Ordinary people could sometimes use a sharp sixth sense to predict certain events before they happened. A Beyonder's intuition was an enhanced version of that phenomenon. Some special pathways and high-sequence Beyonders could even use intuition for future sight or precise judgment.
So even though Mozzo was only Sequence 10, the moment he realized something was wrong, he chose to trust his instincts.
He immediately began speculating about what could have caused this situation.
Assuming Audrey had already gotten into trouble, then what was the cause?
The authorities? Unlikely. Right now, the authorities were definitely occupied with the Golden Legion and the enemy spies.
They probably had no time to bother with a wild Beyonder like Audrey.
Though it was somewhat unfair to Miss Audrey, neither she nor the gathering behind her was important enough for the authorities to specifically target, not even back during more peaceful times.
After all, they were just a loose wild organization where even the existence of a Sequence 6 was questionable. At a time like this, the authorities had no reason to divert attention toward a group of desperate people huddling together for warmth.
If it was not the authorities, then it should be another faction?
Those black-robed people?
Possible, but unlikely. Their leader was already dead, and the remaining members were probably being hunted down by the authorities.
Under such circumstances, they likely had neither the energy nor the mindset to engage in a battle of wits with the local snakes.
Which meant...
There was another outside faction?!
Of course, it was also possible that someone within the gathering itself had targeted poor Audrey, but that possibility was low as well. After all, nothing had happened before.
As for other wild Beyonder gatherings, that was even less likely. Everyone was already struggling to survive under the authorities' pressure. Who still had the spare energy for internal conflict?
Realizing this, Mozzo suddenly wanted to ask the mayor why the Special District, supposedly created to separate the supernatural from ordinary life, had so many outsiders stirring up trouble right under the nose of a demigod.
Rubbing his aching forehead, Mozzo lay back down.
He planned to investigate tomorrow. Until then, he could only hope he was overthinking things.
As for why he was not heading out immediately...
Well, it was the middle of the night. If you had nothing to hide, why would you be wandering around outside at this hour?
Moreover, Mozzo was worried that someone might already have their eyes on him, only refraining from acting because he seemed to have some unclear connection with the Inspectorate.
Which meant he absolutely could not behave suspiciously by wandering around recklessly.
At the same time, Mozzo quietly pulled out the Goldswallow Gun hidden in his clothes and tucked it beneath himself.
---
After a peaceful night, Mozzo headed to school as usual the next morning.
Then, standing before the flower shop, he twitched at the corner of his mouth and bought a bouquet anyway.
After that, under the increasingly dangerous gazes of countless male students, he headed toward the Flower Courtyard.
If someone really was watching him, Mozzo could not let them realize he had noticed anything.
But he still needed to check on Audrey.
So the role of a lovestruck young man infatuated with Audrey was the perfect disguise.
Enduring the dangerous stares of the surrounding "animals," Mozzo could not help sighing internally. He had deliberately avoided getting involved with Audrey before precisely because he did not want trouble.
But now that Audrey might truly be in danger, Mozzo, who considered her at least somewhat of a friend and also felt rather guilty toward her, had no choice but to step in.
Besides, no amount of gossip or hostility from others could possibly outweigh a human life.
And these problems would disappear the moment Audrey rejected him in public anyway.
At that point, Mozzo might even finally rid himself of those idiots' pointless speculation and hostility.
After arriving at the Flower Courtyard, Mozzo questioned people all the way through countless curious gazes from the girls there. In the end, it was a girl named Natasha who told him that Audrey had not come to school since yesterday.
The moment he heard that, Mozzo's heart sank slightly.
He knew then that Audrey had probably really gotten into trouble.
After thanking the girl, Mozzo left the university through the rear gate connected to the Flower Courtyard.
Following his memories, he discarded the conspicuous bouquet along the way and arrived at one of Audrey's safehouses.
There, he changed into a trench coat with a high collar suitable for concealing part of his face.
At the same time, Mozzo began recalling whether there were any clues in the information he already knew that might connect to this situation.
Unfortunately, as a new member, he had absolutely no way to privately contact the other members of the gathering. Otherwise, he could have learned much more.
Wait.
The gathering.
The gathering...
Suddenly, Mozzo's pupils contracted sharply.
The Tarot Club!
Thirty members in total. Every single person who used Tarot cards as their codename had died, yet everyone else was completely fine!
He had even almost completed the final Fool.
Was that normal?
Was that reasonable?
Obviously not!
There had to be a problem here.
But what kind of problem?
Frowning deeply, Mozzo began rapidly flipping through the Nameless Book, trying to find matching clues within his vast dream memories.
After a long search, Mozzo found three matching scenarios.
For two of them, however, his spiritual intuition showed no reaction whatsoever.
But the third one immediately made his eyes light up.
It was a ritual.
Within a supernatural organization that was not founded by oneself, continuously arrange for and guide outsider Beyonders to join using some commonly recognized conceptual combination as both their title and self-identity. Then, throughout the process, arrange "accidents" that gradually kill them.
Afterward, their flesh and souls could be refined into excellent divination artifacts.
Additional note: the greater and more complex the connections surrounding the victims' deaths, the more exceptional the resulting artifact would become.
Tarot cards were already a common method of divination.
And now, with such a situation matching such a ritual...
The answer was obvious.
Someone was recreating this evil ritual in order to craft a divination-type supernatural item!
Moreover, Mozzo had no idea how the earlier victims had died.
But as for the later ones, The World and The Hanged Man had died amidst the conflict between two empires. Their burial ground had even been the astonishing ruins of the Sun King.
Mozzo immediately sucked in a cold breath.
This unknown mastermind was definitely planning something enormous!
Without hesitation, Mozzo pulled a gold coin from his pocket.
Then he crossed his legs, entered meditation, and recited the prayer given to him by the Knight Lady.
"Messenger of Jasmine Windsor, I call for your arrival from the other shore of reality."
"I hope you will come riding the wind and waves, and deliver the thoughts within my heart."
As the chant ended, a crack of dazzling multicolored light immediately appeared behind Mozzo.
And from within that brilliance stepped out a beautiful red-haired woman clad in exquisite armor, much like the Knight Lady herself.
She was the Spirit World Messenger contracted to the Knight Lady!
Mozzo had always believed in one thing:
If he could jump someone with a group, then he absolutely would not fight alone!