Chapter 134: Monster Showdown (8)


    "Ah, you..."


    "........"


    A familiar silhouette pierced through the dense fog that had enveloped the walkway. Gazing at the approaching silhouette, Princess y and Celestia Moran’s nk slowly morphed into a puzzled expression.


    "... Why is she here already?"


    "T, This is so strange."


    The two girls, their expressions utterly baffled, began whispering to each other.


    "Little brat, didn''t you say you sneaked into the hospital and administered several times the usual dose of sleeping pills to her?"


    "... I''m not a brat, and I did nothing wrong. Just to be safe, I even administered a near-lethal dose into her system.”


    Their increasingly troubled nces now turned towards the grey-haired professor who had already appeared before them."Well, isn''t that problematic in itself?"


    "Last time I visited Dad in the hospital, I secretly experimented with ten times the normal dosage and he woke up feeling very refreshed.”


    "... Even my body isn''t that resilient."


    Watching her quietly bob her head from side to side, a habit of hers, the two of them broke out into a cold sweat.


    "What are you two whispering about so quietly?"


    "..........."


    Immediately, they mped their mouths shut at the professor’s voice tinged with amusement.


    "Professor...?"


    Meanwhile, Isaac Adler who was standing beside them, wore a doubtful expression before slowly stepping forward.


    "Is it really you, Professor?"


    "... Isaac."


    Gazing at him intently, the professor whispered in a soft voice.


    "Are you suggesting that there''s a fake professor too?"


    "Uh, well..."


    At those words, Adler’s gaze shifted towards Silver ze… who was lying on the ground with her eyes still swirling into spirals.


    "I thought it might be a simr case..."


    "What are you talking about?"


    "... Nothing."


    After a moment of silent contemtion, he slowly stepped forward until he was right in front of the professor.


    "Nothing at all..."


    ".......?"


    In the next moment, with hands sped behind his back, Adler started circling the professor with squinted eyes.


    "Hmm..."


    "What are you doing now?"


    Observing Adler as he ran his fingers through her soft hair, sniffed the air around her, and even went on to poke her sides and abdomen, curiosity flickered in Professor Moriarty’s eyes.


    "... This is definitely the professor."


    "Isaac?"


    "The scent of her hair, the perfume... even the texture of her skin and the body shape..."


    However, Adler ignored her calling and muttered to himself in faint whispers, lost in thought.


    "... And finally, the height difference that even magic can’t cover.”


    As he spoke, a sense of certainty and conviction began creeping into his voice.


    "Professor~"


    In the following moment, with a bright smile stretching his lips, Adler nestled himself into the professor’s soft embrace.


    "I missed you..."


    "While I was away, you seem to have stirred up quite a few interesting events, I see."


    "..... Ah."


    However, Adler soon started blinking rapidly under the professor’s calm voice. The professor continued her speech while staring down at his nk eyes.


    "What will you do now?"


    "Uh, well..."


    "... Th, There is a way."


    Just as the professor interrogated him in a somewhat frigid tone, a voice filled with undeniable desperation emerged from the side.


    "I, I’m not sure if you have heard already, but… I could just kidnap Adler.”


    "........."


    "I-I''ll even give you special permission tomunicate with Adler via letters. How about that?"


    However, Professor Moriarty didn’t respond no matter what she said.


    "... I, I think it might be easier to deceive the others if I were the one to kidnap him.”


    "........"


    "I-I''ll keep you updated on the situation at all times. I’ll even use ropes made of straw instead of chains, and I won’t cause any physical harm to him. Can’t say anything about the psychological damage though…”


    Grasping at straws, Moran tried to intervene after observing the situation from the side. However, she was ultimately met with the sameck of response.


    "As I said earlier, neither solution is particrly good."


    "Then..."


    "But I have one very usible and safe solution."


    After a long period of silence, the professor finally spoke up.


    "I will take Isaac with me."


    ""..........""


    Immediately, the two girls began clenching their teeth in silence.


    "But..."


    "Do you think you can protect him better than I can?"


    "........."


    "If you have anyints, prove your qualifications here and now."


    As she spoke, Moriarty’s gaze began to gradually darken into an ominous hue.


    "But it will require you to put your life on the line."


    "Now is not the time for us to fight among ourselves..."


    "You seem to be under some misapprehension."


    With just a slight change in her expression, she began exuding a bone-chilling aura in the surroundings as she murmured in a low voice.


    "I could single-handedly eliminate all the groups and individuals here and easily escape."


    ""........""


    "I refrain from doing just that only because I know Isaac dislikes such actions."


    Moran and Princess y started to tremble ever so slightly as they listened to her ominous words.


    "So let me say this onest time."


    Watching them with her usual enigmatic smile, the professor concluded,


    "Isaac Adler ising with me, so you two should leave now."


    At that moment, the tense gazes of the two girls and the professor''s calm eyes dangerously intersected, signalling an imminent collision.


    "Enough, stand back."


    Just then, from within the protective embrace of Professor Moriarty, Adler''s calm voice emerged,


    "I''ll be back soon."


    As he smirked at his loyal followers, the two girls lowered their heads in silence while grinding their teeth in frustration.


    "An excellent choice, Isaac."


    "......."


    "Let''s start by getting out of London. Where to next? America? France? Germany?"


    Thus, Adler and Moriarty began to distance themselves from the girls.


    <i>- Beep, beep-beep...!</i>


    "".........?""


    As the two loyal followers gazed at their receding back with crestfallen gazes, at that very instant, their manamunication devices suddenly lit up, signalling the arrival of an urgent message.


    <b>?Where is Adler right now??</b>


    .


    .


    .


    .


    .


    <i>- Trudge, trudge...</i>


    A few minutester,


    "Isaac, you''ve be quite bold, haven''t you?"


    As they walked through the thick fog without encountering anyone, as if by magic, towards the exit of the park, Professor Moriarty spoke to Adler as he silently followed her from the side.


    "What do you mean?"


    "Normally, you wouldn''t dare to take on such a big risk. Has there been some change in your emotions recently?"


    Briefly, Adler scratched his head with an awkward smile before responding in a faint voice.


    "There has been a change, yes."


    "Is that so? I''m slightly curious. Would you mind giving me a hint?"


    Suddenly, Adler stopped walking and began to stare at Professor Moriarty with a fierce gaze.


    "I don''t see the need to tell you."


    In the next instant, Adler began murmuring in a surprisingly cold and business-like tone.


    "What did you just say?"


    "Professor."


    Softly, he whispered, staring into the professor’s grey orbs.


    "Please stand in front of me."


    Confused, Jane Moriarty moved right in front of him.


    "What on earth..."


    "Put your hands behind your back and take a deep breath."


    "... Huh?"


    The very moment she took a deep breath with her hands behind her back, as Adler had requested of her,


    <i>- Pow...!!!</i>


    "... Ugh."


    Adler''s punch, delivered with the full extent of his power,nded squarely in her lower abdomen.


    "Uh, ack..."


    "........"


    The professor, momentarily losing strength in her legs and copsing to the ground, began to drool and retch.


    "What... what is this...?"


    In the following moment, she looked up towards Adler, tears forming in her eyes.


    <i>- p!</i>


    Sharply, the professor’s face whipped to the side.


    "Isaac..."


    The professor, stroking her cheek marked by a palm print, began to murmur his name in a trembling voice.


    "How long do you intend to keep up this act?"


    Adler looked down disdainfully at her before murmuring in an ice-cold voice.


    "Firstly, my beloved Miss Moriarty would never leave London. The professor has already made London her stronghold. Rather than fleeing, she would turn London upside down."


    "........."


    "Secondly, Miss Moriarty does not call me . Your performance was quite impressive, but your research was one percentcking."


    The professor, or rather the woman impersonating the professor, had a gradual change in her expression as she silently listened to his exnation.


    "Andstly, if it were Miss Moriarty, she would have blocked my attack just now."


    "... Ha ha."


    "Because the professor is the strongest."


    An expression that was no longer terrified,— a smug expression of conceit and depravity that was very familiar to Adler.


    "Isn''t that right, Miss Thief?"


    "... Now that I''m caught, I’d like you to kick me in this form... Won’t you do that for me?"


    .


    .


    .


    .


    .


    "... What, what is this?"


    Some time had psed since that incident,


    "What are you trying to do? What is this?"


    The coachman, who had recently safely transported Professor Moriarty and Adler from Baskerville to London, had parked the carriage a short distance from the park and was now catching his breath.


    ".........."


    "Should I call the police for you, miss?"


    He began sweating profusely as he walked up to a very unusual, scandalous sight— a girl with bruises and hand marks on her face, bleeding from her mouth, and a boy who was holding a leash around her neck,ing out of the darkness of the park.


    "Excuse me."


    "Please wait. I''ll be right back..."


    "It seems you''re misunderstanding something..."


    As the coachman tried to hastily leave the scene, the boy holding the leash opened his mouth with an indifferent expression.


    "Actually, I’m the one who has been kidnapped by this youngdy here, you see?"


    "What...?"


    "... It would be rather awkward to walk all the way to where I’ll be imprisoned, so could you give us a ride in your carriage?"


    As he muttered, looking at the girl leaning weakly on his shoulder, the coachman''s mind went nk from the nonsense he was hearing.


    "What utter nonsense is this..."


    "I''ll give you all the gold coins in this pouch."


    "... Get in."


    A few minutester, his carriage began to smoothly exit London, in the opposite direction fromst /genesisforsaken