A faint light glowed on the mechanical glove on Leyton's right hand. This light fell on Katarina, stripping away some of her spirituality and the various mad, Fallen thoughts brewing in her heart, combining them with the shadow beneath her.
Beneath her, the shadow, filled with Fallen thoughts and spirituality, suddenly came alive, rapidly surging and flowing, forming an independent creature somewhat similar to her, but uncontrollable.
With the appearance of this shadow creature, the spiderweb-like threads densely spread throughout the room began to abnormally contract and coil, as if a schism had occurred, and they were fighting against themselves.
Katarina, who had regained some of her thoughts from her dazed state, her eyes flickered slightly. On the ethereal fine threads invisible to the naked eye around her, black flames and white frost surged, opposing each other and destroying everything in their surroundings.
Snap!
Leyton raised his right hand and snapped his fingers. The flames and frost in the room rapidly faded and thinned, losing their original intensity. Their conflict was always manifested within this room, unable to cause too much destruction.
Katarina's expression darkened. She met the gaze of the figure somewhat similar to herself, her eyes flickering slightly.
The strange creature, a mixture of shadow and Fallen thoughts, slowly slowed its movements, as if bound by invisible threads. Its surface gradually revealed a layer of stony gray-white, until it completely transformed into a gray-white stone statue.
Katarina looked at the stone statue standing before her with a grim expression. She could no longer feel the existence of her limbs below her waist. While she was petrifying that strange shadow creature, she was also being petrified by the other party.
She looked at Leyton, whose figure had appeared by the window, patting Trissy's back, her voice becoming deep and carrying an impatience she hadn't even noticed, saying:
"What did you do? Why did I so impulsively and recklessly fight it?"
"I merely magnified a certain part of your thoughts and emotions. Falling into the trap so easily only shows that your accumulation during the Assassin stage isn't quite enough."
Leyton mocked her, mimicking Katarina's earlier words, while continuously patting Trissy's back.
"Cough! Cough!"
Trissy couldn't help but cough from being patted, her cheeks flushed red, and dark red, black flesh constantly spewed from her mouth, emitting a foul stench into the air.
"Cough~ Alright, alright, I—"
Bang! Crimson flames mixed with pitch-black appeared out of thin air in the room, surging violently. Not only did they spread outwards, but they quickly engulfed the entire hotel.
The flames suddenly became chaotic upon touching Leyton's surroundings, forming a vortex that isolated the flames.
He scanned the location where Katarina had been, his right hand half-raised, and softly chanted in Dragonese: "Frost!"
Centered around him, streams of crystal-clear light rained down from mid-air, falling onto the blazing flames, instantly extinguishing them and leaving a thick layer of frost and countless icicles on the floor, walls, and ceiling.
Katarina's figure had vanished from the room, leaving only a few mirror fragments blackened by the flames and scattered gray-white stone pieces on the ground.
"You deliberately let her go?" Trissy looked at Leyton with some suspicion and confusion.
He didn't answer her question, calmly saying: "Nighthawks and Punishers will arrive here soon. Do you have any other hiding places?"
"South of the Bridge, Tamarak Street, Number 81." Trissy stated one of the strongholds she had prepared in Backlund without hesitation.
Leyton nodded lightly, placed a hand on her shoulder, and their figures rapidly became transparent and vanished.
Shortly after they left, a howling gale drowned out the surrounding clamor of human voices, and an imposing middle-aged man descended from the strong wind.
He was Radar Valentine, the new head of the Church of the Lord of Storms's Backlund diocese, replacing the transferred Spellsinger of God, Ace Snake.
He was very well-built, completely filling out his loose Church of the Lord of Storms robes. His hair was deep blue, almost black, his earlobes were large, and his eyes seemed to constantly contain lightning and storms. He stared with undisguised anger at the cheap hotel with icicles hanging from its eaves, the wind by his ears whistling, but not urgently, as if conveying some message to him.
"Flames, frost, and bacteria and viruses still linger in the air… It's those Demonesses again, hmph, a group of crazy and troublesome women."
After muttering a few words to himself, the gale swirling around him suddenly intensified, lifting his body and carrying him away from this street. At the end of this street, members of the Punishers Squad had already arrived.
South of the Bridge, Tamarak Street, Number 81, in a three-story small building with a pointed roof and red brick walls.
Leyton and Trissy's figures materialized out of thin air. He reluctantly withdrew his hand from Trissy's shoulder, walked to the wall, and lit the gas wall lamp in the room.
Trissy reached out and pulled at the men's shirt that had slipped below her shoulder, her expression weary, and whispered seductively:
"If you like, I can let you touch me a little longer, or, we can experience true pleasure together, as repayment for saving me just now."
Leyton took a few steps closer and met her gaze. In her eager and teasing eyes, he reached out and buttoned up the men's shirt on her, one button at a time, turning up the collar to completely envelop her body.
Ignoring Trissy's bewildered and then angry emotions, he took two steps back and said calmly:
"Rather than this kind of reward, I'd prefer you convert it into cash and give it to me."
"You really are…" Trissy opened her mouth, wanting to complain, but remembering the brief exchange between him and Katarina just now, she swallowed the rest of her words and instead said:
"Why did you deliberately let her go? Do you want to pity her, or are you afraid of the Demoness Sect behind her?"
Leyton shook his head expressionlessly:
"I'm just a little curious about the Primordial Demoness's current state."
"Although I'm confident I can kill her, it's not something I can do easily. The Demoness of Unaging's vitality is as tenacious as a rat in a sewer; she can be eliminated, but it's hard to kill her completely, not to mention I have such a burden as you next to me."
"Moreover, I just reached a cooperation with the Nighthawks, so it's not suitable to cause too much commotion in Backlund."
Trissy didn't pay attention to Leyton's words. She unbuttoned her shirt while turning to walk towards the wardrobe at the back of the room.
As she approached the wardrobe, the men's shirt on her slipped off, revealing her fair skin beneath, subtly visible through her flowing hair, extremely alluring.
A few crimson flames suddenly shot up from the men's shirt on the floor, quickly burning it to ashes.
After taking off her shirt, she kicked off her shoes and reached for her waistband…
Leyton's throat moved. As he swallowed, he turned with difficulty, walked to the stained-glass window, and opened it, letting the cold night wind soothe his suddenly restless mind and body.
Sensing the movement behind her, Trissy curled her lips, revealing a calm and alluring smile. She unhurriedly chose clothes from the wardrobe.
After about ten minutes, she finally changed into a black and purple court gown, walking barefoot on the wooden floor, each step sounding as if it could stir one's heart.
Leyton caught her reflection in the glass window, and said calmly:
"It seems you're quite accustomed to being a woman. Do you still want to switch Pathways and become an Iron-Blooded Knight now?"
"This is just for acting." Trissy's chest rose and fell slightly as she defended herself.
After a second's pause, she continued:
"I've already digested the Demoness of Afflictions's potion. Next, you should tell me the Iron-Blooded Knight's potion formula and the ritual required for advancement, right?"
Leyton nodded lightly:
"Of course, otherwise why would I come to find you?"
"The Iron-Blooded Knight's ritual is very simple for you. Form a team of at least thirty people, cultivate deep camaraderie with them, let them successively become strong, and cooperate tacitly, able to understand your intentions through glances and actions, becoming almost one with each other, and then have them form the ritual."
"The stronger the team's power and tacit understanding, the better the ritual's effect."
Trissy's expression became strange. She was silent for two seconds, and finally couldn't help but complain:
"Simple? It'd be quite simple for me to develop a team of at least thirty bed partners, but to become comrades with them, is that something a Demoness should do? Are you sure it won't end up as just sex partners?"
Leyton chuckled in response to her words:
"So the choice of people is very important. Backlund is not suitable for cultivating a private team right now. You can choose to go to sea, or the Southern Continent. I will find someone to take your place here."
After a moment of silence, Trissy unexpectedly rejected the proposal. Her voice was calm, with a hint of hoarseness, as she said:
"Before I complete my revenge, I don't plan to leave Backlund. This metropolis is also a jungle of Steel and desire. A qualified Hunter can also be trained here."
"Good resolve. If you can maintain this mindset, there's a high probability you'll become an Iron-Blooded Knight, and once you change Pathways, the connection between the Primordial Demoness and you will be completely severed."
Leyton crossed his arms over his chest, his tone flat as he commented, then told her the complete potion formula for the Iron-Blooded Knight.
Finally, he added: "This potion formula was given to me by someone else. Its cost needs to be paid by you."
"Of course." Trissy nodded calmly.
As soon as she finished speaking, she felt her vision blur for a moment, and when she regained her senses, Leyton's figure by the window had vanished, and the opened window had closed.
"He's already left? I didn't feel anything abnormal at all, and just now, it seems Katarina didn't notice when he appeared either… He can easily suppress that Sequence 3 Demoness. Is he already an Angel, or does he possess a powerful Sealed Artifact? Is it that gem-inlaid mechanical glove?"
After muttering to herself for a moment, Trissy suddenly fell silent, sighed heavily, and sat in front of the dressing table, looking at herself in the mirror with a complex expression.
In a detached house a few streets away in the West Borough, countless vast and pure knowledge surged from the Spirit World, reconstituting Leyton's figure in the living room of the house.
He looked at Leonard, who was casually leaning back on the sofa, and chuckled:
"Aren't you working tonight?"