Facing this scene, the Victorian soldiers couldn't help but be dazed. How were they supposed to fight this? At this moment, the perimeter of the battlefield was surrounded by a river of lava over ten meters wide. This army of several thousand instantly became like turtles in a jar.
"Damn it, we must interrupt the casting of that person in the sky, or we'll all die!"
At this time, Flandre Scarlet was still spinning around like a giant pinwheel. Remilia was charging in and out of the caster phalanx seven times. Neither of them looked like casters. Therefore, the most likely culprit was the girl in the sky with her arms wide open, a Magic circle unfolded behind her, wearing pajamas yet not performing any Magic.
Although the caster squad was suppressed by Remilia, the others were not without anti-air measures. After all, having witnessed Flandre Scarlet and Remilia fly away before, all the soldiers were equipped with hand crossbows or bows. After someone's reminder, these people quickly took out their ranged weapons and aimed at Patchouli in the air. The next moment, arrows shot up, blotting out the sky.
[The World]
Just as the arrows were about to hit Patchouli, they suddenly lost their momentum and fell. Standing beside Patchouli, the Head Maid looked down coldly at the enemies below. Had Remilia not told her to stay here and protect Patchouli, she would have gone down long ago to show these people how terrifying the power of time-stop was.
"Flandre, stop playing!" Seeing Patchouli being attacked, Remilia shouted loudly.
Flandre Scarlet was currently sitting among the corpses with dizzy, swirly eyes. The reason was simple: the giant pinwheel move looked cool, but it had a very serious problem—spinning for too long made one dizzy. Flandre had successfully made herself dizzy from spinning. It was only because her previous flaming sword pinwheel routine had terrified the soldiers that they didn't dare approach. Otherwise, she probably would have been stabbed multiple times.
Hearing Remilia's shout, Flandre shook her head and stood up unsteadily. "Uwah~~ I feel like throwing up!" Flandre covered her mouth and flew over crookedly.
Seeing her sister like that, Remilia was left speechless. She sighed and then flew into the sky. The next moment, day turned into night. The sky within a radius of several kilometers turned directly scarlet. Those within this range looked up to see not the twin moons of Terra, but a terrifying blood moon. Under the blood moon, everyone on the ground felt incredibly weak.
Red Mist descended from the sky, instantly blanketing the entire battlefield. Everyone was terrified after losing their vision. Some tried to shoot around and accidentally hit their teammates; others tried to flee and plunged headfirst into the lava. There was no sound on the battlefield except for wailing.
Half an hour later, the Red Mist dissipated, and not a single living Victorian soldier remained on the ground. Blood-thorn spears thrust out from the ground, pinning the soldiers to the earth. As for Count Gramorgan, because of his attire, he had been locked onto by Remilia from the start. His body was split in two; his head was impaled alone on by her spear, while his headless corpse lay face up, pinned to the spot by several spears through the chest.
"Isn't this a bit too cruel?" Patchouli frowned.
"Since they've become enemies, it's better to instill the deepest terror," Remilia said.
"But such terror can also be perceived as a provocation. According to my research, Victorian pride is something etched into their very bones. Your actions might be counterproductive," Patchouli said seriously.
Hearing Patchouli's words, Remilia looked at her. "Then what do you think we should do?"
"Mystery and the unknown are better at triggering fear and suspicion." After saying this, Patchouli pointed her hand downward. The ground began to vibrate, and then a layer of grayish-brown crystals began to condense on the surface. Flandre and the others looked at Patchouli in surprise, for they recognized that these crystals were exactly originium particles. The way the originium particles condensed on the ground was identical to how it looked during the previous Catastrophe.
Soon, the ground was completely covered in Originium Crystals, and all the soldiers' corpses became a part of the Originium. Having finished all this, Patchouli adjusted her glasses and whispered.
"Fear, suspicion, cowardice—thus becoming vulnerable. No matter how arrogant a person is, they will be like this when facing the unknown. What we need is to eliminate the opponent and then give Victoria the impression that they know we did it, but they don't know how we did it. Not being able to gauge an opponent's strength is the most terrifying thing. This way, before they confirm our true strength, Victoria will definitely not take action against the Reunion Movement."
As the strategist and intellectual representative of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Patchouli's words were well worth considering. Therefore, Remilia did not raise any objections. A few hours after the group left, the Victorian military, having received no news from this unit, sent people to investigate. Then they saw a scene that made their skin crawl.
The place where Count Gramorgan and his army had been stationed had become a bizarre isolated island. There were obvious burn marks in the depressions around the perimeter. And then there was that isolated island, completely covered by Active Originium. From a distance, one could still see the scene of the Originium Crystals eroding the corpses inside.
The news of the total annihilation of Count Gramorgan and his unit quickly reached the rear. The annihilation of an army was not a crippling loss for those Victorian Grand Dukes. What was terrifying was the manner in which they were wiped out. Through drone photos, it could be seen that the entire area was completely covered by Originium Crystals. And throughout history, this kind of coverage only occurred in one situation—a Catastrophe.
But the strangest thing was right here. Whether it was the military's Catastrophe Messengers or the investigation of the area by those sent, they could all prove one thing: no Catastrophe had occurred at that location. Moreover, whose Catastrophe would happen to perfectly cover just that range without affecting the outside world in the slightest?
Thus, the Victorian side reached a startling conclusion: the Reunion Movement possessed spells or weapons capable of controlling Catastrophes. Unsure whether this "weapon" or "spell" of the Reunion Movement could be used repeatedly, the Victorian side decisively chose silence, acting as if the previous events had never happened and as if Count Gramorgan and his unit had never existed.
On the other side, after finishing off this group of Victorian enemies, Flandre and her group turned back to the Reunion Movement's mobile plate. Seeing the few of them return, Talulah asked:
"Why are you back so soon? Are the Victorians that easy to talk to?"