Volume Five: Return from the Other Shore - Chapter 397: Nid's Spring (Six)
The hall was in complete chaos.
The family guards had been completely suppressed by the Inquisition. Some of the guests were caught in the crossfire and died tragically, while others screamed and fled. Everyone here had some connection with the Revolutionary Army and should have been arrested, but the Inquisition's primary targets were Nid and Loxue, and the smaller fry would be left aside for the time being.
They say they'll ignore it... but some big fish still need to be caught.
For example, the women of the Gray Starling Group, who represented the chambers of commerce that sponsored the Revolutionary Army.
With her hair styled in a stern bun, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a dark blue suit, she looked every bit the stereotypical career woman, not a combatant. She had just been quickly leaving the center of the chaos, fleeing to a deserted corner, but of course, that wouldn't evade capture.
"God, grant punishment—"
"Purify the impure soul--"
Five men in black rushed toward Ankri, chanting Divine Word, and glowing magic circles quickly formed, locking onto her!
"Take her down!"
"--Please wait/Try using polite language."
However, a figure wearing long sleeves and trousers in dark blue stood in their way.
A strange mask and hood covered her face; she could only be identified as a woman by her figure and voice.
And this sound... to be honest, it's very strange, it has a kind of electronic synthesized sound feel to it, although there is no such thing as electronic synthesized sound on Spirit Star.
"Stop!"
The leader of the men in black immediately called for a halt. Although the woman hadn't displayed any particular strength, his intuition, honed over years of experience, instinctively sensed danger! The other four men in black also stopped immediately, their faces grave as they stared at her, several magic arrays floating around them.
"..."
""""...""""
The tension intensified in the silence.
Neither of them made the first move.
As a result, the masked woman couldn't hold back any longer.
She casually ripped off her clothes and tossed them aside, removing her mask and hood to reveal her lower body. At that moment, even the black-clad men, who had long since lost all desire, couldn't help but swallow hard.
But they immediately felt a sense of unease.
This was an extremely beautiful girl, probably sixteen or seventeen years old.
Her porcelain-like skin, luminous green eyes with slightly upturned corners, delicate nose, and thin cherry lips perfectly balanced "cuteness" and "beauty." Her clothes were quite unique, initially resembling a one-piece swimsuit adorned with metal ornaments, but the materials combined the textures of leather and metal, featuring intricate geometric patterns. Her lower body was covered in matching over-the-knee stockings, with metal boot-like structures below the mid-calf, looking both strange and heavy (author's note: imagine Gundam feet), making one overlook her beautiful thighs. Even more peculiar was her hair, which had a glassy, silky texture and shimmered with a luminous blue light.
Anyone who sees her would call her a flawless beauty, but staring at her for too long makes you feel something's off. Her face and body are indeed perfect, but this perfection lacks the spirit of a human being. It's as if someone first determined the ideal female appearance and then created a delicate doll based on those parameters...
"Huh? Not getting closer? But according to the popular literature database, the villain should actually accelerate when the protagonist shouts for him to stop. In that case, the reflective shield we set up is useless, wasting 34 energy points and 16 material points. Calculating the optimal reuse plan, beep beep beep beep beep--"
""""..."""""
What's this guy doing... trying to be cute? Or acting stupid?
"Beep beep beep -- Too many alternatives, build a new algorithm for selection -- Warning, too much space not cleaned up in time -- Warning, too many background processes, memory usage 98%, stop rendering of <Passion Fruit Chat Hall. avi> and <Giant Penis Futa Legend. avi>? -- Deny, rendering continues -- Restart process -- First failure -- Second failure -- Success -- Algorithm mismatch -- Introduce correction -- Beep be..."
She stood frozen in place, completely motionless.
"""""...?""""
Just as the five were bewildered by this unexpected turn of events, the girl suddenly crackled and popped, her head tilted to the side, a wisp of white smoke rose from her head, and then—fell straight to the ground. She made a huge impact sound disproportionate to her size, like a large sack of stones falling to the ground, causing the floor to tremble.
What's going on here?
Ankri was completely dumbfounded.
"... Hello? Julia? Hello? You're kidding me! This isn't the time for clowns, my life is in danger! Are you a comedian?"
Ankri kicked Julia twice in a fit of rage, leaving Julia crouching on the ground, clutching her feet and trembling in pain, while Julia was unharmed.
The leader of the men in black suddenly realized how incredibly stupid he had been.
Why would I think these two clowns are in danger?
"... team leader?"
"... Go, grab these two idiots!"
As if the earlier farce had never happened, the five continued their operation, simultaneously approaching the two beautiful women, one tall and one short. The magic circle floating in front of them once again emitted light—
Then, the captain took a spectacular fall, landing face down.
What the hell?!
The captain grumbled as he got up, wondering what was going on, when he suddenly heard a rolling sound on the ground, like small pebbles rolling. Looking down, he saw small, round objects rolling across the ground, their glassy texture reflecting the light from the chandelier—they were marbles, the kind children often play with.
Did I slip on this just now?
Impossible, right?
A veteran like myself, slipping on a marble? Are you kidding me?
"Be careful, gentlemen..."
A clear, melodious girl's voice rang out.
It comes from the ground.
It comes from marbles.
"... These marbles contain the equivalent of the kinetic energy of a top-of-the-line race car at full speed."
"--!?"
"Get away from these marbles!" the captain wanted to shout, wanted to act, but he was too late, just a moment too late.
That momentary delay cost him something incredibly important to a man.
Click!!!
An indescribable, excruciating pain pierced through my lower body; something shattered, shattered into pieces.
The captain's body instantly curled into a shrimp-like shape. The intense pain made his features contort in agony, sweat poured down his head like a waterfall, white foam overflowed from his mouth, and he made incomprehensible gurgling sounds in his throat.
The voice came from the marble again. "Ouch, does it hurt? It must hurt a lot, you poor thing, you're really... delightful. As for you..."
The other four men in black were already lying on the ground.
Their ankles, knees, elbows, and other vital areas were riddled with bloody holes the size of a thumb. The holes were perfectly round, without the slightest deviation, demonstrating just how fast the marbles that pierced them were traveling.
The only marble still lying quietly on the ground trembled, and a shadow rose from it, coalescing into a girl.
The girl looked to be about the same age as Julia, but compared to Julia, who seemed out of place, this girl was much more natural. She had a pretty oval face, long, black hair with small curls at the ends, and delicate features that exuded a touch of allure, becoming more and more captivating the more you looked at her. She wore an exquisite pleated skirt, adorned with cute floral patterns along the edges, and her shapely legs were encased in white stockings. At first glance, she resembled the daughter of a wealthy merchant or a well-off girl next door, elegant yet adorable. Compared to Julia, whose beauty was overly refined, this girl was clearly more approachable.
However, it's unlikely that anyone would approach this dangerous individual who just exploded the captain's testicles.
She glanced at the captain, who was still lying on the ground convulsing. Seeing the captain's extremely painful expression and the mixture of blood, urine, and an unknown liquid flowing from his genitals, her face flushed slightly, seemingly quite satisfied with his miserable state.
Suddenly, her eyebrows twitched. The hand of a man in black lying on the ground moved strangely, and a dagger coated with light-blocking material flew swiftly toward the girl's brow! But the girl simply stretched out her hand, and the small space in front of her immediately distorted, compressing and gathering, turning into a tiny marble in the blink of an eye. The thrown dagger was also collected into this marble, which looked much smaller than the dagger.
"How rude of you, sir... please don't look at me like that, I'm not that cruel."
She slowly walked towards the man lying on the ground, whose one hand could still barely move. With a flick of her finger, a dagger flew out from the newly generated marble and pierced his palm! But that was secondary now; the man was lying on his back, his groin pointing directly upwards.
"Please don't worry, I'm neither a sadist nor any other kind of pervert..."
The girl chuckled softly, becoming increasingly alluring and dangerous. Her small feet, clad in round-toed leather shoes, gently touched the man's crotch, teasing and rubbing, and then—
"I just like to crush men's genitals, that's all. It's one of my few little hobbies, can you please be more understanding?"
Stomp down hard!
The girl's expression was one of ecstasy as something shattered and the man let out a painful howl.
"Pfft, Julia is really useless."
"It's just a problem with the process / Disdain."
"How can you complete the mission and protect Miss Ankri like this?"
"You're the one who's obsessed with human male genitalia. Looking up the database—character classifications and common terms—people like you are usually called perverts."
"That's a lady's hobby."
"A virtuous lady."
The marble girl mocked the mechanical girl who had just recovered from a crash, and the mechanical girl retorted.
Actually, you're all pretty much the same, right? -- Ankri thought to herself.
Valentina Sherva does seem quite reliable on the surface. Initially, compared to the overly eccentric Julia, she preferred the seemingly normal Valentina, until she witnessed her gleefully stomping on the testicles of several innocent men, and the gleeful expression on her face as she reveled in this grotesque act... Well, from then on, Ankri preferred to trust Julia, despite her occasional lapses in judgment, at least wouldn't stomp on random people's testicles.
With a sadistic freak and a mechanical monster, are there really no normal people in this organization?
Rumble rumble rumble rumble!!!!
Just then, the entire house trembled violently, and a chilling sense of oppression came from above, making even the air feel thick!
"What's going on this time!?"