Zeger de Witt 'melted' into a pool of thick blood before seeping into the floor. On the ground below, droplets of blood came out of the pores from the pavement and solidified into a man with a cold gaze and a threatening smile. His shart features enhanced the menacing looks that he had about him.

He didn't seem to care about showing his face to the Police despite his status as a politician and a member of the Pale Society. The man must have a plan in his mind because otherwise, his political career would end since there were a lot of witnesses.

"That restriction sure is troublesome. If we could get the book into our possession, things would be easier for the organization," whispered Zeger to himself.

Groen, who had seen Graham running while being wounded, was currently running to his side. He was the closest to him and since he was the only one currently not in a fight, he was the only one who could help.

"What happened to you? What are you doing here?" asked Groen with an inquisitive tone.

Graham stopped running once Groen was by his side.

"I'll explain later. Zeger is coming. He is a member of the Pale Society!" he replied with urgency in his voice. His breathing was still heavy because of the pain.

Groen looked at the direction where Graham was running from and saw the man who had just formed from a puddle of blood and their eyes met. There was only coldness and indifference reflected in the politician's eyes, while Groen's expression showed guarded calmness.

"Here, take this," said Groen as he handed Graham a pouch containing a blue powder that was already familiar to him because of Luuk. Groen kept watching on the tall politician all the while.

"You don't look surprised about him," said Graham curiously as he inhaled the blue powder inside the pouch before discarding it inside his pocket. His condition rapidly improved, although the pain was still there.

"We know all about him," replied Groen shortly, and then slowly turned to him, "We also know about you,"

Those words struck Graham like thunder in broad daylight. He couldn't hide his surprise as it was shown all over his face. The pain that he was feeling was forgotten for a moment. All sorts of scenarios came into his mind about his future and slight panic grew in his heart, but he quickly focused on his breathing to calm himself down.

Graham didn't know how much the Police knew about him, but the fact that he hadn't been arrested yet meant he might still have a chance to maintain his freedom, at least for a while. But it still didn't feel right to him that the Police actually 'knew' about him without him knowing. It felt like he had been caught red-handed doing something illegal and now he must think of a way out.

Noticing Graham's expression, Groen chuckled a little and said, "Don't worry. The higher up told us to leave you alone for some reason. We'll just be making sure that you're not involved in any illegal activities."

Groen's statement felt like water quenching his thirst, and the fire burning in his heart. However, the water also contained some unknown kind of poison. Some 'higher up' told the Police to leave him alone. He didn't know who this 'higher up' was or the reason why they decided as such. He felt like he was at the mercy of this person and he didn't like it.

"I see that you're having a little chat over there. Mind if I join in?" asked Zeger who was now in the range of the two people.

"Get out of the Safe Zone and Fire at Zeger de Witt!" shouted Groen at the line of Police officers behind him.

Several officers who were not wounded or only slightly wounded quickly marched out of the line made of blood and readied their weapon.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Several bullets flew through the air and hit the tall man in several spots of his body. His head, chest, and shoulders were ridden with bullet holes from which blood came seeping out. He also looked like he couldn't move because of the bullets.

"Those were the paralysis bullets I created. But you should already know about that, right?" said Groen proudly. There was a smile on his friendly face.

Graham nodded at the short man.

"Val, let's focus on finishing off the enemy first with this man. We can think about the other stuff later," he muttered quietly while looking over his shoulder.

Since he had been healed by Groen's health powder, he was stronger now. However, he was still strangely under the effect of the restriction, so he was still weakened. Even with the help of the man, he didn't think he could win against the dangerous Zeger like that.

"Val, we need to switch. If we're to fight in this kind of state, you should still be the better choice," he muttered and then turned his attention to Groen, "Can you buy me time?"

Groen nodded.

"Sure, as long as you don't just run away and leave me to fight that monster," he said jokingly.

Graham gave a thumb up and then ran towards a spot where no one could see them. Although the Groen said the Police knew about him, he was still unsure to what extent their knowledge was. He still needed to keep as many of his secrets as possible.

"Fire!" shouted Groen again.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The line of Police officers once again fired paralysis bullets at Zeger who was still unable to move. The previous wounds on his body had begun healing and the bullet heads had been ejecting out of them. New bullet holes were created all over his body after the second wave hit him.

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In his secluded spot, Graham sat down with his back against the wall and closed his eyes.

"I order myself to fall asleep!"

The moment he finished issuing his Order, a heavy wave of sleepiness struck him. His consciousness faded shortly after and he went to the dream world. Valentine woke up a second later and quickly got up.

"G, wake up!"

That was the first thing he said. His voice resounded inside him and he felt that there was something who had just been jolted awake by it.

"I... don't feel weakened," said Valentine once he was sure Graham was awake.

Unlike Graham, the restriction that would weaken anyone under the effect of any kind of concealment didn't work on him. He was still at his 100% power and although the pain from the wounds caused by Zeger was still there, albeit only slightly, everything else was perfectly fine.

"We'll think about this later. We have a lot to think about once this is all over. And let's not use our gun just in case," said Valentine.

He rushed back to where Groen was and Zeger de Witt was in the middle of turning into a puddle of thick blood when he arrived. All around them, the other fights were also still going on. The winged man seemed to still hold the advantage over Rood, Oranje, and Paars while Obscurity and the others seemed to be evenly matched against Roze despite not having a lot of offensive type Contractbounds.

Groen looked at the man and seemed to notice something different, but he couldn't really put it exactly where. He didn't pay more attention and just focused on the blood in front of them.

"One versus many. Isn't that unfair?" said a voice suddenly from behind them.

It was Zeger de Witt who had reformed from the blood seeping out of the pavement and reappeared there. His body was perfectly fine despite being ridden by bullet holes just a moment ago. It was as if he had never been attacked in the first place.

"Now, it should even out the field a little," said another voice coming from his front. It sounded devious and ominous.

"Instead of one versus many, what about three versus many?" said yet another identical voice, this time coming from their side.

There were now three Zeger de Witts!

The three identical men muttered something inaudible and waved their hands in front of them. After that, six blood spikes formed in front of each of them.

"Can we hide behind your safe zone?" asked Valentine while getting ready to dodge at any time.

"No. It doesn't protect us from outside attacks. Incoming!!" shouted Groen.

The eighteen blood spikes darted through the air with frightening speed, targetting mainly Valentine and Groen.

Valentine quickly dodged to the side and managed to avoid most of the spikes, which hit the Police officers behind him instead. He kept on dodging and thanks to his agility, he could dodge all of them. However, he didn't stop there and kept on running in case he couldn't make it in time.

Groen had commanded the officers to fire at the spikes but the bullets couldn't completely stop all of them. Although he himself managed to avoid being hit by the remaining spikes, the men behind him weren't as lucky.

"I hereby declare the word 'explode' a secret!" shouted Valentine just as the three Zegers were about to open their mouths.

"...!"

The words couldn't come out of their mouths as if something was blocking it. The blood spikes that scattered around the area failed to explode because of Valentine's restriction.

"Thank you. My men would have suffered even more if not because of you," said Groen in gratitude. He had come to their aid and was busy removing the spikes from them and giving them pouches of blue powders.

"No problem. I have a plan, but I need you to distract him. Can you do it?" said Valentine.

Groen stood up and readied his weapon.

"No problem," he replied with a smile. He felt familiar with Valentine because the man was giving off a similar vibe to Rood. Groen then turned back to his men behind him, "Those who cannot fight anymore, go to the Safe Zone!"

Several men ran back to the zone behind the line of blood. Although they could still be attacked with ranged attacks, at least over there, if Zeger de Witt decided to suddenly show up there, they would be safe.

"Fire!!" shouted Groen.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Bullets flew to the air and hit the three identical men. Since the attack was spread this time, less damage was received by each of the enemies.

Valentine dashed towards one of the men who was still paralyzed by the bullet and once in range, he opened his mouth.

"I hereby declare Zeger de Witt's face a secret!"

A thin yellowish mist descended and covered the face of the man in front of him. After that, he quickly went to the other one closest to him and did the same.

"I hereby declare Zeger de Witt's face a secret!"

He didn't have enough time because the effect of the paralysis had worn off. The last Zeger de Witt managed to get away from him into a pool of blood.

Because of the restriction from Caron's Book of Curtailment, since their faces were concealed, the two Zeger de Witts had become weakened!

Valentine used this chance to quickly dashed towards one of the two men with mist covering their faces with his dagger in his hand.

Slash!

He was faster than the weakened man, so his dagger sliced right through his abdomen, tearing the suit he was wearing and cutting his flesh apart. Valentine couldn't see his expression now but he was sure the man was showing anger.

Dodge!

Zeger kicked Valentine, but he was fast enough to avoid it.

Swoosh!

There were six blood spikes coming towards him, but the speed was much lower than before. It was easy enough for Valentine to dodge all of them.

Bang!

Groen shot at the other Zeger whose face was also covered by the mist.

He was paralyzed!

Suddenly, the Zeger whose face wasn't covered by the mist reappeared from a pool of blood on the ground far away in the distance. He was out of the range of Valentine's ability but still within the shooting range of the Police guns. Groen gave the order right away and the remaining men quickly fired at Zeger.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The bullets missed!

All the Zeger de Witts had turned into puddles of blood on the ground and disappeared from their sight.

"Aargh!!"

Suddenly, pools of blood appeared right at several Police officers' feet and moved up their bodies rapidly like several snakes slithering towards their prey. There were also the same pools of blood under Valentine's and Groen's feet but their sense of danger had been triggered and they had managed to step out of them in time.

"Help!!" shouted several men in pain.

The blood covering the officers contracted and crushed the men inside. The sounds of bones being crushed and organs being squished could be heard among the pained cries of the helpless victims. Those inside the Safe Zone were spared from the attack, but they still had to hear the last agonizing screams of their fellow officers.

"I guess unless I can get rid of this mist of yours, I won't be strong enough to kill the two of you," said Zeger who had just come out of the ground. His face was covered in a mysterious yellowish mist that concealed his expression.

All the blood around them had disappeared just as the man reappeared. It seemed that the blood, along with the other two Zegers, had merged back into one body, bringing with them all the effects they had suffered before. His suit was still torn because of Valentine's dagger, but the wound on his stomach had completely healed.

Because the blood was gone, the bodies of the men who were crushed to death were now revealed. They were lying on the ground looking like meat that had come out of the meat grinder. Their bones were in pieces and organs were all over the place. Their blood, strangely, was gone as if it had been sucked dry. It seemed Zeger consumed their blood to replenish his own.

"Since I don't think I can win, I'll take my leave right now then. After all, I'm a busy man," said Zeger coldly. There was anger in his tone, but he managed to suppress it. He valued his life more than seeing his enemies suffer. Besides, as long as he was alive, he could always come back later to take his revenge.

Just as he was about to turn into a pool of blood again, suddenly, a loud noise came from the center of the street.

Boom!!!!!