Late at night, on the north bank of the Tussock River that flows through East Borough, there is a river embankment full of garbage.
Wearing a windbreaker with a raised collar and no red gloves, Leonard Mitchell stretched his left hand forward, his fingertips touching the chest of a translucent humanoid soul.
The resentful soul let out a cry of reluctance, which was carried far away in the wind, making Leonard frown, and wanted to use a handsome slogan that he had thought about for several days:
"Failed to appease, prepare Purification!"
... Then take out the revolver and use Exorcism Bullet to cleanly solve all troubles...
It's a pity that he can only think about this kind of thing in his head. Whether it is for performance or covert action, "pacification" is the best solution to avoid ordinary people noticing the existence of extraordinary power.
Fortunately, the innocent soul in front of him quickly calmed down, and the violent and bloodthirsty fire in its eyes faded away. Then its figure faded and disappeared, allowing the river bank that had previously echoed with weird cries and evil winds to regain its tranquility.
Draw Crimson Moon on the chest, Leonard turned back expressionlessly and left this haunted place.
In the past six months, there have been more reports of hauntings and supernatural events in East Borough than in all other areas of Backlund combined... Too many people died in that Great Smog, and countless bodies had not had time to be cleaned. Usually, most of them were the souls formed after the death of wild animals and Spirituality creatures, but now they are mainly humans. This has never happened before since the implementation of "Graveyard Burial Method" in the early days of Fifth Epoch...
Of course, in these incidents of appeasing and Purification the wronged souls, he also fully digested the Potion of "Soul Assurer", and from time to time he had a feeling: in his other "Red Gloves "" team members all joined Lord Cesimir's team. When they went to search for a secret place outside the city all day long, he was deliberately left behind by Archbishop and assigned to various districts to carry out intensive "exorcism" tasks. Is there a factor of "deliberate cultivation"?
Not sure, let's see again...
Silently sighing, Leonard came to the street lamp, got on the two-wheeled carriage with Police Badge, drove it himself, and soon returned to the door of a brand new Church of the Evernight Goddess, and met his temporary partner, a young female "Gravedigger" at the underground Nighthawks station.
This person was recently transferred from Pritz Harbor to Backlund Nighthawks of East Borough is called Rosa. His facial skin has the roughness common among seaside residents, but his dark blue eyes sparkle with curiosity. In Leonard crossed out line by line and handed her the document recording his results of the night. After getting the autopsy report of "East Borough Serial Murder Case", this line of sight has been following Leonard's back.
"Mr. Mitchell, do you think this is really a continuation of the serial murder case last year?"
Great Smog only came here, so Rosa, who had never experienced that tense moment, finally couldn't hold back and expressed his doubts.
"You can call me Mitchell, or just Leonard... The possibility you mentioned is very low, but it cannot be ruled out that it is a similar case involving another Beyonder."
Leonard replied casually, glancing at this "Gravedigger".
The personality of the other party was completely different from the two ladies with the same Pathway he had met before. Lorotta, who went to Tingen to support the "Antigonus Notebook" mission, liked to wear men's clothes and had some kind of peculiar personality. Ms. Daly has hobbies, but is generally quiet and kind; Ms. Daly has a flamboyant appearance, and will make men uncomfortable with dirty jokes from time to time, but is delicate and sensitive on the inside. It was not until the captain was "resurrected" that he unified the inside and outside, becoming a restrained and confident complete character.
Rosa is a bit... carefree.
This is his conclusion during two days of East Borough support.
Lorotta has been promoted to "Spirit Medium" and has his own team. When he sees Leonard from time to time, he will express his regrets about Angel's "passing away". "Go" to express regret and nostalgia. Ms. Daly is helping "Goddess's Sword" conduct investigations in the countryside. I heard that "Gatekeeper"'s Potion Acting Rule summed it up well.
I'm behind schedule again... The strings in his mind suddenly tightened, and he quickly opened several autopsy reports and searched for the key points without bothering to chat with Rosa.
With the help of the church's internal "professional" report, which is different from the police autopsy report, the experienced Leonard quickly drew the conclusion that he had already suspected from the photos, detailed written reports, and analysis based on supernatural power.
"The person who committed the crime was not Beyonder of 'Criminal' Pathway. This can be easily confirmed just from the fact that the body did not lose its internal organs and the time between death." He raised his head and said to Rosa who looked confused, but not to "Devil" Promotion Ritual explained too much, "I think this is the work of the 'assassins' Pathway who have Cursed Black Flame and are proficient in hiding, assassination and Anti-Divination skills. Their Sequence 7 is also called 'Witch'. They are a... mostly evil group."
Unfortunately, just confirming this point is of little significance. The other party Anti-Divination did a good job. Sequence's "Seer" or "Spirit Medium" can't do anything to her... Looking at the conclusions written by East Borough Nighthawks and others after their attempts, Leonard sighed softly.
Sealed Artifact that can break through Anti-Divination is not rare in Backlund Diocese, but most of them are sealed underground in Saint Samuel Cathedral. To use it requires appropriate reasons, cumbersome procedures and a team of Nighthawks protection, which is not suitable for such "simple cases".
Do we have to wait for that "Witch" to kill a few more people and cause a major case, and then report it to Archbishop or the senior deacon and apply for the use of high-level Sealed Artifact? Although the deceased were all gang leaders or wild Beyonder whose hands were stained with blood, it does not mean that the church can just let it go. This is tantamount to challenging the jurisdiction of Nighthawks over East Borough...
Leonard was thinking, and suddenly thought of how he cooperated with Angel and Klein when he was Tingen City to investigate cases of multiple mysterious deaths, and finally relied on on-site visits and logical reasoning to solve the case. He glanced at several files and had a plan in his mind.
At this moment, the boundless gray-white mist suddenly appeared in front of him, as well as a figure bowing his head in prayer in the mist, and the somewhat low and hoarse voice of "The World" Gehrman came to his ears:
"Great Mr. Fool, please tell 'Star' Leonard Mitchell that Angel and I have new information about 'Blasphemer' Amon. I would like to request a meeting between us to be held in your country to discuss follow-up responses. I hope you can agree."
Then there was a voice full of majesty, but not serious:
"There will be a 'temporary meeting' in ten minutes. Also, there is no need to hide Pales Zoroaster."
This is the instruction of Mr. "Fool"!
Leonard jumped up and stood up from the chair. The documents on his knees fell to the floor, causing Rosa who was sorting things out to look over curiously.
"Sorry, I... go to the bathroom."
In his haste, he forced out a smile and said, and then quickly left Nighthawks's underground residence, leaving behind "Gravedigger" who couldn't hold back his smile.
This is a good excuse, but if I use it every time, will people think I have some hidden illness...
As he walked towards the bathroom, Leonard muttered. Seeing no one around, he lowered his voice and asked:
"Old Man, did you hear the sound just now and see the scene just now?"
"There's something unusual," the old voice in his head immediately responded, "But I didn't hear anything."
That's good... No, that's such a pity... Leonard thought about it and continued to whisper:
"My two former colleagues said they found clues about Amon and invited me to Mr. Fool's country for discussion. Do you have any good suggestions?"
This time, Pallez remained silent for a longer time. It was not until Leonard entered the bathroom, locked the door, and began to arrange Wall of Spirituality that he spoke again.
"Tell them everything I told you about Amon, and let them know the difficulties involved, so that these people will not act recklessly... Unless you have the protection of 'secret', solving one clone will only attract more clones. What's more, a minimum clone has the strength of Sequence 4, plus his high status... If your colleagues can run away, it will be considered a victory."
More clones... Leonard sniffed, feeling that "Blasphemer" Amon's Avatar was hidden in the dust in the bathroom.
Red Light flashed, "Star" Leonard appeared next to the long bronze table filled with Gray Fog. He subconsciously looked on both sides and found that compared with "Tarot Club" a week ago, At this time, the spacious palace seemed even more empty. Except for myself, "Empress" Angel and "The World" Klein, the other nineteen high-back chairs were empty, and even Mr. "Fool" was not there!
After confirming this, his somewhat reserved attitude began to relax, reaching the edge of his throat. He swallowed back the greeting to "Fool" and casually assumed a comfortable sitting posture, almost raising his legs on the table like he usually did in Red Gloves's office.
Klein, who noticed the tendency of Leonard's movements through Spirituality, gave the other party a cold look. Then he remembered that he was "the world" today and not "Fool". He coughed lightly, his eyes softened a little, and he said:
"Did you tell Pales Zoroaster about this?"
He knows about Old Man... Well, that Dwayne Dantès knows about it, so the other followers of Fool also know about it. Have they been sharing information?
Leonard thought, nodded and said:
"He asked me to remind you..."
After paraphrasing Old Man's words, he asked the doubts in his heart:
"What's going on? Did you meet Amon's Avatar at Backlund?"
He naturally thought that the two of them would meet one clone at most. After all, if it was the original body, the two figures in the meeting might have been disguised by Amon... Thinking of this, Leonard glanced at the empty high-backed chair at the head of the long table.
"In fact, I met many..." Angel took over and repeated what he said to Arianna some time ago, "... the harvest is three things'Worm of Time', and the possible conspiracy of Amon's Avatar... They seem to be looking for some key information, and are absorbing 'Marauder' Beyonder Characteristic in order to multiply themselves."
No wonder Old Man became silent during that period. It wasn't until I left Backlund with the help of a mission and went to the Southern Continent that he became active again. It turns out that he was also worried about being found by Amon and devouring Beyonder Characteristic... Wait a minute, isn't Amon's Avatar just looking for him?
After thinking about it, Leonard asked this question, and then watched Angel and Klein look at each other in surprise, and then moved their eyes to him.
"Leonard, didn't you always know that Pales Zoroaster is the Sequence 1 of 'Marauder'?"
After a while, Klein put his hands on his chin, lowered his eyes, and spoke in a low tone.