Shivering

She hadn't figured out what was so strange about the cat yet, but Lilith wouldn't play such a joke on her.

Furthermore, they had set up a perfect trap, and the Night Raid thieves shouldn't have been able to escape so easily. Yet, there was still no movement outside, as if the Night Raid thieves had vanished into thin air.

Seryu recalled Lilith mentioning "Gaia Foundation." This must be the name of some Imperial Arms.

Only an Imperial Arms would possess such miraculous abilities.

In a short time, Seryu had already formed the equation "Cat = Night Raid Thief" in her mind.

"Koko!"

At Seryu's command, Koko opened its massive jaws and bit down on Seryu's left arm.

As Koko gradually detached from Seryu's left arm, Seryu's mechanical left arm transformed into a giant cannon barrel.

Seryu aimed the giant cannon barrel at the cat.

"Now, little kitty, sacrifice yourself for justice!"

In Seryu's eyes, as long as this cat was connected to Night Raid, it deserved to die. Even if she was mistaken, it would still be a sacrifice for justice, so there was no such thing as accidental killing!

Just as Chelsea was about to meet her demise.

"Wait a moment, Seryu. She can't die yet. I have a few questions for her."

As soon as Lilith finished speaking, Seryu's ferocious expression instantly calmed down.

"That's right. We can't let the Night Raid thieves die so easily."

Seryu placed her left arm, which had transformed into a giant cannon barrel, in front of Koko.

Grrr~

Koko bit down on the cannon barrel. When it let go, her left arm had already reverted to a slightly more normal mechanical arm.

"Although I'd love to interrogate you about Night Raid's current location, I suspect you wouldn't tell me, so..."

Lilith beckoned with her finger, and a stream of water enveloped the neck of Chelsea, who had transformed into a cat.

"I'm curious about the extent to which a creature transformed by [Gaia Foundation] can go."

Big Wolf released its grip on the skin of Chelsea's nape, but Chelsea didn't fall to the ground. Instead, she was held up by the stream of water around her neck.

"Meow~"

Chelsea felt as if her neck had been ensnared and she was being hung up, with the "rope" around her neck continuously tightening.

The pain of suffocation reached Chelsea's brain. Having transformed into a cat, her tongue lolled out of her mouth, and tears and snot streamed down her face.

Bang!

As if reaching a limit, Chelsea reverted to her original form.

Seeing this, Lilith slightly loosened the stream of water around Chelsea's neck.

"It seems that even after transforming, they revert to their original form after sustaining a certain amount of damage."

"You... devil!"

With her face streaked with snot and tears, looking utterly disheveled, Chelsea spat out the words.

"Demon? I thought you'd ask how I saw through your transformation," Lilith chuckled.

"While in a sense, I am quite close to a demon, but... aren't there plenty of demons wearing human skin all over this world?"

Lilith had no interest in talking further. She controlled the stream of water around Chelsea's neck, swaying it back and forth.

The [Gaia Foundation] hidden on Chelsea fell out.

Externally, it looked like an ordinary makeup compact.

Although this Imperial Arms possessed no offensive capabilities, its camouflage ability was incredibly powerful.

When Chelsea used it to transform into a cat, even Big Wolf couldn't detect any unusual scent.

After all, the scent of humans and animals is different.

However, Big Wolf's eyes were not just for show.

Although not as formidable as Lilith, it could still discern that the flame of life on Chelsea was different from that of an ordinary cat.

Not to mention Lilith.

Before even entering the room, Lilith had already seen through Chelsea's true form.

Lilith examined the [Gaia Foundation] in her hand, growing more satisfied the more she looked at it.

After all, Lilith's own unnatural charm as a vampire had caused her quite a bit of trouble.

Now, with the camouflage of [Gaia Foundation], that trouble would be significantly reduced.

Chelsea was furious watching her Imperial Arms being toyed with by the enemy, but she was powerless to do anything.

Her current survival was merely a matter of the enemy's mercy.

"Oh, right. Considering you've provided me with a satisfactory Imperial Arms, I won't kill you."

After all, someone who brings me Imperial Arms is also a good person.

"My comrades... will avenge me!"

Chelsea stared intently into Lilith's eyes, her own filled with hatred.

She hadn't expected to be captured so easily.

However, this situation wasn't entirely unforeseen.

The moment she received her Imperial Arms and committed to being an assassin, she had prepared herself for the possibility of being exposed and killed during a mission.

Still, there was a sense of regret.

There were still many corrupt elements within the Empire that needed to be purged, and the revolutionary army hadn't yet overthrown the Empire. She truly wished she could have witnessed that day.

Alongside her regret, Chelsea felt worry for her new comrades.

"Take her back. Hand her over to Esdeath. We might be able to get something out of her."

Lilith released Chelsea. Four water droplets precisely struck Chelsea's limbs, shattering them.

Even though this person might have undergone professional training, with Esdeath's methods, they might indeed be able to extract some information.

If that happened, Night Raid wouldn't be able to escape.

"Aaaah!!!"

Chelsea let out a cry of agony. The pain of having all four limbs broken was not something anyone could easily endure.

But what truly pained Chelsea wasn't that.

Interrogation?

As expected, there was no escape.

The last shred of hope remaining in Chelsea's heart vanished.

If she were handed over to Esdeath, it would truly be a fate worse than death.

Without any visible action from Chelsea, Lilith sensed her life force rapidly draining. Within seconds, she was dead.

"Poison?"

Lilith pried open Chelsea's mouth and discovered a "tooth" had shattered.

This caught Lilith off guard for a moment.

All this time, she had believed Night Raid to be a group of "assassins" who openly assassinated targets using that Imperial Arm or Subordinate Arms. She hadn't expected there to be a qualified assassin like Chelsea.

Lilith helplessly placed a hand on her forehead. "This world... almost led me astray."

Koko was beside her, fiddling with the corpse.

"What a shame. If she hadn't died, we could have extracted clues about Night Raid from her."

Seryu stroked the other small cats in the room, who were trembling due to the Big Wolf's presence, trying to soothe them.

At the same time, she pondered whether these cats might also be disguised.

If they were...

Seryu's expression turned ferocious.

"Meow~~~"

The poor cats became even more frightened. Cats trembling.jpg