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Raphael also realized that, in his haste, he had wrapped a piece of women's underwear around his face. But it was too late to change it now.
He stood by the window, raised his index finger, and gestured for the stunned family to keep quiet.
Then he raised his hand again, signaling for them to continue their meal.
The family of four recovered from their shock one after another. Pervert or not, this was someone they couldn't afford to provoke.
So they resumed eating as instructed, though their hands trembled a little.
Raphael watched the street outside. He knew full well that shaking off that Zombie would be difficult. What mattered most now was buying time.
In Backlund, a battle between demigods would quickly draw the attention of official Beyonders. The clash between the demigods of the Indulgence Faction and the Temperance Faction certainly wouldn't last long.
Taking advantage of the brief respite after shaking off the Zombie, he had returned to the vicinity of the earlier battlefield.
He hoped that once the demigods' battle ended, Miss Sharron or Mr. Maric could help him escape the Zombie's pursuit.
After waiting by the window for a dozen seconds or so, Raphael saw a figure race past outside. It was the Zombie who had caught up to him.
As a higher-sequence Beyonder, the Zombie possessed the same keen sense of smell as a Werewolf. Naturally, he had followed the scent here.
Once the Zombie had run past, Raphael immediately climbed out through the room's rear window. Beyond it lay an alley that led to another street.
He believed that by the time the Zombie discovered what had happened, he would already have gained some distance.
Crash!
In the dark alley, where only Raphael's running footsteps had sounded a moment before, came the sudden crash of a wall being smashed open.
Raphael's eyes widened. The one who had smashed through the wall was none other than the Zombie!
Under normal circumstances, Raphael's plan would have worked. But he had only recently advanced, and the spirituality within him was highly unstable. The Zombie, Ackerman, had quickly picked up his trail.
They were very close to each other. Raphael swiftly realized that if he kept running, he would only die faster!
He immediately raised his gun and flicked off the safety.
Rat-tat-tat!
Fierce gunfire filled the alley, muzzle flashes lighting up the darkness as bullets streamed out.
Ackerman dodged the bullets and lunged toward Raphael.
Though the burst of gunfire did little damage to the Zombie, it bought Raphael enough time to transform.
Only in his Werewolf form did he stand a chance in a fight.
Just as the gunfire ceased and the two were about to clash, they suddenly heard a shrill male voice exclaim in astonishment, "It's a Bizarro Sorcerer..."
Ackerman recognized the voice. It belonged to Mr. Howard, the Shaman King!
They were already very close to the two demigods' battlefield. But since the Shaman King, Howard, was no longer using his Full Moon ability, Ackerman hadn't realized it.
Now, however, Ackerman had no time to dwell on that, because the Werewolf before him was charging ferociously!
Raphael knew, of course, that momentum was crucial in close combat like this!
With a savage expression, he slammed into the Zombie. Though Ackerman was much smaller than Raphael in his Werewolf form, he possessed tremendous strength. The collision actually sent Raphael staggering back a step.
Their fight was brutally straightforward. Ackerman thrust out his hand, aiming to pierce Raphael's chest with nails harder than wolf claws.
Raphael knocked the hand aside and opened his jaws to bite into the Zombie's head.
Rather than dodge, Ackerman stepped forward. Moving even faster, he seized Raphael by the neck and shoved hard, slamming him into the wall beside them.
With a dull thud, Raphael's vision blurred from the impact. He shook his head and was about to strike back when Ackerman swung his fist and smashed it into Raphael's shoulder.
Crash!
The heavy blow sent Raphael straight through the wall, throwing him to the floor inside the room.
An elderly man lived alone in the room and was drinking soup. Seeing the Werewolf sprawled on the floor, the old man, whose eyesight was failing, said with his spoon hand trembling, "Goddess above, whose dog is this..."
Raphael was just about to get up when Ackerman rushed in, thrusting both arms forward to plunge his ten rigid fingers into Raphael's chest again.
Raphael hurriedly caught the Zombie's wrists and immediately felt an enormous force bearing down on him. Grimacing, he redirected that force to the side, sending his opponent's fingers plunging into the floor.
Raphael rolled over and sprang to his feet. He was about to smash through the wooden door and escape when he suddenly noticed that the Zombie couldn't pull his hands free.
The Zombie was at a loss as well. He had never encountered anything like this before.
Raphael froze briefly, then immediately realized that this was a rare opportunity.
He spun around and thrust out his right hand, extending its wolf claws by another few centimeters as he stabbed toward the eyes of the bent-over Zombie.
Ackerman sneered. Though he couldn't pull his hands free, he still had plenty of room to maneuver.
He promptly ducked to the side, only for another mishap to occur. As his upper body moved, a brick beneath his foot suddenly slipped. Instead of dodging, he toppled forward, straight into Raphael's wolf claws.
Squelch!
The wolf claws pierced the Zombie's relatively soft eyeballs and plunged deep into his brain.
"Aaah!"
Ackerman's agonized scream followed.
Raphael froze again. He felt as though something was manipulating his fight with the Zombie.
Fortunately, that manipulation favored him, so he didn't dwell on it. He immediately injected wolf venom into the Zombie's brain.
Unfortunately, his claws were too short to deliver the venom deep enough into Ackerman's brain.
Even after suffering such a severe injury, Ackerman wasn't dead. He violently jerked his head back, pulling it free, then snapped off his own nails and staggered out into the street.
Raphael didn't rush after him. The wolf venom would gradually take effect, and Ackerman wouldn't get far.
He followed at an unhurried pace, picked up the gun from the ground, then took his last magazine out of his pocket.
After the two left, the old man with failing eyesight finally brought the spoon to his mouth. Only after swallowing his soup did he look toward the hole in the wall through which Raphael and Ackerman had departed. "I remember there wasn't a door there."
Outside, Raphael had already flicked off the Submachine Gun's safety and pulled the trigger, aiming at the back of the Zombie's head.
Rat-tat-tat!
Bullets poured out. Ackerman's head had already taken one burst of gunfire. Under the second burst, his skull finally gave way and was blasted apart. The bullets shredded his brain as well, and he finally collapsed to the ground, twitching.
At that moment, a figure emerged from a dark corner of the alley. He clapped his hands and said, "Fate's gifts are only for those who are prepared. And you are one of them."
This was Klein's marionette, Enzo, the Winner.
Raphael froze. He sensed that the man was most likely another Sequence 5 Beyonder, and probably a member of the organization behind Audrey.
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