Mist Sea Indulgence

[Mist Sea Indulgence] was the name Aleppo had given his Secret Art.

Mist Sea Indulgence allowed him to turn his body into mist, rendering him immune to all physical attacks. However, if the mist itself was evaporated or scorched dry, his body would wither or even become incomplete as a result. That was why he did not dare use mistification against fire.

Within the Elite Guard, Aleppo's role was that of a [Spy], responsible for infiltration and assassination.

His ability to become mist had made him unstoppable in this line of work. In this age, when industrialization and materials science had yet to develop, doors and windows were not sealed with rubber strips. Neither pipes nor gaps beneath doors could stop him.

And in combat, this ability could produce even more unexpected results.

Aleppo's favorite tactic had always been trading one life for another. Since most physical means were ineffective against him, he could simply stand still and exchange revolver fire with an enemy head-on, then memorize the look of utter confusion on their face as they took a bullet and fell, saving it as a drinking accompaniment.

In fact, some of the enemies he had faced before had been able to discern the nature of his Secret Art.

But Lude had seen through his Secret Art far too quickly, and had found a way to counter it in the blink of an eye. Aleppo had therefore made up his mind almost instantly—no matter what it took, he would take Lude down today.

With that thought, he lightly curled the fingers of his left hand, and a blade obviously coated in something sprang from the cuff on his left side.

Then, he actually launched a countercharge at Lude!

The dark-blue blades traced two crescent arcs through the air, forcing Lude to abandon his plan to breathe fire and evade their edge for the moment.

High-quality alchemical weapons could injure Lude's body through their extraordinary properties. Large-caliber revolvers and bolt-action rifles could do the same through the power of gunpowder. But swords forged from ordinary iron could at most cut his skin.

Aleppo's sleeve blades were not alchemical weapons. At best, they were made of relatively good alloy steel, somewhat like manganese steel.

But Lude was no fool. Judging others by himself, he did not think Aleppo was a fool either.

He did not believe Aleppo failed to realize that blades forged from ordinary iron could not hurt him. That left only one answer: Aleppo was extremely confident in the poison coating his blades.

Fortunately, Lude was much faster than Aleppo. With a flash of movement, he avoided the strike.

At that moment, Lude and Aleppo were in the same frame of mind. Aleppo wanted to kill Lude by any means necessary, and Lude could not let Aleppo live either. If this bastard ran back to report to the Black Tide Society with a suicidal mindset, Lude would be swarmed and kicked to death before he got very far!

So, at the instant he twisted aside to evade, Lude swung a hand chop horizontally at Aleppo's waist and abdomen.

Faced with a blow that could cut an ordinary person in half, Aleppo neither dodged nor blocked.

Relying on mistification to negate physical attacks, he even counterattacked Lude as they passed each other.

Aleppo deliberately turned the arm inside his sleeve into mist, but did not mistify the hands holding the blades. Then he swung both hands at Lude like meteor hammers. The two blades fluttered like butterflies, carving a wound into Lude's arm at angles that defied the limits of human joints.

Lude spun around with a palm-heel thrust, but just before it landed, he turned the push into a grab.

His right hand seized Aleppo by the collar and yanked hard, while his left hand came down in a vicious skull-splitting chop. The move forced Aleppo's entire torso to turn into mist. Mistified muscles could not exert force, so his attempted counterattack naturally came to nothing.

When Aleppo materialized again, he was nearly unable to stop himself from cursing. Fighting was fighting—why the hell were you stealing his clothes?!

Speaking of which, in order to make disguising himself after taking over Vessel's body more convenient, Professor Beshe had specially ordered a set of clothes tailored to Vessel's build from a clothing shop in the eastern part of the city before coming to steal Vessel. He had casually stuffed the outfit into his Space Bag.

And as a civilized man, Lude naturally did not enjoy letting it all hang out, so he was actually wearing pants now.

Yes, only pants. His upper body was bare, because Lude's one-punch-through-the-chest battle plan would one hundred percent leave him splattered with blood afterward. A little blood on black pants was not noticeable, so he could make do with them. But a white shirt would suffer terribly.

Aleppo could not turn his clothes into mist, so Lude had directly ripped off every piece of clothing on his upper body.

His undershirt, dress shirt, waistcoat, Plantagenet tie, black overcoat—even the sleeve-blade mechanisms hidden in his cuffs had been torn away. Now, Aleppo and Lude stood facing each other bare-chested. Rather than a life-or-death battle, it looked more like a boxing match in a ring.

Aleppo cursed under his breath. Without those two poisoned sleeve blades, he was not confident he could take Lude down.

However, he had also noticed that Lude possessed no means of dealing with his mistification. Otherwise, they would not have fought for this long.

So Aleppo silently made up his mind. It was time to use that move.

His ultimate technique, specially reserved for hunting powerful enemies!

What Aleppo did not know was that Lude was also considering how to drag him out of the mist and kill him.

Mist's weaknesses were nothing more than fire and strong winds. A powerful dehumidifier would count too, if one insisted, but Lude did not have lungs as powerful as Star Platinum's. Still, he had already thought of a good solution—though it placed considerable demands on the terrain.

He needed to find a way to lure Aleppo into an environment suitable for becoming his grave.

The two exchanged several more moves in a flash. But at this point, both Aleppo and Lude had devoted ninety percent of their attention to thinking up countermeasures. Their fight suddenly became especially lackluster, rather like two old men practicing push-hands in tai chi.

Seizing an opportunity, Aleppo immediately feinted. After Lude pierced through his chest once more, he leaped backward out of the battle zone.

Lude did not pursue. Instead, he sprang backward and landed in the dining room. This was already quite close to the battlefield he had chosen. He needed to create the illusion of victory for Aleppo.

Only then could he draw Aleppo into "pressing his advantage," ultimately sending him headfirst into his own grave.

At that moment, Aleppo pulled a small glass vial from his waist.

Lude immediately became alert. Even in the darkness, the eyes of this body could still see clearly. The vial contained some strange dark-blue liquid. After pulling out the stopper, Aleppo poured it directly over his own head!

The next instant, the vial slipped crisply from Aleppo's hand and shattered across the floor.

This time, Aleppo completely gave up maintaining human form. Turning into a mass of pale-blue mist, he swept toward Lude. Lude immediately retreated to the edge of the kitchen, took a deep breath before the mist fully surrounded him, and then held it.

You've got to be kidding. Even if I've never eaten pork, I've seen pigs run. Your intentions are way too obvious!