"What did you say?" Inside a lavishly decorated room at the Goth Grand Hotel, the Damselette stared in disbelief at the Debt Collector kneeling before her.
"To answer the lady, our funds have run dry." The Debt Collector lowered his head upon hearing the Damselette's surprised tone.
At this moment, it was better not to incur the Damselette's wrath. Although he, too, was puzzled as to why Snezhnaya's funds hadn't arrived recently, it wasn't something he could resolve. Remaining silent was the best option now.
Hearing the Debt Collector's confirmed reply again, even the Damselette was somewhat stunned. She was actually short on money?
"Tap! Tap! Tap!" The Damselette's slender fingers lightly tapped the table; she was considering the deeper implications.
During her absence, had the internal struggles within the Fatui become so intense?
But they dared to involve her; did they truly think she was easy to bully?
"You may leave. I have my own plans regarding the funds." The Damselette thought for a moment and a solution came to mind.
Watching the door close again, the Damselette slowly walked to the window. She looked towards Stormterror's Lair in the distance and murmured to herself, "Pulcinella, Pantalone, have I been away from Snezhnaya for too long, causing you to overestimate your own strength?"
"To dare to affect Her Majesty's plans, you'd better not have done it intentionally, otherwise..."
"Hehehe..." As the Damselette spoke, she suddenly let out a chilling chuckle, and in her eyes, a yellow flame began to flicker... "Boom!" A violent explosion suddenly occurred in a remnant of Stormterror's Lair. The ground of the remnant swelled, and then a large plume of black flames surged out, reducing the entire remnant from bottom to top to ashes.
From the massive crater, a tall figure leaped out. She looked around and laughed self-deprecatingly, "Everyone's so fast? It seems I'm still the last one."
"It's good that you know." Around the ruins, ten identical figures suddenly appeared. Including the one who just jumped out, there were eleven in total.
"Have you found out?" Alecto looked at Shi Yi, who was not far away, and asked. Among everyone, only she had no combat mission.
However, this didn't mean Shi Yi wasn't busy, because to enter Snezhnaya, intelligence gathering was essential. Moreover, the enemy's strength also needed to be scouted.
"Their strength is good. There are two, oh no, two and a half very strong individuals who may require our combined attack to kill. As for the others, they are about equal to us in one-on-one combat; there are five of these."
"Our targets are the latter type. And, one of them has the weakest strength." Shi Yi replied without any hesitation.
In these past few days, she had thoroughly surveyed the entirety of Snezhnaya, both inside and out, relying on her powerful perception and stealth abilities.
Then, she added, "This mission is still very simple. Their Empress is busy with some plan and remains secluded. By the time she discovers us, it will be too late."
"The one to worry about is the one called the Damselette. Her strength is good. Very strong, but a bit weaker than the Empress."
Alecto nodded upon hearing this. This mission was eerily similar to the Night of the Black Knives.
Back then, they also had ample intelligence and needed to infiltrate Royal Capital Leyndell to assassinate Godwyn; now, it was to infiltrate Snezhnaya to cripple Harbingers.
Now, it remained to be seen if Snezhnaya's city walls were as tall as Leyndell's, and if its soldiers were as brave as the Royal Capital Knights.
"Lead the way, let's go!" At Alecto's command, the Black Knives vanished again. They would transform into daggers in the shadows, carving out a piece of flesh from the heart of Snezhnaya.
The vast dandelion fields, the lifeless ice plains... no majestic scenery could impede the Black Knives' advance.
They now lived for only one purpose—to find the two individuals in their minds, cut off their hands, and offer them to Yu Jin... Snezhnaya was always enveloped in snowstorms. Endless snowstorms descended upon the city, only to be cleared away by its people, a cycle that repeated endlessly.
When the Black Knives arrived at this snow-covered city, it was already deep into the night. This was their favorite time.
But for the people of this city, night was the most detestable time. Every time at this hour, Snezhnaya's cold winds would turn into biting blades, testing every house in Snezhnaya.
"What a familiar feeling, it reminds me of the days I was imprisoned." The Second looked at the snowstorm before her and recalled the days she was held captive in the sealed prison of the Consecrated Snowfield.
The Fifth and the Tenth shared similar experiences with her; the cold there was even more intense than in Snezhnaya!
"Is that why you executed the King several times?" Shi Yi looked at the Second's emotional expression and retorted.
She had witnessed the Second, Fifth, and Tenth repeatedly stab Yu Jin's waist over a dozen times.
The Second and her companions scratched their heads awkwardly. Back then, they were almost going crazy from being cooped up in the sealed prison. When they finally saw someone run in, they naturally became a little too "enthusiastic."
Of course, afterward, they also received a good beating from Yu Jin.
"Alright, stop chatting." Alecto gazed into the distance, roughly surveyed the layout of Snezhnaya, and already had a route in mind.
"Grip the Rune Arc. Prepare for battle!"
No sooner had Alecto spoken than she took out an arc-shaped fragment and held it above her head.
Rune Arc — a fragment of the elden ring that touches all things after its transformation. When used, it bestows the grace of an equipped Great Rune.
If used without an equipped Great Rune, it can slightly increase the maximum HP.
The lower half of the elden ring features an arc at the bottom, symbolizing the vessel that receives the ring's grace. Today, the grace is endless, and the arc continues to extend. It is said to have touched everyone.
As the Rune Arc disintegrated into fragments, the long-accumulated blessings were completely activated. Eleven complete elden rings suddenly appeared and then vanished.
Yu Jin's Great Rune — A god does not need grace, but its power can only be barely manifested through a Great Rune. Through the efficacy of grace, one can obtain a higher level of power, transcending the essence of life.
This Great Rune is a complete and thoroughly forged elden ring.
The beloved god burned herself, so the elden ring descended upon everyone.
As the elden ring vanished, a certain change occurred in the eleven Black Knives. They became immensely vast and elusive.
But soon, this aura receded into their bodies. The fragments of divine power ultimately could not sustain the might of a god.
"Phew—, the former King was truly terrifying." The Third felt the 'power' within her body, whose origin, form, and everything else were unknown, and was utterly shocked.
"No, the current King is still terrifying." Diche interrupted the Third. She had spent the longest time with Yu Jin and understood him more deeply.
The current Yu Jin was in a state that even she couldn't quite describe.
"Is... is that so? The King has reached that level, and there's still room for growth?" The Third was somewhat incredulous.
"Growth? Not necessarily." Diche looked into the distance, shook her head slightly, and muttered to herself.
"Alright, this is not something you should worry about." Alecto adapted to the new power within her body and then actively rushed towards Snezhnaya.
Seeing this, the other Black Knives understood. They remained silent and began to communicate mentally.
Not only that, but through the blessings, the eleven Black Knives also entered their most suitable special state.
Now, their vision, memories, and thoughts were shared; they were both eleven individuals and one single entity.
The Black Knives of the past were trained like machines, largely to be able to approach this state.
Eleven knives combined are still a knife, but eleven people, it's impossible for them to combine.
Marika once forged them into eleven knives, then used Ranni's hand to kill her own son.
Then Yu Jin spent a long time turning them back from knives into people. Now it seems, eleven people forming a sharp blade is far stronger than just eleven knives.
Snezhnaya remained as dark as ink in the dead of night, but if anyone were observant, they would notice that tonight's darkness was even deeper than usual.
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