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That arrogant attitude left Mephisto in a difficult position.
His conversation with the Kryptonian wasn't because he had deliberately released his opponent and allowed him to move freely within his time-stop domain.
He simply couldn't restrain the man in the first place!
This wisp of spiritual awareness contained only a fraction of his true essence. Aside from the fact that he didn't dare release too much of his power and cross the Ancient One's red line, there was another reason: even if he released more, he still wouldn't be able to defeat the Kryptonian easily or quickly.
If he were to get punched out of existence again, all that extra power would simply be wasted.
Therefore, the only way he could truly defeat his opponent was through words and intelligence.
Mephisto was confident that no one could escape his grasp. After all, as long as someone was a living creature, they would have desires.
He merely had to discover what those desires were.
And this man was willing to talk to him, which meant the man himself had provided Mephisto with an opportunity.
If he couldn't seize it, then all those countless years he had spent traversing the infinite multiverse would have been for nothing.
Just as Mephisto was preparing to put their previous unpleasantness behind him and introduce a new topic to lead his opponent down a different path, an angry voice came from behind.
"Malaka (μαλκα)!"
A golden scepter topped with twin serpents and wings hooked around Mephisto's foot, tripping him to the ground.
The woman holding the scepter glared furiously at him.
"This is what you deserve, gamilis (γαμιλη)."
With that, she viciously drove the pointed end of the scepter straight through Mephisto's chest from the front, causing the demon avatar to let out a pained howl.
"Damn it! An Isu artifact! Why do you have something like this? Who are you?"
Mephisto recognized the scepter in the woman's hand.
"Go to hell, you damned monster."
The High Table Elder twisted the scepter in her hand, and an irresistible force erupted from it.
Rainbow-colored light rippled outward from the scepter in wave after wave, instantly reducing the demon avatar pinned to the ground to ash.
Only the middle finger of his right hand remained until the very end, accompanied by a voice:
"Bitch! I'm just going home!"
As soon as Mephisto's avatar was destroyed, the entire time-stop phenomenon immediately dissipated.
Cassandra Igbeil turned the Hermes Scepter in her hand and pointed it toward...
Hmm?
Where was the man?
Henry had already used his super-speed to return to the Green Arrow Duck mech. Naturally, he didn't want to expose himself in front of the others.
The fact that Cassandra had seen him was purely because both he and Mephisto had underestimated this woman possessing Isu blood.
That idiot demon had sacrificed himself.
Seeing the vigilance in Cassandra's movements, Henry was troubled over how he was supposed to explain the whole situation. Nevertheless, he followed the other mechs and emerged.
The five mechs approached the remaining humans.
Cassandra naturally kept her eyes fixed on the cartoon duck plush—the mech being operated by Henry Brown.
That long hair and thick-bearded face were simply too distinctive. Once seen, they were impossible to forget.
As for how she knew that the person inside was the one controlling the cartoon duck mech?
Spartan intuition!
There was nothing particularly strange about the target appearing in that bizarre stuffed costume. Nor was there anything particularly strange about the stuffed creature and metal animal that had appeared alongside him wiping out all those new vampires in one fell swoop.
What truly put Cassandra on guard was the fact that he had been able to move freely during that strange phenomenon and had even conversed with the monster who appeared to be the mastermind behind it all.
Judging from the content of their conversation, the two clearly didn't belong to the same side.
But what normal person wouldn't be wary of someone like that?
So when Green Arrow Duck approached, Cassandra intended to step forward and subdue him first, then ask exactly what had happened.
Seeing the woman approaching aggressively, Green Arrow Duck took a step backward.
It wasn't because he was afraid to fight.
He simply didn't want to engage in a meaningless battle—and besides, this could be considered friendly fire.
Bonnie, however, stepped between them first, stopping Cassandra in her tracks. She broadcast through the external speakers:
"Cassandra, wait."
"And who are you?"
The Spartan woman naturally wasn't the sort of person who would obediently stop just because someone told her to. She slowed down somewhat, but now she had one more potential threat to keep an eye on.
The Bonnie mech didn't give up trying to persuade her. This time, she even switched to Ancient Greek:
"Falconer, have you forgotten your friend?"
At the same time, Tina removed her rabbit-head helmet, revealing her true face beneath.
"You bastard! Tina! It really is you!"
"How long has it been since we last met? Two thousand years? I've kind of forgotten."
Unlike the Great Bear mech, the Bonnie mech didn't have a field-deployable wearable function, so Tina couldn't remove the entire mech.
She simply hugged her old friend tightly through the armor.
After separating slightly, the two still held each other's arms tightly.
Cassandra exclaimed in amazement:
"How did you..."
She looked her friend up and down.
"Why are you wearing this weird thing?"
"We don't interfere in mortal conflicts. That's always been the rule. By wearing equipment that restricts our abilities, we're basically just here to have some fun."
"Malaka!"
"The 'fun' you mentioned nearly got all the young men I brought here killed, you know."
"But you all survived."
"And what about that guy..."
Cassandra pointed toward Green Arrow Duck.
Tina stopped her before she could continue.
"He's an ally."
"Someone like you?"
"Mm. He's a little different. But I can guarantee that he's not a bad person. I saw what happened just now too, and I have the same questions you do. But once we've dealt with the immediate situation, let's find somewhere else and talk about it properly. How about that?"
"Hmm. Fine."
Noticing what Tina had said, Green Arrow Duck asked over the internal channel:
"Gilgamesh, you saw what happened just now too?"
"Yeah. It's just that this suit of armor seemed to lock up completely, so I couldn't move. I didn't want to damage the mech unless it was absolutely necessary, so I just watched you and that demon put on your little performance."
Alexei, who was technically still a mortal, was completely confused.
"Just now? A demon? What are you talking about? What did I miss?"
"Ursa!"
The Bonnie mech called out to the Great Bear mech after putting her rabbit helmet back on, though it didn't look like she intended to answer his question.
Green Arrow Duck answered over the internal channel instead:
"It's a long story. Let's deal with the situation here first. I'll explain everything after we get back. All right?"
The Great Bear mech glanced at Green Arrow Duck and didn't press the matter further.
He came over to Bonnie and immediately understood why she had called him over.
Now that they had wiped out the main force of Reapers gathered in the largest group, the next step was to completely sweep the remaining Reapers throughout the sewers.
They had called Alexei over to discuss how to proceed.
"You... you really did save me, didn't you?"
A weak voice suddenly came from nearby.
It was the same person who had cried out for help earlier, attempting to lure Cassandra and the other Assassins into the trap.
"Could you help us? There are still many of us being held captive in other places."
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