"Bang!"
The sound of the miniature pistol was crisp and sharp. Combined with its pocket-sized appearance, it looked almost like a toy.
However, what shot from the muzzle along with the smoke and flash was a bullet just as lethal as any normal handgun's.
In that critical moment, Dunn's extensive combat experience and a Nightmare's powerful physical capabilities saved his life.
Almost instinctively, he twisted his body to dodge the bullet.
"Thud!"
The bullet missed his heart and embedded itself in his arm instead. Blood spurted from the wound with the impact.
Seeing this scene, all the employees of Blackthorn Security Company froze almost simultaneously.
The turn of events was too sudden for them to comprehend, let alone understand the situation.
The captain was shot?
Why did Al Hasson fire?
"Heh."
The air stiffened, frozen in inexplicable stillness for a moment, until Al Hasson spoke again.
Seeing he'd missed the vital spot, he merely let out a contemptuous snort, then waited calmly.
"Ugh!"
Soon, Dunn clutched his wound and let out a low, muffled groan. His expression became extremely pained, and black veins emerged on his face.
His body hunched slightly, and the hem of his black trench coat billowed up, as if some invisible thing was propping up the fabric from beneath!
Among those present, Leonard was the second to react.
He had been handing over Silas's Beyonder items when the gunshot drew his attention.
In that moment of distraction, the "Nighthawk" across from him suddenly increased his grip, trying to forcibly snatch away the box they were both holding.
Leonard was both surprised and confused, naturally unwilling to let go.
Seeing Leonard refuse to release it, the others behind him immediately closed in, drawing crimson daggers from under their uniforms!
Left with no choice, Leonard could only let go and retreat, drawing his revolver from his waist and aiming it at them.
After listening closely for a moment, his expression became extremely shocked. No longer hesitating, he immediately fired.
"Bang!"
"Enemy attack!"
While firing, Leonard shouted loudly, rousing the team members from their daze.
"They're enemies!"
Enemies?
Among the crowd, Klein heard Leonard's words and couldn't help but look toward Al Hasson and Borgia.
The two of them, plus Lorotha, who had just left with Cecilia, had come to Tingen when investigating the Antigonus family notebook and had even fought alongside them.
Why would Leonard say they were enemies?
Then Klein stared in astonishment at an unbelievable scene:
Al Hasson and Borgia's faces were melting, their features swimming about, finally transforming into two faces he'd never seen before.
One was a middle-aged man with a twisted smile, the other a fierce-looking young man with a tattooed face.
Both wore expressions of inexplicable fanaticism.
They weren't Nighthawks from Backlund at all; they were enemies in disguise!
"Bang!"
Leonard fired again, dropping the enemy closest to him.
However, the other enemies still charged forward fearlessly, their faces filled with wild joy and devotion.
"The night wind calls my name..."
Seeing the critical situation, Leonard dodged the enemies' attacks while loudly chanting verses.
A peaceful power emanated from within him, making the enemies' movements sluggish, even causing them to sink into dreams.
Just then, he saw the tattooed man stride forward. The man had already donned a black-iron colored metal gauntlet on his hand, pointing it at Leonard:
"Exile!"
Boom!
An invisible and overwhelming force struck Leonard. Like a leaf meeting a gale, he was blown away directly, crashing down at the steps of the company entrance.
By now, the other members of the Nighthawk team had also reacted. Klein, Seeka, and Kenley all drew their revolvers, aiming at the enemies below.
The tattooed man stepped forward, extending his arm clad in the black-iron gauntlet.
His index finger pointed diagonally at the ground, drawing a horizontal line in the air, then he declared loudly:
"None shall pass here!"
His voice suddenly became solemn and grand, and a transparent wall quickly expanded between them and the Blackthorn team.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Several revolvers fired in succession, but the bullets couldn't penetrate that transparent wall. They struck the wall with loud impacts, then clinked and clattered as they fell to the ground.
The tattooed man glanced coldly at the team members, then continued using his gauntlet to create walls, surrounding them on all four sides, forming a square space isolated from the outside.
Inside this space, besides their group, was the shackled Silas.
"Get away!"
Silas shouted angrily.
These people, disguised as Nighthawks, had now shed their disguises and surrounded him without explanation, grabbing his arms and legs.
More than fear, he worried about Cecilia's safety.
These people were Ma'am M's minions; his sister was in danger!
"Die! You die too!"
He was both furious and anxious. His arms were bound, and he couldn't even draw blood to perform a ritual.
He could only continuously use his "Profane Words" ability, making those who approached suffer mental impacts.
But as the space became isolated and the Blackthorn team couldn't interfere inside, these people had no more concerns.
They swarmed forward, pinning Silas down and covering his mouth.
"Rip!"
His shirt was forcibly torn open, exposing his chest to the air.
Silas had been violently resisting, but when he clearly saw his own chest, he suddenly stared in shock, eyes wide.
It was that scripture!
On his chest, that scripture that had vanished without a trace had completely fused with his skin, embedded in his body!
The spread-out pages of human skin fit perfectly with his flesh. Aside from a slight difference in color, there was no trace of forced assembly!
Boom...
Silas stared blankly at the scripture, feeling as if some shackle deep in his mind suddenly shattered.
Countless memory fragments surged forth, forming image after image. These were scenes he had seen before but had unconsciously forgotten, overlooked.
He remembered how he had handled that scripture.
Images rapidly unfolded:
Silas saw that when Ma'am M first handed him the scripture, her arm emerged from her sleeve, revealing bright red muscle texture, as if the surface skin had just been peeled away.
He saw that when he read the scripture, Ma'am M sat beside him, her golden eyes gleaming with an eerie light.
Every time Silas finished reading a page, that page seemed to come alive, detaching from the scripture and floating into his chest, while he and Cecilia remained completely oblivious.
He also saw that after finishing the reading, the scripture had completely transferred onto his body.
When he fought Ma'am M, as she chanted prayers before dying, the scripture responded accordingly, until...
Silas lowered his head and saw a human face slowly emerging on the pages of human skin.
Beautiful features, eyes closed.
Ma'am M.
Silas's heart stopped for a second. Then fury, terror, and unwillingness surged up simultaneously, almost enough to explode his head.
Why!
Why won't you die!
How long are you going to haunt me!
The people closing in around him stared excitedly at that face.
The two leaders, the twisted middle-aged man and the tattooed man, began to take action.
The tattooed man pulled out a dagger and walked toward the companion lying on the ground.
This person had been shot by Leonard and was barely breathing.
The tattooed man showed no concern as he pressed the dagger against his neck, unhesitatingly slicing open his blood vessels.
"Hiss..."
Blood immediately pumped violently from the vessels, spilling across the stone pavement of Zotland Street.
"Praise the Lord."
The wounded man murmured in an unclear voice and closed his eyes.
The tattooed man drained the dead man's body of blood, tossed the corpse aside, and dipped in the blood to draw a huge inverted cross on the ground.
An inverted cross formed of blood.
Bloody, horrific, carrying a thick and heavy religious meaning.
Meanwhile, the middle-aged man with the twisted smile turned and went back to the carriage behind them, carefully retrieving a vial of potion.
Silas looked at that vial, feeling an indescribable attraction from the depths of his soul.
Even now, shocked by the fact that Ma'am M was on his body, he couldn't help but look at that potion.
Could that be...?
The middle-aged man retrieved a ring from the box Leonard had handed over.
That ring Ma'am M had always worn on her hand, the rose ring dripping with crimson.
"Clunk."
The middle-aged man dropped the ring into the vial.
"Hiss..."
The potion inside the bottle quickly began to boil, simultaneously emitting a piercing, agonized scream.
A bone-chilling terror overflowed from the bottle, as if an extremely hungry monster was struggling inside, filled with intense craving for every person's soul and flesh!
"What do we do now?!"
Outside the walls, the Tingen Nighthawks saw that revolvers had no effect, and talismans and rituals couldn't pass through the wall in such a short time.
They fell into chaos.
"Stay calm!"
Just then, a steady voice suddenly rang out.
It was Dunn, supported by Rozanne and Klein, shouting, "Civilian personnel organize evacuation of the entire street and request aid from the 'Mandated Punishers' and 'Machinery Hivemind.'
All official team members come to me first!"
His face still bore traces of pain, but he forced himself to stand straight.
"Yes!"
Everyone complied. Dunn's voice seemed to have immense power, quickly restoring reason to the panicked crowd.
Because they'd all come out to see Silas off, the civilian personnel didn't need to go back inside to notify anyone.
They immediately split into groups. Some went to contact constables to evacuate the crowd, others to notify the other official Beyonders.
"Do your best!"
Before leaving, Rozanne hurriedly shouted to Klein and the others.
Klein couldn't give a positive response; he couldn't even smile.
He, Leonard, Seeka, and Kenley gathered by Dunn's side, closely monitoring the situation inside the wall.
"What is that thing on Silas's body?! What are they going to do to him?"
Klein watched the "potion-making" scene inside, a powerful sense of unease rising in his heart.
His "Seer" spiritual intuition told him something terrifying was about to happen!
"Captain!"
Klein shouted. "We must stop this ritual immediately!"
"...I understand."
Dunn observed the situation inside, silent for a moment, then made up his mind.
"Klein, Seeka, you two come down with me. I'm going to retrieve Saint Selena's ashes from behind Chanis Gate."
"Saint Selena's ashes?"
Seeka couldn't help but freeze.
That was the most crucial item behind Chanis Gate, suppressing all the anomalies behind the door.
Once removed, the Beyonder items behind the door would immediately go berserk... Even in this situation, Dunn had decided to use his captain's authority.
Did this mean things had become this serious?
"Captain, you'd better go immediately."
Leonard's ear twitched slightly, then he said uneasily, "I support Klein's opinion."
In his mind, an aged voice was laughing with great interest. "Hehe... This little one is about to become a Shepherd..."
The potion in the bottle had stopped boiling, but the hunger became even more intense.
As if a starving beast with bloodshot eyes had been forcibly squeezed into the bottle, about to burst through and devour everyone present.
Silas was forcibly dragged by the group to the center where the blood inverted cross intersected, like a sacrifice about to be offered, or like he was being elevated to a throne to be crowned with a wreath of thorns.
On his chest, Ma'am M's face remained asleep.
"Giggs is dead. We're one person short."
The tattooed man said hoarsely.
"It doesn't matter. The Lord will bless Ma'am M."
The middle-aged man said with devout fervor, holding up the bottle and walking before Silas.
Several people cooperatively released Silas's mouth.
"Go to hell!"
The moment Silas opened his mouth, he shouted in ancient Hermes filled with ultimate malice.
Blood immediately poured from the features of those around him, yet they still wore smiles.
They completely ignored the damage their bodies suffered, forcibly prying his mouth open.
"Crack!"
Silas bit down viciously like a wild beast.
Several fingers were bitten off, and fishy-smelling blood flooded into his mouth and throat.
But still no one cried out in pain. They chanted prayers of praise, as if they'd lost all sense of pain.
His struggles were completely ineffective. He could only watch helplessly as the middle-aged man poured that terrible potion into his mouth.
"Ahhhhh!"
The moment the potion entered his mouth, it immediately surged through his limbs and body, wildly and rapidly occupying every cell.
He felt his body suddenly rot, becoming a mass of flesh indistinguishable in terms of tissue and organs, with only that human face on his chest maintaining its form.
Silas's consciousness separated and rose, as if floating above himself, watching his own flesh gradually collapse.
After Silas drank the potion, everyone released him.
They dispersed in small groups, standing at the ends of the inverted cross blood mark.
Almost simultaneously, everyone drew a crimson ritual dagger from their chests.
Their faces showed devotion and fervor as they pressed the daggers against their own chests.
"Clang..."
Time reached noon. Across the street, the bell tower of Saint Selena Cathedral was struck.
That holy and lofty sound seemed to come from the horizon, echoing all the way into people's hearts and the depths of their souls.
"We shall become Shepherds, for you, my Lord."
Under the blue sky, above the inverted cross blood mark, six people spoke in unison in Hermes.
Their fingers tapped four times on their chests, from bottom to top, from right to left, forming the shape of an inverted cross.
"To inherit authority from your hands, to magnify your name and spirit."
At the center of the blood cross, Silas's body could no longer support its structure and was almost melting into a mass.
At this moment, he emanated a strong sense of emptiness and greed, as if coveting these flesh and souls immensely.
"Thud!"
The six people calmly pierced their hearts.
Accompanied by spurting blood, they walked step by step along the blood marks beneath their feet toward the center of the blood cross.
They continued chanting ancient prayers:
"We shall truly carry out your will, using the souls of lambs to fill this river flowing to you, until it flows eternally..."
They walked before the mass of flesh and opened their arms.
"...In the Lord's name."
That mass of flesh writhed, greedily swallowing them all.