Chapter 201: 201
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A moment later, there was a sound of a motor carriage approaching the house on Watervalstraat with the number 37 on it. Awoken by the sound of the engine, Graham Hymes, who was sleeping under the shroud of a thin yellowish mist, opened his eyes and got up from the soft and warm sofa. He quickly started chanting.
"I, in the name of the Deity of Cunningness and Transformation, hereby change my whole being into that of Hank Krammer!"
With the spell chant, his body began quickly undergoing a transformation process, which lasted less than thirty seconds. Once he had transformed into the mayor, he hid the cane behind him since the real mayor had lost his. He also undid all the Concealments and stood in near the door. Graham concentrated on the belt that he was wearing; he was ready to put on the illusion at any time.
The sound of the engine stopped and there was a sound of a door being slammed shut outside. After that, a man's footsteps approached the house. Graham was waiting patiently and calmly for the target; his left hand was holding Valentine's dagger, ready to injure index finger the moment Lucas came in. With a click, the door was unlocked from the outside and slowly, the wooden door was pushed open.
Creak...
Graham held his breath. Every second felt like forever as he waited in anticipation for the man. He perked up his ears to hear the sounds he was making behind all the noise from the waterfall.
But there was no one!
With a decisive movement, the fake mayor injured his finger and let the blood drop to the floor while quickly chanting. However, before he could finish, a strong gust of wind pushed him back!
Crash!
Graham was knocked back and hit the bookshelf behind him. The Mass Illusion ability that he was trying to cast had been canceled because of the attack. He didn't expect that Lucas' detection ability was that good; the man must have felt a different presence than that of his wife coming from inside the house. However, what Graham didn't understand was why he attacked right away since Graham was wearing the mayor's appearance.
"Lucas! How dare you attack me!" he shouted in anger, mimicking the way the real Hank Krammer would say it.
With the help of the cane, he got up and stood guard. His enemy was invisible, so he couldn't see him. He also didn't have Valentine's secret detection, so he couldn't feel the man's presence at all.
"I can't use Order either if I cannot see my target..." he mumbled.
Smack!
"Aren't you curious about the whereabouts of your wife and daughter?"
Graham baited the man using his weakness. An Unseen couldn't be heard as long as they remained invisible, so if Lucas wanted to speak, he had to show himself first. The moment the man decided to reveal his body, Graham would have a chance to use the various abilities that he had prepared.
There was silence.
With the cane protecting his body, Graham expected another attack. However, it seemed that the man had left the room and was probably going around the house looking for his family.
Bash!!
An attack came from his unprotected side, sending him flying yet again. Graham felt like a tennis ball that kept being sent all over the place as he tried to recover from the impact.
"This man is far too cautious!" he complained inaudibly while gritting his teeth to bear with the pain.
It seemed that Lucas knew what the 'mayor' was waiting for. The moment he turned visible, terrible things would happen to him.
Graham quickly looked around the room to find something that he could use. It was a living room with a now broken shelf and books on the floor. There was a carpet that he could order to wrap around the man, but he had to know the target's exact location first for it to work. He couldn't see any ink or something similar that he could use, but then it reminded him that he had his own blood. The man's relentless attack made him forget about something as trivial as that.
With a swift movement, he gripped the blade of the dagger that he was holding in his left hand, effectively injuring it. He made sure that the enemy didn't see his action, otherwise, Lucas would just stay away and made Graham's injury a waste.
He stood his ground and braced himself for another attack while trying to locate the invisible bodyguard. His ears, however, picked up nothing but the sound of the waterfall in the distance and the faint ticking of a clock somewhere.
Whoosh!
Smash!
Instead of a physical attack, this time the man chose to send another strong gust of wind in Graham's direction, knocking him back to the wall again. The blood in his left hand was splattered everywhere but his target, who seemed to be standing far away from Graham's spot. His plan had failed again!
"Should I just burn down this house, Val? No, it would attract too much attention," he mumbled in desperation. His body was all bruised and his breathing was heavy.
Looking at the carpet underneath the sofa, Graham issued an Order.
"I order you to circle around me!"
The brown fur carpet began floating and stretched itself wide, forming a square barrier. It then circled around Graham at a high speed.
Whoosh!
The gust of wind came again and blew the carpet away, ridding Graham of his 'protective barrier'. He then began picking up any random objects he could find and started throwing them everywhere in front of him. Books, vase, and other small objects were sent flying across the room, hitting nothing but the wall and the floor where they landed.
"Of course that wouldn't work, would it. At least it was worth a try,"
Since there was no more object to throw, Graham decided to escape from the house instead. Nothing seemed to work against the careful Unseen. He appeared to be a much more difficult enemy to face than the deceased Police Sergeant, Paars.
"I will order someone to kill your wife and daughter if you don't show yourself!!" he shouted as he ran across the room towards the door. His voice was angry and thunderous.
There was still nothing. It was apparent that his enemy had very good self-control and wasn't the type to be easily provoked.
The moment Graham went through the door, he slammed it behind him as quickly as he could and kept on running towards the street. Since the door was closed, at least he would know if the man decided to follow him.
"How do we deal with someone who is immune to manipulation like that, Val?"
Graham breathed heavily in the fog-covered street, trying to recover from all of his injuries. The pain was still stinging, especially his left waist and his back, which got most of the impact.
Using his lighter, he lit a fire and used Fire Manipulation on it to make it stay afloat without the lighter. After that, he also made the fire bigger, to the size of an exercise ball.
Creak...
The door was opened from the inside and again, there was no one walking through the doorway. However, Graham knew his enemy was here. They were now out in the open, so at least he was not in such a disadvantageous position. The supernatural detective focused on his fireball and asked a question.
'Where is the location of Lucas Baltes?'
Whoosh!
The enemy sent a gust of wind to put out the fire, but his fireball was too big and strong for the wind to completely blow it out. An image began appearing, which showed to red dots: one belonged to Graham while the other was Lucas the bodyguard. The target was standing just several meters in his ten o'clock direction!
He quickly slit his palm and ran towards where the enemy was indicated by his divination. Since his concentration was broken, the image disappeared abruptly, which he didn't mind. It was even in his favor since the enemy hadn't seemed to move from his position-- the detective's blood was successfully splattered all over him, revealing his whereabouts.
It seemed that Lucas had been mesmerized by the Fire Divination!
Since he could somehow 'see' the target now, Graham could use his other abilities. Lucas, who realized what had just happened, tried to escape at once. The floating blood began moving away from the 'mayor' right away.
"I order you to stand still!"
Graham was faster. With his Order, Lucas was now unable to move.
"I order you to get out of invisibility!"
Against his will, the man turned visible. His skin slowly phased into existence out of nothingness and his figure appeared right at the spot where the floating blood was. In front of him, there was now a naked man with blood covering his shoulder, back, and chest. The cold night's fog didn't seem to affect him despite him not wearing anything.
The man's eyes showed calmness, but Graham could see the hatred and wariness hidden deep beneath his cold gaze. It was apparent that the lean-bodied bodyguard was actually worried about his family, despite him not showing it.
"How dare you attack me!" yelled Graham at the immobilized man, staying in character as the mayor.
"Drop the act. I know you are not the real mayor. What has happened to Wiebe, Danny, and Eveline was all too suspicious. The real mayor wouldn't do it all out in the open like that," replied the man calmly. His voice sounded confident in what he was saying.
Graham was surprised by how the man could easily see through his plan, but then quickly rationalized the situation. It would be difficult for the other three victims to see the truth since they were emotionally attacked. However, Lucas, who probably had had the chance to talk to Danny and Wiebe, and gathered what had happened to Eveline, could most likely come up with a rational explanation of the whole thing, especially seeing as how cautious he was.
Since talking was not possible, Graham had no other choice but to use another method, which was not only less effective, but also much more tiring.
"I order you to fall asleep!"
"I, in the name of the Deity of Domination and Order, intensify your desire to fall asleep!"
He used his new favorite ability combination and forced the naked bodyguard to sleep out there in front of his house, by the side of the street. A heavy wave of sleepiness swept over the Unseen and was intensified manyfold, making him unable to resist. The man quickly collapsed to the ground and began snoring.
Approaching the sleeping man in front of him, Graham began chanting once he was in range.
"I, in the name of the Deity of Cunningness and Transformation, hereby plant this memory inside your head: the person whom you met tonight was the real mayor and he had decided to kidnap your wife and daughter, that was why you couldn't find them anywhere in the house. The reason for the kidnapping is unknown to you, but it has something to do with the mayor's secret project with Eveline Herrick. You confronted the mayor inside your house but then the man managed to get away."
Graham couldn't plant the thought that the mayor had killed Lucas's wife and daughter in front of him since it was something too emotionally painful. He could only plant the memory, not the emotion, so something like that would be easily rejected by the brain since the emotion was absent from the memory.
Once he had finished implanting the false memory, most of his stamina was drained all at once. He was breathing heavily while kneeling on the ground. The pain felt almost unbearable now that his stamina was almost all gone.
"Why do you have to make it difficult for me, man..."
Another alternative that he had also given a thought about was resetting the man's memory, making him think he was just on his way home, and then starting the illusion once he entered the house for the second time, doing it as he originally planned. However, the fact that the man was naked and the house in shambles made it almost impossible to do that, so Graham couldn't help but complain.
"It should take a while for the false memory to take root and manifest, especially since the man is a cautious one. We cannot do anything right now, so let's just go home and recover, Val,"
Before he went, however, Graham pointed the wooden walking cane at the sleeping bodyguard and sent some of his stamina into it, activating the ability that it had. There was a faint glow at the tip that was directed at the target, and he could feel a kind of sucking sensation coming from the handle that he was holding.
"This is for getting me into so much trouble," he said mischievously.
He felt that a kind of energy was shot towards the man and entered his body, while something left Graham and entered Dr. Obtuse's Cane. A piece of knowledge was also transferred into Graham's brain. It was the information about the effect that the cane had created.
'Lucas Baltes is now highly obsessed with the smell of sewer!'
'You are now completely uninterested in chocolate!'
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
A moment later, there was a sound of a motor carriage approaching the house on Watervalstraat with the number 37 on it. Awoken by the sound of the engine, Graham Hymes, who was sleeping under the shroud of a thin yellowish mist, opened his eyes and got up from the soft and warm sofa. He quickly started chanting.
"I, in the name of the Deity of Cunningness and Transformation, hereby change my whole being into that of Hank Krammer!"
With the spell chant, his body began quickly undergoing a transformation process, which lasted less than thirty seconds. Once he had transformed into the mayor, he hid the cane behind him since the real mayor had lost his. He also undid all the Concealments and stood in near the door. Graham concentrated on the belt that he was wearing; he was ready to put on the illusion at any time.
The sound of the engine stopped and there was a sound of a door being slammed shut outside. After that, a man's footsteps approached the house. Graham was waiting patiently and calmly for the target; his left hand was holding Valentine's dagger, ready to injure index finger the moment Lucas came in. With a click, the door was unlocked from the outside and slowly, the wooden door was pushed open.
Creak...
Graham held his breath. Every second felt like forever as he waited in anticipation for the man. He perked up his ears to hear the sounds he was making behind all the noise from the waterfall.
But there was no one!
With a decisive movement, the fake mayor injured his finger and let the blood drop to the floor while quickly chanting. However, before he could finish, a strong gust of wind pushed him back!
Crash!
Graham was knocked back and hit the bookshelf behind him. The Mass Illusion ability that he was trying to cast had been canceled because of the attack. He didn't expect that Lucas' detection ability was that good; the man must have felt a different presence than that of his wife coming from inside the house. However, what Graham didn't understand was why he attacked right away since Graham was wearing the mayor's appearance.
"Lucas! How dare you attack me!" he shouted in anger, mimicking the way the real Hank Krammer would say it.
With the help of the cane, he got up and stood guard. His enemy was invisible, so he couldn't see him. He also didn't have Valentine's secret detection, so he couldn't feel the man's presence at all.
"I can't use Order either if I cannot see my target..." he mumbled.
Smack!
"Aren't you curious about the whereabouts of your wife and daughter?"
Graham baited the man using his weakness. An Unseen couldn't be heard as long as they remained invisible, so if Lucas wanted to speak, he had to show himself first. The moment the man decided to reveal his body, Graham would have a chance to use the various abilities that he had prepared.
There was silence.
With the cane protecting his body, Graham expected another attack. However, it seemed that the man had left the room and was probably going around the house looking for his family.
Bash!!
An attack came from his unprotected side, sending him flying yet again. Graham felt like a tennis ball that kept being sent all over the place as he tried to recover from the impact.
"This man is far too cautious!" he complained inaudibly while gritting his teeth to bear with the pain.
It seemed that Lucas knew what the 'mayor' was waiting for. The moment he turned visible, terrible things would happen to him.
Graham quickly looked around the room to find something that he could use. It was a living room with a now broken shelf and books on the floor. There was a carpet that he could order to wrap around the man, but he had to know the target's exact location first for it to work. He couldn't see any ink or something similar that he could use, but then it reminded him that he had his own blood. The man's relentless attack made him forget about something as trivial as that.
With a swift movement, he gripped the blade of the dagger that he was holding in his left hand, effectively injuring it. He made sure that the enemy didn't see his action, otherwise, Lucas would just stay away and made Graham's injury a waste.
He stood his ground and braced himself for another attack while trying to locate the invisible bodyguard. His ears, however, picked up nothing but the sound of the waterfall in the distance and the faint ticking of a clock somewhere.
Whoosh!
Smash!
Instead of a physical attack, this time the man chose to send another strong gust of wind in Graham's direction, knocking him back to the wall again. The blood in his left hand was splattered everywhere but his target, who seemed to be standing far away from Graham's spot. His plan had failed again!
"Should I just burn down this house, Val? No, it would attract too much attention," he mumbled in desperation. His body was all bruised and his breathing was heavy.
Looking at the carpet underneath the sofa, Graham issued an Order.
"I order you to circle around me!"
The brown fur carpet began floating and stretched itself wide, forming a square barrier. It then circled around Graham at a high speed.
Whoosh!
The gust of wind came again and blew the carpet away, ridding Graham of his 'protective barrier'. He then began picking up any random objects he could find and started throwing them everywhere in front of him. Books, vase, and other small objects were sent flying across the room, hitting nothing but the wall and the floor where they landed.
"Of course that wouldn't work, would it. At least it was worth a try,"
Since there was no more object to throw, Graham decided to escape from the house instead. Nothing seemed to work against the careful Unseen. He appeared to be a much more difficult enemy to face than the deceased Police Sergeant, Paars.
"I will order someone to kill your wife and daughter if you don't show yourself!!" he shouted as he ran across the room towards the door. His voice was angry and thunderous.
There was still nothing. It was apparent that his enemy had very good self-control and wasn't the type to be easily provoked.
The moment Graham went through the door, he slammed it behind him as quickly as he could and kept on running towards the street. Since the door was closed, at least he would know if the man decided to follow him.
"How do we deal with someone who is immune to manipulation like that, Val?"
Graham breathed heavily in the fog-covered street, trying to recover from all of his injuries. The pain was still stinging, especially his left waist and his back, which got most of the impact.
Using his lighter, he lit a fire and used Fire Manipulation on it to make it stay afloat without the lighter. After that, he also made the fire bigger, to the size of an exercise ball.
Creak...
The door was opened from the inside and again, there was no one walking through the doorway. However, Graham knew his enemy was here. They were now out in the open, so at least he was not in such a disadvantageous position. The supernatural detective focused on his fireball and asked a question.
'Where is the location of Lucas Baltes?'
Whoosh!
The enemy sent a gust of wind to put out the fire, but his fireball was too big and strong for the wind to completely blow it out. An image began appearing, which showed to red dots: one belonged to Graham while the other was Lucas the bodyguard. The target was standing just several meters in his ten o'clock direction!
He quickly slit his palm and ran towards where the enemy was indicated by his divination. Since his concentration was broken, the image disappeared abruptly, which he didn't mind. It was even in his favor since the enemy hadn't seemed to move from his position-- the detective's blood was successfully splattered all over him, revealing his whereabouts.
It seemed that Lucas had been mesmerized by the Fire Divination!
Since he could somehow 'see' the target now, Graham could use his other abilities. Lucas, who realized what had just happened, tried to escape at once. The floating blood began moving away from the 'mayor' right away.
"I order you to stand still!"
Graham was faster. With his Order, Lucas was now unable to move.
"I order you to get out of invisibility!"
Against his will, the man turned visible. His skin slowly phased into existence out of nothingness and his figure appeared right at the spot where the floating blood was. In front of him, there was now a naked man with blood covering his shoulder, back, and chest. The cold night's fog didn't seem to affect him despite him not wearing anything.
The man's eyes showed calmness, but Graham could see the hatred and wariness hidden deep beneath his cold gaze. It was apparent that the lean-bodied bodyguard was actually worried about his family, despite him not showing it.
"How dare you attack me!" yelled Graham at the immobilized man, staying in character as the mayor.
"Drop the act. I know you are not the real mayor. What has happened to Wiebe, Danny, and Eveline was all too suspicious. The real mayor wouldn't do it all out in the open like that," replied the man calmly. His voice sounded confident in what he was saying.
Graham was surprised by how the man could easily see through his plan, but then quickly rationalized the situation. It would be difficult for the other three victims to see the truth since they were emotionally attacked. However, Lucas, who probably had had the chance to talk to Danny and Wiebe, and gathered what had happened to Eveline, could most likely come up with a rational explanation of the whole thing, especially seeing as how cautious he was.
Since talking was not possible, Graham had no other choice but to use another method, which was not only less effective, but also much more tiring.
"I order you to fall asleep!"
"I, in the name of the Deity of Domination and Order, intensify your desire to fall asleep!"
He used his new favorite ability combination and forced the naked bodyguard to sleep out there in front of his house, by the side of the street. A heavy wave of sleepiness swept over the Unseen and was intensified manyfold, making him unable to resist. The man quickly collapsed to the ground and began snoring.
Approaching the sleeping man in front of him, Graham began chanting once he was in range.
"I, in the name of the Deity of Cunningness and Transformation, hereby plant this memory inside your head: the person whom you met tonight was the real mayor and he had decided to kidnap your wife and daughter, that was why you couldn't find them anywhere in the house. The reason for the kidnapping is unknown to you, but it has something to do with the mayor's secret project with Eveline Herrick. You confronted the mayor inside your house but then the man managed to get away."
Graham couldn't plant the thought that the mayor had killed Lucas's wife and daughter in front of him since it was something too emotionally painful. He could only plant the memory, not the emotion, so something like that would be easily rejected by the brain since the emotion was absent from the memory.
Once he had finished implanting the false memory, most of his stamina was drained all at once. He was breathing heavily while kneeling on the ground. The pain felt almost unbearable now that his stamina was almost all gone.
"Why do you have to make it difficult for me, man..."
Another alternative that he had also given a thought about was resetting the man's memory, making him think he was just on his way home, and then starting the illusion once he entered the house for the second time, doing it as he originally planned. However, the fact that the man was naked and the house in shambles made it almost impossible to do that, so Graham couldn't help but complain.
"It should take a while for the false memory to take root and manifest, especially since the man is a cautious one. We cannot do anything right now, so let's just go home and recover, Val,"
Before he went, however, Graham pointed the wooden walking cane at the sleeping bodyguard and sent some of his stamina into it, activating the ability that it had. There was a faint glow at the tip that was directed at the target, and he could feel a kind of sucking sensation coming from the handle that he was holding.
"This is for getting me into so much trouble," he said mischievously.
He felt that a kind of energy was shot towards the man and entered his body, while something left Graham and entered Dr. Obtuse's Cane. A piece of knowledge was also transferred into Graham's brain. It was the information about the effect that the cane had created.
'Lucas Baltes is now highly obsessed with the smell of sewer!'
'You are now completely uninterested in chocolate!'
A moment later, there was a sound of a motor carriage approaching the house on Watervalstraat with the number 37 on it. Awoken by the sound of the engine, Graham Hymes, who was sleeping under the shroud of a thin yellowish mist, opened his eyes and got up from the soft and warm sofa. He quickly started chanting."I, in the name of the Deity of Cunningness and Transformation, hereby change my whole being into that of Hank Krammer!"With the spell chant, his body began quickly undergoing a transformation process, which lasted less than thirty seconds. Once he had transformed into the mayor, he hid the cane behind him since the real mayor had lost his. He also undid all the Concealments and stood in near the door. Graham concentrated on the belt that he was wearing; he was ready to put on the illusion at any time.The sound of the engine stopped and there was a sound of a door being slammed shut outside. After that, a man's footsteps approached the house. Graham was waiting patiently and calmly for the target; his left hand was holding Valentine's dagger, ready to injure index finger the moment Lucas came in. With a click, the door was unlocked from the outside and slowly, the wooden door was pushed open.Creak...Graham held his breath. Every second felt like forever as he waited in anticipation for the man. He perked up his ears to hear the sounds he was making behind all the noise from the waterfall.But there was no one!With a decisive movement, the fake mayor injured his finger and let the blood drop to the floor while quickly chanting. However, before he could finish, a strong gust of wind pushed him back!Crash!Graham was knocked back and hit the bookshelf behind him. The Mass Illusion ability that he was trying to cast had been canceled because of the attack. He didn't expect that Lucas' detection ability was that good; the man must have felt a different presence than that of his wife coming from inside the house. However, what Graham didn't understand was why he attacked right away since Graham was wearing the mayor's appearance."Lucas! How dare you attack me!" he shouted in anger, mimicking the way the real Hank Krammer would say it.With the help of the cane, he got up and stood guard. His enemy was invisible, so he couldn't see him. He also didn't have Valentine's secret detection, so he couldn't feel the man's presence at all."I can't use Order either if I cannot see my target..." he mumbled.Smack!"Aren't you curious about the whereabouts of your wife and daughter?"Graham baited the man using his weakness. An Unseen couldn't be heard as long as they remained invisible, so if Lucas wanted to speak, he had to show himself first. The moment the man decided to reveal his body, Graham would have a chance to use the various abilities that he had prepared.There was silence.With the cane protecting his body, Graham expected another attack. However, it seemed that the man had left the room and was probably going around the house looking for his family.Bash!!An attack came from his unprotected side, sending him flying yet again. Graham felt like a tennis ball that kept being sent all over the place as he tried to recover from the impact."This man is far too cautious!" he complained inaudibly while gritting his teeth to bear with the pain.It seemed that Lucas knew what the 'mayor' was waiting for. The moment he turned visible, terrible things would happen to him.Graham quickly looked around the room to find something that he could use. It was a living room with a now broken shelf and books on the floor. There was a carpet that he could order to wrap around the man, but he had to know the target's exact location first for it to work. He couldn't see any ink or something similar that he could use, but then it reminded him that he had his own blood. The man's relentless attack made him forget about something as trivial as that.With a swift movement, he gripped the blade of the dagger that he was holding in his left hand, effectively injuring it. He made sure that the enemy didn't see his action, otherwise, Lucas would just stay away and made Graham's injury a waste.He stood his ground and braced himself for another attack while trying to locate the invisible bodyguard. His ears, however, picked up nothing but the sound of the waterfall in the distance and the faint ticking of a clock somewhere.Whoosh!Smash!Instead of a physical attack, this time the man chose to send another strong gust of wind in Graham's direction, knocking him back to the wall again. The blood in his left hand was splattered everywhere but his target, who seemed to be standing far away from Graham's spot. His plan had failed again!"Should I just burn down this house, Val? No, it would attract too much attention," he mumbled in desperation. His body was all bruised and his breathing was heavy.Looking at the carpet underneath the sofa, Graham issued an Order."I order you to circle around me!"The brown fur carpet began floating and stretched itself wide, forming a square barrier. It then circled around Graham at a high speed.Whoosh!The gust of wind came again and blew the carpet away, ridding Graham of his 'protective barrier'. He then began picking up any random objects he could find and started throwing them everywhere in front of him. Books, vase, and other small objects were sent flying across the room, hitting nothing but the wall and the floor where they landed."Of course that wouldn't work, would it. At least it was worth a try,"Since there was no more object to throw, Graham decided to escape from the house instead. Nothing seemed to work against the careful Unseen. He appeared to be a much more difficult enemy to face than the deceased Police Sergeant, Paars."I will order someone to kill your wife and daughter if you don't show yourself!!" he shouted as he ran across the room towards the door. His voice was angry and thunderous.There was still nothing. It was apparent that his enemy had very good self-control and wasn't the type to be easily provoked.The moment Graham went through the door, he slammed it behind him as quickly as he could and kept on running towards the street. Since the door was closed, at least he would know if the man decided to follow him."How do we deal with someone who is immune to manipulation like that, Val?"Graham breathed heavily in the fog-covered street, trying to recover from all of his injuries. The pain was still stinging, especially his left waist and his back, which got most of the impact.Using his lighter, he lit a fire and used Fire Manipulation on it to make it stay afloat without the lighter. After that, he also made the fire bigger, to the size of an exercise ball.Creak...The door was opened from the inside and again, there was no one walking through the doorway. However, Graham knew his enemy was here. They were now out in the open, so at least he was not in such a disadvantageous position. The supernatural detective focused on his fireball and asked a question.'Where is the location of Lucas Baltes?'Whoosh!The enemy sent a gust of wind to put out the fire, but his fireball was too big and strong for the wind to completely blow it out. An image began appearing, which showed to red dots: one belonged to Graham while the other was Lucas the bodyguard. The target was standing just several meters in his ten o'clock direction!He quickly slit his palm and ran towards where the enemy was indicated by his divination. Since his concentration was broken, the image disappeared abruptly, which he didn't mind. It was even in his favor since the enemy hadn't seemed to move from his position-- the detective's blood was successfully splattered all over him, revealing his whereabouts.It seemed that Lucas had been mesmerized by the Fire Divination!Since he could somehow 'see' the target now, Graham could use his other abilities. Lucas, who realized what had just happened, tried to escape at once. The floating blood began moving away from the 'mayor' right away."I order you to stand still!"Graham was faster. With his Order, Lucas was now unable to move."I order you to get out of invisibility!"Against his will, the man turned visible. His skin slowly phased into existence out of nothingness and his figure appeared right at the spot where the floating blood was. In front of him, there was now a naked man with blood covering his shoulder, back, and chest. The cold night's fog didn't seem to affect him despite him not wearing anything.The man's eyes showed calmness, but Graham could see the hatred and wariness hidden deep beneath his cold gaze. It was apparent that the lean-bodied bodyguard was actually worried about his family, despite him not showing it."How dare you attack me!" yelled Graham at the immobilized man, staying in character as the mayor."Drop the act. I know you are not the real mayor. What has happened to Wiebe, Danny, and Eveline was all too suspicious. The real mayor wouldn't do it all out in the open like that," replied the man calmly. His voice sounded confident in what he was saying.Graham was surprised by how the man could easily see through his plan, but then quickly rationalized the situation. It would be difficult for the other three victims to see the truth since they were emotionally attacked. However, Lucas, who probably had had the chance to talk to Danny and Wiebe, and gathered what had happened to Eveline, could most likely come up with a rational explanation of the whole thing, especially seeing as how cautious he was.Since talking was not possible, Graham had no other choice but to use another method, which was not only less effective, but also much more tiring."I order you to fall asleep!""I, in the name of the Deity of Domination and Order, intensify your desire to fall asleep!"He used his new favorite ability combination and forced the naked bodyguard to sleep out there in front of his house, by the side of the street. A heavy wave of sleepiness swept over the Unseen and was intensified manyfold, making him unable to resist. The man quickly collapsed to the ground and began snoring.Approaching the sleeping man in front of him, Graham began chanting once he was in range."I, in the name of the Deity of Cunningness and Transformation, hereby plant this memory inside your head: the person whom you met tonight was the real mayor and he had decided to kidnap your wife and daughter, that was why you couldn't find them anywhere in the house. The reason for the kidnapping is unknown to you, but it has something to do with the mayor's secret project with Eveline Herrick. You confronted the mayor inside your house but then the man managed to get away."Graham couldn't plant the thought that the mayor had killed Lucas's wife and daughter in front of him since it was something too emotionally painful. He could only plant the memory, not the emotion, so something like that would be easily rejected by the brain since the emotion was absent from the memory.Once he had finished implanting the false memory, most of his stamina was drained all at once. He was breathing heavily while kneeling on the ground. The pain felt almost unbearable now that his stamina was almost all gone."Why do you have to make it difficult for me, man..."Another alternative that he had also given a thought about was resetting the man's memory, making him think he was just on his way home, and then starting the illusion once he entered the house for the second time, doing it as he originally planned. However, the fact that the man was naked and the house in shambles made it almost impossible to do that, so Graham couldn't help but complain."It should take a while for the false memory to take root and manifest, especially since the man is a cautious one. We cannot do anything right now, so let's just go home and recover, Val,"Before he went, however, Graham pointed the wooden walking cane at the sleeping bodyguard and sent some of his stamina into it, activating the ability that it had. There was a faint glow at the tip that was directed at the target, and he could feel a kind of sucking sensation coming from the handle that he was holding."This is for getting me into so much trouble," he said mischievously.He felt that a kind of energy was shot towards the man and entered his body, while something left Graham and entered Dr. Obtuse's Cane. A piece of knowledge was also transferred into Graham's brain. It was the information about the effect that the cane had created.'Lucas Baltes is now highly obsessed with the smell of sewer!''You are now completely uninterested in chocolate!'
