The five-story building was the tallest structure in the area, perfect for observing the Geocentrism Sect headquarters across the street. Wayne entered the town hall and casually made his way to the rooftop terrace, encountering no obstacles or requests for identification along the way. The reason was simple: everyone had gone to join the commotion. Even civil servants were not immune to free eggs.
“Damn it, what has the country come to?” he muttered, pulling out binoculars to survey the Geocentrism Sect headquarters. The four two-story buildings stood in a square formation, each occupying a corner.
The central courtyard was packed with followers attending the gathering, mostly local townspeople of Enrod. The binoculars' lenses were somewhat blurry and made it hard to discern the details, but Wayne could vaguely make out the well-dressed political figures standing alongside a bald man in a white robe.
He had to be a high-ranking church official, if not the sect leader himself.
Wayne lowered the binoculars and took off his fedora before flicking it. His white dove hopped out, fluttering its wings. He fed it corn from his coat pocket and then released it while chanting an incantation, covering his right eye with a hand.
His darkened right field of vision brightened as he connected with the dove’s point of view, watching the sect headquarters from above.
The dove landed on a tree near the plaza, giving him a clear view of the bald man. He was quite old with wrinkly skin, his most striking feature being his lack of eyebrows, giving him a sinister look.
The well-dressed officials showed extreme deference to the old man, bowing deferentially as they listened to his teachings, their respectful expressions bordering on obsequious. That proved to Wayne that the Geocentrism Sect was using mind-controlling magic to ensnare Enrod’s political elite.
He focused his attention on the old man’s moving lips to read their conversation—a skill that belonged to the original Wayne. As he continued his meditation, his mind grew stronger, and his self-control more refined. In the process of unlocking his potential, he also unlocked various skills, or it was more like recovering skills.
Disguise, reconnaissance, counter-servillance, skilled operation of vehicles, combat... Just two days ago, when he was taking a bath, he discovered that he could hold his breath for extended periods. Though he’d never practiced it, his body was naturally adept at swimming and knew many underwater techniques.
Lip reading was one of those recovered skills. He had never properly studied it. The skill required practice and experience, so even after recovering it, he could only decipher a limited vocabulary.
“Today’s important... supreme lord... void...”
“Two days ago, there was an infiltrator at headquarters... already captured...”
“Might be accomplices...”
Suddenly, the bald man stopped and looked directly at the dove, making eye contact with Wayne. His heart clenched as a powerful mental shockwave surged along their line of sight. It was powerful, but... it wasn’t much compared to the world behind the Gate of Truth.
Wayne had endured the trials of the starry cosmos and almost lost his mind. Compared to the threat that would obliterate his sanity, the old man’s gaze was utterly harmless.
What, is this a staring contest? I’ll take off my shirt and scare you to death with my giant chest eye!
The white dove remained on the branch and tilted its head at the bald man with clear, innocent stupidity shining in its eyes. There was no trace of intelligence in those black beads.
The old man looked away, ignoring the dove. After a few more words of caution, he returned to the crowd of followers with an amicable smile, joining them in their dance. The instant change in expression was a remarkable performance. Now he appeared kind and gentle, evoking the image of a beloved elderly father.
The dove stayed on the branch, curiously watching the followers below until a champagne popped, startling it into flight.
Back on the rooftop, Wayne retrieved his dove and put his fedora back on, turning to leave the terrace. He had gathered two crucial pieces of information:
First, the Geocentrism Sect had mages of an unknown number and strength. The bald old man was definitely more powerful than he was.
Second, an infiltrator had been captured two days ago. Isabella wasn’t dead, but was imprisoned somewhere.
“Powerful mage? You’re no better than me!”
“What kind of infiltration is this? Did you surrender right away and get carried inside the enemy’s base as a captive? But then you couldn’t break open the steel door, so you end up trapped in solitary confinement?”
He grumbled irritably. If he’d known that Isabella was captured, he wouldn’t have waited around foolishly; he’d have asked Veryl to arrange a luxury car ride out of Enrod immediately.
“It’s not too late to leave...”
He stopped in the fourth-floor corridor of the municipal building, gazing out of the window at the townspeople queuing for eggs. After a moment of silent contemplation, he shook his head.
Fine. He’d rescue Isabella and give her a chance to prove herself. Then he would take a car out of Enrod.
At the far end of the corridor, two female civil servants in uniform approached while in a cheerful conversation, one carrying a briefcase and the other holding a teacup. They were gossiping about the feasibility of secretly queuing up multiple times to get extra eggs. They paid Wayne, a stranger, no mind—or at least it seemed that way.
After passing him by, both women suddenly spun around. One pulled a gun from her briefcase while the other hurled her teacup at him. Without turning away from the glass in front of him, Wayne ducked and avoided the flying cup as if he had eyes on the back of his head.
The glass shattered with a bang, tea splashing everywhere. Where it hit the wall, grey mist hissed and swirled up as flesh-like tissue rapidly spread, covering the walls and windows in the blink of an eye.
It resembled an eight-legged starfish, each leg alive and writhing, extending and contracting in all directions. The body was moist and covered in yellow slime, with translucent light grey skin that revealed the blood vessels underneath and organs within the chest cavity.
His pupils contracted. If he hadn’t been on guard, he might have fused with the starfish.
While ducking, he quickly moved away from the wall. Before the gun could aim at him, he pressed one hand to the floor and summoned an earth wall to shield him.
Earth Style: Solid-Liquid Mixed Flow Solidification Technique[1]!
A two-meter-wide wall rose from the ground, not only blocking the women’s line of sight but also barring most of the corridor. They halted, hesitant to attack.
Within moments, the moist, soft earth wall solidified.
Only when they heard footsteps coming from the other side of the wall did the women realize that they had fallen for Wayne’s trick to buy time. Without hesitation, they split up to go around the wall in pursuit.
A white dove flew over the wall. The two women looked up just as the dove dropped a load on the gun-wielding woman’s face, making a wet splat.
It was harmless, but humiliating. The gunwoman screamed, wiping the mess with her sleeve.
At that moment, Wayne, who should’ve been long gone, suddenly emerged from behind the wall, barefoot. He had indeed run away, but after releasing the dove, he had taken off his dress shoes and crept back.
He moved with lightning speed, reaching the gunwoman in a flash. He held his left hand fingers together and fired a water arrow that ruined her makeup. Taking advantage of her temporarily impaired vision, he swung his right hand with tremendous force, his punch reinforced by the brass knuckles.
The blow landed squarely on her front with a muffled thud. Her work jacket fluttered as she lost balance, flying uncontrollably backward into the soft starfish on the wall. Eight tentacles writhed and wrapped around both her and her gun. Immediately, crunching, chewing sounds reverberated in the corridor.
She never managed to even let out a scream.
The other civil servant was still dazed. Everything happened so suddenly that by the time she realized what was happening, her colleague was already in a macabre state, and a whistling fist was flying toward her.
Wayne threw three consecutive punches at her abdomen. The agonizing pain of her clenching stomach and intestines made her collapse to the ground, curling up. Cold sweat drenched her clothes, and her mouth gaped for breath.
“Where’s the fat woman who broke into your headquarters? Speak! Where are you keeping her?” Wayne demanded in a low, threatening voice, searching her body to ensure she had no hidden weapons.
The woman looked like she’d been pulled from water, her hair plastered to her face. She glared at him viciously and said through gritted teeth, “I await my master’s call, and I’ll proudly return to the void. Kill me. I won’t talk!”
Tough, are you? I would’ve bought it if I hadn’t seen how Death’s followers behaved!
“Heh, you sure talk the talk.”
He scoffed, extending his right hand and slapping the ground hard.
Secret Earth Style: Stuck in a Wall!
The woman was lifted into the air by the rising earth. Just as she was wondering what was happening, the wall rapidly solidified, restraining her hands with half of her body in front of the wall and half behind it.
The woman didn’t quite understand at first, but soon, her face went pale with terror, and her skirted legs kicked desperately.
There was a slap, then a voice came from behind the wall. “Good lighting from this angle. Nice shape, by the way.”
1. A reference to Earth Jutsuin the manga/anime Naruto. ☜