The Deceitful One

Church of Wisdom, North Kingston Avenue.

Inside an office behind the prayer hall, Bishop Walls and Robert, who had just arrived from the scene, sat across each other as the latter recounted the details of the case.

"So you're saying it was a Hell's spawn?" Bishop Walls asked for confirmation with a pensive look.

Robert nodded his head, "That's right, Father. I looked through the person's memory. In one of the memories, I saw two individuals in black robes give him the scroll that contained the dark ritual."

"What else did you see?" Bishop Walls inquired further.

"I saw those two individuals piously chant 'Glory to the Dark God' as they gave the scroll to Ricky," Robert replied solemnly.

"Dark God…" Bishop Walls mumbled as his eyebrows furrowed, "It is indeed the Inferno Order."

He then took out a white crystal ball from the drawer and kept it on the table. When Robert saw this, he patiently waited. He knew that Bishop Walls was now going to perform divination!

Bishop Walls touched the crystal ball with both his hands and injected spiritual force into it. The next moment the crystal ball shone with a bright light as he closed his eyes and looked for clues in the past, present, and future.

For the next few minutes, the crystal ball continued to shine as grayish clouds were produced inside it.

Sometimes it glowed brightly but other times it dimmed. About five minutes later, Bishop Walls opened his eyes and sighed.

"Father, did you find anything?" Robert inquired.

Bishop Walls shook his head, "Nothing. These heretics from the well-established cults or secret organizations always have some artifact or the other that can counter divination."

Robert remained silent as Bishop Walls continued, "This is the case with Sean Marx as well. That leech has been hiding in Damascus all this time but Detective Watson and I still haven't been able to find him."

'Sean Marx…' Robert thought in his heart with a hint of apprehension. He had heard of this cruel member of the Holy Blood Sect who had slaughtered an entire neighborhood in Nadir almost a decade ago.

He had been hiding under the radar ever since then. However, now Robert was shocked to find out that he had actually been hiding in Damascus all this while.

And that Detective Watson was also looking for him.

'The reason why Detective Watson appeared in Damascus must definitely be related to Sean Marx.' Robert thought.

He then looked at Bishop Walls and cautioned, "First we had the Holy Blood Sect to deal with. And now there's the Inferno Order. Things aren't looking so good, Father."

Bishop Walls remained silent for a long time. He then sighed as he began to massage his temple, "I fear that the two are plotting something."

After a few moments, he seemed to have come to a decision, "I'll send a telegram to Nadir and ask them to send more people to help out. In the meantime, tell your team to increase the frequency of patrols"

"I understand, Father." Robert nodded.

…

Silver Owls HQ.

Andrew and Elijah dragged the unconscious Ricky and threw him into one of the cells in the underground prison.

The underground prison of the Silver Owls was one level lower than the HQ. It was a dimly lit catacomb, the walls of which had runes carved on every inch of it.

This was the place where the most vile and ruthless of criminals were imprisoned. Needless to say, they were all Apprentices or Transcendents.

The underground prison had only one entrance. There was one single passageway down the middle and on both sides, there were countless prison cells.

Each of the prison cells also had runes carved on the walls as well as its metal doors.

These runes prevented people from using and gathering spiritual force. One could even say that the entire underground prison was a spiritual force-free zone.

After locking the metal door to the prison cell, Elijah looked at Andrew and asked, "So what's the plan now?"

Andrew shrugged as the duo made their way out of the catacombs, "I don't know. It's kind of boring without Bryan, to be honest."

Elijah nodded as he chuckled, "He ran home as soon as we were done dealing with the case. He said it was too cold outside and not to bother him on his off day, haha!"

Andrew too started laughing. He then added, "But he did quite well out there today. It takes some firm resolve to shoot a devil that has the face of an innocent child."

Elijah nodded. After that, the duo turned silent as they walked the passageway.

"I have a bad feeling about this, Andrew. We had our hands full with investigating the members of the Holy Blood Sect. And now there's the Inferno Order as well." Elijah spoke softly, his expression that of anxiousness.

Andrew remained silent. After a long time, he sighed, "Now that both these evil organizations have appeared in Damascus at the same time, I wonder how many innocent people will die."

A heavy atmosphere surrounded the duo as they exited the underground prison and made their way to the recreation room of the HQ.

Andrew shook his head and threw these thoughts to the back of his mind. He then put his arm around Elijah and tried to cheer him up and perhaps even himself, "Anyway, we just need to stick together and we'll be all right."

Elijah nodded as he pushed his round glasses up his nose bridge.

"By the way, Didn't Bryan say not to bother him today since it's his day off?" Andrew asked as he grinned, "Then let's do exactly that. We'll finish up with work and visit him later for dinner, hehe."

Elijah looked at Andrew and began to chuckle, "Haha, sounds like a plan."

Meanwhile, on 7 Robinson Street, Bryan who was taking a warm bath inside his wooden bathtub suddenly sneezed aloud.

He then rubbed his nose and mumbled, "Who the hell is talking behind my back? Is it Andrew and Eli? Hmm, it must definitely be those two fuckers."