Ⅳ
Count Bette gouged out the eye without warning.
He suddenly appeared before Little Lion and tore his right eye clean out of its socket, the two connecting nerves and blood vessels still trembling faintly.
"Thief's Interstice can steal not only other people's possessions and abilities, but their experiences as well.
And my experiences?
Those are a secret."
As Count Bette spoke, he even winked his right eye at Little Lion.
And as he winked, he held Little Lion's former right eye between his right thumb and forefinger.
Somehow, the sight could not have been more mocking.
But Little Lion, who should have flown into a rage, had no attention to spare for any of that.
Because-
Backlash!
The price of using Thief's Interstice and the backlash of losing it struck together.
Watching Little Lion age before his very eyes, Count Bette clicked his tongue and said-
"Theft paid for with your lifespan.
Unless you've drunk from the Fountain of Youth, I wouldn't recommend using it.
Of course, there's also..."
Before he finished speaking, Count Bette flung Thief's Interstice away.
But that did nothing to stop the nerves and blood vessels attached to Thief's Interstice from flying toward him.
Only then did Count Bette see them clearly. These were no blood vessels or nerves, but two tiny snakes disguised as an eyeball's nerves and blood vessels.
No!
To be precise, this was Snake Sect Mystic Art: Medusa's Arrow!
Unlike the Old School's Medusa's Arrow, the New School's version could be cast faster. Though it had lost the power to slaughter demigods, it still left Count Bette scrambling.
Count Bette dodged the two little snakes' straight-line attacks, but failed to avoid meeting their serpent eyes.
Petrification began immediately.
Starting with his eyes and the triangular region of his face, it spread