Mystery: The Ultimate Tarot

Chapter 324 The potion to completely digest the "demon"

Three days later, a second murder occurred.

Similar to the previous murder, the victim's internal organs were removed not far from a church belonging to the Church of the Storm Lord.

The three cardinals of the Orthodox Church in the Backlund region all believed that this was a provocation against the Orthodox Church and that the case must be solved as soon as possible to find the "demon" who was preparing for ascension.

Leonard, who was investigating the case, asked Miss Justice through Mr. Fool to inquire about information from Raphael about the "demon".

Audrey was resting at home when she received the image of Mr. Star's plea for help from "The Fool".

She immediately wrote to Raphael, asking if he had time. If he did, she didn't need to reply; they could meet at the abandoned manor where they had met once before, half an hour later.

After waiting for more than twenty minutes, Audrey, who had changed into a long dress that was easier to move in, saw that Raphael had not replied and assumed that he had time.

Just as she was about to use her extraordinary abilities to travel to the abandoned manor to keep her appointment, the messenger Payne suddenly delivered Raphael's letter.

Audrey was taken aback. Could it be that Raphael didn't have time?

She opened the letter and glanced at it. There were only two sentences on it. The first sentence was: When you received this letter, did you think I didn't have time?

Audrey was taken aback again, then read the second sentence: Actually, I have time, see you at the "haunted house".

The noblewoman paused for a full three seconds before realizing: Had I been tricked by Raphael's letter? Why bother replying when I had time?

She even pictured Raphael's smug smile after his prank had succeeded: "That guy is so wicked."

Taking a deep breath, Audrey calmed herself down before using her extraordinary abilities to reach the abandoned manor.

Audrey wasn't angry about this; it was probably just a joke, and there was no need to be upset.

Raphael had just arrived and was peering into the villa, as if searching for the ghosts inside.

Audrey waved the letter in her hand: "Can anyone tell me what this letter is about?"

"What else could it be?" Raphael smiled wickedly. "It's just a joke, of course—oh, I remember now, the nobles of Rune are rather rigid and don't know how to make such harmless jokes."

Audrey was initially pleased to hear it was a joke, as it proved Raphael considered her a friend. However, upon hearing the following sentence, she shook her head helplessly: "I hope your sarcasm is also a harmless joke."

Raphael nodded: "Yes."

Audrey felt somewhat helpless. Although the other person was saying "yes," his expression and body language indicated that he was lying.

This is what I'm doing for her, what I'm saying to her.

Because Raphael must have known, and she could definitely tell, that he was lying. Therefore, Raphael's answer was actually a denial.

Immediately afterwards, Audrey noticed that Raphael seemed somewhat different from when they last met.

To be precise, it doesn't seem to be any different, since Raphael looked the same when we first met.

She was about to ask Raphael if he was in bad shape; after all, he was now a "vengeful spirit," not a "madman."

Raphael asked first, "Have you found out the current owner of this villa?"

Audrey didn't ask the previous question, but replied, "I found out. I've already asked the butler to send a telegram to the owner of the villa. He replied that he'll probably come to Backlund next week, and we can talk then."

Raphael nodded. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Audrey smiled. "Because I also have something to ask you."

Raphael gestured for him to speak.

Audrey asked, "Could you tell me about the demon that appeared during the previous battle with Erin?"

Raphael paused, seemingly guessing what was going on, but still asked, "Why are you suddenly asking this?"

Audrey was completely unprepared. She explained, "Recently, another brutal series of murders has occurred in Backlund. The official Extraordinary believe that a demon is preparing for an ascension ceremony."

"Considering the previous Seven Deadly Sins serial murders," they speculated that there was likely a "demonic" group active in Backlund during the war.

"And the devil we encountered" is a prime suspect—well, or rather, he's most likely preparing a promotion ceremony for one of his subordinates.

Raphael said "Oh," thinking to himself: I didn't expect that before I even had a chance to get rid of this burden, it had already flown out of my hands.

In the previous "Seven Deadly Sins Serial Murders" case, Raphael used Audrey to send a false message to the official Extraordinary beings—

The reason for this action was that, during the investigation of the missing persons case, Raphael deduced from the information revealed by Audrey that there should be an official extraordinary among the members of the Tarot Club.

So when the time was right, Raphael told Audrey about a "devil" in Backlund.

This news is true. Not only Audrey has seen the "devil," but Hugh and Fors have also seen him, so this news is highly credible to members of the Tarot Club.

At the time, Raphael's main purpose was to divert the attention of the Tarot Society members and the official extraordinary individuals, so that they would not have any doubts about him.

It was only when Raphael began preparing for the ascension ceremony that he realized he could make use of that "devil" again.

Before he could even casually mention it to Audrey, she came to him on her own.

Raphael certainly wouldn't let such a good opportunity slip by: another follower of the "Lord of Evil Desires" had indeed done some investigation into that "devil" and roughly determined that he was hiding in a manor around the village of Tark in the northwestern suburbs of Backlund.

"We didn't dare to investigate further, because if we continued, it would definitely attract the attention of the devil."

"Even if detailed information wasn't found, the entire investigation was conducted with the help of the Lord of Evil Desire; otherwise, the 'devil' would have sensed it at the very beginning."

Audrey took the reminder seriously, and at the same time, she prepared to pass on Raphael's reminder to Mr. "Star".

"The saint also discovered," Raphael continued, "that around that devil there were at least two demons, as well as several other extraordinary beings of the same pathway, and there also appears to be an apostle of desire in the city of Backlund who is under the command of that devil."

"Once I almost bumped into that Apostle of Lust" — oh, right, later a demon tried to kill me, but Mr. Emlyn killed him. This demon was probably one of the Apostle of Lust's subordinates.

In fact, Raphael wasn't sure if the "Apostle of Desire" and the "Devil" were subordinate to each other. But if they were, it was enough to prove that this was a group with considerable strength.

Audrey asked with some curiosity, "Since you have investigated so thoroughly, why didn't you try to eliminate them?"

""

Raphael bluntly stated, "Insufficient strength."

In Backlund, the Lord of Evil has only one follower.

Audrey then asked, "Why wasn't the church informed through some channels?"

She estimated that Raphael would have thought of this method of eliminating his opponent.

Raphael smiled and countered, "Why tell the church?"

He paused for a moment, and seeing that Audrey didn't quite understand what he meant, he further reminded her: "Have you forgotten? This route is our adjacent route."

"That means I already have the main material for the puppet; otherwise, I would definitely ask the saints to help me kill this demon."

Audrey suddenly realized that she had overlooked this point.

Then, somewhat embarrassed, she said, "This information is obviously quite important to you, so I'll pay you some reward."

Raphael waved his hand: "No need. That demon is probably a follower of the Mother Tree of Desire. In my opinion, it would be difficult for the official extraordinary beings to kill him if they are not well prepared."

"Given this 'devil's' characteristics, it's possible that it will ultimately fall into our hands."

Audrey paused for a moment, then said seriously, "I will also pass on your reminder to the official Extraordinary Ones."

Raphael smiled, indicating that he didn't care.

Then Audrey suddenly thought, "If you were the murderer in that case, why do you think they would kill people around a church? And what criteria would the murderer use to choose their targets?"

She suddenly realized that, based on Raphael's previous behavior, he could probably guess some of the killer's thoughts.

Audrey could then use these psychological activities to further enrich and complete a "psychological profile" of the killer.

Raphael shrugged and said, "I've been busy with something else lately and haven't been paying attention to what people are saying about this case. Besides, it doesn't seem to have been published in the newspapers."

He said he "didn't pay attention to people's opinions on the case."

Audrey then said, "I heard it from a friend—"

She described all the information she had obtained about the case.

Raphael had not expected that the extraordinary beings from the three churches would form a joint group so quickly and begin to send people to stake out and patrol around the various churches to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

He pondered for a moment before saying, "I think that demon is challenging the existing extraordinary order. I've heard that for a demon to better digest the potion, it's necessary to break the current mainstream morality."

"Perhaps challenging the authority of the church would make the ritual more effective for him."

Raphael's words were mostly true. The two recent cases had allowed "Demon" to further digest the potion, which showed that while provoking the church was somewhat suicidal, it was indeed a good way for "Demon" to digest the potion.

He thought for a moment and then said, "As for his criteria for choosing targets, I estimate that they found that the elite class in Backlund was more depraved than ordinary people, and thus more suited to their hunting targets."

"However, for an ordinary demon, killing such a target would be quite risky. But with higher-level assistance, it's different; he would definitely still choose this type of target."

This was true; Raphael had received help from the "Lord of Lust," but to Audrey, it was tantamount to confirming that the murderer was one of the "devil's" subordinates.

Audrey nodded slowly; this was roughly in line with her guess.

Raphael suddenly felt a long-lost sense of shattering; the "demon's" potion had been completely digested!

After a moment's thought, he realized that he had successfully deceived a saint who was a "spectator," which matched the description of "demon, 7."

Characteristics of deception.

Raphael looked at the beautiful Audrey and thought to himself: What a kind person! She keeps helping me digest the potion.