Seth bent down and absorbed the sins of the three dead people one by one.

The process was familiar to him by now.

Heavy, foul sensations flowed into his body, like mud dragged through his veins.

Hatred, greed, obsession—twisted beliefs layered together into something rotten.

He accepted them all without hesitation, feeling no remorse as he did so.

These people had targeted innocent lives for their ritualistic beliefs.

They had chosen their path willingly.

Seth had long since learned that mercy given to people like this only created more victims.

When the last trace of sin settled, he straightened his back and let out a slow breath.

As he stood up to leave, a thought gave him pause.

He looked at the scene—the bodies, the dumpster, the malicious poem laying on the ground.

He looked down as he pondered over something deeply.

He picked up the cheap pen that had been dropped earlier.

From his own pocket, he took out a small, clean piece of paper—the kind he used for notes.

He thought for a moment, then wrote a single line in clear, simple handwriting.

He placed the paper carefully on the ground, near the ritual poem but separate from it.

Then, he activated [Null Presence] and stepped back, melting into the shadows of the alley just as the sound of running footsteps and panicked voices grew louder from the market.

The single gunshot had thrown the rundown market into chaos.

People scattered, stalls were abandoned, and shouts filled the air.

Within minutes, the narrow alley was empty except for the bodies and the smell of decay.

Three officers arrived shortly after.

They moved in cautiously.

The scene that greeted them was grotesque.

One body was already in an advanced, unnatural state of decay, swarming with flies.

Two other men lay dead nearby, one with a broken neck, the other with a knife wound.

All were clustered around a large, rusted dumpster.

"This is bad," one officer muttered.

Another officer pointed to the ground.

"Sir… there are papers."

Two pieces of paper lay near the bodies.

One was stained and worn.

Even at a glance, the writing on it felt wrong.

The officer didn't need to touch it to recognize the danger.

Ritualistic writings were not something an untrained person should interfere with.

The second paper looked cleaner.

The leading officer crouched slightly, careful not to disturb anything.

He didn't pick it up, but he could read the words clearly from where he stood.

"You cannot walk a path paved with disregarded lives and expect to arrive at a destination of peace..."

Beside the sentence was a small, hand-drawn grinning face.

The officer froze and was stunned.

His expression hardened.

"Seal off the area," he said quickly.

"Call this in as a high-risk case. No one touches anything until specialists arrive."

The other officers nodded at once, moving into action.

...

It had already been a few days since the gathering at the Black Lantern.

With Seth's ability to use [Null Presence], and the detailed information on Darius Velon from Miss Brown, tracking the man down had been surprisingly easy.

For the past few days, Seth had followed the slightly hunched man, who looked to be in his late thirties.

He knew where the man lived now...

A small, tidy apartment above a closed hardware store.

He also knew the places he frequented.

A particular café in the morning, a public library in the afternoon, and a quiet, unremarkable bar in the evening.

But what stood out was what didn't happen.

Darius hadn't met up with anyone at all during these few days.

On the surface, he lived like a normal civilian going through an ordinary routine, not a communication waypoint for demonic weapon traders.

Every morning, he would leave his room at roughly the same time.

He'd buy breakfast from a roadside stall and ate while walking.

Sometimes he would visit a public library.

Other times, he'd sit in cafés or bars for hours at a time.

In the evening, he'd returned to his room alone.

Seth followed him through narrow streets, across open squares, and into crowded buildings without being noticed.

With [Null Presence] active, Seth could stay close enough to observe details others would miss.

And the details didn't lie.

At one café, Darius sat by the window with a book open in front of him.

To anyone watching from afar, it looked normal.

He turned pages at a steady pace, sipped his drink, and stayed for nearly an hour.

But Seth noticed his eyes...

They weren't focused on the words at all!

Darius's gaze kept drifting.

Left, right...

Towards reflections in the glass, towards the door, towards people passing behind him...

The book was just a prop.

His attention was always outward, scanning his surroundings as if expecting something to happen.

It was definitely a cautious habit he had developed...

In the afternoons at the library, Darius would browse the non-fiction shelves, usually history or economics.

But he never checked out a book.

He would pull one out, stand there for ten minutes as if reading, but his posture was always tense, his head slightly tilted as if listening for something.

He was using the library's silence and its rows of shelves as a sensory blind, a place to see if he was being followed without the follower realizing it.

The most telling moment came at the bar.

One evening, just after Darius had settled onto a stool, a police officer in a black uniform walked in, doing a routine inspection.

Darius didn't turn around, but Seth, watching from a shadowed booth, saw the man's shoulders tighten.

His knuckles went white around his glass.

He was perfectly still, like a rabbit sensing a hawk.

Only when the officer finished his brief look and left did Darius's entire body visibly relax.

He took a long, slow drink, the tension draining away.

Behind him, invisible and silent, Seth quietly noted all of this in a small notebook.

After another long day of watching Darius Velon, something finally changed in the man's routine.

At around 2 a.m., long after the city had grown quiet, Darius left his apartment.

But this was different.

He wasn't wearing his usual casual clothes.

Instead, he wore dark, nondescript trousers and a thick jacket.

More noticeably, his posture had changed.

The usual slight hunch was gone.

He moved with a straight-backed, purposeful stride, his steps quick and silent as he descended the fire escape instead of using the front door.

Seth, hidden under [Null Presence], followed closely.

He mentally noted the date.

'A Wednesday... Does he do this every Wednesday? Is this his delivery day?'

Darius traveled far from his usual routes, avoiding main streets and well-lit areas.

The destination surprised him.

Darius arrived at a public school in the Zerep District.

At this late hour, the school grounds were deserted.

Darius slipped inside through a side door and made his way to the locker rooms.

Inside the locker room, a man dressed as a janitor was waiting, leaning on a mop.

Without a word, the janitor handed Darius a small key, then turned and left, his work boots echoing softly.

Seth quickly noted the janitor's appearance: average height, a gray cap pulled low, and a slight limp in his left leg.

Darius went straight to a specific locker: Locker 217.

He used the key, opened the door, and pulled out a medium-sized, black suitcase.

He didn't open it but simply took it, closed the locker, and left the school with a sense of urgency.

From there, Darius moved across the city again, the suitcase held tightly at his side.

His final stop was the crumbling edge of the Ragybo District, an area known for its old, neglected apartment buildings.

If Seth remembered correctly, Jake Williams' place was also located here in Ragybo...

Seth followed, piecing his actions together...

The school was a secret place to pick up items.

The janitor was the contact.

The suitcase, picked up from Locker 217, was the package.

And now, Darius was delivering it to someone in the Ragybo District...

This was the "waypoint" in action.

The mysterious recipient was likely one of the demonic weapon traders Miss Brown was after...

All Seth had to do was see who accepted the delivery.

Seth quietly noted the location—

A crumbling, six-story complex called the "Havenview Apartments," which looked anything but safe.

Seth followed as Darius entered the building and climbed the stairs to the third floor, stopping at Room 10.

Seth watched from the shadows as Darius raised his hand and knocked.

Three soft knocks.

Then one hard knock.

Then two more knocks, spaced far apart.

After a short pause, Darius leaned closer to the door and spoke in a low voice.

"Your food is here."

It was clearly a coded signal to identify himself to whoever was inside.

The door opened just a crack, then wider.

A teenage girl stood in the doorway.

She had shoulder-length black hair tied back in a messy ponytail.

Her eyes were small and sharp, focused in a way that didn't match her age.

She had a round, youthful face, but her posture was stiff and serious, giving her an oddly mature air.

Seth's breath caught in his throat.

He froze.

His mind went blank for a second before everything rushed back at once.

This… this was Rose.

The original Seth Arden's younger sister!

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