“Obviously, they haven't found Darkness.”
At eight o'clock on Thursday morning, Xia De, sitting at the table in the second-floor restaurant of Saint Delan Square Six, said this to Luvia.
The curfew was lifted at three o'clock this morning. Newspaper and milk companies were affected, so the delivery times for newspapers, milk, and goat milk were delayed. When Luvia arrived, Xia De had just started eating breakfast with the cat, who was now enjoying her meal.
He had already told Luvia what happened last night. Fortunately, Xia De hadn't been too involved, and with the help of Bishop Owen of the Dawn Church, he was allowed to go home after only signing a non-disclosure agreement; the church didn't make things difficult for him. The very unfortunate Xiao Dimoke, after being revived, is still forcibly kept in the church.
“Darkness has already appeared in Tobesk City. Last night, it was highly likely that he was guided by the Puppeteer's Script to acquire materials for the Selected One Ritual.”
Xia De stated his judgment, stirring the milk in his bowl with his right hand. Last night, his right hand rashly entered the demon's mouth, which seemed to swallow everything, and was severely injured. But fortunately, it was only a superficial wound, without elemental attachment, and with Gluttony's Feast and Cindy's Silver Moon Gift, it was even healed before the church arrived.
“Although the Puppeteer's Script can influence fate, this relic tends to lead those who try to manipulate fate to face greater misfortune, just like that Heart Collector. So, guiding Darkness to Yodel Palace, and even making him encounter Steel Right Hand and you, might all be the negative characteristics of the relic itself at work.”
Luvia said, the Prophet Association has done much research on such relics.
“Yes.”
Xia De nodded, frowning as he said:
“Even through my connections at Yodel Palace, I couldn't find out what was stolen. The worst guess is that Darkness has already gathered the ritual materials and directly entered the Darkness Domain after leaving Yodel Palace last night.”
“That would be troublesome.”
The purple-eyed girl also looked serious; they knew the final moment had arrived.
“So, I think we must take some risks. At least we need to determine where Darkness is now.”
Xia De, dressed in a shirt at home, pulled a small glass bottle with a cork from his shirt pocket and placed it on the dining table. Hearing the sound, the cat, who was licking goat milk, immediately looked up, but seeing the bottle, she lost interest.
She had smelled this thing last night and was sure it wasn't food.
Inside the bottle was a small layer of clear water, and in the water, a black and red substance could vaguely be seen. The red was very faint, and the black mixed with the red looked like some kind of viscous pus:
“This is Darkness's blood. I don't know why there's such disgusting stuff in his blood. But Blood Echo works best on fresh blood. If we delay any longer, this blood will be unusable.”
“You want to drop this into your own eyes?”
Luvia was very surprised by Xia De's idea:
“The black liquid in his blood is clearly Human Pus. You want to drop Human Pus into your own eyes?”
“Of course not, I wouldn't do anything risky. Luvia, please close your eyes.”
Xia De said, pointing his finger at the bottle:
“Silver Moon!”
When the female Diviner opened her eyes again, the black pus mixed with the blood in the bottle had completely disappeared.
“That should do it.”
Xia De said, then pushed the bottle to Luvia:
“Please control the drops to enter my eyes. We need to act quickly. If we confirm Darkness is still in the City, report his whereabouts to the church immediately. If he has gone out of the City, we'll pack up and depart for the Darkness Domain this evening.”
“No problem, we've been waiting for this day for over half a month.”
Luvia uncorked the bottle, her purple eyes examining the blood inside:
“It's a pity Iluna has been assigned search work by the Sun Church, otherwise, if we acted with her, our safety would be higher.”
“It's normal that we can't always gather everyone when we need to act together.”
Xia De said, then placed his hands on the table, tilting his head slightly to look at the ceiling. Luvia walked in front of him, pointing her finger at the liquid in the bottle, and large drops of liquid, like a pearl necklace, flew up in a string.
“I've estimated that a single drop of ordinary blood can sustain the effect of Blood Echo for about an hour. Last night, I was worried about being discovered, so I didn't get much blood in a hurry. After removing the Human Pus that was just discarded, and considering that the blood has deteriorated slightly after a night, these liquids can only maintain the effect of Blood Echo for a maximum of three hours.”
Xia De explained as the liquids continuously dripped into his eyes.
Luvia was precisely manipulating the liquid with a Miracle, but she could still talk to Xia De:
“Three hours is enough. If the target is still in the City, we can definitely find his hiding place by following his trail.”
After all, the church launched a City-wide search shortly after the incident last night, so Darkness couldn't possibly be wandering around the City.
“So where should we start from?”
Luvia asked, and after making sure the bottle was completely empty, she recorked it and placed it on the dining table. The cat, restless after eating, immediately jumped onto the table, pushing the bottle to roll around. She always had a fondness for round things.
Like the Ring of Metamorphosis.
“From near Yodel Palace, looking for the direction he left.”
Xia De kept opening and closing his eyes, tilting his head back, adapting to the raw sensation caused by the large amount of liquid entering his eyes.
Due to the Miracle, some of the liquid was repelled from his eyes, sliding down from the corners. In reality, the liquid components useful for Blood Echo were very few, and the Miracle actively absorbed them. The flowing blood was still blood, but it no longer had the ability to cause an “Echo,” so it was repelled by the Miracle.
“Luvia, let's leave immediately.”
He stood up from the chair, blinking his eyes, and turned to look through the kitchen window at the bustling Silver Cross Avenue and Yodel Palace nearby:
“We must determine Darkness's whereabouts today.”
From Saint Delan Square to Silver Cross Avenue, Xia De easily captured the trail of human movement formed by a series of blood-red halos in the air. But that trail was moving towards Yodel Palace, meaning this was Darkness's figure as he entered Yodel Palace.
Circling Yodel Palace, they finally saw Darkness's figure jumping over the wall from the rear garden on the street behind the palace complex, which was Felishe Pastoral Avenue.
“Felishe Pastoral” in delarion means “fairyland in mythology,” and further west along this street is the Terraril River, which crosses the entire Tobesk City.
Darkness was indeed moving towards the Terraril River. Xia De led Luvia west all the way, and finally saw Darkness's figure disappear on the riverbank ramp on the east bank of the Terraril River.
Steps extended down from the riverside street, where residents nearby washed clothes or dumped domestic sewage. The blood-red halo ended here, with no further traces.
“Did Darkness jump into the water?”
While Xia De was looking around, Luvia guessed.
“No, even if he jumped into the water, I should at least be able to see his figure entering the water.”
Xia De stood on the steps, hands in his pockets, looking at the cargo ships on the river. The Terraril River has a considerable volume of water during the Summer flood season, and the City's waterways allow large steam cargo ships to pass through.
It blew its whistle, dragging black smoke from its three large chimneys behind it as it sailed south, the black smoke gradually merging into the misty air, forming the ordinary river scenery of Tobesk City, the Northern Pearl of the Steam City.
Sailors on deck were busy, as the ship would soon dock to unload cargo. But there were also some idle people, leaning on the deck and looking out at both sides of the river.
The rude sailors whistled at the women washing clothes by the river, and laughed loudly with their companions after being cursed by them. Naturally, some people noticed Xia De and Luvia standing on the steps leading down to the river. They whistled, and Xia De pulled out his pistol from his waistband and raised it towards the deck, and those sounds immediately disappeared.
“Darkness can move through Darkness, but the distance is very short, not enough for him to directly cross the river to the west bank.”
Xia De reasoned as he put his pistol back, and Luvia somewhat understood:
“So, to prevent being caught by the church, he directly entered the water through a black vortex?”
“Yes, that's why I lost his figure.”
Xia De nodded. Fortunately, unlike when he and Dorothy pursued the Mercury Blood member carrying a merman's scale, flowing water can no longer hinder the effectiveness of Blood Echo.
The best method is to enter the water and search for the blood-colored halo, then track it underwater.
But once they entered the water, it would be inconvenient to move afterward. So Xia De had Luvia perform a divination, and then the two walked a distance upstream along the river, and about 1200 feet (about 365m) upstream north of where Darkness entered the water, they saw traces of him appearing near the water surface.
Darkness probably doesn't have Miracles like Underwater Breathing, but as a Six-Ring Arcanist, he should have other means to stay underwater for a long time. Surfacing was to observe if there were pursuers, and this action conveniently provided convenience for Xia De and Luvia's search.
Darkness's figure moved upstream, so Xia De and Luvia also walked continuously along the river towards the northwest of the City. The two thus walked from the central area of Tobesk all the way to the intersection of the West and North districts. When passing the Disk Bridge that spans the river, Xia De even talked to Luvia about his first time helping the witch receive goods, when he hadn't yet realized that the witch was testing his gender.
