Nobody knows how to be a villain better than me.

As he pondered, Vlad III's blood surged violently across his body, and his eyes became intensely bloodshot.

"my pleasure!"

Karna's gun blazed with golden flames as he took a running start to meet his enemy.

The duel of spears against spears, the clash between demigods and demons, begins anew.

Both sides responded with equal measures, and in the exchange of pleasantries, a stalemate ensued.

However, a stalemate is often the moment to break the deadlock.

Samael, seated on his throne, gazed at the magical projection that switched to the view inside the World Tree Castle, and a subtle smile crept onto his lips.

"Report! The third batch of artificial life forms has suffered an 84% loss! The next batch of artificial life larvae is still incubating!"

"79% of all golems have been lost, and there is a shortage of materials, making it impossible to produce new ones!"

"Outer defensive spells are paralyzed! Emergency restoration in progress!"

"The eastern section of the city wall has collapsed! The enemy... the enemy has broken in!"

At this moment, amidst a barrage of unfavorable reports, chaos reigned within the Thousand World Tree Castle. The Thousand World Tree family magicians frowned, and the patriarch Danic's face was extremely grim.

Unexpectedly, despite his years of painstaking efforts to establish his own independent business and pursue the roots of the industry, he still couldn't close the gap with the behemoth that is the Clock Tower, even with the advantage of fighting on home soil.

However, to think you can defeat me so easily is to underestimate the strength of my clan!

The proud patriarch of the Thousand World Trees glanced down at his feet, hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth, looked away, and turned to look at Avisbro beside him.

"What about that? How are the preparations going?"

"It's not finished yet, it will take some time..."

The masked Kabbalah magician shook his head slightly, his inexplicable gaze sweeping over the little boy Master Roger beside him, seemingly intentionally or unintentionally.

Seeing that Danic seemed a little impatient, Avisbro wisely scattered a hundred or so gems of various colors, which were full of magical power. Using earth and rock as materials, he temporarily summoned a reserve army of golems. With his master Roger, he led the team to fill the gaps in the torn defenses and put out the fires.

With the main hall empty, the explosions outside and the surrounding turmoil seemed to subside immediately, and Danic's gloomy expression finally improved somewhat.

In any case, the situation has been stabilized for the time being.

However, what Danic didn't notice was that as the noise from the outside world subsided, wisps of gray mist quietly spread inside the castle.

Meanwhile, in the operations room, Sereneka, the family magician with a gray ponytail, black-rimmed glasses, and a voluptuous figure, looked at Astolfo's disheveled state in mid-air within the crystal ball with displeasure.

"Rider is such a useless guy, he hasn't been able to break into that damn fortress after all this time!"

"It's not Rdier's problem, it's that the opponent is too strong, and Archer thinks so too."

The gentle wheelchair-bound girl, Fiore, coughed lightly and said something fair, adding credibility by speaking in the name of her own servant.

"Anyway, the clan chief just told us to hold our ground, hiccup, so not losing is considered a victory."

In the corner, the chubby uncle Gold, holding a wine glass, rubbed his slightly red, bulbous nose, muttered dejectedly, and pointed his clumsy fingers outward.

"Listen, the noise outside has subsided, hasn't it? It seems we've succeeded."

Ever since being reprimanded by the head of the family, Danic, and nearly losing his Master status, this chubby uncle, whose confidence was severely shaken, has become much more Zen-like.

Hearing the advice of her two kinsmen, Sereneke, who was quite dissatisfied with her own slacking servant, finally relaxed a bit.

However, before the tense atmosphere in the room could ease, the wheelchair-bound girl seemed to realize something after hearing the fat man's muttered words. First, she frowned, then her pupils contracted sharply, and her expression changed drastically.

"Defensive spell, quick!"

"Sister, wh, what's wrong?"

Seeing his sister's inexplicable reaction, Kaures was bewildered, and the others in the operations room were also somewhat confused.

"sound!"

Fiore pointed to the door and hurriedly reminded her.

"Even if the situation has been stabilized and the aftershocks of the battle outside the walls have diminished considerably, the various sounds inside the castle should not have decreased as well!"

Upon hearing this, everyone sensed the deathly silence of the courtyard and their gaze fell upon the wisps of gray mist that had appeared out of nowhere, and they were suddenly startled.

Something's come in!

"Ugh, we got found out. I'll get yelled at when we get back."

At the same time, a child's innocent voice suddenly echoed in the room, and a chill that sent shivers down everyone's spines spread through the room.

"In that case, let's start with you!"

In an instant, amidst innocent whispers, a petite figure, ethereal as smoke, appeared, accompanied by a cloud of gray mist.

A surge of energy appeared behind the wheelchair-bound girl, Fiore, the chilling glint of a dagger reflected in everyone's eyes.

In the blink of an eye, the group tried to come to their rescue, but it was too late. They could only watch helplessly as the gleaming blade fell.

"Asta, Blanca, Kormet, Wolf!"

At the critical moment, Fiore, in her wheelchair, suddenly shouted.

"Boom!"

In an instant, the wheelchair exploded, and four metal prosthetics unexpectedly pushed aside her clothes, emerging from behind Fiore and striking Jack the Ripper in the waist and abdomen, throwing the petite figure dozens of meters away, where she slammed heavily against the wall.

Although magicians are far inferior to heroic spirits in terms of combat power, since they have participated in this cruel competition of wishes, each of them has their own means of survival.

These four mechanical arms are Mystic Codes designed by Fiore herself to replace her immobile legs. The four prosthetic arms attached to her back are forged from a special alloy that allows for easier flow of magical energy, and each prosthetic arm is attached to a different animal spirit, thus completing a Mystic Code that can move according to Fiore's will and automatically protect its owner as needed.

Perhaps due to technical and material limitations, this thing differs from the Moon Spirit Elixir designed by Kenneth El-Melloi. It only memorizes the minimum action patterns, because memorizing diverse patterns would exceed the thinking limits of animal spirits. In other words, it is slightly inferior to the Moon Spirit Elixir in terms of attack power.

Conversely, in terms of defense—that is, protecting the master—it makes full use of animal reflexes, making it extremely difficult to break through with ordinary formal attire.

Manual operation is extremely taxing on mana, but switching to automatic operation reduces mana consumption. Compared to offensive capabilities, this Mystic Code places greater emphasis on defense.

Perhaps due to loneliness and the unique mindset of a girl, Fiona treated the four robotic arms as pets and gave each of them a specific name.

Therefore, the call just now was precisely the signal from the master to release the hounds, saving Fiore's life in extreme danger.

Having landed a successful blow, Fiore, who was lifted up from the ground like a spider, did not hesitate to raise her arms and roar at her target.

"The heavy hammer of war!"

Instantly, the two metal arms at the top opened up like flower buds, and the bullets, imbued with magical power, roared out of the barrel.

when! when!

However, the heroic spirit with superior physical abilities had already recovered from the initial chaos. With the agility of a rabbit, it leaped out of the range of the spell bullets and swung a dagger, severing a joint of a mechanical arm.

Caught off guard, Fiore lost her balance and fell sideways to the ground.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, a second dagger shot out.

"The essence of leaping mercury, the flawless white queen, become my wall!"

Inside the room, a rough shout suddenly rang out. Gord, an alchemist, immediately gathered his magic power, chanted a spell, and constructed a flowing wall of mercury in front of him, barely managing to block the dagger thrown by the enemy assassin while his face was flushed and he was panting.

"elder sister!"

At this moment, Corles, who was standing next to her, took the lead in helping his sister up as she fell to the ground and stood in front of Fiore. Sereneka, on the other side, also assumed a guarded posture, keeping an eye on Jack the Ripper in the corner.

After a brief delay, the magicians present reacted and joined forces to fight the enemy.

Although the power of an individual is far less than that of a Heroic Spirit, when they work together, they are more than capable of holding out for a short time.

As long as we can hold out until the Servants return to help, the crisis will naturally be resolved.

The infiltrators seem to have missed their best opportunity to strike.

Surrounded and guarded by a group of magicians, Little Jack, hiding in the corner, revealed a bright smile and spoke in a clear voice.

"It's too late."

Fiore, Correspondent, Sereneka, and Gold were in a daze when a sudden wave of dizziness hit them, and they all collapsed weakly to the ground.

"You, what did you do to us?"

The fat uncle Gold's expression changed drastically, and fine beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead. His voice trembled as he watched the little devil, who was walking briskly with his sword twirling around.

"This fog... is poisonous!"

Sereneka, who had a good understanding of curses and poisons, lay on the ground, covering her mouth and nose, gritting her teeth as she looked at the gray mist that was pouring into the room, and belatedly realized what was happening.

Little Jack nodded his head proudly and explained in a clear, crisp voice.

"Yes, yes, Dad taught me. Pure acid mist toxins are too potent, so I mixed in that pointy-eared aunt's medicine. It can evaporate along with the mist, colorless and odorless! Amazing, right?"

mean!

In an instant, the people who had been tricked looked at Jack's innocent little face and listened to his enthusiastic introduction, and a sense of grief and indignation welled up in their hearts. They frantically cursed the unscrupulous "old father" who had corrupted the child.

A sneeze!

At the same time, Samael, who was in the main hall, suddenly felt a chill and sneezed violently.

How can you blame me? If your Thousand World Tree family hadn't insisted on sending their family magician army to hunt down Liu Dao Lingxia and Jack, only to have them kill them in return, and then used torture to extract information about the castle's layout and access routes, little Jack wouldn't have been able to come to the door so easily, right?

What's this called? It's not that retribution won't come, it's just that the time hasn't arrived yet.

The ancient snake, watching the battle through the magic projection, muttered to itself, trying to justify its dirty tactics of poisoning the enemy in the fog and sneaking up on their base.

"It's time to dismantle!"

At this moment, inside the Thousand World Tree Castle, the young assassin, gazing at the targets lying scattered on the ground, excitedly licked his lips and pounced on his prey.

"Its source is light, its power is fire; Lord, let this purify the defilement!"

Just as Jack charged forward, a golden flame burst through the tightly closed door of the operations room, flooding the room and burning away the surrounding poisonous fog while forcing back the young assassin.

The surging air currents stirred, and a white iris battle banner radiating a golden halo unfurled. The French saintess, who had rushed over breathlessly, finally turned the tide at the crucial moment.

Chapter Sixty-One: The Minotaur Arrives (4.2k)

"Ouch...that hurts! That's so mean!"

Inside the operations room, Jack, who had been swept up by the shockwave and crashed into the back wall, cried out his childish accusations. But his two restless little hands pulled out two daggers from the surging mist and hurled them at Joan of Arc, who was coming to his rescue, and still charged toward the paralyzed Fiore.

The battle-hardened saintess sensed the surging air currents. With her left hand, she held the flag and continued to purify the toxins in the air with holy flames. With her right hand, she drew Saint Catherine's sword from her waist, swung her wrist, and deflected the two flying daggers.

Meanwhile, concerned for his sister's safety, the bespectacled boy, Koles, was the first to get up from the ground. He slammed his palm into the ground, veins bulging on his forehead, and roared angrily through gritted teeth.

"CraftedTree (Thunder of Hanging)!"

After a long period of preparation, the magician, who was quite proficient in electromagnetism, also released the counterattack technique he had been secretly preparing.

In an instant, flashing blue arcs of electricity wove into a deadly net, striking and closing in from all directions, forcing the charging little killer to leap and dodge, temporarily avoiding the onslaught.

Seeing that the fallen magicians were gradually recovering from their negative state under the baptism of holy light, and with the saintess blocking the door also watching them intently, the enemy assassins seemed to realize that things were hopeless and leaped toward the window that was seeping out thick fog.

"Ruler, she's trying to escape!"

Immediately, the chubby uncle Gold, who had been fully revived, saw this and quickly gave a reminder.

He was still young and talented, and hadn't lived enough. Therefore, he had a considerable psychological shadow over this assassin who had defected to the enemy and made enemies with the Thousand World Tree family. As a result, his words inevitably carried a hint of urgency.

However, at the very moment he spoke, Joan of Arc, whose senses were even more acute, had already swung out the Sword of Saint Catherine in her hand, piercing through the little killer's shoulder with lightning speed and pinning it to the window.

Golden holy flames rose up, completely sealing the breach.

However, the unsettling cutting sensation and the tiny body that melted into mist on the sword made Joan of Arc's pupils shrink sharply.

"You've been tricked."

At the same time, a crisp, cheerful laugh echoed in the saintess's ears. The tiny murderer, who had re-formed from the mist, revealed an innocent yet cruel smugness in his eyes. The dagger he had raised suddenly fell amidst the murmured in unison.

This is hell. We are fire, rain, power; we are everywhere—slaughter descends upon this place. The Mother of Disintegration…!

As the crisis loomed, Joan of Arc felt a chill run down her spine, goosebumps rising on her skin. Yet, she didn't turn her head, but simply bowed slightly, humbly gesturing to the holy banner she clutched tightly in her hand, silently chanting in her heart.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He made me lie down in green pastures and led me beside still waters.

He restores my soul and guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me!

Lord, come down here!

In an instant, a dazzling, holy white light pierced through the thick fog, passed through the roof, and soared into the sky.

Instantly, the dark sky, stirred by the holy light, dispersed the clouds, and ethereal hymns echoed around the blazing white pillar of light. Petals of pure white feathers fluttered down, as if knocking on the gates of heaven and the temple of the gods.

That's... the operations room?