"Calm down..."
Through the connection between his own light and the other person's, Julian could sense that his opponent seemed to have used some kind of hypnosis to make him slip naturally into the illusions created by Chris Jacob's Ring, putting him at risk of losing control.
Honestly, if the Colour Out of Space had not emitted that strange buzzing at the critical moment, Julian might really have fallen for it.
Was it a Hypnotist using Psychological Invisibility, or someone carrying a corresponding Sealed Artifact?
He quickly assessed the situation in his mind.
Psychological Invisibility was one of the strongest defensive abilities available at the mid-sequence level, but it merely erased one's presence, placing the user in a blind spot of people's attention. The invisible person still interacted with his surroundings throughout the process.
Once those interactions became more pronounced, the user would inevitably be exposed.
From that perspective, a Four-Color Seer could uncover those interactions sooner. Although Julian had only noticed the other person's presence under the influence of the Colour Out of Space, this did seem to reveal a certain counteracting relationship between the paths of the divine.
A Beyonder of the Spectator pathway... It does look like he's connected to the Twilight Hermit Order. He might have come here on Adam's orders...
His thoughts stirred, while his gaze continued to wander. Following the other person's guidance, he kept searching for documents like a headless chicken.
"Not here, not here, still not here..."
As Julian muttered to himself, he estimated how much safe usage time he had left with Chris Jacob's Ring.
Suddenly, he saw mist rising around him. He seemed to be walking among the clouds, with illusory mountains and rivers visible ten thousand meters below.
Amid those clouds, bloodied human heads and skulls kept appearing beneath Julian's feet. They grinned strangely at him, while some gathered underfoot to form a staircase leading into the sky.
At the same time, Julian heard an unintelligible clamor beside his ears, as though he stood in the busiest open-air market.
The hallucinatory side effect of Chris Jacob's Ring had appeared!
He immediately understood.
According to the information provided by the Holy Cathedral, Julian should have completely lost his ability to judge things in this state. Yet the buzzing from the Colour Out of Space was contending with these illusions and the Beyonder who was most likely using Psychological Invisibility, allowing Julian to retain a sliver of reason.
To his enemy, however, Julian's Mental Body had already descended into chaos, which was precisely the situation Julian wanted.
He put on a terrified expression, letting out low growls of fear as he felt along the wall and stumbled toward the doorway, stepping on those human heads.
Just as Julian had expected, the Beyonder from the Twilight Hermit Order did not stop him. With Nighthawks downstairs, his main objective was merely to obstruct Julian's investigation, not to cause a greater disturbance.
That did not mean he would let Julian off easily, though. There were still a few things he could do in passing.
As Julian entered the corridor, he suddenly felt the peculiar spiritual light guiding him change color. Its lake blue turned completely to dark green, surging toward him like a lake swollen by rain!
Fuck, is he trying to use the hallucinations to make me lose control without leaving any traces?
Seeing this, Julian abandoned his act of madness.
He shouted toward the floor below:
"Dunn!!! Someone's attacking me!!!"
The instant he cried for help, Julian suddenly felt the entire villa darken.
Under the crimson moonlight, Dunn Smith stood silently at the far end of the corridor in a black trench coat, turning to look toward Julian.
Between them stood a refined-looking, long-haired man in black who appeared to be around thirty-five!
It worked... Luckily, Dunn was close by, and his actual strength is nearly at Sequence 6, so his Dream Infiltration succeeded right away.
Julian let out a long breath. Just before Frenzy could be inflicted on him, Dunn had successfully pulled both him and the man into a dream, protecting his Mental Body from its effects!
This also confirmed one of his suspicions: the man in black was not a genuine Hypnotist, but rather carried a Sealed Artifact.
The man in black, meanwhile, had undergone a drastic change in expression.
He instinctively tried to escape the dream through self-suggestion, but just then, Leonard Mitchell's voice rang out!
"Thou on whose stream, 'mid the steep sky's commotion,
"Loose clouds like earth's decaying leaves are shed,
"Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean, angels of rain and lightning!
"..." (Note 1)
With the assistance of the Nightmare's ability, the Midnight Poet's verses exerted an even stronger effect within the dream than they normally would.
The man looked as though he had been struck by lightning, instantly forgetting what he had intended to do!
The next second, their surroundings returned to normal, and the man in black, previously concealed by Psychological Invisibility, appeared.
He remained rooted to the spot in a daze, clearly still under the dream's control. A few seconds later, Frye and Klein rushed upstairs together.
"Julian, are you all right?"
Klein gave Julian a concerned look. Julian shook his head, then said with a pained smile:
"I nearly died.
"Be careful. This guy might have a mid-sequence Sealed Artifact from the Spectator pathway on him. Try to find it and take it away before doing anything else."
With that, Julian pointed at the study.
"The cursed item is in the study."
"All right."
Klein and Frye both nodded. They worked with Leonard to handle the aftermath, while Julian returned to the first floor and explained the broad outline of what had happened to Jennings in relatively tactful terms.
"...I never imagined I was the one who hurt my father."
Jennings was deeply remorseful at this revelation. Julian patted him on the shoulder and said little beyond reminding him to watch out for people around him with ulterior motives. Then he went outside the villa to feel the evening breeze.
About half an hour later,
Dunn emerged from the villa and turned to look at Julian.
There were conspicuous bloodstains on the Nighthawk captain's coat, accompanied by a faint bloody smell.
"How did it go?"
Julian raised his eyebrows and asked.
"Just as you said, we found a pendant suspected to be a Sealed Artifact."
Dunn shook his head.
"But when we were about to question him about who was giving him orders, he suddenly went mad and lost control. Then his entire head exploded."
"Yes, just as I thought."
Julian smiled without the slightest surprise.
"What do you mean?"
Intrigued, Dunn pressed him for an explanation.
"Forget about this. It'll be better for you."
Julian shook his head and patted Dunn on the shoulder.
"With many things, ignorance is bliss... Whether it's you or me, getting too deeply involved in this will only lead to one outcome."
"What outcome?"
"Bang!"
Julian pointed at his own head, then made an exaggerated gesture of an explosion.
(Note 1: Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind")