Another Ambush

"Found you..."

Suddenly, while Valentine was busy escaping from the invisible Police Sergeant, there was a voice coming from above him.

He didn't look up to see who was speaking in such a sinister tone, but he followed his instinct and rolled to the side.

Crash!

There was a woman wearing a pink dress with a small cloak at the top covering her face who had just attacked him directly from the top of a four-story building. Her giant club hit the ground and created a small crater, showing how powerful her attack was. Valentine managed to avoid the main impact, but there was a shockwave created by her attack that pushed him back a little.

"Please give me a break. And how did she see us..." he complained while getting away. He was still behind the Police barricade so there were no other people around.

As he was running, Valentine began chanting.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Deception and Hidden Thoughts, call forth Illusion Substitutes to defend against the enemies' attacks!"

Several illusory ink sketches appeared one after another and they all merged into Valentine's real body. He was now safe from attacks, but even a small scratch could trigger the ability and wasted it, so he had to be careful.

"G, that woman is the one who attacked us before at the black market. Why is it always her? At least we have more chance this time," he muttered.

While the woman was still busy recovering from her own failed attack, Valentine kept on running towards the other side of the barricade. However, as he got closer to it, he hit something that shouldn't be there.

Thump!

The impact was soft despite him running at full speed, but because of that, his Illusion Substitute was triggered. Valentine's body became just like a blotch of ink on water that got dispersed and erased quickly. After that, he reappeared a few centimeters behind his illusion completely unscathed.

In puzzlement, he touched the invisible 'thing' that was in front of him. It felt like a wall of gelatine had been set in place and although he could see through it perfectly, going to the other side was something impossible. He tried pushing it but his hands just sank into the wall and bounced back not long after.

"G, it seems either the Police or the Pale Society have set up another barricade around this area. Escape is not an option anymore, so let's try our best to survive," he said calmly.

Valentine looked back and saw the woman rapidly approaching him. He wanted to see her reaction to the invisible wall as well. If she knew it was there, then there was a high chance that it was set up by her organization-- or she had experienced the same thing as he did but earlier.

"No running away, eh, fucker?" she said. Her voice was beautiful but it had a vulgar tone in it.

"So she knew about the wall. Then her organization did it. Are they trying to entrap the Police Contractbounds here?" analyzed Valentine while keeping his eyes on the woman.

"I hereby put you under interrogation!" he shouted without letting the target off his sight.

She seemed to be feeling something but after a second she easily shook it off.

"That weak shit won't work on me, asshole," she said with a tone full of mockery, and then with a frightening speed suddenly lunged at him.

Clash!

Although his eyes could keep up with her, he couldn't react in time. She was too fast that her giant club had been swung and hit Valentine hard. His Illusion Substitute was triggered and he appeared right next to his rapidly dispersing illusion and got away from there at once. Her giant club rebounded as it hit through the illusion and made contact with the invisible wall.

"Ah shit!" she said. It seemed that her hands were slightly hurt from hitting the invisible wall.

Seeing that, Valentine made a quick judgment.

"G, damaging the wall seems to be dangerous. But it doesn't seem to be lethal even with her attacking power just now, so we cannot really use it for our advantage, especially since she doesn't seem stupid enough to fall for something like that."

Valentine observed her carefully using the split-second window he had got from her backlash. Her weapon was a giant metal club whose swing could break someone's skull easily. Its reach was farther than his dagger and when in full swing, its power would be very dangerous. Fighting her out in the open was not a wise decision, so he had to change his plan.

"G, I don't think I can make it back to where the Police are with her speed. We need to fight her in a narrow space so she won't be able to utilize her weapon to its fullest potential," he decided. His voice was calm although he was speaking much faster than usual.

He quickly drew his gun and aimed at the woman who was now several meters away from him.

Bang!

Clank!

She deflected the bullet with her club!

Valentine used the recoil from firing his gun to quickly get back and entered the closest building behind him. It was an office building with a glass double-door at the entrance. He pushed the door open and ran towards the upper floor.

"No need to hide. I can find you no matter where you are!" shouted the woman while fixing her dress. She didn't seem to be in a hurry.

Valentine was currently on the second floor of the office building and was walking down the corridor that was wide enough only for three people to walk side by side. It was the spot that he had chosen to go face to face against her. There was a window behind him that he could use for escaping if things became too disadvantageous for him-- jumping from the second floor shouldn't hurt him. The corridor itself would be too narrow for her to swing her giant club around freely.

"Now let's wait for her here, G," he muttered. His voice was still concealed by the thin yellowish mist enveloping his whole body and mouth.

"I still don't understand how she is able to spot us so easily, though," he said again in slight puzzlement, "It must be related to her ability. But we don't know what her Deities are."

He was waiting in anticipation while racking his brain for a plan to fight against her. The fact that he knew nothing about her abilities was detrimental to him, so it would be his first priority; to use Reveal on her. However, he wouldn't be able to read the information unless she was put under control, which made things more difficult.

"I have to rely on Purloin again," he muttered. There was a meaningful smile on his face as he was reloading the chambers of his revolver.

The sounds of the woman's footsteps could be heard in the distance. She was heading straight to Valentine's location despite not seeing where he had gone. It was as if she knew exactly where he was for some reason.

Step... step...

Her high heels hit the wooden floor with a slow rhythm. She seemed to be enjoying closing in to her prey slowly while making them anxious about the encroaching danger.

"Cornered now? Do you know how difficult it is to finally find you?" she said as she walked down the corridor towards Valentine.

The man shrouded in a thin yellowish mist was standing mysteriously as he had been expecting the woman. She dragged her giant metal club across the corridor, making a loud, irritating noise. The small cloak covering her face couldn't conceal the distorted smile made by her thin purple lips.

Valentine kept his eyes on the woman while minding the distance between the two of them carefully. When she got close enough, he quickly drew his gun and aimed at her.

Bang!

Clank!

She deflected the bullet again with her metal club. However, Valentine noticed that her movement was very slightly slower than before because of the lack of space. Her club hit the wall first before it made its way in front of her.

"That won't work, bastard!" she said with a tone that didn't match her appearance.

Valentine quickly fired another shot.

Bang!

And she quickly deflected it again with her club.

Clank!

"As I said, it--"

"I order you to hit her!"

Valentine had very quickly issued an Order while looking at the first bullet that she had deflected. The paralysis bullet that had been lying on the floor moved on its own and shot at her exposed calf with a weaker force than a normal shot. However, it was enough to graze her and caused a tiny line of blood to form on her skin.

"!!"

Because of his attack, the target had been paralyzed!

Valentine knew that he only had a couple of seconds so he quickly looked at her and used Reveal on her.

"I ask you to reveal your secrets to me!"

As he said that, an illusory text began forming above the woman's head. Before reading it, Valentine looked at the woman again and shouted.

"I order you to stand still!"

The effect of the paralysis bullet almost wore off, but his Order kept his target immobilized for a little longer. Now he had the chance to read the text that had been revealed.

'Saskia Faivre aka Ghastly. She is a member of the Pale Society whose task is to eliminate its enemies. She is currently in a contract with the Deity of Lost Dignity and Honors. Her forte is frontal assault because of her strong physical capabilities.'

After that, the text disappeared and while the target was still under the effect of his Order, Valentine quickly slit his wrist and began chanting while focusing on the effect of illusion that he desired.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Deception and Hidden Thoughts, call forth an illusion that covers this area!"

His blood that flowed from his wrist evaporated and filled the air with its iron smell. An illusory orange curtain descended on the spot where Ghastly was standing and put her under illusion right away. Because the target was much stronger than him, despite only covering a small area, the blood consumption for his ability was high and Valentine became weaker quickly.

Valentine had made Ghastly think she was in the safest place from her memory, so she quickly dropped her weapon and began talking to 'someone' in front of her. While still having the strength, Valentine had to decide what he wanted to do in order to boost his chance of survival.

"G, she is a Marquis rank, so there is no way our attacks will be effective against her. It was the same as the corpse woman. I hate to do it but our only option is to run away. But before that, while she is 'unconscious' because of the illusion, let's erase her memory about us," he muttered.

While still bleeding, Valentine approached Ghastly who was still having a conversation with an illusory figure in her head. He stood right next to her and placed his hands on each side of her head while chanting.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Deception and Hidden Thoughts, hereby erase all of her memories about me!"

Some kind of smoke came out of his palms while his left wrist while still bleeding. The smoke entered Ghastly's head through her ears and after that, Valentine quickly backed away. He was worried that the illusion would be canceled because of that.

"The illusion is still maintained. That's great, G. Now we need to get away quickly. But, before that, let's try something first," he muttered weakly. He had lost so much blood to keep the illusion going.

Valentine held his dagger in his right hand and pressed the sharp blade against Ghastly's neck. He put all his power into his right hand but her skin was very hard. The bullet before could only scratch her and this time, he was only able to injure her slightly albeit with difficulty.

Whack!

She suddenly hit Valentine, who quickly turned into ink and disappeared.

His Illusion Substitute had been triggered!

His action of wounding her seemed to have canceled the illusion effect on her and now she was swinging her giant metal club on instinct. Valentine appeared a few centimeters away from his illusion and quickly backed off.

Ghastly, who felt the pain on her neck, quickly looked around as if trying to find her assailant. She hadn't seemed to notice Valentine who was standing motionlessly in the corner, observing her.

"Who did this to me! Get out here you fucking coward!" she shouted loudly in anger. Although her injury was really light, the fact that she could get injured meant the enemy was someone dangerous.

"G, it looks like with her memory of us erased, her detection ability has also been nullified. That's a pleasant surprise. This should give us some chance then..." he muttered while racking his brain.

Suddenly, a greenish aura came out of Ghastly's whole body and quickly filled the narrow office corridor. The aura gave off a feeling of sickness and decay and Valentine's sense of danger was instantly triggered. The narrow space made it easy for the aura to fill in every corner and spot, making it difficult to hide from it.

"If I can't see you, then I'll just fill this whole place with diseases!" she shouted with malice in her voice.

It was a Malady's Disease Spreading!