17 I'll come looking for you soon, Mr. Pillow

Lester Davis, Puppeteer Association's head of Intelligence group. Almost all the information that flowed in Stone City would pass through him like an aquarium water filter that would vacuum the water to cleanliness.

"Who reported the incident?" he plainly said.

"Sir. I reported the incident," Greg approached Lester.

"Hmm," Lester nodded, "Tell me what happened. No detail should be overlooked."

The chaotic soul energy was almost gone, but Lester could still feel the faint disturbance. He was slightly intrigued. As the head of the Intelligence group, he was much more knowledgeable than everyone else in the room.

This wasn't the same surge of energy that they assumed, nothing closed to it to be precise. It was different. The way the soul energy drifted was similar to phenomena he saw years ago.

It was caused by a monstrous genius that couldn't be measured by the norms, even in Large Strongholds. Yet, such phenomena appeared in Stone City.

"It was 3 am when we're woken up by a violent pressure that burst from this floor, the second floor. It was so intense that It took me for a while to move. Then I called the PA immediately the moment I regain my composure and then..."

Greg continued to inform Lester with extreme detail, from his reaction to the condition of occupants in the inn and most importantly, about Henry's behavior.

It was 20 minutes until he finished.

Lester frowned after listening to Greg. He walked towards the window with a sophisticated gaze. It was still dark so the streets were eerily quiet, the city's management could be discerned in just this view alone.

Everyone looked at the frowning Lester and didn't dare to talk. No one knew what his thoughts are; he had always been a mystery to Stone City.

The quietness didn't last long when a soft green light slowly emanated from Lester as it skimmed the entire room.

The white room had now become lucent green because of the light, it was beautiful, peaceful, and warm, yet they somehow felt uncomfortable with the green light wrapping their bodies.

They felt like their secrets were exposed by the glamorous light.

"Interesting..." Lester broke the silence with a playful tone, "When had it been? 10 years? 11? or 12 perhaps" he laughed as he yanked the window open, causing his hair to blow from the wind.

"I have been investigating for 40 years and I have only failed to completely inspect once. You should be proud."

In the middle of hearty laughter, his face unexpectedly darkened, almost as if it was directed to someone in this room.

Greg and the others were confused and couldn't help but think if the man was crazy. This, kids, is why undergoing many failures is a must. It is the foundation to success, they thought.

However, Seth couldn't feel any humor at this moment. He was too exhausted from keeping any signs of life from leaking inside the 'innocent' pillow to think.

'Dammit! I got too slack. A month of leisure made me forgot how a man could achieve unpredictable superpowers in this world!' Seth regretted.

The instant the green light reached his body, he knew that Lester must've already suspected him.

And sure enough, Lester turned his head towards the white pillow resting on the bed.

Tack.

Tack.

His steady-paced towards bed made Seth froze in tension.

Just as he was about to reach his hands towards the fluffy pillow, the whole room was suddenly shrouded by darkness.

The room turned dead silence as though no sound could enter the premises.

In the darkroom, only Lester was able to perceive time and senses. Everyone's mind and body including Seth's had stop as though their entirety was paused.

"Who?!" Lester tried his best not to panic in this perilous situation, but the fact that he suddenly couldn't utilize any of his abilities distresses him.

"You couldn't just keep your nosy nose from sniffing eh?" A cold female's voice chimed near his ear.

Lester immediately reacted and punched towards the voice with maximum speed but it hit nothing but air.

"Who are you?! Do I know you? Why are you doing this to me?!" he cried anxiously.

"You know me, Yes. And Why? You did this to yourself."

"Are you kidding me?! Are you not aware of the heavy laws implemented in Stone City?!"

"You're smarter than this Senior Brother Lester." The voice turned to a deep male voice mid-sentence.

"Shadow?!" Lester was shocked his face turned paler every second.

"N-No! You aren't Shadow. I've known him since young he is nowhere near like this. I command you, reveal yourself!"

"You shouldn't have touched that pillow Senior Brother Lester," A man in his 20s emerged from the darkness.

"I-Is that r-really you Shadow?!" Lester walked towards the man with uncertainty, "What happened to you? Didn't Sage Lucas assigned you as his shadow? Stop this joke Shadow, this isn't funny. You still have a mission to do!"

"You didn't disappoint me, Lester." The cold female voice sounded again from the darkness.

Swoosh.

A hand holding a dagger suddenly flew into the air. Scarlet blood was spilled in the darkness before evaporating.

"Aarrghh!" Lester screamed in pain as he clutched his wrist to stop the bleeding, "You f*cking bitc-"

A black-like gas stuffed his mouth from speaking as it entered his insides. Lester's eyes trembled as he felt his entire body turned numb.

Contrary to his vigorous mind, his body was dying!

He could feel his organs ending their functions. His lungs froze. His heart stopped. His skin discolored as his blood clotted.

"What did you do to me?!!"

He could still speak despite the absence of lungs. It was an appalling scene.

"Life is Death. Death isn't Life. We were never meant to live. We were never destined to survive. I'm the harbinger of death. Not your assailant. You're my reformer. Not my victim. Let me help you embraced what you truly are and you would find true and eternal peace-"

"Ahhhh Help me-"

Lester screamed but an exquisite hand promptly silenced him with a slap.

"B*start. Don't you know how hard I practice this line to say it with a straight face?" The voice pouted angrily as she revealed herself from the darkness.

"You..."

Lester was mesmerized, his sweat-drenched pale face was filled with disbelief. He didn't expect the terrifying enemy to be this beautiful. Dressed in a dreadful black robe that failed to cover her curves, she looked graceful yet cold. Her face was pale but not rigid. Her features are sharp, perfect, and peerless. Her hair was slick with indescribable ebony that reached down to her waist. All in all, she looked unusually beautiful.

If Seth saw this pale beautiful woman, he would be shocked. It was actually the Hooker he brought home before he died.

She then waved her hand and a black scythe formed in the darkness that passed through Lester, killing him almost immediately without causing any traumas to his body. It was as if it only killed his mind, to preserve his body.

"Tsk. Dammit, Seth, Now I have to waste another spot," She complained as black strings connected to Lester's corpse from her hands.

Thereafter, "Lester" suddenly opened his eyes. The supposedly dead man stood up with liveliness. The man looked no different from before except for the mutilated hand that is slowly growing back. However, with a closer looked, one would found the minor difference from the way his eyes glowed. He was no longer the Lester that the world knew.

The pale woman looked at a white fluffy pillow shrouded by darkness. Her gaze was complicated as if it wanted to say something, but eventually, she forced her eyes to closed.

Then, she vanished with the darkness. Leaving Lester in the room in the same position before she came.

As the darkness disappeared, time went back to the people in the room.

"This pillow... is nice," Lester said loudly before whispering to the pillow, "I'll come looking for you soon, Mr. Pillow."

After that, he walked out of the room with large strides. Everyone was confused by Lester's action, but no one dared to question him. They then went back to their respected places. Since Lester didn't say anything, the danger must've passed, so their worries have already dissipated.

Of course, Seth wouldn't have the same thought as Greg and the others. He could not keep himself from trembling. Long after he'd commanded his rebellious body to stop, it just kept shaking. Fortunately, Henry wasn't here or else he would've noticed the anomaly.

That man, Lester now knew his secret! Seth couldn't calm himself down as he subconsciously concluded that to escape this predicament, he needs to become stronger.

Strong enough to live in this world unafraid.