As he was about to slip the revolver back into his pocket, Zavi heard the robed man's final words before he died.
Zavi's eyes suddenly widened.
"Did I just ruin someone else's life?" he muttered, his lips trembling.
He stared at the robed man's corpse with a guilty expression, unable to believe that he had truly taken another person's life.
Zavi decided to step forward and approach the body. However, something strange happened that made him freeze.
From his right—from the dark corridor—two more robed figures emerged, and one of them was dragging Veranica's unconscious body by her hair.
The robed figure threw Veranica's body to the floor in front of him. Her beautiful face was now covered in bruises, the result of being beaten by the two robed figures.
Earlier, she had already been strangled by the robed figure defeated by Ren, and during her fight against the other two, every breath she took felt as if her chest were being crushed by thousands of kilograms of weight.
The pain finally overwhelmed her, despite her desperate struggle to endure it.
–––
During the previous fight, she had deployed a blue barrier to trap the two robed figures.
Unexpectedly, her ability suddenly failed. Her heart raced violently. Then her vision blurred, and she saw what looked like ten robed figures standing before her, all ready to attack.
She let out a small laugh. She decided to fight the two robed figures, regardless of whether she would die afterward.
"Come at me…!"
The two robed figures immediately split apart, running in opposite directions to surround Veranica and kill her in an instant.
However, the plan did not go as expected. Veranica managed to escape through the filthy cracks in the floor, her body turning into a cloud of black smoke.
The effect of the ability was lethal. Veranica squinted, unable to see clearly where the two robed figures were.
All she could see were ten shadows, and she had no idea where their real bodies were. She reflexively rubbed her eyes, but before she could recover, the two robed figures moved faster than before.
They drew small knives from their sleeves and thrust them forward to stab their enemy.
Veranica dodged to the side on instinct, her body somehow sensing the danger that would harm her.
But dodging alone was not enough. One of the robed figures appeared behind her, aiming to slash her throat.
The attack failed. Veranica was still fighting as if her body were fine. After about half a minute, her body reached its limit, and her vision grew darker.
Thud…!
A powerful blow landed on her right cheek. Her body was sent flying into the wall on the right side of the room, smashing into it.
Debris struck her body, leaving bruises everywhere, including her right cheek, which had been hit by the robed man.
"Ugh… cough…" Dust filled the dark room.
Unable to breathe properly, Veranica staggered out of the room while covering her nose. The moment she stepped outside, the two robed figures were already waiting and attacked her mercilessly.
Thud…
Both sides of her face turned dark purple with bruises. The blow was so powerful that she collapsed to the floor and lost consciousness.
–––
Meanwhile, Zavi could not believe what the two hooded figures had done to a woman—how someone so beautiful could be beaten so badly.
"Hey! What's your purpose in kidnapping people in the plaza?" he demanded, his gaze sharp and alert, ready to attack if either of them made a sudden move.
The two hooded figures looked at each other, then burst into laughter, breaking the tense atmosphere.
"Why do you ask that?" one of them said, pulling back part of his hood to reveal sharp blue eyes.
"What!? So she's not from around here?" Zavi said seriously, preparing to draw the pistol from the left pocket of his jacket—Ren's gun.
The surroundings fell silent. No one spoke.
Then the silence was broken when the robed man who had been talking to Zavi pulled back his hood further.
"How long are you going to keep pretending to be dead, Karl?" he asked, staring at the corpse on the floor.
Zavi froze.
He saw the blood on Karl robe vanish. Moments later, Karl body rose and stood upright, the spell mark on the neck disappeared, a purple aura swirling around his cold form.
"Fine," Karl replied coldly as he walked over and stood beside the robed man.
"Huh… a Necromancer?" Zavi muttered in shock, scratching the back of his head unconsciously. "I've read about this kind of ability in novels after work, but I never thought I'd see it with my own eyes."
But, it wasn't the Necromancer, they didn't know that Karl wasn't really dead before. What confused him was why they were still standing there, not attacking him.
That question spun endlessly in his head, leaving him speechless.
They stared at each other for about a minute. Growing impatient, Zavi finally spoke up.
"Hey, damn it. Why aren't you two attacking me?" he asked, tilting his head in confusion.
The robed man who had awakened Karl grew serious, his blue eyes locked onto Zavi. He remained ready to dodge if Zavi tried anything.
His eyes widened when he saw Zavi smiling mockingly. He realized Zavi knew about his ability.
"Hey, why don't you attack me?" Zavi paused to take a breath. "I know you can't attack me because you still can't fully control that corpse, right?" he said with a taunting grin.
The robed man snorted in irritation. The snap of his fingers shattered the tension, bringing the atmosphere back to life.
The robed man beside him glanced over indifferently and signaled to end this quickly.
And—
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Before they could react, Zavi fired first.
Their eyes widened in shock, unable to believe that a moment of carelessness could lead to death so quickly.
Karl corpse instantly collapsed, freed from the robed man's control.
At the same time, Zavi felt something strange from the pistol in his hand. A cold sensation spread through his fingers, and moments later, bullets whose paths he had not seen suddenly pierced through the two robed men, striking their hearts before returning to the magazine as if Zavi had never fired at all.
"What is this…?" Startled, he accidentally dropped the pistol. It hit his shoe before clattering onto the dirty floor.
Reflexively, he turned to the right—to the wardrobe with a mirror mounted on its door. He hurried over, opened it, and immediately pulled Ren out.
Ren's body was leaned against the wardrobe. Zavi gently rubbed his cheek, trying to wake him, but it was useless.
Zavi stood and turned toward Veranica, who lay unconscious on the filthy floor. After a moment of thought, he realized he could not carry both Veranica and Ren at the same time.
He let out a quiet sigh. He had no choice but to seek help outside.
Before doing so, he hid the bodies of the three robed men somewhere they would not easily be found. On the left side of the room, right beside the wardrobe, he spotted an old door.
He walked slowly toward it and peeked inside. The room beyond was dark and empty, unlike the cluttered space outside.
One by one, Zavi dragged the bodies inside and lined them up against the left corner of the room, planning to tell Ren about them once he woke up and trusting him to deal with it.
He closed the old door again.
Zavi picked up the pistol once more, staring at it in disbelief.
"How can 'he' have such an incredible ability?" he muttered, turning his head to the right.
He slipped the pistol back into the right pocket of his coat and walked toward Veranica, who lay in front of him.
He crouched down, gently turned her body, and placed her beside Ren before leaving the moss-covered building to search for help.
But unnoticed by him, on the right side—in the dark corridor—a man was leaning against the wall. He wore a brown shirt beneath a long black coat, a round hat on his head, and his blue eyes were fixed on Zavi.
The man had been there when one of the robed figures tried to revive Karl, and he had observed every move Zavi made—including the pistol he used to kill the two robed men.
"Who are you?" Zavi asked, drawing his pistol and aiming it straight at the man's head.
The man turned to the right, circling around Zavi with an indifferent expression.
He stopped and said in a loud voice, "How long are you going to pretend to be dead, Karl?"
Zavi's eyes widened. He turned as he heard faint footsteps behind the old door.
…The door handle slowly turned. Zavi watched as the old door swung open, revealing a familiar face—Karl Vairanz, now wearing the same clothes as the man who had spoken to him.
"Well… pretending to be dead is the worst idea!" Karl said, wiping his glasses with a cloth before putting them back on.
"I forgot that if I didn't do that, the two robed men would have noticed," he sighed, then continued calmly, "It's a troublesome ability, isn't it, Ren Actitus?"
He kept walking toward Zavi.
"Who is he…?" Zavi whispered, barely audible.
It was true that the cloaked man had previously tried to revive Karl's corpse, but he was unaware that Karl had faked his death—that he had never actually died in the first place from the gunshot wound, and would have regenerated his body if the spiritual energy in his body had not been depleted.
The earlier attack on Zavi, where Karl convincingly pretended to be shot in the left shoulder and screamed incoherently, had all been part of his plan.
For a year and a half, Karl had infiltrated the robed group, forced to commit inhumane acts against people and participate in heretical rituals using captured humans as conduits.
He did it unwillingly, with no other choice, because it was the only way to destroy the cult from within.
Moreover, with his level two "Magician" ability, Karl was able to carry out his role, even though his every move was monitored by the cult leader Finiscya—Conwuqoam, who could restrict his actions.
The four of them; Veranica Holdun, Karl Vairanz, Ren Actitus, and Elmer Michelle—were teammates working under the Morotuane Church of Moran.
More precisely, Morotuane provided funding and letters of recommendation whenever they conducted investigations in specific areas of the city, hunting criminals and evil cults embedded within society.
Led by Elmer Michelle and five other members, their small group was known in the supernatural world as "Devouring Dark," much like those called "Hollows" in the world in "Receivers" in the supernatural world.
–––
Stepped forward carefully, aware that Zavi was still aiming the pistol directly at his head. Fear of guns was natural, but as Ren's companion, he knew this was no ordinary weapon.
"Calm down, Mr. Actitus," Elmer said evenly, even though he feared being shot.
"How does he know that name!?" Zavi turned toward Ren. "Are they his friends?" After a brief moment of thought, Zavi decided not to fire.
He slipped the pistol back into his right pocket, glanced at Elmer, then walked toward Ren on his right.
Without hesitation, he lifted his brother Ren and slowly walked out of the building, completely ignoring the two men.
Seeing this, Elmer chuckled softly. "As expected of brothers. So cold. If he keeps that up, he'll never get a girlfriend."
He put his hat back on, walked over to Karl, and handed him a bottle of beer he had bought on the way.
Elmer then walked to Veranica, who lay unconscious. He gestured for Karl to leave immediately and ordered him to erase all traces inside the building.
Karl nodded and carried out the order.
Meanwhile, Elmer gently hoisted Veranica onto his shoulder.
"As always, Veranica. You always push yourself to the very end," he said, glancing at her face.
"What else can I say? Your brother would be furious if I didn't protect you," Elmer chuckled softly, imagining it.
He walked away from the abandoned building, waiting for Karl outside.
Elsewhere, in front of the iron gate surrounding the moss-covered building, the local residents were still anxious after hearing the explosions.
Some of them had already returned home after being instructed to do so by local police officers who arrived shortly after receiving reports of blasts inside the building.
Eventually, Zavi reunited with his mother and the five others, including the woman who had spoken to him earlier and promised to watch over his mother.
"Thank you, ma'am and sir," Zavi said with relief, facing the six people before him.
"Well then, I'll be heading home," one simply dressed man said.
"Alright," Zavi replied.
"My mother must be worried since I didn't come home earlier than usual," the man added anxiously.
Zavi nodded, unaware that the man was the son of the elderly woman who had spoken to Ren earlier—and that thanks to the information she had given, they had unknowingly repaid the favor by saving her son.
"Then we'll be leaving too," the other four men said in unison.
Zavi nodded again. His mother, watching the scene, let out a small laugh—she hadn't seen Zavi carrying Ren like this in a long time.
"We should go home too, Zavi. I'm worried because Isabelle is alone at home," his mother said anxiously, placing both hands on her chest.
Zavi smacked his forehead lightly. His mother looked confused but nodded. In the end, they walked back to the Chapena district, where their home was located, and Zavi chose to hide everything that had happened, afraid his mother would worry too much.