Overlooking Quintus is not such a pleasure.

To Carlil, every corner of the city seemed grotesque and terrifying. Although he knows every nook and cranny of the city, he ......

He wasn't used to it, he couldn't get used to it.

To make matters worse, this feeling becomes even more intense when looking down from above. And the overlook happens to be one of the necessary conditions for his work.

In comparison, it's almost as irritating as getting someone who is afraid of heights to fly an airplane.

With the foul smell of cold wind blowing, all of these things were tacitly superimposed, and they roared towards Karil with their characteristic strong presence.

"I see it, yes."

Carlil shook his head and muttered. He reaffirmed his promise to the unnamed deceased. "I will not forget my promise."

Standing atop an eerie minaret, he began to rub his fingers against two blades.

The ghost wasn't behind him, he had vanished fifteen minutes earlier, completely blending into the night.

It only took him a day and a half to learn the trick that Carlil had spent more than a decade practicing, and he had mastered it completely. Now, the ghost is fully worthy of his name.

A midnight ghost.

As long as he wanted to, I am afraid that no one would be able to find him in such a dark night. This has been a great help to him in his work. Moreover, beyond the first time, the spirits possess terrifying strength and speed.

Thinking of this, Carlil smiled silently, and there was an obvious complexity in his smile. The gaze is lowered, and a fish that has been missed by a ghost is moving.

He exhaled softly, then stood up and began to move his shoulders and arms.

The clicking of bones was incessant, and some subtle throbbing pains followed. Carlil frowned slightly, a little helpless, but it didn't last long. He quickly regained his expressionless appearance.

He was accustomed to patience.

...... Moreover, these pains will not last long.

The time is near.

With a leap of his body, Carlil jumped off the eerie spire and swept across the dark sky like a ghost.

The cold wind swept through his face with countless tiny blades, which sliced his face fiercely. Pain and numbness ensued, and soon began to torment his body, but the ghost was indifferent.

He landed lightly, his feet touching the filthy ground, splashing a puddle of muddy water. The lower corner of his cloak swept the filthy corners as he walked, and two sharp blades poked out of his sleeves, and he quickly and silently approached the gang members patrolling ahead.

The ghost missed him, but, this time, it didn't matter.

The cold light flickered, and blood gushed out. The wounded's eyes widened, but the screams of pain and horror could not be uttered—before that, a great slit had been cut in his throat.

Two swings, two wounds, simple math problems. With a wave of an arm, you can take away life, and it's so simple that it's terrifying.

Violent.

The ghost sighed silently.

He drew his blade, helped the man, and led him back to the corner where he had just been. After closing a pair of godless eyes, Carlil threw the body into a corner of the darkness.

He doesn't need to deal with the blood left behind along the way, there are many creatures in the lower nest that crave it. He didn't have to dispose of corpses, and the hungry beasts in the darkness would naturally follow the smell of blood.

An ecosystem that has been built up after birth.

Cruel, efficient, and very challenging to human morality. Like Nostramo, like a ridiculous joke.

Carlil's eyes narrowed, and he heard the faint sound of running overhead. So he quietly took a step to the side, and in the next second, a dark shadow fell from the sky.

"Carlil......" the shadow whispered to him. I'm done. ”

"Well done, Spirit, but be more careful next time."

Karil turned his head and pointed at the corpse in the darkness with his blade: "The route of the patrol should also be completely determined, and the fourth sentry you deal with is on his patrol route. ”

The ghost pursed his lips unwillingly, and was about to say something more, but Carlil spoke one step earlier.

"No, don't apologize."

"But, I-"

"—don't apologize, ghost."

Staring into his eyes, Karil shook his head softly and slowly.

"You've officially started to get involved, and you've gotten the hang of it...... So don't apologize to me, I'm not responsible for your work. ”

"Responsible ......?"

The ghost frowned in confusion and tilted its head, looking a little frustrated.

"But I didn't do my best, Carlile."

"Best, a ridiculous word, ghost. Everybody defines it differently, you don't have to be the best I think, you just have a clear conscience. ”

As always, the ghost failed to understand what he meant. But he memorized them all by heart.

In all conscience. He chewed on the odd word.

There are no words in Nostramo that have similar meanings, and Carlil uses an octosyllabic combination to express his meaning precisely.

The ghost meditated on it, and in the next moment it suddenly felt an eerie shudder.

The source of this feeling is imperceptible, as if it came from the void. But the ghost was genuinely struck by it, his breathing as quiet and cautious as ever, the dead silence in his eyes churning again.

— until a hand grabbed his wrist.

The ghost shuddered and lowered its head, seeing two bits of blue light flash away.

"You have to learn to reject them, Spirit." Carlil said in a deep voice. "This instinct, talent, or curse that can see the future for a short time...... It depends on you to exist, and you are its master. ”

He let go of his hand and said calmly, "Master it, okay?" ”

The Wraith nodded dumbfounded, forgetting to even ask Carlil why he knew he had this ability.

Silence fell, a cold wind blew, and there was no one in the empty alley. In the filthy corners, dense shadows crawled crowded, and a moment later, the faint sound of chewing sounded.

-----------------

Returning to the gargoyle again, overlooking the plaza below, Carlil couldn't help but frown.

They had been working in the middle of the night in a place that was not the square that would have been used for preaching, and it was no different from scaring for it now.

Before the main drama starts, it is a good choice to practice with some gangs on the other side of the city.

After all, the purge was approaching, and the gangs all started curfews, sentry posts, and patrol routes in their own territory.

"Their numbers are wrong......"

Carlil whispered, he didn't really need to talk about the thought process. He is already familiar with this kind of thing.

But there is someone who will need this kind of thinking from the shadows.

The man was now crouching behind the gargoyle and listening quietly.

"This firepower has nothing to do with the security of the preaching, the ghosts, they obviously came with other intentions."

Carlil paused, his gaze fixed on the middle of the square. At some point, there was already a delicate metal podium, and the coat of arms of the Skolewalker family flashed on the front, which was particularly prominent.

Even the coat of arms has to be made into a shining style, which is really exaggerated, but ...... Arrange so many people in advance......

Already aware of this?

Carlil's eyes narrowed, and he wordlessly raised his guard. Again, he cautiously and carefully swept through the rooms with closed windows, then the empty squares and every gloomy path around them.

However, he was not able to produce any other evidence.

Aside from the obvious inaccuracies, there was nothing else to support his terrible guess.

"Carlil?"

At that moment, the ghost spoke softly.

"What's wrong?"

"I feel .....," the ghost said hesitantly. Something is wrong. ”

Carlil frowned sharply.

Naturally, he didn't take the 'wrong' of the ghost's mouth as a conclusion about the situation below, and the ghost had not yet learned how to distinguish the malice hidden in these details.

But that didn't mean he had to ignore the ghost's words.

"Seizures again?"

Carlil turned his head and asked solemnly, "Two seizures in a row in a short period of time?" Has there been a precedent before, Spirits? How are you feeling right now? ”

Before he finished speaking, his eyes were already lit up with blue light.

"No, no!" The ghost hurriedly stopped. "No, I just feel like someone's-"

He didn't have time to finish.

And Carlil saw that the ghost's expression suddenly became hideous at this moment. The next moment, his perception of time was slowed down, and a second was eerily shattered in this moment.

Carlil could have left immediately. However, for some reason, he chose to stop where he was.

The wraith let out a low roar, quickly reached out its right hand, grabbed Carlil's hand, and leaped to its feet.

- And then, the broken time was glued together.

"Bang!"

A dull gunshot rang out, breaking the silence of the second half of the night. The gangs didn't react,

A huge bullet rained in, turning the crouched gargoyle into shattered powder flying through the air.

The wraith quickly moved away from the place with a few vertical jumps, and Carlil turned his head silently, just in time to see a pitch-black barrel retracted from under the pulpit.

Interesting.

He laughed silently.

Half a minute later, they stopped at the top of a church a few hundred meters from the square. The ghost put him down and looked at him worriedly, gasping for air, the sound of his heart beating very distinctly.

He didn't speak, but the problem was already on his face.

And Carlil also knew that with the physical strength of the ghost, he would not get tired from the few jumps he had just made.

"I'm fine." Carlil replied softly. "The head of House Skolewalker doesn't seem to be a very patient man, though, Wraith."

The ghost nodded silently, not understanding what Carlil was metaphorizing. His expression was palpably hideous at the moment, and a kind of anger was slowly flowing over it.

"Calm down." Carlil smiled. "Remember what I taught you, Spirit?"

After a long silence, the ghost answered his words.

“...... Calm is the deadliest weapon beyond the blade. ”

"Yes." Carlil looked up and whispered. "Calmness is the deadliest weapon besides the blade, but there is actually a second half to this sentence."

"The second half?"

"yes......"

The ghost grinned and answered the ghost's question with a harsh smile. "Anger can be scarier sometimes, if you know how to use it."

He turned his head, and the blade was already sticking out of his sleeve.

Is the time near?

No, the time has come.

Standing on the edge of the church, Carlil took a deep breath of foul-smelling air. The ghost stood behind him, silent. The former is ready and enlightened, while the latter is unaware of it.

The night was still long, long enough for many things to happen.