Bang!

Valentine shot the woman wearing a robber's mask with the paralyzing bullet, however, she easily deflected the bullet with her club. Instead of making a hole in the club, the bullet bounced away without even making a dent. It was either the club she was using was enchanted, or it was her ability or both. She kept on running towards Valentine without being affected by the shot just now.

"That's bullshit..." complained Valentine.

He quickly moved away from his spot before the woman reached him.

"Not so fast, asshole!" shouted the woman.

She suddenly changed direction and went towards Valentine's new position at a frightening speed. Valentine, who couldn't dodge in time nor chant his Interrogation, could only block the attack with his dagger with the hope of lessening the damage.

Smash!

The impact sent him flying back several meters and his body hit the wall behind him hard. He felt that some of his bones might be broken from her attack. Pain coursed through his whole body, leaving him weakened and lying down on the ground.

"Your mouth doesn't suit your appearance at all," he complained loudly.

"Shut yer trap!" she replied angrily.

She came charging rapidly at Valentine again, but he had already finished his chanting.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Uncovering, hereby put you under interrogation!"

The woman stopped in her track and looked at Valentine with blank eyes. Valentine quickly got away from there with difficulty because of the pain, but not even two seconds later she had broken free from his control.

"Not gonna work, jerk!" she shouted dirtily.

She chased Valentine, who had managed to make some distance between them. However, the woman was faster than him, so she could catch up very quickly. She swung her club with full force and aimed at his back which was turned against her.

Crash!

She bludgeoned Valentine with her club and sent him flying to another wall. Her attack made him hit the wall face first, and the impact hurt so bad. Blood came out of his mouth and he lied down on the ground writhing in great pain. He quickly turned around to see his enemy and watched as she was coming closer slowly towards him. She seemed to want to enjoy the moment a bit longer because the next attack was sure to kill her target.

"You shouldn't have jinxed it, G. Now I really met an enemy that is the destructive type..." he muttered painfully and then coughed blood.

Gun didn't work on her, and his control only lasted for a second. He had run out of options, and switching with Graham was out of the question unless it was the enemy who did it. He couldn't get up suddenly and run away either, because the woman would just catch him as easily as last time.

"Don't kill me just yet. Don't you want to do a monologue first about why you did all this?" he said, still stalling for time while trying to recover what little stamina he could.

"Who the fuck do you think I am? A child show's villain?" she replied loudly while still getting closer and closer to Valentine.

She dragged her giant blunt club for a full threatening effect. The sound of metal dragged across the concrete ground was intimidating, but seeing the woman in a dress and high heels doing that was even more unsettling.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you killing me?" asked Valentine with a fake begging tone.

"None of your goddamn business! Just die quietly. You are annoying!" she replied angrily.

Her eyes looked down on Valentine through her robber mask.

"Wait, wait! At least can you tell me how the guy following me told you about my location? I thought abilities couldn't be used inside the bazaar?"

The woman stopped for a second, seemingly thinking if she should tell him the answer. But then she just shook her head and continued walking towards him.

"You don't need to know. You can die curious for all I care!"

Valentine's stalling seemed to work. In the distance, he could hear the sound that he had been waiting for with the help of his boosted hearing.

"You know what? At least give me a chance to say my last words," he said with a tone that belonged to someone who had given up.

Hearing him say that, her eyes looked satisfied. She must be smiling mockingly under her mask, but Valentine couldn't see it.

"Sure. At least I can give you that," she said.

Valentine took a very deep breath, but it hurt. After that, he made sure that the sound he was waiting for was close enough that he was sure even the woman in front of him could hear it. He then opened his mouth wide and shouted as hard as he could.

"HEEEEELP!! HEEEEELP!!"

She looked startled and then became angry. Suddenly, the sounds of Police sirens came approaching very quickly before stopping at the entrance of the alley. Several men in blue coats came out and pointed their guns at her while a four people who seemed to rank higher than the others came to the front.

"You motherfucker!" she said with a voice that didn't match what she was saying.

She looked away for a second because of the Police and when she turned back to Valentine, he had already run away in the opposite direction. She wanted to give chase but her feet couldn't move. Shortly after, her consciousness faded; She was already under the control of the Police Contractbound.

Valentine kept on running and didn't even look back. First, because it would slow him down and second, he didn't want the Police to see the mask he was wearing. It was difficult to run with that much pain, but he couldn't afford to stop now or he would be caught as well, at least for interrogation. He didn't want to reveal his identity as a Contractbound for now, however, so he couldn't afford that either.

He quickly got farther and farther from the scene and didn't stop. He only stopped when he was about to reach the fifty-meter distance from where the Police were. After making sure he wasn't being followed, he quickly slit his palm and let the blood pool there.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Secrets, offer this blood as a medium,"

He chanted with difficulty because he was out of breath and in pain. The blood in his hand emitted a strange mist that quickly spread around.

"For I declare this place under the Shroud of Secrecy hereafter!"

He dropped his blood on the ground near a wall where it wouldn't be too eye-catching. Once the blood touched the ground, he quickly started running again. His anti-divination had a radius of fifty meters, so the scene where he had fought with the Pale Society member should still be covered, keeping his identity safe.

Before entering a more crowded street, Valentine took off his mask and his coat and turned it into a kind of fashion bag, so people wouldn't be suspicious. Lucky for him, there was no bloodstain on his sweater. He stopped running but kept the pace of his walk to get as far away as he could. Once he deemed that it was safe, he stopped a public motor carriage and got in. His destination was a street near his apartment instead of Tuinstraat, to avoid being traced just in case.

...

"Secure the area! And chase the man that ran away!" said a man with a friendly face.

"Are you a member of Pale Society?" asked a Police member with a scar on his face to the woman who wasn't moving. It was Rood with his Interrogation that had successfully locked her in place.

"Yes," she answered honestly with a monotonous tone; her eyes stared blankly at him.

Suddenly, she started shaking and the control over her was broken. It only lasted a whole seven seconds. She quickly took a step back to get away from Rood's range of control. However, Rood was prepared. He had brought along Groen, Paars, and Wit, and more reinforcement was on their way.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Illnesses and Shape-shifting, declare this whole area a zone of sickness!"

Wit, who was standing near Rood, finished chanting quickly and a green haze spread from her quickly to the surrounding area, covering a large radius. All the Police members quickly inhaled a blue powder from a small paper pouch that each of them had brought.

"Cough! Cough! Fuck you! Cough!" the Pale Society member started coughing continuously because of Wit's ability while her allies were fine because of Groen's herbal mix powder.

The woman's face became twisted, and not long after, it was not only her face but her whole body. The iron club that she was holding was dropped to the ground because her hands rapidly shortened and her legs became elongated. She had quickly turned into a giant snake the size of an adult human.

"She's a Malady as well!" shouted Wit.

"Shoot!" commanded Rood.

With her new beastly body, the woman swiftly climbed the alley wall to the top of the building while carrying the heavy iron club with her snake tail without much difficulty. The Police fired numerous shots at her but her hard snake scales deflected all the bullets. She quickly reached the top of the building where the others couldn't reach her.

"Can you turn into something and catch up to her?" asked Paars to Wit, who apparently possessed the same power as the enemy.

"No. She must be of a higher rank to be able to shape-shift that fast," replied Wit with regret.

Rood, who wasn't just standing around doing nothing the whole time, had already created three blood swords using almost all the blood bags that he carried. The swords weren't as long as normal swords, but their sizes should be sufficient.

Rood gestured at Groen who understood right away. He moved his swords and created makeshift steps with them, which Groen and himself had jumped on to. He kept moving the swords one by one to create a new step which took them higher each time. It didn't take them long to reach the top of the building because of their excellent coordination.

On top of the building, the woman had turned back into her human form and was busy preparing a ritual. She hadn't expected that the Police would be able to catch up to her so quickly.

Swoosh!

Rood's swords glided through the air quickly, but she could deflect all of them with her iron club.

Bang!

Groen fired a shot at her and she couldn't react in time to block it because she was still busy with Rood's swords. The gem embedded bullet grazed her left shoulder, leaving a light flesh wound that started healing rapidly. However, it seemed to have been enough for the bullet to take effect.

"I can't move. What did you fuckers do to me?" she said angrily as she tried to move her body without success. She had been paralyzed!

The Police Contractbounds didn't answer. Groen just reloaded his gun and fired another shot, this time hitting her abdomen. Although it didn't inflict too much damage on her, the effect of the bullet was what he sought; it was another paralyzing bullet to extend the duration.

Rood had also made a move. He controlled the three swords and shot them at her. The blood swords pierced through the air and hit her chest, neck, and forehead. However, her skin was very hard; the sword couldn't stab her completely.

"It fucking hurts, you jerk!" she yelled.

Her dress and mask were ruined, and blood came out from the wounds she had suffered. None one the wounds were fatal, however, and they started healing rapidly.

Just as the paralysis effect of the bullet was about to wear out, another shot was fired by Groen.

Bang!

She couldn't move again. With each paralyzing effect applied in succession, their duration also decreased significantly. Rood wasted no time and used his swords again to attack her in the same spots.

Stab!

The swords now created deeper wounds and more blood came out of them. Yet, she was still alive and her eyes showed extreme anger.

"Just you fuckers wait!"

The bullet's effect only lasted less than e second left, and Groen quickly fired another shot.

Bang!

The effect was extended again.

"The next one won't have any effect on her. That was the last one," he said to Rood, who already moved his swords towards her again.

Tootle-too...

Suddenly, the sinister sound of a flute being played could be heard. The injury on her body rapidly healed, making the swords' attack ineffective again. A man came flying up from another part of the alley with wings made of countless severed bird wings stitched together. The wings looked like they could barely hold the man's weight and could fall apart at any time.

"Finally you decided to show up. You were enjoying yourself, didn't you, shithead?"

The winged man was wearing a mask that looked like it was made of a bird's skull. The mouth part was open for him to play his flute with, but the upper half was completely covered, except for the eye holes.

"Let's scram..." he said with a gentle voice.

She looked like she wanted to complain, but after judging her situation, it was better to run away now and swallowed her defeat.

Swoosh!

Rood's sword shot through the air quickly, aiming for the man's wings.

Tootle-too...

The flute was being played again and this time, the two Police Contractbounds were stunned and couldn't move their bodies. Rood also lost control of his blood swords and they fell to the rooftop below. The woman quickly turned into a giant snake and left with the winged man.

"Paars!" Rood shouted loudly from the top of the building to the man below. He still couldn't move, but he could at least speak.

Paars nodded and quickly took off his clothes and became invisible. The others couldn't see where he was going, but they knew he was following the escaping enemies.

"Don't engage! Just follow them. We'll be right behind you!" shouted Rood again.