Whoosh!

Two blood daggers moved swiftly in the air, cutting all the tall grass short. The dry, yellowish grass dropped down one by one, clearing the surrounding areas. Fade kept cutting more and more grass to get rid of hiding spots for his enemies.

Shade, who was kneeling near him, was in great pain. Although his wounds had been healed forcibly, the pain was still there, and coupled with the muscle soreness from the poison, he wasn't in a good condition. While panting, he spoke with difficulty.

"I order the poison in my blood to get out!"

He bit his finger and created a small wound. Slowly, blood came out, followed by a green liquid that was thinner than the blood. More and more green liquid came out and he felt better with each passing second.

"G, take note. Your ability can be used that way," Valentine muttered in amusement, and then signaled at Luuk.

Clank!

Luuk hit one of the flying daggers and then quickly retreated. There was no hiding spot around, so he went out of the range of the blood weapons.

"Don't pay attention to him! Be careful of the shooter!" shouted Shade, reminding his partner.

Bang!

Valentine shot Fade, but because of Shade's reminder, he had expected it. However, he was still slower than a bullet. His left leg was grazed a little, sending a sharp stinging pain throughout his body. Suddenly, the floating daggers became slower. He had been hit by a slow bullet!

Shade, who had recovered from the poison, quickly opened his mouth to start chanting.

"Not so fast!"

Bang!

Valentine had fired another shot, but since Shade was expecting it, he had quickly issued an Order right after the trigger was pulled.

"I order you to hit the ground instead!"

The bullet missed him completely and hit the ground a centimeter away from his face. He was actually gambling if he would manage to do it or not, and it turned out he was successful. He was out of harm's way for now and continued moving swiftly to where his partner was.

Stab!

Luuk, who took the chance that Valentine had created, managed to get close to Fade before Shade did and stabbed him in the chest. Fade was still affected by the slow bullet so he couldn't dodge in time. On the spot near where the short sword was still lodged, there was a new deep wound that almost pierced his heart.

Shit! If only I was more accurate! I almost hit his right atrium...

Luuk pulled his knife and retreated quickly because Shade was already too close. The other man's eyes were looking at Luuk with a gaze full of hatred.

"I order your wound to heal!"

Bang!

Valentine didn't let the two of them recover. He wouldn't spare even a second for them to do what they wanted. He hit Shade in his shoulder with another slow bullet that had drilled itself into his flesh. His robe was now full of holes and his own bloodstains. Under his mask, his expression was twisted with anger. The two of them had been played by the two unknown people until they were cornered like that.

Fade, who had lost too much blood, was very weak. The effect of the poison bullet had also started to show. His stomach was in pain and all his muscles were sore. He could barely control his blood weapons to protect himself.

"Cover me!" he shouted.

Shade quickly got in front of him while Fade took out some blood bags from under his robe. He had used some to create the blood dagger, but the amount was still enough. He sank his teeth into the bags and drank the blood ravenously.

I can't get close enough to use my theft on those blood bags. What should I do?

Bang!

Valentine fired another shot.

"I order you to hit the ground instead!"

Shade was prepared. He managed to redirect the trajectory of yet another bullet. He felt satisfied with himself but still kept his guard up.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Uncovering, hereby put you under interrogation!"

The shot was actually only a distraction. Valentine had gotten in range and successfully put Shade under control. However, since it was the second time for him, the effect would be considerably weaker.

Dash!

"I, in the name of the Deity of Thefts, declare all the blood bags that Fade has mine!"

Luuk had quickly closed in on the target and successfully stole the blood bags that were in Fade's possession. Blood from the one that he was drinking was leaking through the whole and wet Luuk's right hand, which was now holding a total of four plastic bags containing a red liquid. He threw the bags as strongly as he could in the other direction.

"Fuck you!" shouted Fade angrily. "The blood shall explode!"

Kaboom!!

Luuk was pushed back by the explosion although he managed to dodge the main impact. There were some charred spots on his skin.

Using the little stamina that he had recovered, he suddenly controlled the blood daggers to shoot at Luuk. The slow effect from the bullet had also been removed. Luuk, who had been affected by the previous explosion, wasn't fast enough to avoid two flying weapons, so one of them struck him in his side. Both his jacket and his t-shirt were torn, and his flesh was injured badly. Blood dripped to the ground beneath him.

"Argh!" he groaned in pain while retreating with difficulty. He pressed his hand hard on his wound to slow down the bleeding.

"Your blood shall be mine!" shouted Fade.

Luuk's blood that was forming a puddle on the ground mysteriously floated and went towards Fade, who opened his mouth to consume it.

Bang!

Valentine shot another slow bullet at Fade, but it only grazed him because he didn't have the time to aim properly. Luuk, who had gotten out of range, took out a paper pouch with a blue powder inside and quickly inhaled it. After that, his wound magically started to close and the charred spots began healing. He felt much better right away.

Shit! I'm slowed again... But at least... I've recovered a little more...

Fade gritted his teeth and ignored the pain. He tried his best to move the blood daggers quickly to his side so he could defend against subsequent attacks.

Luuk, who had now recovered, observed the two targets intently. Although they had managed to push the enemies, they were not actually winning. The enemies had ways to recover from whatever they were throwing at them. However, the moment they let the enemies took the initiative, they knew it would be very dangerous for them. It was a tough battle of attrition.

"Shade should be freed from my control soon. We need to finish off one of them quickly and avoid bleeding at all costs."

Valentine, who had been hiding the whole time, finally showed himself. He and Luuk were both dashing towards Fade who was still affected by the slow bullet. Shade looked like he was to break free any moment soon, so they didn't have time to waste.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Theft, declare Fade's blood weapons mine!"

The floating blood weapon disappeared from Fade's sides and reappeared on Luuk's right hand, who had quickly let go. Otherwise, his hand would be torn apart by the blade.

Dash!

Valentine jumped at Shade with his dagger in hand. Shade quickly controlled the blood daggers to defend against the attack, but Luuk's theft had made them too far from him and coupled with his slowness, he didn't manage to block. His slowed reaction speed and his injured state made it more difficult for him to switch his intention to dodge instead.

"Argh!!"

Fade yelled in pain as Valentine's dagger stabbed him right in his neck. Blood spurted out from the wound and splashed all over Valentine's mask and clothes.

"I order you to stand still!"

Valentine was frozen. He couldn't move nor pull his dagger out. Shade didn't have any weapon, so he couldn't attack the man. Instead, he focused his attention on Luuk who was now coming for him to buy Valentine some time.

Suddenly, Valentine felt a dangerous foreboding. He knew he had to get away right then or something bad would happen, but he couldn't even lift a muscle because of Shade's Order.

Fade's dying expression looked twisted. His eyes were full of hatred. Using his last breath and his broken vocal chord, he spoke quickly.

"My blood shall explode!"

His voice was almost inaudible and his words were like gibberish, but the spell had been chanted. The blood that splattered around started boiling rapidly.

Kaboom!

Valentine was thrown back several meters. His clothes were tattered and his skin was burned badly. There was a missing chunk of flesh from his chest and blood flowed everywhere. The Gemini mask he was wearing, however, was still intact, protecting his face from the core of the explosion. The tall grass around them caught fire and started burning wildly.

Luuk and Shade were not affected by the explosion because they managed to duck in time. They couldn't afford to take their eyes off each other.

Fade's dead body burst into flames leaving only ashes behind and three contract scrolls. A small round object began to slowly form there.

"Shit it hurts..." Valentine groaned in pain.

His condition was really bad. He quickly took out the paper pouch that he had prepared with difficulty and inhaled the blue powder from under the mask. Soon after, his wound began slowly healing, but he was still unable to get up. He needed Luuk to buy him some more time. Meanwhile, he crawled quickly to avoid the burning grass. He had no option but to go to where the grass had been cut.

Dash!

Luuk took the initiative and darted towards Shade, who currently had no weapon to defend himself with.

"I order you to stand still!"

Bang!

Valentine had aimed with difficulty and shot Shade right after he used his Order, so he couldn't redirect the bullet. The green-tipped bullet pierced through the air and hit him in the leg. That was as high as Valentine could aim with his current condition.

"Fuck... it still hurts..." he groaned.

Shade, whose leg was hit, tumbled to the ground in pain.

"I order my wound to heal quickly!"

The bullet hole in his leg began closing and spit out the tiny piece of metal with a green gemstone on its tip.

Shit. If I get the poison out now he will shoot me again. If I don't, the pain later will make me vulnerable.

Shade chose to bare with the poison and retreated quickly. There was no hiding spot around because the grass had been all cut by Fade's blood daggers, and the area beyond that was still burning.

Luuk had been freed from Shade's control and quickly gave chase.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Theft, declare your intention of retreating mine!"

His right hand made a swift swiping motion and suddenly, Shade stopped running. He was confused for a split-second and then suddenly turned around.

Bang!

Valentine had been busy reloading his gun. It was the last paralysis bullet that he had saved up for this very moment and he managed to hit Shade's thigh. He fell down to the ground and remained motionless.

With difficulty, Valentine stood up. His wound had almost fully healed thanks to Luuk's herbal mixture and the bleeding had completely stopped. As he was running towards the paralyzed Shade, he noticed Luuk was doing something strange.

"Luuk! What are you doing?!"

Luuk was holding his knife with both hands and was about to stab himself in the chest. Valentine couldn't see the expression he made under his mask, but he knew it was Shade's ability manifested. He must have planted the command some time ago because Luuk had been exposed to him many times.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Uncovering, hereby put you under interrogation!"

Valentine quickly chanted and Luuk stopped moving. He dropped his knife and just stood there like he was in a trance.

Valentine didn't waste time and quickly approached Shade who had started moving again. He didn't want to use his knife this time in case the man decided to blow himself up again.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Theft, declare your intention of retreating mine!"

Valentine quickly made a swiping motion with his right hand, depriving Shade of any chance of running away. He had used the copied ability from Luuk to make sure that his enemy would stay still. He aimed his gun at his head. From this distance, he shouldn't miss the shot.

Shade was looking at the masked man with fear in his eyes. He couldn't understand how the two of them could be defeated by him and his partner.

Bang!

Valentine had used a poison bullet just for good measure. The bullet with a green tip pierced his head and drilled a hole, from which blood spurted. Before he completely died, Valentine quickly searched his body for anything valuable. He only managed to get his wallet and nothing else because Shade's body burst into flames shortly after, burning everything he had on him.

He left behind three contract scrolls, one of which was the one Graham needed. A round object also began forming from the ashes. While waiting for the object to fully form, Valentine walked towards where Fade had died and picked up all the contract scrolls and a round object resembling a compressed blood ball wrapped in something grey. He focused on the object and started chanting.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Uncovering, ask you to reveal your secrets to me!"

An illusory text started to appear above the object.

'The remains of someone in Contract with the Deity of Wit and Blood. It can be used as a main sacrificial material during a ritual or can be made into a piece of enchanted equipment. It is safe to touch, despite being coated in mercury.'

"It's coated in mercury? How is that safe to touch?"

Valentine decided to wrap the object with a piece of his shirt that he tore off and put it inside his pocket. After that, he went back to Shade's death spot and looked for the round object that had fully formed. It looked like a compressed brain that was all black in color. It was also coated in something grey, so he tore off another piece of his shirt and wrapped it around the object before picking it up.

"Now, G, how to deal with Luuk?" he muttered tiredly.