This was a situation where friendly fire and enemy fire were intertwined with each other, and he was caught in the middle.

But this is part of the strategy itself.

He had already fallen into the encirclement voluntarily, and his originally wide field of vision was now filled with the twisted muscles and sharp spikes of the Hell Demon.

Several Hellfire Demons used their bodies as shields to block his way, while the Lust Demons began to encircle him from behind, delaying his progress.

And on his shoulder, there was a striking and terrifying whip mark. A small piece of metal was torn off by the whip, exposing the flesh and blood underneath.

That was a sneak attack from Gracia—now that her charm and control abilities had completely failed, she was forced to engage in close combat with Apodel.

At the same time, Apodel reflected for a moment: the Holy Avenger's power was unmatched, but the armor was clearly difficult to match. He would have to seek some self-protection in the future battles.

Fortunately, this wave of ice rain arrived just in time, bringing about another wave of chaos in the formation.

The Pegasus under Apodel dived rapidly in the air and then rose again, drawing a beautiful V-shape in the air, avoiding the hammer whistling past its head. At the same time, it also successfully discovered Gracia's exact location.

Surrounded by succubi, she flew at top speed out of the barrier, completely abandoning the siege of Apodel. Even as her guards, with nowhere to escape, fell like falling birds before the rain of Otiluk's icy spheres, it was still the same.

Gracia was only a hundred meters away from the edge of the maze.

As for their guards, nearly half of them had been lost under the attack of the Holy Knights and the bombardment of Xinbu.

At this moment, Mammon finally came in front of Apodel, and his overly large snake-like body easily filled Apodel's entire vision.

The Lord of the Third Layer of Hell spit out a snake-like tongue: "This is the end, son of Baal."

"The end of a battle doesn't depend on a specific moment, but on the decision-makers' hesitation and self-determination." Apodel turned his horse, no longer forcing his way forward. "If you were determined to escape, you would have already escaped by betraying your subordinates. And now, Emilia and the others have plenty of time to intercept Gracia."

Just behind the two of them, the speeding airship had drawn a charming arc in the sky, blocking Gracia's escape route.

"... Ridiculous." Mammon stared at the paladin in front of him and sneered, "Two unprotected mages, with Xinbu using up all his sequencers, how can they stop Gracia?"

Mammon wielded a short spear, but in Apodel's opinion, it was only short compared to his enormous body. Mammon wielded the weapon as if he were wielding a towering tree.

Meanwhile, Mammon's attack was surprisingly conservative—the Devil Duke, facing the mortal, used only the simplest thrusts to limit Apodel's advance. His spear tip touched and then moved, never pausing, not even giving the Holy Avenger a chance to sever his weapon. Faced with these swift, dragonfly-skimming thrusts, Apodel dared not challenge the Devil Duke's weapon and strength with his own armor. With neither able to move, the two sides fell into a brief stalemate.

But it didn't matter - his mission was accomplished. He had never intended to capture Gracia alone in the midst of a huge army.

"Take one last look at your lover," said Apodale. "Perhaps it will be the last time."

"I'm going to return your words." Mammon replied in the hellish language with a snake-like sound.

Then, Mammon felt something was wrong.

"...Psychic power?!" He turned his head in surprise.

Psionics are even rarer in Faerûn than paladins. Even fewer on the Emya side are known for their psychic abilities. Why are psychics appearing on this battlefield?

Then, he saw the end of Gracia's Guard.

The speeding demons suddenly slowed down in mid-air, as if they had hit an invisible wall. Meanwhile, the airship remained motionless.

But blood gushed out from the devil's back like a fountain.

Sharp swords slowly extended from the devil's body, as if they had been hidden deep inside the devil's body for a long time, or as if these devils had taken the initiative to rush into the mountain of swords and the forest of knives, turning themselves into bloody skewers of meat.

“Gu…!” Gracia coughed up blood in pain, flapping her wings forcefully to stop herself in mid-air. “What the hell just happened?!”

"...Don't move..." The seriously injured and dying devil spat out blood while speaking, "It seems... as long as... I move... I will get hurt..."

Gracia wanted to force them to attack, but speaking itself was a form of torture for her now.

So the devil was forced to stop.

The most bizarre thing was that the sword tips extending from their bodies seemed to have an extra killing effect on demons. Otherwise, with the strong bodies of these great demons, even if they had previously been bombarded by the icy magic ball, they would not have fallen apart like this.

Emiya and Xinbu on the airship were not much better off.

"What kind of fucking magic did you come up with?" Xinbu couldn't help but curse in the telepathic connection. "Is it fun to kill a thousand enemies while injuring yourself a thousand?!"

[…It's not finished yet.] Emiya said with a guilty conscience, [As long as it's fully developed, it shouldn't harm friendly forces.]

“I hope so,” Xinbu said.

She couldn't move at the moment, but as the daughter of Mystra, Silverfire still gave her a lot of powerful strength.

With just a slight thought, seven layers of gorgeous rainbow walls suddenly opened up around Gracia.

Now, even if Gracia tried to break through by force, she would have to go a long way around.

At this moment, Apodel's warning suddenly reached Emiya and the others: […Something went wrong! Mammon disappeared for some reason! His whereabouts are unknown.]

【We...saw him.】

A rare cold sweat broke out on Emilia's head.

Mammon's huge body suddenly appeared around the airship in the wave of magic.

——Completely ignoring the transmission restrictions of the maze lock.

why? !

If Mammon had this ability, Gracia shouldn't have been forced to this point!

The expression on Mammon's face was also very unfamiliar.

It was a strange mixture of elation and self-conceit.

"It is over," he said. "You are too arrogant, Emiya. The Chosen's spirits cannot be affected, but alas their flesh is not so resilient. Meanwhile, Simbu, welcome back."

Then, the huge cold iron spear came whistling like a meteor.

Countless sword tips pierced through Mammon's body, but Mammon seemed as if it was not his own body that was injured. Although his muscles were twitching in pain, he still moved without hesitation!

It was as if he was not Mammon who met Emiya on the first day, but an old enemy who had been fighting each other for many years.

At the same time, Elastra's warning reached Emiya's mind: [The Silvermoon Mystery has been dismantled! The reason is unknown!]

At the same time, the early warning technique that was released in advance was already screaming in his mind like an alarm clock: If he didn't act now, it would be too late!

"I pray that I, Simbu, and Apodel will all be transported to the Sharptooth Forest!"

At this moment, he could only pray that the teleporting power of the prayer spell could break through the blockade of the maze!

If only Mammon was approaching, they could continue fighting, but they should not act rashly before figuring out why Mammon could break through the maze!

The space shifted, and the dark scenery of the Sharptooth Forest came into view.

The three of them looked at each other and asked the same question: "-What happened?"

What happened to Mammon?

It seems logical that dismantling a wizard's maze would allow him to move. However, removing a maze isn't something that just a Devil Duke can do! Not to mention that Mammon is generally considered a militant force! It's more likely that Zariel has this ability than Mammon!

"He's more than just Mammon anymore."

At this moment, Silver, who had been staying in the Sharptooth Forest, quietly floated down from the woods and said.

While regulating her breathing, Emiya asked, "...What do you mean?"

"Incarnation." Silver's face showed no heartache for Emiya, only near-fanatic excitement. "The Omniscient One conducted an experiment."

"If mortals can steal divine power by using the incarnation technique on gods, what would happen if gods used it on non-gods?"

"The answer is a permanent domination that cannot be resisted or lifted."

"And Mammon, who was considered a follower of the Omniscient One, became the recipient of the spell. From then on, he became a puppet of the Omniscient One and a vessel of his power."

The biggest secret of Eighty-Eight

Karsus's Avatar.

Even after thousands of years, this spell remains the pinnacle of arcane magic—even though its operating mechanism is actually vague and obscure.

Its apparent purpose is to transform the target into one's own incarnation.

However, how do gods control their avatars? What is the connection between the avatar and the original body? Why can turning a god into an avatar steal her power?

Now that Karsus has been completely reduced to ashes, everything has probably become a mystery - if the victim of the spell does not speak for himself.

The main transit point for the Emya team is still the Sharptooth Forest in Fenwei.

Its vast area and incredibly complex terrain meant that outsiders had no idea what lay beneath the treetops. This gave it a significant advantage over other bustling metropolises. Consequently, its internal activities remained almost completely hidden. After Serlet had created a puzzle lock for the Sacred Grove of the Sharptooth Forest, it became a perfect base.

"No... weren't you guys there to negotiate?!" Miss Sigg, who had single-handedly led the negotiations, was now filled with confusion. "What exactly happened?"

"The conditions for declaring war were ripe, and war was indeed declared. We chose to launch the first wave of the offensive... at least on the surface." Apodel laughed. "Perhaps it's Emilia's usual style—she appears very calm, but her plans are always extremely radical, even reckless. The demons in Silvermoon City are difficult to come and go, and there's a possibility of severely inflicting or even capturing them alive, so we went for it."

"So it looks like the negotiations went well?"

"Maybe it will go well." Emilia's voice was a little tired.

He was currently sitting in the protective root system of a giant tree, watching Yin examining Xinbu's body with extreme care.

Yes, the most urgent thing now is not even to confirm the situation in Silvermoon City.

It is difficult to trace what the All-Knowing One did to Mammon, but among their ranks, a heavyweight fighter was caught in a terrible storm from which he could not defend himself.

Xinbu had been imprisoned in Hell for many years. During this time, she had long since lost her mind, living like a wild animal in a daze for years. It could be said that if Asmodeus had needed her as a test subject, there would have been countless opportunities over these decades.

——It is entirely possible that Xinbu is already the recipient.

After a long moment, Yin floated up in frustration, shaking his head in an unusually listless manner: "...Ah. How could this happen?"

Xinbu, who had already made considerable progress, nearly jumped up, pointing at his own pupils with a finger, "What does this mean?! I've already... I've already..."

Yin said in an unusually depressed tone, "Yes, there is no room for further manipulation. I'm sorry."

"...This isn't right! How is this possible?!" Xinbu's face flushed red with excitement. "If I were already the incarnation of Asmodeus, I would have caused immeasurable damage long ago!"

"Hmm?" Yin blinked doubtfully, looking bewildered. "I didn't say you were under the spell of transformation. I just checked carefully. You weren't even used as an experimental target. There's no trace left on your body that could be used to trace you. I'm sorry."

"…" Xinbu's lips trembled with anger after realizing what was going on. However, facing Yin's eyes that even revealed some doubt and innocence, he could only grit his teeth and float into the air. "I have to go prepare the sequencer. See you!"

It was a false alarm. Emiya glared at Yin unhappily, but could only confirm the situation in Silvermoon City first.

The possibility that Xinbu was the only incarnation of the omniscient was so terrifying that he didn't even have time to restore contact with Silvermoon City.

In the worst case scenario, they had just escaped from there and might have to go back to put out the fire.

"It's all right, Your Majesty," Elastra replied. "A demon lord has escaped, but he's been banished. We're mopping up the remnants—Tyr's battle with Cyric is over, and Cyric has been wounded and evacuated. Lord Tyr destroyed most of the demons, but... no, it's nothing."

Amya knew what Elastra was hiding.

He and Xinbu both clearly sensed the moment the All-Knowing One descended into Mammon's body. Divine power surged through the magic net and into Mammon's limbs, pulling the demonic archduke to rip through the Silver Moon maze and roar towards him.

The Silvermoon Mystery is one of Silvermoon City's most valuable assets. Of course, one of the maze's masters is Elaster herself, so the loss isn't irreparable. However, trying to organize a large group of mages to jointly create the maze at this sensitive time... would be a risky undertaking with enormous costs.

"You, on the other hand." Elastra asked, "How did your hunt turn out?"

It didn't work.

While they hadn't completely reconciled with the Lords' Alliance and signed a pact, they at least had a comradeship. Emiya didn't bluff on such crucial intelligence: "However, we've exposed one of the Devil's trump cards... In short, capturing the Devil Duke alive is now impossible."

"Then we can only fight the demons to a point of attrition. Fight until they feel there's no profit left." Elastro sighed deeply. "Damn it, what will become of Faerun in the end?!"

After the call ended, Apodel, who was standing next to him, just uttered a curious question: "Lord Misriel, Mammon was subjected to the Incarnation Technique... I heard that the materials required for the Incarnation Technique are very complicated?"

"It's indeed very complicated, even for mortals." Yin never refused to discuss such topics. "However, divine power is a very powerful token. As long as you are willing to spend a lot of money, all the materials required for this spell can be directly created using divine power. The good news is that if this is the case, the cost of the entire spell will be much more expensive than creating a true incarnation... I am sure that even a true god cannot use this spell indefinitely."

She raised her head slightly and looked towards the Eonok Desert. "But, after all, this spell is supposed to be used to increase revenue and [earn] power. It will be used on Mammon... She really dotes on her daughter."

"Open source?" Apodale was stunned. "You're not talking about...?!"

Emiya narrowed her eyes slightly after realizing something.

Mortals can steal divine power when used against gods.

When used by gods on mortals, they can steal bodies.

Using it on another god... maybe, you can steal everything from that god.

Aimiya took a deep breath: "Does He not care about this kind of method?"

"Hmph." Yin sneered. "Tyr and Cyric, two powerful deities, sent down their avatars in densely populated areas, wreaking widespread destruction with almost no scruples. Even after all this, He didn't show up. Perhaps many gods believe that Faerûn has now lifted its restrictions on all fighting."

Whether it's between people, gods and gods, or even between people and gods.

-----------------

Mammon and Gracia returned to the Godless Gods headquarters in Cormyr almost immediately after the battle.

And here, it has become completely busy. Countless news are pouring in from all corners of Faerun, forcing the commander here to make a choice.

Gracia looked at Bayer, whose head was moving back and forth between different documents, and felt that sooner or later this commander-in-chief would have to show up a few more times.

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