"You're trying to use the True Creator to exploit a loophole," Bernadette said with a distinctly peculiar edge in her voice, "to help me complete my advancement ritual, aren't you?"
"It's not really a loophole. More like smothering the disaster in the cradle."
"Whether that still counts as completing the ritual is genuinely uncertain," she said, then added, "And once the god-child has been taken out of Tingen, what then? What are you planning to do with it?"
Vincent glanced at the cross on his wrist. "I'll try asking the True Creator to resolve the 'god-child' problem from the root first. If that doesn't work... we'll have to deal with it ourselves."
Ending a god's offspring — to the god's face?
That's a bit insane, honestly.
"I have no other instructions for you," Mr. Z said, "so I'll set out for Tingen."
"Nothing else for now."
Mr. Z was turning to leave when Vincent remembered something. "One more thing — could you help me track down a mystical item or characteristic with teleportation ability? And something from the Desire Apostle pathway as well?"
He gave a small nod. "I'll keep my eyes open for those, Mr. A. Farewell."
Click.
The moment the door shut, Xio melted onto the sofa. She'd been holding her breath for so long that finally releasing it felt like surfacing from deep water.
"Nearly... nearly gave me a heart attack."
She was soaked through, and had to undo the buttons on her training jacket just to get some air. "I genuinely thought I was going to die today."
Vincent glanced at Xio's nearly flat chest and asked, "How did you end up running into... Mr. Z?"
At the question, Xio sat bolt upright, colour draining from her face. "Just now—"
She told him the whole story, fists clenched.
Vincent's mood darkened. No matter what posture the Aurora Order chose to take toward him personally, nothing changed the essential nature of what that organisation was. Even if he could somehow leverage the True Creator's strange "fondness" for him to reform the Aurora Order entirely — that wouldn't erase a single one of the murders they'd already committed.
Xio's face was bitter. "The Aurora Order slaughters my people one moment, and the next moment I've ended up as an Aurora Order member myself. If that isn't ironic, I don't know what is."
More ironic still was that she'd despised the highlanders thoroughly at the start. And yet after just two or three weeks as their "boss," she'd somehow come around, started to see them as people, started to feel something like kinship.
If she hadn't — she'd probably be celebrating the end of those "menaces" right now.
People. Always so changeable.
"Don't worry, Xio. Mr. Z will pay for what he's done."
"What?"
She blinked. "But you're..."
Aren't you Mr. A of the Aurora Order right now?
Even though Xio still hadn't fully worked out how Madam Natasha had become "Mr. A," the fact that she'd joined an evil god's organisation was real enough.
Vincent didn't elaborate. Instead he asked: "The Zemangg Gang's members weren't all at that one pub, surely?"
"Right! That was just one of their bases."
Xio perked up and got to her feet. "I'll go and check the others immediately!"
"I'll come with you."
Across the Docklands, in front of the pub the Zemangg Gang controlled on that side of the river.
Vincent and Xio stood in the crowd watching the officers carry body after body of highland men out of the pub. The colour had gone entirely from Xio's face, and her legs felt as though they'd stopped working properly. The Zemangg Gang's pub in the Docklands had been hit too. Everyone inside, dead.
And yet just hours ago every one of those men had been on their feet, talking to her, doing what she'd asked of them.
If I'd been in the pub today... would I be one of those bodies coming out right now?
"Wait."
Bernadette spoke under her breath, and Vincent followed. "These men's manner of death doesn't fit the style of a Herder."
"What?"
"The scene is too... clean." He studied the bodies as they were carried out. "Half of them died from gunshot wounds. Nearly every corpse is physically intact. Unless Mr. Z specifically prefers firearms, none of this matches the typical signature of a Secrets Suppliant."
Xio paused. "But the situation in the East Borough pub was the same — the same kind of deaths."
"Follow me."
Vincent walked quickly somewhere more secluded and summoned his invisible servant. "Can you locate Mr. Z?"
The invisible servant stared at him, at a complete loss.
He tapped his forehead — right. The servant had never encountered Mr. Z. He'd been thinking of the messengers, who did have unusual tracking abilities, and confused himself.
"Never mind. You can go back."
Xio had caught up with the logic. "So... the highlanders weren't killed by Mr. Z?"
"I can't say for certain yet. All I'm saying is it doesn't fit a Secrets Suppliant's typical pattern. But Aurora Order members are all severely unhinged — who knows what any of them might do on a whim."
He thought it through. "Though on reflection, something does feel genuinely off."
Generally speaking, when the Aurora Order killed, there was a purpose — most commonly demonstrating the Aurora Order's existence and the Lord's power, or conducting a ritual. Sometimes individual members took paid contracts, as Mr. A had in the original story when he was commissioned to eliminate the Intis Ambassador.
Mr. Z had clearly come to Backlund from elsewhere on the True Creator's direct instruction, specifically to reach Vincent. The Aurora Order were unhinged, yes, but they were also devoutly disciplined. There was no good reason he would set aside the Lord's direct divine revelation to go on a random killing spree first — unless Mr. Z just had an appetite for it.
"Xio, where are the rest of the Zemangg Gang staying?"
"...Some are at their old leader's place. A few others have their own lodgings."
The old leader's house had been his private residence, and Xio had never chosen to move in — she'd let the highlanders divide it up among themselves.
"Let's go there."
"..."
The last of the colour vanished from Xio's face. "You mean that place might also be..."
Ten minutes or so later, they arrived.
They could smell it from a distance. Every highlander who'd been staying there had been killed as well. With that, the Zemangg Gang — who had terrorised the East Borough and Docklands for years — could effectively be declared finished. Not merely disbanded. Completely wiped out. Every member dead.
The only survivor was Xio herself — their "boss."
Either she'd simply been lucky enough not to be found, or the killers didn't yet know the Zemangg Gang had a new leader.
Either way, her situation was now very dangerous.
"Fors!" she suddenly gasped.
She'd completely forgotten about her best friend. She turned and bolted.
When they reached the lodgings Xio and Fors rented in the Jorwood District, the whole place was dark and absolutely silent. Xio's hand was trembling as she pushed open the door, her mind bracing against the worst.
And then the two of them saw Fors, slumped flat across her writing desk, fast asleep and drooling on her arm — nose twitching as she snored.
"..."
Xio's heart fell back into her chest. She crossed the room in three steps and threw her arms around Fors. "Fors!"
"!!!"
Fors jolted awake with a loud gasp, immediately blurting on pure reflex: "I — I wasn't asleep! I wasn't slacking off! I was incubating inspiration, and I'm absolutely going to finish today, definitely—"
Then she registered that Xio's expression wasn't normal, and blinked in bewilderment. "I just dozed off for a few minutes. Is that really worth this?"
Xio looked up at her. "I thought you might also... you might also be..."
"???"
Fors blinked again, completely lost, and looked past Xio to the figure standing to one side — Vincent.
"Hmm? Who's this gentleman?" Her eyes glimmered with sudden interest. "Is he your new boyfriend, Xio?"
To be continued…
I am really sorry guys for posting inconsistently last week. My schedule was very tight to office related tasks. Updates will be posted regualrly starting today!
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