Raphael looked at the youth before him, whose features still seemed undeveloped and somewhat immature, and marveled inwardly. Backlund really is the "City of Hope." Even a teenager can advance to Sequence 6.
After jumping down from the carriage, Xio Derecha casually steadied its body, which was swaying from side to side because the horses had panicked. The omnibus, from which startled cries kept ringing out, immediately stabilized.
Then Xio raised her hand toward Raphael again. Her height, combined with the baby fat on her face, made the gesture look rather adorable despite her apparent seriousness.
But Raphael's heart jolted, and he immediately understood why this short youth was about to attack him.
Under normal circumstances, whenever a Werewolf fought another Beyonder, most Beyonders would prioritize attacking the Werewolf.
The Rose School's Indulgence Faction had essentially made this pathway synonymous with indulgence, bloodlust, and slaughter.
Even if a Werewolf was not a member of the Indulgence Faction, having once undergone the "baptism" of the Lunatic stage still made them the more dangerous of the two combatants.
So Raphael hurriedly explained, "I'm a police informant! That Conspirer is from Feysac! He's plotting a massive conspiracy in Backlund!"
Although Petrov had disguised himself, his tall build and narrow nose were both characteristic of people from Feysac.
Only after the Werewolf's reminder did Xio take a close look at the Conspirer. Her pupils contracted as she immediately recognized him as a military attaché from the Feysac Empire's Embassy!
Xio had recently accepted a task involving the Feysac Empire's Embassy, so she was fairly familiar with its important members.
Seeing a subtle change in the youth's eyes, Raphael hurriedly added, "I'm already injured. Even if I kill that Conspirer, I'm no match for you."
Those words worked remarkably well. Xio immediately turned her outstretched hand toward Petrov.
Realizing the situation had turned against him, Petrov immediately transformed into a streak of fire and fled.
His plans were certain to be exposed, but staying alive was more important now.
Xio stared at the streak of fire. "Psychic piercing!"
"Aah!" The streak of fire faltered, and Petrov tumbled out of the flames.
Raphael seized the opening and rushed over in a few long strides, viciously clawing at Petrov's neck.
Barely had blood begun to flow before flames covered the wound, keeping it from becoming fatal for the moment.
Petrov gritted his teeth and unleashed one fire wall after another, trying to stop Xio and Raphael.
Xio stepped forward and spoke in Ancient Hermes again. "Imprisonment!"
Petrov was immediately enveloped in a layer of viscous air, immobilizing him where he stood.
The instant the viscous air dissipated, Petrov's fire walls vanished as well.
Raphael lunged forward again, first clawing at Petrov's shoulder. As Petrov cried out in pain, Raphael circled around in front of him and drove his wolf claws up through his chin, injecting wolf poison into his brain.
In fact, even without the wolf poison, that blow would have been fatal.
Whoosh!
Flames covered Petrov again, and Raphael immediately withdrew his hand.
The mass of flames staggered forward a few steps before collapsing. The fire quickly faded, revealing Petrov on the ground with his face contorted in agony. The wolf poison in his brain and body had taken effect simultaneously.
Raphael breathed a sigh of relief. Fighting to endure the pain of the burns covering his body, he stepped forward and tore a large chunk of flesh from Petrov's throat.
This time, Petrov no longer had the strength to seal the wound with flames. Blood gushed out, and he soon stopped breathing.
Xio remained at a moderate distance, silently watching Raphael kill the Conspirer.
Raphael took a piece of cloth from his trouser pocket and tied it over the lower half of his face.
This was to prevent a repeat of the embarrassing incident where he had used women's underwear to cover his face.
Then Raphael ended his transformation and said to Xio, "Let's divide the spoils."
When she saw the Werewolf before her return to human form, Xio's eyes suddenly lit up. The World had previously commissioned her to investigate Raphael. Although he had covered his face, she remembered the eyes and brows that accompanied his slightly sinister smile.
She recalled the importance the Fool had placed on Raphael during an earlier Tarot Club gathering, then remembered their discussion of him at the last gathering.
Xio murmured her assent and asked, "How do you want to divide them?"
Raphael gave Petrov's body a quick search. He wore no mystical items, and his wallet contained only about a hundred pounds in cash. "We'll split the cash equally, and I'll take two-thirds of his characteristic... well, I'd already been fighting him for a long time before you stepped in, and I'd wounded him.
"And as you can see, I'm injured too."
Raphael knew perfectly well that this was no time for madness or arrogance. In his current condition, he was no match for this youth... who sounded like a girl. Although her chest was flat, she was indeed female...
If the girl decided to turn Raphael into spoils as well, his only option would be to flee immediately, which would mean losing any chance of obtaining this Sequence 6-level characteristic.
It was better to simply give up some of the profit. He even felt that taking only half would be acceptable.
To Raphael's surprise, the girl agreed readily. "No problem, but that's a whole Beyonder characteristic. How are we supposed to divide it?"
"I don't need this Beyonder characteristic," Raphael said. "If you need it, you can simply pay me two-thirds of its value in gold pounds. If you don't need it either, we can find a way to sell it together."
Xio nodded. "I have a contact. I should be able to sell it soon."
Her contact was, of course, the Tarot Club.
Raphael exhaled in relief. "All right, then I'll leave that to you. Until I receive the money for the characteristic, I'll keep this wallet."
As he spoke, he used the Spirit Channeling Bracelet to make the corpse's Beyonder characteristic rapidly separate out. "How about we meet at the entrance to that restaurant at ten in the morning, one week from now? Even if you haven't sold it, we can still meet and figure something else out."
Xio murmured her assent. "All right."
Then she asked with a smile, "You trust me enough to let me take the characteristic?"
Raphael chuckled. "Of course."
Obviously. What else can I do even if I don't trust her? He knew perfectly well that if the girl failed to show up, he would at most lose some money. But if he took the characteristic himself, he might lose his life!
Raphael only thought this way because he did not know that the girl before him belonged to the same organization as Audrey.
Just then, both Xio and Raphael noticed police officers lingering in the distance.
Although the two officers had not witnessed the fight, they had seen a dead man and what appeared to be two killers. They would not act rashly before reinforcements arrived.
So Raphael hoisted the corpse onto his shoulder, Xio picked up the Beyonder characteristic, and the two immediately left in different directions.
Even with a corpse over his shoulder, Raphael made his way nimbly back to the sitting room of Kent, the Stinger Gang's boss. By then, both Kent and Wagner were injured, but they were still locked in a fierce battle.
With Raphael joining the fight, they quickly finished Kent off. While waiting for Kent's characteristic to separate out, Raphael also performed spirit channeling and learned the potion formulas for Sequence 9 through Sequence 6 of the Hunter pathway.
After obtaining Kent's characteristic, the two immediately withdrew.
Meanwhile, Petrov's corpse, lying beside Kent, became the most important piece of evidence in this spy case.
Before you continue