Klein instinctively reached for his gun. Whatever had possessed the Tuxedo Clown to stroll out so brazenly, as an enemy, he could not have made a better target.
Demon-Hunting Bullets couldn't handle Ray Bieber, but surely they could handle you?
But he soon realized something was wrong. As the Tuxedo Clown came fully into view in the middle of the clearing, the bloody wound in his abdomen stood out starkly. Klein could even glimpse silver bullets inside it.
Could he really walk with a wound like that left untreated? And those stiff movements... Cold sweat broke out over Klein as he finally noticed what he had overlooked:
Where was the notebook?
He stiffly tore his gaze away from the Tuxedo Clown-the man no longer mattered-and shifted it toward the shadows beside the warehouse.
An iron-black chest engraved with brilliant stars and a crimson full moon lay there, but it was now utterly destroyed. Never mind a crack; most of the chest had vanished altogether.
Meanwhile, the clown marionette wrapped in greasy strips of cloth had somehow staggered over to Ray Bieber's severed limbs. One slender, brown arm slowly picked up the Antigonus Family Notebook from the pile.
Gulp.
Klein swallowed with difficulty. He remembered what Miss Lorotta had told him about the marionette on the way here:
"Whenever it encounters a descendant of the Antigonus Family, even if only a trace of their presence remains, '2-049' becomes unusually excited, and its abilities grow noticeably stronger."
Earlier, he had had a premonition that they had better not let the Tuxedo Clown enter the warehouse. Thinking back, it must have been a warning not to let the man go inside and get himself killed.
Then, after consuming another Sequence 7 characteristic from his own Pathway, Ray Bieber might have successfully obtained 2-049.