LOM: Lord of Mysticism

The river flowed softly, reflecting the stars in the sky as warm glows suffused out of the nearby buildings.

Trissy retracted her gaze and walked quickly towards the clothes rack to retrieve a long black robe and quickly put it on, fasten the buttons and belt, and pull the hood over her head, transforming herself into an Assassin.

Trissy raised her right hand over her face, immediately turning her appearance blurry. She then grabbed a handful of shimmering powder from the hidden pouch near her waist and scattered it over herself while reciting an incantation.

Her figure started to disappear bit by bit, and her outline became faint. She silently left the bedroom after completing her concealment spell, moving to the opposite room and opening the non-grilled window.

With a light leap, Trissy stood on the window sill and looked over the grassy plains to the back of the building near the steel fence. There, she saw Corpse Collector Frye, who was silently making his way over.

She took in a deep breath and fluttered down like a feather, stepping onto the grassy field without a sound.

Frye cautiously surveyed the surroundings, seeking out any spirits that might appear.

Trissy approached silently and made her way behind him. A dagger smeared with 'black paint' appeared in her hand.

Poof! She struck quickly, plunging the dagger into Frye's lower back. But at that moment, the scene in front of her shattered.

She realized that she was still standing on the window sill. Except this time around, it wasn't only Corpse Collector Frye who was standing outside the fence. There was also Leonard, as well as Dunn. The captain of the Nighthawks was hunched over as he touched his glabella, his eyes closed as formless ripples spread outwards from him.

Trissy understood that everything that had happened was a dream and that she had fallen asleep unknowingly.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Leonard and Frye fired three shots towards the invisible target who was still waking up from her reverie. Trissy's figure appeared and completely shattered into fragments of a rough silver mirror.

Inside the building, Trissy, who had used a substitution spell, turned around to escape. She followed the corridor, sprinting all the way to the first floor.

A cold wind blew across the floor. Formless, transparent figures were numbly moving around. Trissy, who had lost her concealment, felt a chill every time she passed through the spirits and finally reached the sacrificial altar.

The altar was a round table, with a female figurine of a deity carved out of bone placed in the center. The figurine's hair was like tentacles, with one eye situated at the tip of every strand of hair, some closed, others open.

Around the figurine many puppets were strewn that had a crude craftsmanship, and the names and relevant information were written on them; for example, Joyce Mayer.

There were three candles on the table, flickering with a yellowish-green flame. Trissy bowed at the deity's figurine and quickly recited her incantations. She then pushed away the puppets and extinguished the flames of the candles before picking up the figurine.

The winds howled fiercely as they shook the closed windows violently, and shards of glass flew around in all directions.

Frye didn't dare to barge into the sacrificial altar recklessly. He felt his actions slow, and an accentuated sense of coldness spread upwards.

Elsewhere, Dunn, who wanted to reach the second floor by avoiding a frontal assault on the altar, was similarly affected by the cold winds, and he stopped right outside a shattered window.

Suddenly the curtain behind the window engulfed him, wrapping around his head, as it had been imbued with life. Dunn's facial features began to press through the constricting cloth. He was about to suffocate before he stomped down and twisted his waist, loosening the curtain's grip and then yanked and tossed it away.

He fired a shot at the other half of the curtain behind the window, stopping it from attempting another assault on him as a dark red liquid oozed out from it.

On the field, Leonard was reciting his poems and was also hit by the cold winds, making it hard for him to enunciate his poems.

The messy weeds in the garden extended abruptly, wrapping themselves around his heels. A black shadow hurled itself at him, and Leonard, whose body had become rigid, failed to fire in time and could only raise his arm.

The shadow smashed into his forearm, and the thorns on its body pierced his skin. It was a bright-red flower.

In pain, Leonard tossed aside the flower and fired a shot at the spreading vines, causing dark red liquid to ooze out. He quickened his pace and charged towards the shattered window on the first floor where the altar was situated behind.

Trissy took advantage of the chaos created by destroying the altar and a suspension-style ritual to conceal herself once again. She managed to fool the Spirit Visions of the Nighthawks and escape the pincer attack before making her way to a spot behind the three Nighthawks.

Extending her right hand, she caused a cold wind to blow that carried the flower dyed with Leonard's blood right into her palm.

Trissy, with the flower in hand, nimbly made her way over the steel fence and escaped in the direction of the Tussock River.

Leonard, who had just entered the first level, turned his head, as though listening to something. His expression changed, and he pulled up his sleeve to look at the wound caused by the flower.

With his constitution, the wound had already stopped bleeding with only some red swelling that remained.

Leonard's expression became grim. He pinched his left index finger and pulled his fingernail straight out. His face contorted in pain as he recited something silently, then sliced open the coagulated wound with the fingernail. When the fingernail was dyed with his dark red blood, he pulled out a few strands of hair and wrapped the fingernail with his hair.

Beside the Tussock River, Trissy slowed down and glanced at the flower in her hand.

She was chanting something as a ball of black, illusory fire appeared in her palm and the flames enveloped the flower, burning it to ashes. After completing this, Trissy jumped into the river and submerged herself.

Leonard tossed the bloodstained fingernail wrapped in his hair to the corner and saw it burn, leaving only dust behind. He heaved a sigh of relief and entered the first level through the window and said to Dunn and Frye, who were dismantling the altar, "The target has escaped. But it's alright; our primary objective was to stop the ritual."

Dunn looked at the puppets on the table. "She was very cautious. She sensed us approaching her ahead of time; otherwise... she should be, at the very least, a Sequence 7 Beyonder.

Give Klein the signal. Ask him to come over."

Through the brief interaction in the dream, he had determined that the enemy was female.