Lord of the Mysteries

Vines grew all over the dilapidated garden outside the glass windows. The river flowed softly, reflecting the stars in the sky as warm glows suffused out of the nearby buildings.

Everything was silent, as if awaiting the arrival of night.

Trissy, who had ordinary features which combined to make her look surprisingly beautiful, retracted her gaze and walked quickly towards the clothes rack to retrieve a long black robe fitted with a hood.

She quickly put the robe on, fastened the buttons and belt before pulling the hood over her head, transforming herself into an Assassin.

Trissy raised her right hand and swiped her face, immediately turning her appearance under the hood blurry.

Right on the heels of that, she grabbed a handful of shimmering powder from the hidden pouch near her waist and scattered it over herself while reciting an incantation.

Trissy’s figure started to disappear bit by bit, her outline vanishing like how pencil marks were being erased by an eraser.

She silently left the bedroom after completing her concealment spell. She moved to the opposite room and then opened the non-grilled window.

With a light leap, Trissy stood on the window sill and looked over the grassy plains to the back of the building. She looked down at the steel fence that had seemingly fused with the night. There, she saw Corpse Collector Frye who was silently making his way over the fence.

She took in a deep breath and fluttered down like a feather, stepping onto the grassy field without a sound.

Frye, who was wearing a black windbreaker, cautiously surveyed the surroundings with his custom revolver in his hand, seeking out vengeful spirits or evil spirits that might appear.

He could see such entities directly!

Trissy approached Frye silently, made her way behind him. It was unknown when a dagger smeared with ‘black paint’ appeared in her hand.

Poof!

She struck quickly, plunging the dagger into Frye’s lower back.

But at this moment, the scene in front of her shattered, as if everything was an illusion.

Trissy realized that she was still standing on the window sill, still looking over the grassy field and the steel fence.

Except this time around, it wasn’t only Corpse Collector Frye who was standing outside the fence. There was also Leonard Mitchell who was aiming straight at the window sill, as well as Dunn Smith. The captain of the Nighthawks was hunched over as he pressed down on his glabella, his eyes closed as formless ripples spread outwards from him.

Trissy’s pupils constricted. She understood that everything that had happened was just a dream. She had fallen asleep unknowingly!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Leonard and Frye fired three shots, accurately hitting the invisible target who was still waking up from her reverie.

Crack!

to appear, first cracking, then completely shattering into fragments of a

used a substitution spell, turned around to escape. She

a person. Formless, transparent figures were numbly pacing around every corner of the

lost her concealment, felt her temperature drop every time she passed through the spirits. She could no longer control her shivers when

was a round table, with a figurine of a deity carved out

was about the size of a grown man’s head, with only a mere indication of her eyes, but the figure was that of a

each strand clear and thick, as if they

situated at the tip of every strand of hair, some closed,

many puppets strewn around the figurine. The craftsmanship of the puppets was crude. Names and relevant information were written on the

three candles on the table, flickering with a yellowish-green

bowed at the deity’s figurine

puppets and extinguished the flames of the candles before

Whoosh!

fiercely as they

Creak! Shards of glass flew around

the sacrificial altar recklessly. He shivered, feeling his

he felt tightness around his heels as though they had been grabbed by something

A Sequence 9 Beyonder would have turned completely numb by now. But as a Corpse Collector, Frye was no

revolver to the side of his heels and pulled the trigger. It was as if he could see who the enemy was, and exactly

Bang!

pierced the air, causing a

and Frye regained his

wanted to reach the second floor by avoiding a frontal assault on the altar, was similarly affected by the cold winds.

lifted suddenly and engulfed Dunn, as if a monster had

been imbued with life. Dunn’s facial features

straightened his knees and twisted

curtain around his head with his left hand and yanked it away before tossing

Bang!

other half of the curtain behind

a dark red liquid oozed out from

Whoosh!

sinister winds infused with the intense

messy weeds in the garden suddenly extended, wrapping themselves around his heels. A black shadow hurled itself at him along with the violent

body had become rigid, failed to fire in time. He could

smashed into his forearm, the thorns on its

a pretty, bright-red flower, its origins