Anime, but the Phantom Thieves of Heart

And this is exactly the origin of the words in the 'preview letter'...

Chapter 92 RANK UP! Hot Weapons Training!

Compared to Lan Ke and Shirou Emiya's outburst of anger due to the scene in the "Desire Stone", "Parker" seemed quite calm about it. After all, it could not be considered a living being in the strict sense, but an elemental creature born in the "cognitive world".

On the contrary, Emilia, the elf princess, felt a little reluctant.

"Your Highness, you can wait for us outside with Mr. Parker."

If Lan Ke and Shirou Emiya are "Phantom Thieves", and "Parker" is the "father" who fights to protect his daughter, then Emilia is seen by Lan Ke as the "innocent girl caught up in the dispute", just as unlucky as Shirou Emiya's sister.

After all, according to the 'Desire Stone', the silver-haired girl in front of Lan Ke and the others is neither the 'witch' pursued by 'Roswaal A. Mezas', nor the innocent girl who was a 'sacrifice' more than two hundred years ago. She is a special life born in the 'cognitive world'.

After all, humans don't have pointy ears or transparent wings.

But what was beyond Lan Ke's expectation was that the girl in front of him, who looked very easy to bully, shook her head with a firm expression even though she was very resistant.

"No! I want to know why that man keeps chasing me..."

Unfortunately, the final answer was very complicated for Emilia.

There was no special reason, just because she looked like someone.

Looking at the other person's complicated expression, Lan Ke originally wanted to pat her shoulder to comfort her, but as a sharp gaze came over, Lan Ke put down his right hand very reluctantly and spoke directly.

"Your Highness, there's no need to overthink this. You just need to understand that they are your enemies. Regardless of their reasons, right and wrong remain unchanged. What we need to do now is to destroy their twisted desires so that you and your father can return to normal life..."

Lan Ke is not a sentimental person. After all, his job requires him to focus all his energy on the operation instead of thinking about trivial things.

When he knows something, he may sigh a few words afterwards, but he will never let himself be disturbed by unnecessary emotions when it comes to things that he should complete.

Facing Lan Ke's comfort, Emilia nodded with a complicated expression.

She knew what Lan Ke meant, but still couldn't help but sigh.

"Mr. Narukami, you are so mature~"

That's right, although Lan Ke and Shirou Emiya called each other by code names, he told his name to Parker and Emilia.

One is to serve as the basis for building trust in cooperation between the two parties. After all, how can a person who doesn't even want to reveal his name and appearance gain the trust of others?

Another reason is that they call each other code names to prevent accidentally calling each other's names in public...that would be funny.

But it doesn't matter to Emilia and the others who cannot leave the 'cognitive world'.

Hearing the other party's praise, Lan Ke just smiled and didn't say much.

Just as the two were looking at each other and smiling, a light cough suddenly interrupted them.

"Ahem~ If we go further, we'll reach 'that guy's' core territory. What should we do next?"

As Parker spoke, Lan Ke's expression became serious again. Lan Ke nodded in understanding and began to make further arrangements.

"Shirou, please go to the 'Cat Country' first. According to the previous agreement, ask the 'Cat Fairies' to help prepare the 'Notice Letter'. Then you will go to the 'Mezas Mansion' to distribute the Notice Letter and prevent the other party from being assassinated."

After hearing Lan Ke's instructions, Emiya Shirou nodded in affirmation.

Although he wanted to change Roswaal Z. Mezas' heart himself, since he was already a member of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, he had to consider the entire team.

Being proficient in firearms and sniping, he is indeed the most suitable person for counter-sniping.

Looking at Shirou Emiya's silent but determined expression, Lan Ke suddenly smiled.

"I suspect that the 'Roswaal Z. Mezas' here is not the real him, or the complete him. If you want 'revenge' Shirou, I actually think it would be more appropriate to retaliate against him outside."

"?!"

Shirou Emiya, who had originally made up his mind to focus on business, suddenly widened his eyes and looked at Lan Ke in disbelief.

"But wouldn't that be inconsistent with the image of the 'Phantom Thieves of Hearts'?"

"Does the Phantom Thieves of Hearts have any image?"

Faced with Shirou Emiya's question, Lan Ke not only did not answer, but chose to ask a question in return.

His question made Emiya Shirou stunned for a moment, because it seemed that Lan Ke really hadn't said anything.

When he was stunned, Lan Ke put his arm around his shoulders and smiled brightly.

"We're Phantom Thieves! As long as it doesn't violate our 'bottom line', is there anything we can't do? Since you hate that bastard, then give him a good punch!!"

"This is the Captain's special permission, so go for it!!"

Looking at Lan Ke's brilliant smile, Emiya Shirou was stunned for two seconds.

Emiya Shirou, who hadn't truly smiled since joining the 'Phantom Thieves of Hearts', or rather, since his sister was involved in the 'incident', smiled for the first time.

Although he had joined the 'Phantom Thieves of Hearts' before and had always put the 'Phantom Thieves' first, he did it more to 'repay a favor' or 'fulfill his promise'. But looking at the smile on Lan Ke's face, he suddenly realized.

It wasn't an exaggeration to say that he was a member of the 'Phantom Thieves of Hearts'.

Almost at the same time, the sound of waves rang out again in Lan Ke's mind.

"RANK UP! RANK 2!"

"Learned Ability: Thermal Weaponry"

"Heat Weapon Training - Even if you've never used it before, once you know how to use it, you can use all firearms normally."

The improvement of Shirou Emiya's 'RANK' was not surprising. After all, the cooperation between the two sides was quite pleasant, and the fact that 'let the other party take revenge with his own hands' undoubtedly touched the other party's heart.

The improvement of RANK is a natural result.

And Shirou Emiya is not a man who drags his feet. Now that he has decided on the next plan of action, he will set off decisively.

Driving the 'Soul Chariot', he gallops freely in the 'Fairy Kingdom'.

With the various enemies eliminated along the way, the level of the Ghost Rider has now been raised. Ordinary monsters are no longer his opponents, not to mention that with the speed of the Soul Chariot, even if he cannot defeat them, he can still escape.

Not to mention that after the previous battle, the density of shadows inside the 'Elf Kingdom' had decreased a lot, so he simply rushed all the way without even trying to cover up.

Looking at the attacks of the 'Pixie' who were trying to chase him and falling behind him, Shirou Emiya felt extremely happy, as if he was not driving through the palace of 'Roswaal Z. Mezas' but on his face!

With the departure of Shirou Emiya, Lan Ke and the others also began to move towards their final destination, which is also the core area of ​​the Palace City.

The 'Fairy Kingdom' is mainly divided into three areas.

The outermost area is the area that Lan Ke and his companions were supposed to enter through the passage. Although this place belongs to the "Fairy Kingdom", "Roswaal Mezas" does not have strong control over it. There are fairy patrols and indigenous people such as Parker living here.

The second area is the area where Lan Ke and his friends had searched for the Desire Stone before. Basically, only "fairies" live there. Indigenous people like cat fairies will not enter here because once they enter, there is a high probability that they will be attacked.

The third area is the so-called 'core area'.

A special tree palace built on a huge tree that can be seen even from the outermost part.

Tall trees, fairies flapping their wings, crystal amber surrounding the trees, unicorns strolling by the lake...

Everything is very similar to the 'fairy kingdom' in Lan Ke's imagination.

Natural and peaceful.

However, once Lan Ke recalled the scene he saw in the "Desire Stone", he felt disgusted instinctively.

It's like sugar coating wrapped around mud, which is very unpleasant!

Thinking of this, Lan Ke had no intention of continuing to appreciate it and signaled Parker to continue leading the way.

Theoretically speaking, since being driven to the current location of the "Cat Kingdom", the sphere of influence has been repeatedly compressed, and the other party has no chance to come here at all. But seeing the other party leading him left and right through various small paths with ease, Lan Ke's expression became extremely subtle.

On the contrary, Parker, who was leading the way in front, seemed extremely justified after seeing Lan Ke's expression.

"Although I haven't come yet, it doesn't mean I won't come forever. I have to explore the way first!"

It is obvious that Parker has wanted to take this place back for a long time, but there has never been a good opportunity before.

However, as Parker led the way, they went deeper into the "palace" and the light coming in from outside became less and less. The space around them became darker and darker, and Lan Ke felt that the atmosphere around them was becoming more and more weird.

Before, Lan Ke was a little confused as to why the temple of 'Roswaal Z. Mezas' was called 'Fairy Kingdom', but the 'O Cult' formed by the other party was called 'Witch Cult'.

But he soon found out.

As all the natural light from the outside world was blocked, even the illuminating "luminous moss" disappeared, replaced by torches or fires, and strange murals and sculptures began to appear all around.

The atmosphere around was becoming less and less like the 'Fairy Kingdom', but rather the territory of the 'O Cult'. Even the 'shadows' that were occasionally encountered were no longer 'Pixie', 'Flower Soul' or 'Wood Spirit', but monsters such as '(Black) Ooze', 'Yinmo Luogui' and 'Inugami'.

In fact, if Lan Ke went out with Shirou Emiya, he would probably notice that the style here is very similar to the enclosed space of the so-called "Witch Church".

The strange atmosphere around her made Emilia feel a little scared instinctively.

She almost instinctively moved closer to Lan Ke.

Initially, Parker seemed to want to separate the two, but when he thought about having to lead the way, it seemed that this was the only way if he didn't want his daughter to be too scared.

In the end, he chose to remain silent and just silently increased his floating speed.

In this way, the group finally arrived at their destination.

A place even stranger than before...

Chapter 93: Nameless Rage

Although the enemies this time are a bit weird, and the 'Desire Stone' makes people feel instinctively uncomfortable as always, the 'Palace' itself this time is mostly in line with Lan Ke's aesthetics.

Beautiful natural scenery, fairies who are quite cute as long as they don't get physical, and the hidden "Cat Kingdom"...

But everything took a turn for the worse after entering the so-called 'palace'.

It was as if the superficial disguise had been torn off, revealing the true nature of the owner here.

Twisted branches, eerie murals, dim spaces, and terrifying monsters.

What puzzled Lan Ke was why he hadn't seen these monsters when he attacked the 'Kingdom of Cats' before?

But perhaps because of this, the density of monsters here is greater than outside, and their levels are also higher.

If Lan Ke was alone, it might take a lot of effort to clean up, but now——

"A bunch of dirty trash, quite suitable for that guy."

Floating in the air, Parker licked his front paws and taunted as usual, but when he turned his head to look behind him, his eyes widened instantly.

"Mr. Narukami is amazing~!"

"It's still a far cry from 'Master Parker'~"

"Of course 'Father' is amazing, but you, Mr. Narukami, are also amazing..."

Lan Ke's words were not modesty. Although using the "Personality Mask" to restrain the enemy from a distance and then beheading the enemy with a sword looked clean and neat, he was still far behind "Parker" who just waved his hand and turned all the enemies into ice cubes and then turned into ice chips and disappeared.

But I don't know whether it is because she has never seen other humans in the past two hundred years, so she has a strong desire to communicate and can't help talking to Lan Ke; or it is simply because Lan Ke protected her when she was attacked before.

In short, judging from the relationship between the two at this time, it doesn't look like they have just known each other for less than a day.

But Parker's mood at this moment was extremely complicated.

As a 'father', he sincerely hoped that his daughter could have her own friends. After all, neither he nor other cat fairies in the 'Cat Kingdom' could truly be her friend.

But at the same time, as a 'father', he also vaguely had a strange sense of crisis.

It really admired the young man Lan Ke, but it was just admiration. It hadn't admitted it yet.

"That's right~! Father is the most powerful!! These monsters are no match for you, 'Father'!"

"Hey, it's not that great. Let me show you another show!"

Amidst Emilia's constant praise, Parker gradually lost himself.

Not only did it ignore Lan Ke's threat, it even took the initiative to run to the front to "clear the monsters."

In the end, it basically became "Parker" who led the way and cleared monsters at the same time, while Lan Ke and Emilia followed behind, chatting and getting some "experience" at the same time. They looked like small accounts that were just trying to get experience.

But since Parker was willing, Lan Ke felt embarrassed to stop him.

In this way, while Lan Ke was in a somewhat subtle mood, the pace of progress actually increased a lot.

Although the environment was a bit awkward, it was quite pleasant to have a silver-haired girl chatting with me.

It's just a pity for the old father who paved the way.

Fortunately, with 'Parker' leading the way, they were not delayed for too long. After killing another 'Tamlin' guarding the gate, the road leading to the 'Royal Court' was finally cleared!

What surprised Lan Ke was that when he was about to push the door, the door with the statue of a 'witch' engraved on it suddenly opened by itself.

"Kacha~Kacha~"