The man clutching the notebook stepped forward and appeared directly in front of Shade. He reached his open right hand toward Shade's chest, only to suddenly dodge backward.
A crimson short knife left a trail of light through the air. The red Moonbeam Greatsword sliced off a corner of the stranger's clothing, but he still managed to evade it.
The stranger had only retreated so he could more easily grab Shade's outstretched hand. Remembering Luvia's and Miss Belinder's warnings, Shade immediately used Laguerre's Leap to evade.
As his figure vanished, the bloody mist released jointly by Mr. Albert and Mr. Bernhardt immediately swallowed the spot where the stranger had been standing.
This highly toxic mist naturally did nothing to the notebook, which was the relic's main body. But amid the chilling sounds of corrosion, the stranger's human skin began dissolving rapidly as he stood in the Red Mist.
He immediately levitated into the air, intending to rise into the sky, but Shade appeared above him and opened his mouth, spewing out another cloud of red mist:
"Corrupt Blood Mist!"
The poisonous mist designed specifically to corrode flesh further accelerated the body's decay. Yet even as its skin dissolved and its flesh rotted, the stranger still reached through the poisonous fog toward Shade's chest as he fell.
The instant his hand touched Shade's chest, Shade felt the badge he wore there buzz with vibration. The Deathbringer Angel's power blocked the first Instant Death Check for him, and then his heart suddenly contracted as the power of Stone Heart took effect as well.
Spirit flowed into the longsword in his hand. Amid the spreading Blood Mist, the phantom of a pure white Angel appeared behind Shade out of thin air. The stranger, now completely transformed into a "blood man" by the corrosion,