are you? Why haven't you shown up yet, damn it.'
He thought, both confused and irritated, feeling his efforts were completely pointless.
To lure out any group possibly hiding underground, Zavi decided to search for drainage channels along the street. After a long search, he finally found one at the entrance of an alley.
He stood still for a few seconds before his body froze again, forming several fox figures directly from within the drainage channel, then detonating them instantly. His body lifted slightly into the air before gravity pulled it back down.
His coat fluttered briefly before a powerful gust burst out from the iron grates beneath the sidewalk and slammed into him.
He blocked it with his arm, and made a slight mistake.
The ground to his right began to crack. The sound of splitting earth grew louder until it reached right beside his feet. Zavi felt a violent tremor beneath the ground.
'What the hell is happening? Did I just blow up a gas pipeline too?'
"Idiot."
He immediately dashed away, using manifested spiritual energy and the basic ability of Prisoner to propel himself to higher ground and keep moving forward, distancing himself from the area.
But not long after running at full speed, his breathing became unstable due to his inadequate physical condition.
"Damn it."
A sharp hissing sound of gas echoed from beneath the ground, signaling that the pipes holding it back wouldn't last much longer.
Just as Zavi was about to leap onto another house, the inevitable explosion occurred. Caught within its range and unable to avoid it, he instantly shifted to the location he had been at twenty minutes earlier, by imagining it. The intersection.
Boom!!
Not far from where he stood, a towering plume of scorching black smoke mixed with flames rose into the sky like a mushroom cloud.
The sky, which had been clear and filled with shimmering stars, instantly turned pale gray from the gas explosion.
Zavi stared at it, unable to hide his shock, goosebumps rising across his skin.
....
From another location on the northern side of Syrp Street, a group of people witnessed the event with disbelief, their mouths agape.
Children and women screamed hysterically, making the already tense atmosphere even worse.
Murmurs spread through the suffocating panic.
"Run, quickly!"
"Leave this city as fast as possible!"
"This is strange, first a comet, now explosions?"
"Are we really going to abandon our homes?"
"Stop talking," a man beside them snapped. "Let's gather what we need and move to another route toward the station. That's our destination now."
The woman nodded in agreement before turning and running back into her house to retrieve essential belongings.
....
Meanwhile, in the center of Street No. 1 Yahmene, specifically in the Nasdev area, the townspeople, survivors who had previously passed through the small forest with the earlier group, along with three officers, watched the explosion with puzzled and disbelieving expressions.
"That came from Street No. 2 Syrp, didn't it?" one man asked.
"I know that, but is something happening there?" another replied uncertainly.
Meanwhile, the group from the earlier meeting gathered and formed a line.
"Something's happening over there," Fererra voiced with a serious expression.
"Yes, it's possible," Natasya replied calmly.
Zeta quickly approached Arvrenda and whispered,
"Could it be that group?"
Arvrenda seemed to realize something.
"Perhaps, but I don't know the exact truth," Arvrenda replied while adjusting his glasses.
Meanwhile, Aurora, who stood silently at the very back of the line, lifted her head toward the thick black smoke rising into the sky along with the flames. Her deep blue eyes flickered, as if something disturbed her thoughts the moment she saw it.