Chapter 57 End of the Battle
After helping Klein up as he tumbled and crawled out of the range of 2-049, Angel felt the burning pain in his left shoulder, his pain nerves slowed down by adrenaline.
Without bothering to treat the bleeding wound, she held the gun and walked five meters away from 2-049 and the clown controlled by it.
Just now, this seal demonstrated its terrifying dominance. Klein squatted down, supported himself on the ground with his hands, and kicked 2-049 towards the clown behind him. 2-049 did not disappoint them. The moment the clown entered the affected area, it exerted a negative influence on him. The clown, who possessed countless escape abilities, didn't even have time to snap his fingers.
Angel didn't want to go over and experience this effect together. She stood outside the range of the seal, raised her pistol, and aimed at the stiff clown. The latter maintained a funny posture with one hand on his shoulder and the other hand pinching his thumb and middle finger. His eyes followed Angel in an extremely slow movement, but soon the light in his eyes disappeared and he no longer responded to external stimuli.
Dunn and the others did not tell her what she would become after being completely controlled by 2-049. She might maintain the same posture until her death, or she might become a "puppet" of Antigonus' puppet, helping it realize its wish to find its family descendants.
But she didn't dare to gamble.
Tuxedo Joker's many strange and powerful abilities allowed him to move freely under the siege of many Nighthawks. If he hadn't been controlled by 2-049, even a few more Angels and Kleins would be helpless against him. If he really had some means of escaping, or started to act again under the control of the seal, the consequences would be unacceptable to her.
After realizing this, Angel aimed at the clown's head without hesitation, rather than other less lethal locations.
Before firing, she tilted her head and looked at Klein beside her.
Seeing that the other party did not object, she simply pulled the trigger.
If it was a regular attack, Angel would first hit the chest where the chance of hitting was the highest, and then shoot the head, but the Joker was like a living target at this time, so she shot directly at the head, and twice in a row.
Just like the Joker's threat to her just now: to make a hole in Crane's head.
The demon-hunting bullets were well worth their price, and the 0.38-inch caliber was powerful enough. Two bullets penetrated the Joker's forehead one after another, leaving bullet holes as thick as two fingers. When they came out of the occipital bone, they had expanded to two horrific wounds the size of fists, knocking off most of the occipital bone and taking away a lot of brain tissue.
Without checking, Angel knew that this guy was dead.
2-049 seemed to have no interest in the lifeless target. The clown's lifeless body was freed from the negative effects of the seal. He knelt on his knees, bent forward, and collapsed softly to the ground. Dark red blood mixed with sand and gravel quickly dyed the ground beneath his feet red.
Along with it came a sense of relief that surged in Angel's mind.
From Cole Granger's memories, she learned that this was not the relief after defeating the enemy, but the "digestion" of the "Assassin" potion.
This feeling also appeared when she killed Mrs. Sharon, but she had just experienced a tense battle and had no time to take care of it, let alone think about it.
But after killing two extraordinary people in a row today, her intuition told her that the potion in her body might only need one step to be completely "digested".
But playing the role of an assassin shouldn't be that simple...
Putting aside his doubts for the moment, Angel turned to look at Klein beside him. The latter stared blankly at the dead Tuxedo Clown, then looked away, frowned, and seemed a little uncomfortable.
"Are you not hurt?"
Angel asked curiously as he reloaded his pistol.
Klein shook his head. "I'm just still a little uncomfortable. This is the first time I've seen a dead person so close. Just now..."
He looked at 2-049 next to the clown's body with some fear.
"...When I was controlled by the seal just now, I really thought I was going to die. Fortunately, it seems that the guy fired a shot at my feet, and gravel splashed on my legs. Maybe because of this, I was awakened from the negative effects..."
Is it really possible to wake him from 2-049's control without personal contact?
Angel looked at Klein doubtfully until the latter looked away guiltily.
"Let's just leave it at that. Let's go check on the captain and the others first."
Angel ultimately didn't pursue the matter, although she was indeed curious about how Klein had freed himself from 2-049's control. In short, it was definitely not the reason he stated.
But now the other Night Watchmen were lying on the ground, in urgent need of rescue, so she could only ask about this matter when she had time.
As for the focus of the battle between the two sides, the Antigonus family's notebook is still lying quietly within the influence range of 2-049. The two of them have a tacit understanding, and no one mentioned the risk of entering the influence range to retrieve the notebook.
Anyway, once everyone is rescued, the notes and the sealed objects will not be able to escape.
Circumventing the center of the explosion and coming to the other corner of the clearing, Angel approached Leonard, who was groaning and opening his eyes.
Seeing that Leonard had regained consciousness despite his face being covered in blood, she breathed a sigh of relief.
After a few minutes of fighting wits and courage with the clown, she was actually quite afraid that these teammates would die from their injuries, but it seemed that no matter which sequence of the potion, it had a certain strengthening effect on the body. Although several of them were staggering, either unconscious or bleeding from the mouth and nose, they were still alive.
Klein, not far away, was helping Dunn Smith up, trying to wake him from his shaking head. Elsewhere, Borgia struggled to his feet, pulled a small bottle from his pocket, and handed it to Lolota, who was lying beside him.
She also offered her hand to Leonard.
"Would you like a hand?"
The green-eyed poet lay on his back on the ground, his eyes confused, as if he had just woken up. His gaze scanned everywhere before finally focusing on Angel's face.
"What am I doing...Rel Bieber just exploded?"
He seemed to have just remembered what happened before he fell into a coma, and he extended his hand to Angel and asked slowly.
"Yes, all of you were knocked unconscious by the explosion, but fortunately, no one is in danger of death. Well, probably not."
Angel grabbed Leonard's hand and pulled him up from the ground. Leonard staggered for a few times before he stood firm by holding on to the wooden box beside him.
Taking off his tattered gloves, Leonard pulled out a sky-blue metal bottle from the inner pocket of his windbreaker. He shook the bottle, unscrewed the cap, and was about to drink it in one gulp when he saw Angel beside him looking at the bottle curiously, so he put his hand down again.
"Are you injured? If it's serious, I'll give you half. If you can continue to move, don't drink it. The side effects are serious."
"What kind of medicine is this?"
Angel was indeed very curious. She found that the bottle Borgia handed to Lorota was also similar. It seemed to be a medicine commonly used by the Nighthawks. Perhaps it was added too recently, so Dunn or Old Neil did not tell her.
"'Goddess's Gaze' is a standard potion of the Church. It has certain healing effects, but it primarily squeezes the body's potential to maintain optimal combat condition. However, after the effects wear off, the wearer will become even weaker, requiring prompt treatment."
Leonard explained patiently, holding the blue bottle carefully as if protecting a precious treasure.
However, for the injured Nighthawks, "The Goddess's Gaze" is indeed a treasure.
"Then I don't need it for now. I only have, um, a gunshot wound in my left shoulder. My spirituality is a little depleted, but my physical condition is fine." Angel decided not to take the "Goddess's Gaze" after hearing about the side effects. The injury on his shoulder was not serious, so he could just leave it alone and deal with it slowly when he gets back.
Moreover, she had not consumed much spiritual energy throughout the entire battle. On the one hand, the "Assassin" lacked the high-cost, high-return ability of other Sequence 9s. On the other hand, she also found that her body's "reserves" of strength, speed, and spiritual energy were higher than those of Cole Granger when he was still a Sequence 9 "Assassin".
This might align with her previous speculation—this body still retained a considerable amount of the power of a Sequence 7 "Witch."
Leonard drank the entire bottle of "Goddess's Gaze" in one gulp and recovered his spirit at a speed visible to the naked eye. His face, which had been pale due to blood loss, became rosy, but it seemed a little too rosy, like congestion after strenuous exercise.
He smacked his lips, screwed the cap back on the empty bottle, and put it back in his pocket.
"Let's go check on the captain and the others. It looks like Riel Bibb won't be able to complete his look, but that member of the Secret Order could come back at any moment. We'd better get the Sealed Artifact and the Antigonus family's notes and leave as soon as possible."
Hearing a familiar term, Angel curiously asked, "Secret Order?"
"An ancient organization, founded in the Fourth Epoch, connected to the corrupt nobles of the Solomon Empire. The notebook we're looking for was accidentally lost by them." Leonard's expression was somewhat cautious. "They hide in the shadows, making it difficult to find their tracks, but once they strike, they're often very formidable. The guy in the tuxedo who ambushed us earlier and harassed Riel Bibb during his fight, the one with the greasepaint on his face, is a member of the Secret Order."
"He should be a mid-sequence, with strange abilities. In our current state, we'll likely be at a disadvantage against him. If he steals the notes, today's mission will be a complete failure."
Mid-Sequence, then that means he's at least a Sequence 7 Beyonder...
Angel secretly recalled the knowledge about Sequence grading. Sequence 9 and Sequence 8, which are like herself and Leonard, are called Low Sequence; above them are Middle Sequence, including Sequence 7, Sequence 6, and Sequence 5; starting from Sequence 4, the strong ones above are High Sequence.
Angel had met several mid-sequence extraordinary people, including Dunn Smith, Daly Simone, and the deceased Sharon Hoy. All of them were extraordinary people who possessed various powerful and strange abilities.
It seems that Tuxedo Joker, as another mid-sequence, does possess many unique extraordinary abilities. From what she has seen, he can shoot invisible bullets with a snap of his fingers, disappear and appear in flames, move stealthily with his body hidden, and turn into a paper man to avoid damage when blown away.
Finally, with a wave of his hand, he moved the fatal injury on his chest to a less fatal position on his shoulder.
If he had not been entangled with Angel and Klein for a long time at the edge of the range of 2-049 in order to snatch the Antigonus family notes, and was eventually accidentally controlled by the negative effects of the seal, he would never have died here so easily.
"By the way, speaking of the notebook, did you find where you dropped it?"
Leonard took a few steps and suddenly thought of the goal of this mission. He turned back and asked Angel.
"Ms. Lolota has already found it from Riel Bieber's body, but it's now within the control range of the seal. We need to get someone else to come and get it out."
Following Angel's gaze, Leonard looked towards the cracked iron box in the middle of the clearing, and sure enough, not far away he found the old notebook with a cover stained with Riel Bieber's body fluids.
and a clown in a tuxedo with his knees bent, his hips raised, and his upper body lying on the ground in an indecent posture.
"Hmm... who's that guy lying next to him? He's been... no, he's already..."
Leonard quickly glanced around and found that his companions were there. Then he squinted his eyes and observed the corpse next to the seal.
"If the 'secret order member' you're talking about is that clown in a tuxedo, then there's no need to worry about him coming back."
Angel pointed towards the Joker's body.
"He's dead."
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