East Borough, the epicenter of the plague.
Bone-chilling cold covered the entire street.
Ice crystals condensed, pale blue flames leaped quietly until they slowly extinguished.
The ground was left with crisscrossing scars, as if torn by the claws of some giant beast.
Frost formed on the faces of the dead, their lifeless eyes witnessing everything that happened in the battle.
"Hehe... You're really difficult to deal with. You've actually cost me so much effort."
Panatiya's body trembled slightly beneath her white robe, her voice carrying a hint of fatigue.
She hadn't expected that someone who was merely Sequence 5 would have so many strange methods and be so hard to kill.
"Cough, cough..."
Across from her, Silas used his sword as a crutch, coughing violently.
His lungs were like a broken bellows; even pumping with full force couldn't draw in much air.
Hearing Panatiya's voice, he raised his head.
Silas's eyes were completely blood-red, yet a cold, manic smile floated across his face.
"Pff!"
Then, under Panatiya's astonished gaze, he directly tore open his own chest with his hands, removed the corroded, misshapen organs, and threw them like a flesh bomb toward the white-robed Witch!
This guy's insane!
Panatiya instinctively chose to dodge.
Ice crystals behind her rapidly condensed, constructing an ice mirror.
She herself, pulled by invisible spider silk, increased the distance and hid within the mirror's surface.
"BOOM..."
A shocking explosion followed the next second.
The scattered flesh and blood hissed as they corroded everything around them.
"Good, I wasn't caught in it..."
Panatiya thought, looking up only to find Silas was no longer where he'd been!
At the same time, while inside the mirror, she suddenly felt a piercing cold from behind, as if something was clinging to her back and had invaded her body, fighting her for control!
Wraith, "Mirror Flash" plus "Possession"!
The street instantly fell silent, with only several mirrors standing wordlessly.
A hidden confrontation was taking place in an unseen realm, locked in fierce opposition.
"Crack, crack..."
After more than ten seconds, the ice mirrors suddenly shattered.
Two figures emerged from the dispersing cold air, one standing, one sitting.
"Pff!"
The standing figure suddenly outlined a slender ice spike in their hand and used it to pierce through the chest of the one sitting on the ground.
"Very good. You truly are strong."
Panatiya's voice no longer sounded as composed as before but had become icy.
"Unfortunately, the gap between Sequence 5 and Sequence 4 is difficult to bridge with extraordinary abilities."
She meant this sincerely.
If the Silas she faced right now were a Sequence 4 Black Knight, just the "Cull of Spiritual Flesh" alone would give her enough of a headache.
"To defeat me, you're not qualified enough."
Panatiya felt genuinely relieved from the bottom of her heart.
How wonderful to be able to strangle a powerful enemy in his nascent stage!
"Cough, cough..."
Silas's chest was pierced by the ice spike.
Crimson blood overflowing from the wound immediately froze. He looked at Panatiya with eyes full of rage, his crimson robe billowing as if it might turn liquid...
"If he's not qualified, then what about me?"
A voice containing suppressed anger suddenly rang out from behind.
"Who!"
Panatiya whipped around to find that at the other end of the fog now stood a tall woman.
She wore masculine-style knight's attire, had perfect proportions, and was beautiful, yet gave off an unapproachable feeling.
The Queen!
At this moment, anger was clearly visible between the Queen's heroic brows as she looked at Panatiya.
"!"
In an instant, Panatiya felt tremendous fear, as if her heart had been seized.
This lady before her had not a trace of spiritual overflow, yet she inspired an overwhelming sense of powerlessness and inability to resist.
An extraordinary being who could make her feel this way had only one possibility:
A high-sequence being above Sequence 4!
"Bang, bang, bang!"
All the ice mirrors shattered in an instant. Cold air filled the area, ice crystals scattered.
The scene was quite spectacular.
"Ahhhhhhh..."
Panatiya let out a high-pitched scream.
Invisible spider silk dragged her body, making her rapidly flee in the direction away from her opponent.
Her speed was astonishing, yet even so, an expression of utter despair still surged across her face, as if she knew her struggles were completely useless!
The Queen simply stood in place, quietly watching her flee into the distance, a flash of light passing through her eyes.
A team of toy soldiers in red military uniforms suddenly materialized before the Witch.
Their bodies were the size of normal people, their movements stiff, yet the bayonets on their rifles gleamed with a cold, bright light!
The Panatiya who'd seemed so effortlessly in control while fighting Silas now appeared so powerless facing this team of toy soldiers.
Amid desperate screams, she was intercepted by the soldiers, trapped, pierced repeatedly by numerous bayonets.
Flying blood splattered across the hard-shell faces where the soldiers' features were painted.
The "Lady Despair" was killed by the Queen.
"Hmph..."
The Queen looked coldly at the black-iron fog spreading around her.
She raised her hand, about to take action, when she suddenly looked up at the sky, as if sensing something.
She quickly changed her gesture and swept downward.
"Clatter, clatter..."
A pumpkin-shaped carriage immediately emerged from the fog. The carriage door opened.
The soldiers put away their rifles and carried both Panatiya's corpse and Silas into the vehicle.
The carriage started moving, driving into the gloomy fog.
Moments later.
"Whoosh..."
Violent, fierce winds howled past, blowing everything savagely.
The oppressive fog was instantly driven away.
Visibility on the streets suddenly increased. Looking out, numerous corpses lay on the ground, silently accusing everything.
***
"Are you alright?"
Inside the moving carriage, the Queen asked Silas.
"..."
Silas looked at her silently.
The Queen's hair was somewhat disheveled, and her clothes showed some minor damage, as if she'd experienced battle before coming here.
Thinking about that destroyed gathering place, perhaps she'd encountered much after returning to Backlund too.
That she could make it here and save him was already quite something.
It's just that his lambs weren't as lucky as him...
Thinking of this, intense pain surged again in Silas's heart.
The faces of everyone before they died seemed to float before him, crying out to him, pleading...
Damn it!
He suddenly reached out, grabbed the ice spike in his chest, and viciously yanked it out!
"Ugh!"
The ice was firmly frozen together with his flesh.
Silas's forceful action tore out the surrounding tissue as well.
Intense pain instantly flooded his brain, stopping his painful memories.
"It's unfortunate I couldn't prevent this disaster."
The Queen sighed.
Although she'd made many preparations in the early stages, in the end she'd still failed under the influence of some force behind the scenes.
"However..."
She turned her gaze to the Witch's corpse. "At least we can find out who the real culprit is behind all this."