Only Darkness Lies

Chapter 26

Elfred along with Ekom reached Arrison hill and he stayed at Ekom's house.

He hired some guards to protect Ekom and asked Ekom to take rest while he comes up with a plan to deal with the pursuer.

He thought of ways to encounter the attacker based on the information he had from Ekom.

His plan consisted of garnering up some weapons and people to fight against her. From what he knew, she could control bodies and objects. But in her last encounter with Ekom, she got injured by the glass pieces thrown towards her while she was controlling the bullets fired by Monre.

This meant that she could not control many things at once or precisely there is a limit to the number of objects she could control.

He couldn't help but think that it was very similar to Elvira's power. So, he thought of ways to counter Elvira's attacks in case his target had the same powers.

He took a walk down the memory lane and thought of his last fight, his fight with the Troupe Members. Then it occurred to him that Elvira was injured by one of the bullets fired at her by the Troupe members. She lacked the speed to dodge it or change its direction with her powers.

But most importantly, it was really hard for her to crush Reim, who was very strong.
She faced problem to exert her powers on larger and stronger masses.

Finally, he could come up with a strategy. He was tired after all the continuous work he had done and decided to take some rest but before that he went to check on Ekom's condition who was fast asleep.

At midnight, Elvira began her covert operation to gather information about Ekom from the hospital. She had chosen that time primarily because it was time for shift change. She took the opportunity when the receptionist left the desk and was talking to one of her colleague. She used her powers to hit them with a vase and knocked the two of them out.

She then went in the hospital and hurried through the files on the receptionist's desk. She found the file which contained the address, name and other information of the patients. She quickly found out Ekom's address and noted it down.

She got out of the hospital quickly, went to the inn she was living in and packed all her belongings to check out in the morning. There was still some time before dawn, so she tried to take some rest, though she was getting more anxious with every passing second.

It was some hours before her probably last fight in Tinpole after which she could return to Ilsiome.

At the break of dawn, Elvira left the inn after asking the receptionist about Arrison hill. She began on foot and then took a cart midway.

Elfred was prepared to fight at any moment. He had to assassinate his target and there couldn't be a better place than Ekom's home. He knew that he couldn't possibly find her in a big area like Tinpole and leaving Ekom in the protection of guards was too risky for him to consider. He had to prioritise Ekom's safety first and since the killer would come after Ekom, he decided to stay with him.

He ordered the guards to be on high alert. Entry of any outsider was restricted and anyone who ties to enter forcefully was to be killed immediately.

Ekom had permitted him to do whatever he seemed appropriate and necessary and so, Elfred was not taking any chances.

It took Elvira a few hours to reach Arrison hill and she was taken aback by the security. There was no way she could get through it undetected. She had to fight to get to Ekom, alive.

It didn't take her much time to figure out that the preparations were made by the one who had brought Ekom from the hospital.

She covered her face with a scarf and charged in through what she thought was a less guarded point.

She was able to evade some of the guards and made it to the gate of the house without any confrontation.

But as she took a step inside the house through the open gate, she realised that she could not hide anymore.