The young man with a cross-shaped scar on his face flashed a white-toothed smile and said, "We've had our eye on you for a while. I thought it would be kinder to let you withdraw your savings before we caught you. After all, it's your last wish before you die."
"Addison thought it might be difficult to withdraw the money without knowing the password, even with the savings slip, so he agreed to my request."
Charlotte never expected to be targeted so early. Without hesitating to use his newly crafted alchemical staff, he drew his Magnum revolver and emptied the chamber at the young man.
The young man with the cross-shaped scar remained calm in the face of the gun, drew his rapier, and with a light flick, struck out over ten times in an instant. The ground clinked as over ten bullets, sliced in half, fell to the ground. His swordsmanship was extraordinary.
A normal human body has its limits and cannot perform such rapid sword techniques.
Charlotte took a cold breath and asked, "Extraordinary?"
From the other end of the street, a cold voice replied, "Wells is a diviner. His specialty is predicting the trajectory of bullets. You see, he's very accurate."
Charlotte gripped the blood-drinking axe hidden in his sleeve and asked, "A diviner? Did you find me purely through spiritual means?"
The young man with the cross-shaped scar said, "That's right, so don't think of running. No matter where you flee, you can't escape my divination."
Charlotte dropped the empty Magnum revolver and asked, "Who are you people? Why are you after me?"
Wells pointed his rapier forward and answered, "We're detectives from the Fiery Horse Detective Agency. Our employer is Kilmainham Prison, and we're officially assisting in an investigation."
"The orders from Kilmainham are that it doesn't matter whether you're captured dead or alive—dead is preferable."
Charlotte had always thought that the enforcement teams in the Farse Empire weren't very efficient, but he never imagined that this world with supernatural abilities also had extraordinary detectives like this.
The head of the Fiery Horse Detective Agency, Aubrey Tilden Atwood, is one of the Empire's top seven detectives, ranked even higher than the cat spirit detective Vinnie Al-Senu. The Fiery Horse Detective Agency is over ten times larger than the Cat Detective Agency, employing over a hundred detectives, including more than ten extraordinary individuals, along with two to three hundred detective assistants, numerous trainees, and various clerks. Their scope of operations is vast.
Facing a pursuer who could divine his whereabouts, Charlotte was very troubled. He didn't attempt to bribe them with money, as the two Fiery Horse detectives had already made it clear they intended to take the cash he was carrying. Trying to bribe them would be too naive.
Charlotte quickly calmed down and unhesitatingly activated his Insight ability. A holographic view enveloped the entire street, and the blood-drinking axe flew out, slashing towards the other detective.
The blood-drinking axe struck its target, producing a dull thud. The detective named Addison was engulfed in roaring flames. The fierce fire formed a whirlwind, and although the blood-drinking axe cut into the flames, it could not penetrate the fiery vortex and harm the detective.
Addison smiled cruelly and said, "I'm a flame dragon knight of the Fiery Horse Detective Agency. Your little tricks can't break through my abilities." Without making any visible moves, he sent a flame towards the blood-drinking axe, knocking it away.
The blood-drinking axe fell to the ground, but still had some momentum, bouncing up and flying several dozen steps towards Wells before finally losing force and dropping at the side of the street.
Charlotte's heart steadied slightly, but he deliberately displayed a panicked expression and shouted, "Third-tier extraordinary!"
Addison's use of "battle energy" was a hallmark of a knight's skills.
In the Old Continent, there's a saying that knights have the broadest path to becoming extraordinary and are the easiest to achieve. The threshold is so low that even commoners have a chance to obtain a secret method for cultivating battle energy.
In the Farse Empire, national academies have a complete knight system in their curriculum, and anyone who gets into a national academy can learn the breathing techniques.
The most outstanding students gather their strength seeds, awaken their life force, break through the cocoon, and possess battle energy, earning the title of knight.
Even if one doesn't get into a national academy, many private organizations in the Old Continent teach some form of breathing techniques. For example, the Fiery Horse Detective Agency is known for the flame dragon's breath breathing technique, and those who awaken battle energy through this method can call themselves flame dragon knights.
Charlotte had not awakened battle energy in national academy and had completely given up on training in this area after entering university, but he was still well-versed in many of the basics.
From Addison's performance, Charlotte judged that the other party's battle energy was likely at the third tier, which made him a third-tier extraordinary.
Wells, holding his rapier, took a big step forward and laughed, saying, "It's better to choose me as your opponent! I'm just a diviner, and my strength is only at the second tier."
According to the information, Charlotte was just a civil servant with no combat experience. Judging by his behavior, he was at most a first-tier extraordinary, and his expertise, Blood Glory, had a combat style similar to battle energy but with weaker power, as was well known.
The two detectives from the Fiery Horse Detective Agency were approaching this fight with a playful attitude, not taking it seriously, much like a cat toying with a mouse, even showing some laziness.
Charlotte silently calculated as Wells stepped into a certain range. He muttered quietly to himself, "Whether in the East or the West, whether in immortal tales or mythology, no form of divination can be omniscient and omnipotent without a price."
The blood-drinking axe on the ground, like a nimble little bird, leisurely flew up and struck Wells' neck from an unexpected angle.
Under the control of Bloodflame Energy, the blood-drinking weapon crazily devoured the detective's vital essence and life force. Wells repeatedly tried to reach up and pull the axe from his neck, but each time his hands would fall limp halfway.
In just a few breaths, his once-vigorous life force was completely consumed by the blood-drinking axe, leaving his once-young and strong body shriveled like a leaf in the autumn wind, withering in an instant.
Addison's face filled with terror at the sudden turn of events. He hesitated for a moment, missing the fleeting chance to save his partner.
Then, to Charlotte's surprise, Addison made an unexpected decision: he turned and fled at full speed, his body engulfed in flames as he activated his battle energy.
Charlotte, a university student who had undergone comprehensive and professional training in extraordinary knowledge at Sheffield University, quickly identified weaknesses in the two detectives' techniques and devised a counter-strategy.
The two detectives from the Fiery Horse Detective Agency hadn't even made it into a national academy and only had the opportunity to learn the breathing techniques after joining the detective agency. Although they were skilled and experienced in combat, their knowledge was lacking, and they failed to see through Charlotte's abilities.
Addison, though familiar with Blood Glory, didn't know much about the Thirteen Mystics. In his understanding, the ability to manipulate weapons from a distance was something only high-level extraordinaries possessed.
Especially after Charlotte's initial bold move, killing Wells and showcasing the terrifying, villainous power of a blood-drinking weapon, Addison misjudged Charlotte's strength and chose the "smart" option—fleeing alone.
Although Addison was a full-fledged detective at the agency, earning a weekly salary of only two florins and forty stings, slightly more than a first-class clerk, it wasn't worth risking his life over that amount.