After a moment of excitement, as twilight fell, Alka began to tidy up the villa, erasing all traces of his presence. He would be leaving the city at midnight to rendezvous with Andre and the others.
After packing his scarce belongings and the coins he had obtained into a newly bought suitcase, he opened the wardrobe containing the special lens. He took out the Mirror from inside, examined it for a moment, then placed it on the bedside table.
Watching the sun that hadn’t completely set, Alka thought, I’ll take a nap first. It’s only around six or seven o’clock now. I should be able to wake up in time.
Considering tonight’s operation, Alka decided to take a short nap to rest, to avoid being too exhausted for the night’s activities. After all, he had been running around outside all day. With this in mind, Alka drew the curtains again, lay down on the bed, and soon fell into a deep sleep.
「At this time, in the basement of a shop.」
Nivek, still in his clown attire but without his greasepaint, leaned back in a chair, idly playing with a dagger. Just then, a knock came at the door.
A gang member walked in, looking somewhat nervous. After taking a deep breath, he said, "Deputy, we’ve found where the Magician is staying. He rented a villa by himself."
"Oh?" Nivek raised an eyebrow at this. Then, from somewhere, he produced a pile of greasepaints and tools and began to paint his face with the familiar clown makeup, identical to how he’d looked during the day.
The gang member making the report could only keep his mouth shut, standing beside him tensely. Watching Nivek apply his clown makeup at this moment, the gang member’s heart grew even more anxious.
Nivek leisurely applied his makeup with skilled movements, and soon his transformation into a clown was complete. He looked at himself in the mirror and gave an exaggerated smile. Maintaining that smile, he turned his head and stared at the gang member beside him. When the gang member looked up and saw this, his heart nearly jumped into his throat.
All he heard was Nivek saying, "Take me there."
The gang member immediately nodded.
「The city had long plunged into silence.」
Only a few shops in the commercial street near the city gate remained open. Many dignitaries enjoyed taking nighttime strolls here.
In his sleep, Alka once again found himself plunged into darkness. The familiar sensation of sleep paralysis left Alka feeling somewhat helpless. Why have I been drawn in again?
Faint, ethereal sounds began to swirl around his ears once more.
"Run... Run quickly... Danger... Danger..."
Hearing this, Alka, who had been feeling helpless, suddenly tensed and asked warily, "What’s going on? Did you sense something?"
Tonight was when he planned to sneak out of the city to meet Andre and the others. Surely nothing could go wrong now.
"Danger... Run quickly..."
Then let me out quickly! How can I run if you don’t let me out! Alka shouted silently in his mind.
Subsequently, Alka’s eyes snapped open on the bed. He sprang up immediately. With incomprehensible speed, he dressed and then peeked through a gap in the curtains. The second-floor bedroom window offered a clear view of the street below.
At the end of the street, a few figures dressed in black were slowly approaching. Leading them was a man in a clown costume, striding down the street with flamboyant steps.
It was the clown from earlier that day. Could the danger be referring to him? Just because of what happened during the day? Is he after my life? Alka couldn’t quite understand, but his actions remained swift.
After quickly making some arrangements in the room, he grabbed the Magic Mirror from the bedside table and slipped out. Before leaving, he pulled open the curtains by the bed, allowing the cold moonlight to spill onto the quilt.
"This is the place," a gang member said, pointing to the villa before them.
Nivek, dressed as a clown, glanced up at it. "You wait outside."
With that, he took exaggerated strides and, with a light jump, cleared the iron gate several meters high.
"I don’t know who’s so unlucky to have provoked this madman," one gang member muttered, rubbing his hands as he watched Nivek depart.
The gang member beside him slapped him. "Shut up, if you value your life."
The first member immediately clamped his mouth shut, terrified Nivek might have heard him.
Nivek walked from the yard directly to the front door. Facing the locked door, he turned the handle as nonchalantly as if entering his own home. The villa door opened as if it hadn’t been locked at all. He sauntered inside. The sound of his exaggerated footsteps suddenly vanished.
Entering the living room, he briefly scanned his surroundings, then headed directly for the second floor. After a moment’s observation, he paused, then proceeded to the master bedroom door.
He pushed the door open. Clear, cold moonlight spilled into the room through the window, illuminating the person apparently in deep sleep on the bed. The quilt was humped up, and strands of short black hair peeked out from the pillow.
Seeing this scene, Nivek hugged himself, trembling with excitement as if enraptured. He stepped through the open doorway and, step by step, walked towards the foot of the bed. This time, he didn’t walk softly as he had upon entering, but deliberately made his footsteps louder.
Reaching the foot of the bed, he gazed at the figure, still apparently asleep and motionless under the moonlight. He waved his hand upwards. A dagger materialized, hovering just above his palm.
Directly across from the master bedroom, near the window, there was a balcony. A pair of dark green, almost black eyes watched this scene. In his hand was a short-barreled shotgun; the slider on its stock was already flicked upward.
His eyes widened slightly upon seeing the dagger materialize and float above Nivek’s hand. Without hesitation, he pulled a pocket watch from his breast pocket. He directly crushed the blue Crystal Slab on its surface.
At that exact moment, the dagger hovering over Nivek’s hand shot forward, plunging down through the quilt.
Instantly, Nivek sensed something was wrong. There was nothing solid underneath. He immediately ripped the covers aside. What he saw was a pile of pillows topped with a wig.
His slightly crimson eyes met Alka’s dark green ones. The Locking Device’s trigger had already been pulled. A tight cluster of steel pellets burst forth.
Having fired the shot, Alka immediately threw himself backward off the balcony. He tumbled in mid-air before landing smoothly in a crouch, like an expert gymnast. The instant he landed, he bolted like a startled rabbit, dashing out of the yard.