I am Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes.

The girl remained kneeling on the altar, her eyes tightly closed and her face expressionless, praying.

This scene seemed to have remained unchanged for hundreds or even thousands of years, filling the surrounding area with a solemn silence.

At one point, a series of extremely abrupt footsteps broke the solemn silence within the temple-like space.

The girl did not open her eyes.

It wasn't that I didn't hear footsteps, it's just that I wasn't interested in who was coming.

The visitor seemed to be aware of this as well.

"Sigh, my lovely Hecate is still the same as before, only so cold to me."

Emerging from the darkness was accompanied by this sentence—

The one who fights Gil is the ever-changing demon king, Shudnan.

Xiu Denan, unusually, took off his sunglasses and looked at the girl kneeling on the altar with a look of longing and affection he had never seen before.

If Jill saw this, she'd probably immediately accuse Shudenan of being a lolicon and come right over there.

However, Shudnan's feelings for Hecate are just like Gilles' feelings for Anna Kushina—they are simply those between family members.

The difference is that Schudnan regarded Hecate as a daughter.

Jill always treated Anna like a younger sister.

This is the difference between the two.

Immediately, Xiudenan said, "It's rare for me to come back, aren't you going to welcome me?"

However, the priestess girl whom Shudenan called Hecate remained kneeling there, praying expressionlessly, as if she hadn't heard Shudenan's voice just now, her indifference heartbreaking.

So, Xiu Denan shrugged, as if a father who had been away for a long time wanted to be affectionate with his lovely daughter when he returned home, but was rejected by her, and said this with a sigh.

"Could it be that she's angry because I haven't been back for too long?"

"You're overthinking it, General. You should know that Hecate has always been like this, right?" Another female voice came from the darkness, answering Shudnan's question.

Upon hearing this sound, Xiudenan turned his head and looked in another direction.

There, a tall figure walked slowly towards them, her footsteps as crisp as high heels on the ground.

She was a tall, mature woman dressed in a jet-black gown, adorned with large chain-like ornaments, and with long, red, waist-length hair flowing naturally down her back.

The woman exudes a seductive charm, yet this charm carries an atmosphere of evil and eeriness.

Because this woman was wearing an extremely unsightly eye patch over her right eye, and she also had an eye on her forehead.

She is Bellpeoro, one of the three pillars of the masquerade ball.

Shudnan the Thousand Faces, Bellpeor the Judge of Logic, and Hecate the Throne of the Absolute—

The three pillars of the masquerade ball gathered in this space.

Chapter 398 If she could do it...

In the darkness, someone was talking like this...

"Can you turn on the light?" came the arrogant and rude voice.

The owner of this voice doesn't sound like someone easy to get along with. There are only two types of people who can talk to this kind of person and speak to them properly.

Someone stronger than him, or someone who can suppress him in some way. Or someone who is equal to him.

However, another voice came from the darkness, sounding somewhat lazy and tinged with displeasure, "I want to sleep, why do you need to turn on the light?"

"...Sage, it's time to get up!"

The first voice sighed, and a pale blue light slowly shone, illuminating the face of the person who spoke it.

He was a young man with black hair and black eyes. Although his appearance was not particularly outstanding, he had a sharp, sword-like aura about him.

"I don't want to." A large bundle of something in the blankets made that sound.

Immediately, the veins on the young man's forehead bulged.

“…There’s no other way…” He coughed softly, “If you don’t get up, I’m going to tell that fox woman where she is.”

Then, in the next moment, the dim space suddenly lit up.

The sage who jumped out of bed was a young man with shoulder-length blond hair. His handsome face had become extremely fierce, probably because of the provocation from the young man's words earlier. "You dare!"

"...You know, there aren't many things I'm afraid of, are there?"

The young man stroked his chin thoughtfully and said, "Then I'll..."

"Tsk, I'm scared of you." The sage flipped himself up and put on a white lab coat that researchers in the research institute often wore, which was hanging to the side. "What is it now?"

"He's about to meet Hecate. What if Hecate uses the same method she used on Yuji Sakai..." the young man continued.

To everyone's surprise, after hearing the young man's words, the sage casually tossed away his white coat and lay back down on the bed.

"Hey, Sage, what are you doing? Get up!" The young man felt an urge to grab the Sage again.

"What? It's this kind of thing." The sage said while rolling around hugging his pillow, "If she can do it, she can give it a try."

"..."

The young man's lips twitched. "You have that much confidence in him?"

“Yes, I am indeed very confident—” The sage tossed the cushion aside, his lazy expression vanishing, replaced by a serious and earnest look. “After all, I don’t think Hecate can accommodate all of them.”

……

Xingli Palace —

Created by the former Crimson Lord "Hall of Marrow" Govida, this is the headquarters of the "Masquerade Ball".

Xiu Denan said that sentence—

"I've found the missing child at midnight."

The atmosphere completely changed when those words came from Xiu Denan's mouth.

“Hehe…” Bellpeor smiled sweetly, her laughter unable to hide her joy as she murmured to herself.

"Finally found it."

On that altar, the girl who had been praying also opened her eyes.

Those were a pair of pale, transparent eyes, like crystal.

Then, Hecate spoke in her flat, monotone voice, "The Zero-Hour Lost Child must be retrieved."

In one sentence, he expressed the sentiments of the three pillars of the state.

Immediately afterwards, Hecate turned around, looked at Shudnan, and asked him this question directly.

Where is the missing child at midnight?

Xiu Denan answered without hesitation.

"Misaki City."

……

"Heh... turns out you're still not good enough for a battle maniac." Jill chuckled, looking at the disheveled Margery standing opposite him. "Now can you listen to me properly?"

Jill's magical bombardment has left a long, charred burn mark on the rooftop of this building.

That is a magic cannon with the added ability of "burning".

Jill's attack displayed extremely domineering offensive power.

That is Jill's special magic that completely combines "fire magic" and "magic cannon".

Marjorie and Marcusias, the infamous battle maniacs among the Flame Haze, had already been defeated by Jill at this point.

Just one blow.

Although it was a full-force attack.

Jill lowered her hand. "Tsk, you used too much force."

Indeed, Jill's overly powerful magic cannon blast knocked Margery unconscious and rendered her unable to move.

He reached out his hand, and a blue aura of existence floated up, repairing all the damage on the roof.

Then, he snapped his fingers, and the golden seal slowly faded away.

"..." Shana looked at Gil, who had some charred marks on his body, with surprise and astonishment in her eyes.

Alastair remained silent, clearly surprised by Gil's attack.

"The rest is up to you to handle." Jill turned around, clearly intending to wash her hands of the matter.

Because he was very annoyed by these kinds of negotiations.

However, after he beat Marjorie up, she should behave herself a lot.

As she felt stiffness in her body, Jill gave a slight, wry smile. "So this is how it is."

His body became somewhat stiff from overusing the Crimson Dragon Emperor's gauntlets and the White Dragon Emperor's wings of light.

This is a terrible thing.

"Hey, I said..." Shana was about to say something when Gil flipped over and jumped over the railing.

“Oh, I forgot to mention.” Gil turned around, looked at Shana, and smiled. “I really hate negotiations and such, so I’ll leave these things to you, Shana.”

After saying that, he jumped off the top of the building, and soon his figure with outstretched wings disappeared from Shana's sight.

“…He really is a maverick.” After a long while, Alastor said this.

Indeed, Jill's self-centeredness has become her daily routine.

"He is indeed a very annoying guy," Shana said, pursing her lips.

However, Shana still turned her gaze to Margery, "So, shall we negotiate with them next?"

"...That's indeed the case."

Alastair's deep voice rang out, "Wake her up."

……