He hadn't brought the metal block containing the sealed godhead with him, but facing an opponent who wasn't even an Enchanter, there was clearly no need for such extravagance.
Having learned his lesson from the last drawn-out fight that allowed the mirror to escape, Jenkins held nothing back this time.
The unicorn flew him directly over the man walking on the bridge. Then, in quick succession, black shadows came screaming down from high above.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—
As dust and echoes from the explosions filled the sky, Jenkins gripped the unicorn's mane to steady himself, his monocled right eye fixed on the shimmering aura below.
Within the cloud of smoke and dust, the mirror erupted in a blinding flash of light, deflecting the attacks from above. At the same time, hundreds of crimson needles shot up from the ground, but they posed no threat to Jenkins, who had the entire sky to maneuver in. He didn't even have to command it; the unicorn, soaring freely, effortlessly dodged every attack.
As the dust settled, the middle-aged man in the black top hat on the bridge leaped without hesitation onto the frozen river below. Simultaneously, Jenkins raised his pistol and fired a rapid succession of shots at him. Every bullet he used had been personally blessed and treated with Hemolytic Toxin. While they might not pose much of a threat to a pure-blood vampire, they were absolutely lethal to an infected human.
As the bullets flew, the unicorn carried him into a steep dive, a silver ribbon of light already coiling around his wrist.
But the man, descending faster, landed on the ice a split second before Jenkins could reach him. From the point where his feet touched the ice, a vast, reflective surface spread out like a giant mirror, showing the reflection of Jenkins's disguised face. Fresh chapters posted on N0veI.Fiɾe.net
As the dust in the sky finally cleared, silver shards of light shot down from above. The knight on the unicorn's back had already raised a frost-rimed fist, preparing for close combat.
"What terrible luck. I was just out looking for some medicine."
The man muttered his first words of the day and, a split second before Jenkins could grab him, sank into the mirrored surface along with the very mirror he held. The timing was perfect, the escape calculated to the finest degree, and it left Jenkins absolutely furious.
Just before he vanished, the man glanced up. Jenkins was taken aback by his eyes—they were completely white, with no pupils. He suddenly recalled Rakul mentioning that the mirror could easily control any creature it came into contact with. Staring down at the now-empty sheet of ice, he began to wonder if he had been fighting a man at all, or the mirror itself.
He had come away empty-handed again and had managed to blast one of Nolan's most important bridges into a hazardous wreck, but at least Jenkins had learned something. The mirror's wielder could travel through reflective surfaces. That was likely the secret to their repeated escapes.
He was still mulling over the problem early the next morning when Pops told him about the previous night's incident. From the public's point of view, the New God Cultist had really gone too far this time. The explosions from the Twin Demons and the demonic fire had nearly destroyed the Joël Bridge completely. The bridge was now closed, and it would take at least two weeks of repairs before it could be reopened.
"Once I have time to collect that treasure near Bel Diran, I'll compensate the city."
Jenkins brushed the matter aside.
The incident wasn't simply written off as a case of a "New God cultist going berserk and maliciously destroying public property," because some unusual bloodstains had been found on the ice beneath the bridge. By the afternoon, the forensic report confirmed the blood belonged to a human infected by a vampire—a fact that surprised no one.
"Heh. Even the New God Cultist couldn't catch them. Traveling through mirrors is a troublesome ability, indeed."
That was Pops's take on the matter.
"Traveling through mirrors?"
The revelation hit him as clearly as text on a page. Jenkins had thought he was the only one who knew.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you last time."
The truth was, he didn't want Jenkins getting too involved.
"The Church already knows the secret to how the vampires and the infected keep escaping. They can all travel through reflective surfaces. Remember that alley where the massacre happened? We finally figured out the details of that incident through divination. That's how we learned about the mirror travel."
Traveling through reflections wasn't a natural vampire ability, so Jenkins strongly suspected a connection to the All-Knowing Treasure Mirror. The soul dwelling within that mirror was far from benevolent. What were its goals? Why was it helping the vampires? Jenkins couldn't make any sense of it.
To get the mirror, he first had to find a way to counter their reflective travel.
Figuring that much out was his only real gain from the encounter.
He had retrieved all the bullet slugs he'd fired the night before, picking them up from the ice before he left. They were special rounds treated with Hemolytic Toxin, and Jenkins, worried Pops would find out he'd used them, decided he needed to mix a new batch of the toxin as soon as possible to replace what he'd used.
As luck would have it, Pops had an errand to run at noon and asked Jenkins to mind the shop. Jenkins, in turn, left Chocolate in charge. He settled into the rocking chair by the fireplace and pretended to be asleep, while his consciousness was already on its way to Ruen.
Barely two minutes after Jenkins's departure, Hathaway Hersha pushed the door open and stepped inside.
It was a greeting, a clear sign that the shop was under feline supervision.
The red-haired young woman smiled at the cat, then noticed Jenkins slumped in his chair, a book covering his face.
she whispered to Chocolate.
He hadn't scheduled his trip to Ruen with Alexia beforehand. However, Jenkins had learned on Tuesday that Miss Stuart had her math lessons twice a week: Tuesday evening and Friday afternoon—right now. So, despite the impoliteness of dropping in unannounced, he had chosen this time to visit.
His form solidified, shifting from ethereal to corporeal. But the small room he found himself in looked nothing like a princess's study.
It appeared to be a dressing room. He had materialized here because Alexia's coat was hanging on a nearby rack; the lodestone he sought must be in one of its pockets.
Suddenly, he heard the handle of a nearby door turning. He blinked, and there stood Julia.
The maid jumped, startled, but relaxed when she recognized a familiar face. She stepped inside cautiously and closed the door behind her.