Hunting the Demoness Alone

Seeing that the Curse had failed to kill the Demoness, Luther had no choice but to give up and clean up the scene. He wiped away the blood-based magic circle on the ground, and his previously charred left hand was rapidly healing. He stood up from the floor and was about to check the Altar when he suddenly noticed a few drops of red blood on the floor in the hallway.

Wait... is this the Demoness's blood?

Luther's heart stirred. He took out a handkerchief, carefully absorbed the blood onto it, and then hid it in his pocket. After doing this, he turned and went to the Altar to analyze the function of the Ritual from the perspective of a professional.

Yes, the core of the Ritual has been removed. But judging from these patterns, the Ritual's purpose was to transform the deceased's life force and resentment into pure energy.

As Luther was pondering, he heard footsteps outside. Dunn entered with Leonard and Klein.

"Captain, you didn't catch them?" Although he had already guessed the result, Luther was still somewhat disappointed to see them return empty-handed.

Wait, even if I catch and kill her, I don't think I can easily pull out her heart.

Luther thought to himself.

Looking at it this way, it seems better to let her escape and then secretly chase after her and kill her myself...

He suddenly understood why he had Consciousness hidden the handkerchief.

"It's a pity she got away. But our primary goal is to stop the Ritual, so getting rid of her is acceptable... So, do you understand the purpose of this Ritual now?"

Dunn asked.

"This isn't a particularly harmful Ritual," Luther said. "She's gathering life force and converting it into pure energy."

"What can this energy be used for?"

Leonard asked.

"Treatment, or perhaps nourishment, that's about it."

Even Luther himself wasn't sure.

Dunn circled the Altar once, then picked up the broken Silver Mirror from the table.

"This should be a personal item left behind by that extraordinary individual," he said, handing the Mirror to Klein. "Klein, try using it to observe yourself and see if you can find any clues."

"Yes, Captain."

Klein took the Silver Mirror, about to begin the Divination, when he suddenly twitched his nose slightly and said in a puzzled tone, "Strange, I think I smell something burning."

Yes, I just burned one of my hands, but if you smell it closely, you can still smell the aroma of meat.

Luther casually studied the Altar and said, "The Spirit Body have all dissipated, so I can't Spirit Channeling. It seems I can only rely on Klein."

I'll go check the second floor.

Leonard went up the stairs.

Luther, however, stayed on the first floor. He was very interested in Klein's Divination and wanted to observe it live. Although Klein had taught him some divination techniques, his talent seemed to be focused on Ritual, and he had never been able to grasp the basics in this area.

Klein pulled out paper and pen and wrote down the Divination words. Then, he stroked the Silver Mirror with one hand, held the paper in the other, and muttered incantations. After repeating this seven times, his eyes deepened, and he lowered his head, drifting into Dream Infiltration.

Dream Divination Method!

A moment later, Klein slowly woke up, shaking his head helplessly, "I was disturbed; I only saw some water mist."

"I see."

Dunn said, not too disappointed, as if he had expected this to happen.

Not long after, Leonard came down carrying a makeup box, a smile on his face. "Heh, you see, Tris's interests have changed since she became a woman..."

Later, Klein tried various methods, including using a makeup box, Dream interpretation, and Dowsing Rod Search, but the results were always the same— the Divination was being interfered with.

Luther frowned.

If these personal items are equipped with mechanisms to prevent them from being kept, wouldn't the bloodstains she left behind also become ineffective?

It seems unlikely... because her blood was drawn by me on the spot, and she didn't have time to sever the connection with her original body, unless she was making the necessary preparations regularly... but ordinary extraordinary beings certainly wouldn't do such a thing.

Yes, then this is a valuable clue.

Luther thought to himself. He quickly made a decision. There was no time to lose. He planned to use the bloodstains in the handkerchief tonight to track down her, then kill her and rip out her heart!

Meanwhile, Dunn looked around the room and, finding no other clues, sighed, "In that case, we'll have to investigate from other directions. For example, we could use the clothing found at the scene, or set up surveillance at the train station to investigate the homeowner..."

That would require the cooperation of the police department, and it would take a lot of time... but for Luther, this is actually a good thing.

With that, the matter was closed. Dunn arranged for Leonard to contact the police, and then sent Klein and Luther home to rest. It was only a short time after dark, and there were still horse-drawn carriages on the street. The two of them waited at the station for a while, then boarded the carriage and returned to Daffodil Street.

On the way, Luther Ze wanted to ask him if he had found the whereabouts of the Red Bacon Roof recently, but remembering that he was being watched by Ms. M, he didn't say anything more and just chatted with Klein.

Klein was able to contact Azik; I wonder if Azik can take care of Ms. M and rescue Cecilia... I still have one chance to block surveillance; should I use it on this...?

He was thinking this to himself, but he was still chatting with Klein aloud, "Actually, we should have eaten out before coming back. I wonder if there was anything left for us at home."

To be honest, after a whole night of work, especially with the repair of his left hand injury, he felt extremely hungry.

Hopefully, our sister will be kind enough to save us some dinner.

Klein laughed.

He was also pondering, planning to go to the Above the Gray Fog for Divination upon returning. The mystery there was quite high; perhaps he could break through the anti- Divination and find clues. Trissy's crimes were extremely heinous, and he didn't want such a person to go unpunished.

The two said goodbye in front of their respective homes.

Luther Door Opening, and the aroma of food immediately wafted out. Seeing Cecilia sitting at the table laden with food, waiting for him, he couldn't help but smile—if only that damned Ms. M weren't there, this scene would be even better.

Welcome back.

Ms. M smiled and said to him, "It's a real shame we didn't catch that Demoness, and we also couldn't get the materials I needed."

So, are you going to punish me?

Luther took out a bloodstained handkerchief from his pocket and said warily, "I've got a clue. I'm going to chase after her tonight. If I catch her, I should be able to get what you want."

At this point, a thought struck him, and he asked, "Or you could come with me. With your strength, controlling a Low Sequence Demoness wouldn't be too difficult, would it?"

Judging from Ms. M's fighting stance, perhaps we can discover her problem...:

However, Ms. M simply smiled at Luther, and after a moment, she suddenly snapped her fingers, and a sharp pain struck him. "Ugh!"

Luther grunted and steadied himself against the table.

"Luther!"

Cecilia screamed and ran over to support her brother.

"Haven't you been being a little too disrespectful to me lately?"

Ms. M said with a smile.

Luther trembled in pain, but inwardly he sneered.

She's afraid to make a move; there's definitely something wrong with her!

Gotcha!