Assassination

[AN: I put the wrong chapter last time. Please go back to 103, it is now the correct chapter]

Meanwhile, back in Backlund…

Putting away the money he had withdrawn from his bank account, Klein took a horse carriage to the Backlund Bridge area and entered the Bravehearts Bar. Under Kasper's guidance, he saw Maric sitting in the card room. He wasn't surrounded by zombies.

 Klein discarded the idea of using his spirituality to wrap Azik's copper whistle, slapped a 100 pounds on the table, and said to the pale Maric, "I agree to the deal. I'll pay an advance of 100 pounds. I'll pay another 300 pounds every additional day I'm protected. The protection begins now!"

Maric's gaze fell past him and landed somewhere behind him. He nodded and said, "Alright, she has agreed."

'Ah?' Klein turned back in surprise only to see the wall and nothing but air. He secretly activated his Spirit Vision, he but failed to discover anything.

Maric stuffed the 100 pounds into his pocket and said indifferently, "You can return now. She has begun protecting you, in a hidden way."

'If I hadn't divined this beforehand, I would definitely think of all of you as cheats,' Klein surveyed his surroundings and deliberately acted as though he left with clenched teeth. Along the way, he would occasionally activate and deactivate his Spirit Vision, constantly observing the outside through the carriage windows, but he didn't find his so-called bodyguard.

Back at 15 Minsk Street, Klein closed the door, went into the bathroom, turned on the tap, and washed his hands. The sound of water splashing disappeared as he shook off the water droplets and wiped his palms with a towel.

Then, he raised his head to look at himself in the mirror to inspect his appearance. At this moment, he saw himself phasing away in the mirror before transforming into a woman wearing a black regal dress.

The woman had light golden hair and blue eyes. She looked very delicate but her face was abnormally pale. She wore a small black bonnet, lifted her skirt, and bowed at Klein.

'This,' without hiding his surprise, Klein took a few steps back and leaned against the wall. Only then did he realize that this might be the bodyguard he had hired for 1000 pounds. The image in the mirror quickly dimmed and Klein saw himself again.

Everything had been restored back to normal.

The figure in the mirror was clear, but it was as though the woman in the black regal dress had never appeared. Klein secretly activated his Spirit Vision, but didn't find anything.

'Did I just hire a female ghost as my bodyguard? She's even stranger than a female ghost. At the very least, one can see ghosts with Spirit Vision,' Klein thoughtfully touched Azik's copper whistle in his pocket, feeling nothing but it's cold chill. Like before, it didn't have any additional changes.

'She's unaffected by the copper whistle. Seems like she isn't an undead creature. However, I can't be sure. Back then, the copper whistle was buried with me, but the corpses surrounding me didn't act abnormally. Was it because those buried in the cemetery have experienced a send-off by the priests and bishops? When does it work and when doesn't it. When this business with the ambassador is over, and if I'm still alive, I'll go to the cemetery and try to figure out the scope of its effect and its limits. I can't always carry a time bomb like this.'

Klein washed his face and walked out of the bathroom.

…

At 15 Minsk Street, Klein paused with his right hand on the handle. He had just heard the truth of the entire situation and how he was caught-up in it from little Ian, and now another person was ringing his doorbell.

He decided to throw a coin before he opened the door. Since Ian had already come, the revelation that he had seen in the dream had already happened. That meant that danger could come at any moment!

While muttering the words "The visitor outside will bring danger," Klein flicked up a quarter pence and watched it fall to his palm, its number side facing up.

'Negative,' Klein muttered to himself as he reached for the handle. However, he didn't let his guard down. He knew that there was a Mid-Sequence Beyonder of the same pathway as him on the ambassador's side who could interfere with his divination.

'If it was that person, it would be normal for me to get the wrong result! It's a pity that I don't have the time or an opportunity to investigate it above the grey fog,' Klein looked through the door for a moment with his Spirit Vision.

Realizing that nothing was amiss, he opened the door and took two steps back. Dressed in a black-and-white checked uniform, Sergeant Faxine took off his hat and said with a serious expression, "I've been sent by the higher-ups to tell you that you must be careful tonight and tomorrow. Be careful of strangers."

"Alright." Klein nodded solemnly. Sergeant Faxine touched his short hair and said, "There are other arrangements. I'll explain them to you in detail, and you can decide on your own."

He cast his gaze towards the living room. Klein made a polite gesture of invitation, then watched as Sergeant Faxine closed the door behind him, walked over to the sofa, and sat down.

"What are your plans?" Klein kept his coat on, hands still in his pockets.

Faxine leaned forward slightly, clasped his hands, and said, "You should be well aware that you have offended that ambassador. Tonight, or tomorrow will be the most dangerous period for you. The higher-ups have given you three choices. The first is to go to the Holy Wind Cathedral for two days. I know that you're a believer of the God of Steam and Machinery, but Saint Hierländ Cathedral is too far, and it's easy for trouble to arise on the way there."

Klein nodded indiscernibly and waited for the sergeant to give him the second choice. Suddenly, his vision blurred and his head went numb. He felt as if there was a layer of thick glass around him. He saw that Sergeant Faxine's opening and closing of his mouth was slowing down, and he noticed that his thoughts had become sluggish.

This feeling was very familiar. Klein suddenly thought of the puppet from the Antigonus family, Sealed Artifact 2-049!

Back then, he was repeatedly affected in a similar way, but he had been awakened by Captain Dunn Smith and the others. To ensure that the others could detect any abnormalities in a timely manner, they kept stretching and retracting their arms!

'The Antigonus family holds the Seer pathway. This person's ability is similar to the Antigonus family's puppet. He is the Mid-Sequence Beyonder of the Seer pathway. As expected, it's him.'

Klein came to his senses, but there was no Dunn Smith to wake him. The muscles on Officer Faxine's face started squirming. Soon, he turned into a gentleman with black hair and blue eyes. He had a handsome face and a tiny stubble.

'Should I call to Him? Mr. Death said He would help me if things became too dire. Of course, there would be payments for that… but it should help me out, right? No! I should keep that for truly dire situations. The bodyguard ghost I hired should be working now right? Unless she too is affected by this power… Let's wait a few seconds. If she does not act, I will call out to Him.'

Officer Faxine smiled at the dulling expression of Klein, "Given time, this is one of the most difficult abilities to deal with for anyone that isn't a High-Sequence Beyonder."

As he spoke, Klein saw the image of the woman in the black regal dress appear in the glass of the oriel window. She walked slowly and stiffly out of the glass; her blonde hair, her delicate face, and her pale face made her seem more like a doll than a living person.

"I never thought that you would be able to hire such a powerful bodyguard. If it wasn't for my divination ahead of time, I might have died here. What kind of compensation did you pay? By the way, my name is Rosago."

Rosago didn't look back as he continued smiling at Klein, but he didn't expect a fluent answer from the man he controlled. At that moment, he suddenly felt a cold breeze blow across his neck, causing his hair to stand on end as goosebumps appeared all over his body. There seemed to be an invisible person at his back, breathing down his neck! Rosago laughed, raised his left hand, and snapped his fingers.

*Pow*

Flames suddenly soared up from his back, and a transparent shadow was set ablaze, quickly turning into ashes. In Klein's vision, these motions were all broken down into a grid of images.

This wasn't because his opponent had turned slow, but was a result of his increasingly sluggish thoughts.

'He already has me under control... Why isn't he directly... killing me... Do all villains like to engage in lengthy monologues... No, he's not stupid... He's trying to conceal something with this discussion...'

Klein tried to think, to figure out the problem, but his thoughts were moving at an irresistibly slow pace. He looked intently at Rosago, taking in every detail of his. Finally, he saw a figure in each of Rosago's eyes, a figure with blonde hair, blue eyes, a pale face, and a dark black Gothic regal dress! And at this moment, the woman was still behind Rosago. She was still near the oriel window, walking towards him like a manipulated puppet.

'He hasn't really controlled her yet... She's still trying to resist and struggle... They are tussling in the realm of mystery... I need to do something... I need to tip the scales of balance... Klein turned his attention to the Language of Foulness charm he was holding in his left hand. It was cold and slippery, filled with evil. He was glad that he hadn't let down his guard and maintained a battle-ready state the entire time. Klein could either call to Him, hoping for something and exchange something he did not know he could accept losing, or injure himself to injure his opponent! Klein gathered his strength and struggled to speak. His vocal cords seemed to have rotted, and his throat squirmed in difficulty. He hoarsely said in ancient Hermes with a staccato rhythm, "Foulness!"

As his voice echoed in the air, Klein felt a corrosive pain in his left palm, and he heard illusory whispers that could drive a person mad. This was a state that he was familiar with, and it didn't affect his subsequent attempts. The attempt was to inject most of his spirituality into the Language of Foulness charm which didn't require the control of his body. In three seconds, the voice of the True Creator would descend upon the physical world and burrow into the ears of the creature closest to him!

"3!"

The prelude, the din, the illusory, the evil whispers spread out in an instant. Klein felt his scalp tingle, his mind abuzz, his veins throbbing. He found it difficult to focus his mind. A coffee table away from him, Rosago's expression had suddenly turned adrift. His face swelled up as the woman's figure in his eyes suddenly became clearer.

"2!"

The pale woman in the black regal dress behind him quickened her actions, but soon, she frowned in pain. At this moment, Klein felt the weakening of the influence as he wished, regaining his smooth thought processes and felt as though his joints were once again filled with lubricant!

Having experienced ravings all this time, he endured the madness and pain, quickly pulling out and throwing the Language of Foulness charm from his left palm at Rosago.

"1!"

The iron-black charm, with its many symbols and sinister-looking patterns, melted. Rosago had just regained some of his composure and was trying to leap to the side when he saw a rich darkness and heard a murmur that contained immense knowledge and extreme madness.

No human being was able to describe such a sound. All the veins in Rosago's head protruded as if they were about to explode. He tumbled to the ground, writhing and struggling as his skin ruptured, inch by inch, revealing the flesh underneath.

At the same time, Klein and the blonde woman with blue eyes also failed to resist the pain as they fell to the ground. Each of them let out tragic screams, the excruciating pain felt like someone had stabbed their temples with a drill rod. Their eyes turned bloodshot as red liquid ran down their noses. They could neither see nor feel the outside world. The experienced Klein was the first to recover.

He staggered to his feet and saw that Rosago had torn off his clothes and stripped off his skin, exposing his flesh and veins. He was like a legendary red monster that had been skinned. He constantly tumbled around the ground while groaning in pain, as if he was about to lose control.

Klein didn't wait for the result, because he couldn't afford the possibility of the other party gaining the benefits, as well as becoming a devotee of the True Creator. He believed that the evil god was definitely infuriated as well.

Pulling out his revolver and adjusting the barrel to the firing position, Klein took two steps forward, circled around the coffee table, and put the muzzle of his gun against Rosago's head.

*Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!*

Dressed in his black double-breasted suit, he stared at his enemy intently as he shot five rounds in a row, watching his enemy's head swell and explode into a mixture of red, white, and black that splattered all over the floor.

'Captain, thank you for demonstrating this to me before,' Klein panted while he lowered his revolver before he beamed brightly. In front of him, Rosago's headless corpse faltered a little before collapsing to the side of the sofa.

Only then did the woman in the black Gothic regal dress stop her screams. Her struggles and rolling slowed down, but her skin seemed to turn a lot more translucent. Seeing the flesh on Rosago's corpse squirm, Klein didn't hesitate to use his self-created Requiem Charm. Under the calm and serene atmosphere, the corpse finally stopped moving.

Upon seeing this scene, Klein thought of something. He took out another charm and chanted in a low voice, "Crimson!" Then, he injected some of his spirituality into it and threw this charm at his bodyguard—the woman with the pale golden hair and pale white face.

As the slumbering powers emanated, the woman who was still weakened under the effect of the lingering voices instantly quietened down as she fell into a deep slumber. Just to be sure, Klein threw another Slumber Charm, afraid that he would be interrupted during what he was planning to do next.

15 Minsk Street once again had its peace.

This time, nothing was broken; only the ground was contaminated, as the fight between the three parties was mystical and beyond the physical realm. Looking at

Rosago's corpse and then at his sleeping bodyguard, Klein mocked himself, "It's also good to court death often. At least I gained some immunity."

He didn't attempt the mediumship ritual immediately because Rosago was now tainted by the True Creator, and directly communicating with the spirit was tantamount to committing suicide.

But that didn't mean Klein had no choice. He planned on doing the mediumship above the grey fog by bringing Rosago with him!

After conjuring the appropriate ritual items and setting up a simple altar, Klein quickly began the mediumship ritual. During this process, he was shocked to discover that he no longer needed to pray to anyone to be able to directly communicate with the spirit. It was like he was a real spirit medium!

'Phew, is this some special power that I possess in the mysterious space above the grey fog?' A thought flashed through Klein's mind as he began to recite the divination statement. "The potion formulas for the Seer pathway."

[AN: A long chapter because it was largely copied from the original. Sorry about that]