Chapter 436
No Different (Third Update, Request Monthly Passes!)
Eivass soon found the Grand Guardian in the Great Cathedral of the Candle Holder and quietly explained the situation to him.
It wasn’t as simple as “Yulia” being captured by Emma, but the full version: “Her Majesty Isabel, their Queen, has been abducted by Countess Emma.”
“…This happened?”
The Grand Guardian’s brow immediately furrowed. “This is… unexpected.”
George immediately hurried Eivass towards an open space—it was difficult to find one in the crowded Great Cathedral of the Candle Holder.
He searched for a clearing, his brow still deeply furrowed.
He felt immense pressure. “I’m sorry, Eivass. I was at the Candle-holding Ceremony at the time, but I was in the front row… it’s my responsibility.”
The Grand Guardian had not noticed “Yulia” at the very back. And he couldn’t have.
Isabel hadn’t entered the Great Cathedral at all; she had been observing from outside.
Although the Candle-holding Ceremony didn’t require high status to enter, it was first come, first served. But it was too crowded, too many people inside. And “Yulia,” being short, wouldn’t have been able to see much even if she had gotten a spot, so there wasn’t much difference between being inside or outside.
They finally found a suitable open space.
The Grand Guardian blew a loud whistle that hung around his neck. The silent whistle carried far through the air.
After a brief pause, a whirlwind carrying a gryphon descended before them in the blink of an eye, and George, grabbing Eivass, leaped onto it instantly.
“Philip, Lloyd Society Headquarters Building.”
The Grand Guardian shouted, “Hurry!”
“Understood.”
A deep, steady, and reliable voice echoed through the storm, and Eivass and the Grand Guardian vanished in an instant.
The sudden gusts of wind staggered the surrounding crowd—they were first pushed back, then pulled forward.
When the winds subsided, most of them hadn’t even noticed that a gryphon had landed there and that two people had disappeared from thin air in the crowd.
Eivass was somewhat anxious. He had no intention of taking the elevator, nor did the Grand Guardian.
Instead, the Grand Guardian’s gryphon, Philip, flew them directly to the outside of the top floor.
He glanced through the window and found Emma’s office empty.
—The good news was that they could confirm Emma was the one who acted.
Eivass had warned her not to leave the Lloyd Society Building, but now she wasn’t here at all.
The bad news was that they had no idea where Emma had taken “Yulia.”
“In that case, Eivass, I’ll stay here and search with ‘Avalon’s Eye’ while keeping watch on them,”
The Grand Guardian quickly made a decision. “You take Philip and search elsewhere—start with places like the port. Philip can hear my summonings and will return no matter how far he flies, so don’t worry about losing contact. If you find anything on your end, come find me.”
“No problem, leave it to me,”
Philip said in a deep voice.
The next moment, the Grand Guardian leaped from the gryphon. Philip, carrying Eivass, vanished in a whirlwind.
From high above, George extended his right hand.
He didn’t even draw his sword.
The surging storm, at his will, crushed all the windows on several floors of the Lloyd Society’s top floor at the same time.
As if walking on air, he took a few light steps and landed in the room. George stepped on the shattered glass, his hard black military boots emitting a sharp, piercing screech.
The Grand Guardian didn’t even sit down.
He stood by the window, placed his hand on Avalon’s Eye on his chest, and immersed his consciousness into it.
His vision abruptly shifted, becoming a bird’s-eye view of the entire Avalon territory from high above.
As his attention focused, the images provided by Avalon’s Eye magnified and switched at an incredibly fast speed.
Avalon, Glass Island, Lloyd District…
With this building as the center, he rapidly searched every street and every house in the surrounding area.
Having Philip take Eivass to search further inland was just a precaution, a necessary measure of prudence.
George firmly believed that Emma shouldn’t have gone far—that countess should be nearby.
—Because when he broke through the window earlier, he had faintly smelled a very, very faint aroma in the room.
Very faint…
Very faint…
Very strong…
George’s thoughts suddenly began to slow down, and the scene before his eyes gradually froze and distorted, frame by frame.
His mind was still stuck within Avalon’s Eye, unable to withdraw. At this moment, he vaguely felt as though he had fallen into a warm embrace, and a numbing voice whispered in his ear:
“…A pleasure to meet you, Grand Guardian of Avalon. This is my… full effort…”
At this moment, in the Material Realm.
Black teleportation magic circles spread throughout the room, turning into a dark cage.
The naked Countess Emma gradually appeared from the void in a transparent form, affectionately embracing the Grand Guardian’s body in an almost entwining manner. Thorns intertwined with pink, blood-red, and black grew from her body, wrapping around the Grand Guardian and exchanging their blood.
His eyes, shining with white light, gradually dimmed. Black smoke, symbolizing the curse of the Path of Love, slowly emanated from his seven orifices.
“My dear… relax…”
She whispered softly in the Grand Guardian’s ear.
—Traps and sneak attacks were the combat strategies Emma, the cautious one, favored the most.
It was originally intended for that peculiar Minister Moriarty, but it yielded an unexpected harvest.
The Grand Guardian, while in the state of using Avalon’s Eye, was not adequately guarded against the outside world.
Yulia had already remembered the way and been branded, so there was no need to worry about her escaping control—no one in Avalon could likely remove a brand personally applied by a succubus.
So, she quickly told Yulia’s coachman to take Yulia home first.
Afterward, Emma immediately activated the demon summoning magic circle she had set up on the top floor of the Lloyd Society Building and teleported over directly from Yulia’s side.
—If she could seize the opportunity to charm Avalon’s Grand Guardian, the rewards would be far greater than charming that peculiar Minister Moriarty?
She suddenly had this thought at the time.
And now, under the full force of her charm, a sharp tail gradually grew behind Emma, horns appeared on her head, and her skin slowly turned crimson.
Throughout the Lloyd Society Building, merchants who had not participated in the Candle-holding Ceremony began to become agitated.
Their skin grew redder and redder, becoming increasingly excited as if they had gone mad. Soon, with a scream and the shattering of glass, chaos erupted within the Lloyd Society.
This was merely a small portion of the leaked power, yet it had already caused a significant impact.
The succubus’s characteristics began to manifest, a symbol of the Demon Avatar exerting its full power—one step further, and the succubus within would be hatched.
But…
Emma felt that the Grand Guardian’s will was exceptionally tenacious, causing her to frown deeply.
The pure Path of Authority had extremely strong resistance to mental manipulation—in this tug-of-war at the mental level, she actually felt a tendency to lose control.
Had she been wrong? Had she acted rashly?
Emma suddenly felt that something was not quite right.
She questioned herself, reflecting inwardly.
—No, I was not wrong.
She quickly corrected the hesitation in her heart.
Since she had already acted, there was no chance to regret it if she was wrong. And if she missed this opportunity, there would likely never be such a good chance again.
Her own side would be exposed, and other plans would also fail.
If she succeeded in controlling the Grand Guardian, then everything would proceed smoothly…
Win-win, or suffer losses together.
With this thought, Emma convinced herself and reaffirmed her resolve.
Although there was some regret… her time as a human was probably over.
Emma had long been mentally prepared for this.
As a Demon Avatar, there would come a day like this sooner or later. That was also part of her, just as her time as a Child of the Moon, and even her past self, belonged to the past.
But Emma was completely unaware, and would never be aware—
Her sudden impulse to attack the Grand Guardian, who was of the same energy level and even slightly restrained himself, and temporarily setting aside the direct command from her “father” to “bring back the Blood of Hercules,” instead deciding to control the Grand Guardian’s thought patterns at all costs, along with those she had charmed…
…Were no different.
—Completely unprepared, Emma was, at an incredibly opportune moment, charmed by the succubus within her that had not yet hatched!
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