Eldritch Horror Theatre

Everything was exactly as he remembered.

Without Wehle at his side, Count Valentin stepped forward unsteadily under the expectant gaze of the crowd, blowing the Horn without a moment's delay.

With his action, sounds of Clamor erupted all around, rapidly surging into a mass of noise that echoed wildly across the pier.

Amid this torrent of noise, Fu Qian heard Veil sounding confused nearby; she couldn't understand why her younger sister didn't seem excited.

This was the moment she had been looking forward to for so long.

Soon after, the blasts of Horns echoed from the other two locations in sequence.

Meanwhile, Count Valentin had clearly not yet caught his breath from that first blow.

Witnessing this, Fu Qian felt a flicker of genuine surprise.

'Could it be that not only Wehle, but Crow Feather is missing as well?'

In Fu Qian's judgment, his earlier maneuvering would have been a success if it managed to draw away either Wehle or Crow Feather.

After all, Hamadus was emerging from the sea, making the pier far too important a location.

Still, it was only a guess. The truth would reveal itself soon enough.

Counting the seconds in silence, he soon heard a heart-wrenching roar.

The first affected transcendent cried out, followed by a second, then a third... A Tide of Clamor carrying a powerful resonance surged into existence.

Instantly, Veil, who was still trying to coax some excitement out of her sister, froze.

Realizing something was wrong, she tossed away the small vial in her hand, grabbed her sister, and tried to flee.

However, Lotte, who had been completely silent moments before, stopped dead in her tracks. A near-fanatical voice rang out from beneath her mask.

"Quiet."

Right then, a sigh-like voice pierced through the Clamor, faintly forming a suppression field.

Cassandra, the Night Watchers' demigod stationed at the pier, had made her move.

In Fu Qian's line of sight, Count Valentin was still shivering unsteadily. Not only did he fail to step forward and lower the Horn, but he too stood rooted to the spot, howling.

The next moment, a vastly exaggerated Horn blast rang out. Veil, who was trying to forcefully drag her sister away, stopped abruptly and adopted the exact same posture as Lotte.

'Over at the Phoenix Palace.'

Pinpointing the direction of the sound, Fu Qian shook his head.

'Did they really both leave?'

'Still, I should look on the bright side. At least that group of old men up in the Lighthouse won't have to act as cannon fodder for the grand plan.'

'And if Cassandra weren't so impulsive, we might have even managed a two-on-one later—ah, never mind.'

Hearing the soothing voice come to an abrupt halt, Fu Qian was absolutely certain that the Night Watchers' demigod had already rushed toward the Phoenix Palace.

Sensing the anomaly with the second Horn blast over there, Cassandra had not hesitated to go support her teammates.

'Could this have been calculated as well?'

'Run to another location to blow the Horn, luring the tiger away from the mountain?'

'Probably not.'

Fu Qian shook his head.

There were far too many unpredictable variables with details like this for it to be a reliable strategy.

If Cassandra had possessed even an ounce more patience, she would have stuck around for Hamadus's grand entrance, and the maneuver would have failed.

Fu Qian narrowed his eyes at the waters ahead. Soon, the turbulent sea churned, and a shadow slowly surfaced.

Bursting through waves that seemed almost frozen, a towering behemoth of a ship materialized amidst a massive spray of water.

The same location, the exact same appearance.

Our friend Hamadus had answered the summons.

Fu Qian let out a long sigh.

While the entity had been surfacing, he had quietly slipped through the crowd and was now standing right at the edge.

The next moment, he leaped up, plunging into the sea without hesitation as he drew Mercy.

Click!

The sound of the trigger echoed, but no muzzle flash erupted from the barrel. Instead, a patch of waves nearby blazed with intense light.

'It really is a gun of mercy!'

'Whenever the target is a living creature, it never fires a single round.'

Fu Qian lamented without much surprise, putting Mercy away and turning to flee.

His goal had been achieved; that shot was merely meant to force Ariel out of hiding.

However, the next moment, Fu Qian found that his distance from the shore was longer than he remembered. His leap back had actually left him a fair bit short.

"Mister Lu."

Ariel's sigh drifted over from behind him.

"I don't understand why we must be enemies."

'He is firmly resolved to kill me.'

Fu Qian nodded silently to himself.

He definitely didn't believe Ariel felt any genuine regret.

After all, this guy had no emotional needs whatsoever; every single word he spoke served an objective.

If he didn't want to kill him, he wouldn't waste a single breath. Seeing him run away, Ariel would undoubtedly just start brainwashing him without a word.

Therefore, the very fact that he was speaking meant he had unquestionably marked Fu Qian as a target, opting to eliminate him first before getting back to business.

'Exactly what I wanted.'

Fu Qian leaped once more, landing steadily on the shore.

At almost the exact same moment, an ethereal Golden Light Chain lashed out at his back. Wherever it passed, an unimaginable heat seemed to ignite space itself.

'Taking a hit from that wouldn't feel good. As expected of a Divine Emissary, he really has an abundance of tricks.'

'It seems old brother Logan acted far too recklessly last time, denying him the chance to show them off.'

After dodging the chain strike by a hair's breadth, Fu Qian kept running.

Seeing Fu Qian make no response while the distance between them widened once more, Ariel took a step in total silence.

Seemingly traversing space through some illogical means, this single step planted Ariel right at the exact spot where the light chain had just lashed.

"Believe me, the Council has everything you desire."

With the distance to Fu Qian closed once again, he continued to speak in an earnest tone.

Ring!

However, right at that moment, a crisp ring echoed at the perfect time.

The Golden Light Chain in Ariel's hand sparked only halfway before instantly extinguishing.

...

Not far from Ariel, the masked Lotte stared at the colossal entity in the distance, desperately shaking the Bell in her hands.

And Fu Qian, who had been fleeing, stopped in an instant, spinning around to aim his gun at Ariel.

Amidst a sharp crack, Mercy's barrel finally spat out a flash of fire.

What he had done just now was actually quite simple; he had merely passed by Lotte while pretending to run away.

As an ordinary person, she had undeniably fallen under the influence, screaming at Hamadus.

And as everyone knows, the best way to deal with brainwashing is to overwrite it with a higher-tier form of brainwashing. Thus, Fu Qian had directly activated a dose of Commandment Residue.

Facts proved that this skill still had quite a refreshing effect. Fighting poison with poison, it directly helped Lotte break free from her previous state.

And upon snapping awake, the terrifying scene before her caused her to reflexively use Eternally Lucid Mind, enveloping Ariel within its scope.

The result was surprisingly good, even more ideal than if he had used it himself.

After all, in that scenario, setting aside the fact that he might get caught in it too, judging by Ariel's previous behavior, the man practically didn't believe his retreat was genuine, which was why he stuck to attacking from afar with that light chain.

If he had suddenly whipped out the Bell under those circumstances, Ariel would likely have bolted instantly, leaving Fu Qian to suffer the area-of-effect alone.

Now, however, although Mercy's transcendent effects would be dispelled upon entering the Bell's zone of influence, the sheer physical force of the gunpowder was completely real.

The next moment, Ariel was finally struck squarely by a bullet.

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