Artiros District. Warehouse 7. A few hours later...
"Praise the Monarch!" After making the prayer position and waiting a few seconds with his eyes closed until the ritual stopped, Charlotte finally opened them.
In front of the altar of the Scarlet Monarch was a basket, and a metal vial protruded from it.
Reaching out, Charlotte could barely contain the trembling in his fingers.
Even through the metal and its simple seal, his spirituality smoked with attention to the contents.
This vial contained the blood of a demigod!
"This is the blood of a true Sequence 4! A high-quality ingredient!" His purple eyes flashed briefly, and the young man quickly closed and began to rub them with his fingers.
To use the Eyes of Mystery Prying to look at it would undoubtedly have consequences.
The core rule of the Mystery Prier is to respect and fear the unknown, for one never knows where they are looking, so they must always be careful.
By suppressing his eyes, which had more than once almost made him see something he shouldn't have. Charlotte opened them, and his piercing gaze shifted from the vial in his hands to the small basket below him.
More than 10 metal vials like this one were arranged in rows. Next to them were large and small containers.
From what his boss had told him in the message sent by the Scarlet Monarch, these contained various hairs and nails of the demigod.
His boss instructed him to use these high-level materials to create charms to help him with the hunting he was planning.
'To think that he managed to convince a demigod to give not only so much blood but hair and nails... The boss is terrifying.' A small smile formed, and Charlotte quickly moved around his office.
If this was how he could secure a supply of high-level materials, the boss could be as terrifying as he wanted!
It will be fine for him as long as they don't have to see that.
He assembled several slices of precious metals, most of which were gold, placed them in front of the altar, and carefully moved the basket aside.
Having done that and with his trusty silver dagger, he quickly formed a wall of spirituality around the altar.
With all the preparations ready, he quickly grabbed one of the gold slices, the various oils, gunpowder, and iron and began to pray in Ancient Hermes.
"The Scarlet Monarch who burns depravity;
"You are the Calamity forgotten by time;
"You are the Stranger who comes from the unknown;
"I pray to you,
"I pray to you to give me strength,
"Give me strength to complete a charm with the blood of an Imperative Mage.
"Scarlet Monarch, please lend your strength to my charm..."
As the incantation neared completion, Charlotte felt the whole office change. Instead of being his laboratory, he felt he was in a courtroom at the moment of sentencing.
The candles on the altar burned an intense red. The flames rose and seemed to bleed small fiery tears. These tears enveloped the vial with blood and melted it quickly.
The fire tears then mixed with the blood. The red tears increased many times in size, and tongues of golden light began to cover them.
The wall of spirituality of the altar trembled for a few moments more but managed to hold itself up.
The light emitted by that golden crimson sphere illuminated it, and Charlotte felt his heavy and mighty hand.
He felt like a just judge, his hand had been forced and his spirit cried out for severe punishment for the lawbreaker.
Knowing this was a critical point, he used that heavy hand and, grabbing one of the golden slices, he quickly began carving multiple symbols and numerals all over its body.
With each stroke, his hand felt heavier and heavier, but he managed to hold on and continued carving despite the thick sweat on his face.
Finally, when the base was ready, the charm began to glow a dark gold, flying from his hands to the floating flame in the middle of the altar.
Fush!
A bright light made him have to close his eyes for a moment.
When he opened them again, Charlotte looked on in amazement at how the charm had changed.
It was now dark golden, with some reddish details in the four corners. The numbers on the path were well ordered, in clean rows, surrounded by aggressive magic labels and fiery patterns. The figure of a judge's gavel was its centerpiece.
Huff! Huff! Huff!
Even out of breath, his great satisfaction would not be taken away from him. He had finally done it...
A high-level charm!
Quickly, he took out his notebook and wrote down the formula and its ability...
Gold, 15 ml of blood from an Imperative Mage, iron, gunpowder...
It is capable of launching a Punishment equal to that of an Imperative Mage. It is a ranged attack whose maximum distance is 10 meters. Only beings with divinity can resist the punishment, but they will be severely injured.
Those without divinity would be mortally wounded, even dying on impact...
There is a requirement for its use; the person receiving the punishment must have broken a law given by the Voice of Law.
Lowering his pencil, the young man couldn't help but sigh a little.
Although the ability of this charm was deadly, this ability was not what his boss wanted.
'Luckily, I've already found the formula for Punishment... Now I need to find the formula for Aura...' He rolled his eyes at the ingredients he still had and pursed his lips a little.
This would take a while. But at least his boss had said he only needed a minimum of 2 for his plan...
He held the charm in his hands and noticed how warm it was to the touch. He held it up and looked at her for a few long moments.
A smile formed on his face.
'Death Penalty shall be your name...'
Having named his first high-level charm, Charlotte set the activation incantation to Execution in ancient Hermes and carefully set the charm aside.
Preparing the ingredients for his second attempt, the young man couldn't help but sigh a little.
This was going to be a busy week...
...
Releasing the handle of the fiery Blood Dager. Adryan looked at the soldier at his side as he held the flame, representing the young man with purple eyes.
"Every time he asks for something, do what I did. Let me know when your spirituality is less than half, and I'll give you more."
"Yes, Lord!". The fire soldier saluted.
He handed the Blood Dagger to the soldier and poured more than three-quarters of his spirituality into him. The red-haired man then left the city and returned to his body.
As soon as he opened his eyes, his attention was drawn to a black-haired woman, Flora, who was staring at Dabrio Tamara, whose eyes flashed with electricity.
From his place sitting in the clearing, he rested his cheek against his palm and watched the practice with interest.
To Flora's eyes, there were distinct, shimmering blobs of light and color on Dabrio Tamara's body. Symbols accompanied each.
One of them pulsed, and, raising a hand, she flicked her wrist.
The blob did not change its state or show any change; the theft had failed.
Unconcerned by this, she twisted her wrist again. The blob trembled for a moment but remained in place.
Failure.
The trembling stopped, but now the symbols and colors that made it up had become clearer—slightly easier to decipher.
Seeing this, Flora sighed softly and squeezed her fingers a little. She twisted her wrist.
The blob was cut from the man's body and quickly and smoothly flew to her.
Lightning bolts began to emerge from her eyes, and a small smile formed on her face.
Successful theft! She had taken the Psychic Piercing!
With the success of this theft, she looked on with satisfaction as the different blobs settled and their colors and symbols became clearer and more understandable.
Her understanding and deciphering of the target would increase a little with each theft, whether successful or not. Of course, her understanding and ability to decipher would be greater if she had succeeded. The next time she tries to steal the same power, the chance of failure would be much less.
Feeling as if something had been taken from him, Dabrio let out a soft sigh.
For the next 12 hours, he would be unable to use that power.
"Although Lord Kenway said they wouldn't be able to find me for now, I can't help but feel nervous," the man admitted honestly.
Although it was not an important or indispensable skill. A card he could not use meant his chances of escape were considerably reduced.
The redhead nodded without much concern, "As long as you're with me, no one will be able to find you, and we have to make the most of every second to practice. We can't waste a single moment."
The longer the prey remained undetectable, the more likely the hunters would get nervous and question whether something had changed.
Adryan needed them to think they still had the upper hand, so this couldn't last for long.
"Remember, this success depends on how smooth and fast we are. The more tricks we have, the better."
Dabrio nodded without changing his expression, "Understood."
He had his own means of anti-divination, but even so, he had to be on the move to avoid being found. If the blessed of the Scarlet Monarch said it was okay, then he would listen.
After all, there was nothing else he could do now apart from doing as he was asked.
Adryan then turned to his partner, "Well? How are you getting on Ada?"
The woman smiled gently. "To steal an ability, it's not just my understanding of the pathway that matters. It's also about finding the right symbol. I already have one of the two."
"A few more days, and I'll be able to steal the powers I want at most on the second attempt."
Dabrio Tamara had already explained the Arbiter Pathway in depth a while ago. Now, she was on to the practical part of using what she had been taught.
'At least she seems to be enjoying herself...' Adryan noticed how the woman's eyes shone.
Maybe it was because it was the first time she could seriously practice stealing the powers from another demigod without them being able to do anything about it...
Shaking his head internally, he took Hangover Time out of his pocket and opened it.
Looking at the time, he sighed a little, leaned against the tree he was leaning against, and closed his eyes.
"I'm going to take a little nap. Wake me if anything happens."
Somewhat dazed, Dabrio Tamara paused for a moment and focused his attention on the man in the distance.
"At this time, he always does that. Don't pay him much attention." Flora said, not interested, and then a sweet and dangerous smile formed on her face.
"Now, why don't I try to steal your voice?"
Although his expression did not change, Dabrio could not help but press his lips together a little.
Having heard the last part, the redhead laughed to himself, extremely amused.
'And to think that you tell me not to provoke Demi-gods... A bit of a hypocrite, aren't you?'
Leaving aside how unfair his dear worm was, he continued silently counting.
Once he reached 30 and heard the Hangover Timer needles mark three in the afternoon, he felt something pull him.
Despite his eyes closed, crimson still covered his sight, but this only lasted a few moments.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself back in his seat at the bottom of the moldy brass table, a silent and stoic man next to him.
At the top of the table, a figure shrouded in fog watched everything calmly.
The first blonde woman to join the club got up from her seat and, grabbing the edges of her dress, she gave an elegant curtsy to this figure.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool," Justice greeted cheerfully.