At Sanctorioum of Inquisitorious.
Creak—a brown-robed man entered the room with a pack of beers.
“Has the race started yet?” He asked as he saw a dozen brown-robed men gathered around a large table filled with snacks and alcohol with a floating light-blue screen stuck in a wall.
“Yeah, you are late!” One of them shouted and stuffed snacks into his mouth.
“Shit!” The brown-robed man sat down and took one beer before placing the rest on the table. “Who is leading?”
“Johann.” One of them replied while casually drinking straight from a rum bottle.
“Of course.” The brown-robed man sighed.
They were all Brown Inquisitors—feared “bounty hunters” of the Sanctorioum.
Now, they were enjoying their free time while watching the Death Race. They also had connections to various criminal networks, which allowed them to watch the race.
They enjoyed these bloody shows quite a lot, as it was criminals killing criminals. It was a perfect show, in their opinion.
It also allowed them to scout any possible threats that hadn’t entered the battlefield yet.
Thus, it wasn’t strange to see many Death Race participants have bounty increase after the race without them knowing why.
Swoosh—the door swung open suddenly, and calm footsteps resounded through the room, alerting everyone.
“O-oh, sir Christopher!”
The Brown Inquisitors stood up, drew a sign of crescent moon on their chests, and bowed with palms on their chests.
As the man named Christopher walked, his red robe fluttered against the wind coming from the open window. He had a commanding presence as he walked, red top hat in hand, like a general.
He exuded an air of authority and confidence, with a firm stride that matched the rhythm of his beating heart.
“Hello, gentlemen.” Christopher said sternly and looked at the floating screen. “How is the race going?”
“Z-zombies already attacked, but only three of them, so nothing special yet.” One of the Brown Inquisitors replied.
“Mm.” Christopher looked at the Brown Inquisitor, who occupied a single-seater and asked. “May I get your seat?”
“O-Of course, sir!” He shot to his feet and quickly vacated the seat for Christopher.
“Thank you.” Christoper sat down, crossed his legs, and placed his red top hat on the armrest. “At ease. We are off the clock now, so let’s enjoy the show.”
The Brown Inquisitors nodded and turned their attention to the race.
“May I bring you a beer or anything you like?” The person who vacated the seat for him asked.
“Beer is fine, thank you.” Christoper nodded and accepted the beer with a nod. He then snapped it open and took a small sip.
His blue eyes reflected the screen, where two people were riding side-by-side, trading blows.
They were a bearded woman and a red-cloaked man.
“Huh, she joined the race?” One of them asked in surprise.
“Haha, it looks like she found an easy way to earn money!”
Christopher looked at the bearded woman. ‘White Inquisitor Lulu. Sanctorioum’s undercover agent, whose job is to hunt and kill outlaws that seem to have the potential to become dangerous.
‘She is doing rather well, but who is her opponent? She seems to be targeting him only.’
“Who is her opponent?” He then decided to ask.
“Hmm…” One Brown Inquisitor narrowed his eyes before he remembered. “Ah, if I remember correctly, he is Ambrose with a bounty of 19,999 silvers.
“He got an increase in bounty yesterday, I think. His previous bounty was around 7,000 silvers.”
‘That is a big increase in bounty.’ Christoper crossed his arms and intensely looked at the cloaked figure.
Without Ambrose knowing it, an extremely dangerous Red Inquisitor had taken note of him.
…
“Piss off!” Ambrose shouted and blocked the powerful kick. He almost fell from the horse’s back but barely managed to regain his balance.
“Heh, no!” The bearded woman did another handstand and delivered a series of spinning tornado kicks.
“High Pain!” Ambrose screamed and smashed his black blade into the incoming leg, but then another leg appeared from the side and whipped across his face.
“Cough!” He coughed up blood and felt like his teeth were about to fall out.
As the bearded woman sat back down, she heard loud cheers that seemed to resonate from the other side of the city.
She frowned and looked forward.
“Whoah.” Her smile grew.
At the front of the race, Johann frowned and looked over his shoulder. He was suddenly flanked by the Queen of Misfortune and the Demonspawn, who had drawn their weapons.
Shockingly, the top two and three had teamed up to take down Johann! 𝑶𝐕𝐞𝗅xt.𝑐𝞸
“Ohoh.” Johann removed his hand from the reins and smirked. Sharp fangs revealed themselves in the mouth, and his black nails grew in length as if he were undergoing a strange transformation.
However, he still looked like a human, but his skin suddenly looked fairer and more delicate.
His red eyes looked strange, as if there was suddenly a sea of blood in them, splashing like a furious current.
“Misfortune!” Loralei’s crimson blade cut through the air and slammed straight into Johann’s back.
It was a shocking sight, as everyone watching thought the attack was successful.
“Demon Breath!” Nathan, the Demonspawn, opened his disfigured mouth wide and spat out a ball of black goo.
The ball of black goo exploded upon impact on Johann’s back, releasing a cloud of noxious fumes.
Loralei slashed through the cloud of toxic smoke but saw nothing on the other side. The horse looked pale and sickly as it had inhaled the noxious fumes and was slowly dying.
Yet Johann was missing.
Loralei narrowed her eyes and looked around for any sign of Johann.
“Above!” The person in fourth place shouted as he looked up into the air.
He also liked Johann to lose the fight, as he still believed that fighting the Queen of Misfortune and Demonspawn was possible.
In one-versus-one, defeating Johann was impossible.
Hearing the shout, Loralei lifted her head and saw Johann floating in the air with an eerie glow in his red eyes.
He looked like he was standing on solid ground, but there was nothing below him.
“The Misfortune!” Loralei jumped up into the air using the horse as a jump pad and slashed repeatedly at Johann, thinking he wouldn’t be able to escape.
Against all expectations, Johann jumped around like there were invisible strings below his feet, helping him to move in the air with incredible agility and grace.
“Demon Breath!” The Demonspawn spat out black goo like a machine gun, covering the entire area in a thick, suffocating cloud.
After the cloud cleared up, Johann was again gone.
Stab—the Demonspawn’s expression fell as a hand came down through his chest, gripping his heart tightly.
With his dying breath, he looked at the grinning Johann and shockingly spat out another black goo.
Johann’s expression fell, and the black goo suddenly exploded against his face, sending him crashing to the ground.
The Demonspawn let out a breath filled with toxic air and fell off the horse with a hole in his chest.
His crushed heart stopped beating once his heavy body crashed into the pavement.
The bearded woman’s horse stomped over the dead Demonspawn.
“No way, did Johann get defeated?” She asked as she tried to look around, but to her shock, Johann was nowhere to be seen.
He had vanished without a trace.