Chapter 245: Chapter 245 "The Third Power of the ’Death’ Authority_1
"Do you have a way?" Aiden frowned, "Let’s hear it then."
"High-Rank Bloodline members, like Earls, can split their bodies into a large group of bats. I can split myself into a multitude of bats and scatter around the city to conduct a large-scale search, rooting out that damned serial killer," Kael spoke slowly, "I can identify recently fed vampires by scent. Once my body is split, each bat is akin to a familiar inheriting part of my consciousness. They would help me search for our target using their sense of smell."
The body of Sister Neve had been drained of blood, and last week, the corpse of the fireworks girl was found with indications that it had also been fed upon by a vampire, suggesting that the Grim Reaper’s agent is probably not a rule-abiding vampire like Kael, who suppresses his thirst for blood.
But this didn’t sound like a reliable method.
"Hang on, do you know how many people and how much area this city covers? To conduct a carpet search by yourself, even if you had a week, you might not be able to finish it, and the killer won’t stay in the same place either," Aiden raised his objection, "You must know that because of the possible involvement in serial killings, the Heretical Judgment Department and the Knights Police have already joined forces, and these last few days they’ve spent a great deal of police effort focused on searching for vampires lurking in the city, and yet they haven’t found a single clue."
"We can narrow the search area down," Kael said slowly, "That damn Supervisor, he has four lackeys, doesn’t he? You should already know that he has always operated within the range of those lackeys, killing people in Hua Street and the Uptown District, diverting the attention of the Heretical Judgment Department onto those lackeys to scatter their forces and make it easier for himself to operate in this city..."
"So you think his operational range is in those Uptown District streets and near Fireworks Alley?" Aiden frowned slightly, "That is only a possibility, and you know that his lackeys are already caught—with the last one being apprehended right before his eyes. The Heretical Judgment Department has been searching in that direction but to no avail. He may not still be active around there."
"Oh, how would we know without trying? Besides, trying doesn’t cost us anything," Kael laughed, tapping the curse tattoo on his neck, "as long as you are willing to help me temporarily lift the restriction... You were a senior Judge in the past, you should be able to do it, right?"
The method Kael proposed was something he could do by himself.
He hadn’t done so because the curse tattoo the Heretical Judgment Department placed on his neck prevented him from accomplishing this task.
This tattoo, apart from forbidding vampires from consuming human blood, also imposed limits on a small part of the abilities of High-Rank Bloodline members—primarily the ability to vaporize their bodies and transform into bats.
It’s not that he couldn’t use these abilities, just not fully.
He could only partially vaporize or transform his body, and even when transformed or vaporized, the mist could only float as a clump unable to disperse, and the same was true for the bats—the bat swarm could only move together.
This kind of restriction was mainly to prevent high-ranking vampires from using their abilities to commit crimes. As for Magic, since vampires need to consume and absorb blood for sustenance, the Heretical Judgment Organization couldn’t restrict it too severely.
And Aiden, once a senior Judge, indeed knew how to temporarily unlock this restriction.
"Then why didn’t you directly cooperate with the Heretical Judgment Department from the beginning?" Aiden stared at Kael, inquiring.
"The problem is, would the Heretical Judgment Department be willing to let me, a vampire, help investigate the case?" Kael laughed mockingly, shrugging his shoulders.
"That is indeed true," Aiden nodded, understanding that given the ways of the Heretical Judgment Department, they indeed wouldn’t easily cooperate with a vampire prince, a being comparable in danger to an S-rank fugitive, "however, if I were to introduce you, perhaps they would accept— I assume you wouldn’t be foolish enough to cause trouble after having the restriction lifted."
"This... maybe let’s not," Kael said with a troubled expression, "Cooperating with the Heretical Judgment Department, I’d probably be so worried that my heart couldn’t take it. It’s better if just the two of us work together on this. Let’s try to nab the guy, he surely has a substantial bounty on his head by now. This time, I’m willing to let you have all the bounty."
Aiden narrowed his eyes, realizing that Kael was tempting him.
Kael, was obviously holding back some information.
Kael had been avoiding too much contact with the Heretical Judgment Department, and the real reason was probably not just because he disliked the organization, but because he knew certain information that he couldn’t disclose.
Ever since Aiden heard that Kael possessed immortality granted by the First Vampire, he sensed something.
That was, Kael likely knew the full extent of the Grim Reaper’s agent’s powers.
The First Vampire specifically sent Kael to thwart the Blood Moon Cult’s activities, mainly because immortality could immunize against the Grim Reaper’s agent’s "Reaping" power.
The First Vampire, a "Death" authority saint, would certainly know the three powers of the "Death" authority.
Since he had prepared Kael against the "Reaping" power, it stood to reason he would have informed him of the remaining powers.
Even if Kael didn’t know the true nature of the authority and divine words, he at least knew the enemy possessed three special abilities similar to the First Vampire’s.
But Kael likely wouldn’t easily reveal this information to the Heretical Judgment Organization; these powers weren’t just tied to the Grim Reaper but also to the First Vampire himself—a significant adversary of the Heretical Judgment Organization—which is why he had kept silent about them.
Thus, only after learning that Aiden had been a senior Judge did Kael attempt to leak information about the Blood Moon Cult to the Heretical Judgment Department.
Chances are, Kael wasn’t originally intent on taking out the Grim Reaper’s agent but rather wanted to throw obstacles in the Cult’s path. Hence, upon arriving in the city, he just followed protocol.
However, once the Grim Reaper’s agent attempted to lay hands on Ophelia, he probably changed his mind.
He wanted to deal with the agent, but also did not wish to have too much direct contact with the Heretical Judgment Department.
Therefore, he was now trying to entice the retired senior Judge before him.
Aiden realized he needed to pry the concealed information from Kael’s lips— he still didn’t know what the third power of the "Death" authority was.
If he blindly got involved, he might end up being used by Kael as a shield without even knowing it.
After briefly deliberating, he decided to make a direct approach.
"Mr. Kaordo," he stared into Kael’s eyes with a serious expression, just as he would when interrogating a culprit, "are you hiding something important from me?"
