บท 99: The Other Side of the Stage

Seeing that the middle-aged man was finally asleep, Ebner heaved a sigh of relief and appeared.

The power of the Midnight Poet's Slumber Poem was much weaker than the original version. Therefore, he had wasted an additional Slumber Charm as a supplement, allowing him to succeed in one strike.

However, he was still a Beyonder and could wake up at any moment…

With this thought in mind, Ebner took a few steps forward to the middle-aged man's side and caught his limp body, preventing him from waking up due to the pain. Then, he took out another charm and activated it, consolidating the effects of the coma.

After doing this, Ebner diverted a portion of his attention to Xio's side. Then, he realized that her battle had ended.

Those eight gangsters couldn't even take down two well-trained ordinary people, so how could they be a match for a Sheriff? Xio only relied on her agile skills to pass through the eight of them once before using the triangular pricks to slice through their skin.

As her triangular blade had been imbued with non-lethal potions that could make people lose their mobility, they were all sprawled on the ground, unable to even move a single step.

Seeing that Xio was already walking towards the Kelly family to remove their restraints, Ebner turned his attention back to the sleeping middle-aged man. He had to find out where the Beyonder items on him were.

Due to the previous scene of "backtracking," Ebner first cast his gaze on the cane, but after taking a closer look, he realized that it was just an ordinary ironwood cane. Apart from being a secondary weapon, it had no other effect.

Ebner was not disappointed. He followed the direction of the cane and soon found a strange gem ring on the man's finger.

It was strange because the gemstones embedded in the ring were actually made of two small pieces of red and black gemstones. In the middle, there was a metal hoop that was unknown. On the surface of the two pieces of gemstones were tiny but exquisite runes.

"This should be it." Ebner activated the Eye of Pure White and looked at the ring for a few seconds. He felt a little more confident. Then, he carefully removed the ring and placed it in the tin box he carried with him. Following that, he sealed it with his spirituality.

The current situation was not suitable for further analysis. He would wait until they reached a safe environment.

After putting away the tin box, Ebner looked at Xio on the other side. She had already done a simple interrogation of the gangsters.

Under Xio's "authority," these villains who usually wreaked havoc in East Borough honestly confessed their evil deeds. Unfortunately, this wasn't something they could ignore. She had no choice but to take the initiative to ask, "Why did you kidnap the Kelly family?"

"We don't know, miss. Morella called us."

"Yes, yes, it's all Morella. We're just thugs. Miss, please let us go…"

"Morella is the person lying there right now. He was the one who ordered us to do all the work! Miss, can you give me the antidote first? I don't think I'll have the strength to speak if this drags on."

Upon hearing Xio's question, a few thugs scrambled to answer, and everyone unanimously pushed the responsibility to the middle-aged man, Morella.

Their voices were very loud, and Ebner, who was not far away, naturally heard them. He cast his gaze at Xio, who nodded at him, indicating that these people were not lying.

Ebner thought to himself, The battle just now caused quite a stir. Although this path is remote, it's not like there are no witnesses… I have to move this Beyonder as soon as possible. I'll get Xio to hand the rest to the police.

Although the police station in East Borough was rather passive, they would at least send someone to investigate.

With this in mind, Ebner exchanged looks with Xio before dragging the unconscious middle-aged man to a hidden alley.

…

West Borough, Williams Street, in Lieutenant Berner's apartment.

Demoness Ray, with black hair like a waterfall and fair skin, was sitting leisurely on the sofa. She was holding a flower pot with an unknown species of flower inside. The flower was still in its skeletal state and had not bloomed.

Step, step, step…

With a series of footsteps, Lieutenant Berner appeared at the door of the room. He glanced at the Demoness, who had become much quieter since becoming a Sequence 5, and said,

"My subordinates at MI9 didn't find Lena. It's likely that Prince Edessak is protecting her."

"Due to the forceful search, I have already been solemnly complained by the prince. In addition, Viscount Learson's youngest son has been investigating my abuse of power. Even Viscount Stratford would find it difficult to resist… I have already been suspended."

When Ray heard his words, she sneered. "If you can't even look after a drugged girl, who can you blame?"

"Demoness, you have to know who's protecting you from being captured by the Church of Storms!" Lieutenant Berner flew into a rage out of humiliation and threatened, "If you dare speak to me like that again, do you believe that I'll take the initiative to expose you to His Excellency, the Spellsinger of Gods?"

Ray fiddled with the leaves of the flowers in the flower pot, then turned to Lieutenant Berner with a half-smile.

The latter looked at her confusedly at first, but soon his eyes widened and his expression gradually turned ferocious. Then, he could not help but cover his head and open his mouth to shout to vent his pain, but he could not make a single sound!

This continued for five to six seconds before Lieutenant Berner's expression eased a little. He immediately lay on the ground, large amounts of sweat dripping down his forehead, and the clothes on his back were completely soaked.

"How is it? Does it taste good?" Ray asked teasingly.

"You… I'm sure you didn't use your powers just now… What's going on?" Lieutenant Berner asked with a trembling voice.

"If you had bad thoughts about me, you would naturally suffer. Heh heh, you have to be glad that you didn't really want to harm me. Otherwise, it wouldn't have only hurt for a while," Ray said with a pitying expression.

"This is… a curse? When did you put a curse on me? I clearly hold a purification ritual every time after the deed is done." Lieutenant Berner seemed to have recovered some strength as he looked at the Demoness in disbelief.

"If you think it's a curse, then it is." Ray's lips curved into an inscrutable smile. Then she carried the pot of flowers to Lieutenant Berner, who was lying prone on the floor, and said condescendingly:

"I can't relax about Lina. She knows many of my secrets. I can't let her fall into the hands of another faction… If necessary, I can kill her."

"Yes…" Although Lieutenant Berner felt indignant, he really didn't want to experience that terrifying pain again. He could only listen to the Demoness's instructions.

Seeing that he seemed to finally give in, Ray nodded in satisfaction and asked again, "Also, did you get the fake news that someone I told to spread out in the bridge area suddenly mutated into a monster?"

"Such news is actually quite common. After all, there are many cases of Beyonders losing control. Basically, they can be dealt with by the officials. A piece of news that doesn't know if it's true or false can't garner much attention." Lieutenant Berner braced himself and explained because he had never thought of helping the Demoness before.

Ray glanced at him, and though he knew the man was making excuses, he approved of what he was saying. So he went to his desk, took a metal box from a drawer, and handed it to Lieutenant Berner. "This is the Reader's Beyonder characteristic. Send someone to take it to the bridge area or the south side of the Bridge to corrupt more ordinary people."

Lieutenant Berner took the box with a blank expression and couldn't help but ask, "What exactly do you want to do?"

Ray smiled at the question but didn't say anything. She continued to cuddle the flowerpot.

But at this moment, a thought flashed in Lieutenant Berner's mind. Combined with what the Demoness had asked him about previously, he said in disbelief, "You… Don't tell me you still have designs on the Mandated Punisher team's captain? You released this Beyonder characteristic to transfer the other members of the team away?"

"Hmph, don't ask what you shouldn't ask." Ray's expression changed and she snorted.

Then, she skipped the topic and asked, "Did the service company send her to the warehouse today?"

"The ones from today have been delivered… But there seems to be an oversight on their side, allowing a worker to discover some clues, so they had no choice but to silence them… However, that worker's family contacted Arbiter Xio Derecha from East Borough because of his son's disappearance." Berner had previously advocated investigating Xio's background due to the Demoness's request, so he was very familiar with this name.

"That fair young lady again? Heh, there's probably her little detective boyfriend as well… I couldn't be bothered to continue looking for them after they escaped Backlund the last time, but this time, they came to find trouble for me…" Ray sneered and muttered to himself. She asked, "Then what happened after that?"

"I don't know yet. There's a gang backing that service company. They'll probably handle it," Lieutenant Berner replied.

"Forget it. Since it's exposed to that little detective, with his teacher's help, I'm afraid it'll be difficult to hide it anymore… Let your people immediately cut ties with that company," Ray instructed after thinking for a moment.

"Directly clear the slate? Why don't you get rid of that Arbiter?" Bernat asked in puzzlement.

"That detective brat and his teacher are likely from the Church of Knowledge. If I rashly attack them, it might interfere with my plans… You don't have to worry about them for now. I'll settle the score in the future." Ray fiddled with the flower bud, and the coldness on her face immediately disappeared, returning to the charm of a demoness.

…

East Borough, in a safe house provided by Xio, Ebner unscrewed the lid of a small metal bottle. A slightly stimulating but uplifting smell immediately escaped from the bottle.

This was the Holy Night Powder concocted by Sleeping Flower, Dragon Blood Grass, Crimson Sandalwood, and mint. The reason why he took it out was to create a serene and holy ritual environment.

Yes, after learning from the testimony of the eight thugs that the still unconscious Morella was a complete villain, Ebner had planned on setting up a ritual to make him reveal some secrets through "mediumship."

Although Spirit Channeling was the specialty of a Sequence 7 Spirit Medium of the Death pathway, other pathways that were good at using ritualistic magic could also use rituals to "Spirit Channeling." Of course, the effects were definitely not as good as professional ones.

Although using the level of the White Eye to suppress the spirit of a living person without any protection would definitely damage the other party's psyche, who would pity a villain whose hands were full of blood?