Secrets: Priestess

Chapter 103 Hunting
After leaving the bar, Claire breathed a sigh of relief.

It is indeed tiring to deal with two audiences at the same time.

Especially since she had come into contact with the other party at a tarot meeting under the identity of a "priestess". If she was careless, the other party might recognize her identity from the details.

"Luckily, Miss Justice and her dog are only Sequence 9, otherwise we might not be able to hide it."

"This way, Justice, who values ​​feelings and is also curious, will most likely pay attention to Claire Meazza's deeds and possibly share the information about 'the body being suspected of becoming a Sealed Object' at the Tarot Club to lure that woman in... If that doesn't work this time, we'll find another opportunity."

Riding in the carriage on the way to Saint Samuel's Church, Claire pondered Audrey's possible reactions and actions.

"Tomorrow is a new Monday, and it's time for the Tarot Club to gather again. If Miss Justice is proactive enough, perhaps she can exchange information at the Tarot Club tomorrow."

"If everything goes well, after two or three Tarot Club meetings, the woman who has enough information will take action."

"We need to tell Audrey about 'transporting Claire's body to the temple for sealing and safekeeping' at the appropriate time..."

"It's a pity that Her Highness Arianna took the holy coffin back to the temple. Otherwise, it would have been a perfect 'prop' for disguise..."

Claire gradually sorted out and supplemented her plan against the woman. There was still a lot to consider and prepare. She reminded herself, "Only patience is necessary to become a good hunter."

Returning to the church office, Claire saw a stack of newly typed documents on her desk.

These are all cases suspected to be related to witches.

Since Claire had accepted the mission to track down the witch "Tai Perslan", a copy of the church's recent case files suspected of being related to the witch sect would be sent to her office first.

Turning on the gas in the room, Claire sat down and looked at the dishes one by one.

"Sewer Dismemberment Case." "Headless Park Case." "West District Dismemberment Case"...

After careful counting, the church received five cases in a short period of time where the methods were cruel and there were traces of witches' extraordinary abilities left at the scene.

This is still a case within the jurisdiction of the Nighthawks. If the Punisher and the Mechanical Heart are combined, the number of similar cases may double.

Claire looked at the victims of these cases and found that they were all handsome men.

"A witch who specializes in hunting handsome men?"

"In the potion system, advancement in some pathways requires some kind of ritual. Does the Assassin pathway require such a ritual when advancing to a certain sequence?"

"But that's unlikely... There's no such phenomenon in the previous case files related to the witch sect."

"It can't be a murder of passion..."

Claire felt that there was something fishy about these cases, but the lack of information made it difficult for her to guess the murderer's intentions.

"Furthermore... the traces of the witches' extraordinary abilities in these cases are too obvious. It's almost as if they were deliberately exposing themselves."

"The deceased were all tortured to death, and the treatment of their bodies was extremely cruel, with a strong intention to vent hatred."

"But the remaining body parts of the deceased showed no signs of molestation."

"During the investigation of these cases, extraordinary methods such as divination and spiritualism have become ineffective..."

When summarizing the last common point of these cases, Claire paused in thought. The face of the black-haired woman on the black horse in Tingen's carriage appeared in her mind, as did Sharon's appearance. Claire couldn't help but clench her fists.
"Although witches all have relatively strong anti-divination methods, they've handled it so cleanly... Recently, in the records of Backlund's Nighthawks, only Tai Perslan is suspected of possessing a magical anti-divination item..." Could that woman be the murderer? But why would she kill these people? And her methods were so cruel.

Just as Claire was puzzled, Creste Cesimma knocked on the door and entered.

Claire looked up and saw Creste, his brow furrowed, walking hurriedly towards her.

Krestel handed over the information in his hand and said quickly, "Galadia, the Mechanical Heart sent a telegram saying that a very vicious Beyonder fight occurred in the dock workers' union in the dock area. Based on the traces at the scene, it is suspected to be a battle between the 'Rose Bishop' and the 'Witch'. You should have a summary of the recent 'Witch' cases here, right?"

The Rose Bishop...is a Sequence 6 of the Secret Prayer Path.

Claire took the document and flipped through it first. Then Creste continued:
"Furthermore, many people within the dock workers' union were transformed into human bombs long ago by this 'Rose Bishop' using flesh magic."

"During this battle, the explosions of these human bombs razed the entire dock workers' union to the ground! Fortunately, it didn't affect the nearby streets, otherwise the casualties would have been much higher!"

"These lunatics from the Aurora Society! Their 'flesh bomb' abilities don't even consider civilians human!"

"And why would a witch clash with the lunatics of the Aurora Society?!"

The anger in Creste's dark green eyes was clearly visible; the casualties of civilians made him extremely angry.

Although the Church of the Evernight Goddess may not be perfect, most of the church members, whether they are Nighthawks or Red Gloves, grew up from the common people.

These Nighthawks and Red Gloves have sufficient understanding and respect for difficulties and life. Most of them have been adhering to the duties of "Guardians" throughout their lives, so they are extremely hostile to secret organizations such as the Aurora Society and the Gnosis Society that often cause large numbers of civilian casualties.

"Aurora Society..." Claire muttered about this crazy secret organization. Frowning, she pulled out the files on the previous dismemberment cases and confirmed with Crested, "I remember that most of the Aurora Society members, both men and women, were handsome. Your Excellency Cecima, take a look at the victims of these 'witch' cases. Is it possible that they are also members of the Aurora Society?"

Creste placed his hands on the table, looking at the case files that Claire had turned over one by one. His expression grew uglier the more he looked.

Always on the front lines, Krestey has extensive experience in identifying cultists, especially the Aurora Society and the Gnosis Society.

Based on the detailed photos and descriptions of the crime scenes, he discovered that it was possible that all the deceased were members of the Aurora Society!
Krestey's eyes turned icy cold. "When did so many Aurora Society rats sneak into Backlund?"

Claire, sitting across from him, similarly elaborated, "The Aurora Gang acts in a high-profile manner, but they only publicly announce their presence after successfully committing a crime."

"On the contrary, they tried their best to hide themselves during the preparation and implementation of the incident, and did not want to be noticed by us officials."

"Their concealment abilities are not weak at all. They've gathered so many members in Backlund this time. It seems they're planning to cause something big in Backlund..."

Claire thought of Megose in Tingen and couldn't help but wonder, "Are these lunatics planning another evil god's descent?... Is the True Creator always thinking about descending?"

Krestey held the information in his hand and said, "If a witch hadn't been hunting down these Aurora members, causing them to be accidentally exposed, we don't know how long we would have been kept in the dark... We must act immediately to track down the remaining members of the Aurora Society, and we must also notify the Mandated Punisher and the Mechanical Heart..."

"But why would a witch fight with a madman from the Aurora Society?" Creste muttered, looking puzzled.

Krestai's murmured question made Claire think of that woman again.

Considering the various oddities of these cases, an idea suddenly popped up in Claire's mind:

"That woman... isn't she hunting down the Aurora Society members to avenge me?"

(End of this chapter)