Chapter 4

Soon Dunn and the other began their investigations, Dunn being a Sequence 7 Nightmare of the Darkness Pathway quickly put everyone to sleep before dismissing the few police officers who were still lingering around.

On the other hand, Dewayne only being a Sequence 9 Sleepless decided to talk to the residents about the four band of thugs with the assistance of police officers while Leonard who advanced a month ago to Sequence 8 Midnight Poet took the second floor.

'Hmm, Why did Captain assign me to the floor where the incident happened,' asked the handsome poet Leonard as walked in the halls of the second floor, everything was cleared and the opposite of what Dunn described to them earlier, there wasn't dead bodies or blood cover floors but just regular police talking with the residents who looked afraid.

'That Captain of yours is testing you, he wants you to adapt Sequence 8 Midnight Poet abilities,' spoke a foreign thought in Leonard's head causing the youth to think, 'Hmm, you're right old man, after all, I'm a special character in this era.'

Leonard arrogantly walked through the halls as he began to recite a poem with his soft gentle voice.

"Not a single cloud dawns the sky.

The wind whispers its secrets to me.

As I swing on this night with no one near.

The only light from the moon above.

With each night that passes you change more and more.

I look up and can feel you are here as the wind blows ever so gently.

Some nights I can not help but sit and listen.

As you always listen to me.

Now I listen to you.

Your sweet whispers."

Once done reciting the poem a gentle breeze blew past the police and residents as they heard relaxing chimes causing some of the more devoted believers to say, "Praise The Lady, For she knows our pain and has sent her servants to calm us," while others simply did the prayer gesture of the Church of the Evernight Goddess.

Leonard's heart warmed and filled with pride hearing the compliments and he quickly gave thanks to the Evernight Goddess before walking to a police officer telling them, "I'm the inspector here to investigate, how many people witnessed the incident?"

The police officer was about to get angry but after seeing the uniform Leonard wore, he politely spoke, "Lord, there are only two who saw the monster but they were taken to the Saint Selena Cathedral for therapy," hearing the officer Leonard thought, 'Hmm, looks like they are going to have the memories altered or be brought into the Nighthawks.'

Leonard then nodded for the police officer to follow him while asking, "What do the residents know about the situation," the police officer spoke, "They said that the owner of the apartment named Franky hired four unruly thugs to force residents to pay up even taken more than was needed."

Hearing this Leonard frowned as the officer kept speaking, "The four men we're, Reid, Jack, Bennett, and Harold, with Harold being the leader, they say they usually collect the rent payments while taking extra for themselves and sometimes even volatility assaulting or sexual assaulting the residents."

Leonard's frown grew even more, at first he couldn't help but feel a little sad when he heard how a man was turned into a monster and eaten his friend alive but now in Leonard's mind these men were already monsters and Seal Artifact 03-0799 just gave them a sight push and they were consumed by their greed, selfishness, and lust.

The police officer continued to talk until they both reached room 119 where the first situation occurred, when they entered the room they saw they saw three figures walking out, one was half-naked in handcuffs with two police officers by his side escorting him out.

"Who is this," inquired Leonard, knowing in his mind who it was but wanting to confirm it, "Lord, this is the bastard, Bennett, who forced himself onto Lady Amelia," spoke the office causing the other two to stop with Bennett who looks completely drained of energy as he looked down with lifeless eyes as if he was a puppet without a puppeteer.

Leonard's heart grew cold as any pity for these guys faded away as he ignored Bennett walking past the officers to investigate the room, 'Hmm, kid why don't you help that guy, he was being controlled by Artifact 03-0799,' asked the foreign voice that had a trace of mockery In it.

Hearing this Leonard tightened his fist in anger saying in his mind, 'Old man, you sure are talkative today, why not speak when I need your help or help me advance in Sequence,' the foreign voice didn't make itself known again annoying Leonard even more, ever since a year ago a foreign being entered his body through an ancient coin in one of his supernatural cases.

The Old man called himself Pallez Zoroast, Leonard tried to research this mystery but wasn't able to find anything of value, only that coincidentally he heard a rumor about people being parasitized by demons and soon connected the dots. Leonard wanted to tell someone until Pallez Zoroast told him about the Acting method which helped him process from Sequence 9 to 8 only in 7 months, even now Leonard was hoping to Advance to Sequence 7 in a year but at his current pace it might take longer.

Pallez Zoroast on the other hand was initially planning on helping Leonard grow stronger to absorb the youth to heal from his grave injuries but after thinking it through he realized something, The Evernight Goddess knew of his existence and allowed him to parasitize Leonard which meant two things either she was working with his biggest enemy but knowing some of the history between two he doubted she was help that person.

Second, probably the real reason was she not only wanted to keep a close eye on him but also to somewhat Allie herself with him, even though Pallez Zoroast didn't know the reason In his weaker state he decided to play alone so Leonard became the middle man between the two powerful figures, preventing Pallez Zoroast from taking over the handsome poet.

But this didn't stop the old man from trying to change Leonard's personality and outlook on life since in his opinion he thought the kid was too soft knowing Leonard could advance way faster if he left his teammates and life behind to grow stronger. He didn't want Leonard making irrational decisions or mistakes that could put them both in danger but after a year of teachings, the kid remained the same, stubbornly refusing to adopt Pallez Zoroast's ideals and attitude on different subjects.

Leonard quickly began his search activating his spirit vision to find the spiritual effects that still lingered from Artifact 03-0799 but came up empty-handed as his spirit vision was still very weak and could only be used in small intervals, he thought of trying Ritualistic Magic, praying to the Evernight Goddess for clues but after realizing the sun still hung high in the sky and he didn't have all the materials he shot the idea down.

The countless boring hours of Old Neil hammering into his head the dangers of Ritualistic Magic that are performed incorrectly Leonard wisely decided to take a different approach, so he took out an ancient golden coin, this was the coin Pallez Zoroast used to parasitize Leonard and since it was with Pallez Zoroast for some time it had a few powers of his pathway.

Knowing this Leonard relaxed his body as his spirituality grew slightly he asked while flipping the coin in the air, "Is Artifact 03-0799 still in this building," the coin landed in his hands on tails which was a 'No' so Leonard asked again flipping the coin in the air, "Is Artifact 03-0799 still controlling someone?"

When he asked this he felt a foreign spiritual force attempting to interfere with

the divination but a stronger spirit erupted from the coin causing it to land on heads for 'Yes' as Leonard thought, 'Old man you aren't completely useless after all.'

Pallez Zoroast didn't reply as Leonard prepared himself to speak, "Is there still danger in this building," while flipping the coin, Leonard was sure it would be a 'No' so he began to call the police officer into the room until the coin landed in his hand upward not falling on either side, completely dumbfounded Leonard froze as he asked, 'Umm, old man what does this signify?'

The coin unnaturally stood upward until Leonard moved his hand sightly causing it to fall on tails, Pallez Zoroast wasn't completely stupefied like Leonard but he was kinda perplexed, he didn't feel any foreign influence affect the coin, it was merely luck that it landed the way it landed but countless lifetimes of experience, Pallez Zoroast nullified such a thought.

'Try it again,' spoke Pallez Zoroast spreading his senses to see if something was interfering with the divination earlier, Leonard's mind was blank as he never encountered such lucky odds, without wasting time Leonard began, "Is there still danger in this building?"

What happened next left them both frozen, the coin came down and landed perfectly upward until Leonard's hand twitched slightly causing the coin to land on tails once again.

Pallez Zoroast's heart rate increased slightly as three possibilities entered his head, first, this could have been a completely once-in-a-lifetime probability but experience and knowledge told him such a coincidence wasn't possible when it involved someone as powerful as him.

Second and one he wanted it to be the most was Leonard and himself encountered a powerful spell left by an Angel from the Wheel of Fortune Pathway or potentially the Fool Pathway that has very powerful anti-divination effects, 'But if that's the case, what are they trying to hide in this building and are we getting in their way,' thought Pallez Zoroast to himself as the third possibility entered into his head.

Sadly Pallez Zoroast gut feeling told him it wasn't luck or them just casually tripping off a spell left by a powerful Angel but that there was something or someone so powerful he couldn't sense their presence or effect on the divination which meant they were dealing with a very dangerous sealed artifact or worst case, 'No matter who the Sequence one was they wouldn't be able to completely hide from me, it can only be a Sequence 0 doings, if so what are they after.'

At the thought of a Sequence 0 Pallez Zoroast would have escaped immediately and avoid connect with such beings but knowing the Evernight Goddess a Sequence 0 God was somewhat allied with him caused his racing heart to calm, 'Haha, Old man are you playing a prank on me, What just happened, did something interfere with the divination,' wisely questioned Leonard as he grew afraid knowing a high Sequence level item or person could affect the coins divination.

Pallez Zoroast didn't answer the question, the information was hazardous to Leonard a low sequence byounder, also knowing would only cause the youth to grow fearful which was a useless emotion in situations like this. Leonard didn't say anything either, having no choice but to continue to gather information from the crime scene.

'Hmmm,' thought Leonard slightly disappointed that he didn't find anything useful to the investigation, "Sir, did you find anything," asked the police officer who entered the room wondering why Leonard was standing in the same spot flipping a coin multiple times.

Leonard didn't answer the cop as he walked back into the hall looking down at the room doors before he noticed something and asked, "Why aren't room 114's residents outside being questioned, if what you said earlier was true then the incident happened right outside their room, right?"

The police officer still annoyed Leonard ignored him earlier and wanted to speak his mind but after thinking about the question Leonard asked he thought to himself, 'Hmm, that's not normal, did we forget to question the resident in Room 114,' knowing if he told the truth he'll be punished so the officer simply said, "We knocked on the door but there was no one inside, so we skipped questioning,"

"That's weird, earlier you told me Jack and Reed were speaking to someone other than Bennett before the incident happened, the only reasonable explanation is room 114 had someone inside," spoke Leonard as he raised his guard walking steadily toward the room door in question.

As he approached the door his heart tightened as it began to beat faster than normal as cold sweat dripped down his back socking his uniform, when Leonard attempted to raise his hand to knock on the door, he realized he couldn't move an inch, 'Old man, what are you doing,' questioned Leonard knowing Pallez Zoroast was controlling his body.

Earlier Pallez Zoroast and Leonard talked more about the parasitizing when Pallez Zoroast decided to ally himself with the Evernight Goddess so Leonard knew and had experienced how it felt to have his body controlled by the old man, usually, Pallez Zoroast only did it when Leonard couldn't detect danger and react fast enough.

Leonard felt his heart and sweat soon knew he was about to make a mistake and was fearful when he heard Pallez Zoroast's quiet voice speak, 'Retreat, whatever is in that room, is what caused your divination to fail, I think you should.....'

Right before Pallez Zoroast could finish the police officer from earlier saw Leonard was just staring at the door and knowing he forgot to question the person inside quickly walked to the door and banged on it hoping to impress Leonard and not get punished.

*Bang*

*Bang*

*Bang*

"Open up, it's the police, we have a few questions to ask you, we know someone's in there. Come out or we'll break the door," yelled the officer immediately escalating the situation, Leonard and Pallez Zoroast were both frozen in complete amazement at the officer's incompetence, the first to react was Pallez Zoroast as he had already made up his mind to flee from here not knowing if he could escape the eyes of a Sequence 0 Beyonder or someone who could rival that kinda power.

Not caring what would happen to Leonard if he forcefully left his body, Pallez Zoroast was ready but before he could make a move the door to the room opened sightly before a tall man with a lean physique, light tan skin, blue eyes, and shoulder-length, slicked-back blonde hair combed down to the nape of his neck. He has a long face with sunken cheeks and a well-defined jawline.

The man wore a black suit and a long tranche coat made from leather, and easily his most notable physical feature was the set of three vertical scars over his left eye that gave him a very unique aura that made the atmosphere heavy and dense.

Immediately when the man fully opened the door the entire second floor grew quiet as everyone watched in fear and when the man spoke either hall trembled slightly, "What is it, officer?"

When the officer heard the man's unusual accent and felt the man's fierce eyes lock onto him the officer's body went limp as he used the last of his strength to step back with a nervous smile saying, "I have nothing to ask your sir, but this Inspector for the police department has a few questions for you."

The man's eyes then shot over to Leonard and Pallez Zoroast asking, "What is it, you both want with me," while deep inside the man's thoughts wondered, 'What do both of these police officers want with me, the monster was already killed, plus I didn't see anything.'

When Leonard heard the word 'both' he immediately knew this man could tell he was parasitized by Pallez Zoroast, on the other hand, the old man's conformation wasn't shocking only terror-stricken as the potential of his wild guess had a high chance of being true.

Leonard was very scared and on edge not being able to speak but potentially knew this guy was dangerous Leonard knew he had to get this guy out of this building with these civilians, so a power deep within him allowed him to speak, "We need you to come with us for questioning."

Pallez Zoroast almost screamed at Leonard, thinking, 'What is this fool thinking, he should be trying to get as far apart from this person as possible,' but knowing the Evernight Goddess was still somewhat allied with him calmed down slightly while the man thought for a second, 'Sigh so they want to take me in for questioning, it could take hours and be extremely boring but also I can be protected by the police from monsters too.'

"Sure, I'll follow you," spoke the man stepping outside the room causing everyone on the floor to subconsciously take a step back away from him, Pallez Zoroast quickly relaxed knowing that this powerful byounder wasn't a direct threat to himself and Leonard for now.