Melissa sprang backward with agile precision, dodging the grasping fingers.
Megose moved to pursue, but in that instant the surroundings plunged into darkness. A profound gloom engulfed the entire reception hall, and countless black, cold, slippery tendrils billowed through the air, surging toward Megose and cocooning her almost instantly.
"Captain!"
Dunn stood holding a box that resembled a silver, bone-like cube. The oppressive darkness was emanating from it. His expression was grave, his eyes bloodshot, his face stern and hard.
Megose tore another strip of flesh from her face. She glared at Dunn Smith with blazing fury and screamed:
"You must die!"
Boom! An invisible force flung Dunn through the air. He slammed into the opposite wall hard enough to crack it, sending bricks flying — but he kept his grip on the box, driving the tendril-like black threads to continue restraining Megose.
Megose thrashed and struggled. On each of her shoulders, lumps of flesh bulged outward — tangled with veins and sinew, round as an infant's head.
Then Klein and Leonard appeared from either side, each wielding sealed artifacts they'd just retrieved, and launched their attacks on Megose. Klein shouted: "Melissa — get behind Chanis Gate! Now!"
Melissa stood frozen. "What about you?"
Leonard grinned. "We're staying here, obviously — to protect Tingen!"
As he spoke, his left hand clenched tight and his wrist rotated half a turn. He activated Blood Vessel Thief, stealing Megose's ability to curse through speech just as her mouth gaped open.
"Let's go!"
...
Meanwhile, in Backlund.
The Singer of God Ace Snake's lightning strike was rendered completely ineffective beneath Bernadette's Emperor's New Clothes.
Bernadette had no desire to engage in a pointless battle with a Saint of an orthodox Church inside a city. She leapt, and mid-air her body dissolved into bubbles.
But an authoritative voice cut through her escape: "Spirit-world travel is forbidden here."
A woman in a black evening gown with a golden mask on her face and a crown of woven thorns on her head gave a cold snort: "You assassinate a Duke of Loen and think you can just leave? Do you take Loen for defenceless?"
She raised her left hand and squeezed. "Bind!"
Ace Snake drew an invisible bow, and an arrow of terrible, savage-tempered lightning shot straight at the immobilised Bernadette.
Before Bernadette could invoke the Emperor's New Clothes to evade, the female demigod made another grasping motion. "Strip."
In an instant, Bernadette was temporarily robbed of the Emperor's New Clothes' power.
BOOM!
The lightning arrow consumed her in a flash.
Bernadette's body shattered — revealing itself as a mirror-image decoy — while her true self slipped away a dozen metres. She raised one hand, and the blood-red Spear of Longinus coalesced in her palm.
One eyebrow arched:
"You really think I'm afraid of you?"
...
While Bernadette fought two against one, Vincent was in the Nation of Disorder, using the golden-mist projection provided by Klein's prayer to watch the events in Tingen from afar.
Because Vincent — as an external factor — hadn't substantially interfered with Ince Zangwill's plan, the Tingen incident was progressing much as it had in the original novel.
Under Megose's assault, Dunn led Leonard and Klein against overwhelming odds, fighting desperately and dangerously. It was under precisely these circumstances that Klein had recited the Lord of Chaos's Honorific Name.
Originally, Vincent hadn't wanted any part of Tingen's mess — he'd been worried about the Evernight Goddess and the Priest. But now that it was clear he'd been on their radar all along, what reason was there not to seize this opportunity to help Bernadette complete her Sequence 2 advancement ritual?
Except the moment he returned to reality, he discovered Bernadette was under siege by two demigods. She wasn't in real danger, but getting to Tingen was out of the question.
Damn it — of all the times.
"Can you handle two on one?"
She snorted. "Even if I couldn't — what exactly would you do to help?"
"Uh."
"Shut your mouth and don't distract me. That's the best help you can give."
The next instant, the blood-red spear in her hand flew forth — ignoring space itself — straight at the female demigod. Knowing a direct hit would mean death or crippling injury, the woman frantically retreated again and again.
Seeing this, Ace Snake's blue hair writhed like electric serpents, silver-white arcs radiating outward from every strand, and bolt after bolt of savage, annihilating lightning leapt forth.
But before he could finish charging, another Spear of Longinus hurtled toward him.
Vincent watched the two demigods scramble and dodge under the crimson spears, looking decidedly worse for wear, and felt somewhat reassured. After a few seconds' hesitation, he entered the Nation of Disorder again.
In the golden mist, the Tingen "incident" was still playing out.
Megose had by now transformed into a creature with three heads, her right arm morphed into a bone-white blade. She moved with blinding speed, each strike leaving afterimages, making it harder and harder for the others to dodge.
Without further delay, Vincent extended his spirituality and flung the last remaining Shadow Merchant blessing to Klein, leaving a single message in his ear: "This is a boon for invoking My name."
If only I'd had another day or two to advance to Sequence 6 — I could've given him the Prosecutor blessing instead. With the Words of Order combined with those sealed artifacts, dealing with a spawn of an evil god wouldn't be anywhere near this brutal.
But right now… all I can do is wish you luck.
...
Tingen City.
Several of Megose's shrieks had felt to Klein like his body was being torn apart. He could see the Captain burning through his life force to hold on. He could see Leonard was equally powerless against Megose. And as for himself — without the Flaring Sun Charm, he was the weakest one here.
If this went on, annihilation was what awaited them.
He'd blown Mr. Azik's bronze whistle ages ago, but the man had failed to appear. He'd racked his brain searching for a way out and found only despair. And in that moment, his thoughts inevitably turned to the three-part Honorific Name written in Roselle's diary — the Lord of Chaos who might just be a "fellow countryman."
He could no longer afford to worry about anything else. In Hermes, he recited those three lines: "Sovereign of the Realm of Chaos, the One Who Returns Imbalanced Scales to Order, the Shadow of Law and Rule."
"Help me! Lord of Chaos!"
"Please — help me!"
"I'll pay any price!"
But his prayer sank like a stone into the sea. Not a flicker of a response. He didn't know whether the Lord of Chaos hadn't heard him, or simply chose not to answer.
So he began again: "Sovereign of the Realm of Chaos…"
Suddenly, every hair on his body stood on end. The Clown's intuition screamed at him: Extreme danger — imminent! Without thinking, Klein threw himself into a roll to the left.
At that exact moment, a forearm-length, razor-sharp white bone blade appeared from nowhere, materialising in mid-air with a sinister, unearthly beauty. Its speed was beyond comprehension, its angle nearly impossible to dodge.
No good!
If that hits me, I'll be split in two!
No good!
I have no strength left to dodge!
Then — a voice, vast and hollow, echoed beside his ear:
"This is a boon for invoking My name."
To be continued…
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