Shani's earlier assessment had been right. Old Edward really did have a sense of humor.
After being stabbed, he had actually hidden in Loren's marshal's residence in Fog City. It had been sealed up for a long time, making it exactly the sort of hideout that was hard to find.
With his condition critical, Old Edward was personally escorted by the Venerable One to Base R-9 for treatment. He wouldn't recover anytime soon, but Murphy was very curious about how the Grand Duke of Wolfsbane's injuries had gotten so bad. After Old Edward was taken away, Murphy looked at Shani and said:
"I know every holy relic of the vampire clans has its own power, but can Fallen Virtue really cause this kind of devastating injury? It actually destroyed his genetic structure. That's even more outrageous than Eternal Silence suppressing vampires, isn't it?"
"No, the injuries weren't caused by Fallen Virtue alone."
Shani shook her head and explained:
"According to the Thorn Principality's records on holy relics, Fallen Virtue only inflicts wounds that cannot heal, making it easier to trigger a vampire's blood hunt. It doesn't have such sinister abilities.
"Perhaps Dusk altered the Thorn relic.
"After all, given Old Edward's current rank and status, he was certainly worth their going to such lengths. And he just said that Lady Cecilia was trying to spread Madblood through Fog City.
"It seems we have reason to suspect that Lady Cecilia has already been infected with Madblood, and that Dusk has abandoned the Wolf Eagle faction and transformed them into more dangerous Bloodrage vampires."
"Then who sent the dangerous Madblood virus to Greeny Island? As far as I can remember, only that one person has the ability to do something like that."
Murphy stood up and reached for the hilt of the