West Tivian, Coal Ash District, Carbonwood Crossroads.
In the afternoon, the previously calm three-way intersection suddenly erupted into fierce disputes. More than a dozen conflicts simultaneously broke out, and under the influence of mysterious Extraordinary power, intense arguments suddenly erupted. The originally minor psychological fluctuations between people were instantly escalated into irreconcilable blood feuds, and in the chaos, countless bloody incidents were about to occur.
At this moment, Edmund began urgently searching for the source of this extraordinary power in the surroundings. Guided by his "Inner Intuition", he immediately locked his gaze onto a woman across the street. She wore a simple dress, a wide-brimmed hat, and sunglasses. Although she didn't look remarkable at first glance, driven by his "Inner Intuition", he immediately determined that she was the culprit behind this disturbance.
"Found you, mastermind..."
Edmund's gaze fixed on Adele, who was trying to calm the scene. Dorothy, who had been monitoring the scene using a high-altitude perspective, also immediately noticed Edmund's shifting gaze. At this moment, she instantly realized something was wrong.
'The person leading over there has turned his gaze towards us... Something is not right...' Dorothy thought instantly. Reacting quickly, she immediately controlled Ed, making him pat Adele on the shoulder, and then said.
"Wait, we're being targeted. Now quickly..."
Before Ed could finish speaking, Edmund had already made his move. The An-Yin Main Bureau's Hunter stationed Captain drew a short cane from behind him. Edmund held the cane and swept it slightly in the air, and then the entire three-way intersection was instantly engulfed in a fierce wind.
A strong wind suddenly swept across the entire Carbonwood Crossroads. This sudden gust of wind directly stirred up the dust accumulated on the ground, causing everyone present to be unable to open their eyes for a moment, covering their faces with their hands. The entire intersection was instantly plunged into a sandstorm, and visibility plummeted.
The black and gray whirlwind interrupted the fierce arguments among the crowd. Screams instantly replaced curses. Everyone began looking for a place to hide. Adele, holding her hat in the wind, looked at the whirlwind before her, which was definitely not natural, and couldn't help but murmur.
"This wind is, Black Dog's Wind Art User? No, at this level it should be..."
"Run! Don't worry about me!"
Before Adele could say anything, Ed on the side quickly reminded her, saying. At the same time, amidst the swirling dust and sand, a figure rushed out with a roar. Adele, having been reminded by Ed, immediately reacted and dodged. Edmund, who had rushed in front of Adele, brought the cane in his hand down fiercely, directly breaking the wooden advertising pole that had been standing behind Adele.
Seeing this, Adele of course knew the situation was bad. She didn't choose to fight Edmund, but listened to Ed's words, immediately turned and leaped with astonishing strength directly onto the roof of the third floor of the house next to her, and then began running quickly on the roof, rapidly jumping between rooftops, quickly leaving the scene.
"As expected, something is fishy... This power... Is it the 'Cup'?"
Seeing the suspicious woman's actions, Edmund murmured. Facing the fleeing Adele, Edmund was not someone to be trifled with either. He waved his cane, and the surrounding airflow immediately wrapped around his body, lifting his entire figure.
Using Extraordinary power to control the wind's support, Edmund's feet lifted off the ground, flying into the air, and then chased in the direction Adele had fled, while Ed fled directly in another direction, disappearing into the rising dust.
Flying above the street, Edmund pursued Adele, who was constantly jumping forward on the rooftops. The wind caused by his extraordinary ability stirred up the thick dust accumulated on the streets of the Coal Ash District, large areas of dust scattered on the streets, causing visibility to decrease in the lower areas. The people on the street were caught off guard by the sudden dust storm, and for a moment no one saw the anomaly of the two extraordinary humans on the rooftop and in mid-air.
'Can fly? Phew... As expected, it's not just a simple Wind Art User, this is a Wind Manipulator... How did I suddenly encounter Black Dog's stationed Captain?'
Looking back at the situation behind her, Adele murmured in her heart. Being able to control the wind to fly, this is the mark of the'Shadow' Path Storm Path, the Chalk Wind Manipulator. Since the Storm Path is the extraordinary branch path mainly mastered by the Prit An Yin Bureau, Tivian's Extraordinary are very familiar with it, and Adele recognized it immediately.
Adele continued to leap and run quickly on the rooftops along the street, while Edmund followed closely behind. Because he was truly flying, Edmund's speed was faster than Adele's. The distance between them was rapidly closing.
...
And at this time, in the higher altitude where the dust could not reach, the Corpse Puppet crow controlled by Dorothy was flying here. Dorothy used its perspective to overlook the chase below.
'So they are people from the An Yin Bureau? But why did they suddenly attack Adele? Did he think Adele affected those people at the intersection? How could he be so direct and accurate?'
At this moment, Dorothy, sitting in her carriage, thought with a frown. The series of events just now made her deeply feel that her side seemed to have been calculated by something, and some unpleasant thoughts lingered in her mind.
'It seems someone is secretly plotting something. Now it seems they used an ability similar to Adele's to frame her... They want to use the An Yin Bureau to drive a wedge between us, huh... It seems the matter in the Coal Ash District is indeed a trap.
'Some mastermind is manipulating all of this. Not just me and Adele, the An Yin Bureau is also involved. The top priority now is to help Adele escape. If Adele falls into the hands of the An Yin Bureau or formally starts a war with the Hunters, causing casualties, that would be bad...'
Dorothy thought this, and then continued to observe the scene in the distance. She found that the current situation was not good. Adele was about to be caught by the An Yin Bureau person.
'So... In a situation where there is no frontal conflict, how can I help Adele escape?'
Looking at the scene in the distance, Dorothy thought this way in her heart. After a while, she had an idea, and then silently took out her magic box.
...
On the other side, Adele, who had been leaping and running all the way, escaped to a cargo yard where goods were stored. She switched from leaping on rooftops to leaping over various stacked goods.
And Edmund behind her had finally caught up at this moment. Edmund looked at the woman not far ahead and shouted directly.
"Surrender! Otherwise, I won't be polite!"
"You're mistaken, Hunter Captain! I'm not the person you're looking for. I have nothing to do with these matters in the Coal Ash District!" Adele responded, but Edmund continued mercilessly.
"Since you say you have nothing to do with it, then stop and cooperate with our investigation. If there's no problem, we will naturally clear your name. If you continue to run, don't blame me for being impolite!"
Edmund said sternly, and obviously Adele, whose real identity was a big star, could not stop and cooperate with Edmund's investigation. Seeing this, Edmund became even more certain that the person before him had something to hide.
"Don't say I didn't warn you..."
Murmuring, Edmund swung the cane in his hand. With a whistling sound, it turned into countless invisible sharp blades slashing towards Adele. Adele dodged urgently. A large stack of logs piled beneath her was instantly cut into countless pieces by the incoming wind blades.
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"Tch... Can't outrun him?"
Adele, who had dodged the incoming wind blades, landed on the ground, gritting her teeth as she looked up at Edmund suspended in the air. At this time, he swung the cane in his hand again, planning to shoot another wave of wind blades, while Adele slightly pulled down her sunglasses and instantly met Edmund's gaze with her peripheral vision, using her ability to slightly deflect Edmund's attack desire. The wind blades shot by Edmund had a slight error in accuracy, and Adele dodged them one by one. Some wind blades hit the ground, directly cutting traces into the ground, while many other wind blades cut through stacked goods.
"Hmph... Quite good at dodging..."
Murmuring softly, Edmund swung his cane again, creating small whirlwinds around Adele, which stirred up the dust on the ground and enveloped Adele, limiting her vision for a while, and her ears were filled with the roaring wind. Edmund slashed countless wind blades into the storm.
Adele's vision and hearing were doubly restricted; she couldn't see Edmund's moves nor hear the sound of the wind blades approaching, making it much harder to dodge this wave of wind blades from Edmund. So, she simply didn't dodge. Instead, she directly used the power of the Chalk's """Cup""" to grab an iron cargo container beside her, nearly the size of a small shipping container, and block it in front of herself. Edmund's wind blades struck the large iron cargo container, producing a series of crisp sounds. The wind blades cut countless openings in the iron container, and the fruit packed inside spilled out in abundance from the cracks.
After using the iron cargo container as a shield to block Edmund's attack, Adele gritted her teeth and threw the several-ton iron container, along with its contents, towards Edmund in the sky. Edmund easily dodged it by flying away, then continued to attack Adele.
Just like that, Adele and Edmund started fighting in this cargo yard. Although both were Chalk Extraordinary, Adele was at a disadvantage when facing Edmund, almost only able to passively defend with difficulty and unable to attack.
The reason for this was none other than Adele needing to ensure her identity wasn't exposed. Not only could her disguise not fall off, but for Adele's abilities as a Desire Dancer to be fully utilized, she needed to dance, and even needed to remove her disguise to fully display her charm while dancing. Facing Edmund, who was an official Extraordinary, Adele absolutely did not want to expose her identity as a big star.
Because she needed to keep her identity secret, Adele and Edmund's fight was constrained. She rarely used her abilities as a Desire Dancer, primarily relying on some passive powers inherent to a Chalk """Cup""" Extraordinary to resist. This was clearly no match for Edmund. As the fight continued, Adele's disadvantage became increasingly apparent.
'This is bad... I'm tangled up with this crazy Black Dog and can't get away... Could it be that I have to fight him head-on here? But if I do, my identity will be directly exposed. Whether the theater can continue is one thing, and I definitely don't want to face the pursuit of both the Wolf Blood Society and the An Yin Bureau in the future.'
Adele thought anxiously to herself. At this moment, Edmund, from the sky, directly pointed his staff at her and fired an air cannon projectile. Adele narrowly dodged Edmund's attack using desire guidance. The air cannon projectile hit the ground not far from Adele, and the ground was shattered by the powerful impact. To avoid the sweeping airwave and flying debris, Adele directly rolled on the ground. When she stood up, she saw Edmund aiming his staff at her again.
Just as Adele was about to continue dealing with Edmund, a gunshot suddenly rang out from the scene. Edmund, who was preparing to attack, dodged the bullet flying towards him with a sidestep, then looked in the direction of the gunshot, and was slightly stunned.
At the edge of the cargo yard, in the direction the bullet had just come from, a row of people were kneeling. There were about seven or eight of them, all dressed differently, appearing to be civilians. At this moment, they were all kneeling on the ground with their hands behind their heads, looking fearfully at Edmund in the distance. Behind these people stood two fierce-looking men with handguns. They were pointing their guns at the back of the heads of the kneeling people one by one. One of them shouted provocatively at Edmund in mid-air.
"Hey! You Black Dog over there listen up! Stop fighting and let them go immediately! Otherwise, I'll blow all their brains out! Got it?! If you got it, let them go! I'm warning you, Black Dog! I have hostages in my hands, so be careful!"
Standing behind the row of terrified kneeling hostages, a fierce-looking bandit-like man shouted arrogantly. Facing the bandit's provocation, Edmund gazed at the hostages kneeling and trembling in the distance, then couldn't help but turn his head and say to Adele below with a cold sneer.
"Hmph, looks like they're your accomplices. Using such despicable little tricks, you must think too little of me."
Listening to Edmund's words, Adele also looked towards the hostage situation in the distance, and a smile couldn't help but appear on her lips.
'Heh... there's a new show now...'
Edmund met the bandit-like man's shouting with a cold stare. While keeping an eye on Adele's movements, he silently watched the two bandits holding hostages in the distance. The staff in his hand trembled slightly, and then two tiny, almost imperceptible wind blades shot out rapidly, rushing towards the ""Bandits"". Before the two ""Bandits"" could react, their throats had been slit. As blood gushed out, the two ""Bandits"" died and fell to the ground.
After the ""Bandits"" died, the ""Hostages"" screamed and stood up, fleeing the scene in panic. Just as Edmund was looking at this scene with satisfaction, something unexpected happened.
Those ""Hostages"" who were fleeing suddenly seemed to have a wire crossed in their brains and stopped in place, starting to curse at each other. The companions who had just been kidnapped together were now pointing fingers at each other and cursing loudly, and the cursing became more and more vicious, quickly escalating into a physical fight. Those ordinary people began to verbally abuse and physically assault each other, even starting to choke each other's necks. Some people were beaten until they bled.
Seeing this scene, Edmund frowned. He had seen such a situation before. At Carbonwood Crossroads, the people there also had their conflicts inexplicably escalate, cursing and beating each other. This scene before him was a replica of that time.
The minds of these hostages were controlled!
"Stop!"
Edmund shouted sternly, then released wind blades towards Adele again. Adele dodged them, but the mutual beating of the hostages over there still didn't stop. Some had already been beaten until they bled and lost teeth, but they still didn't stop. Edmund immediately intensified his attack on Adele, using wind to stir up dust and block her vision, and using more intense attacks to try to force Adele to have no time to control those ""Hostages"". However, this was useless. The mutual cursing and fighting of the ""Hostages"" continued. Someone had even smashed another person's head open. The person whose head was smashed open fell directly to the ground, blood flowing everywhere.
'It's no use... Attacking that woman can't stop them from killing each other, even blocking that woman's sight is the same. Is it that she still has the energy to maintain control under such an offensive... or is it... she's not the controller at all!?'
Edmund thought this. At this moment, one of the ""Hostages"" suddenly had a look of confusion in his eyes. He turned his head to look at Edmund and shouted loudly.
"Don't think you can save them by killing my subordinates? No! You've freed their bodies... but their minds are in my hands... they can't escape, Black Dog. Now listen to me and leave here immediately! Otherwise, I will control more innocent people to kill each other!"
That severely injured ""Hostage"" threatened Edmund. Hearing these words spoken under mental control, Edmund finally confirmed that the person controlling these people's minds was not the woman he was chasing, but someone else.
So, who is he!? Where is he now? If his ability activation has a distance limit, or even requires the controller's vision, it's very likely he's nearby!
Edmund thought urgently, then began to frantically scan the surroundings, trying to find any suspicious target, because he knew that the premise for the activation of many Extraordinary abilities required perceiving the target object, and the most direct perception method was visual sight.
Finally, from a high-altitude perspective, Edmund discovered a figure hiding behind a street light at the edge of the yard, peeking out and secretly looking inside, looking at the ""Hostages"" who were killing each other.
Found him.
Seeing this scene, Edmund directly sent a wind blade towards that direction. The wind blade cut an opening in the iron street light pole, and the hiding figure was startled by this scene, then turned around and ran away.
Just as the figure ran away, the ""Hostages"" who were originally killing each other suddenly stopped. After a moment of confusion, they scattered and fled in panic. Seeing this scene, Edmund was overjoyed.
'The Extraordinary ability has been interrupted! It's him!'
After confirming the real mastermind, Edmund Edmund did not hesitate to chase in the direction the other party fled, no longer bothering with Adele.
Because Edmund's primary mission objective this time was the Extraordinary who could affect the minds of the residents of the entire Coal Ash District, leading to an increase in the crime rate. From the performance just now, compared to Adele, the fleeing figure was more consistent with this option. Compared to Adele, that figure was a more important target!
On the other hand, taking advantage of Edmund shifting his pursuit target, Adele also immediately fled in the opposite direction, successfully escaping Edmund's pursuit and disappearing into the city of the Coal Ash District.