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The premonition of danger reappeared, but the Desire Apostle had already fallen into a trap prepared long ago.
The dark shadow distorted, and panic spread wildly through him.
As an Desire Apostle, he quickly adjusted his emotions and tried to find the ambushers hiding in the dark by perceiving emotions and desires.
The next moment, one by one, stars emerged all around, densely packed and dazzlingly brilliant.
These stars cast down beams of light, converging into magnificent pillars of light, enveloping the Desire Apostle's remaining shadow.
The dark shadow gradually began to dissolve and collapse under the starlight.
The dark shadow, without physical support, was utterly unable to effectively resist the erosion of starlight and dissolved rapidly.
The next moment, the shadow suddenly dispersed, turning into dark liquid, flowing in all directions.
"Naive." Leyton paid no mind to the shadows that had run out of the starlight's range, gently raised his hand, and simultaneously chanted, "Sun!"
A fierce but not irritating golden light appeared in Leyton's hand, and then this light flowed outwards like ripples.
As soon as the scattered dark liquid made contact, it let out an instinctive scream, smoke rose from its "body," and it finally evaporated and disappeared.
Only an extremely thin black shadow remained, and Leyton slowly approached.
"Snap!" As he rubbed his fingers, golden illusory flames ignited out of thin air on the black shadow, emitting the vast and pervasive aura of the sun.
The black shadow distorted and shrieked madly on the ground.
It didn't last two seconds before completely losing its vitality, lying motionless on the ground, leaving behind only a thin, seemingly depthless shadow remnant.
The clear night sky around them fell like a curtain, restoring the darkness and smell of the sewer.
Then, Leyton saw a floating figure standing not far away, seemingly searching for something; the figure wore a dark crown and had a cloak of the same color fluttering behind it without wind.
"Are you looking for him?" Leyton and Klein's spiritual bodies exchanged glances, then Leyton pointed to the spot beneath his feet and asked.
As he spoke, Leyton rubbed his fingers, creating several golden illusory flames around them to illuminate the dark environment within the sewer.
Following Leyton's gaze, Klein saw the thin, seemingly depthless shadow beneath his feet.
"This is... that Desire Apostle?" Klein looked at Leyton in confusion.
"He has a talent for shadow transformation; he can abandon his body, leaving only a shadow, and as long as there are sufficient materials, the shadow can regrow flesh and blood."
Leyton nodded gently, explaining why the Desire Apostle had turned into this state.
He then pulled out a black glass bottle from his coat pocket, poured out a peculiar mass of spirit from it, and it merged into the shadow on the ground.
The shadow left by the Desire Apostle trembled slightly for a while, then began to exude faint specks of light.
Watching the other party's practiced movements, Klein highly suspected that he had come precisely for the Desire Apostle's Beyonder characteristic.
Suddenly, a slight tremor came from the ground.
Leyton and Klein simultaneously looked to the other side... A tall, heavy silver armor rushed over, with a large patch of congealed blood stained on the lower left side of its shoulder.
"Sealed Artifact 1-42," Klein explained in a low voice.
Leyton nodded lightly and reminded the other party:
"You go first."
"I can take this thin shadow with me in my Spirit Body form." Klein was not in a hurry to leave, but instead mused.
"As a Spirit Body, you will be affected by the Characteristics he is precipitating. Just take his remaining spirit and use it for spirit-channeling."
As he spoke, he raised his hand, and his spirituality extended, pulling the surrounding free-floating spirit belonging to the Desire Apostle into his hand and handing it to Klein.
Klein nodded gently, then unhesitatingly enveloped the spirit of the Desire Apostle that Leyton handed over, and directly ended the summoning.
The next moment, Leonard, clad in the Bloodthirster's Armor, saw the figure beside Leyton, wearing a dark crown and a cloak of the same color, suddenly disappear without a trace.
He narrowed his eyes, carefully scrutinized the surroundings for a moment, and finally fixed his gaze on Leyton.
"Clearing clues, destroying evidence? You've got a lot of guts!"
He said in a low voice, his rather aggressive gaze locked onto Leyton, who remained in place waiting for the Characteristics to precipitate.
"Heh," Leyton chuckled indifferently:
"Long time no see, it seems you've become a Red Gloves of the Church of the Evernight Goddess."
"By the way, whose Ancient God's blood is on this armor of yours?"
Leonard's aura instantly dissipated by more than half, and he asked somewhat doubtfully:
"How did you recognize me?"
"Foolish… He might have only been guessing just now, but now he can definitely confirm it."
Pallez's voice carried a hint of exasperation, then he spoke again:
"Ask him when that demigod he mentioned, who is in a very bad state, will appear. The price of deceiving an Angel, even for a knowledge Worshipper, is unbearable."
Pallez did not hide his voice in the latter sentence; Leyton heard it directly, or rather, he had intended for Leyton to hear it.
After a moment of silence, Leyton himself didn't know when that Marauder demigod had parasitized the mouse, so he could only make a deduction based on what he knew:
"Around January to March next year."
"It better be." Pallez's aged voice sounded again from within the silver armor.
Leyton immediately assured him:
"Once I advance to Prophet, I'll help you with a divination."
"Whose Ancient God's blood is on this silver armor, anyway?"
Leonard also asked the Old Man parasitizing his body in a low, curious voice.
Pallez retorted to Leonard impatiently:
"Phoenix Ancestor, Gregrace. Didn't you notice that this armor greatly restrains the Desire Apostle's Beyonder abilities?"
"This must be the effect of an Ancient God's blood with a similar authority to the Night's tranquility."
"I don't know what Ancient Gods' authorities are, and the dossiers I've read don't have any records about that!"
Leonard argued back for himself.
The Old Man's words just now could only be heard by him, so he explained to Leyton again:
"The Old Man said it's the blood of the Phoenix Ancestor, Gregrace."
Leyton nodded gently, suddenly thinking of the crow at home that only had partial Phoenix bloodline. If he gave it a drop of the Phoenix Ancestor's blood, would it directly transform into a true Phoenix, or would Gregrace resurrect from it?
Resurrection should be unlikely, after all, the second Death had already appeared, and Gregrace's imprints on this pathway should have been mostly worn away.
Under the Old Man's reminder in his body, Leonard collected his thoughts and questioned again:
"Why are you here! Clearing clues? Or destroying evidence?"
"Of course, it's for the Desire Apostle's Characteristics. Otherwise, what interaction could I have with a Beyonder of the Devil pathway?"
"That's not necessarily true..." Leonard didn't quite believe Leyton's explanation.
Leyton waved his hand indifferently, saying:
"If you want to know the information behind this Desire Apostle, I can tell you after I know the results of the spirit-channeling."
As he spoke, Leyton naturally bent down and picked up the Characteristics precipitated from the Desire Apostle's remaining shadow.
The Desire Apostle's Characteristics were like a black mist, seemingly concealing all human emotions and desires within.
Leonard's gaze also fell on the mist-like Characteristics in Leyton's hand, and he said with a deep gaze:
"Why don't you hand over his remaining spirit, and I'll tell you after I know the results of the spirit-channeling?"
"Because... his spirit isn't in your hand, and besides, this armor on you is almost at its limit."
Leyton chuckled.
As he spoke, his figure rapidly faded and disappeared.
After Leyton disappeared, the shadows he had silently controlled with his bone staff fell like a tide, and the Red Gloves members, whose perception had been blocked, then noticed Leonard and quickly rushed over to help him remove the silver armor.
After returning to Minsk Street, Leyton immediately picked up the Desire Apostle's Characteristics and began to study it. He had always been curious about the Desire Apostle's ability to manipulate emotions and desires.
As for whether the Nighthawks would know about his conversation with Leonard while waiting for the Characteristics to precipitate in the sewer, Leyton wasn't worried at all.
At that time, he still had the Concealment effect bestowed by the Hidden Sage on him. When Leonard recalled, he would only find his memory at that time blurred, only remembering that he had said a few unimpressive words to a vague person.
However, with Pallez present, it would be easy to help Leonard recall this memory, but this was enough to deal with the Nighthawks' screening of Leonard.
As long as he ensured he wasn't on the Church of the Evernight Goddess's wanted list.
After all, the Goddess's achievements make people cower..
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