There was no time to waste. Inari's partner picked up Shirley and stomped on the ground. There was an audible shockwave produced from the impact as rainwater splashed and he accelerated down the streets. Inari followed close behind with the information broker in his hands. The streetlights and buildings became a blur as they moved at high speeds, not caring about being seen or detected at all. They moved so fast that the rain created a curtain of mist around them. Despite bearing an additional person's weight, they acted as if unencumbered. These two assassins were noticeably faster than the Second Hand's two master assassins using the Twin Flicker Technique, though they were a notch below the Sword King's full speed. That showed how urgently they were moving!
Smash! They barreled through a glass window and entered a building. An old man wearing a physician's robe jumped in fright. Spending only several minutes to find a clinic was a stroke of good luck. Without explaining, Shirley was carefully placed on a clean bed. The sheets were slowly drenched in red as her skin paled by magnitudes. Her breathing was so faint and erratic that the Third Hand man thought she was already dead. However, under the scrutiny of the Perception Realm, it was easily detectable. Her pulse was getting weaker and weaker. Her skin was covered in rain and sweat. Her body was beginning to shut down!
The physician felt dumbfounded as he got up to speed. "This… This is an extremely severe case of blood loss. I'm afraid… that there is no known operation that can resolve this. She will die in a few minutes. You should cherish these last few moments with her instead."
Inari sent a piercing glare at the man. "I don't care about the costs involved. Surely, you have some method to save her, no matter how risky it is, right?"
"You're asking for the impossible," the man replied shakily.
Inari glanced at the person behind him. "Do you know any way to save her?"
This information broker was the one who tipped Inari and his partner off about the Third Hand's attack on the Arcellius Family. She pulled down her hood to reveal a glorious and beautiful face. Her long eyelashes and thin eyebrows complimented her big round eyes. Her lips held infinite allure that any man would naturally gravitate towards them. If her cloak were fully revealed, she would showcase a ravenous figure. There was no doubt how she obtained most of her information. Against such a woman, men would be utterly defenseless. All their secrets would be exposed to her! Therefore, she became one of the most well-connected individuals in the Zino Kingdom. There were few things that she did not know.
Yet, Inari did not spare her a single glance. With the mask covering his face, it was impossible to see his expressions. However, his voice was laced with danger. If she dared to lie in front of a great Perception Realm like him, he would notice it. In that case, he would not mind showing her who she should never piss off!
She sighed and recalled her memories. After a few seconds, she spoke carefully, "I heard that there were ongoing experiments somewhere in the Seval Region of the kingdom. I believe it was called blood… blood transfusion. I remember that the results were mixed…"
"I also know about this story," the physician scoffed. "It's from that quack that doesn't know his head from his ass. He's been experimenting purely on animals and most of them died. There's no point…"
"I'll let you know what I think is pointless and what isn't," Inari's partner interrupted with a cold dagger, a hair away from slitting the physician's throat. "Can you do it or not?"
"The operation? You can't be serious, right? The patient will almost certainly die!"
"As long as it's not certain, then it's fine. Get to work," the assassin sheathed his dagger.
The physician gritted his teeth. "Don't blame me for what happens next. We need to stop her blood loss as soon as possible by patching up her wounds. Then we'll need to supply her with blood from a donor. Since her blood loss is so severe, we'll have to do both simultaneously. If there's even a single margin of error, she will die!"
"I'll be the donor," Inari's partner suggested.
Inari nodded. "I'll help with stopping her blood loss."
The two quickly got to work as the physician brought out his specialized tools and bandages. Inari aided the physician in carefully bandaging and moderating Shirley's blood pressure and breathing. His partner used a knife and slashed open his own arm. He did not flinch at all! A metal tube was inserted under his skin and the red liquid flowed into Shirley. Thankfully, these two were Perception Realm Masters, rivaling the strongest knights in the Alzar Kingdom! Their powers of observation were leagues ahead of what any normal physician could manage. Complimenting that, they had superb mastery over the body due to their profession. They needed to understand the human body to kill! Together, the three could adjust for any complications and solve them in time.
Time flew by under their extreme concentration. Rain continued to pour down incessantly like a waterfall outside. Who knew how much time had passed? Inari, his partner, and the physician were covered in sweat from pushing their senses to the absolute limit. Inari and his partner especially, as Perception Realm Masters, they could keep their perception for long periods of time, but it remained extremely draining on their stamina. There might not be many in the entire human world who could maintain that level of focus! Fortunately, they were rewarded for their efforts. Shirley's skin was regaining its redness, while her breathing became controlled. Her pulse was normalizing as well. Shirley's condition was gradually stabilizing!
Just when everything seemed to be going well, a humongous aura washed over them! It was like an ocean pressed down on everyone with unparalleled might! Inari and his partner felt their lives surrendered control to this unknown phenomenon. Furthermore, they could not detect the source! While their range of perception might fall short compared to Magic Perception, their Martial Perception was nothing to laugh at. To evade their detection meant that the origin was very far away. Who could emit such an enormous pressure from so far away? For the master assassins, this went beyond terrifying! They had never felt anything close to it! It was like a higher lifeform was descending to the world of mortals.
Regular folks could not withstand the overwhelming waves of pressure and energy. The situation was eerily like the Sword King's debut in the Lannisail Household. The broker felt a strange fear invade her mind as she broke out in a cold sweat. She was a normal person after all. Although she could not directly sense the anomaly, her body could react instinctively. She felt lightheaded and her vision blackened. She fainted! Yet, the physician was worse off. He was already physically and mentally exhausted from operating so long. Combined with this mysterious interference, his nose bled, and he coughed up some blood before passing out. His condition unknown.
They were not the only ones affected. In fact, the entire capital city felt suffocated! Everyone, regardless of who or where they were, felt uncomfortable. At the suburbs, people could shrug it off and go on with their day. At the noble districts though, everyone was fainting uncontrollably like some sort of magic spell. Those that possessed Condensed Drop Core Level or Perception Realm could barely resist the effects.
With the darkness of night and the heavy cloud cover, no one could see clearly that a massive vortex formed high in the sky! It easily encompassed the entire city. This vortex behaved like water although it was not. It was World Energy! Rainbows sparkled in and out of existence inside this liquid World Energy. If one looked from above, they could see… that the vortex was funnelling down towards the Arkfell estate! This was a power that transcended Condensed Drop Core Level!