Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Kacha!
When Klein saw Isengard Stanton’s back cave in, even he felt a faint pain in his spine.
Isengard fell to the ground with a thud, seemingly instantly losing consciousness from the pain.
Kaslana, on the other hand, stood in her original spot, gasping for breath with a blank look in her eyes. Her forehead was covered in cold sweat, and there was no follow-up attack.
It was as if she had just awoken from a long nightmare caused by her emotions. All the strength in her body had completely disappeared from her previous outburst.
Huff! Puff! Kaslana’s body swayed, on the brink of collapsing.
Klein’s eyes narrowed as he rushed up to Isengard Stanton in two steps.
He kneeled and tried to help him up.
Isengard, who was sprawled on the ground, cried out in pain, “Run!
“Don’t worry about me!”
Obviously, he didn’t think that a three-person group which instantly had one heavily injured member and another losing all her strength could retain the Desire Apostle. Thus, he told Klein to immediately escape and meet up with the official Beyonders; otherwise, all three of them would die there and then.
At the same time, Isengard raised his right hand with difficulty, attempting to use some of his Beyonder powers so as to attract the attention of the official Beyonders who were quite a distance away.
As for the tiny “telegraph” with the trumpet, it had long since flown to the wall because of Isengard’s fall.
Klein showed hesitation and just as he was about to make a decision, he saw a thick black “liquid” flowing down from the ceiling, quickly forming a pitch-black figure.
The figure seemed to be completely wrapped in a black curtain, only exposing a pair of cold blue eyes.
At the sight of him, Klein felt as if he was seeing the most intense emotions and desires of a living creature: fear, wrath, greed, jealousy, hunger, lust, etc.
The Desire Apostle didn’t waste the situation he painstakingly created, and he entered the activity room almost immediately.
At this moment, out of the three-person team of detectives, Kaslana was exhausted from the outburst of emotions, while Isengard Stanton’s spine was severely injured, causing him to lose his ability to partake in combat. Only Klein was left unscathed.
However, other than his revolver and Beyonder bullets, all of his mystical items were above the gray fog. Besides, he was facing a Sequence 5 Desire Apostle, a powerhouse capable of nurturing a Devil dog!
At that moment, the corners of Klein’s lips curled up slightly.
His right hand, which had been placed on the wound on Isengard’s back, abruptly swiped, causing the obvious depression to shift to the side and onto a rib!
The Magician’s most miraculous Beyonder power: Damage Transfer!
It allowed a wound to be transferred once on a body, turning a serious injury into a minor injury, but it was unable to transfer the damage to other people or items!
When Klein saw that Isengard Stanton was injured, he had already thought of the subsequent countermeasures.
By first acting as if they were out of solutions to make the Desire Apostle appear, and then transfer the great detective’s wound to leave him with only a slight fracture in his ribs, Klein believed that Isengard would then be able to deal with the Desire Apostle with him. It was a struggle for survival that all humans on instinct.
In this way, even if the Desire Apostle realized that something was amiss, it would be too late for him to escape. Once Klein completed the “treatment” and joined forces with the great detective, they would be able to stall the target until the official Beyonders arrived!
Almost at the same time, the ring that Isengard had pointed outwards began to produce greenness that was filled with vitality. A faint glow soon enveloped Isengard’s body, allowing his wounds to quickly heal.
The fracture on his ribs was instantly healed.
The great detective’s pain was real, but his helplessness was just an act!
However, this overlapped with Klein’s help.
When the Desire Apostle who was about to take action saw this scene, his eyes suddenly widened, and his body stopped abruptly.
Being free from any ensnarement, he turned around and ran towards the window.
During this process, his body quickly collapsed into a sticky black liquid.
The liquid seeped into the ground, penetrated the wall, and disappeared.
Klein raised his right hand just in time to snap his fingers.
The Air Bullet went through the open window and shot outside, sending sparks flying everywhere. However, the Desire Apostle had completely disappeared.
He ran really fast, without any hesitation at all… Are you a Devil or not?… This will only make things worse in the future… The corner of Klein’s mouth twitched as he turned to look at Isengard Stanton who had rolled around and stood up.
The great detective happened to look at him.
“You’re capable of healing wounds?”
“You’re capable of healing wounds?”
The two of them opened their mouths at the same time and asked the same question.
After looking at each other, Isengard shook his head and smiled bitterly, “I never expected that the trap I set would allow him to escape.”
As he spoke, his ring began to glow, and he looked around to confirm that the Desire Apostle had already left.
Isengard then gave a brief explanation.
“I didn’t have the chance to mimic the healing ability this afternoon. Later, I believed that I could use this to set a trap and make the Desire Apostle appear by making him think that I’m injured. Therefore, I deliberately bundled my wound in an exaggerated manner.”
He pointed to the cushion that elevated his left arm to his shoulder.
“Sure enough, it worked. But I didn’t expect you to be able to deal with serious injuries, and…” Isengard sighed softly.
As a result, both of them putting “healing” the injuries as their top priority. No one held back the Desire Apostle, so the moment he realized that something was wrong, he immediately fled.
Both Stanton and I had trump cards that the Desire Apostle didn’t know about, and we wanted to use that to trick him. Who knew that we would cancel each other out and allow him to flee… Is this the so-called two rights make a wrong? Klein helplessly laughed.
“This is because we don’t know each other well enough, and we didn’t have good teamwork.”
“No, it’s my fault,” Isengard said sincerely. “When I saw that you didn’t run away or defend yourself, and instead came over to help me, I should’ve deduced that you weren’t flustered, that you had the confidence and means, but unfortunately while wearing this ring, my brain remained in a highly-taxed state. I wasn’t able to consider anything else.”
So Sealed Artifact 2-081 will passively reduce one’s intelligence… Klein smiled and said, “Mr. Stanton, it’s not the time to discuss who’s responsible. The Desire Apostle has already fled. We should consider our subsequent actions.”
Isengard took off his ring and turned to the door of the activity room.
“The official Beyonders are arriving soon. I’ll go outside to calm Stuart and the others. After that, we can come up with a plan. Are you joining me, or do you plan on handling some of your matters?”
The official Beyonders… Mr. Stanton previously mentioned the Nighthawks, the Machinery Hivemind, and the military… Please don’t be an acquaintance… Yes, my spiritual intuition hasn’t warned me, so it’s probably not… Mr. Stanton is giving me a chance to clean up and dispose of any sensitive items so that I don’t get into trouble with the unfriendly official Beyonders… Many thoughts flashed through Klein’s mind as he asked, “Mr. Stanton, when you grasped the Desire Apostle’s location, where was he?”
Isengard thought and said, “Your bedroom. He was sitting in front of your desk.”
… How arrogant… Klein pointed out the door and said, “I’ll head over there to investigate. I’ll see if he left behind any traces.
“If we can figure out what the Desire Apostle truly looks like, it’ll definitely make apprehending him much simpler.
“I’ll leave the rest to you.”
“Alright.” Isengard moved to the side and helped up the weak Kaslana.
Seeing this, Klein suddenly found it amusing.
Having discussed so much and made preparations to set up a trap, we still failed to retain the Desire Apostle and ended up in this state… There are always more accidents than preparations… That’s why Magician is just a Sequence 7…
After leaving the room, Klein went straight to the second floor and entered his bedroom.
The arrangement inside remained unchanged, and even the distance between the chair and desk was no different from before. However, Klein seemed to see a figure wrapped in a pitch-black liquid.
He sat there, looking straight ahead, waiting patiently and calmly for a chance.
As expected of a Coldblooded… Klein looked at the glass panes of the oriel window and felt that he could divine if it had reflected something.
The Devil pathway is good at crime, so it wouldn’t be so easy for him to leave clues behind… However, I can try going above the gray fog to give it a try… Klein inspected the area and began to burn some of the mysticism notebooks he wrote in passing.
Not long after he finished dealing with the items, he saw a few strangers coming up to the second floor.
The leader of the group was a man with a stiff face but a head of frizzled, messy, and stubborn brown hair.
In his hand was an ancient silver mirror with strange patterns. On both sides of the mirror there were black gems which were decorated as “eyes.”
“Hello, Mr. Moriarty. I am Ikanser Bernard of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery. Can I inspect this place?”
Klein immediately nodded and said, “No problem.”
He then politely said, “Do you need me to follow you and answer any of the questions you might have?”
“Alright. Sorry for the trouble. Mr. Stanton has mentioned to me about your situation,” Ikanser said with a smile.
Several of his team members followed behind him. They treated him differently—some ignoring him, some curious, some filled with hostility.
My situation? How exactly did Mr. Stanton introduce me and what story did he make up? As his thoughts raced, Klein followed Ikanser into the bedroom again, while the rest of the official Beyonders paired up, each responsible for a different zone on the second floor.
“This is where the Desire Apostle sat?” Ikanser pointed at the chair in front of the desk.
He had clearly asked Isengard Stanton.
“Yes,” Klein answered frankly.
Without another word, Ikanser raised the silver mirror and stroked its surface three times with his right hand.
After a short pause, he said in a deep voice, “Honorable Arrodes, my question is: ‘What did the Devil who was previously sitting here look like?’”
The lights around them suddenly turned dark, as if enshrouded by mist after a rainstorm. A strange aqueous glint appeared on the surface of the silver mirror, forming a scene: a man covered in a sticky black “liquid” sat on a chair with his back to the window while he faced the bed.
Immediately after, the scene changed. The mirror in the corner vaguely reflected the dark shadow’s side profile which was similarly covered by the “pitch-blackness.”
But he could vaguely make out an outline.
The Desire Apostle had very high cheekbones and a pair of cold-looking blue eyes.
