Abyss
"We absolutely mustn't go back to Robert's villa. That oil painting has completely turned into a terrifying disaster..."
Angelila said gravely, "I need to find someone. Maybe he's the only one who can deal with all this!"
"Why... why are you helping me?" Nietzsche rasped.
"Maybe... because we're the same kind of person..." Angelila gave a bitter smile and exposed a mark on her arm. "We're both poor wretches fated to be sacrificed to an evil god!"
"A Sin Mark? It looks a little different!" Nietzsche's pupils contracted, but he believed her at once. "I'll go with you!"
"Mm. The police and my superiors at the Investigation Department will take care of things here... Come with me!"
Angelila took Nietzsche by the arm, hired a carriage, and rode to the slums of Kimbert City.
Nietzsche knew this place all too well.
The houses were short and packed together, encroaching on the roads. The drainage ditches stank, and most of the residents were ragged and gaunt, their eyes numb, though sometimes a flicker of madness showed through.
This was the largest slum in Kimbert City, a place the self-proclaimed elites of high society would never dare set foot in. Otherwise, there was a good chance they'd become a corpse in the sewage ditch by the next day.
Angelila, however, knew her way around. She wound through the streets and alleys until they reached a row of cramped shacks by the river.
The stench was even worse here. Farther upstream, there were numerous textile mills and chemical plants, and the whole river ran black. Many corpses floated on its surface.
Nietzsche couldn't help frowning. "Who... are we here to find?"
"A Wizard... Have you ever heard the name Mandala?" Angelila's expression grew terribly solemn.
"I have. One of Vincent's most important