"What’s he doing?" Tate asked instinctively.
"He wants to join forces with to assassinate Ferdinand."
Tate’s pupils constricted, but Baron, as if not noticing, said, "Did you know about this?"
"No." Tate shook his head, his expression complicated. "Is he trying to assassinate the gang leader and fra for it?"
"I suppose so. To that end, he even made a few special deals with ," Baron said.
"What deals?"
"You don’t know? I thought you would. Hasn’t Moff Faraday told you?"
"Told what?"
"You’re sitting here right now because he wanted you to. He told he wanted to use our ’cooperation’ to assassinate Ferdinand as an opportunity to get rid of you, too."
Baron said, "He’s the one who leaked that you were at the underground brothel."
"Is... is that true?" Tate said.
"You should be asking how he could betray you, not ’is that true.’ Still trying to play the victim at a ti like this?"
"You still won’t tell the truth. I gave you your chance." Baron sighed. "It looks like I’ll have to deliver the sentence before the trial."
He glanced in a certain direction. "He’s all yours."
The sound of footsteps approached from behind, accompanied by the faint sll of smoke.
When the figure ca to a stop before him, Tate’s composure finally shattered. "You!"
The stubbled Blood Loss Knight, Morey, grinned, revealing tobacco-stained yellow teeth. "This might hurt a little. Please try to bear it."
Before Tate could say another word, a wave of excruciating pain washed over him. The Blood Loss Knight had taken a knife and pried his fingernail clean off!
......
When Baron re-entered the room, all he saw was a man made of blood sitting in the chair.
The Blood Loss Knight was off to the side, chain-smoking and erratically drawing a smiley face on the floor with blood. Seeing Baron, he gave him a nod.
"He’ll confess to anything now. Ask whatever you want. I’ll make myself scarce. Just be warned, his answers might not make much sense."
Morey closed the door on his way out.
Baron approached the bloody form of Tate. He was still breathing, a cigarette dangling from his mouth.
’Dangling’ wasn’t the right word. It was more like it had been placed there.
His front teeth had been pulled out, leaving a perfect gap for the cigarette to rest in.
Baron dropped the pretense. He rubbed his hands together, conjuring a flicker of Dragon Fla to light Tate’s cigarette. "Ready to talk now?"
"Go to Hell..." Tate rasped. The cigarette fell from the gap in his teeth, landing on the floor where it was instantly soaked in blood.
Baron’s eyebrows arched. He thought he might need to apply more pressure, but then the Vice Gang Leader began to gasp, his words tumbling out in a delirious rush.
"The cooperation with the Immortal Church... started last year... They need enough blood sacrifices... to trade for power from their goddess... The gang leader needs the ritual to increase his chances of breaking through to the Silver Tier..."
’Immortal Church? A large number of blood sacrifices? A ritual?’
Baron’s eyes widened in realization. "Are the missing persons cases connected to you?"
"Yes... we did it... They’re buried... in the warehouse at 307 Helen Avenue..."
’Well now,’ Baron thought. ’What a pleasant surprise.’
Baron’s voice grew grim. "Did you know about Faraday’s plan? Were you a part of it?"
Tate said, his eyes vacant, "It was Ferdinand Gang Leader’s idea. He wanted to use Faraday to betray you on the night of Foggy Day and capture you alive."
’That thick-browed, big-eyed bastard Faraday really is no good!’
"Capture alive? Wouldn’t it make more sense for them to want dead?"
Tate said, "Because he needs to know the whereabouts of those twenty-odd Gold Coins."
’Just for twenty-so Gold Coins? Gold Coins are valuable, sure, but the Iron Thorn Gang and Ferdinand clearly aren’t hurting for money.’
Baron asked, "What’s so special about those Gold Coins? Why is Ferdinand so obsessed with them?"
"Among the Gold Coins is one tainted by ’Ti.’ It’s called the ’Return Gold Coin.’ Activating it allows the user’s body to revert to its state from one minute prior."
"If Ferdinand fails in his attempt to reach the Silver Tier, he plans to use the Return Gold Coin to evade the penalty for failure."
’A Return Gold Coin? It can negate the penalty for a failed ascension? That explains everything.’
Baron asked, "How can you tell the Return Gold Coin apart from the others?"
"I don’t know. Ti is impossible to observe. Only the most elite Silver Tier and Golden Tier Law Enforcers can spot it."
’...So you’re telling these twenty-odd Gold Coins are basically useless assets for now?’
Baron quickly ran through his mories and let out a breath. He was thankful that, aside from the one Gold Coin he’d given the Little Nun, he hadn’t spent a single one.
And he had even gotten that coin back from the Little Nun during his escape.
’I don’t know if this counts as a Taboo Item,’ he thought, ’but when I get back to the Church, I can try using the Glimpse of the Mysterious Crystal on it.’
Baron asked another question. "Do you know where the Immortal Church holds its rituals?"
"The Immortal Church contact... is in this brothel. We call him ’Vulture.’ He’s bald... with a vulture tattooed on his head..."
Tate’s answer was off-topic.
"I don’t know, I don’t know, just spare ..."
"I’ll kill you all! I, Tate Rodney, Vice Gang Leader of the Iron Thorn Gang, a Bronze Demon Hunter... swear upon the Demon Hunter Law..."
Baron said, "Faraday was the one who sold you out."
A flicker of light returned to Tate’s eyes. "I swear on the Demon Hunter Law, I will kill Faraday!"
"And Ferdinand," Baron added.
"And Ferdinand!"
’A dignified Bronze Tier Demon Hunter, reduced to this state without even drawing his blade. The world is a cold place, and people are faithless. What a miserable end.’
Baron figured he was now half-insane. He asked a few more questions, confirming that he couldn’t get anything else coherent out of him.
With a pained expression, Baron made the sign of the cross over his chest, then pressed his palms together. "Allah, An, Amitabha."
A single slash ended him.
The mont the blade tasted blood, a look of pure relief washed over the man’s face. It was clear Morey’s torture had been as much ntal as it was physical.
’He really lives up to his na as the Blood Loss Knight,’ Baron thought. ’There are no words.’
After he and Zod Morey disposed of Tate’s body—dumping it in an alley behind the underground street’s casino, a place already littered with the corpses of those who couldn’t pay their gambling and whoring debts, where no one would look twice at another body, and where the casino sent a crew to clean up every three days—Baron’s group prepared to leave.
As Baron and the others were about to leave the underground street, Morey told them to wait thirty minutes while he went to "handle sothing."
Baron was confused. Wasn’t it a bad idea to linger at a cri scene? Zod, however, just said he slled "seafood."
Baron understood.
Still, he was a little surprised. Based on past performance, it didn’t seem like Morey could last that long.
So Baron and the other two waited.
Zod asked Baron, "So, what are you going to do with this information?"
Baron replied, "I already knew what I was going to do when I ca to this underground street for the Sedative. Now, my plan is just a little more complete."
"Do you need our help?"
Maguire was awake now, his head still throbbing with a dull ache. Zod had filled him in on everything that had happened.
He silently cursed himself for falling for it so easily. ’L was right,’ he thought. ’When you aren’t exactly a prize catch, a woman hitting on you either wants your money or your life.’
Baron smiled and proceeded to explain his plan to Maguire and Zod.
When he finished, Maguire sucked in a sharp breath. "L, isn’t that a little too extre? Ferdinand might end up hunting you to the ends of the earth!"
"He’ll probably be dead by then," Baron said. "Three minutes have passed. Go check on Morey. He can’t last that long. He’s just putting on a brave front."
Maguire did as Baron said and went back into the brothel. He dodged the advances of the working girls and pulled open the door to the room Zod had pointed out.
The instant he opened the door, he saw Morey lying on the bed, counting. "Six minutes, twenty-three seconds... six minutes, twenty-four seconds..."
The prostitute was sitting off to the side, bored, clipping her fingernails.
’A man’s pride,’ Maguire thought.
Maguire couldn’t hold back a laugh. Morey tossed him One Silver Coin as hush money.
Maguire, rembering all the lessons Zod had imparted by word and deed over the years, said, "You’ll have to add more."
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