—I'm in the last building. So far, I haven't seen Amy or Osborn. Also, most of the businesses seemed to be shut down.
"I see. Can you come to the hotel now?"
—Do you think they're there?
"Most likely, it's the only business they have that's still resuming operations."
—Isn't that way too obvious?
"It is."
—Then what makes you so sure they are there?
"Eyes."
—What?
"I've yet to step foot on the building. But it feels like all eyes are on me.
—Elaborate?
"The guards, the guests. They're trying to hide it. But they've been sneaking glances on me from time to time.
—Isn't it because of your looks?
"Miss Evelyn, are you saying it's because your 'assistant' is handsome?"
—W-what? N-no, no. What made you even think that? Haa… I'll be there. Don't do anything stupid before I arrive.
"Sure."
Click–
Evelyn's hypothesis somehow made sense.
But…
'The way they're looking at me…'
There was a tinge of malice from their gaze.
For Brandon, it felt…
Suffocating.
Regardless, he had to put the next phase of his plans in motion.
To make Brandon Locke's alibi.
If Evelyn meets up with Raven and the rest of the Special Force, she would most likely ask where Brandon was.
He couldn't just disappear for no reason, it would raise Evelyn's suspicion.
Not only that, but the mere mention of 'Brandon' would raise Raven's suspicion as well.
Raven would most likely think along the lines of; 'Brandon?' 'He's here?'.
It would eventually lead to Raven concluding that Brandon and Moriarty are one, regardless of having the Mirage Mask or not.
He couldn't let that happen.
The first thing to do was to call the police and alert them of the situation.
Any amount of reinforcement was welcome, and it was a good alibi.
Ring… Ring… Click–
As the call connected, Brandon put on his best 'victim' impression, making his voice shaky.
—Good evening, this is District 811. How can we–
"P-please help… me."
Click–
Those were all the words he needed to say. The police should understand the urgency of the situation just from those last chilling words.
Step–
He continued forward. The entrance of the hotel a few distance from him.
In front of him seemed to be two guards who stood by the entrance on both sides.
'Don't do something stupid?'
He was gonna do exactly that.
As he continued forward, he felt the gaze of the guards on him. Face-to-face with them, one of the guards spoke up.
"Halt! This is an invite only hotel, name?"
"Name?"
There was no point in trying to mask his identity.
If he had to strike, now was the best time. If he entered the hotel, and started the attack there, he would be surrounded from all sides.
"Moriarty."
He smirked.
"You're not on the guest lis– Ukh!"
Before the guard finished, Brandon stuck an ice dagger that was hidden beneath his sleeve on the guard's throat.
They weren't Wraithbounds, so it was a quick kill.
[You have slain a Human!]
[+5 EXP]
"Intru– Ukhh!"
Tszzz—
Brandon instantly flashed in front of the other guard, leaving trails of blue sparks and slit his throat with the ice dagger.
Silence.
Despite the amount of guests inside the building, none of them reacted to what had just happened. No screams, no gasps, nothing.
All they did was continue to stare at him.
"As expected. This is the place."
There was no need to delay the inevitable.
They were all going to die.
Step–
As he stepped inside, all eyes were on him.
Brandon felt a chill down his spine at the creepy stares.
One of the guests lifted their hand.
Noticing this, Brandon instantly disrupted the mana.
"Huh?"
"What are you doing? Chain him up now!"
'Chain? So they had mana shackles, huh?'
At that, a myriad of ice spears materialized behind Brandon.
Cr..Crack—!
With a motion of his hand down, the spears turned to rain down on the guests.
Screams echoed throughout the entire lobby. As the entire building shook in chaos. Some tried to fend them off, while some tried to flee.
But…
No one will be spared.
An ice chain protruded from the ground and pierced through the air, interlocking with all the guests that tried to flee.
From behind him, a wind vortex seemingly tried to reeled him in
But Brandon flashed forward inside the vortex, leaving a trail of blue sparks.
Inside the vortex, he spun around with wind magic boosting his speed.
As he did that, the wind dispersed and he once again flashed forward towards the guest that conjured it.
"Fuck… He's a Devia– Ukhhh!"
Spurt–!
An ice sword materialized from Brandon's hand and instantly slashed at the man.
Sparks of magic continued to pierce through the air from all sides. Brandon would narrowly dodge while some would land a hit, there was too much for [Mana Disruption] to be effective.
Yet despite that, whenever he had the chance to, he would disrupt at least one mage's mana.
Tszz— Boom–!
A bolt of lightning struck Brandon as he crashed down on the ground.
"Ukeh..!"
He spat out blood.
Despite increasing his [DEF] stat, it still wasn't enough to mitigate the damage.
Brandon slowly got up as another barrage of magic was headed towards him.
"Tsk."
He clicked his tongue. There were too many mages for him to take on at once.
'Should I have waited for Evelyn?'
No.
He dismissed his thoughts.
He knew that if he did that, he wouldn't be able to cover his tracks.
A day will come when they would conclude that he was Moriarty.
He can't allow it to happen.
Tszz—
He continued to dodge each magic strike. But yet again, some would pass his defense and the magic would strike him.
Lightning would pierce through his torso while gusts of wind would blow him, sending him hurling away.
Brandon skidded back several meters.
Tszz—
Regardless, he pushed forward, with lightning magic enhancing his speed and wind magic directly boosting the swing of his ice sword
Slash—!
For every mage he killed, magic skills would pierce through the air and strike him whenever there was an opening.
"Haa.. Haa…"
Suddenly, he felt his breath grow heavy.
He suddenly felt like he was tired.
"Haha."
It amused him.
It was the result of overuse of magic skills without any proper mana training.
However, there were only a few mages left.
He just had to push through.
Until.
They were all.
Dead.
Tszzz—
[You have slain a Human!]
[You have slain a Human!]
[You have slain a Human!]
[You have leveled up!]
[Stat Points: +3]
[Skill Weaver capacity has increased!]
[You have unlocked the Water Affinity!]
At the end of it all, Brandon slumped down and leaned his back on a pillar.
"Haa.. Haa…"
He took deep heavy breaths and his vision started to get hazy.
Drip… Drip…
He lifted his hand to touch his forehead and felt an eerie wet sensation.
Lifting it down, it was a familiar sight.
Blood.
His forehead had started bleeding as blood continued to drip down, covering his eye.
"Haha."
All Brandon could do was laugh at his pathetic state.
Though, things didn't go quite as planned, what mattered to him were the results.
Of course, he could just buy healing potions from the [System Shop] and instantly heal his injuries. But he opted not to.
The fact that he was severely injured would greatly increase the chances of his plan to work.
That was because...
"This is even better than I expected..."
The fact that he was severely injured would greatly increase the chances of his plan to work.
"Huuu…"
Once again he took a deep heavy breath.
He turned to scan the room despite his vision getting blurry.
Blood stained the walls. Several debris scattered on the ground. All the furniture was torn.
And…
Mages laid dead on the ground.
Some were gruesomely split apart. While some had ice spears impaled deeply on their bodies.
All because of one man.
Brandon Locke.
He could tell that his opponents weren't really seasoned mages. It was just that there were too many of them.
But he could tell they were a lot stronger than the mages he had beaten during the Battle Royale.
From a distance, the sound of sirens reached his ears.
Weeeooo… Weeeoooo…
He turned his gaze to the window and realized that the police had finally arrived.
Slam—!
The glass door abruptly slammed open, and several figures emerged at the entrance.