Capim lay flat on the ground, itching and aching, wishing he could tear himself apart on the spot to rid himself of this hellish pain.
Then, he saw a scarlet wave of fire that spread over in a flash, and he heard a deafening explosion.
He imagined that this last moment would seem infinitely long and that it would allow him to recall all of the beautiful scenes when his wife and children were still by his side. He thought that he would feel relieved because he would no longer have to endure this inhuman torture, but at that moment, extreme fear and an intense desire to live surged from the bottom of his heart. And the so-called memories didn't even flash past his mind before he was overwhelmed by an excruciating pain before being plunged into deep darkness.
Boom!
The dining room windows were blasted apart, accompanied by countless brick fragments and rubble, as well as the burning tongues of fire that kept reaching outwards.
The guards patrolling this area were immediately knocked over. Those who were lucky enough to not get hit had their ears left ringing. Their bodies either swayed, staggered, or fell.
They saw that more than half of the dining room's outer wall had collapsed and that the flames seemed to be floating in midair.
The residents of the entire street and the police officers in charge of the surrounding area heard a loud boom at the same time, leaving them confused and frightened.
In the dining room, dressed in black armor and a black crown, Klein stood there, bathing in the red flames and enjoying the strong blasts of the waves without flinching.
A lot of the black gases around him had dispersed, and even his Spirit Body had suffered some damage, but it wasn't serious at all.
Beside a toppled table, Parker and Capim were blasted into a corner, their heads were cracking and their bodies charred.
The surface of their bodies was still quietly burning with flames, and the rest of the servants were in a similar state.
In the area opposite the fireplace, Katy, who had been unable to avoid the attack in time, was slammed into the wall and then fell to the ground. Her body was mangled and covered in blood, and there were a lot of charred marks on her skin. Not a single piece of her skin remained intact.
She wasn't dead yet, but she had fainted from her severe injuries. Even so, she still coughed while convulsing, inhaling large amounts of the lingering flames.
The black whip also suffered similar damage. Many cracks appeared on its surface, and a small portion of the whip was ignited. None of the Beyonder bullets that she possessed were spared from the explosion.
Katy was no longer capable of fighting.
Harras had rolled in time to protect his vitals, but there was still a lot of blood and charred flesh on him.
He staggered to his feet, revealing that his back, his hairband, and his legs were ablaze with red flames.
His breathing became more difficult, and his body suffered relatively severe injuries.
However, this was sufficient to prove the robustness and strength of his body. Or rather, having worn the black iron glove, his body became sufficiently robust, and his physique was sufficiently strong!
However, this was within Klein's expectations.
Since he was unable to assess how much damage his opponent could take, he had overestimated his enemy's constitution while coming up with a plan.
Out of the corner of his eye, Harras saw that Klein was almost perfectly fine. His pupils shrank as he hurriedly stretched out his left hand and pointed in that direction. He said in a low voice, "Exile!"
Again, Klein failed to resist and was pushed away like scrap paper in a hurricane. He flew out of the dining room. In the hall outside, after the momentary ignition, the fire had already weakened. Another wave of disaster was brewing due to the wooden staircase, but the damage here wasn't too severe because the main body of the explosion had been "confined" to the dining room.
Seizing this opportunity, Harras suddenly turned around and ran outside without looking back.
Even though the flames covering his body were still burning, he didn't waste any time to deal with them.
He knew that he was in a terrible condition and on the brink of losing control. Furthermore, the effects of the poison would soon reach its peak. Compounded by these two factors, he didn't think that he had any chance of defeating the intruder. It would be the same even if he had the help of the Sequence 7, Belize, at the entrance to the basement!
Harras believed that if this battle continued, the only thing that awaited him was having the poison act up or him losing control due to his injuries!
Once he decided to run, he didn't care about Katy, who was still alive, anymore.
When Klein, who had just stabilized his body under "Exile," saw this scene. He immediately raised his head, opened his mouth, and let out a shriek that no human could hear!
Hum!
Harras felt a wave of dizziness, and his feet paused for a moment. His skin, which was still in relatively good condition, was now covered in dense, translucent blisters. This was an early sign of him losing control.
However, he quickly recovered and continued his mad dash, escaping from the lawn of the villa.
He's really hard to kill... Klein didn't pursue him, in order to avoid an accident.
He remembered that his goal was to rescue the victims and not to wipe away these degenerate Beyonders.
More importantly, he had expended a lot of his energy and had suffered heavy injuries. If he were to give chase, he might not be able to stop Harras's berserk counterattack.
Pa!
Klein snapped his fingers and fired an Air Bullet.
The bullet struck Katy in the head, ending her pain.
Immediately following that, Klein turned around and flew towards the entrance to the basement.
Belize, who had a full beard, had been keeping an eye on the situation outside, but he didn't dare to leave his post out of fear that the intruder's accomplices would take the opportunity to break into the dungeon.
At this very moment, he held a high-pressure steam rifle and had his Spirit Vision activated. He had been frightened by the loud boom and became abnormally tense.
Immediately afterwards, he saw the dignified specter fly over, and without hesitation, he raised his rifle and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
White mist was ejected from the barrel, and a sharp-tipped pale-gold bullet was shot forward at an astonishing speed.
Klein was prepared and long had a hunch. He had drawn out a small curve before Belize fired.
The bullet tore through the hall, past the front door, and to the outside.
At the same time, Belize rushed out of the duty room, holding his high-pressure steam rifle and took on a threatening pose as he quickly moved towards the door.
He believed that the intruder, who could deal with Harras, Katy, and Parker, would be able to easily kill him as well. Besides, such a big commotion must've attracted a lot of attention. He couldn't be certain that the Mandated Punishers would come over to investigate. Therefore, his only choice was to flee!
Klein once again let out an invisible shriek, making Belize feel as if he had been smashed by a hammer. He saw stars as a few drops of blood dripped from the tip of his nose.
But this didn't stop Belize from running. After shooting at Klein to stop him, he was already running into the hall, tumbling towards the door.
Klein hesitated for a moment, then he gave up on chasing and fighting. He turned off the main valve, went to the entrance of the basement, and snapped his fingers repeatedly.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Air Bullets shot at the invisible walls, gradually disintegrating the Confinement.
This was also one of the reasons why Klein dared to cause a gas explosion and use the Biological Poison Bottle. With the effects of Harras's Confinement in the underground dungeon, as long as it wasn't a frontal assault, he didn't have to worry about accidentally harming those pitiful girls.
He destroyed the locks and flew into the dungeon, first finding the cell where Daisy had been held based on the revelation from his prior divination scenes. He then confirmed that she wasn't hurt too badly and was still able to move.
Then, his body turned illusory and melted into the metal door.
Creak! Creak! Creak!
The iron doors on one side opened quickly, one after another, as though an invisible specter was running to unlock them.
Creak! Creak! Creak!
After one side was done, he did it for the other side.
Daisy and the other girls were frightened by the explosion outside. After a while, she was surprised to find that the door to her cell was open for some baffling reason. Yet, no one entered. It felt like she could leave at any time.
Some of the girls, who hadn't been disciplined at all since they were recently kidnapped, mustered their courage, got up, and attempted to run to the exit of the basement.
They passed through the hall which was slightly damaged by the explosion, and they left the burning villa's worsening condition, running faster and faster in the direction of freedom.
When they reached the street, Daisy and the other girls thought to look back.
Looking back, they could just barely make out an imposing figure standing upright on top of the evil building. It was clad in full black armor, and it wore a black crown.
Whoosh!
The cape behind the figure began to flutter silently.
As they remembered the scene, they sought a nearby cathedral with their mistrust towards the police.
When Klein returned to the smoky and burning dining room, he found that Parker's and Katy's Beyonder characteristics had just begun to show signs of appearing.
He checked the items they were carrying and confirmed that most of them had been destroyed. Even their money was charred to a crisp.
Klein jumped up to the second and third floor, quickly checking for any relevant clues.
He didn't attempt to use mediumship, because he was short on time. And bringing them above the gray fog didn't meet the requirements of his "curtain call."
If even a minor leader was made to maintain "secrecy," then these important figures would definitely have their own "restrictions." They aren't good candidates for performing mediumship as I please. Furthermore, the previous series of required actions is too troublesome, complicated, and inappropriate for the current situation that I'm in... Klein ended his investigation with nothing to show for, but he picked up a deck of tarot cards.
Returning to the destroyed, charred dining room, he took out all the Major Arcana cards from the tarot card deck and walked over to Capim's corpse.
Then, he specially took two of them and scattered the rest over Capim's body.
When this was done, he covered Capim's eyes with the two tarot cards he had specially drawn. They were face up with their main side.
By this time, Parker's and Katy's Beyonder characteristics had appeared.
...
Tens of seconds later, an illusory door covered with complicated symbols appeared in midair outside the villa.
The door opened without a sound, and from it, a handsome man in a crisp suit walked out. He looked to be in his forties—mature and elegant.
He had a pair of golden eyes, and with just one sweep of his face, he locked onto the dining room in the midst of the fire.
At this moment, a strong gust of wind blew past, and a figure flew over at high speeds.
It was an old man wearing a soft hat. His silver eyes had an abnormal seriousness to them. He was wearing a black robe with the symbol of the Lord of Storms embroidered on it. It was none other than the Cardinal of the Church of the Lord of Storms, the Archbishop of Backlund, Spellsinger of God, Ace Snake.
"Why are you here?" Ace asked in a deep voice.
Any Beyonder-related matters in Cherwood Borough came under the jurisdiction of the Holy Wind Cathedral, so he was entitled to ask.
The handsome man's expression turned slightly nasty as he replied, "I live nearby."
They were close to the West Borough.
The two of them didn't speak any further. They landed on the ground at the same time and entered the explosion site. A violent hurricane churned and swept away the flames, sending them to the artificial fountain outside.
The wind seemed to have a life and intelligence of its own.
The two demigod figures then saw Katy, whose head was shot and her flesh charred black, and Parker, who was entangled with someone else while his head had caved in and cracked. They also saw Capim, who was covered in tarot cards, as well as the two Major Arcana cards on the face of the human trafficker.
These were the "Judgment" card which depicted an Angel blowing a great trumpet, and "The Emperor" card which was decked out in armor and was crowned!
Almost at the same time, Cardinal Snake and the handsome man sensed something and turned their heads to look outside.
They discovered a majestic figure in black armor and a black crown located at the top of the house by the side of the villa.
The figure nodded slightly, and his cape was lifted.
Then, without any warning, he disappeared, right under the noses of the two High-Sequence Beyonders.
