The operation had begun.
They surrounded the building where Moriarty was staying, while the relentless curtain of rain concealed every trace of their approach. Unless someone deliberately searched the darkness, it was almost impossible to distinguish them from the night itself.
Red Falcon and the others were still closing in, but one man had already slipped inside ahead of the team. By all rights, he should never have been part of this mission. Yet the fury born of old sins refused to let him stand aside. Against every recommendation—and at his own insistence—Joey had joined the operation. He intended to interrogate the doctor personally.
Those unbearable memories remained the deepest stain upon his life, a humiliation he refused to speak of. Joey was rarely a man given to anger... except when the past reached out to touch him.
Tonight was not merely a raid.
It was a tribunal.
Night Owl would serve as the silent judge. Red Falcon and Robin would stand as the jury. Joey would be both prosecutor and witness.
And the one standing trial was the enigmatic doctor.
The infiltration proceeded flawlessly.
No alarms.
No resistance.
Moving with feather-light footsteps, like specters drifting through abandoned halls, Joey reached Moriarty's door long before Red Falcon's team caught up.
A massive-caliber revolver rested firmly in his hand. Inside a residential building, the thermite rifle was out of the question. One careless shot could ignite an uncontrollable blaze, and they neither had the time nor the manpower to evacuate innocent civilians.
The doctor's face surfaced once more in Joey's mind.
His grip around the revolver tightened.
Should he knock...
Or simply kick the door down?
Then—
A tiny sound broke the silence.
A crisp snap.
So faint that it should have vanished beneath the endless roar of rainfall, yet somehow every person present heard it with perfect clarity.
It resembled a woman's quiet sigh.
For a fleeting instant, an indescribable unease swept through them all.
Before anyone could understand why, thunder exploded across the heavens.
The earth itself seemed to tremble.
A blinding bolt ripped through the night like divine judgment splitting heaven from earth. Rolling thunder shook every pane of glass until they rattled violently within their frames.
Instinctively, everyone turned toward the windows.
The ghostly white flash illuminated half the city.
For one impossible heartbeat, Joey mistook that blazing light for the burning eyes of a Demon Hunter.
Then reality fractured.
The boundaries between illusion and the physical world quietly overlapped.
Amid the distorted creaking of wood...
The door slowly swung open.
Still dazed by the thunder, Joey reacted on instinct, raising his revolver.
A different face greeted him.
A familiar one.
James Moriarty stood calmly in the doorway.
Thin spectacles rested upon his nose, and he wore an immaculate tailored suit, as though he had known all along that they would come.
"I thought you'd arrive sooner."
Joey's face remained expressionless.
This was not how he had imagined tonight would unfold.
Red Falcon stepped beside him, weapon raised.
Robin slipped silently past them, folding knife already in hand as he cleared the apartment.
Within moments, the room was secured.
The search revealed nothing.
No accomplices.
No hidden occupants.
Only Moriarty.
As though fully aware of everything that was about to happen, Moriarty slowly raised both hands before retreating several steps, eventually lowering himself onto the sofa in the living room with complete composure.
Before anyone could state the purpose of their visit, he spoke first.
"I know why you're here."
He gestured toward the coffee table.
"My identification."
"My authorization pass for Black Mountain Hospital."
"And these..."
The tabletop was already neatly covered with every conceivable document proving his identity.
Throughout it all, a gentle smile never left his face.
Despite having several guns pointed directly at him, not the slightest trace of fear appeared in his eyes.
"You have remarkable composure."
Night Owl ignored the paperwork entirely.
Instead, he studied Moriarty himself.
Somehow, the doctor had learned they were coming.
Yet he hadn't fled.
He hadn't panicked.
He hadn't even attempted to prepare a defense.
Instead, he had calmly gathered every necessary document and waited for them.
Was he truly innocent?
Or was this level of composure itself the greatest warning?
It was... unnaturally calm.
"Naturally," Moriarty replied with an easy smile. "I'm a physician at Black Mountain Hospital. Every day I deal with patients suffering from illnesses most people couldn't even imagine."
He adjusted his glasses.
"I'm sure some of you have visited the hospital before."
"Our patients are... extraordinarily enthusiastic."
"They're not easy to handle."
"I've grown accustomed to working beneath the screams of lunatics."
There was nothing pleasant about those memories.
Yet he spoke of them with effortless ease, as though everything inside Black Mountain Hospital had long since become ordinary.
Night Owl felt the mission slipping away from its original course.
"We suspect that you—"
"I know."
Moriarty interrupted him gently.
"The moment I met... Mr. Joshua, I already understood."
His smile shifted toward Joey.
Joey's reflection appeared upon those perfectly polished lenses.
Within the doctor's eyes lay neither anxiety nor anger—
Only composure.
And something dangerously close to mockery.
A quiet chill crept through Joey's spine.
It felt as though he were standing before a venomous serpent.
Somehow...
Without realizing it...
He had already wandered into its trap.
Lightning flashed again.
The heavens roared.
The lights inside the apartment flickered violently.
Within every pulse of darkness and pale illumination, white lightning reflected upon Moriarty's lenses like flames igniting behind glass—
Only to vanish an instant later.
Everything remained under his control.
And no one in the room seemed to realize what they were truly confronting.
Night Owl's gaze turned icy.
Among everyone present, he was perhaps the first to recognize just how dangerous Moriarty truly was.
Their original plan had been simple.
Force entry.
Detain the suspect.
Conduct an Erosion assessment during interrogation to determine whether he had been contaminated.
But Moriarty had dismantled that plan before it had even begun.
"I know exactly why you're here."
After another pause, Moriarty continued.
"After all... I'm one of you."
A cold draft drifted in from somewhere. Perhaps a window had been left open.
"Mr. Joshua believes I have connections to demons."
He smiled faintly.
"Judging by the look on your face... you seem to dislike me quite intensely."
Joey answered only with silence.
"I can understand that."
"Most people who leave Black Mountain Hospital never wish to see us again."
"But you..."
His eyes settled upon Joey.
"Joey Joshua."
"You're different."
He reached toward the coffee table and picked up another file.
"Your medical record."
"You suffered severe hallucinations after abusing psychoactive substances."
"You remained at Black Mountain Hospital for treatment for quite some time before being discharged."
"But afterward..."
"You failed to attend your scheduled psychiatric follow-up appointments."
"Your evaluations all met the required standards."
"Yet everyone knows what people like you face on the front lines against demons."
"You've become remarkably skilled at forcing yourself to appear rational."
"Especially with the help of Florend Serum."
The file in his hand belonged to Joey.
It should have remained permanently sealed.
Instead...
It lay openly upon the table.
"What exactly are you implying?"
Anger flashed across Joey's face.
"Wait."
Night Owl suddenly sensed something was wrong.
"James Moriarty."
His voice became measured.
"We currently possess sufficient grounds to suspect you of connections with demonic entities."
"But from what you've said..."
"There appears to be another explanation."
The investigation had begun drifting in an entirely different direction.
Out of the corner of his eye, Night Owl quietly watched Joey.
A possibility was beginning to form.
"Yes."
Moriarty nodded calmly.
"It happened by coincidence."
"I encountered Mr. Joshua during one of the support groups under my care."
"Perhaps it's simply professional instinct."
"I noticed something abnormal about his mental condition."
"No!"
Joey snapped.
"I only became contaminated by Erosion after meeting you!"
"Then that should be very easy to verify."
Moriarty spread both hands.
"The Geiger counter."
"I know how it works."
Without another word, Night Owl motioned for the device.
Though it lacked the sensitivity of the larger models used by the Bureau, at close range it remained capable of detecting traces of Erosion contamination.
Moriarty accepted it without hesitation.
Everyone watched.
No one spoke.
The instrument alone would reveal the truth.
Seconds crawled by.
Nothing.
No warning clicks.
No alarm.
Only the steady emerald glow indicating complete normality.
"It appears..."
Moriarty smiled.
"I'm perfectly healthy."
As a physician, he possessed the sort of reassuring smile that naturally dissolved a patient's fears.
But to Joey...
It had become utterly revolting.
A nameless rage surged inside him without warning.
Even he couldn't understand why.
"...What is happening?"
Red Falcon frowned.
He still remembered Joey's horrifying condition.
Yet everything before them now suggested something entirely different.
According to operational records, Moriarty's recent activities had been perfectly ordinary.
Nothing suspicious had been found inside the apartment.
No contaminated objects.
No demonic artifacts.
No source capable of producing Erosion.
Slowly...
Red Falcon's gaze shifted toward Joey.
He hated the thought.
Yet suspicion was beginning to settle upon the wrong man.
This operation had moved so swiftly because everyone trusted Joey.
Now...
Not a single piece of evidence supported his accusations.
The investigation would certainly continue afterward.
But tonight...
The balance had changed.
"So."
Night Owl finally broke the silence.
"How did you know we were coming?"
"Simple."
Moriarty pointed directly at Joey.
"Because of him."
"We all belong to the Bureau of Purification."
"We merely serve in different divisions."
"So although we rarely work together, I'm familiar with your operational procedures."
"The moment Mr. Joshua became suspicious of me..."
"I knew protocol required an investigation."
He chuckled softly.
"Though I confess..."
"I expected a few officers carrying psychological assessment forms."
"I wasn't expecting... this."
Night Owl narrowed his eyes.
Moriarty smiled knowingly.
He seemed to anticipate the next question before it could even be asked.
"Personnel within the Bureau rarely accuse one another so formally."
"It damages trust."
"It damages unity."
"So why was I certain Mr. Joshua would eventually report me?"
His smile deepened.
"Because he's a patient."
"And no one understands a patient better than his doctor."
"What are you talking about?"
For the first time, Joey realized the horrifying truth.
Everything had slipped into Moriarty's hands.
This was supposed to be the opposite.
He should have been the one pressing a revolver against the doctor's forehead, forcing every secret from his mouth.
Instead...
He had somehow become the one standing trial.
"Calm yourself, Mr. Joshua."
Moriarty's voice remained gentle.
"People naturally become emotional when they're suspected."
"That's perfectly normal."
"But you're a High Knight."
"You should always remain composed."
"I reviewed your case long ago."
"It troubled me that you never completed your post-discharge treatment."
"Unfortunately, I'm only a physician."
"I couldn't simply request your transfer between departments."
"So I set the matter aside."
"Until we met again."
"At the support group."
He slowly raised his head.
His eyes met Joey's.
Then he lifted a single hand.
"I'm a psychologist."
"My work requires opening the defenses around a patient's heart."
"Only then can I help them heal."
"So I spoke with Mr. Joshua for only a few minutes."
"That conversation told me everything."
"He hadn't recovered."
"He was still imprisoned by the nightmare of his past."
"He simply didn't realize it."
"He believed he was living normally."
"But he needed treatment."
The nightmare.
The blood-soaked memories.
Every recollection crushed Joey beneath unbearable pressure.
He would rush into the bathroom.
Scrub himself again and again.
Until raw skin split open.
Until tiny beads of blood seeped from beneath his fingernails.
He could wash the filth from his body.
But never from his soul.
Moriarty gently snapped his fingers.
Such an ordinary gesture.
Yet that crisp sound struck Joey's heart like a war drum.
"Joey suffered hallucinations."
Red Falcon spoke quietly.
"Terrifying ones."
"They were caused by his own damaged psyche."
Moriarty answered calmly.
"He never truly escaped that nightmare."
"Then he returned to battle against demons..."
"Only to plunge into an even deeper nightmare."
He folded his hands.
"Words possess power."
"Psychologists heal through conversation."
"But Mr. Joshua..."
"He resembles a dam riddled with countless fractures."
"It was always going to collapse."
"I merely caused the collapse to happen sooner."
He looked toward Joey with something almost resembling compassion.
"It's far better to lose yourself inside hallucinations in your bedroom..."
"...than to break apart on a battlefield."
Listening to him...
He almost sounded like the good man.
"But how do you explain the abnormal Geiger readings?"
Robin finally spoke.
They had no evidence proving Moriarty's guilt.
Nor could they prove Joey had lost his sanity.
But the Geiger counter—
That could not lie.
"It cannot."
Moriarty answered honestly.
"Even now..."
"We still don't truly understand what demons are."
"Much less the nature of Erosion."
"But I do know this."
"When Erosion attacks the mind..."
"It amplifies every negative emotion."
"And those emotions, in turn..."
"Feed the Erosion itself."
"A vicious cycle."
"Until madness becomes inevitable."
He slowly rose to his feet.
Every weapon in the room followed him upward.
Yet he showed no fear whatsoever.
He walked directly toward Joey.
Stopping only inches away.
"Joey."
This time...
He addressed him simply by name.
"You're sick."
At that instant, it felt as though some nameless creature had fixed its gaze upon him.
Every ounce of strength left Joey's body.
His bones became stone.
His muscles refused to obey.
His own reflection stared back from those immaculate lenses.
Beneath the mask of composure...
He could see every emotion he had desperately tried to suppress.
Hatred.
Fear.
Rage.
"You cannot accept that you're ill."
"So you chose someone else to blame."
"You convinced yourself that I caused your hallucinations."
His voice remained impossibly gentle.
Exactly as a psychologist's should.
The sort of voice that quietly dismantled every defense.
Like warm hands softly cupping another's face.
"No."
"It wasn't me."
"It was always your illness."
"I merely guided it into the open..."
Lightning tore across the sky once more.
An invisible weight settled upon everyone's soul.
The Geiger counter had long since turned crimson.
Its shrill alarm screamed relentlessly through the room.
Yet none of them noticed.
Their eyes had become empty.
Within the darkness...
Only burning eyes remained reflected.
In truth...
Moriarty had never risen from the sofa.
He still sat there comfortably.
Watching them with the same calm smile.
Watching each of them step willingly into the trap.
Thin wisps of smoke drifted silently through the apartment.
The smoldering windshade herb intertwined with an uncanny supernatural authority.
From the very moment they entered the room, madness and reality had already fused together.
Every one of them had fallen into the illusion.
And none had realized that the true danger had arrived long before they crossed the threshold.