Amidst the quarrelling voices.
On a low slope not far from the stone grotto, two figures appeared one after the other.
The first to appear was a tall, slender, elf-like girl with jade-green hair, Giada Kukulcan.
Following closely behind, leaping to the spot, was a gothic girl with pink hair and red eyes, Krul Tepes.
After the two appeared in succession, they simultaneously came to a stop.
Giada, who had appeared first, glanced at the entrance to the stone grotto before turning her head to cast a look at the group standing nearby:
"One, two... five, six? And there's one that's just a head left..."
"Well, now, quite the crowd here?"
As she spoke, Giada leapt down from the low slope, landing with a soft thud on solid ground before walking towards Evangeline:
"I smell blood, little girl. Are you also a vampire?"
Hearing this, Evangeline frowned and glanced warily at Giada.
From the other, she detected the scent of her own kind - and an exceptionally powerful one at that.
At this thought, Evangeline couldn't help but ask:
"Primogenitor?"
"Oh?"
Giada looked surprised at Evangeline's words, then chuckled as she turned towards Krul nearby:
"What's going on with this game? To think I'd encounter two unfamiliar Primogenitors at once."
"We could almost hold a distinctive vampire gathering at this rate."
"Don't lump me together with a monster like you."
Krul lightly jumped down from the low slope, patted her gothic dress after landing, and scanned the surroundings:
"So, you gathering here... probably isn't specifically to wait for us, is it?"
Meanwhile, Kazuma Yagami shifted his gaze, scanning Krul's face and matching it with information he knew:
"Krul Tepes, the Blood Queen of America's Thirteen Apostles...?"
"It seems the American Union doesn't trust the Central Intelligence Agency either..."
"How tedious."
Krul cast a cold glance at Kazuma Yagami before looking towards Ryōko Yakushiji nearby.
By aura, the weakest present was probably this woman. Though her scent was somewhat peculiar, at this level, Krul genuinely couldn't figure out how she'd managed to come this far.
Too bizarre, so pass...
Krul turned her gaze towards Yuiyui Gokadoin, who was now just a head, and said:
"Hey, you over there who's just a head now, care to explain what happened here?"
Just a head?
Yuiyui Gokadoin blinked, her expression turning subtly strange as she looked at the loli-appearance Krul before her.
Though she knew the girl opposite might genuinely be much older than her, being addressed like this still felt somewhat subtle.
Before Yuiyui Gokadoin could respond, Krul, opposite, suddenly raised her hand and snapped her fingers with a crisp sound.
As the sharp snap echoed, a milky white soft glow enveloped Yuiyui Gokadoin's form.
The milky light stretched and morphed rapidly on the ground like clay, finally forming the figure of a clothed young girl.
"I've given you your payment, so where's the answer I need?"
Meanwhile, Yuiyui Gokadoin on the ground stood up, examining her body clad in a black gothic dress, and remarked with some surprise:
"You recreated my original body? And these clothes... unexpectedly good taste, isn't it?"
Witnessing this scene, Tatsuya Shiba nearby raised an eyebrow slightly, Kazuma Yagami narrowed his eyes, and even Evangeline wore a grave expression.
None of the three were weaklings, so they naturally recognised what level of skill Krul had just demonstrated in creating this body.
At least in their recollection, few sorcerers skilled in creation could achieve such a degree.
Only after confirming that the body had truly been restored—and even thoughtfully replicating the puppet's form—did Yuiyui Gokadoin's face break into a smile, though inwardly she grew deeply wary of Krul's abilities. Thus, when faced with Krul's question, she had no intention of lying:
"Shall I briefly recount what I witnessed?"
As she spoke, Yuiyui Gokadoin pressed her right hand against her face, covering her right eye.
Meanwhile, her left hand lifted gently, and at her fingertips, strands of white thread began to move with deft precision, like countless fine silkworm threads dancing in the air.
In that moment, the threads in Yuiyui Gokadoin's hands wove and interlaced mid-air, taking on a myriad of colours, until they formed a real-time tapestry that began to depict scene after scene from the moment they entered the stone grotto—everything Yuiyui Gokadoin had witnessed.
—Puppetry Art: Memory Reconstruction!
By watching the content conveyed through the thread-woven imagery, Krul could interpret the corresponding events even without sound.
After viewing the reconstructed scenes, Krul fell silent for two or three seconds before remarking:
"...I see. So you had to hide outside the attack range because the guardian was too powerful?"
Hearing this, Kazuma Yagami, standing nearby, couldn't help but ask:
"Are you confident?"
"No, not at all. Just by watching the reconstructed footage, I can roughly gauge the disparity."
Krul's reply was exceptionally resolute, without the slightest hesitation:
"Even if I were to step in, my fate wouldn't be any better than those two Apostles from the Russian Union."
"After all, combat isn't my speciality to begin with."
Everyone present except Ryōko Yakushiji understood this.
To reach such a level in the field of creation—capable of freely crafting a body for someone upon first meeting—even an immortal blood kin would need to devote vast stretches of time to master such techniques.
In this situation, relying on Krul's direct combat ability was indeed unrealistic.
Hearing Krul's words, Ryōko Yakushiji felt her scalp tingle as she exclaimed:
"So, besides waiting for that being's true form to arrive, we're completely helpless right now?"
Yet at that moment, a female voice suddenly rang out:
"No, we can still try fighting."
Everyone turned towards the source and immediately saw Giada, who was stroking her chin as she excitedly watched the playback footage.
"Besides, since we've come all this way, wouldn't it be a waste not to have a fight?"
Hearing Giada's declaration, everyone present instantly shared the same thought.
Great, another troublemaker like Vali!