Saint Hilan Square, northwest corner, third floor of the restaurant.
When Ernes Boyar saw the ghostly wolf "carrying" a rose, Mistral, with his pale silver hair and scarlet eyes, immediately turned his gaze away from Emlyn White. Darkness billowed out behind him, with countless tiny bats fluttering within it.
Bribe... The Sanguine Count had barely uttered a single word when he "saw" the overturned carriage, "heard" the neighing of horses, and "smelled" all sorts of odors, yet he couldn't immediately pinpoint the source of the accident and chaos.
Just then, his "vision" suddenly darkened, his "eyes" seemed to lose their ability to perceive light, and the noisy sounds in his "ears" stopped!
Count Mistral scoffed inwardly, immediately preparing to merge with the countless bats behind him and descend to Reorganization next to Ernes Boyar.
Suddenly, a glimmer of light leaped out from the dark "field of vision".
The light rapidly expanded, growing brighter and brighter, and from it emerged a golden figure with twelve pairs of jet-black wings on its back!
The pairs of wings unfolded one after another, covering Mistral's "vision," where light and shadow intertwined to form one mysterious and complex symbol after another. They were indistinguishable from the golden figure, both sacred and Depravity, both light and darkness.
Angel! Mistral's pupils dilated slightly, and he couldn't help but take a step back, abandoning his previous thought.
Ernes Boyar awoke quickly and groggily, seeing a pair of eyes as clear as jewels and as lucid as lake water, and felt a newspaper being handed to him and placed in his palm.
Within those emerald green eyes, ripples began to spread, forming swirling eddies deep within, seemingly trying to draw the souls of those who witnessed them into them.
Ernes Boyar was instantly captivated, unable to look away.
Then, a soft, ethereal female voice sounded in his ear:
"Holding a newspaper, he followed Emlyn White..."
"Holding a newspaper, follow Emlyn White..."
The sound echoed in Ernes Boyar's ears, penetrated his brain, and seeped into his soul.
Ernes Boyar nodded blankly, feeling that there were still some words to say, but he couldn't make them out.
The newsboy, carrying a newspaper and a satchel slung across his shoulder, quickly turned around, nimbly weaved through several bicycles, and blended into the passing crowd.
He had a handsome face, his hair was messy and hung down, covering his eyebrows. As he walked, he took off the black glove that he had put on his left hand at some point, folded it and stuffed it into his satchel which contained newspapers.
The wind blew by, causing his clothes to shrink and revealing a bulge on his arm.
A few seconds later, Ernes Boyar suddenly jumped back, as if dodging something.
Oh no! I've been affected by Nightmare- like ability! He had barely regained his footing when his pupils dilated as he warily looked around, wary of an impending attack.
Although Ernes Boyar was puzzled as to how easily he had been Dream Divination, he knew this was not the time to dwell on the details; the important thing was to get to the point and he absolutely could not afford to be distracted.
bite!
Several bicycles drew together, their bells ringing to warn the gentleman standing in the middle of the road to give way.
Ernes Boyar stared at them with narrowed eyes, his muscles bulging beneath his clothes, ready to spring into action.
Several bicycles drove past him, and passersby either hurried by or slowed down, pointing and whispering.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Twelve bells rang in succession, white Steam billowed from the chimneys atop the Saint Hilan Cathedral, and hymns of praise echoed inside and outside, accompanied by the turning of massive gears and levers.
In the square, everyone stopped in their tracks, some closing their eyes in prayer, others listening quietly, regardless of whether they were believers in the God of Steam and Machinery. Only the fed white doves simultaneously flapped their wings and soared into the air.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
The bells rang, but no one moved. Count Mistral, in his private dining room, stood there motionless, his expression quite somber.
His "vision" had returned, but all he could see were workers dressed in gray-blue and light-blue clothes and bicycles of the same style. He found nothing else, and Ernes Boyar was completely unharmed.
Of course, he guessed from the newspaper in the Sanguine Viscount's hand that the newsboy was a bit suspicious, but he didn't try to chase after him.
It was obvious that the ability to borrow from Angel status was not something a Low-Sequence could possess Emlyn White had at least one Demigod lurking nearby. Mistral believed that if he made a move, he would inevitably be obstructed, or even attacked.
When he finds himself in an easily detectable position while his opponent is nowhere to be seen, the Sanguine Count Mistral believes this is not a good thing; forcibly pursuing them will only lead to serious problems.
Moreover, for the Sanguine, this was merely a test. If the forces behind Emlyn deployed Demigod, Ernes Boyar would use his self-protection to hold off the powerful figure, allowing Mistral to confirm the attacker's identity through the " Rose's Vow." They did not intend for this to escalate into a fierce conflict. In their contingency plan, at most, Mistral would intervene to stop the attacker and prevent Ernes Boyar from being harmed.
In this situation, the initiative is no longer in their hands. If they forcibly pursue, it will most likely result in a battle Demigod, which would be tantamount to suicide in Backlund and around the Saint Hilan Cathedral.
Furthermore, for Mistral, since the opposing Demigod hadn't personally intervened but had only provided assistance, it would be undignified and an insult to the reputation of Sanguine Count for him to directly attack and pursue them.
Hmph! I'll see how things develop next! Mistral's facial muscles twitched slightly as he turned the sapphire ring on his left hand once more.
After the bells rang twelve times, Emlyn stepped forward again, walked around the fountain, and amidst the falling white doves, arrived at the entrance at the other end of Saint Hilan Square.
He then saw Ernes Boyar; he saw the overturned carriage, the horses listlessly swaying their tails, and the coachman with a pained expression.
Emlyn walked over, took out his wallet, pulled out 100 pounds in cash, and handed it to the coachman, saying:
"This is your compensation."
"Huh?" The driver was both bewildered and delighted.
The carriage didn't belong to him; he was just an ordinary employee. When the horses were startled and the carriage was damaged, he felt a brief pang of heartache, but then panic and despair overwhelmed him.
Based on the so-called contract and similar cases he had seen over the years, this was his responsibility, requiring him to make compensation. Given his income and family situation, this meant bankruptcy!
In that short period of time, all sorts of thoughts raced through the coachman's mind, mainly falling into three categories. First, he could extort money from the terrified gentleman before him, forcing him to pay compensation to avoid his family's disintegration and his children having to work in illegal factories at a young age. Second, he could immediately take the horse to a gang member, sell it, and then return home to leave Backlund with his wife and children. Third, he could arrange for his family to move out of their current rented place and go to the carriage owner to plead for repayment in installments. If the owner refused, he would rather go to jail than pay a single penny.
Now, the sudden arrival of £100 in cash hit the coachman hard, leaving him dizzy and speechless.
100 pounds is enough to buy a new carriage, and there's plenty left over!
Emlyn didn't look at the coachman, but looked at Ernes and said:
"It's alright now."
Aren't you the biggest problem? You've made it through, how can you say you're okay? Ernes thought to himself as he twirled the sapphire ring on his left hand.
For some reason, he felt he should trust Emlyn White, and even get closer to him.
Emlyn glanced at it, then suddenly turned and strode into an alley.
Ernes instinctively took a step forward and followed closely behind, still holding the newspaper in his hand.
The two Sanguine, one running and the other chasing, were both incredibly fast, yet neither dared to display any extraordinary abilities.
Count Mistral only followed behind after the two Sanguine had run far away and left the range of his Spirituality perception, relying on the connection between them through the " Rose's Vow " rings.
Emlyn would sometimes circle around, sometimes cut in from the side, and sometimes return to where he had passed before via another route, making it impossible to guess where he was headed. Ernes, like a bull that had spotted a red flag, refused to give up and kept following closely behind.
Unbeknownst to them, the two Sanguine arrived at Rose Street in the Bridge South Borough.
Suddenly, Emlyn sped up, leaving a trail of afterimages as if he wasn't afraid of being discovered, and rushed into the Harvest Church.
Ernes did the same thing.
Oh no! Just as Count Mistral was about to descend and stop what was happening, Ernes's figure had already disappeared at the entrance of the Harvest Church.
Snap!
The stone bricks beneath Mistral's feet shattered instantly.
Upon entering the church, Ernes suddenly realized something and saw a figure in a brown priest's robe stand up at the very front of the rows of seats, resembling a mountain peak.
At the same time, the entire church became extremely heavy and solid, as if it had become one with the earth!
Ernes's Haydn another voice echoed in his head:
"After waking from the first Hypnosis, he threw his belongings at Emlyn White."
Swish, swish, swish! Ernes loosened his belt, tossed out his lapel pin, and hurled item after item at Emlyn White across from him, including even the silver pocket watch and a wallet full of banknotes.
Snap!
The newspaper in his hand fell to the ground, spilling out a playing card that was tucked inside.
The card depicted a goddess of justice sitting on a stone chair, holding a sword and scales.
The Tarot card, " Justice ".
P. S.: This is an update before revisions. My first major trip in September is over, but thanks to my saved-up drafts, I managed to keep up with the updates!