After a few more minutes, Eduardo gave Ethan a brief account of everything that had transpired within his encounter with Nathan.

He spoke about meeting Irene, and the experience afterwards. However, regardless of everything he had just narrated, Eduardo still ended by saying that some things were better heard directly from Nathan himself.

At first, Ethan had been reluctant to the thought of willingly speaking to Nathan. But, Eduardo had pleaded for the chance to be given to Nathan to explain himself.

Eventually, Ethan agreed. After all, there were still too many unanswered questions and if he truly wanted to understand what was happening, then hearing Nathan’s account directly was perhaps the only way forward.

Eduardo then went on to ask. "But, Master Ethan, how do we get Ishtar to agree to any of this?"

Ethan sighed and said, "Leave that to me."

⸻

A few minutes later...

Ethan arrived outside Ishtar’s room and knocked gently.

The door opened afterwards, with Ishtar standing on the other side.

"Lord Ethan." She began

Ethan gave her a little smile and asked, "May I come in?"

She nodded and stepped aside to let him in

The conversation that followed lasted for quite some time. Rather than attempting to persuade her immediately, Ethan first listened. He allowed Ishtar to speak about everything she had endured, the hatred she carried toward the man known as Lord Krygon, and the memories she wished she could erase.

And then, after hearing her out, he begin sharing his own thoughts.

He understood her anger, but also stated that everything surrounding Nathan had become a lot more complicated, admitting that he didn’t understand what the true facts of anything were at this time.

Especially after Eduardo, had become convinced enough to ask Ethan to hear him out.

Ethan also made it clear that he wasn’t asking her to forgive the one responsible for years of imprisonment and suffering, nor was he asking her to trust him.

He simply asked for the opportunity for all of them to hear the what he had to say before making any irreversible decisions.

The discussion continued for a long while before Ishtar finally gave an agreeing nod, choosing to trust her guardian.

In return, Ethan made her a promise. That if, at any point, things went wrong...If Nathan’s stories and intentions proved to be anything other than what he claimed, then he would personally ensure that no harm ever came to her.

She smiled at that. Eventually, Ethan left the room, but not before thanking her for placing that trust in him.

——

At a different part of the city...

Dark Nova stepped out through the gates of yet another Vampire estate.

Just like the three families before it, their family head had vanished under identical circumstances, which was by the sudden emanation of darkness.

He slowly rose into the sky before coming to a stop several hundred metres above the city. The wind drifted subtly around him as he remained suspended in the air, giving further thought to everything he had uncovered so far.

At this time.. His skill, Perfect Deduction had already revealed that Wilson, Percival and Aliyah were responsible for the death of the Lebrante Family Head.

It had identified the individual known as Mikael as the one responsible for the widespread deaths surrounding the Gerach Family Head, with every deduction ultimately revealing Eduardo’s identity.

It had likewise concluded that Hayley was responsible for the massacre of the Le Gris Family.

And through another chain of deductions, it had also determined that Ethan had orchestrated the destruction of both the Zeidan Vampire Family and the Ghislaine Werewolf Family through the use of his summons.

Even Valerie and Bettie had not been spared in this scenario. Perfect Deduction could reveal overall interconnected crimes, and the death of Loretta Heydrich had been brought to light.

However, in all one these, the culprit behind the disappearance of the Quinn, Orien, Ronnet and Morgenstein Family Heads, had not been revealed to him. And so for the first time in a very long while, he had encountered a problem. One that Perfect Deduction, had failed to solve.

Every witness account described the same phenomenon; Darkness. The magic involved had also been consistently identified as one involving the darkness element.

Ordinarily, that alone would have been enough.

Most of the time, Perfect Deduction did not just identify a single culprit. Once it reconstructed a crime, it naturally followed every chain of involvement until every individual connected to that crime had been revealed.

Coupled with the witness accounts and the repeated use of darkness magic, the blessing should have had more than enough information to reconstruct the entire sequence of events, identify the user responsible, and ultimately lead him to both a name and a location.

However, there had been nothing.

Of course, there was still another method available to him. By capturing one of the individuals he had already identified through Perfect Deduction, he could force that additional information by applying the right amount of coercion or force.

But that was a method he reserved for situations where no clues to finding more culprits beyond the immediate scope of the committed crime, that is those who were indirectly involved in the background.

Dark Nova was silent for a few seconds before speaking inwardly. ’My Lady Goddess, Atia. I face a problem unlike any I have encountered before. Or are the details simply not sufficient yet?’

A calm feminine voice answered within his thoughts.

[Atia: If there is a reason your skill cannot find what you seek... then it is because an interference exists.]

Dark Nova’s eyes narrowed slightly. "An interference?" he repeated.

[Atia: Yes.]

[A deity may be directly interfering. Should that be the case, your blessing will be unable to perceive the target.]

She paused briefly before continuing.

[There is another possibility.]

[The one you seek may be the deity itself.]

Dark Nova listened more intently.

[In either circumstance, the level at which you currently wield the blessing I have bestowed upon you is insufficient to produce the answer you seek.]

"Hm..." The Hero muttered, looking troubled.

[But I have a suspicion]

[From the accounts given by the victims... particularly the orange-haired vampire who described a darkness so absolute that even light was consumed.]