The tracker choked out a gasp of air as Aoi’s fingers tightened just enough to remind him how fragile his neck was.
He looked at Haruto, searching for any sign of mercy in his analytical eyes, but found only the coldness of a solved equation.
“Three!” the spy wheezed through gritted teeth, his voice cracking with panic.
“There’s only three of us in this district…
The other two are watching the gates at the lower market and the information guild.” “Who do you answer to?” Haruto asked, taking a step closer.
“Gerald fell in the ruins.
Who issued the order to set up the perimeter in Valoria?” “Cardinal Lucian…” the man stammered, breaking into a cold sweat.
“The Inquisition isn’t sending any more commanders.
Lucian deployed the Shadow Hunters.
They know you broke the System link…
They have orders to execute anyone whose level doesn’t register on the League’s mirrors.” Aoi glanced at Haruto through their mental link.
Lucian is in charge of the refinement sector in the Sacred Capital, Haruto transmitted into her mind.
He manages the energy the Anchor of the End absorbs from reincarnators.
If he’s involved, this is no longer a routine hunt; they’re coming to eradicate us before the manuscript spreads.
“What do we do with him?” Aoi asked, looking down at the tracker.
Haruto reached out and touched the spy’s forehead.
A subtle pulse of blue mana penetrated the man’s nervous system, lulling his senses to sleep and temporarily wiping his memories from the past hour.
The tracker slumped unconscious into Aoi’s arms immediately.
“We leave him in the alley with a short-range memory wipe,” Haruto said.
“He’ll think he slipped off the roof from a bout of dizziness.
But now we know what we’re up against: Cardinal Lucian is sealing the city’s exits.” Aoi dropped the man into a shadowy corner of the cornice and adjusted her greatsword against her back.
“Then we can’t just sit around and wait at the inn.
If the Shadow Hunters are prowling the lower market, we take the fight to them before they surround us.” “Precisely,” Haruto agreed, his runic marks pulsing in the dark.
“We’re going to strike Lucian’s network on their own turf.”