The young man with the cross-shaped scar on his face revealed a bright smile and said, “We’ve had our eyes on you for quite some time. However, I thought it would be more siderate to let you withdraw your savings first before rehend you. After all, it’s your final wish before you die.”

  “Addison agreed to my request, even though he thought it would be troublesome to withdraw the money without knowing the Savings Union’s at password, even with the deposit slip.”

  Charlot Meburg hadn’t expected to be targeted so early. With no pns to use his newly ized alchemical staff—since he ractically a novi close bat—he uatingly pulled out his Magnum Mauler aied the der at the young man who had spoken.

  The young man with the cross-shaped scar remained posed in the face of the gunfire. Drawing a magical rapier, he moved with a nimblehat defied belief, sshing out over ten times in an instant. Metallic ks echoed on the ground as over a dozen bullets, ly sliced in half, fell at his feet. His swordsmanship was nothing short of miraculous.

  The human body has its limits—such speed and precision were impossible for an ordinary person to achieve.

  Charlot inhaled sharply and asked, “Transdent?”

  From the other end of the street, a cold voiswered, “Wells is a Diviner. His specialty is foreseeing the trajectory of bullets, as you just witnessed—remarkably effective.”

  Charlot tightened his grip on the vampiric axe hidden in his sleeve and asked, “A Diviner? Did you find me solely by relying on spiritual intuition?”

  The young man with the cross-shaped scar replied, “That’s right. So don’t think about esg. No matter how far you ruo the ends of the earth—you ’t evade my divinations.”

  Charlot discarded his y Magnum Mauler and asked, “Who are you people? Why are you targeting me?”

  Wells pointed his rapier forward and responded, “We are detectives of the Fierce Horse Detective Agency. Our t es from Kilmainham Prison, and we’re assisting in an official iigation.”

  “The directive from Kilmainham is simple: dead or alive, but preferably dead.”

  Charlot had always believed the Fars Empire’s w enfort teams to be ineffit. However, he hadn’t anticipated the existence of extraordinary detectives in a world brimming with Transdents.

  The Fierce Horse Detective Agency, led by its chief Aubrey Tildon Atwood, was one of the Empire’s Seve Detective Agencies. Its reputation surpassed even that of the Cat Detective Agency, while its size was more thaimes rger, employing over a hundred detectives. Among its ranks were over ten Transdents, supported by two to three hundred detective assistants, apprentices, and clerks. The agency’s operations spanned a wide range of domains.

  Fag pursuers capable of divination, Charlot felt deeply troubled. He dismissed the thought of bribery sihe detectives had already expressed their io seize his cash. Attempting such a tactic would only appear childish.

  Within moments, Charlot steadied his mind and decisively activated the Eye of Insight. A holographic perspective enveloped the ereet as his vampiric axe shot through the air, aiming at the other detective.

  The vampiric axe struck its target with a dull thud, only for fmes to erupt around Addison’s body. A swirling vortex of fire surrounded him, preventing the axe from breaking through and harming him.

  With a cruel smile, Addison said, “I am the Fme Dragon Knight of the Fierce Horse Detective Agency. Your petty tricks are useless against my abilities.” Without any visible effort, he anded a stream of fire to sweep the vampiric axe aside.

  The axe cttered to the ground but, with its momentum undiminished, ricocheted toward Wells, flying dozens of steps before losing speed and ndihe street’s edge.

  Charlot’s heart calmed slightly, though he deliberately feigned panid shouted, “Third-rank Transdent!”

  Addison’s use of battle energy was a hallmark of knights.

  On the Old ti, it was often said that knights walked the broadest path among Transdents ahe easiest css to achieve. The threshold was so low that even oners had the opportunity to lear methods for cultivating battle energy.

  In the Fars Empire, the national institutes provided a plete knightly training system. Anyone admitted to the institutes could study Knightly Breathing Teiques. The most outstanding students would form a power seed, awaken their inner vitality, and emerge transformed, earning the title of knight.

  Even those who failed to ehe national institutes could find various breathihods taught by private anizations. For instahe Fierce Horse Detective Agency popurized the Fme Dragon’s Breath teique, which allowed practitioo awaken battle energy and cim the title of Fme Dragon Knight.

  Charlot, having failed to awaken battle energy during his time at the national institutes, had abandoned such pursuits in favor of academics. However, his foundational knowledge remained solid.

  Judging from Addison’s dispy, Charlot estimated that his oppo’s battle energy was at the third rank—solidly within the domain of Transdents.

  Holding his rapier, Wells advanced boldly and ughed, “You’d better pick me as your oppo. After all, I’m merely a Diviner and not adept at bat. My strength is only at the sed rank.”

  From their intelligence, Charlot appeared to be nothing more than a civil servant with no bat experie most, he was a first-rank Transdent, specializing in Blood Glory, which was widely regarded as a weaker version of battle energy. These facts were well-known.

  The two detectives approached Charlot with a casual, almost pyful attitude, treating the enter more like a game. They uimated him, behaving like cats toying with a mouse, their demeanor tinged with ziness.

  Charlot silently calcuted as Wells stepped into a specifige. In a voily he could hear, he muttered, “No matter East or West, immortal legends or mythologies, there has never been a form of divination that es without cost rants omnisce.”

  The vampiric axe, lying on the ground, suddenly rose like a nimble bird. It arced through the air at an uny angle and struck Wells’s neck.

  Empowered by Bloodfme Aura, the vampiric on devoured the detective’s essend life force. Wells tried repeatedly to pull the axe from his neck, but his hands faltered halfway each time, dropping lifelessly.

  Within mere breaths, the vibrant vitality of his body was draiirely. In an instant, his youthful and athletic frame withered like a leaf in autumn, leaving him decrepit and frail, akin to a dying elder.

  Addison’s face turned pale with horror at the sudden turn of events. Rather than rushing forward to save his rade, he hesitated, missing the fleeting opportunity to act.

  What he did shocked even Charlot—Addison engulfed himself in fmes and unleashed his battle energy, fleeing at top speed.

  Charlot, a uy student who had undergone preheraining in Transdent studies at Sheffield Uy, had keenly observed the detectives’ moves and identified their weaknesses. He devised a strategy tailored to their vulnerabilities.

  Both detectives, uo ehe national institutes, had learned Knightly Breathing Teiques through the detective agency. Though formidable in strength and seasoned in bat, their academiowledge was g. This ignorance made it impossible for them to see through Charlot’s ruse.

  Addison knew of Blood Glory, but he was unfamiliar with the Thirteen Miraculous Teiques, particurly Telekiitrol, which allowed for remote manipution of ons. In his framework of uanding, such abilities were exclusive to high-rank Transdents.

  Charlot’s decisive opening move—killing Wells irike—gave the impression of a “vilinous overlord” wielding overwhelming power. This led Addison to overestimate his enemy’s strength and choose the “smart” option: escape.

  As a formal detective, Addison’s weekly sary was only two New Flors and forty times—barely higher than that of a first-css civil servant. Risking his life for such meager pay seemed foolish.