Mystery: When the Fool Meets the Masked Fool

Chapter 394 Why the Hunt?
Argos had by then almost regained his senses with the altered "keys" after his body was partially out of control, and he tried to struggle.

But the next second, he found that the extraordinary ability he was about to use had failed, and Leonard in front of him suddenly emitted a thick black aura behind him, which condensed into a black mist that looked like bat wings and slashed fiercely toward his neck.

This was the extraordinary ability he originally intended to use.

Unable to move, his throat was slit in an instant, and blood gushed out.

Leonard used the wings he had conjured to shield himself from the blood spraying towards him.

"For a vampire, dying from bleeding to the point of exhaustion must be the most painful way to die, right?" Leonard had a poet-like, carefree smile on his face, but in Argos's eyes, he was no more benevolent than a demon.

“Someone once told me that hunting is about hunting down the evil in the world. So I tried to find those who had been hurt in the East District and the dock area and to experience their pain.”

Argos made a hissing sound, but his powerful self-healing ability failed. A faint bluish-purple starlight covered the wound on his throat, preventing it from healing and causing it to gradually enlarge, with blood gushing out in large quantities.

He tried several times to use his extraordinary abilities to break free, but Leonard "stole" them each time.

Leonard took out a bottle of "water of the sun" made with spiritual ingredients and poured it over Argos's head.

This is a potion that is very effective against vampires.

"what!"

Argos, whose entire body was drenched by the "water of the sun," let out a shrill scream, and wisps of black smoke rose from his body as he almost lost all his strength.

Leonard ignored his screams and continued talking.

"Gradually, I found that I seemed to be beginning to understand..."

"Although I don't fully understand it, I do understand some of it."

Emlyn had already dealt with Gareth, finished his thoughts, struck a pose, and turned his gaze toward Leonard. Seeing Leonard bleeding Argos, he felt a chill run down his spine, as if he were witnessing the same thing.

"You believe in... the primordial moon, don't you?" Leonard asked, but only received a hissing reply.

Leonard didn't say anything, just smiled and nodded.

He'd been a Night Watcher for seven years, and in that time, he'd witnessed far too many sacrifices. Night Watchers, substitutes, mechanical hearts, or others…

Leonard took a step forward, raised his hand, and made a wall-slamming motion, his right eye, with its crosshair, fixed intently on Argos.

"you say……"

"What exactly is my purpose in going on the hunt?"

Argos didn't know. He didn't even know what a "hunting" was.

Leonard's questions did not stop.

"you say……"

"Why……"

Why do cult members keep popping up like weeds, one crop after another?

Why is it that cultists can never be eradicated?

"Why is it that when extraordinary beings in the Church of True God die, their deaths are not even known?"

"Why is it that only cultists can make a comeback time and time again, while members of the True God Church have to risk their lives to confront you?"

"Why must those upright people be buried... burned to ashes... forgotten..."

Emlyn shrank his neck, then immediately raised his head again.

I...I'm also a member of the Church of the True God...I'm not afraid of you...

Leonard took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled.

He patted Argos on the shoulder, his tone becoming carefree and unrestrained again. "See, why am I telling you all this? You can't answer it anyway."

Argos's body had visibly shrunk and become much more emaciated by this time.

Leonard stepped aside, making way for Argos. Suddenly, his hand, which was resting on Argos' shoulder, glowed with a bluish-purple light. Argos' neck wound suddenly burst open, and a large amount of blood gushed out like a tap had been turned on.

Leonard just watched as Argos's body slowly withered away completely, his eyes gradually becoming lifeless.

Finally, feeling all the abilities stolen from him fail, Leonard released his grip, and Argos's withered body fell from the shadows and collapsed to the ground.

“You must not bully the weak…you must not kill the innocent…” Leonard murmured to himself, “Although you are weak, you are not innocent.”

The pool of blood on the ground slowly converged towards a single point, coalescing into an object. It was entirely crimson, resembling a heart, and was slightly expanding and contracting. Its surface was translucent, with liquid faintly flowing inside—a remarkable characteristic left behind by the "Vampire," the seventh sequence of the "Pharmacist" pathway.

Argos had only one wound, but his extraordinary abilities had not even been able to condense within his body.

Leonard turned and walked towards the front door.

"I don't need the extraordinary features, so I'll keep them for you. I'll come back tomorrow to collect the remaining payment." He pushed open the door and left without looking back.

Emlyn looked at the blood on the ground, sniffed, and his Adam's apple bobbed.

"waste……"

He muttered something under his breath.

A few seconds later, he heard footsteps coming and going outside the door, but no one came closer.

Argos's screams alerted the surrounding guests, but they dared not come in, fearing trouble... However, someone must have already gone to find the inspector... I need to clean up the scene quickly and leave.

Emlyn withdrew his gaze from the doorway, walked to Argos's body, and picked up the fist-sized, extraordinary feature from the pool of blood.

A few minutes later, flames broke out in the room but did not spread outwards. They simply burned everything in the room to ashes and then "sensibly" extinguished themselves.

Wearing a baseball cap and with his face covered in charcoal ash, Emlin picked up the wooden crate and looked around.

Then, he bowed slightly to the crimson moon outside.

This is both a prayer to Lilith, the progenitor of the vampires, and a provocation against the "Primordial Moon".

The next second, he transformed into a swarm of bats and flew out of the window.

…………

Walking along the path at night, Leonard had regained his carefree demeanor.

"How was it, old man? I did a good job, didn't I?" His tone was full of boastfulness.

"Ha." An aged voice echoed in his mind, "You clearly had many opportunities to easily kill him."

“Even if you want to torture him, you can first steal his mind, and then steal his extraordinary abilities. Take advantage of his inability to resist to break his limbs, and then use the talisman or sealing artifact of the solar domain to force out his extraordinary characteristics.”

"How could a real thief leave himself with such a huge hidden danger? It's only because he's weaker than you. If he were any stronger, any Sequence Six, or had any powerful sealed artifacts, there would be more than a 50% chance that you would fail if you did this."

"Well, I didn't crash, did I?" Leonard muttered.

Pareto's tone became less stern.

"You're too focused on your glamorous appearance and so-called 'handsome' looks, but considering you're playing a 'phantom thief,' it's understandable."

"Hmph, who says thieves can't be cool?" Leonard smoothed his slightly disheveled bangs.

"I made the decision," Pales declared with absolute authority. "What? You have a problem with that?"

(End of this chapter)