Chapter 167: Curtain Call

Chapter 167: Curtain Call

Capim lay on the floor, itching and aching all over. He wanted nothing more than to tear himself apart on the spot, to free himself from that hellish torment.

Then he saw a crimson wave of fire surge toward him in an instant, and heard a deafening explosion.

He had thought this final moment would stretch out, that it would let him recall every beautiful scene of his wife and children at his side. He had thought he would feel relief, since he would no longer have to endure this inhuman torture. But in that instant, what rose from the depths of his heart was still immense terror and a fierce desire to live. Those so-called memories had no time to flash before his eyes; his thoughts were swallowed by agony, and then he sank into deep darkness.

Boom!

The dining room windows shattered and blasted outward, mingled with countless bricks, shards of stone, and tongues of flame that curled visibly toward the outside.

The guards who happened to be patrolling that spot were knocked down in swathes. Even those fortunate enough not to be hit were left with ringing ears and swaying bodies, stumbling or collapsing where they stood.

They saw more than half of the dining room’s outer wall cave in. They saw flames that seemed to hover in midair.

The residents along the entire street, as well as the police responsible for the surrounding area, heard the tremendous crash at the same time, and for a moment were filled with both confusion and fear.

Inside the dining room, Klein stood there clad in black armor, a pitch-black crown upon his head. He bathed in the crimson flames and received the roaring shockwave without moving an inch.

Much of the black aura coiling around him had been burned away, and his spirit body had suffered some injury as well, but it was nothing serious.

Beside the overturned dining table, Parker and Capim had been slammed into the corner. Their heads were caved in and split open, their bodies charred black.

Quiet flames still burned across their surfaces. The male and female servants were not much different.

In the area opposite the fireplace, Katy, who had failed to dodge in time, had been hurled heavily into the wall before sliding to the floor. Her entire body was a mangled blur of flesh and blood, interspersed with countless scorched marks. Not a single patch of her skin remained intact.

She was not yet dead, but she had already fallen unconscious from her severe injuries. Even so, she still coughed convulsively, inhaling large quantities of the suspended flames.

The black whip had likewise been damaged. Numerous cracks had appeared along it, and parts of it had caught fire. As for the Beyonder bullets she possessed, none had survived the explosion.

Katy no longer had the slightest ability to fight.

Heras had reacted in time by rolling away and protecting his vital points, but his body was still stained with blood and blackened by burns.

He staggered to his feet. Crimson flames burned on his back, wig, and legs.

His breathing had grown increasingly difficult. His body had sustained comparatively serious trauma.

Yet this alone was enough to prove how sturdy his flesh and how strong his physique were—or rather, after putting on that iron-black glove, his flesh was sturdy enough and his physique strong enough!

However, this was still within Klein’s expectations.

When he could not evaluate how much damage his opponent could endure, he would make his plan by greatly overestimating the target’s constitution.

From the corner of his eye, Heras saw that Klein was almost completely unharmed. His pupils contracted. In a panic, he stretched out his left palm, pointed in that direction, and spoke in a low voice.

“Exile!”

Once again, Klein was pushed away with irresistible force, like a scrap of paper in a hurricane, fluttering as he was thrown out of the dining room. In the hall outside, the flames had already shrunk somewhat after the instantaneous blaze, and a second wave of disaster was brewing through the wooden staircase and other structures. However, because the main body of the explosion had been “confined” within the dining room, the damage there was not too severe.

Seizing this chance, Heras abruptly turned around and fled without looking back.

Even though the flames covering his body were still burning, he did not waste the slightest bit of time dealing with them.

He knew that his condition was terrible and that he was in danger of losing control. The effects of the toxin would soon reach their peak. Added together, he did not believe he had any possibility of defeating that intruder—not even with Bellis, a Sequence 7, guarding the entrance to the underground area and ready to assist!

If the battle continued like this, Heras believed that only two endings awaited him: the poison taking effect, or him losing control due to heavy injuries!

Once he decided to flee, he no longer paid any attention to Katy, who was still alive.

Klein had just regained his balance after being struck by Exile when he saw this scene. He immediately raised his head slightly, opened his mouth, and released a shriek that human ears could not hear!

Buzz!

Heras’s head swam, and his footsteps came to a halt. On the parts of his skin that were still relatively intact, dense clusters of transparent blisters began to grow. It was an early sign of losing control.

But he recovered quickly and continued sprinting at full speed, escaping the lawn that belonged to the villa.

He really is hard to kill… To avoid accidents, Klein did not give chase.

He remembered that his goal was to save people, not to eliminate these depraved Beyonders.

More importantly, he had consumed quite a lot by now and had also suffered no light damage. If he pursued Heras, he might not necessarily be able to withstand a desperate counterattack from the man.

Snap!

Klein snapped his fingers and fired an air bullet.

The bullet pierced Katy’s head, ending all her pain.

Immediately afterward, Klein turned and flew toward the entrance of the underground area.

Bellis, who had a full beard, had been paying close attention to the commotion outside the whole time, but he had not dared abandon his post without permission. He feared that accomplices of the intruder would seize the opportunity to break into the dungeon.

At that moment, with the high-pressure steam rifle in hand and his Spirit Vision activated, he was startled by the tremendous crash and became exceptionally tense.

Then he saw the majestic ghost flying toward him. Without the slightest hesitation, he raised the rifle and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

White mist sprayed from the barrel, and a sharp, pale-golden bullet shot forward at astonishing speed.

Klein had long been prepared. His intuition had already warned him. Before Bellis fired, he had already traced a small arc through the air.

The bullet passed through the hall, punched through the front door, and flew outside.

At the same time, Bellis rushed out of the guardroom. While holding the high-pressure steam rifle in a threatening posture, he moved rapidly toward the main door.

He believed that an intruder capable of handling the combined efforts of Heras, Katy, and Parker would certainly be able to kill him with ease as well. Moreover, the huge commotion from earlier would inevitably attract attention. Perhaps the Mandated Punishers would come to investigate. Therefore, there was only one choice:

Run!

Klein released another invisible shriek, making Bellis feel as though his head had been smashed by a hammer. Countless stars swam before his eyes, and several drops of blood trickled from his nose.

But this failed to stop Bellis from escaping. After firing to block Klein, he had already charged into the hall and was rolling and scrambling toward the doorway.

After brief consideration, Klein gave up on pursuing him or continuing the fight. He shut off the main valve, arrived at the entrance to the underground area, and snapped his fingers several times in succession.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

One air bullet after another struck the invisible wall, gradually breaking down the “confinement.”

This was one of the reasons Klein had dared to trigger the gas explosion and use the Biological Poison Bottle. With Heras’s “confinement” effect placed over the underground prison, as long as the impact was not direct, he did not need to worry about accidentally injuring those poor girls.

He destroyed the lock and flew into the dungeon. Following the revelation from his earlier divination, he first found the cell where Daisy was imprisoned, then confirmed that she had not suffered any major harm for the time being and still had the ability to move.

Next, his body turned ethereal and merged into the iron door.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The iron doors on one side opened in rapid succession, as though an invisible ghost was running along and unlocking them.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

After one side was done, it was the other side’s turn.

Daisy and the other young women had first been startled by the explosion outside. A while later, they were stunned to discover that their cell doors had opened for no apparent reason, yet no one had entered. It seemed they could leave at any moment.

Some of the girls who had only been abducted not long ago and had yet to suffer any “training” mustered their courage, stood up, and went out. They probed their way forward and finally ran to the exit of the underground area.

They crossed the hall, which had been slightly damaged by the explosion, left the villa where the fire was gradually intensifying, and ran faster and faster in the direction of freedom.

Only after arriving on the street did Daisy and the other girls remember to look back.

As they looked back, they vaguely saw, standing straight atop that sinful house, a majestic figure clad entirely in black armor and wearing a pitch-black crown.

Whoosh!

The cloak behind that figure fluttered up without a sound.

They remembered that scene, and, not quite trusting the police, began searching for a nearby church.

Klein returned to the dining room, where flames leapt wildly and smoke filled the air. He discovered that the Beyonder characteristics of Parker and Katy had only just begun to show signs of precipitating.

He checked the items the two had carried and confirmed that most of them had been destroyed. Even the banknotes had been blackened and turned brittle.

Klein shot upward abruptly, arriving on the second and third floors, and quickly made a round of inspection, hoping to find corresponding clues.

He did not attempt spirit channeling, because there was not quite enough time. And taking them above the gray fog would not suit the “curtain call” he planned next.

Even a small leader was required to “keep secrets.” These important figures must have corresponding “restrictions” as well. It isn’t as though I can channel their spirits just because I want to. That previous procedure was too cumbersome and too troublesome. It isn’t suitable right now… Klein ended his search with no real gains, though he casually took a deck of tarot cards.

After returning to the ruined, blackened dining room, he took out all the Major Arcana from the deck and walked to Capim’s corpse.

Then he deliberately drew out two cards and scattered the rest over Capim with a rustle.

After finishing this step, he placed the two specially selected tarot cards face-up over Capim’s eyes.

By this time, Parker’s and Katy’s Beyonder characteristics had fully precipitated.

…

Several dozen seconds later, in midair outside the villa, an illusory door suddenly tore open, covered in complex symbols.

The door silently swung open, and a handsome man in a crisp formal suit stepped out. He looked to be in his forties, mature and elegant.

He had a pair of golden eyes. With a single sweep of his gaze, he locked onto the dining room that resembled the scene of a fire.

Just then, a wild gust of wind swept through, and a figure flew over at high speed.

It was an old man wearing a black soft hat, his silver eyes unusually stern. He wore a black robe embroidered with the symbol of storms. It was none other than a Cardinal of the Church of Storms, the Archbishop of the Backlund diocese, the “Singer of God,” Ace Snake.

“Why are you here?” Ace asked in a deep voice.

Beyonder incidents in the Cherwood Borough fell under the jurisdiction of Saint Wind Cathedral, so he was qualified to ask that question.

The handsome man’s expression was rather poor as he answered, “I live nearby.”

This place was close to the West Borough.

The two said nothing more. At the same time, they descended to the ground and entered the scene of the explosion. A fierce hurricane rose with them, directly rolling up the flames and sending them to the artificial fountain outside.

The wind seemed to possess its own life and intelligence.

The two half-human, half-divine powerhouses then saw Katy, whose head had been pierced by a bullet and whose flesh was charred black. They saw Parker, entangled with another person, his head caved in and split apart. They also saw Capim, his body covered with tarot cards, and the two Major Arcana cards placed over the human trafficker’s face.

They were the Judgment card, on which an angel blew a horn, and the Emperor card, whose figure wore armor and a crown!

Almost at the same time, Cardinal Snake and the handsome man sensed something and abruptly turned their heads outward.

They discovered that on the roof of the house beside the villa stood a majestic figure clad in black armor and wearing a pitch-black crown.

The figure nodded lightly, and his cloak rose with the movement.

Then, without warning, he vanished beneath the very eyes of those two high-sequence powerhouses.