Darkness still shrouded the vast Field Manor. In the expansive weapon display room, Dorothy stood at the center, carefully surveying her surroundings before nodding to herself. She decided that this would be the place for her final showdown with Luer.
"The space is large enough... The number of entrances is a bit excessive—there are openings from every angle... Hmm... It’s manageable. Now, I just need to find a few things. First, a cane..."
With that thought, Dorothy began searching around the room for a cane. However, after looking twice, she found nothing, causing her brows to furrow slightly.
"Nothing… In that case..."
Her gaze shifted to a nearby stool. Without hesitation, she placed a Devouring Sigil on herself, then flipped the stool over and forcibly broke off one of its legs.
"This will have to do."
Holding the broken stool leg, Dorothy moved back to the center of the spacious room. From her pouch, she retrieved three gold coins and wedged them into the cracks at the broken end of the wooden leg.
Then, gripping the leg like a cane, she focused her mind and silently recited a divination prompt.
"The direction from which the threat hidden in this mansion will strike."
After finishing the incantation, she let go of the makeshift cane and allowed it to fall freely. It landed, pointing toward the northwest corner of the room. Dorothy glanced in that direction—it was shrouded in darkness, making it difficult to discern anything.This was staff divination, or cane divination, a simple ritualistic form of divination typically used for navigation or directional guidance. In this case, Dorothy was using it to determine from where danger would arise.
Having noted the direction, Dorothy picked up the cane and removed the coins she had inserted. Under the dim moonlight, she examined them and found that two of the three coins had lost their luster. This indicated that two coins had been drained of their stored Lantern, confirming that the divination had consumed two points of Revelation.
"Heh... So you only have a mere 1 Shadow and 1 Revelation as your counter-divination resources? How pathetic."
Dorothy understood the reason for the extra expenditure in this divination—her target carried an anti-divination artifact. Expecting resistance, she had prepared additional resources in advance.
Judging by the results, her divination resources had been countered by 1 Shadow and 1 Revelation, while the remaining 1 Lantern and 1 Revelation successfully took effect, allowing her divination to proceed. Thus, two coins turned black, and she had expended two points of Revelation.
For those without a structured divination system like hers, counter-divination was usually achieved by carrying objects imbued with pre-stored spirituality. Unlike a person’s innate spirituality, the spirituality within objects depletes automatically and unnoticed, unless deliberately checked afterward.
This meant that Luer had just been divined but remained unaware of it, unless he suddenly decided to inspect his anti-divination artifact. However, he was currently too focused on hunting his enemy to do so.
"Now that I know where he’s coming from, the next step..."
Dorothy reached into her pocket and retrieved a copper pocket watch. She flipped it open, revealing a damaged clock face.
The watch had no glass cover, its hour, minute, and second hands all motionless and loosely attached, as if carelessly fastened. Mysterious occult markings adorned the watch’s lid, bearing the symbols of Lantern and Revelation.
This was another divination tool she had prepared in advance—a modified ordinary pocket watch, capable of performing a different kind of divination.
Dorothy placed the last remaining gold coin on the watch’s lid and pressed her finger against the dial. She focused intently and recited another divination prompt.
"The time I will be attacked."
As soon as she finished speaking, she spun the watch hands. Since they had been intentionally loosened, they whirled rapidly before gradually coming to a stop at a specific time.
This was clock divination, one of the techniques Dorothy had purchased from Aldrich, used to predict an event within the span of a single day.
By the time she had used staff divination earlier, she had already depleted her five innate points of Revelation. Fortunately, she had additional accumulated Revelation stored as experience, allowing her to complete this divination.
"2:31:25."
She memorized the time and stowed the pocket watch. Then, she pulled out another functioning pocket watch, its hands precisely aligned with the correct time.
"The current time is 2:28:00. That means he will find me and launch his attack in exactly three minutes and twenty-five seconds."
"Alright then… Let’s do this."
After pocketing both the watch and the remaining coin, Dorothy crouched beside a display case, positioning herself as if she were hiding in fear. She then closed her eyes and patiently waited.
As time passed, the moon outside became obscured by drifting clouds. With the moonlight gone, the weapon display room plunged into total darkness, nearly pitch-black.
Amid this darkness, everything fell into complete silence—the only perceptible rhythm being the steady beating of her heart.
Then, within these shadows, a figure silently slipped through an open window, entering the weapon display room without a sound.
Concealed by darkness, Luer, now in his beast-like form, prowled into the vast room. Sniffing the air twice, his gaze locked onto the center of the room.
Even without light, his enhanced senses allowed him to discern the contours of his surroundings. There, beneath a display case, he spotted a huddled figure.
Although he couldn’t make out the details, his keen sense of smell confirmed that this was the intruder he had been hunting.
"Heh… Finally… I’ve found you… Arrogant marionettist."
Smirking inwardly, Luer silently prowled across the room, choosing the perfect attack position while savoring his prey’s impending doom.
"Afraid, are you? Trembling in fear… Hiding in a place like this, too scared to even move… Ha! This is the reaction of someone unfit to survive in darkness. When controlling your marionettes, you acted so high and mighty… But in reality, you’re nothing but a pathetic coward. You don’t even realize I’m already here."
Slowly, Luer found the ideal ambush angle—right behind his target, with no obstacles in his path.
"Despicable intruder, it’s time for you to pay the price."
The hunt began.
Luer coiled his muscles and lunged forward, surging through the darkness with terrifying speed. In an instant, he was less than a meter behind his prey.
At that very moment, his target suddenly turned around—facing him directly.
And then, they spoke.
A phrase—one he could not understand.
"—Fus·Ro—"