The old man continued: "And then he suddenly had shadow-related abilities."
"What are you getting at?"
Leonard pressed urgently. "What happened to Klein?"
"I'm not sure. Logically speaking, the person I found familiar… even if they could bestow Beyonder abilities on others, it shouldn't have been a Shepherd Pathway ability. Very strange… Perhaps it was just my imagination."
Leonard asked pensively: "Then… what's your relationship with the person you sensed?"
"Normally, we should be natural-born mortal enemies. And yet He's never seemed to bear me any ill will — has even helped me on multiple occasions." Pallez sighed. "Forget it. Just keep an eye on it for now. At your current level, there's nothing you can do."
Having said his piece, old man Pallez fell silent.
Nothing I can do — again!
Leonard's expression shifted through several shades.
After a moment, he stood, walked over to Klein, crouched beside him, and clapped a hand firmly on his shoulder. "Klein — the bastard who killed Melissa is still alive. We will make him pay. We will find him. For the Captain. For Melissa — we'll have our revenge!"
"..."
Klein's pupils trembled faintly. He murmured: "Revenge."
His eyes slowly reignited. "I want revenge!"
Bernadette, standing nearby under an invisibility veil, shifted her gaze from the dead Melissa. Her feelings were complicated: the last time she'd seen this girl, she'd been "blessed by misfortune," becoming a Mystery Pryer.
She hadn't expected that the next time they met, the girl would already be dead.
This is the reality of the Beyonder world. The line between life and death is always that thin.
Compared to Bernadette's mixed emotions, Vincent was more stunned than anything: he'd never imagined the Tingen incident would conclude so differently from the original story.
Klein hadn't died. Dunn hadn't died. But Melissa had.
He couldn't begin to guess how events would unfold from here. Dunn surviving probably wouldn't change things too drastically — after all, Melissa's death should provide Klein with more than enough motivation to grow stronger.
But Klein being alive was different. Without dying, he had no reason to leave the Church of Evernight, no reason to leave the Nighthawks, no reason to strike out on his own — which meant the story had completely derailed from canon.
Would a Klein who remained in the Church of Evernight grow faster? Or slower?
What changes would the world of Lord of the Mysteries see next?
......
Two days later. A corner of Raphael Cemetery, Tingen.
The Nighthawks gathered before a new headstone bearing Melissa's black-and-white photograph. In the picture she cradled a mechanical toy, her smile clean and pure.
Though Melissa had only recently joined the team, everyone had been fond of the little sister — her kindness, her gentleness, her thriftiness bordering on stinginess.
And her death had shown them another side of her entirely.
Klein crouched before the headstone, fingers tracing the photograph. His face was expressionless, his thoughts unreadable. Benson was in terrible shape — so frail it seemed a breeze might topple him.
From the moment he'd learned of his sister's death two days ago, he hadn't slept. Hadn't eaten. He still couldn't accept that Melissa was gone.
She was only a teenager. Still just a kid. Only the day before yesterday, she'd been showing off to him — bragging that her salary was higher than his, saying she wanted to buy him a new tailcoat.
Benson simply couldn't connect that Melissa with the terrible word "death."
The grave was filled, the stone slab placed. The group stood in silent mourning before drifting away one by one, until only Klein and Benson remained before their sister's headstone.
"Benson."
After a long hesitation, Klein spoke in a hoarse voice: "I'm going to Backlund."
Benson's body stiffened slightly. He looked over. After a moment, he managed a thin smile. "Probably for the best. Staying in Tingen will only make you sadder."
"No."
Klein shook his head hard, teeth clenched. "I want to find the man who killed Melissa. I want revenge!!!"
As for the circumstances of Melissa's death, Klein had only told Benson that she'd been attacked by a vicious criminal who'd fled the scene after killing her.
"..."
Benson raised a hand as though to speak, but seeing the resolve in his brother's eyes, he simply nodded. "I've already lost a sister. I don't want to lose my remaining brother too."
"Of course!"
Klein said: "I'll stay alive — for Melissa's share too. And I'll see to it that she gets to watch you get married and have kids, Benson!"
"Deal."
"Then — let's go."
The brothers took one last look at Melissa's photograph and walked together toward the cemetery exit. A bronze-skinned figure approached — it was Mr. Azik.
Benson quickened his pace. "You two talk. I'll head back first."
Azik stepped forward and removed his hat, saying softly: "I'm sorry, Klein. At the time, I ran into that Qilangos you'd mentioned to me. I sensed that the extraordinary item in his possession could help me recover my memories… That's what delayed me by a few minutes."
A pause. "But I know who did it now."
Klein's expression didn't change. He looked at Azik with quiet calm. "I know too, Mr. Azik."
He spoke as though stating a simple fact: "Ince Zangwill. I will kill him with my own hands."
......
Raphael Cemetery at night. Crimson moonlight falling, quiet and desolate.
Beneath the crimson glow, a woman who seemed to wear starlight itself strolled up to Melissa's grave. She reached out and touched the photograph on the headstone with a single finger. The earth and stone slab covering the grave vanished with a whoosh, revealing the black coffin within.
She walked up to it and rapped on the lid as though knocking on a door — knock, knock, knock. After a stretch of silence, the coffin lid was pushed open. Melissa sat up inside, looking around in mild confusion.
Her last memory was of picking up the bone-ash box that had fallen from Dunn's hands, pouring everything she had into restraining Megose. Of Klein hurling that charm that blazed like a miniature sun…
And then — a sharp pain in her left chest, a pale hand punching through her body, tearing out her heart. Then darkness.
"So… I should be dead?"
Melissa looked at her bloodless hands, bewildered. Belatedly, she pulled down her collar and looked at her left chest. Where there should have been a gaping hole, the wound had somehow healed, leaving only an ugly scar.
"You did die once. But now you're alive again."
A familiar voice came from beside her. Melissa looked up and exclaimed in surprise: "Teacher!"
The woman raised a hand, and the small, delicate pendant around Melissa's neck flew to her — the gift she'd given the girl as a greeting present just days ago. "Let's go."
"Oh — where?"
The woman said flatly: "What, haven't had enough of lying in a coffin?"
"Oh — no, no, I mean—"
Melissa scrambled clumsily out of the coffin. "What I mean is—"
Why did I come back from the dead? What happened after I died? What on earth is going on?
The woman waved a hand. The coffin lid sealed itself, the earth and stone reappeared as though nothing had ever been disturbed. She turned and walked away. "Save your questions for the road."
She raised a hand, letting the crimson moonlight pool in her palm. "Time to go."
With the Quill of Alzuhod and this girl, surely I can find at least some clue about that man… and my lost memories.
To be continued…
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