Unlike the burly man who immediately discovered me hiding in the dark last time, this guardian did not seem to have noticed me, and even until the moment I attacked him, he was still focused on the book in his hands. Then, he was hit by the fruit knife that I had launched at him with telekinesis, and he fell to the ground directly, without any more movement.
Did you get rid of it?
Even though I witnessed the scene of him being killed by me, I did not dare to act lightly, as the assassination being too easy made me feel unreal.
Perhaps the one I killed was just a double, or an illusion, or something else... Maybe this guy has extraordinary abilities that won't let him die even if hit in a vital spot, and is now playing dead, waiting for me to go out. After all, compared to psychic powers, fireball, and physical enhancement, the ability to not die from a knife in the head is not that unbelievable. In fictional stories, it is also common for the protagonist to think they have killed the villain, only to find out it was just their own delusion.
While that may be the case, just staying deadlocked like this won't work either. Who knows, maybe he really is dead?
I waited for tens of seconds, seeing the body still motionless, so I carefully went out.
I soon arrived at the side of the corpse.
Because the distance was shortened, I could see his face clearly.
This is a young male in his early to mid-twenties, with a tanned complexion and a handsome appearance. Perhaps the assassination came too suddenly, not giving him time to react, and his expression at the time of death was not contorted, and his eyes were not closed. I imagine that up until the moment of his death, he may not have realized that he was about to die - assuming he is indeed dead.
I looked at the books that had fallen next to the body, and they were fantasy novels.
Because he is a cult follower, I thought he was reading some strange books, but it turns out to be quite normal.
Is he really dead?
With a curious mind, I gestured towards the campfire next to me.
The iron sword stuck in the fireplace levitated into the air, and then floated over to me.
I caught it.
During the battle with the mighty warrior last time, he told me that if I didn't kill him, I wouldn't be able to pull the iron sword out of the campfire. I think the structure here at this ritual node is the same. If I'm able to pull it out, does that mean the guardian is truly dead?
I glanced at the corpse again, and it still showed no unusual movement.
To be on the safe side, I first retreated to the back of the warehouse where I had been hiding just now, then took out the black mobile phone in my pocket and checked the map. There were only two red crosses left on the map, and the red cross at the school location had disappeared, indicating that the conspiracy had acknowledged that I had destroyed this stronghold - although strictly speaking, I had only killed one person and pulled out a sword.
It appears the guardians have truly died.
Not until then did I finally breathe a sigh of relief.
To be honest, I know I might just be worrying in vain, after all, even if it's a member of a cult that can use magic, they might not be prepared for every situation. Isn't it normal to die from an assassination if you're lax in defending against it? As for myself, if I didn't have a keen intuition, even a weak girl like Aoba, if she had the heart and the means, could stab me, a superhuman, from behind with a knife. If the opponent was the burly man from last time, my assassination attempt would have failed for sure; but this time, the opponent doesn't seem to have the ability to detect hidden enemies, so I succeeded.
I don't know what kind of magic he can do.
I left the school, carrying an iron sword.
On my way out, I vaguely heard the commotion coming from behind, it should be the discovery of the guardian's corpse. I quickened my pace again, widening the distance from the school, to avoid being detected.
After a while, I came to the rooftop of a store.
The black mobile phone suddenly started vibrating.
I took it out, checked it, and found that there was a new message.
I have completed the previous instruction from the dark forces, so this time there is a new instruction. I opened the text message and took a look.
Destroy the ritual core.
The text message instructions from the shadowy figures were as simple as ever.
The text message also included an image, still the map of Beaver City. I clicked on it, and the thumbnail enlarged to reveal a red cross drawn on the central area surrounded by five strongholds.
These five cult strongholds, or ritual nodes, if connected by lines, would form an inverted pentagram. The burly man had mentioned this to me. And now, the position of this red cross is exactly at the center of the inverted pentagram.
This location is not far from Yukio's villa.
Anyway, it's on the way, so I've decided to go back to the villa first and rest for a while.
I knocked on the door with the previously agreed code.
Footsteps could soon be heard patter-pattering from the other side of the door.
Aoba opened the door for me.
"Wow!"
She suddenly stepped back in fear, then lost her balance and fell to the ground, as if she had seen something terrifying.
I wondered and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Eh? That voice....." she paused upon hearing it, blinked her purple eyes, and then tentatively asked, "Is that Ninghai?"
"It's me."
"You... Why are you wearing a mask?" She patted her chest, still shaken, "I thought it was some cult members coming to my door..."
I was slow to respond, taking a couple of seconds to process what she said.
Oh, it's a mask.
I forgot to take off the mask and didn't take off the black robe I was wearing in disguise.
After leaving the school that had become a cult's stronghold, I never took off the mask for two reasons: first, the mask did not impede my vision even while wearing it; second, the mask serves an important role in the current Beaver City.
What is this function?
With it on, you won't be attacked by the patients.
This was something I only discovered after leaving school. On my way back, I suddenly noticed that the patients around me did not attack me for some reason, and I momentarily suspected that Red Eye might have undergone unknown changes, but after a while, I realized it was because of the mask I was wearing. As long as I'm wearing it, the patients will treat me as just a roadside stone or tree... No, to be precise, as one of their own kind? The mask has a symbol of a red eye on it, which seems to be hinting at Red Eye.
Wearing it is convenient for traveling, so I never took it off, and now I've forgotten to take it off.
"Sorry." I took off the mask, "Did I scare you?"
"You scared the hell out of me." Aoba complained.
I reached out my hand and pulled her up.
"Have you received any new messages?" I asked.
"Understood." She nodded.
"I will now go to the core site of the ritual and end all of this. As long as the intelligence gathered is not wrong, we can then cancel the ritual."
"Red Eye must also exist because of this ritual, right?" She brightened up. "If we lift the ritual, will Yukio and Miwa-san return to their former selves?"
"I guess so. I'm not entirely sure either."
Even if the Red Eye appears due to a ritual, it does not necessarily disappear when the ritual ends. It's like a piece of paper that has been burned to ashes by the flames, it won't return to its original state just because the flames have been extinguished. I don't know if I'm being too pessimistic, but will things really be that smooth? In stories, the innocent people who have fallen into a slumber because of the Great Demon King often awaken after the Great Demon King's death, but reality is far from that convenient.
Now thinking about these things is useless, the most important thing is the present matter. Even if the patients do not recover fully due to the ritual ending, it will at least allow me and Aoba to avoid the constant risk of becoming patients ourselves.
I took out the mask and handed it to Aoba, saying, "This is for you."
"What is this?" Aoba took it.
"This is a mask," I said.
"I know it's a mask," she said.
"As long as you wear it, you won't be attacked by the patients."
Aoba was surprised, and then carefully examined the mask.
"But... if I put it on, won't I be invisible?"
"You will know once you put it on," I said.
Aoba hesitated for a moment and tried to put on the mask.
"Ah," she said in surprise, "I can see outside!"
With the mask on, Aoba's face was covered, and his appearance instantly became eerie.
I looked at her, and I understood to some extent the shock she had just experienced when she opened the door and saw me wearing a mask.
"Is it really okay for me to use something so precious?" She took off the mask, revealing her lovely face again, hesitant in her expression, "Don't you need it more for your actions outside?"
"I don't care. I can move at a high place, and the patient is not my opponent."
Aoba caressed the mask in his hand, as if he still couldn't let it go.
However, since it has already been given away, there is naturally no reason to take it back; and compared to me, Aoba, who lacks resistance to the patient, obviously needs it more.
I took off the black robe I used as a disguise, rested for a short while in the villa, and then set off for the core of the ceremony.
.....
After fifteen minutes, in the city center.
I arrived at the main entrance of an office building, with around ten patients I had knocked down lying around.
This should be the location of the ritual core.
I entered the office building.
The first floor of the building is a spacious and empty lobby, which appears somewhat disorganized, with dried blood stains on the floor.
Unlike the strongholds I've visited before, this place should have been the ritual's core site, but there are no cult members guarding it, not even a single patient.
The elevator seems to be working normally, but I choose to take the stairs.
I step by step walked up, along the way there were no people, nor any suspected core object.
As I reached the seventh floor, my phone in my pocket suddenly started vibrating.
I took out my phone and checked it, it was a call from Aoba.
"Aoba?" I answered the phone and asked, "What's wrong?"
Aoba on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment, then said: "No, it's nothing......"
She spoke in a very low voice, for reasons unknown.
I was just about to ask her more, but she immediately hung up the phone.
Since there's no problem, why call? I'm at a loss.
I'll ask when I go back.
I refocused my attention on the present.
After a long time, I arrived at the top floor of the office building.
The top floor is a very spacious area, with transparent reinforced glass walls on all sides that provide a direct view of the outside scenery; and at the center of the top floor space, there is a luminous sphere the size of a soccer ball, floating two meters above the ground, illuminating the surrounding area brightly.
Two people stood next to the luminous sphere, one of them a man in a black robe, the other a tall, armored figure.
"Welcome."The man said in a loud voice.
I stood in front of the staircase, looking at him.
He is likely the leader of the cult, the so-called high priest; and the armored person next to him should be Alphonse Elric?
"Alphonse?"
But Alphonse did not respond to me, he just stood there in silence, as if there was no one inside the armor, only a lifeless thing.
The robust man said that he was taken away after being defeated by the priest. I thought he was imprisoned, but I didn't expect him to look so free, not being constrained.
What he's like at home. It couldn't be... that he's turned traitor, could it?
I don't think it's very likely, no, it's highly unlikely.
"Do you know him?" the man asked in a loud voice, "I knew it, you are his partner, aren't you?"
I looked back at the man.
He is about forty years old, with an ordinary appearance, but his expression exudes a strong sense of self-confidence, like a thriving and outstanding entrepreneur, rather than
He is a gloomy cult member; his black robe also has many red totemic patterns, but the style is more complex than the guardian I assassinated.
"You care about him, don't you?" The man patted the armor beside him. "He attacked the outpost under Kuriyama's charge, but it wasn't a big deal, I was there at the time too."
There, as you can see, he has been captured by me.
Alphonse remained silent.
The man mentioned Kuriyama, it should refer to the burly man I killed
"His strength is very strong, even Kuriyama finds him troublesome. From my observation, he seems to be able to decompose and reconstruct matter. This is a particularly promising ability." The man showed a regretful expression, "Unfortunately, after I took control of him, he was unable to use this ability. People under my control can only passively execute my orders, without subjective initiative. If his ability is an innate superpower, then he can activate it just by instinct."
But now it seems that this is a kind of sorcery, a kind of knowledge, which cannot be unleashed when the spirit is under control.
His words made me unusually alert.
Alphonse's current state is undoubtedly being mind-controlled, which also implies this man's true abilities. He can control his opponent's mind, making them his slaves.
Alphonse did not respond to my call because his mind was being controlled.
"Since you are his partner, then your abilities may also be similar to his in principle?" The man said slowly, "If that's the case, I can't control you arbitrarily. This armor, even if it loses its spell-casting ability, still has some fighting power, but you, if you lose your magic, you would just be an ordinary person, wouldn't you?"
It seems he mistook my superpowers for magic.
"Let me think about it... that's it," he said, "How about joining us and becoming one of us?"
"Did you think I would agree? " I asked.
"You will agree to it." He smiled slightly, "That girl... is she called Breeze Aoba? I've already had my subordinates go and capture her. Although I don't know what your relationship is, you've been protecting her up until now, so I doubt you'd want anything to happen to her?"
