Earth's Greatest Magus

Chapter 2373  Investigation

As the clock ticked on, the weight of Chumo's safety pressed ever more heavily on Emery's shoulders. He knew time was of the essence, and every moment spent idly could mean another victim claimed by the Bloodthirsty Phantom.

With a determined resolve, he set about mobilizing all available resources to elevate the investigation from a mere missing-person case to a serious serial-killer inquiry. Drawing upon his extensive network, he initiated calls to the influential Karat faction and Magus Rosia, a council member whose authority would lend significant weight to his cause.

Within hours, Emery's relentless efforts bore fruit. The council convened an emergency session, and soon after, dozens of enforcers were swiftly reassigned to the investigation.

The influx of manpower proved crucial; they were able to reopen all nine cases, combing through the grim details with fresh eyes. The grim realities of each victim's fate became starkly apparent, with connections and patterns surfacing that had previously eluded the investigators.

Still, Emery sensed that the existing strategy fell short of the urgency required. He needed a more specialized approach, one that could cut through the layers of mystery enveloping Chumo's disappearance.

Calling upon the expertise of his Twilight Halls' magus, renowned for their wolf bloodline, he aimed to leverage their exceptional tracking abilities. Known for their unparalleled instincts, this magus possessed a natural affinity for finding hidden paths and elusive clues. Partnering them with seasoned members of the Karat faction, Emery orchestrated the formation of six additional search teams, each tasked with canvassing different sectors of the city.

The investigation pressed forward with an intensity that grew by the hour. As the profiles of the nine known victims were pieced together, unsettling patterns began to emerge.

Most were rogue Magus-level individuals with notorious reputations—some with histories of petty crime or affiliations with shady factions. A few even held spots on the Alliance's watchlist for repeated transgressions, fueling a theory among some enforcers that the killer's motives might be more calculated than random malice.

But as the teams dug deeper, their findings took a darker turn. They uncovered evidence of three more victims, civilians with no connections to the Magus world, whose deaths mirrored the killer's modus operandi. Their discovery shattered any notion of justice behind the murders and sent a renewed wave of urgency through the ranks.

Nearly a full day after initiating the heightened search, a significant breakthrough arrived. Gerry approached with a grave expression, his voice tight with barely contained tension as he revealed the news. They had a new lead—a witness who, until now, had been too afraid to come forward.

Emery followed Gerry to where the witness, a distraught woman, waited. The enforcers had arranged for a spirit reader to assist in the questioning, a specialist trained to probe memories and recreate them as vivid illustrations.

The woman's fear was palpable, her hands trembling as she described the killer's ominous presence. As the spirit reader accessed her memories, the room fell into tense silence, each person waiting with bated breath for the image to reveal the killer's face.

The instant the spirit reader completed the sketch, Gerry's face went pale, and his wide-eyed shock mirrored Emery's own. Emery took a step forward, peering at the image—and felt a jolt of horror race through him.

Staring back from the parchment was the unmistakable face of his friend, Chumo.

At that moment, the case transformed entirely. Chumo was no longer a missing person but had become the prime suspect in a chilling series of murders.

"How… how could it be…?" A nagging unease lingered at the back of Emery's mind, whispers of doubt he'd tried to ignore. Memories surfaced, casting shadows over his thoughts—Chumo's strange behavior during the Terra tournament, where he fought with uncharacteristic ferocity, and the lingering effects of his Nightwalker affliction, a condition that had haunted him in the past.

Still, Emery clung to what he knew of Chumo: a friend with a gentle soul. The thought of Chumo being capable of such gruesome acts felt impossible.

Gerry, sharing Emery's disbelief, took charge of gathering what evidence he could to disprove Chumo's alleged involvement. He spearheaded an investigation to trace Chumo's activities over the past year, hoping to establish an alibi that would clear his name. But as they combed through records, another challenge arose—Chumo had always been notoriously solitary, rarely sharing details about his whereabouts or missions, leaving few traces for the team to follow.

In the background, however, other factions within the investigation grew restless. With the spotlight now on Chumo as the prime suspect, tensions among the enforcers boiled over.

Teams from outside Gerry's unit grew insistent, convinced that Chumo was, in fact, the Bloodthirsty Phantom. Their suspicions reached a fever pitch when rumors surfaced about Chumo's old ties with Gerry's team, and some even began to question whether Gerry's efforts were aimed more at covering for his friend than at uncovering the truth.

This accusation became the fulcrum of a power struggle among the enforcers, some of whom demanded that Gerry step down from the case. As the investigation teetered on the brink of chaos, another chilling incident was reported—a new kidnapping with a disturbingly familiar pattern. The victim, like the others, was a Magus-level individual with a dubious reputation.

Tatyana and Andrei of the Twilight Wolf were the first groups that picked up the trail, their sharp instincts and wolf bloodline leading them deep into the Golden City's industrial sewer system.

For Emery, standing on the sidelines was out of the question. Determined to uncover the truth about Chumo's involvement, he joined the search team personally. His divine sense reached out, probing the darkness of the labyrinthine sewers, while his mastery of spatial magic enabled him to slip swiftly through walls, covering ground others couldn't.

Hour by hour, he swept the complex until a faint signature caught his attention—Chumo's presence, unmistakable yet unsettling.

A troubling question clawed at Emery as he pressed forward: Could this really mean that Chumo was, indeed, the Bloodthirsty Phantom?

Moving seamlessly through walls with his spatial magic, Emery approached the source of Chumo's energy with cautious determination.

However, as he neared, a foul stench filled the air, cloying and unmistakable, forcing Emery to halt. The metallic tang, the sickly sweetness—he knew all too well what it signaled.

In a shadowed, cavernous space, bodies were strewn about in heaps, their skin pale and hollow, every trace of blood drained. The mountain of corpses, each one emptied of life, stood as a horrific testament to the carnage inflicted here.

"No…" A wave of dread washed over Emery as he scanned the gruesome scene, but he was struck with a small measure of relief when he didn't find Chumo's body among the corpses.

He called on VIA to examine the grisly scene more closely. She assisted in identifying several victims, revealing that most were non-magus—innocents whose deaths had gone unnoticed by the enforcers. At least a dozen more unsuspected lives had been claimed by the serial killer, deepening the gravity of the investigation.

Emery pressed on, his senses sharp, picking up faint traces of life further within the complex. Following these whispers of existence, he arrived at a dank prison chamber lined with heavy, rusted metal bars—cells that were barely more than cages.

Four magus lay within, each one barely clinging to life, their bodies skeletal, skin stretched tight over bone, and eyes dulled with exhaustion. It was painfully clear that these magus had been preyed upon, and their blood drained until they were on the brink of death. Emery approached each prisoner, scanning their conditions, until he came to the last cell.

"Chumo!"

There, weak and pale, lay Chumo, his skin nearly translucent, emaciated to the point of looking almost skeletal, both of his arms were chained.

When Chumo finally turned to face him, Emery caught a glimpse of his eyes—dark, yet faintly tinged with an unsettling crimson glow. The Nightwalker's disease had progressed, taking hold in its late stages.

Chumo's voice trembled as he sensed the presence. "Who... who's there?" he rasped, his voice barely more than a whisper.

"Chumo, it's me... Why are you here? Who did this to you?"

Chumo's body shook, an uncontrollable tremor betraying the depth of his torment. He lifted his head, guilt shadowing his hollow eyes, and whispered,

"Emery... I'm sorry.... these awful things, I did... I'm sorry."

The words hung in the stale, blood-tinged air, leaving Emery with a sinking feeling in his chest.