With a gloomy face, Sost pushed open the large door and strode into the villa.
He held a gold-inlaid walking stick in one hand, and raised the other hand to his chest. The red glove had been removed, and on his middle finger wore a ring of unremarkable appearance but which at this moment made it difficult to look away - a silver ring. He muttered words under his breath, his gaze shooting like arrows toward the shadow on the hall floor.
In an instant, an invisible cold wind blew through the hall. The shadow on the ground where Ms.D was hiding seemed to be grasped by an invisible giant hand, lifted from the floor, and transformed back into human form.
The black-robed figure floated in the air, restricted by invisible force, unable to move.
This was somewhat like Ms.Daly's spirit channeling... Angel had no time to think further. Seeing Ms.D had emerged from the shadow, she immediately raised her revolver, aimed at her struggling body still in the air, and pulled the trigger.
Even without black flames, ordinary bullets could still cause damage!
Puff—
Two clouds of blood mist emerged from Ms.D's body.
"This place forbids... spirit world creatures."
Her speech was unclear, but the concise words still came through.
The cold wind swept past the several people again. The force binding Ms.D disappeared, and she fell awkwardly to the ground. Unable to get up in time, she could only raise her head, her gaze passing through Dunn and the others who were raising their guns again, looking toward Sost at the door.
The "Red Gloves" captain's eyes focused.
Then he was like someone had punched him hard in the face. His head tilted back, teeth clenched, blood seeping from his mouth, nostrils, and both ears.
"Bang, bang—"
Dunn and Henry in front of Ms.D, Angel behind her, simultaneously raised their guns and fired at this tenacious "Shepherd."
The sharp sound of metal deflecting bullets came again. Between everyone, that exquisite silver-white armor slowly stood up, imposing without anger.
She had switched the soul she was shepherding again!
The previously issued prohibition also became invalid at the same time. The chandelier flames on the ceiling, suppressed by the prohibition, reignited, illuminating the hall like daylight, making the armored warrior appear divine.
Danger!
Angel was about to retreat from the armored warrior's two-handed sword attack range when she saw Ms.D with empty hands, her gauntlets gripping nothing, preparing to swing her fist toward Dunn in front.
She hadn't summoned that radiant giant sword - was it because her spirituality was nearly exhausted, unable to support her continuous use of extraordinary abilities?
Then wearing this armor alone, was it just to block bullets?
"Hypnotize her!"
Angel's thoughts raced. She threw down her revolver, switched the dagger to her right hand, shouted to Dunn, and quickly approached the armored warrior who was taller than her.
Hearing this, Dunn retreated half a step, avoiding the armored warrior's heavy but swift strike. His eyes half-closed, his body again emanated waves that made people drowsy.
Ms.D under the armor was directly affected, her movements immediately slowing, as if stepping into a swamp.
Now!
Angel gripped the dagger, passed by Ms.D's side, turned around to insert the dagger into the helmet's observation slit - the only place she could attack the interior.
In the horizontal gap, those blue eyes looked toward Angel, calm as the deep sea.
She wasn't pulled into the dream?
Instinctively sensing something wrong, Angel looked up where her spiritual alertness warned.
A thin figure jumped down from the second-floor corridor surrounding the hall, diving toward the Night Watchers at the door. He was half-naked, black hair flying, brown eyes filled with bloodshot madness.
"For the Lord!"
Angel instantly thought of the "criminal sketch" Old Neil had drawn after divination, thought of the "VIP" she had seen at Backlund Bank.
Ms.D only summoned armor without using the giant sword to attack...
She repelled spirit world creatures, attacked Sost who was the only one who could restrict others' movements...
Flesh bomb...
Several thoughts flashed through Angel's mind, but facing this mad "Aurora Order" member, there was only one thing she could do.
She turned around, grabbed Dunn who was closest to her and half-closing his eyes to use "Nightmare" ability, used the "Charged Attack" technique to push him out of the door.
"Boom—"
The violent explosion, the incoming shockwave like a giant hammer smashed into Angel's back.
In the flying blood, her delicate body swayed and shrank, becoming a paper figure that slapped against the wall with a "pop."
"Ugh..."
Angel climbed up from the ground, a burning pain coming from her back.
At the critical moment, she used "Paper Figure Substitute" to avoid the violent impact at the explosion center, but her back was still hit by the raging storm. Though not severely injured, it was now difficult even to straighten her waist.
"Paper Figure Substitute" would teleport the user to a designated location not far away. She had directly arrived at the second-floor corridor where the suicide attacking "Aurora Order" member had been hiding, using the building to block the explosion's aftermath from below.
Feeling around her body and finding no missing parts, Angel breathed a sigh of relief.
Just now she instinctively pushed Dunn away instead of using flame jump to leave the dangerous area herself. Though she had the "paper figure" as backup and was fearless, it was more out of habit from her previous life.
If "Paper Figure Substitute" hadn't activated in time, she might have died in that explosion...
She gripped the dagger tightly, feeling a wave of fear.
Looking down from the second-floor corridor, the first-floor hall was even more dilapidated than when Ms.D had destroyed it with her light sword, now additionally decorated with flesh and blood spread radially on the marble floor - remains left by the man who had just been used as a "flesh bomb."
The only one standing was the heavily armored Ms.D. Her silver-white armor had turned dark red, stained with blood from the explosion. Now she lacked sufficient spirituality to maintain it - helmet, breastplate and other parts disappeared in sequence, revealing the graceful figure in tattered black robes beneath.
This guy actually isn't dead yet...
She saw Ms.D groping under her black robe to pull out a small revolver, raising the gun toward the door, seemingly about to shoot someone.
Gripping her only weapon - that steel dagger - Angel leaped down from the corridor like the "Aurora Order" member before, slashing toward Ms.D's gun-holding right hand.
"You..."
This spiritually exhausted "Shepherd" only managed to utter one word before her gun-holding right hand was severed by the sharp dagger, gun and arm falling to the ground together.
Surprisingly little blood flowed from the severed limb.
Not having time to be surprised, Angel continued swinging the dagger in fierce attack. Her spirituality was also nearly exhausted from the previous battle, so she could only fight with the dagger now. But she believed that Ms.D, who had continuously changed shepherded souls and used more extraordinary abilities, would only be more embarrassed now.
"You, indeed, as he said..."
Ms.D, having lost her right arm, had worse balance than usual. Under Angel's offensive she was stretched thin, blood frequently appearing on chest and shoulders. But she showed no panicked expression, instead wearing a strange smile as she spoke word by word.
"As who said?"
Angel's hands didn't stop, but she still frowned, asking with some curiosity.
On the "Aurora Order" divine envoy's face - beautiful enough to rival the two "Pleasure Witches" Angel had seen - a mocking expression appeared.
"You will see."
As soon as she finished speaking, a violent explosion came from behind Angel. The airflow threw her up like a giant wave, landing her beside the wooden altar bearing the "True Creator's" statue. This altar, having endured two explosions, was now tottering.
That severed arm... so she still had strength left?
Angel thought of the "Rose Bishop's" ability to detonate his own flesh and blood, gritted her teeth and stood up, picking up the dagger.
The one-armed Ms.D was also thrown by the blast to a corner of the hall. She awkwardly landed and crawled up using hands and feet. Seeing Angel raising the dagger and charging forward again, she shook her head mockingly and reached toward the hall wall.
Then her figure became translucent, sinking into the hard wall and disappearing.