92 One on One

Valentine sat down on the ground next to a dumpster with holes in his overcoat and some injuries on his bodies. There were broken bottles littered around him and some cigarette butts. The streetlight that was supposed to illuminate the alley wasn't bright enough to do so, creating a lot of shaded spaces around. The dumpster itself strangely didn't smell, so he didn't really mind his surroundings. He controlled his breathing and took a rest there for some moments. Although he wasn't gravely injured, he was still in pain.

"I couldn't copy that blood dagger ability," he muttered to himself, "It's most likely because the rank is higher than ours,"

The pale leather belt that he was wearing had now had some patterns on it, resembling an upside-down domed building. It happened right after Purloin successfully copied the blood pellet ability. Besides the pattern, Valentine also got the knowledge of the ability he had copied.

"It seems I can only copy the exact ability that I saw, not the whole blood manipulation ability that a Murderer has," he concluded.

He sat there for some more minutes, giving the injury on his body time to heal. As a Contractbound, his natural healing was enhanced, but it still took time for wounds to close completely.

"G, you need to use your ability to mend this coat later. And don't forget to change the mask's appearance back," he muttered again, his voice was muffled by the yellow sorrowful mask he was wearing.

Valentine stood up after some time. Although his injuries hadn't healed completely, he had recovered enough. He moved away from the dumpster and walked out to the street beyond the alley. His presence was still concealed, so his footsteps didn't make any sound.

Once he was in the street, he started heading towards the apartment where he lived. However, after only taking several steps, his spirituality was triggered. He looked around to find the source of it. The street was already very quiet at that hour, which was eleven in the evening. There were only a handful of people still left there, and most of them were already leaving quickly. They didn't seem to notice Valentine with his creepy mask except if they somehow looked directly at him.

After concentrating harder, he could faintly feel that the feeling came from a drunk man lying on the ground in the distance. The man didn't look homeless, but his appearance was as messy as one. Valentine quickly approached him and once he was close to the man, he had an inexplicable urge to put the man under Interrogation.

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

Once he had finished chanting, all of sudden his surroundings became deathly quiet. The already hardly noticeable sounds of footsteps from everyone else just vanished completely now. He felt like he had entered a different dimension, although everything around him stayed the same.

"THE DEITY OF UNCOVERING DECREED THAT YOU EXPOSE A TRAGEDY BEFALLING SOMEONE SERVING A PRESIDENT TO A LARGE AUDIENCE!"

The voice was too loud and it sounded like it was spoken directly into his ears. Blood dripped from his ear canals and he was panting in pain that was growing with every passing second although the person was no longer speaking.

He couldn't maintain the interrogation anymore because of the pain and everything returned to normal. The man was still lying down on the ground as if nothing had happened and when he touched his ears, there was no blood dripping from them.

Valentine quickly continued making his way home. He walked swiftly and when he felt that he was about to exit the fifty-meter radius of his Concealment, he recast it to hide his presence.

He was walking through a park on Herenstraat, which was still near the slum in Oosteinde when suddenly his danger sense was triggered.

"What now?" he sighed and complained.

He readied his gun and got into a battle position while observing his surroundings carefully, searching for the source of danger. Not long after, from the opposite direction, a man walked leisurely towards him. He was wearing a simple red sweater with striped pants and a facemask was covering his face. Valentine could see the man's eyes looking hungrily at him, although he couldn't judge the color correctly because of his night vision. The man's neatly combed back hair gave him an atmosphere of intelligence if combined with his overall appearance.

"So this is where the presence is coming from," said the man. His voice was cold but elegant.

Valentine then realized what the man was talking about. Although his presence had been concealed, Purloin, the belt that he was wearing, was still giving off a presence that attracted people occasionally.

"It's a mistake from my part. I wasn't actually expecting a guest, so if you'll excuse me," said Valentine politely although he had no intention of running away. The man didn't look like the type that would let him anyway.

"It's fine. I'm in the mood to play tonight," said the man while fixing the gloves that he was wearing.

"If you would kindly tell me who you are, then I'll play with you," replied Valentine while observing the man closely.

Judging from the man's built, he didn't seem to be the brawn type, but a brainy one. Valentine had to be very careful against that kind of enemy, and he needed to gather as much information as he could in that short time that he hadn't attacked yet.

"Since you asked politely, I shall answer. You can call me Gloom. Now tell me who you are, so I can remember you after your death," replied the man called Gloom gentlemanly.

"You can call me Sorrowful Gemini. Remember that when your Deity asked you why you died," replied Valentine courteously.

Gloom was still standing on his spot without moving, which made Valentine slightly uneasy. He had no idea what kind of attack his enemy would launch at him, so it was a disadvantageous situation for him. Suddenly, the man muttered under his breath, but Valentine's boosted hearing could still hear what he was saying.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Stupidity and Hatred, grant stupidity upon you!"

Bang!

Valentine didn't let Gloom proceed with whatever he was trying to do. He shot a paralyzing bullet at him, but somehow he forgot that it was still the blood bullet inside the chamber. The bullet flew through the air and only grazed Gloom's shoulder. Gloom could dodge it easily because Valentine somehow forgot to aim properly as well since he thought as long as the bullet hit the target, he would be paralyzed. The blood bullet had no effect on the enemy, who had quickly finished another chanting.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Stupidity and Hatred, declare the start of a quiz!"

Valentine quickly put away his revolver and took out his dagger. He darted at Gloom with a high speed, aiming for his neck.

"Which organization do I belong to?" asked Gloom suddenly.

Valentine felt like he froze in place and in front of him, there was an illusory timer with only five seconds left. Gloom looked like he couldn't move either until the timer ran out or Valentine gave an answer. The surrounding areas seemed to have frozen as well.

Valentine quickly racked his brain to find the answer. Being asked suddenly like that made it difficult to think of the correct answer. He thought of an organization shortly after, and although he wasn't sure, he had to give it a shot anyway.

"Pale Society," he answered quickly with only one second left on the timer.

Once he gave his answer, the illusory timer disappeared and everything went back to normal. although there was no indicator, Valentine received the feeling that his answer was correct. Both of them could move freely again and Valentine's attack was resumed.

Clank!

Gloom deflected Valentine's attack with his own knife rather easily. He seemed to have used the frozen time to analyze the trajectory of his attack. He quickly took a step back to a safe distance.

"I'm surprised you know the answer," said Gloom calmly.

"I also know you're an Ignoramus," replied Valentine.

Gloom didn't react to it.

Valentine quickly closed into his enemy and once in range, before Gloom had any time to retreat, he finished chanting.

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

Suddenly, Gloom's eyes became blank. He had fallen under Valentine's control, but he couldn't attack right away because of the heightened sense of danger that the target now possessed. His attack would just be dodged easily.

Valentine felt that his control wouldn't last very long. He felt a strong force trying to break out, so using his limited time, he slit his palm and drop his blood to the ground below. While waiting for the blood to pool, he chanted in rapid succession.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Secrets, hereby declare my presence no longer a secret!"

"I, in the name of the Deity of Secrets, hereby declare the word stupidity a secret!"

Valentine got a strong headache all of sudden, which meant that his ability had failed. He quickly changed the word in his chant and tried again.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Secrets, hereby declare the word grant a secret!"

After that, there was a second of silence quickly went away. The silence made people feel like they had forgotten something, but they couldn't exactly pinpoint what.

There was now enough blood underneath his feet, so he chanted one more time.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Bloodshed and Manslaughter, order my blood that covers the earth to attack my enemy!"

The blood underneath Valentine boiled and became tiny droplets of blood that quickly shot at Gloom. His heightened sense of danger quickly woke him up from Valentine's control and enabled him to avoid the first view shots. However, there were still many pellets of blood remained, and he failed to avoid them all.

Pow! Pow! Pow!

The blood pellets created a lot of holes on Gloom's sweater and injured him. He tried to deflect the attacks using his knife but there were too many small blood pellets for him to deflect. However, although he was injured, it didn't seem to affect him that badly. To Gloom, the blood pellets felt like strong paintball bullets, painful, but not enough to kill him.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Stupidity and Hatred, ----- stupidity upon you!"

Gloom tried to chant an ability amidst the barrage of blood pellets but it failed because of Valentine's restriction. The smile on his face faded and turned into a scary frown.

"How large is the whole area of Sloten?"

Suddenly, time froze again and the two of them couldn't move. The blood pellets all stopped in their track while an illusory timer appeared again in front of Valentine.

"874.8 km²," answered Valentine quickly.

The timer went away and he knew he had answered correctly again.

"I learned Geography at school," said Valentine shortly to Gloom with a mocking tone.

"What's the true name of the Deity of War?" asked Gloom once again. Time froze for both of them.

This time, Valentine didn't know the answer. And even if he did, saying a random Deity's true name out loud might bring calamity upon him. The illusory timer in front of him quickly reached zero and time flowed again. Although there was no direct indicator, Valentine felt that his thinking had become slightly slower than before.

Valentine took out his gun again and loaded it with the paralyzing bullets in that short time. However, it took him a split-second longer to aim properly. Before he had the chance to shoot, suddenly he heard the sound of a drum beating coming from his enemy and Gloom had quickly closed in to him with his knife.

Badum! Badum!

Clank!

Valentine tried to deflect the attack with the knife in his left hand but Gloom was suddenly much more powerful.

Stab!

He managed to prevent his vital part from being pierced by the knife, but his right shoulder was impaled badly. Blood dripped from the deep wound along his arm to the ground below. He dropped his gun in the process and Gloom quickly kicked it away from him.

Seizing his chance, Valentine quickly chanted.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Bloodshed and Manslaughter, order my blood that covers the earth to attack my enemy!"

The blood quickly boiled and shot at Gloom, who quickly retreated to a safe distance, leaving Valentine panting. His blood kept dripping, so the blood pellets didn't stop. His stamina had been drained a lot by using the copied ability, and he had reached the limit of two uses of the day.

Pow! Pow! Pow!

More light injuries appeared on Gloom's body because of Valentine's attack.

"From the beginning, you're just a prey. Stop making things difficult for yourself," he said arrogantly with annoyance. Although Valentine couldn't see it, he could hear from Gloom's voice that he was smiling sinisterly under his mask.

His left hand stopped making a beating motion and the sound of the drum stopped. He slit his wrist and let a lot of blood pour to the ground. Valentine didn't know what he was planning to do, but he didn't want to give the enemy a chance to finish the ritual. However, he was too injured to make a sudden movement and his gun was not around, so he couldn't react in time. He was only about to get close enough for Gloom to be in range when the latter finished chanting.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Stupidity and Hatred, using this blood of mine as a sacrifice, hereby declare that people around me forget how to stay conscious!"

A sense of brooding descended into the park. The pool of blood underneath Gloom vaporized and quickly spread to the surrounding area, leaving no crevices safe. Valentine's sense of danger was triggered right away. He stopped breathing and counted on his mask to block the small particle but it had no effect; he suddenly felt dazed and tumbled down to the ground.

"Now, let's end this," said Gloom coldly. He seemed to be smiling under his mask. He walked closer to Valentine who was now lying unconscious on the pavement.

Gloom got on top of him and was ready to stab the man in the heart to kill him. However, he didn't seem to notice that the wound on the enemy's shoulder had suddenly closed. Just as he was about to sink the knife into the man's heart, suddenly he heard a faint chanting and his body couldn't move.

"I, in the name of the Deity of the Tongue, order you to freeze!"

Suddenly, instead of his enemy's heart that was pierced by his knife, it was his heart that got stabbed by the enemy. His eyes showed bewilderment and before he collapsed, his body was pushed aside by the enemy. It was Graham who had woken up because Valentine had lost consciousness.

"Just how many Deities are you in contract with..." he asked with his last breath.

Graham didn't respond to him. He was busy searching Gloom's body for anything valuable.

"But it doesn't matter. Soon, the Pale Lord will descend..."

As he said that, his eyes became lifeless, and soon, his whole body burst into flames. Graham watched the whole process without regret because in his hands, now he had a hunting knife that Gloom had used, an expensive-looking wallet, and two wraiths remain. Gloom didn't have any enchanted equipment, which made Graham rather regretful.

Once his body had turned completely into ashes, three contract scrolls were left there and a round object began to form. It looked like a tiny, pale brain. Graham picked up all the scrolls and the brain and quickly switched with Valentine again.

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

The blood that was on Valentine's palm that he had slit emitted a strange yellowish mist.

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

He dropped the blood to the soil underneath a tree and successfully placed anti-divination in the area. He then quickly picked up his gun that had been kicked by Gloom and got away from the park before anyone noticed him, after making sure that he concealed Purloin's presence this time.