A multitude of hands formed from blood flames danced through the air, making various gestures.
Charlotte's face was filled with joy. Harriet, being a high-level transcendent, had an incredibly potent life force, which allowed Charlotte to condense seven "Flaming Hands."
The "Flaming Hand" is not considered a particularly advanced secret technique in the Adonis clan's blood rituals, detailed on the third page of the blood scrolls. However, each successive "Flaming Hand" typically takes one or two more years to cultivate than the previous one. A typical vampire might spend three to five years to cultivate the first "Flaming Hand," but the second one would take over five years. As a result, most Adonis vampires, after cultivating one "Flaming Hand," would not delve deeper into this secret technique and would instead focus on advancing to higher levels.
Young high-level vampires of the Adonis clan generally only have three to five "Flaming Hands," which is usually sufficient for them. Only exceptionally old vampires, with endless time on their hands, would bother cultivating more.
Charlotte wasn't a vampire, and Protagoras' secret scrolls didn't cover these details. After all, most people would realize how time-consuming this technique is and would automatically stop, choosing instead to focus on advancing their rank. Charlotte, having absorbed the life essence of a high-level knight, faced no bottleneck in this secret technique and managed to condense seven "Flaming Hands" in one go, only realizing afterward that he might have gone a bit overboard.
With a thought, one of the "Flaming Hands" turned its fingers, holding a Firequill Silver Rhino, an extraordinary alchemical short gun. The gun's barrel moved up, down, left, and right, aiming in seven different directions, just as if it were being held by a real hand.
Another "Flaming Hand" drew the magic rapier Blood Rose. The blade danced through the air, executing the sword techniques of the Asilo clan with such eerie precision that it exceeded even the most skilled human imagination, every strike defying logical thought.
Charlotte mused, "Isn't this like the legendary Three Heads and Six Arms? Though I have one extra hand! It seems those two extra heads wouldn't serve much purpose, so never mind."
After playing around for a while, Charlotte snapped his fingers, and the seven burning hands gradually shrank, flying back to his side and disappearing.
Charlotte casually touched the diary, and a thought entered his mind— the descent of the Blood God Caanstine had been delayed by another eighteen days.
"The fourth page of the blood scrolls details the 'Flaming Resonance Grenade,' a technique to fire spirit bullets with bare hands, which can also be loaded into extraordinary firearms for a much more powerful effect."
"Given my strong blood energy, mastering this secret technique shouldn't be too difficult; it might take one or two months at most."
"However, I don't lack ranged attack methods, so I should focus on mastering the 'Spirit Spider Technique' first before considering the 'Flaming Resonance Grenade!'"
"The Spirit Spider Technique shouldn't take more than two weeks!"
Charlotte dusted off the dirt from the battle and adjusted the labyrinth, taking one step to reach Sylvie Martin's side.
Sylvie hadn't expected his sudden appearance, and instinctively thrust the dagger she had been holding with all her might. Fortunately, Charlotte was now a fifth-rank transcendent with the Lightfoot Technique. With a slight shift, he dodged the attack, smiling, "No need to be nervous, Cousin Sylvie."
Sylvie, recognizing him, let out a breath and relaxed, though she still grumbled, "Don't call me cousin."
Charlotte shrugged and replied, "I'm afraid you'll be my cousin from now on, whether you like it or not."
"Unless we stop seeing each other."
"I suppose it doesn't matter to you, but I'll likely have a lot of business with Vinnie, and I don't see you leaving the Cat Detective Agency, so you might as well get used to it."
Sylvie pouted, "Fine! It's better than the other identity anyway."
Charlotte didn't understand why Sylvie disliked him so much.
Even the real Charlotte Mecklenburg didn't know that she had once witnessed his most humiliating moment— running naked through the streets, being chased.
Charlotte's confrontation with the evil god only made his memories clearer; it didn't add anything new that wasn't already there.
But he didn't really care about it. For a first-rank officer, Sylvie was quite a good marriage prospect— their families were well-matched, their parents were friends, Sylvie was undoubtedly a beauty, a graduate of the National Academy, and she had impeccable character.
However, for a thirty-fourth-rank, fourth-grade officer, this marriage seemed rather average.
Sylvie offered no help to his career; at best, she could be a supportive spouse, but she wasn't keen on returning to domestic life and preferred to work, meaning she wasn't interested in playing that role.
As a traditional person, Teacher Huang Haisheng would have been troubled if Sylvie hadn't refused the marriage first. The current situation made things easier for him.
Charlotte smiled slightly and quickly led Sylvie to find Vinnie Arsenault. Even though the cat-elf detective had transformed into a desert cat and hidden well, finding a few secret passages, Charlotte, as the labyrinth's master, located her effortlessly.
Vinnie Arsenault, seeing Charlotte with Sylvie, couldn't help but meow in surprise. When she realized they couldn't understand her, she rolled on the ground, returning to her human form.
Vinnie asked, "Did you kill Harriet? Are you really a vampire?"
Charlotte drew Blood Rose, lightly ran his finger along the blade, and showed the detective his hand. A slight cut appeared, with a small amount of blood seeping out. Of course, he wasn't about to inflict a serious wound on himself— just a superficial cut to make a point.
Vinnie Arsenault had never believed the rumor, and seeing the blood on his hand confirmed her disbelief.
Vampires don't have blood; when cut, they release a mist of blood energy, not actual blood.
Sylvie grabbed Charlotte's hand, examined the wound, and then let go, seeing that it was too shallow to need bandaging.
Charlotte made a gesture, signaling Vinnie Arsenault to follow. He led the two women out of Machubi.
As they looked back at the fortress ruins, both women felt a bit sentimental.
They hadn't experienced the labyrinth's terror, only the unexpected fall of a high-level transcendent like Harriet in this place.
Neither asked how Charlotte had killed Harriet.
Vinnie found Charlotte full of secrets, and uncovering them was the ultimate pleasure for a detective— asking directly would be boring.
Sylvie simply didn't care. As long as Charlotte was alive, how he survived didn't matter to her. She didn't want to care too much about her ex-fiancé.