The scraping of leather shoes echoed through the silent streets, their sharp rhythm cutting through the stillness like a blade through silk. Dim streetlight cast a hazy glow across the newcor's face, revealing sharp facial features and calculating eyes.
This person was, of course, Azrael.
"Are you also from the Crimson Oath Society?"
The man on the ground, his body clearly stained with patches of blood and gri, demanded with fear and desperation. He faced what he perceived as a formidable enemy. The spiritual energy he had been emanating vanished like a stone thrown into deep water upon sensing the newcor's presence.
But Azrael clearly had no desire to engage in conversation with this creature.
Shinobu materialized from the shadows, having blocked an attack ant for the two fallen Crimson Oath mbers. She now appeared before the enemy, her form wreathed in a vicious wind that carried the scent of ancient blood.
"You're utterly ungrateful...!"
The man hadn't finished his desperate words when a surge of force erupted around his head. Shinobu, wearing a bloodthirsty grin that revealed her predatory nature, pressed the man's skull down and drove it toward the concrete with supernatural strength.
Unlike the traditional vampire image of refined nobility, her fighting style was always gloriously unbridled. Simple violence delivered with ultimate enjoynt.
"BANG!"
The sound of skull eting pavent reverberated through the empty street. The man struggled frantically in Shinobu's iron grip, but the more he fought, the tighter those slender fingers clamped around his head. Even more terrifying was the steady drain of his life force.
"Mmmph!"
As Shinobu increased her vampiric life force suction, the man gradually went limp in her grasp like a deflating balloon.
The other two mbers of the Crimson Oath Society stared in stunned silence at the scene unfolding before them. Their once seemingly invincible enemy, the one who had pursued them with such relentless vengeance, was now being crushed like a rabid dog.
Shinobu, grasping the man by the scruff of his neck like discarded trash, approached Azrael with her prize.
"The Onefold Doctrine?"
A slightly puzzled voice echoed through the desolate street.
Azrael frowned as he examined the half-dead creature before him. It clearly resembled a human in basic structure, but its body emanated a distinctly demonic aura. Several organs were obviously non-human in origin, twisted and corrupted beyond normal physiology.
All of this reminded him of the Onefold Doctrine, a cult he had only heard whispers about in the darker corners of the supernatural world.
This was precisely why he had appeared here tonight. He had originally planned to leave the two Crimson Oath Society mbers to fend for themselves in whatever predicant they had stumbled into. But his enhanced senses had detected a strange, otherworldly aura, and curiosity had compelled him to investigate.
"Sir," the burly man beside him said hesitantly, breaking the tense silence. "He's from the Onefold Doctrine."
"It seems we stumbled upon one of their gathering places, so they sent this thing to hunt us down."
The burly man was nobody's fool. Considering what had just transpired, this suited figure was clearly a passing expert from their organization, soone with power far beyond their own capabilities.
Azrael studied the Onefold Doctrine mber with calculating interest. He couldn't understand how this cult, operating so far from their known territories, could appear in a place like Riverock City. The distance was considerable, and their presence here suggested sothing significant.
"Is it because of that Grandmaster Secret Realm to the north?"
"It seems things aren't progressing smoothly up there either, forcing the Onefold Doctrine to establish operations in a place like this."
"Or perhaps it's also due to the growing instability in the imperial hinterlands."
Considering these possibilities, Azrael looked directly at the burly man. "Do you rember where their gathering place is located?"
The burly man was montarily stunned. "I rember the location."
"But sir, are you planning to eliminate them personally?"
"Forgive for being presumptuous, but they have significant numbers. I'm afraid..."
Azrael looked at the burly man with an expressionless face that sohow conveyed profound disdain. "We in the Crimson Oath Society should demonstrate so intelligence when we work. Can't we simply report this matter directly to the Cardian Master Association?"
"There's absolutely no need to expend our energy helping the association maintain stability in Riverock City."
In truth, Azrael's current status made direct action inadvisable. Even coming here to investigate the situation had been a calculated risk that could expose his carefully constructed cover.
The burly man couldn't help but feel ashad at his own shortsightedness. "Your Excellency is absolutely right. I'll provide you with the address imdiately."
Azrael silently morized the location, filing it away for future use.
The next mont, with sharp, precise movent, Shinobu snapped the neck of the Onefold Doctrine mber in her grasp. The lifeless body was imdiately consud by the writhing shadows at Azrael's feet, vanishing without a trace.
"Thank goodness I crafted that Oni mask. Otherwise, I wouldn't have anywhere convenient to dispose of bodies."
Because of Azrael's current carefully maintained identity, he naturally couldn't leave corpses scattered around cri scenes. Nor could he act like a reckless vigilante and abandon evidence everywhere as he had in his more impulsive days.
"Should we deal with these two as well?"
Azrael's eyes gradually beca dangerously predatory as he studied the burly man and the younger mber who were still standing there, awaiting his orders with obvious nervous anticipation.
The two n couldn't help but feel the primal terror of being targeted by an apex predator. Every instinct scread at them to flee, but their legs seed rooted to the spot.
After a long, tense mont, Azrael abandoned the idea. Although eliminating two potential witnesses would simplify matters, he had no way of knowing what social connections they might possess. Unnecessary murders could create more problems than they solved.
"You two may go. Rember to keep yourselves hidden and maintain absolute discretion."
Hearing Azrael's dismissive voice, the two n had no idea they had just walked through the gates of death itself. "Yes, sir. But could you please tell us your na?"
They lowered their heads respectfully, awaiting his response with the deference due to soone of obvious authority.
After a long mont of consideration, a deep voice carried on the night wind, "mphis."
Out of an abundance of caution, Azrael had his shapeshifting abilities disguise him as mphis before making his appearance. After all, they were both masters within the organization. Even if the real mphis discovered this deception, he probably wouldn't mind too much, right?
Upon hearing this revelation, their pupils suddenly constricted in recognition and terror.
As mbers of the Crimson Oath Society operating in the coastal regions, they naturally possessed a superior understanding of the organization's internal hierarchy and the true significance behind certain titles and nas.
"Master mphis, we didn't realize, " The burly man imdiately dropped to one knee, raising his head to express his absolute loyalty and submission.
But when he looked up, there was no sign of Azrael anywhere in the empty street.
"Gulp."
The sound of nervous swallowing broke the silence that followed.
"Brother, it seems we've encountered soone extrely important tonight."
Azrael erged from the dark alley, still maintaining his mphis disguise with careful precision. He still had one critically important task to complete before the night was finished.
Specifically, he needed to report the Onefold Doctrine's presence to the Lore Cardian Master Association in Riverock City.
However, successful reporting required finesse and strategic thinking.
Crouching by the roadside, Azrael intercepted a young child who was playing with a football despite the late hour.
"Little boy, if you do a simple favor, all of these snacks will be yours."
Azrael smiled warmly, displaying a massive collection of candy and treats that would make any child's eyes light up with desire.
"gulp."
The child, stopped by Azrael's friendly approach, wiped his nose and looked up with confused innocence. "Uncle, my mom always says I shouldn't accept things from strangers."
Azrael's eyes narrowed slightly. He picked up a stone from the ground and crushed it into fine powder right in front of the child's wide eyes. "Can you help now?"
The child's reaction was completely unexpected. His eyes glead with fascination as he stared at the demonstration. "Uncle, I can definitely help you! But can you show how to do that again later?"
Azrael was montarily stunned by the boy's fearless curiosity. "Certainly. If you can deliver this note to the adults working inside that building, I'll show you the trick again."
He handed the child a carefully prepared piece of paper with the Onefold Doctrine's eting location drawn in precise detail, and pointed toward the imposing Cardian Master Association building in the distance.
The child eagerly snatched the note and ran toward the Association with the boundless energy of youth.
Azrael watched the scene unfold with calculating satisfaction. Only after the child disappeared through the Lore Cardian Master Association's front entrance did he flash a deliberately provocative smile directly at the security cara mounted nearby.
His gesture was naturally designed to increase the credibility of the intelligence. Later, when association security reviewed the surveillance footage and spotted mphis's recognizable face, they would have no choice but to dispatch teams to investigate the reported location, right?
"My apologies, Fifth Brother. Please forgive for increasing your responsibilities." Azrael offered a silent ntal apology to mphis before vanishing from the scene entirely.
Inside the Cardian Master Association, the night desk staff mber read the note handed over by the child with growing concern. "Little boy, who asked you to deliver this to us?"
Seeing that his mission was completed successfully, the child turned around happily and pointed toward the location where Azrael had originally stood. "It was that nice uncle over there!"
However, from the staff mber's perspective, there was no figure visible in that direction, only a large bag of promised snacks left abandoned on the sidewalk.
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