The Night Owl dragged the unconscious Joey into the carriage. An emergency investigation would begin before dawn. Joey was no ordinary operative—he was a Senior Knight, one of the pillars of the Cleansing Agency. If someone of his rank had gone wrong, then the matter was nothing short of catastrophic.
It had been a thoroughly miserable night. They had mobilized in force, convinced they were about to uncover a hidden threat lurking within their own ranks. Yet in the end, the one who had collapsed was Joey himself.
Night Owl instinctively looked upward.
The window remained open. A dark silhouette stood against the faint light beyond it, face obscured by shadow. Moriarty watched them from above, silently seeing them off.
No doubt that infuriating smile still rested on his face.
For the longest time, Night Owl had never understood why the man stirred such instinctive revulsion within him. But now, at last, the answer became painfully clear.
It was the gaze of a cat watching a mouse.
A surge of frustration welled inside him. After everything that had happened tonight, suspicion and unease had taken root in everyone's heart. He had wanted to bring Moriarty back for questioning as well, yet the man had recited the Cleansing Agency's regulations almost as though he had memorized every word, calmly refusing to cooperate on the grounds of departmental jurisdiction.
The Cleansing Agency was not a single organization but a vast machine composed of countless divisions.
Night Owl and the frontline demon hunters formed the Agency's Headquarters. Beyond them were departments such as the Scavengers, the Perpetual Pump, Black Mountain Hospital, and many others, each carrying out its own indispensable function, each another gear keeping the colossal mechanism roaring into motion.
Every division operated independently, though all ultimately answered to Headquarters.
When it came to rooting out infiltrators, however, that responsibility traditionally belonged to the Scavengers. Headquarters technically possessed the authority to intervene, yet Moriarty had demonstrated nothing abnormal—at least, nothing they could prove.
He was willing to cooperate.
He simply refused to ruin his exquisitely cultivated sleep.
According to Moriarty, he would report to his superiors the following morning before submitting himself to whatever examination they deemed necessary.
"That's it? We're just letting him go?" Red Falcon asked, unable to hide his surprise.
The Cleansing Agency had never been known for reason or mercy. Once someone fell under suspicion of demonic corruption, the investigation would continue relentlessly. Even a duke's daughter would obediently remain confined within Black Mountain Hospital until every doubt had been erased.
Had it been the Scavengers who arrived tonight instead, they might well have executed Moriarty on the spot...
And perhaps Joey along with him.
The Scavengers specialized in cleaning up the aftermath of demonic incidents, and their favorite solution was brutally simple.
Cut away the rotten flesh.
Along with every piece of healthy flesh surrounding it.
"There's no other choice."
Night Owl offered no further explanation. His eyes drifted toward Joey, lying unconscious inside the carriage.
The Cleansing Agency had always maintained an unforgiving hierarchy. Those who had not attained a certain rank would never be allowed to learn many of its secrets, and the inner workings of the various divisions were naturally among those forbidden truths.
The system prevented authority from overstepping its boundaries.
It also created endless inconvenience.
Yet it guaranteed one crucial advantage.
Should one division fall to demonic corruption, the others could remain untouched.
The Scavengers were the perfect example.
During operations against demons, they seemed to appear everywhere.
Yet if someone asked where exactly their headquarters lay, who commanded them, or who their principal members were...
One would discover that such memories simply did not exist.
Black Mountain Hospital was much the same.
Among all the Agency's divisions, only the Perpetual Pump maintained a relatively visible presence. Because it worked directly alongside Headquarters, Senior Knights like Night Owl frequently found themselves serving as unwilling test subjects for experimental weaponry, leaving them somewhat more familiar with its people.
Only somewhat.
For the unknown was not limited to demons alone.
The Cleansing Agency itself remained a mystery.
Beyond the rain-soaked streets, Dunling Tower pierced the night sky. Countless cables stretched outward from its summit, crossing rooftops and avenues alike, weaving themselves across the city like an immense spider's web.
"You all felt it too... didn't you?"
Robin finally broke the silence.
"That strange feeling... I don't even know how to describe it. Something was simply... off."
"I won't let him slip away so easily."
Night Owl never looked back toward the open window.
He knew perfectly well that Moriarty was still watching him.
"Joey..."
"What exactly happened to you?"
He climbed into the carriage and looked at the companion who had fought beside him for years.
Earlier, he had acted without hesitation, subduing Joey with absolute decisiveness.
That did not make him a heartless man.
He simply understood the role he had to play.
But now the operation was over.
No longer a Senior Knight, but simply a friend...
He found himself worrying for Joey.
"You always insist on gambling with lives like this. Had your Authority gone even slightly wrong tonight, every one of us might have died here." Samuel stepped out from the shadows only after Night Owl and the others had disappeared into the rain. "You just witnessed how ruthless the Cleansing Agency can be."
The truth was that he had never been far away.
He had stood motionless in the corner, slowing his heartbeat until it resembled that of a corpse. Without breath, without sound, concealed by the drifting Nightshade fumes and Moriarty's Authority, he had slipped completely beneath the Agency's search.
To them...
Samuel had been nothing more than a patch of darkness untouched by light.
Tonight had originally been arranged as the meeting between him and these hidden operatives.
Samuel trusted Moriarty enough to know he would never mistake the date.
Yet somehow...
The man had deliberately drawn the Cleansing Agency here.
He had always been impossible to tame.
Samuel knew full well that no amount of lecturing would make him admit fault.
Still...
He could not stop himself.
James Moriarty.
A man utterly incapable of remaining still.
His extraordinary talent was matched only by an equally extraordinary lack of restraint.
"Have a little faith in me."
Moriarty remained exactly as before.
Calm.
Relaxed.
Not the slightest hint that he believed he had done anything wrong.
His confidence in his control over his Authority bordered on absolute.
A flicker of anger surfaced within Samuel.
He had known from the beginning what kind of person Moriarty was.
Knowing it...
And accepting it...
Turned out to be very different things.
"You tampered with members of the Cleansing Agency!" Samuel snapped. "Do you realize that could expose us ahead of schedule?"
The New Church was dancing along the edge of a blade inside Old Dunling.
One wrong step...
And the fragile peace between the two sides would erupt into open war.
"It was part of the plan."
Moriarty answered as though stating an obvious fact.
"Didn't His Holiness already approve my proposal? I merely made it... a little more reliable."
After a brief delay, the Gospel Church had finally delivered its decision.
The strategy proposed by Moriarty—one targeting Lloyd Holmes himself—had been officially approved.
"So that's your excuse?" Samuel's voice hardened. "And what about the ordinary man you drove insane? Was that part of the plan too? The moment the Cleansing Agency realizes something is wrong, we may be facing total war!"
The worst part...
Samuel had actually read the report.
The unfortunate man named Nibel.
At the time, Samuel had assumed he was merely another tragic psychiatric patient.
Only later, during discussions with Moriarty, had he learned the truth.
It had all been his doing.
The madman before him had deliberately shattered another person's mind, blurring the boundary between hallucination and reality until nothing remained.
Long before the New Pope had approved any grand design...
Moriarty had already begun indulging in his grotesque little entertainments throughout Old Dunling.
"Of course."
Moriarty admitted everything without the slightest hesitation.
After infiltrating Black Mountain Hospital under the identity of a psychiatrist...
Nibel had become his very first patient.
Therapy was fascinating.
Far more fascinating than he had expected.
It was a pleasure he had never once discovered during his years in Fiorenza.
To peel apart another person's mind...
To strip away every defense...
Every disguise...
Until a living soul stood completely exposed before him.
Past.
Future.
Every memory.
Every fear.
Each one laid neatly upon the table like tools carefully disassembled.
For one fleeting moment...
It felt as though that person's entire existence belonged to him.
As though he had become their master.
Their god.
"Our true objective has always been Lloyd Holmes."
Moriarty's thoughts drifted back to the written orders.
He had always enjoyed studying people through the smallest details.
And for the first time in his life...
He had sensed fear within the New Pope's handwriting.
Fear.
Rage.
Desperation.
Countless tangled emotions hidden between every stroke of ink.
For the sake of a demon hunter who had defected so many years ago...
The New Pope's determination bordered on obsession.
They needed Lloyd alive.
As long as he could still speak.
Even if all four limbs had been severed...
Even if the Holy Nails had hacked him into pieces...
None of that mattered.
The man himself was irrelevant.
What mattered...
Were the secrets locked inside his mind.
"He survived the Night of Divine Descent."
Moriarty reached for a volume on psychiatric disorders borrowed from Black Mountain Hospital.
"Although we've never witnessed those horrors ourselves, anyone who endured that nightmare must possess a terrifyingly resilient will. Even an ocean of despair failed to swallow him."
Thanks to the countless victims whose minds had been shattered by demons, Black Mountain Hospital's research into psychology had advanced with astonishing speed.
In preparation for his own design, Moriarty had begun studying the field as well.
Naturally...
He could never rival genuine specialists.
Which was why he still relied heavily upon his Authority.
"To ensure the Black Angel Project proceeds more smoothly, I've been replacing my test subjects one after another."
He spoke almost casually.
"First Nibel."
"An ordinary man."
"Then Joey."
"A specially enhanced one."
"So far..."
"The results have been quite satisfactory."
To Moriarty...
They were nothing more than laboratory mice.
He was refining his venom.
Waiting for the day it reached its deadliest form.
The day he would unleash it upon Lloyd Holmes.
"I still think this plan is madness."
Samuel's unease never faded.
Moriarty's strategy rested upon the most unpredictable thing imaginable—
The human heart.
Building anything atop such unstable foundations was courting disaster.
"And yet..."
Moriarty smiled.
"Father Anthony approved it."
"So did His Holiness."
"Didn't they?"
"The Cleansing Agency will never willingly surrender Lloyd."
"Even if they cannot harness the power of the False Holy Grail themselves, they certainly won't allow us to obtain it."
He paused.
"Unless..."
The idea had existed long before Old Dunling.
Long before Fiorenza.
"If the Cleansing Agency itself loses confidence in controlling Lloyd."
"A demon hunter slipping into madness."
"Cold-blooded."
"Decisive."
"A master swordsman."
"And carrying the False Holy Grail."
"Lloyd has served the Agency for quite some time."
"They understand his danger even better than we do."
"But the moment the risk outweighs the benefit..."
"The moment trust between both sides collapses..."
He smiled.
"The beast will finally break its chains."
"And when that day comes..."
"The Cleansing Agency won't possess the strength to stop him."
"They'll come to us."
"They'll beg."
Samuel slowly shook his head.
He could scarcely believe what he was hearing.
"You truly think everything will unfold so perfectly?"
"But..."
Moriarty's smile widened.
"Haven't you already seen the first step tonight?"
"You witnessed how they dealt with Joey."
"They obey their laws as though forged from steel."
"Those laws are the very foundation of who they are."