"What's the lowest you'll take?"
Black Snake had been about to put the doll away. At the question, he looked at Edward and gave a sinister chuckle. "Oh? So someone here knows quality when he sees it. Hmm, let me think... how about 3,200 pounds? Or you could trade that Beyonder item you mentioned earlier?"
Not a chance!
Edward mimed zipping his lips shut. "Pretend I never asked."
Black Snake shrugged, then suddenly seemed to remember something. He smiled. "Or perhaps you'd be interested in something else I acquired there? It came from one of those lunatics. It lets you hear the voice of a great existence. If you're lucky and decipher something useful, you'll become extremely powerful. If you're unlucky and decipher a curse instead, well, that's a shame..."
The Fat Apothecary immediately sneered. "Black Snake, let an idiot with his 'eye for quality' live a little longer."
Did this guy really have to talk like that?
Just then, the elderly Eye of Wisdom gentleman clapped his hands. "We'll end things here for today. As usual, leave one at a time, with three minutes between each person."
Edward was the last to leave. Just as he was about to go, Eye of Wisdom asked, "Where did you learn the password for this gathering?"
"What?"
"I personally invited almost every member here, and you clearly aren't one of them."
Edward turned back to look at him and said calmly, "I bought it on the black market. It cost me twenty pounds."
The gentleman rubbed the emerald ring on his hand and smiled faintly. "I see. Very well, until next time."
"Goodbye, sir."
Edward nodded and stepped into the darkness. After quickly passing through several deserted alleys, he used Apparition to reach the one-bedroom apartment, then took a Portkey back to Tingen City.
Once again, he landed flat on his back with his limbs in the air. Edward sighed helplessly. "Audrey definitely won't be able to handle a Portkey."
He slowly sat up and called toward the bedroom, "Lilith, I'm back."
Just then, a cool voice suddenly rang out. "I came, I saw, I recorded-Frenzy."
"Oh, no!"
Edward froze. His mind descended into chaos, leaving him unable to think.
"Binding."
Through his blurred vision, a tall woman rapidly approached. It was Christine! She swiftly swept her arms, sending electric shocks, freezing attacks, and various other abilities straight at him.
The tiny shred of reason he had left told Edward to dodge, but he couldn't control his body at all.
"Unrestrained!"
The next instant, lightning engulfed Edward. As his body went numb, a sudden coolness swept through his mind. [Unrestrained] had taken effect.
There was no time to think. Before the remaining attacks struck, Edward twisted and vanished with a crack.
Christine's expression changed. How was that possible?!
"I came, I saw, I recorded."
An ancient-looking notebook appeared in her hand. Its pages flipped rapidly, and a Traveler's Door leading into the Spirit World quickly took shape. Edward suddenly appeared behind her to one side. Stumbling, he whipped his wand forward. "Dazzling Bewilderment (Dizziness Spell)."
A brilliant light flashed, and Christine's awareness blurred. The Traveler's Door dissipated before it could finish forming.
Forcing herself to stay conscious, she flipped through the notebook again. "I came, I saw, I recorded."
Christine's figure flickered and vanished from the house.
Edward chased after her without hesitation. He saw her appear more than ten meters away, then blink three more times in succession, leaving Tulip Street. A second Traveler's Door materialized out of thin air. She swayed several times, nearly losing her footing.
She bit down hard on the tip of her tongue. Using that brief moment of clarity, she blinked again, appeared before the Traveler's Door, and rushed toward it.
"Vera Verto!"
Christine, who was struggling to rush into the Traveler's Door, turned into a little turtle. Her four stubby legs paddled in midair before she dropped straight to the ground.
A few seconds later, Christine returned to normal.
"Stupefy."
A beam of light struck her head, blasting her backward two or three meters. She hit the ground and lost consciousness.
"Trash bin, fly over. Vera Verto."
A roadside trash bin flew over, transformed into a chain, and bound Christine tightly.
Edward's legs buckled, and he dropped onto his backside.
"Phew, that nearly finished me. Spirituality magic may be powerful, but losing the initiative still makes it easy for things to go wrong. That commotion probably attracted attention. I need to leave now."
Without waiting for the numbness to fade completely, Edward scrambled up on his hands and feet, grabbed Christine, picked up the fallen notebook, and used Apparition to return to 5 Tulip Street.
As soon as he arrived home, he collapsed onto the sofa.
This was his first experience of being electrocuted. If he could help it, he never wanted to experience it again!
Fortunately, the woman hadn't come to kill him-though it was also possible that she had wanted to, but lacked lethal abilities, or rather, hadn't recorded any.
"!!!"
Suddenly, his spirituality surged violently in warning. He immediately tensed, gripped his wand, and barked, "Who's there?!"
A few seconds later, Lilith emerged from the darkness, flicking out her little pink tongue. She had probably just finished drinking, as her whole face was wet. She tilted her head in puzzlement. "Meow ('?ω?`)?"
"Lilith?" Edward scooped her up. "Where were you hiding just now? Did this woman hurt you?"
"Meow~ (?o?o)??"
She meowed and began kneading him with her paws.
Edward let out a soft breath and turned his gaze toward Christine.
The woman was about twenty-four or twenty-five, tall and well-proportioned, with long dark brown hair and blue eyes. She wasn't stunning, but had a rather striking, spirited look.
"Mm..."
A few minutes later, the woman's eyebrows twitched, and she woke.
Her first instinct was to flee, but she discovered that iron chains held her tightly. After struggling hard a few times, she stared coldly at Edward without saying a word.
Edward stood over her, looking down. "Tell me. Why did you attack me?"
"..."
"All I did was recognize you as a Beyonder. Running away or hiding out of caution would have been perfectly normal. Why follow me and attack me?" Edward took out a short knife and held it against her slender neck. "If you won't say anything, I'll have to kill you for my own safety."
She hesitated for a few seconds, then gritted her teeth and whispered, "I... I wanted to avenge my younger brother."
"?"
Edward's expression became a question mark. "Have you got something wrong? I've never killed anyone in my life."-Megose no longer counted as human.
"32 Wilde Street, south of Backlund Bridge."
Christine coldly named the address. "You haven't forgotten, have you?"
Edward quickly searched his memories. It took him a while to remember:
Wasn't that where the unlucky Abraham descendant had lost control? I'd even obtained my Sequence 8 and Sequence 7 potion formulas there.
"You're from the Abraham Family?"
Chapter 47: Seeing Klein Again
Christine immediately averted her eyes in panic. "N-no."
Edward thought for a moment, then asked:
"Your younger brother mentioned your family in his diary. He said both his parents were dead and he was an orphan. He never mentioned an older sister."
She fell silent for a moment before saying, "His father was my uncle. He was the last boy in our branch of the family." Gradually, she regained her composure, hatred flickering in her eyes. "So you're admitting it?"
"I'm sorry, but your younger brother apparently died after taking a potion and losing control a few months ago."
Edward briefly explained what had happened, then took out the Master Key he had left in the Leather Pouch all this time. "This is what his loss of control produced."
Christine stared blankly at the key and instinctively tried to reach for it. Unfortunately, both her hands were tightly bound.
Edward closed his fingers around the key, holding it in his palm, and asked curiously, "I'm curious. How did you decide I'd killed your younger brother... or rather, how did you know I had anything to do with him after just one look at me?"
She gave Edward a strange look. "Divination. I'm a Sequence 7 Astrologer."
Uh, I'd almost forgotten. Sequence 7 Astrologers also had divination abilities.
"So you first divined where your younger brother had died, then divined me at the scene?"
Edward raised an eyebrow slightly. "You're lying."
Christine hurriedly protested, "I'm not! I searched the scene carefully and found a strand of hair you'd shed..."
"Then you should know I wasn't the one who killed your younger brother."
"I... the images from dream divination are all fragmented. I couldn't tell whether you were the killer. That's why-why I didn't try to kill you just now. I wanted to capture you first and confirm it afterward. If you really were innocent, I would have let you go."
"Well, I really ought to thank you, then."
Edward stepped back and settled against the sofa. He could tell Christine wasn't being truthful, and he hesitated over what to do with her.
The Abraham Family held practically all the Apprentice pathway's potion formulas from the mid-sequences onward. Previously, he'd planned to find a way to get formulas through Fors if he couldn't find the later ones himself-but Fors was far too laid-back. Relying on her for formulas would undoubtedly delay his progress considerably.
Now, a living Abraham descendant had delivered herself to his doorstep. Of course he had to seize the opportunity. Killing her outright over a "misunderstanding" would be far too wasteful.
While Edward was thinking, Christine was thinking too. She knew her life lay in the hands of this very young-looking man, but there was nothing she could do-she had misjudged his strength.
Suddenly, the iron chains binding her fell away. With a gentle expression, Edward said:
"Since it was a misunderstanding, and we've cleared it up now, you're free to leave whenever you like."
"???"
She couldn't quite process it, but immediately began edging toward the door to test him.
Just as she reached the door, Edward's voice rang out. "Wait."
Christine immediately tensed.
Edward held out the notebook. "You forgot to take your things."
Before you continue