Chapter Twenty-Seven: Killing Intent

The unexpected encounter with the Imperial Duo, the subsequent battle, and the temporary alliance against Yoshihisa Takizawa—all these events had consumed nearly an hour. The minute hand of the pocket watch now pointed to six; it was 8:30 PM, well past the hour when junior high schoolers and younger should be out alone.

Gongsun Ce, for once, felt a rare sense of fatigue, a weariness owed mostly to his reckless dash across half the sewage plant while hefting a massive slab of meat. While the dragon worshippers were fixated on the two main combatants and wary of a possible third-party ambush, he had used his powers to hoist the bioengineered meat wall through the air, resolving the sewage crisis in one bold move. The shock this maneuver had caused Takizawa was written clearly across his face, but such a display of power also took its toll on the psychic himself.

Flying at high speed with a heavy load was far more exhausting than an ordinary psychic confrontation. He wondered if the superheroes in movies ever had similar thoughts when they carried trains or ships. Now, his mind felt as parched as after a day spent wrestling with a mountain of exam papers; from experience, he knew that without a quick infusion of energy and some rest, the next to suffer would be his heart.

Not that his heart hadn't already suffered enough today.

The memory of that ink painting from earlier still made him want to roar at Yan Qi. Pressing his fingers to his brow, he reached out to the side. "Do you have an energy bar or a compressed biscuit or something?"

A white-wrapped energy bar landed in his palm.

"White chocolate flavor, for psychics only."

Bold, artistic lettering on the package promised, "Enough to keep you fighting all day!" Even a non-psychic could tell that was false advertising.

The masked woman tore open another energy bar for herself, slipping it under her mask with a crisp crunch.

The young man bit off half the high-calorie snack. "Thanks. Are you really going to eat like that? Your mask must be full of crumbs by now."

"Crunch. Unlike someone who didn't even bother to change clothes before getting involved, I believe in keeping my identity secret."

Gongsun Ce found little point in such precautions. Concealing one's face, changing clothes, altering one's voice—practical skills a decade ago, but today, hardly trustworthy. This was no longer an age without ubiquitous surveillance cameras. Even without considering the abilities of certain psychics or law enforcers, technology alone offered countless ways to deduce a person's true identity.

He had never bothered hiding his appearance.

"I've lived here longer than you. After all the scrapes I've gotten into, every faction in the city knows my personal information perfectly well. There's no need to hide."

The masked woman lifted her head, her long, black hair cascading like a waterfall.

"The Skydome City I remember was never such a den of constant battle."

"A city's order always grows more stable over time."

With that, the psychic drew their conversation to a close.

He gazed across the lawn, where the dragon worshipper lay bound tightly with white cords. The man's calm expression was a stark contrast to Alice's gloomy face.

"I'll talk," Takizawa said quietly. "After being interrogated by unknown experts, after my mind has been pried open by a spiritual enforcer, or after drugs have forced me to speak, I'll reveal all I know."

The blue-haired hunter's face was cold. "You're remarkably aware of your situation. For someone called a malignant practitioner, you don't sound the part."

"I'm not insane. Tyrellos—he was mad from the start; Caplo, foolish and fragile, I watched him spiral into madness and couldn't save him. But I am clear-headed. I know what I am doing. My actions are my own."

The hunter pressed the tip of her short arrow to his throat. "A man who calls the Dragon Calamity a god claims sanity? To me, all of you are madmen bent on destroying this city."

The long-haired man showed neither anger nor fear. He only sighed, like someone who had foreseen the outcome, witnessing his own defeat from center stage.

"Ah... You know nothing. Nor do you wish to know. Even if I tell you the truth, you won't understand—you'll only go mad. Your divinations fail here, psychic. I will tell you nothing. If you want to kill me, do it."

Alice Edal said nothing.

From a distance, Gongsun Ce could not see her face, only sensed that the hunter was studying the man, searching for any suspicious sign.

She withdrew her arrow and stepped back.

Then, the black arrow flew from her hand toward Takizawa’s heart—

And stopped, suspended in the air just short of his chest.

"Best not to kill, Miss Alice," came the gray-haired youth's voice from behind her.

"...Caplo was ignorant enough to be spared, but not this one," the hunter replied coldly. "He has wandered too far in his delusions and the power granted by the evil dragon. After passing through the madness of a dream, he awakened on the other side of common sense. He may not spread corruption as Tyrellos or Caplo did, but if he speaks his version of reality, our own minds are at risk of contamination."

From a scattershot polluter to a precision toxin, then.

Takizawa was no easier to deal with than Tyrellos in terms of raw strength.

The youth pondered. "He still has a fair degree of reason and common sense—look how he panicked when he saw the bioengineered meat wall."

"Common sense has nothing to do with it! That thing scared me half to death, too! If you can create something more disgusting than a B-horror movie villain and deploy it in real life, something's wrong with your people!"

The blue-haired hunter’s icy demeanor lasted barely five seconds before dissolving at his words.

Gongsun Ce nodded inwardly; Alice was always more suited to this quick-tempered persona.

"At least he hasn't started spouting mad ravings. Our mission is complete. Whether he is imprisoned or executed is for the city's officials to decide. Perhaps Skydome City's humane treatment will move him to cooperate fully. With that hope, sparing him isn't so bad."

The hunter sighed in frustration.

"It's been almost four hours since the rooster-head was dealt with, and no useful intel has come in. The man I caught this morning took half the day just to confirm our suspicions. The chances of getting new information soon..."

She twirled her arrow and looked at the youth.

Gongsun Ce knew what she was about to ask.

"I'm no champion of justice, but watching someone die before my eyes still unsettles me. Call it a student's naive idealism, if you like."

Finally, Alice put away her weapon.

"Only now you call yourself a student... sigh."

Takizawa sat in silence, offering no comment.

Gongsun Ce stood before him.

"By the way, even if you say nothing, we're not without leads. In fact, your abilities have already given us an important clue."

"...!"

The sullen man's breathing quickened—a detail the youth did not miss.

"As I thought. The masked man left early, probably for the same reason. We followed the abnormal water flow here, which was clearly your deliberate ploy to draw our attention... So, where else could a water-corrupting beast be deployed, besides a sewage plant? Where did you cause the disturbance that alerted our investigators?"

To create a disturbance large enough to be noticed, copious wastewater was needed. Besides the sewage plant, the next most accessible source was...

"I could only think of the sewers. Why would Yoshihisa Takizawa be investigating such places? Let's pursue that line."

Suddenly, the sullen man began to struggle, shouting, "The Dragon Phenomenon is—"

The masked woman rushed over, striking his neck with a swift chop.

Takizawa slumped, unable to finish his words, and fainted, looking so pitiful that the youth broke into a cold sweat.

The masked woman withdrew her hand. "See? A divine +10 rescue chop in your hour of need."

"You've given up even making up proper names for your moves!"

"It's just a basic attack anyway. With my temporary supervisor gone, I'll hand him over to the authorities. Any objections?"

Alice winced. "The man just ran off for no reason, and now you ask me...? Is this how your Ritual Office operates?"

"Who knows? As luck would have it, I'm a temp, too."

And you still have the nerve to call yourself an expert.

The youth silently grumbled about her earlier airs, glancing at Alice’s face.

He was certain the ever-diligent hunter was about to lose her composure.

"What on earth is the Eternal Light Empire thinking?!"

"I’m not sure either. Normally, the Ritual Office wouldn't handle things this way. I hope tonight hasn't left you with a poor impression of the Empire. Now, as for you, psychic..."

At that, Gongsun Ce felt a particularly intense gaze.

Those eyes, hidden behind the mask, were surely fixed on him now.

As if hinting at something, the masked woman spoke with calm indifference, "We already gave you our advice."

Her tone was unchanged, her movements unremarkable. Even the vigilant hunter gave no warning, which meant she, too, had noticed nothing.

Yet, a strange feeling welled up in the psychic's heart. Here, now, this girl was ready for battle—not the casual contests from before, but a full-force confrontation with no room for jest.

He had no evidence, but he knew her well enough. Like classmates who can predict each other's next words, like close friends who can foresee each other's actions, the feeling in his heart warned him: if he said the wrong thing, a fight would break out.

"I already replied—I won’t withdraw. I’ll continue investigating alongside Miss Alice."

As soon as he said this, the tense urge for combat vanished.

It seemed she had given up the idea of fighting.

"I see. Then farewell, you two."

Dragging the unconscious Takizawa, she walked a few steps, then turned back. "Remember, you owe me a dessert."

"Alright, alright."

The Empire’s temp finally departed.

Alice Edal laid a hand on the youth’s shoulder. "Gongsun Ce, that child really is—"

"Who knows? I don't meddle in affairs that don't concern me."

"The Garden District's information broker isn’t like you."

"He's an even bigger softie than I am."

·

Yoshihisa Takizawa was already unconscious, the words lost to his ears. Before he passed out, the former researcher had only thought: use any means necessary to stop them, never let them interfere with the leader's plans.

Even as he was unconscious, that determination churned within him, a pained expression twisting his face.

How much time had passed?

At last, he regained consciousness.

He listened to the surrounding noises, and, judging by the vibrations beneath him, guessed he had been shoved into the back seat of a small car.

He could not see or speak, nor did he have the materials to perform a ritual. Just as he was about to try a small trick to test his surroundings, a sharp pain stabbed into his back.

He fainted again.

When he awoke a second time, he found himself seated in a chair.

He was in the center of a bare room, his entire body bound immovably. Strangely, his mouth was not sealed shut. This suggested his captors were not afraid of what he might say—perhaps, Takizawa guessed, because they intended to use soundproofing to communicate safely with him.

He had no time to ponder further. The door before him opened.

A handsome youth in a suit entered.

"Yoshihisa Takizawa, born on Zero Island, a ritualist of the Divine Communion Realm, converted into a dragon worshipper during the Supibia Dragon Calamity, source presumed to be the Glass Disaster. For some time, you operated as a freelance scholar assisting official research. Before that, you worked at the Shigure Research Institute, where, in a place full of geniuses and eccentrics, you were merely an unremarkable researcher—hence your gloomy, withdrawn disposition..."

Takizawa's eyes widened in shock, speechless.

The young man who entered held a dossier, reciting the life of Yoshihisa Takizawa, but none of it registered.

Because he recognized the young man's face.

He knew who was speaking to him.

"You, you’re...!"

The suited youth set the folder aside and smiled.

"I am Renichi Shigure. Long time no see, Mr. Takizawa."