Right outside the Ricca Oro manor, Amare Na Xivia was standing guard in the shadows. Chaos was ensuing within Blackcrest and the entirety of the Militant Guard was dispatched to chase after the sighted undead.

Apart from Pretta’s knights, the place was left unguarded. However, the vampire wasn’t the least bit worried as she had confidence in her prowess. In fact, it was only due to precaution that she was hiding there, out of sight.

She heard that someone had successfully broken into Pretta’s manor and almost stole her Blood Crystals.

Technically, owning Blood Crystals should be illegal and since Amare heard of what happened, then the rest of the local Aristocracy- including the Duke- must know too. Yet, they all turned a blind eye because the owner was none other than Pretta Oro Ricca Oro, and if Terden were to act against her, the consequences would far outweigh the benefits.

Time crept by and after a while, the loud bell sound reverberating across the city stopped, along with the cries of the confused civilians and the shouts of the Militant Guards.

Amare was as motionless as a statue, musing to herself, seemingly unperturbed by the unfolding commotion.

Unfortunately, the peaceful atmosphere around the manor was short-lasting. Thanks to her keen senses, the vampire noticed a rapidly moving black figure jumping from one roof to the other before landing in an inconspicuous spot within the spacious garden of the Ricca Oro household.

The invader was tall and slim, had long snow-white hair and a scar, though the bottom half of his face was covered by a mask. Still, Amare did not personally recognize him but knew his ‘identity’, to a certain degree.

Her violet eyes let out a soft glow as she jumped in front of the man before he could enter the manor. Surprisingly, she wasn’t the only one to respond in time, Pretta’s loyal knight also appeared.

His heavy armor glistened under the moonlight, his sword enveloped in a milky aura as he first glanced at the vampire then at the unknown man.

“I knew you’d come back.”

“I will help.” Said Amare as she raised her hand, causing violent purple threads to burst forth and slither toward the man.

No words were needed as the battle immediately started. The Knight and the vampire collaborated and went all-out against the masked man, who, although strong, could not overpower them. Nevertheless, he kept his composure and showcased his impressive skills of evasion and sneak-attacks.

The sound of clashing blades and the rumbling caused by Amare’s magic alerted the rest of the knights within the manor.

“W-where are the damn Militant Guards? Call them!”

From the second floor, the frightened Pretta was peeking at the garden from the curtains. She did not dare to raise her voice and just gestured to the three knights behind her.

Except for the echoes of battle from down below, the room was eerily silent. Pretta kept peeking and whining, but when she heard a soft thud, she turned around only to see the three knights on the floor, all unconscious.

The person who faced her wore an elegant black dress and held twin two-edged blades, faintly shining under the bit of moonlight piercing through the half-open curtains.

Stricken by fear and shock, Pretta tried to say something but wasn’t given the time to do so.

Evelyn appeared right in front of her and, using the handle of her blade, she knocked Pretta out. Even though there were dozens of knights stationed within the manor, especially near the hidden vault in the office, Pretta’s room was only guarded by those three knights, so it wasn’t a difficult feat for the maid to sneak in.

Moreover, with Pretta’s strongest subordinate as well as Amare both busy fighting the masked man, Evelyn did not have to worry about getting caught.

Before leaving and taking Pretta with her, Evelyn purposely shattered the glass windows, thus alerting her loyal knight.

The man, startled, immediately retreated from the fight and hastily returned inside the manor, however, by the time he reached his master’s room, he found no one but his knocked out colleagues.

Amare was left to fight the masked man, but even with her long-ranged magic, she wasn’t able to stop him, much less defeat him. He was incredibly agile and with the retreat of the Knight, the opportunity to bypass the vampire presented itself.

Using a seemingly invisible longsword, he leapt in the air and drew a semicircle with his weapon, resulting in a brilliant illusory moon to manifest itself and let out a devastating shock wave.

The vampire, who tried protecting herself using the magical purple threads, was blown to the back, her body rolling a couple of times on the ground. She coughed blood and struggled to get up, but by the time she got to her feet, the enemy was already gone.

Wounded and exhausted, Amare still gave chase and rushed into the manor, going directly to where the Blood Crystals were. Unfortunately, she was too late as all the knights on the way were killed with one hit and the box containing the crystals was nowhere to be seen.

“Damn it all!”

She cursed under her breath and went left the estate, but in this moment of haste, she failed to notice the Little Bunting flying around the building then shooting towards a specific direction.

As Arthur had predicted, the masked man did make use of the unfolding chaos to sneak into Pretta’s manor. Although Amare’s interference was unexpected, it ultimately did not change anything.

Using the bird as a host, Arthur had no trouble following his quarry. Evelyn’s ex-colleague was agile and cautious, but he only paid attention to potential pursuers and barely glanced at the night sky.

Just like that, while keeping a relatively safe distance, Arthur was easily able to go after the target and find his temporary base of operation. It was in an unilluminated basement within an abandoned building somewhere at the edge of the Slave Market.

The wooden doors leading downstairs creaked and opened for a split second before they returned to normal.

“The crystals are gone.”

“I don’t care about that! They got my master!”

Pretta’s Knight was shaking with anger as he stood in the devastated garden. Amare was surprised to hear that her employer was kidnapped.

“Why would they take her if they got the crystals? It doesn’t make sense.”

“I don’t know! I need to find her!”

His desperation notwithstanding, the perpetrators were gone and he could not wander around blindly, hoping to find Pretta.

“Amare!”

A slightly excited Armen appeared from the high fence, jogging toward his friend with a wide smile plastered on his face. He seemed oblivious to the wreaked place and the distressed knight.

“You won’t believe what I saw!”

“That will have to wait. The crystals and Miss Pretta are gone.”

“Then you can use Memor-...ah! Nevermind.” He almost slipped out, his eyes sneaking glances at the furious knight mumbling to himself.

“You’ve got me in this mess, Armen…” She glared at him with narrowed eyes, one of her hands pressed against her aching waist. The sustained injuries were still hurting and the fact that she failed in protecting the crystals worsened her already bad mood.

“An aristocrat was attacked, we should go to the-”

Armen was cut-off by the thud of an object that fell from the ground, right in-between the two vampires and the knight.

The Knight hastily picked up the folded piece of paper and read it with a raised eyebrow.

“What does it say?”

Armen peaked at the paper and saw that only a few sentences were written. It specified the location of the thief and encouraged them to go seek him out.

The vampires weren’t stupid enough to fall for such a trick, after all, the sudden appearance of this paper reeked of suspicion. However, the knight did not share their reasoning; The moment he finished reading, he sped off with his sword in hand.

“Seriously?”-Armen

“It’s not like he has a choice now that his mistress is gone.”-Amare

“Do we follow him?”

Amare raised her head and looked at the night sky, her eyes shining with a violet luster as she tried to find something. Alas, whatever or whoever she was looking for had already departed.

“The man who stole the Blood Crystals is from the South. His techniques made it plain clear that he’s an agent from Faceless Death.”

The smile on Armen’s face vanished upon hearing the girl. He looked at the small holes and slash marks on the ground with an unusually serious face.

“Then we’ve jumped into a dangerous game. Contacting Mother would be for the best.”

“And tell her what?” Amare coldly snorted and started walking, “I won’t be exempt from neither the blame nor the punishment. We better finish this swiftly and without leaving a trace.”

“Finish as in what?”

“As in eliminating the Faceless Death Agent and ending our ‘cooperation’ with Miss Pretta. We will forget about the Blood Crystals and fix things up lest we shoulder all the responsibility.”

Armen, though reluctant, let out a sigh of exasperation and went after her.

In the Slums, at the foot of Blackcrest’s towering walls, Arthur and Evelyn stood next to each other. He switched to the Bloated Murderer’s body and accompanied the maid to this secluded spot, which was the same place Evelyn reunited with Jack.

“Why do we need her, Master?”

Evelyn stared at the tied up and gagged Pretta, who woke up from premature slumber and was trying to say something while thrashing around on the dirty ground.

“Were she present, the Knight wouldn’t blindly go after the thief. Assuming he’s as loyal as he made it seem, he would chase after any clue regardless if it’s a trap or not. Luckily for us, Amare was there too and she’ll probably follow.”

A green magical rune was imprinted on the ground, acting as a safety precaution were the things to go out of hand.

“While they are fighting, I’ll secure the Blood Crystals. You stay here and wait for my return.”

“...”

Evelyn nodded and stood close to Pretta with her blades out, seemingly to warn the latter to stop thrashing around.

As for the parasite, he was wrapped around him then followed in his footsteps. He wasn’t strong enough to jump from one roof to the other like the vampires or the masked man, but he still had higher than average speed and with the darkness of the night along with the Mist of Decay, it was remarkably easy to reach the hideout of the target unnoticed.