In the dark, unlit sewer, Klein wiped his neck and turned his attention back to Lan Erus's shattered head and headless corpse, and to the two Tarot cards stuck in his eyes.
He had wanted to retrieve all the "knives" he had thrown to eliminate the clues, but he discovered a very real and serious problem: he didn't have dark vision.
He could speed through the pitch-black sewer and fight fiercely with Lan Erus only by using his spiritual vision!
He could see the color of Lan Erus's aura, see the spiritual radiance of various creatures, and vaguely grasp the places they "illuminates," thereby distinguishing the path.
Unfortunately, the Tarot deck he was using now was not the one he had obtained from the Nighthawks; it had no silver spiritual patterns, was ordinary, and had no special features.
In such an environment, Klein could rely on his own aura and spiritual radiance to distinguish the outlines of things within a very small area around him, but he couldn't see the cards stuck on the walls or scattered on the ground at a distance—during their fierce battle, he and Lan Erus hadn't been confined to one place.
Of course, he believed that given enough time, it wouldn't be too difficult to find and collect all the Tarot cards he had thrown, but the problem was that the Nighthawks pursuing Lan Erus and the military personnel from the airship might arrive at any minute!
I can't be careless about this... I've been wearing gloves... This Tarot deck was bought before I came to Backlund; it's a national standard version... I almost never use it... Even when I carry it, I usually keep it together with Mr. Azik's copper whistle... No matter what method is used, it's hard to trace me back through them; at most, it might help reconstruct some parts of the battle scene, and I have a mask on my face and my shoes are padded... Various thoughts flashed through his mind, and Klein quickly made a decision.
He turned to Lan Erus's headless corpse, crouched down, and reached out with his black-gloved right hand to quickly search for any remaining items on him.
— Klein had no intention of performing a spiritual ritual. First, the feeling of a god descending had left a deep impression on him, and he dared not blindly commune with Lan Erus's spirit unless he brought it to the Grey Fog. Second, with the Nighthawks and military personnel potentially arriving at any moment, he didn't think he had enough time to set up a ritual, summon himself, respond to himself, and then go to the Grey Fog for spirit communion.
If I should give up, then give up... Klein muttered silently, pulling his hand back from Lan Erus's body.
This mad con man seemed to have fled in a great hurry; he had no cash, no materials, no charms, and only carried an eyeball-sized badge on him, which had a light, thin spiritual radiance quietly shining.
Klein wasn't afraid that this item could be traced, because he planned to toss it into the Grey Fog later to study slowly. So he straightened up and put the badge into his pocket.
He stared at Lan Erus's corpse, without waiting for the supernatural properties to separate out, and with his left hand in a black glove, he took out the remaining Tarot cards.
Then he extended his left arm, holding the cards directly above Lan Erus's body.
Suddenly, Klein opened his hand, letting the Tarot cards fall with a rustling sound, like leaves covering the headless corpse. Some landed face-up, with pictures and numbers, others with dark red backs and faint patterns.
After doing this, Klein took out Azik's copper whistle, tossed it a few times, and then ran toward the depths of the sewer without looking back.
After nearly two minutes, several figures finally found this place. Some wore black thick trench coats, others wore well-designed, well-tailored quasi-military uniforms.
The leader was Crestet Seçhima, holding a pure bone white sword; his red gloves were stained with dust, and his resolute face showed obvious exhaustion and weakness.
They stopped a few meters from the body, and using their dark vision, they saw Lan Erus's corpse and his head near the wall.
Two Tarot cards were stuck in the head: one was "The Emperor," and the other was "The Wheel of Fortune."
The headless body was covered with even more cards, depicting "The Chariot of the Victor," "The Hermit in a robe, holding a lamp," "Death riding a white horse, wearing armor," and more numbered cups and staff cards.
On the walls and the ground around, other Tarot cards like "The Devil," "The Sun," and "Judgment" were stuck or lying.
All of this looked like the site of a strange ritual, with Lan Erus as the destined sacrifice.
Crestet Seçhima silently took a breath, his brows deeply furrowed; the supernatural beings around him were momentarily speechless, stunned by this both horrifying and mysterious scene in the darkness.
…………
After moving far from Lan Erus's death scene, Klein quickly found an exit, took off his clown mask, and in the shadow of the gas lamps, quickly walked toward the East District.
Before this, he had already cleaned the stains from his shoe soles.
Only when he entered the East District and arrived at Black Palm Street did he finally breathe a sigh of relief. Then, in his rented one-bedroom apartment, he quickly performed a ritual of summoning himself and responding to himself.
In his spiritual state, Klein moved all the clothes he had worn tonight, the remaining charms, herbs, essential oils, and the badge he had obtained from Lan Erus to the Grey Fog, burning away the corresponding clues with spiritual fire.
Huh... He let out a breath and finally had a moment to look at what the badge from Lan Erus looked like.
The badge was only the size of an eye; on the front was engraved the symbol of fate and concealment, and on the back was a dense circle of small ancient Hermes script:
"With this, you may join."
What does this mean? Was Lan Erus a member of some secret organization? Klein rubbed his forehead; feeling exhausted and realizing it wasn't the right time, he decisively gave up on studying it, planning to figure it out after the Tarot gathering.
He quickly left the mysterious space of the Grey Fog, changed into another set of clothes, and removed his previous disguise.
However, he didn't rush back to Minsk Street; he planned to sleep until morning, because moving around after midnight itself easily attracts attention, and such an incident had just occurred.
Lying in bed, Klein looked at the night sky outside the window, where the moonlight was hidden, and his mind gradually calmed down.
After completing the initial revenge, he felt that he had removed a huge burden, shed a lot of repression, and his mental state was significantly better than in the previous period.
"Ince Zangwill and the sealed artifact '0-08' are not something I can handle at present; the gap is too large. Only by becoming a high-sequence powerhouse, a demigod-like existence, can I be qualified to get involved in this... Before advancing to Sequence 4, I will pretend they don't exist..."
"Yes, my goal for a long time in the future is to work hard to improve myself. I have now completely digested the 'Clown' potion, and once I collect the extraordinary materials, I can advance to 'Magician'."