Hand of Declaration
Angel immediately thought of the sealed artifact owned by the Enmat Port squad, but then realized this must be a similar sequence's beyonder ability, which became one of Ms. D's abilities after being grazed by the "Shepherd".
After trying to pull the trigger under the prohibition and finding that the hammer striking the primer couldn't fire bullets at all, Angel gave up on ranged attacks. She stuffed "Thirst" back into its holster, drew the dagger from her waist, while pressing the "Magic Pocket Watch" with her left hand.
Flames...
Her gaze locked onto the carpet in front of Ms. D, where liquid flames from the flame spears had dripped and burned, still leaving traces of open fire.
Jump!
Her vision brightened - she had crossed space, appearing in front of Ms. D, the dagger slashing out like lightning.
The "Shepherd" who had just issued the prohibition obviously hadn't expected the intruder to have such movement ability. Her beautiful blue eyes widened, pupils contracting, as she took a small step back.
"Swish—"
The sharp dagger cut across Ms. D's neck, creating a not-too-deep wound and bringing out a string of bright red blood beads.
That one strike didn't cause fatal damage, which was within Angel's expectations. Moreover, even generally fatal injuries might not cause much trouble to mid-sequence Beyonders of the Secrets Suppliant pathway. The two shots Dunn had hit Ms. D's chest with had already stopped bleeding and begun healing rapidly.
She even nonchalantly wiped the blood from her neck, opened her bloody right hand and grabbed toward Angel.
Blood... is it some special attack?
Angel couldn't continue attacking and instead dodged backward.
"Continue attacking!"
Dunn's voice rang behind her. His eyes slightly closed, his gloved right hand pressed against his temple.
At the same time, Ms. D, who had been lunging forward, lost the light in her blue pupils, her eyelids drooping, as if she was about to fall asleep standing in this brightly lit hall.
Right, even if Sost was deceived by Ms. D and stayed outside without joining the battle, there are other "Nightmares" here!
Angel's right hand holding the dagger pulled back, her left hand pressed against the dagger's end. Legs, waist, and shoulders worked together, transmitting full-body strength to both hands, launching the assassin's "Charged Strike".
The dagger traced a shadow, stabbing straight toward the drowsy Ms. D's chest.
A teeth-aching grinding sound came. The steel dagger didn't penetrate the opponent's full chest as expected, but was blocked by silver armor that appeared at some unknown time. It struggled to continue forward less than an inch before stopping in the friction.
Not just her torso - Ms. D's entire body was instantly covered in a set of exquisite, antique silver armor. Helmet, crown ornament, breastplate, skirt armor, gauntlets, and leg guards formed a complete set, instantly transforming this "Shepherd" into a tall, imposing armored warrior. Her whole body was covered in seemingly heavy but movement-unrestricting silver metal, with only her eyes staring at Angel through a horizontal opening in the helmet.
"It's the 'Warrior' pathway, be careful!"
"Nightmare" Henry shouted a warning to his teammates. He had just coordinated with Dunn to launch abilities, almost pulling the Sequence 5 Ms. D into a dream, but unfortunately fell short at the crucial moment. She still reacted, switched the grazed soul, and was now holding a revolver, frequently aiming but unable to attack due to Angel's obstruction.
Right, she switched souls again...
Angel's heart stirred. She abandoned the dagger stuck in the silver-white armor and drew "Thirst" from her waist holster.
Since abilities between different souls can't take effect simultaneously, then now she should be able to...
"Swish—"
Before she could raise her gun, a two-handed giant sword over 1.5 meters long, formed of condensed golden light, appeared in Ms. D's hands. She lifted it effortlessly with one hand, stepped forward with one leg, and swept horizontally, targeting Angel's neck.
Angel lowered her upper body, quickly raised both legs, left the ground in a jumping posture, kicked the heavily armored Ms. D's abdomen, and used the reaction force to quickly leave the giant sword's attack range.
She could even see the light sweeping past her face and feel the scorching wind blowing across her cheeks.
Even with the paper figurine substitute as a last resort, this extremely dangerous sword still made her break out in cold sweat.
Swish—
The horizontal sweep missed. Ms. D changed to gripping the sword with both hands, took large strides pursuing Angel for several steps, raised the radiant giant sword high, about to strike down.
"Bang, bang, bang—"
Dunn and others, still positioned separately near the door, fired one after another. Demon-hunting bullets struck the silver-white armor, creating sparks and cracks. Dunn's gun was loaded with "Storm Convergence" provided by Angel. One shot hit the spider-web-like cracks made by the dagger, blue light scattered, knocking off an entire piece of silver-white armor.
Angel also took advantage of the opportunity to do a backward roll, continuing to increase distance, then raised "Thirst" high, aimed at the armor gap Dunn had created, and fired a bullet with black flames.
"Bang—"
The moment the bullet fired, Ms. D, wearing silver-white gauntlets, gripped the giant sword in reverse, vertically inserted it into the hall floor, blocking the black flame bullet. The sword's radiant light and black flames devoured each other, annihilated, and became invisible.
At the same time, more golden light burst forth with hurricane-like airflow. Light points like dawn surged out, sweeping through the entire hall with the hurricane.
Without hesitation, Angel used flame jump, left the ground, and appeared beside the overhead chandelier.
When she grasped the huge chandelier frame with one hand and looked down, she found the entire hall had changed drastically in the hurricane created by the giant sword.
The expensive handmade carpet had been torn into several pieces, piled in various wall corners, exposing the marble floor underneath. These hard stones also showed spider-web-like cracks radiating from the armored warrior as the center.
The several Nighthawks at the main door also swayed in the gale, but appeared to have no immediate life-threatening danger.
The hurricane's creator, the heavily armored Ms. D, wasn't well off either. The bomb-like explosion-range attack had also damaged her considerably. The lower half of the silver-white armor had vanished, revealing the torn robe hem underneath and originally fair legs now covered with bloody marks.
Seeing the protective armor was damaged, Angel raised her pistol, aimed at the opponent's exposed legs, and fired all four remaining bullets in the chamber. Black flame bullets whistled toward this "Shepherd", hitting her unprotected legs in succession, bringing out spurts of blood and igniting patches of black flame.
"Bang—"
Another ball of golden-yellow flame also struck the silver-white armor - it was Lares who had stolen the flame manipulation ability. He didn't use the more time-consuming "Spirit Communication" but imitated others, condensing a scorching flame spear and quickly throwing it, hitting the tattered armored warrior.
Unlike Angel's expectation of rolling on the ground after being set ablaze, Ms. D dismissed the armor with its attached flames of different colors, looked up at Angel in the air, her blue eyes blazing with fighting spirit.
As the armor disappeared, the dagger stuck in the breastplate fell to the marble floor with a crisp sound, accompanied by Ms. D's newly issued commandment.
"Flames are forbidden from burning here!"
Dark gold light flashed. The black flames on her body and the gas burning in the chandelier extinguished simultaneously.
The hall returned to darkness. Ms. D, having extinguished the flames on her body, also silently merged into the shadows and disappeared from the hall.
She switched grazed souls again... So now she only has the "Commandment" ability and abilities from her own pathway...
Angel had discovered the "Shepherd's" weakness during battle. Ms. D could only choose one grazed soul at a time, using the several abilities attached to this unfortunate Beyonder's soul. This made abilities that could originally cooperate and achieve stronger effects become separated from each other. Though they looked dazzling, they actually had little killing power.
"Be careful, she's in the shadows now. Everyone gather together and protect Lares!"
Angel, with a commanding view from above, reminded her ground teammates to protect the "Spirit Medium" who lacked night vision.
She herself leisurely reloaded "Thirst's" bullets, slowly descended under the "Lightweight" ability's effect, re-adapted her eyes to the darkness, and searched for Ms. D's traces.
The moment the lights went out, she disappeared. She should have used the ability to hide in shadows... Is she preparing to ambush or escape?
Angel's feet touched ground, she alertly raised her gun and looked around. Her landing spot was exactly where the "armored warrior" had held the giant sword and unleashed hurricane power. Now only cracked marble floor remained, along with her steel dagger.
Just as she bent down to pick up the dagger, Angel noticed a shadow on the ground different from the environment, rapidly drifting toward the main door.
She's preparing to escape... No!
"Be careful, she's heading toward you!"
Angel shouted, "Thirst" fired continuously, infusing spirituality into it, shooting streams of black flame bullets.
But the moment the bullets left the barrel, the black flames extinguished under the still-effective "Commandment", leaving only enhanced-lethality bullets that struck the marble floor, stirring up pieces of rubble but having no effect on the shadow hidden within.
Dunn pressed his temple tightly, his gaze sharp, sending an invisible ripple across the shadow on the ground.
Henry also clenched his fists, preparing to meet Ms. D emerging from the shadow.
"Clang—"
The villa's main door was pushed open from outside.