Chapter 59 Deception
Following the direction Angel said, Leonard and Borgia quickly found the body of the "assassin".
Of course, it was not an easy task to bring the body down from the roof of a building that was six or seven meters high. The two men did not do so. Instead, after confirming the body, they returned directly to the open space in front of the warehouse.
"The deceased 'assassin' did look the same as the one on the wanted poster. He was shot in the jaw, and the bullet passed through his brain. He died on the spot. We also found these on the rooftop."
Leonard handed Dunn a shiny black ball about the size of a grape. It was an object similar to an eyeball. Angel felt that it was somewhat similar to the main ingredient of the "Assassin" potion in his memory, but not exactly the same.
Borgia carried a dagger, a piece of tarnished silver.
The former was a common double-edged dagger, the handle of which was badly worn, but the blade was carefully maintained and extremely sharp; the latter was engraved with various Hermetic spells and symbols, and the material that made up the spells no longer had the luster of pure silver, but looked like tin sheets with oxidized surface.
"This should be the spell used by the 'Assassin' before. The opening spell he chanted was 'Frost' in Hermetic. It can cause the surrounding area to fall into extremely low temperatures, affecting mobility. The radius is less than ten meters."
Taking the silver piece, Angel explained.
"Frost..." Dunn repeated the word. "It should be a spell made by other Beyonders and given to him. The Beyonders of the Secret Order haven't displayed similar abilities in previous battles. He's more of an expert at manipulating illusions and flames to fight."
"Well, it should be a Beyonder of the 'Witch' sequence or higher. Madam Sharon has used the power of frost in battle. Of course, it is not ruled out that other sequences possess similar powers."
Angel analyzed.
In fact, she has basically confirmed that this is due to the ability of the "witch", and behind this "assassin" is likely to be a mid-sequence extraordinary person of the same path.
"Witch Cult?" Leonard reacted immediately.
"Not necessarily, but it's worth reporting."
Dunn thought for a moment, then took the used talisman from Angel's hand and examined it carefully.
Unfortunately, the patterns on the surface of the silver sheet have become dim and unclear due to the exhaustion of its power, and the material itself has become fragile. Therefore, these talismans are disposable items. Even if they are not broken on the spot after use, they cannot be recycled and reused.
After collecting the extraordinary items and silver pieces left by the assassin, several people searched the entire venue again, but found no other useful clues or items.
Tuxedo Joker's body still lay there, and the fragments of the Mutated Bieber scattered across the ground made it difficult for passersby to touch them. After discussing it, the Night Watchmen decided to have Lolota wait there. With her Backlund Parish-issued police inspector badge, she could easily intimidate the average person. Even if a nearby resident called the police, she could handle the situation once they arrived.
The remaining five people first returned to Blackthorn Security Company with Sealed Artifact 2-049, Antigonus's Notes, and the extraordinary materials they had picked up. They needed to return these extraordinary items to the "Chanis Gate" as soon as possible.
Afterwards, the other rotated Nighthawks would come to the battlefield and retrieve the bodies of the two dead Extraordinary Personages, hoping to find clues about the Secret Order or the Witch Cult.
Borgia picked up the iron box that sealed 2-049 again, and the five of them returned to the carriage at the street corner, flexing their arms as they had when they came.
It was already afternoon, and there were already many residents and dock workers walking around outside the warehouse. The fierce gunfire and explosions during the previous battle attracted the attention of many nearby residents and workers, but there were no fools making a living in the dock area, and no curious onlookers dared to approach the warehouse to check.
Leonard was still driving, while Angel, Dunn, Klein, and Borgia sat in the carriage, surrounding 2-049. After reactivating the seal on the iron box, the Antigonus puppet no longer controlled two people at once, allowing them to chat in the intermittent state of stagnation.
The first person to speak was Borgia, who was silent when he first arrived. Angel had always thought that this was his personality, but now it seems that perhaps silence was just a subconscious behavior of this night watchman with a scar on his cheek when facing unfamiliar colleagues.
"I'm curious how you managed to take down that clown from the Secret Order. That guy was able to move freely amidst a hail of bullets. I even suspect he's already reached Sequence 7."
Borgia seemed to have been thinking about this question for a long time. After placing 2-049 in the middle of the carriage, he immediately asked.
"Angel, you speak first." Dunn also echoed.
Two Sequence 9s, one of whom was a fortune teller incapable of direct combat, had teamed up to eliminate a Beyonder who was likely a Sequence 7. It was only natural for them to have doubts about this...
Angel did not intend to hide what happened. The Tuxedo Clown of the Secret Order was seriously injured and his mind was full of thoughts about how to steal the notes, which exposed his flaws and led to his control by 2-049. There was nothing in this that he could not let his teammates know.
The only problem is...
She looked at Klein, who was sitting across from her. He was flexing his arms calmly, his eyes fixed straight ahead, as if this matter had nothing to do with him.
Pretending to lower her head to organize her words, she recalled the battle with Tuxedo Clown and confirmed the status of the other four Night Watchmen at that time.
The captain was unconscious after landing, and Leonard was in the worst condition, only regaining consciousness after I rescued him. Lorota and Borgia fell to the ground at the other end of the open space and were unable to get up at that time...
After assessing the risks, Angel decided to help Klein conceal the fact that he could remove the negative status imposed by 2-049 on his own.
"Ms. Lolota snatched the notebook back from Riel Bieber, causing the mutated Bieber to explode on the spot. The aftermath of the explosion blew Sealed Artifact 2-049 to Klein's feet. He must have been immediately affected by the negative effects..."
After making a rough draft in his mind, Angel began to tell Dunn and Borgia about the situation at that time.
"...That clown from the Secret Order used Klein's body as cover and demanded I hand over my notes. I tried to bypass Klein and attack him, but he was agile and very alert, so I couldn't succeed. His attack had a clear prelude, so he couldn't hit me..."
"You guys are in a stalemate?" Dunn asked. He had stopped bending his arms and seemed to have noticed something was wrong.
Angel nodded. "A stalemate wouldn't be good for him. After all, you could regain consciousness and join the battle at any moment. He's increasingly demanding that I hand over the notes, threatening to kill Klein if I don't."
"I was thinking of stalling for time, so I threw the Antigonus Notes at Klein. It would be best if I could wake him up through the collision with an external object. Even in the worst-case scenario, the notes would be protected by the area of effect of 2-049 and wouldn't be easily taken away by the Secret Order."
From here on, Angel's description diverges from the reality of the situation.
I hope Klein is smart enough to pick up where I left off...
She looked at Klein, who was sitting across from her. He seemed to be thinking about something, and his right arm slowly stopped flexing.
No, he was affected by the seal and entered a stagnant state.
"As far as I know, it's impossible to wake someone affected by 2-049 by throwing objects without direct contact," Dunn pointed out the flaw in her words.
"But only this 'thrown object' is different." Angel reached out to stop Borgia, who was about to touch Klein, and pointed to the Antigonus notebook on Dunn's lap.
Dunn looked at Klein, who had become stiff beside him, and nodded thoughtfully.
He picked up the notebook and gently tossed it into Klein's lap.
Just like the people who were awakened by direct contact before, Klein's arms, which had stopped swinging, began to move again at a normal speed, and his eyes regained clarity after a moment of confusion.
"...Well, yes, Angel woke me up through the notebook. The enraged Beyonder of the Secret Order behind me was about to kill me with that invisible bullet, and 2-049 was right under my feet..."
He naturally took over the topic and continued talking.
Very good, it matches.
Angel mentally praised Klein for his quick thinking.
The subsequent description, which was given by Klein until Angel decisively killed the Esoteric Clown who was affected by 2-049 with two shots, was consistent with the actual situation.
Only Klein escaped from the sealed artifact's image on his own, which the two tacitly explained as the peculiarity of Antigonus's notes.
"So, you guys are really lucky. If the Antigonus Notes couldn't remove the influence of the Antigonus puppet, Mr. Moretti would have been killed by the secret order members."
Borgia, who was quietly listening to the conversation, said.
Klein forced an unpleasant smile and said, "I've always had good luck."
"But you don't do things by luck, do you?" Dunn looked at Angel, his gray eyes showing not doubt but certainty.
"Indeed, I noticed something when Rel Bieber approached Seal 2-049 several times. He was completely unaffected by 2-049's effects. It wasn't until I was fighting with the Esoteric Clown for the notes that I accidentally entered the Seal's range while holding the notes, but I wasn't controlled by the raging Seal that I basically confirmed this."
Angel did speculate about the Antigonus Note's effectiveness against 2-049, but she didn't have the guts to test such an unreliable hypothesis in combat. The actual confirmation of the note's effectiveness came after Dunn boarded the train with the note. Because of the note, Dunn was no longer susceptible to 2-049's influence—the other three people in the train had already been repeatedly controlled by 2-049.
But since Dunn himself had verified the effectiveness of the notes, she didn't mind deceiving her captain a little and helping her new teammate hide his secrets.
The premise is that Klein's secrets will not cause harm to himself, the Nighthawks, or other ordinary people.
At least from what he saw so far, Klein was still a diligent and responsible Nighthawk. Even though he hadn't been officially promoted yet, he had already participated in several missions. It was said that he also had a big part in finding Antigonus's notes this time.
After finishing this topic, the few of them chatted idly. Dunn used his captain's privilege to get the notebook back into his own hands, so he could relax and rest on the back of the chair. The other three had to spend the difficult journey between flexing and stretching their arms and waking others up.
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