"I am—"
"I already know who you are, motherfucker. You're Strauss fucking Wagner, the alchemist."

"Pleasure to meet you, Detective Lang." I put on my charming bastard mask.
I extend my hand.
The woman looks at my hand with disdain, unwilling to shake it.
"Do you think I'm stupid? Do you think I don't know that you use curses?"
I smile, puzzled.
"Curses? Are you referring to those ancient stories of demons? It's true that I'm passionate about the subject. I often discuss it with Professor Merfal."
I extend my hand also towards the muscle mountain, but he reacts the same way, ignoring it.
"Enough with the lies, Wagner. I know everything you've done."
I feign surprise. "Have I committed a crime, officer? Is studying old legends considered criminally punishable?"

The woman is starting to lose her temper.
Good, anger makes people behave stupidly.

"Do you want to play a role? Do you want to be a fucking actor with me? You killed everyone involved in your drug trafficking."

I look at her as if she said the most absurd thing in the world.
I glance at the big guy and make a rotating motion with my finger, as if asking him to confirm the woman's mental sanity.
With lip-reading, I say, "Is she crazy?"
"Are you mocking me, motherfucker?"
"No, Detective Lang, but I think you might be the one playing with me. Are you sure you're really a policewoman? I didn't see a badge."

The woman startles. Apparently, she's caught off guard.
Either she's not a cop, or this is not an authorized operation.
The woman gives me the impression of being a loose cannon, or rather an untied dog.
Even the guy Guli doesn't seem like a cop but more like a Venture.
Perhaps they intend to make me talk by force?

"Maybe I should really call the police," I say, picking up the smartphone.

*SBAMM*

Suddenly, a roundhouse kick hits my hand.

The smartphone flies to the ground.

My hand hurts.
The woman is endowed with quite some strength.
"Urgh..."

I'll make sure to return the favor as soon as possible.

"Deedee! This is too much!" the big guy says to the woman.
"Guli, I asked you for a damn favor! You have to support me."

"So you're criminals posing as the police." I voice a likely assumption in this situation.

I see that, at my words, the mountain of muscles is starting to get agitated.
Certainly, this is not something they are doing legally.
Good to know.

"Don't you see that the bastard is manipulating you?" the woman tries to calm him down.
"You're good with words, Wagner. I'll give you that. But do you think words will get you out of this situation?"

"Unless you decide to resort to violence, I think so. Something you've already done," I say, pointing to my phone on the ground.
The green-haired woman spits on the ground in disgust.

"I have rights. If I have committed any crime, I will wait to be summoned by the police. I will go to the station with the utmost willingness. Of course, I will bring my lawyer with me."
The detective can't take justice into her own hands.
As corrupt and dystopian as it is, we are still in a civil system.
It's not a police state.

Showing my helplessness, I try to pick up my phone.

As I bend down, I receive another kick, this time in the stomach.

I gasp for air.

I fall backward, hit by the blow.

*DLING*
[[ "Being attacked first while defenseless" CONDITION MET ]]

"Deedee, he's defenseless! You can't hit an unarmed person!" Gulihelmus restrains her.
The woman would like to continue beating me, but she is stopped by the muscular man.
It seems that he's actually just a gentle giant.
The easiest ones to manipulate.

"Don't be fooled by this act! He killed half a dozen men."

Trying to get back up, I cough up blood on the ground.

The sun begins to set.
I can already feel the drop in temperature.

Frankly, I'm not impressed by the bad cop.
I expected much worse from law enforcement. Hallemagner is truly a corrupt country.
Despite all the mistakes I've made and the people I've killed, I believe that, in the end, it's only this woman hunting me down, and she's doing it more out of obsession.
Probably the police are even unaware of all this, and she's acting independently.

Clearly, she possesses great intelligence if she managed to follow my tracks and connect them to me.
However, her attitude and aggressiveness are fatal flaws that completely limit her effectiveness.
Letting herself be controlled by emotions, she has chosen the worst way to confront me.

Confronting me directly like this makes things easier for me.
She should have approached me cautiously and lured me into a trap.
She's probably frustrated because she doesn't have a shred of evidence to support her theories.
Her grand plan was to force the truth out of me.

"Deedee, we're in a public place," the man tries to reason with her.
Indeed, the commotion could attract the attention of professors and other students.
I was counting on that to some extent.

Deedee, I assume that's her nickname, thinks about it and calms down.

I slowly get up and observe her.
This hunting hound definitely needs a competent master to guide her.
Acting recklessly, her talent is wasted.

"I understand what Kanna was telling me now. Those eyes," she says, looking straight into my eyes.
It's clear that she is familiar with Professor Kanna.
Kanna Merfal must have talked to her about me, leading her to the conclusion that I am behind the murders and the drug trade.
If she could prove it, I would probably be in jail by now.
So, I've covered my tracks well, but at the same time, I've exposed the enemy who could have been problematic in the future with her intelligence and intentions.
A dangerous asset within the police, but one that could have immeasurable value in my hands.

"Are you an alchemist, right?" she asks, changing her approach.
"Yes, it's no secret. You can probably easily see my talents and status with a [SCAN EYE]," I reply, being cooperative.

She scrutinizes me.
Her expression is unreadable.
She should be predictable once you understand the character.
In reality, that's not the case.
She is like a raging hound whose behavior you can't predict.

"You think you're fucking clever, don't you, Wagner?"
"I think I'm pretty average," I reply, avoiding provoking her.

She clicks her tongue.
"Did you know Reis Vonner?" the interrogation continues.
I have no reason to deny. "Yes, he's a classmate of mine." I pretend not to know that he's dead.
"He worked for you, didn't he?" she presses.

I show nervous surprise.
I lower my head, displaying embarrassment and sadness.
"V-vonner working for me? I don't think so... actually... He b-bullies me."

My act instills doubt in the hound. I can see it in her surprise at my words.
But her reaction lasts only a fraction of a second, and she returns to her inquisitorial expression.

Gulihelmus has completely bought into it.
He looks at me with pity.
After all, he can clearly see that I'm a miserable rank F without any particular abilities.
While Reis Vonner was almost as big as him and of rank C.

*CLAP*

Deedee claps her hands as if she had an epiphany.
"So, he forced you to create the drug, and in revenge for his bullying, you killed him!" she exclaims her assumption.

I would love to laugh. This woman is amusing.
I didn't expect her to arrive at this silly conclusion.
She's probably mocking me to make me reveal myself.
I continue to maintain my wounded expression.
"V-Vonner is dead?!" I exclaim as if I've been struck by lightning.

"What about Nikola Drusla? Did he bully you too?" unimpressed by my reactions, she continues to ask questions.

That slim junkie could never physically overpower me.
"I don't know this Drusla. I have no idea who he is."
Our contacts have never been in the daylight.

"You've got a fucking answer for everything, don't you?" she challenges me.

I look at her perplexed.
How does she expect me to respond to this?
"I believe I've been more than cooperative, despite being kicked." I say, indicating my intention to leave.
"It was a pleasure meeting you,"  I start to walk away.

I pick up my phone. Fortunately, it is not damaged.

"Wagner," the detective calls me.
I stop.

"Before, I had some doubts. Now I'm certain."

I look at her, waiting for her to continue.

"Despite my aggression, you've always kept your cool. Your eyes convey confidence, and you haven't succumbed to any of my provocations." Was she studying me?

"You are the mastermind behind the drug trafficking, the murderer who indirectly killed six men through curses. You're worse than I imagined. You're a terrifying monster."
Determination appears in her gaze.
This doesn't bode well.

"Strauss!"
I recognize this voice.

The professor sees us from about ten meters away.
She reaches us running.

"Guli, what are you doing here?" she asks, surprised by the presence of the man, once she reaches me.
"Hi, Kanna. Deedee called me," the mountain of muscles replies.
Evidently, the three of them know each other.

"Deedee, did you take my phone?" So, the professor was unaware of this ambush by her friends.
Then, her gaze falls on me.
She notices my mouth stained with blood.

"Did she hit you?" She places her hand on my face.

"Don't worry, Professor. I just spat a bit of blood," I reassure her, taking a cloth handkerchief to clean myself up.

The infuriated woman turns to the green-haired woman.
"I told you not to hurt him!" Kanna is angry.
"Don't get in the way, Buddy."

The detective then starts to glow.
A golden aura.
Ethereal and unnatural.
What the hell is happening?

"Her beloved, this is bad, the [HEROIC SEED] is sprouting," Raqahela warns me telepathically.
Have the gods finally made their move?

Deedee turns to the gentle giant.
Her eyes lit with determination.

"Guli, you know my sixth sense never betrays me. How many times has it saved us in dungeons? Trust me."
"I've lost count of the times you've saved our lives. What do you want to do, Deedee?"
"This man must die. He is a diabolical and manipulative being. Every single word that comes out of that fucking mouth is a lie."
"Do you want to kill him?!" the man is surprised.
"With the law, we could never arrest him, and he knows it. If we don't kill him now, we won't be able to stop him anymore. He's a fucking danger. Trust me. Everything you see, his rank, his abilities, it's all a lie."

The woman speaks to the giant with her heart on her sleeve.
The man is torn, but it's evident that he blindly trusts his companion.

"Deedee, what are you saying? Have you gone mad? Guli, you can't go along with this," Kanna tries to reason with them.

"Kanna, as soon as I try to kill him, you'll see the true face of this son of a bitch."

Unable to make me talk, she opts for the extreme solution.
It makes sense.
Probably from her perspective, it's the only way to corner me.
I had considered it among the probabilities.
The problem is, I'm outnumbered.
Quickly, I send a message to the Servant group chat.

The professor stands in front of me as if she wants to protect me.

"Deedee, do you want to become a murderer? Kill a man in cold blood?" Kanna yells.

"Do you know why Chand despises you? Because that's not a man. That's a demon."

Kanna is taken aback by these words.
She is surely doubtful about me.

I put my hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay, Kanna."

She turns to me, her eyes filled with concern.

"Whatever happens, remember that I love you," I say sincerely.

The sun has set.
It's night.