Ince Zangwill felt that he had been rather lucky lately. The evil spirit attached to him had become more rational, 0-08 had not caused any trouble recently, and even when he encountered Adam today, he had successfully escaped that terrifying bone cathedral with Ouroboros's help and the assistance of that inexplicable lightning.
However, it seemed that his luck had run out.
A beam of deep-black light came from nowhere and enveloped the entire sky. For a moment, Ince Zangwill felt his surroundings grow extraordinarily dim.
As a Nightwatcher who had initially obtained authority over misfortune, Ince Zangwill recognized almost instantly that this was a misfortune ability from the Night Pathway. Without the slightest hesitation, he extended his left palm, intending to combine the abilities of a Gatekeeper and the evil spirit to escape into the spirit world.
Yet nothing around him changed. There was neither the grayish-white sensation that should have accompanied the spirit world's descent nor the chilling gloom of being possessed by an evil spirit. Then 0-08, which had been behaving itself lately, suddenly began writing upon his priest's robe in ornate lettering—
"Oh, heavens! How unfortunate! A Nightwatcher who watches over the night on the Goddess's behalf has been cursed by the Goddess's power. An unidentified force of calamity has struck Ince Zangwill, meaning that he will face endless misfortune. What a tragic affair!"
The passage made the veins in Ince Zangwill's forehead throb. He immediately activated his Gatekeeper ability to restrain the evil spirit within him. Though it would not have much effect on the high-ranking evil spirit attached to him, it could at least remind them that now was not the time to lose their heads.
As Ince Zangwill broke into a run toward the plaza's exit, he spared a thread of attention to communicate