Chapter 659: Counterattack Starts Now!

Chapter 659: The Counterattack Begins Now!

The avenue outside the royal palace was exceptionally quiet tonight; unrelated individuals had been arranged to leave early, and even the guards originally responsible for palace security had received special orders to withdraw.

There were those who could not leave, such as the old king who had finished presenting his arts, huddled shivering in the corner of a bedroom with his dozen-odd granddaughters and granddaughters-in-law.

In the eyes of ordinary people, they were nobles of royal blood, the spiritual totem of the Vien Empire; when news of the late queen's death spread, not only were many within Vien grief-stricken, but even many colonized subjects in the empire's colonies knelt for a long time and wept bitterly.

They would compare themselves to "pigs and dogs," while the Vien royalty, in their eyes, were "gods."

Yet, in the face of a true struggle between orthodox churches, royalty were merely humans—no, they were just as well pigs and dogs.

Thus, there was not much they could do now; they did not even know what exactly was happening outside, able only to pray that this calamity would not endanger their place.

The old king's lips turned pale as he muttered, wishing so desperately that he were a cockroach at this moment, so that no one would notice him and he could attain true freedom.

This was no longer a blade hanging overhead, but a grand terror where the mere leaked aftermath of a spell at any moment could obliterate the place they resided in.

In fact, the interior of the palace was very deserted now; even the servants had basically been arranged to leave, because the original plan had scheduled a unique, supreme reception program belonging to the Vien royal family.

These female relatives currently beside the old king were the "performers," and the old king's own role was the program host.

Director Gisen's choice to come here for supper was secondary to meeting Kallen, or rather, it could be said to be incidental; if he truly wanted a meeting, opening a private room in the Ankara Hotel would have sufficed.

After all, the security in the hotel at that time had been personally arranged by Kallen, and finding a quiet place for a convergent secret talk would have been far too simple.

Therefore, he came precisely for this program; from his tone, it was learned that he had once come here with his father.

One just did not know whether he had secretly peeked at his father enjoying the program back then and kept it close to his heart, or if he had once enjoyed it together with his father and applauded warmly.

When the ruling class detaches from the anxieties of survival too early without building a solid pillar for their spiritual world, they often sink into the pursuit and indulgence of various desires.

The same was true for holy churches, and it could even be more egregious, because they could easily lose even the awareness of being "human," and the manifestation of their degeneration was truly unimaginable to "humans."

But unlike other churches that still retained a primitive flavor within the core areas of their holy lands, the Church of Order, due to a copy of the "Regulations of Order" and the dogmas of Order, could be called an anomaly in the church circle, a stream of clear water.

The resulting consequence was that the Church of Order was not without dregs, perverts, and degenerates, but they were usually beasts stealthily behind people's backs and properly dressed in front of them.

Regrettably, the development of this event exceeded his expectations; although a vicious case of assassination at the Chief Bishop's residence had just occurred in the York City Region a while ago, who could have thought it would happen twice in a short period?

Furthermore, the director did have security measures, but who could have imagined that the person striking against him actually came from within the church itself.

The several Whiplash of Order squads originally deployed on the periphery, as well as a security team from the regional management office, had also been quietly reassigned, and the communication nodes they had deployed were removed along with them, ultimately resulting in a vacuum area artificially created here.

As long as there were enough "spies" and "traitors," even an assassination attack could be carried out as if it were a mission being executed out in the open.

...

"Gulu... Gulu... Gulu..."

The handcart stopped abruptly; a wheel "left its post without permission," rolling toward the roadside and only coming to a halt after colliding with a utility pole.

That it could hold out until now was already remarkable; though little Kangna was short in stature, once she started running, even a cheetah could only be considered a tortoise's speed compared to her.

It was not impossible to directly reveal her true form and fly over; after all, though she was still small, her body was over ten meters long, making it truly effortless to carry the cats and dogs, but the issue was that it would be too conspicuous.

Kallen's requirement was to return stealthily without alerting any units; heaven knew if there would be Davinci's people in the research institute.

Sitting on little Kangna's head, Purr waved her cat paws: "Quick, enter combat readiness!"

Aisley helped stand the skeleton upright.

"Quick, stupid dog, go!"

"Woof!"

Kevin dove in first, followed by Purr; very quickly, this puppet came to "life."

It first began a brief warm-up exercise, moving its hands and feet to check its condition.

"I think there's no problem, meow."

"Woof!"

"Hehe, meow."

The skeleton's right hand opened, a bead lying upon it, which was then clenched and crushed; a small rune immediately appeared, the skeleton's hand reached inside, extracted a fire-attribute crystal from it, tore open its clothes, and placed it into its chest.

Inside that refrigerator at home, besides holding Kallen's greatsword, the remaining space was filled with these fire-attribute crystals specially collected from the black market, which could to some extent resolve the problem of the skeleton's insufficient endurance.

Because crystals were very expensive, this was the first time Purr and Kevin could squander them rightfully after obtaining this "toy."

The most excited was Purr; she had craved her former strength for a long time. She was a proud cat, and the greatest cruelty to her was that for a long period in the past, she could only be a burden to Kallen.

Now, she was going to truly prove herself!

"Uh, wait, stupid dog, do you remember which side is supposed to go first?"

"Woof."

"Was it not made clear?"

"Woof."

"Then what do we do? When is our time to enter the field? Are we playing the opening ceremony, the middle, or the closing ceremony? Oh, damn it, why didn't I ask clearly in advance!"

"Woof woof!" (Kallen's meaning seemed to be just for us to bring the healed bone dragon over, and he didn't require us to strike.)

"How can that be? We are the core strength!"

"Woof!" (Right, right, right!)

Kevin had always doted on Purr, almost satisfying any request Purr made; since Purr wanted to play, Kevin would naturally be willing to cooperate.

Moreover, it also possessed immense confidence in this skeleton puppet that it had personally modified.

Kangna reached out to cover her chest; because of the master-servant contract, when they were close to each other, there would be a perception, and right now, she perceived that Kallen was summoning her.

"Mm, it's right now, meow! Whatever, we can go!" Purr shouted excitedly, "Evil God Knight, officially charge!"

"Woof woof woof!"

The skeleton began to crack its finger joints, but because the bone quality was simply too good, it could make no sound, and finally it could only choose to clap three times.

Immediately, the skeleton levitated.

"Stupid dog, confirm the count!"

On the periphery of the palace, there were sentries hidden in the shadows; those acting inside the barrier were the main force of the attack, while those on the periphery were responsible for cover, support, and clean-up.

However, no matter how well they hid, they were not worth mentioning before Kevin's perception.

"Woof!"

"Good, 21 of them, right? Perfect, come on, let you witness the spell I created myself, meow."

The skeleton crossed its hands, a fireball condensing between its palms; after the fireball appeared, it did not expand, but instead gradually shrank, reducing from its original basketball size to that of a billiard ball.

And inside the fireball, pieces of crystal clarity appeared, as if red snowflakes were swirling within.

Following closely, accompanied by the rapid squeezing of both palms, only a "crack" was heard; the fireball split open, sparks flying in all directions.

But those pieces of crystal clarity that flew out were like fireflies—21 in total, scattering toward the surroundings.

They flapped their wings like lovely little pixies playing merrily, and they would even adjust their visual angles; after flying a certain distance, their light spots could not be seen at all, yet they truly existed.

In this manner, the little fireflies individually approached their respective targets; some attached to a target's shoulder, some landed behind a target's hair ends, and some simply gripped a target's cuff tightly.

The skeleton extended its arms, taking a large stretch.

Immediately following this,

she withdrew her arms and brought her palms together with a resonant clap:

"Melt away, meow!"

In that breath, one and twenty fireflies burrowed simultaneously into their respective targets, causing each cloaked shape hidden in the shadows to freeze in stark rigidity, gasping as a plume of black smoke billowed from their mouths before their bodies collapsed to the earth.

The very instant they struck the ground, their flesh turned to ash, leaving only their garments perfectly intact, so that from inception to end, not a single cry of agony nor even the faintest disturbance arose to break the silence.

The skeleton rested its left hand upon its hip and snapped the fingers of its right:

"Splendid, absolutely perfect, meow!"

...

"Oh..."

High upon the rooftop, Madam Tangli abruptly stayed her hand, pausing mid-stroke as she ground her kitchen knife, for the twenty hidden outposts she had held within her perception...

had vanished in a singular, breathtaking instant, their life force completely extinguished!

It was impossible for them to have retreated in such a manner; they could only have been slaughtered in a single stroke, and by a solitary hand, for no two deaths could otherwise be executed with such impeccable precision.

Yet to silence so many souls so effortlessly and without a whisper—whose hand could have wrought this?

Madam Tangli knit her brow in deep displeasure, a spark of resentment kindling within her, for this meant her grandson had enlisted the aid of another powerhouse whose might rivaled her own!

Was his own maternal grandmother not sufficient that he should harbor such doubt in her prowess and seek out another?

In truth, what Madam Tangli did not know was that Karen had initially only intended to invite Delong, as within the greater York City region, perhaps only old Delong possessed the pedigree and skill required to unfailingly shatter whatever barriers might arise;

neither Karen himself, nor Uncle Eisen, nor Marth held any absolute certainty.

Yet to summon Delong meant bypassing the grandmother was impossible; Richard and Eisen could make the request, but the grandmother's efficiency was paramount, and it would have been unseemly to tell her she need not come, lest she take offense.

And yet, the grandmother was offended now.

She had already fretted that her opportunities to strike tonight would be meager, and now the sudden manifestation of this formidable ally rendered her prospects more desolate still.

What Madam Tangli remained ignorant of was that the executioner was none other than the cat Karen kept at home.

Purr was innocent in her way, maintaining the eternal grace of a young maiden, accustomed to being pampered wherever she went; yet having once captained an adventure group in search of hidden realms, how could she truly be a mere innocent girl?

This singular display of magic, wherein lovely fireflies reduced one and twenty hidden souls to ash in the blink of an eye, stood as a monument of high-tier mastery, both in the exquisite control of power and the innovation of the spell itself.

Moreover, she harbored not the slightest shred of remorse for extinguishing twenty-one lives at a stroke; Karen might occasionally weigh the morality of his actions beforehand, but she was bound by no such considerations.

This was precisely why Bernard had been consumed by terror lest Purr discover his betrayal of their companions, for he knew all too well that if she still drew breath, her temperament would drive her to slaughter the entirety of Dark Moon Island.

Imagine a Purr at the zenith of her power, unleashed in a relentless campaign of vengeance, raining down unimaginable ambushes upon the island cycle after cycle; how could Dark Moon Island ever hope to withstand such a siege?

She would disdain to meet you in open combat, yet you would remain utterly powerless against her.

"My dear?" Delong ventured at last, unable to contain his inquiry. "Is it time to act?"

"Hmph! What are you standing there gaping for? Break the barrier!"

"Ah, very well."

Delong unfurled the scroll he had prepared, and as its enchantments flared to life, a colossal runic array materialized above the rooftop, casting forth a thick, brilliant beam of light that struck the barrier over the palace squarely.

A breach cracked open atop the barrier at once, resembling a fragment of shell chipped from an egg.

"How was that, my dear? I do believe that as the years advance, my understanding and execution of arrays grows sharper and more profound."

Delong turned to his wife with a beaming smile, yearning for a word of praise.

But Madam Tangli, having already spotted a figure shrouded in a sphere of flame soaring into the barrier, knew she had been anticipated by a step, and with a heart simmering with anger, she vented her frustration directly:

"Nonsense. That is merely because your prowess in every other discipline has withered away to compensate for it."

Delong stood speechless.

...

The giant was already closing in on Karen, while the assassin hovered in the periphery, seeking an opening; the previous pattern of assault was poised to repeat itself, save for the fact that the target was now Karen.

Karen had already sensed the approach of the little bone dragon, and his heart harbored no panic.

For besides the bone dragon, his own trusted inner circle had arrived.

Most crucially, that seeker of amusement whom Purr spoke of, who had recently broken through his bottleneck, would surely not deprive himself of tonight's entertainment.

Confidence, in the final analysis, was born of strength, and this was precisely why Karen had insisted on slaughtering the zealots of the Desert God to exact his revenge.

As old Lord Thyssen had once said: When you possess the power to act, and it aligns with the *Regulations of Order*, then do it.

Yet contrary to Karen's expectations, the first to breach the perimeter was not the little bone dragon, but rather...

"Hahaha! Little Karen, your little kitty-cat has arrived!"

Purr's grand entrance was nothing short of magnificent; as she descended, the flames trailing behind her coalesced into a fiery phoenix that circled her perpetually, its breath cascading into a splendid and spectacular waterfall of fire.

This spectacle instantly arrested the movements of both the giant and the assassin, and even that old acquaintance standing at the rear could not help but narrow his eyes.

It was not that they feared the manifestation of a "skeleton," but rather they understood that this apparition signified a massive deviation from the course their operations were meant to take tonight.

The skeleton drifted gracefully to a halt before Karen, throwing its arms wide as it spoke:

"Come, let me protect you this time."

With these words, the skeleton opened its left palm, revealing yet another bead, which it crushed to extract a fiery crystal from the glittering starlight, sliding it straight into its chest cavity.

A grand entrance was ever an extravagant drain on resources, but Purr deemed the theatre well worth the cost.

Furthermore, she knew beyond a doubt that any expenses incurred in the service of aiding Karen were effortlessly reimbursed by the radio fairy.

Having received her fresh infusion of power, the skeleton dropped to one knee, pressing her left palm flat against the earth as she chanted:

"Purgatory of Fire!"

"Hum!"

A crimson line radiated outward from the skeleton's palm, and instantly, the line expanded, churning into molten magma.

Karen raised his right hand, unleashing a Chain of Order to hoist the unconscious Gisen from the earth and shift him to a safer berth; otherwise, the Director, lying directly upon that line, would likely have been transformed into a roasted suckling pig in an instant.

The disciplined manifestation of magma altered the environment entirely; a square barrier of molten rock rose before Karen to offer direct protection, while the garden itself was utterly ruined, the verdant winter flora reduced to a wasteland of scorched earth.

To alter the field of battle before the clash of arms was the hallmark habit of the truly powerful.

In the mythologies of the various orthodoxies, the gods acted with far greater extravagance; Artemis, Goddess of the Moon, would hurl a crescent moon directly into the theater of war to flood the field with lunar brilliance, while the God of the Sea was known to summon the oceans to cascade over dry land, ensuring that wherever he trod, the sea remained his home domain.

However, in the wake of this single spell, the skeleton's movements suddenly stuttered, and her left hand crushed yet another bead, withdrawing another fiery crystal.

Karen's eyes narrowed slightly, and in a flash of movement, he vanished from his spot, reappearing directly in front of the skeleton.

It was not that he begrudged the points or feared letting Purr continue her assault, but rather that the assassin had seized the vulnerability to strike; the foe was no fool, and they would hardly tolerate an opponent casting spells while changing their batteries.

"Clang!"

Karen deflected the assassin's strike with his greatsword, and just as the assassin prepared to launch a secondary assault, a young girl plummeted from the sky, arms outstretched and mouth agape.

The assassin retreated several meters instantly to evade the impact.

"Boom!"

The young girl struck the earth squarely, carving out a deep crater; it was evident that during her recent stay at the research institute, the little bone dragon had not only healed her wounds but had been so well provisioned that she had grown considerably heavier.

At this moment, the giant broke into a sprint, charging furiously toward Karen; though the molten environment sapped his speed, the sheer raw intensity of his inherent power remained undeniably formidable.

As he drew near, the young girl poked her head out from the crater; lacking the time to leap onto Karen’s back, she simply clung to his calf, opened her mouth, and bit down hard.

"Boom!!"

A massive cloud of white mist violently erupted and scattered in an instant, and the giant, who had been charging forward with a terrifyingly fierce momentum, felt as if he had slammed into an impossibly rigid wall; his body shuddered violently as he was forced to a dead halt.

Once the white mist dissipated, a row of colossal white ribs stood revealed before him; it was precisely this white "wall" that had blocked his assault, while he himself had managed to leave only a few faint hairline fractures upon it.

Standing in the distance, an old acquaintance spoke up: "I never imagined that in the short time since we last met, your transformation would be so profound."

Karen, who had already donned the Dragon God Armor, looked back at him with a gaze of absolute tranquility, replying:

"So, did you truly believe that the only thing that changed between us was our rank?"