After thinking that through, the Chief Captain immediately nodded and waved a hand. Two Beyonders stepped forward at once and unfolded a blank map.
First, they scattered various ritual offerings across its surface. Then one of them looked at Mozo and asked:
"Do you have anything that belongs to the target?"
Mozo thought for a moment before taking off the coat he was wearing.
"I got this from her room. Try it."
The man accepted the coat with a strange look on his face, tore off a loose thread, and placed it onto the blank map.
The moment the thread touched the parchment, the empty map turned fluid like water, swallowing both the offerings and the thread into itself. Then countless lines began to emerge across its surface.
Not long after, a complete map of the New District appeared, with one specific location heavily marked.
At the same time, all of the Green Angels raised their heads in unison and grinned toward the same direction.
"They're here!"
Looking at the marked location, one of the Beyonders immediately reported:
"320 Anle Street. The owner is a bankrupt businessman named William John."
The Chief Captain nodded and waved his hand.
"Move out!"
At once, a large group of Beyonders rushed toward the manor marked on the map under the leadership of the Chief Captain and the trench coat man.
Along the way, the highly trained Beyonders continuously split off from the main force. One after another, they vanished silently into nearby alleyways, taking familiar routes to surround the target from every direction.
Despite the large number of people rapidly moving into position, not a single sound was made. No verbal commands were issued. Just a few glances and hand signals were enough to complete a flawless encirclement.
Watching this scene from the rear together with the Knight Lady, Mozo couldn't help sighing inwardly.
These are real professionals. This operation looks absolutely rock solid.
---
Atop the tower of the Mayor's Estate, the Count, who had been feeling increasingly uneasy, poured himself a glass of red wine and frowned toward the direction of the New District.
After taking a small sip, he let out a sigh and once again took out Judas' Silver Coin.
The ritual tied to the Special District was about to reach completion. He could not afford to overlook even the slightest threat.
The silver coins flew into the air before two finally landed face-up.
One bore only the number 2.
The other depicted Humanity.
Together, they formed a terrifying result:
Sequence Two of the Human Pathway!!!
The Count's pupils contracted violently.
The next moment, the wineglass shattered against the floor. Transforming into a falcon, the Count shot down from the tower and rushed into the hidden tunnel beneath the mayoral residence.
Using the tunnel system, the falcon-shaped Count arrived before an altar illuminated by thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty-three white tallow candles.
Even deep underground, the countless flames made the place shine as bright as daylight.
And at the very center of all those candles stood a gigantic pillar candle that had already burned halfway down.
Taking a deep breath, the Count strode to the top of the altar, pressed a hand against his forehead, tore off a fragment of his own soul, and used it as kindling to ignite the massive candle.
The moment the giant candle was lit,
the world changed.
---
The Beyonders surrounding the manor from all directions noticed nothing unusual.
The rogue Beyonders scattered throughout both the old and new districts continued with their own affairs as normal.
Only a few Sequence Fives instinctively looked around in confusion. They sensed that something had changed for a brief instant, yet none of them understood what had happened.
As for the Green Angels, under Audrey's trembling gaze, they burst into hysterical laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHA! So they really came for my life!"
"The Mirror World! Hahahaha! The Mirror World!"
Mozo himself only vaguely sensed something was wrong because the Knight Lady beside him reacted slightly.
Still, he had no idea what had happened, so he turned toward her and asked:
"Miss Molly, did something happen?"
The Knight Lady frowned thoughtfully before shaking her head.
"My apologies. It was probably just my imagination."
An illusion?
Mozo was skeptical, but he didn't press the matter further.
Instead, he casually asked another question:
"By the way... could I ask about your spirit messenger? What exactly is her situation?"
While carefully observing the surroundings, the Knight Lady answered casually:
"I don't really know much about her either. She suddenly appeared beside me the first time I explored the Spirit World. Since she didn't seem hostile, I tried forming a contract with her. Surprisingly, it succeeded immediately."
That's it?!
You contracted the Crimson Angel just like that?!
Mozo found it completely incomprehensible.
Even if it was only a shell, that was still the shell of a Sequence One Angel! And she had just casually contracted it?
Mozo suddenly felt both confused and a little jealous.
He immediately followed up:
"Besides that, is there anything else you know about her?"
This time, however, the Knight Lady did not answer.
Instead, she suddenly leapt into a nearby house that still carried the smell of freshly cooked food. A moment later, she sprang into another house just as quickly.
The bizarre behavior left Mozo utterly confused. Just as he was about to climb up and investigate himself, the Knight Lady suddenly appeared at a window and shouted toward the Beyonders who had already completed the encirclement ahead:
"Run! The Count has activated Sealed Artifact 1-100!"
Sealed Artifact 1-100?!
Mozo instantly felt as though someone had smashed his skull with a hammer.
He knew exactly what that thing was.
Its name was the Mirror Realm Candle.
A gigantic human-sized pillar candle.
Under normal circumstances, it required thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirteen white tallow candles to be continuously offered to it in ritual sacrifice in order to permanently anchor it to a single location.
But that only stabilized it.
To actually activate it, a fragment of a demigod's soul had to be used as kindling to ignite the candle itself.
The activation cost was absurdly high.
Yet once activated, every Beyonder within the designated area would be dragged into the Mirror World.
Only true gods could refuse its pull. Even Sequence Ones could not escape.
Moreover, the user would receive the blessing of the Mirror World itself and gain the ability to create copies of themselves.
It was an extremely powerful Sealed Artifact forged by the first Emperor of Loran after conquering the Seven Kingdoms, using the Beyonder characteristic of the final Angel from each defeated kingdom.
And the reason Mozo knew all of this so clearly...
...was because three hundred years ago, during the Second Fog Capital Catastrophe, the royalists had used this very artifact as one of their trump cards to hunt him down, Duke Cromwell and his followers.
He never expected to encounter it again today.
At the same time, if the Count had suddenly activated something like this...
Then didn't that mean the enemy really was some insane major figure?!