CHAPTER 36: CAUGHT RED-HANDED

Soren watched as the hooded man swiftly maneuvered the now mist-ridden streets. His signature smug expression was present.

“Tina!” He pointed at him.

“On it!” She wasted no time—activating her Sacred Treasure. Molecules of liquid silver melted from her gauntlets and formed into a crescent bow. She pulled the string back and let her anima manifest as a glowing, radiant arrow. With one eye closed, she let go of the metaphysical string—the arrow shot toward the hooded figure, piercing through the air.

Sensing danger, he frantically steered his body to the side, letting the arrow wizz past him at a hair’s length. He glanced over at them and frowned.

Soren immediately re-activated [Eyes of the Fairy] and his Soul Realm’s Hermit’s Eye. He watched from the Beyond as the figure turned incorporeal—a bundle of purple haze and mist filled with stars. That was how he was represented within the Beyond.

“He’s moving to the left!” 9 O'clock!”

Seeing the unseen, Soren was able to pinpoint his slippery movements. He had been thinking about it ever since their fight in the alleyway earlier in the day—the figure was somehow able to dodge all of Tina’s attacks without even batting an eye. It was as if he was able to know where she was aiming before she even knew it herself.

This puzzled him. It was only after he reanalyzed the scene that he came up with a hypothesis. The hooded figure they called the ‘Nameless Culprit’ was reading their thoughts.

This was not something he had evidence to support, but after scanning the battlefield earlier, the mention of the Field of Obfuscation intrigued him. He was certain that this Mystery had something to do with him. And since the description mentioned how it tampered with other people’s thoughts, it was now pretty much confirmed that he had used it during their brief encounter in the alleyway to mask his actions from those around him.

That barrier was very powerful—the fact that not even noble Yadrians who are all mostly experienced Magi or Sentinels—some of them even being Holy Phantasms working as clergymen under the Saint’s watch and none of them were able to even detect its presence or what was happening within baffled him.

Whoever they were currently facing had to be extremely powerful.

Still, Soren wasn’t completely worried. From his current analysis, the figure looked to be injured. And because he understood that he was somehow reading their thoughts through the Echo of Mind, all he needed to do was command his vision to shift into showing him the unseen he wanted to see.

He was going to fight fire with fire.

With his Soul Realm active and his [Eyes of the Fairy] shifting his vision, his thoughts honed into what he wanted to see most: the figure’s Echo of Mind. If he was going to read their thoughts, Soren might as well read his thoughts as well.

Just like that, the beyond focused into showing him what he desired to see most. A vision of a tumultuous jungle filled with vines and trees filled his vision. Countless creatures roamed the forest chaotically. This was it—his Echo of Mind.

“An arrow will come at me in 4 seconds.”

“An arrow will come at me in 4 seconds.”

“An arrow will come at me in 4 seconds.”

Soren turned to Tina who was aiming her bow, “shoot it now!”

She immediately let go of the metaphysical bowstring. The arrow slashed the air in its wake before hitting the target in its shoulder.

Checkmate! Soren celebrated internally. This was something he didn’t know he could do—his [Eyes of the Fairy] was able to infiltrate another person’s Three Layers of self. He was able to read the figure’s thoughts about their own thoughts and actions. Though, part of its success probably had to do with his Hermit’s Eye inherent ability. He would need to know what to focus on before focusing on it, after all.

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Without hesitation, Tina grabbed Soren by his shirt and jumped from the roof of the building. He wanted to scream but held himself together—the Memory Void Corruptors could detect them down below.

With sleek blasts of wind from her feet, she maneuvered above the buildings until she reached the cloaked figure who had fallen to one of the nearby roofs due to his injury. Just as she got a hundred meters away, she shot three more arrows at the target just to make sure. Soren lifted his brow, “are you sure that won’t kill him? We still need to interrogate him, you know!”

“Interrogate? Keep that idea out of your head Soren. We are dealing with a Mystic grade Phantasm here. He probably has a number of tricks up his sleeve. Don’t let your guard down.”

She approached the figure one step at a time with her Sacred Treasure aimed at his ‘corpse’ throughout the way. Soren forced himself into keeping [Eyes of the Fairy] active just in case—he could feel a searing pain all across his skull, but he resisted it as much as he could. Tina was right, there was no telling what could happen.

Slowly, Tina approached him. “I can hear him breathing,” she said to Soren. “Though, it’s very faint—looks like our attacks worked. But keep your guard up, it could also be a trick.”

She slowly inched closer and kneeled on one knee next to him. “Let’s see who’s beneath the cloak.”

Taking his hood off, Tina and Soren were shocked.

It was an old elven man. His skin was very wrinkled—to the point that Soren thought he was half-dead.

“Impossible,” they both said. They recognized him.

It was the store owner of “Wards & Hexes.”

The disheveled old man breathed jaggedly as he smiled at them both. It was a smile filled with laughter. A smile filled with joy.

A smile filled with madness.

“The Whispering Dream greets you!”

Before they could reply, his head exploded. Guts and brain matter sprayed all across the roof and on their clothes. Soren stood there motionless to it all. He had no idea how to react. His body had shut down. Tina on the other hand was also shocked, but she still tried to recompose herself. With her Sacred Treasure still active, she scanned the battlefield to see if there were any changes—for all she knew, this all could have been an illusion.

“Stop!” A voice echoed from the distance. Tina turned around to find a man hooded in purple clothing lined with flower embroideries and two glowing violet-colored daggers sprinting toward them.

Captain Virion. She thought.

“Identify yourself!” He ordered.

“Tina Graywood—A member of Star Fate Guild.”

Star Fate Guild? He thought. I did hear there were humans coming from Aellora… His eyes sharpened as he scanned over her vitals—he was going to prepare to use Phase Strike if she did anything suspicious. He glanced over at the silver bow in her hand. It was radiating in anima.

“Lower your Soul Weapon and or Sacred Treasure!”

Tina kept her bow primed. “I am afraid I cannot comply with that request.”

“Why in Yasini’s Demise can you not?!”

“Because the enemy uses illusions. I cannot trust you.”

“.....” He had no idea how to respond. He did know that whoever they were facing definitely had an affinity for illusionary magecraft. The field spell he had active around the area was something they couldn’t even fathom to understand. He had ordered his team to investigate its spellform, but with the battlefield being in such disarray currently, the hope of that investigation helping him decipher it now was basically impossible.

Still, he knew he had to get her to lower her weapon.

“Surrender yourself to the Court of Nightshade or face Yisini’s wrath!”

“I won’t comply. Bring it on.”

“Stop,” a third voice interjected. Tina turned to her side—Soren was looking the man named Virion in the eye. “Let’s surrender,” he said. “I’ve already checked him with [Eyes of the Fairy]. He’s not an illusion.”

Tina glanced toward Virion who had his daggers ready and sighed. “Fine.” She ordered her Sacred Treasure to deactivate, turning it back into liquid silver that rushed into her gauntlets. She placed her hands up to show her surrender.

Just as she was about to say something, she heard a thumping sound coming from beside her. She turned around—it was Soren. He had collapsed from exhaustion.

Overusing [Eyes of the Fairy] this many times had finally taken its toll.