Chapter 442: Chapter 442 Pretending to be Crazy and Stupid_1
Although Aiden was delayed for a moment by Melissaâs sudden attack, he eventually arrived at the solitary confinement corridor as originally planned.
He stood outside the door of the solitary cell, looked through the iron window above, and called out, "Halo."
At first glance, he didnât see Halo, but the next second, the crouching figure by the door leaped up, pressing her face against the window and laughing maniacally at Aiden, "Hahahaha! You couldnât find me! Ahahaha!"
Aiden was inevitably startled by this guy, then he fell into confusion, "What the hell are you doing?"
But Halo just tilted her head, continuing to laugh wildly, muttering to herself, "Hehehe, hide and seek, hide and seek, I won!"
Aiden was taken aback, he knew all too well this state of Haloâit was Halo who had previously been locked up in his prison.
Halo had reverted, without any warning.
"Whatâs going on?" Aiden began to think rapidly.
The first thing he thought of was Melissaâs doing; Melissa could use her authority to directly read memories of other jailers, including Veronica. Perhaps she had already seen the card Aiden had hidden in the solitary cell, and then somehow dealt with the Goddess of Vengeance.
But his intuition told him that this possibility was not likely. If the Goddess of Conspiracies had done this, she would have unhesitatingly used it to catch him off guard during the recent office visit... or, perhaps, she should have taken over Haloâs body with her own consciousness, giving him a "surprise."
As he was pondering, Halo suddenly stopped laughing. Her expression froze for a moment, then began to change, alternating between crying and laughing.
Under Aidenâs surprised and cautious gaze, her facial adjustments continued for a while before finally settling down.
At the same time, Aiden noticed that her eyes were different; the chaotic madness in them had faded, and a basic rationality had returned to those eyes.
With her forehead covered, brows furrowed, Halo looked as if she was awakening from a coma with a headache. She glanced at Aiden and offered, "Youâre here."
"Can you explain what just happened?" Aiden asked.
"Mimicry," Halo gave an answer that was hard to understand.
"What?"
"The personality of the bodyâs original owner is still here, but she voluntarily gave the body back to the awakened me. Now Iâm the master of this body; I can choose to use this body, or let her come back," Halo answered impatiently.
Aiden understood. In other words, the Goddess of Vengeance had actively given control of the body back to the original Halo, and so "Halo" went mad again.
"Why would she do that?" Aiden asked.
"Has she left?" Halo responded with a question out of context.
"Who?" Aiden figured out whom Halo was asking about but still confirmed with her.
"Of course, that damned conspiracy bitch. She showed up around here, didnât she?" Halo glared at Aiden as she asked.
"Can you sense her?" Aiden was somewhat surprised.
"Of course, but only when Iâm relatively close," Halo answered.
"Is it because of authority? Because youâre both Sovereigns?" Aiden pressed, "Can she sense your presence too?"
"No, itâs because of the Revenge Call," Halo said in a calm voice.
"Revenge Call... Isnât that an ability of revenants?" Aiden was stunned.
Revenants, motivated by vengeance to turn themselves into resentful spirits and rebind their souls to undead bodies, possess the ability to seek out their enemies and sense whether their foes are still alive. The closer they are, the stronger the sensing; this ability is known as Revenge Call. For example, the necrofiend Slyne, who had previously been imprisoned in this jail, had the ability to locate her enemies and detect if they were still alive.
"One should realize with a bit of thinking that this is a mere imperfect imitation of the âHatredâ authority by mortal magic, mixed with a touch of death magic," Halo said with disdain, "The true Revenge Call can sense unseen enemies, those hidden masterminds. So, even though I have never seen that conspiring bitch, I still knew she had been here!"
"If youâve never seen her, how could you know sheâs your enemy?" Aiden didnât quite understand.
"Itâs probably intuition, the âHatredâ authority grants Sovereigns this special intuition," Halo explained, raising a finger, "Such intuition, when it arises, is very accurate. âWisdomâ is about reasoning the future, while âHatredâ is about intuiting the truth."
"Like divination?" Aiden asked.
"Divination is just one of the many tricks mortals use to mimic authority, which is why its success rate is so infuriatingly low," Halo shook his head.
"What about Mr. Blood Robe, can you sense him?" Aiden asked.
"From the start, I could. Heâs a revenge target Iâve marked directly; I can sense his direction but not his exact location. When you told me he was in Sunset City, I confirmed it was true, at least in terms of direction, so you werenât lying." Halo said, "But that bitch is different, she was detected by my intuition, I canât sense her unless sheâs within a certain proximity."
Aiden thought to himself that it was curious Halo couldnât sense Melifilia.
In reality, Melifilia was right beneath this prison. Strictly speaking, she was the hidden mastermind behind the control of the Blood Moon Cultâs destruction of the Holy Cathedral of Vengeance. Melissa must have been an executor and participant as well. In principle, both should have been Haloâs mortal enemies, yet Halo only sensed Melissa.
It seems that the "fixing" effect of the saint nails carrying the power of the "Balance" authority could sever this kind of Revenge Callâfortunately.
"But what does that have to do with your sudden act of playing the fool?" Aiden still didnât quite understand, "Donât tell me, you were hiding from her?"
"Intuition told me the place sheâs in and that if she found me, it would be the end of me, so I hid myselfâitâs that simple," Halo said lightly.
"So this is what mimicry means... Surprising, you actually got scared, I thought knowing where she is would have you charging in immediately," Aiden laughed.
"Kid, my opinion of you has just dropped, it seems you donât know me well enough. I just dislike pursuing zero risk and meticulously devising plans, I prefer to boldly risk everything on one gambleâthatâs the proper way of revenge, but that doesnât mean Iâm only about rushing in to die," Halo said, fixing his gaze on Aiden, "If that bitch became aware of me and came looking, I would try to ambush her no matter the high risk. But sheâs the type who prefers to strike from the shadows, what else could I do except lie in wait?"
"Alright, I guess I really didnât understand you well enough, lacking rationality doesnât mean completely lacking a plan. Iâm glad to know you have this quality, truly," Aiden nodded, "I think I understand why you always say I smell of the âGoddess of Conspiracy.â Did you also feel the Revenge Call from me?"
"Yes, but itâs very faint, so I could tell youâre involved with her," Halo answered.
Aiden pondered internally. The ability to sense the Goddess of Conspiracy and Mr. Blood RobeâHaloâs Revenge Callâmight have some exploitable value.