A familiar scene, but this time no words were left on the wall.
Upon their return, everyone discovered that the Hearth Manor had been invaded. Not only the living room, but even the kitchen, bedrooms, and even the utility room showed signs of being ransacked.
"Takatsuki-kun, I didn't see Hestia-sama."
"Takatsuki, not here either."
"Bronya neither."
Takatsuki wasn't too concerned about the state of the house; he was more worried about Hestia inside the Hearth Manor.
After he returned, his aura perception hadn't detected Hestia's or Jerry's presence.
"Jerry is gone too."
Fu Hua also said to Takatsuki.
"It seems someone is provoking us again, hehe—"
Takatsuki laughed in anger. He hadn't expected anyone to do such a thing after seeing their strength in the War Game.
"Takatsuki, what do we do now? The other party left no clues."
Takatsuki said to the anxious girls, "Leave it to me. They should have left some traces."
With that, Takatsuki activated his Eagle Eye vision.
Although called Eagle Eye, it was actually an intuition, but in Takatsuki's eyes, it manifested as a visual form. The moment it activated, Takatsuki saw some special colors appear around him.
"The traces lead to… the backyard?"
Among the messy footprints in the room, a small portion of valuable footprints emitted different colored lights, with the deepest colored one extending towards the backyard.
Takatsuki followed the footprints towards the backyard, and the girls also followed suit.
Upon reaching the backyard, Takatsuki followed the traces and found a yellowish-white mass in a low thicket.
"What is this?"
Kiana looked at the lump in the bushes with some distaste and asked, "Did those guys leave it?"
"No, this is Jerry."
"Jerry!?" *4
Takatsuki's answer startled all four of them. Although it no longer looked like its original form, Takatsuki knew what it was: the protein oil he used to make puppets.
Reaching into the protein oil, Takatsuki dug out a shattered puppet core from within.
"It's really Jerry… Takatsuki-kun…"
Mei looked at Takatsuki with some concern. After seeing Jerry's current state, she couldn't help but start worrying about Hestia.
Because of Jerry's appearance, if one didn't know the inside story, they would only treat him as a human, at most a bit silly and Stupid.
And the fact that the opponent killed Jerry without hesitation meant that they were ill-intentioned.
Mei watched as the shattered puppet core in Takatsuki's hand seemed to flicker, then rapidly disintegrated and was destroyed, falling like fine sand through Takatsuki's fingers. A gentle breeze blew, and it vanished without a trace like dust.
"What… is this situation?"
The others couldn't understand, but Takatsuki already knew what had happened.
"Jerry used his life to leave a final message. I already know where Hestia-sama was taken."
Logically, a puppet core should lose its life after being destroyed, but for some reason, Jerry had held on until now with his shattered puppet core. Only after a message was transmitted through magic to Takatsuki did he completely vanish from this world, as if his mission was complete.
"Who is the enemy?"
Fu Hua suddenly asked, but Takatsuki not only didn't answer, he instead said, "You don't need to interfere with this matter."
"What are you talking about, Takatsuki! The other party has already killed their way into our home, how can we stand by and do nothing!"
Kiana angrily swung the greatsword in her hand, but Fu Hua stopped her.
"Calm down, Kiana, I think Takatsuki must have his reasons."
Takatsuki nodded: "The opponent is the Ishtar Familia. As a goddess of beauty, even if her divine power is sealed, she still possesses the ability to charm. Anyone who goes without resistance to charm or negative statuses will be useless. The goddess of beauty's charm affects both men and women; even gods cannot resist it."
"..."
Fu Hua was about to say something when Takatsuki suddenly spoke: "Fu Hua, you need to stay here to prevent them from launching a sneak attack. Don't worry, they can't stop me."
Fu Hua thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Be careful on your way."
"Mm."
Takatsuki's voice was a little low; clearly, he wasn't as calm as he appeared.
Looking in the direction Takatsuki left, Fu Hua looked at the ground. Where Takatsuki had walked, a row of deep footprints was left behind.
The Ishtar Familia was not hard to find; they were in the tallest building at the deepest part of the Entertainment District.
After passing through a dark alley, Takatsuki's appearance had completely transformed into that of an unremarkable man.
A pitch-black helmet, emitting black particles, fell from the King's Treasure into Takatsuki's hand.
Lancelot's Helmet.
It was something that had been gathering dust since he acquired it. This item didn't have any powerful effects; its defense was not even stated. Its only effect was to conceal one's identity, roughly equivalent to a degraded version of Lancelot's skill, not for his own glory.
He put the black helmet on his head. It was a pity he didn't have suitable armor; otherwise, it would have looked quite good.
However, now, even if Mei stood in front of Takatsuki, she wouldn't recognize him.
Takatsuki walked through the Entertainment District. Along the way, many prostitutes tried to accost him, but he ignored them. Those who tried to grab him also gave up under the immense power of the Ox Talisman.
"Wait! Who are you!"
When they reached the entrance of the Ishtar Familia's main base, two members of the Ishtar Familia crossed their spears at the door, blocking Takatsuki's path.
Looking at the silent Takatsuki, the two could sense that he meant trouble, but since Takatsuki showed no signs of making a move, they couldn't be the first to attack.
However, with that very thought, they instantly lost consciousness.
Taking two Discs from Heavens Stairway, Takatsuki glanced at the memories displayed on them.
"So it's here, as expected."
In the memories of the two Ishtar Familia members, Takatsuki saw them receiving Ishtar's orders and also saw the Familia members escorting Hestia and Bell back to the Familia.
"Bell was also captured?"
Takatsuki remembered that Bell had been captured in the original work. He sensed Bell's two weapons.
Activating the ability of [Close at Hand Yet Worlds Apart], Takatsuki appeared in a place that looked like a weapons armory.
"Looks like they were disarmed?"
Looking at the scattered weapons around him, Takatsuki didn't stand on ceremony. A golden Hamon expanded within the armory, engulfing these ordinary weapons one after another.
Anyway, the King's Treasure had a huge capacity, and he wasn't like Gilgamesh, who would disdain low-grade items.
Expanding his presence sensing, Takatsuki felt several familiar presences within his range.