Chapter 302
Lydia reached into her handbag, intending to pull out her handkerchief, but when her fingers brushed against a slightly rigid paper object, she froze in place.
She quickly withdrew the envelope and unfolded it with haste.
This letter was meant for the Chaos Squad, and just moments ago, she had handed it to a servant under her control, instructing him to...
Expose her.
The Keybearer’s gaze sharpened instantly.
What’s going on?!
How could someone know my codename? How could anyone know I was coming here tonight?
There’s a traitor in the Chaos Squad! And they’ve already figured out my identity!
“Miss Lydia, are you feeling unwell? Do you need me to call a doctor for you?”
A voice from behind interrupted Lydia’s thoughts. She composed her expression and slowly turned to face the speaker.
Lucifer...
A Tier 3 “Fated One”...
Including herself, there were exactly three Tier 3 extraordinary beings present.
Across from her stood two: one was a senior officer from the Dutton Group, and the other was a member of the royal family. Both had formidable backgrounds, and each was harder to deal with than the last.
With the Chaos Squad seemingly losing control, Lydia had no intention of provoking trouble.
She would just play it cool.
A slight, apologetic smile appeared on Lydia’s face as she replied, “Thank you, Your Excellency, I’m fine. I just need to rest a bit.”
“Glad to hear that... Once the Dutton Manor is repaired, I hope you’ll come visit.”
Lucifer smiled and nodded, holding out a gold coin as she approached Lydia.
Clink—
The golden coin spun in the air, the knight’s portrait on the reverse side facing the sky in Lucifer’s palm.
“Uh... I’ve predicted your luck, and you might want to skip it. You’ll lose money.”
Lucifer’s face showed a hint of embarrassment as she retracted the coin, scratching her head sheepishly.
“Thank you... I’ll come once I’m feeling better.”
Lydia felt a slow sigh of relief within her.
At this moment, she didn’t want to engage with Lucifer any further. Lydia wanted to leave Manor No. 5 immediately and, once gone, let this identity die off, finding a new one to take its place.
“Ah... I didn’t expect your luck to be so poor today...”
Lucifer seemed oblivious to Lydia’s desire to avoid conversation, reaching into her pocket again to pull out a rusty coin. “Let me check my luck then.”
Clink—
The rusty coin glinted as it was flicked into the air, and Lydia’s pupils constricted slightly as she watched it soar.
A sealing object!
The one looking for her... is Lucifer!
Why?! She has no stake in this!
Buzz—
The Keybearer Lydia’s left pinky twisted, and a ring set with a green gemstone appeared on her hand. The gem flashed with a green light, and a swift arc of green energy shot toward Lucifer.
But that green line struck the rusty coin, which was descending along its parabolic path.
Clink—
A soft chime rang out as the green line was sliced in two, flying to either side of Lucifer, narrowly missing her and shattering two flowerpots behind her.
The rust on the coin seemed to shake off a bit, but it remained unaffected, its trajectory unchanged—once activated, it would not be influenced by anything.
The rusty coin landed steadily on the back of Lucifer’s hand, the eye of the angel staring up at the ceiling.
Lucifer smirked, her hand gently applying pressure upward, the slightly airborne rusty coin being firmly pinched between her thumb and index finger.
At that moment, to Lydia, the demon eye facing her seemed to transform into Lucifer’s right eye, glaring at her with a menacing intent.
“Lucifer, one point.”
Lucifer casually uttered the words that made Lydia’s pupils tremble.
“Keybearer, zero points.”
In an instant, the Keybearer held nothing back. She raised both hands, a pale pink starry sky swirling in her grasp.
With a sudden clap of her hands, the pink starlight was instantaneously compressed, bursting forth in a dazzling display, sending pink stardust flying in all directions.
To Lucifer, a shower of diamond-like stardust shot toward her pupils at a speed she could barely react to.
But just as the stardust was about to enter her eyes, everything around her returned to calm. The spacious corridor, still adorned with a red carpet, was devoid of the Keybearer’s presence.
Was this a dream or reality?
Lucifer didn’t dwell on it, taking several steps back and turning to run toward the exit. But at that moment, the corner of the carpet, snagged by someone’s high heel, caught the tip of her shoe, causing her to lose her balance and lurch forward.
Yet, in that forward motion, she felt a rush of wind sweep over her head, even trimming a few strands of her hair—Lucifer narrowly avoided a disaster.
“I’m ready!”
Lucifer suddenly shut her eyes and shouted.
At that moment, standing just behind her, watching the girl sprawled on the ground with her eyes tightly shut and motionless, was a figure filled with confusion.
Another accomplice?
No matter, just kill her first.
The Keybearer raised her left hand, the ring on her pinky glowing.
A green beam shot toward the grounded Lucifer, slicing her body in half.
Blood and entrails splattered before the Keybearer as Lucifer was instantly dismembered.
But when Lucifer’s blood splattered onto the Keybearer’s face, feeling the temperature of the liquid, her expression twisted slightly.
Cold?
Tap, tap, tap...
Footsteps echoed in front of her. The Keybearer looked up sharply toward the exit, only to see a maid with a different face...
A maid?
The Keybearer raised her right hand, ready to dismember the newcomer, but the maid reached toward her face.
A leather mask was gently removed by the maid.
“Long time no see... or rather... see you in three days?”
The golden-haired maid’s pink pupils sparkled with starlight as she smiled and greeted the Keybearer, “It’s so nice to see you again, Keybearer.”
So nice to see you again... that was her slogan! Another “Subverter”?!
“What are you doing? You’re ruining my plans!!!”
The Keybearer suppressed her rising fear, shouting in anger, “You’ve destroyed everything!”
It seemed she regarded the golden-haired girl before her as a high-ranking member of some pleasure society.
After all, anyone who could ascend to “Subverter” status must have received an invitation from the pleasure society; this wasn’t something that could be achieved through secluded “cultivation” alone.
“Plans?”
Upon hearing that word, the golden-haired girl frowned slightly, her tone rising, “You call this mess a plan?”
“Tsk...”
Impatience began to show on the golden-haired girl’s face.
“Sure enough, you can’t have a decent conversation with boring people.”
“Die.”
The Keybearer seemed to realize something, but it was too late—she was staring directly into the girl’s eyes.
In that instant, the girl’s pupils were completely engulfed in a silvery white, and massive silver hands seemed to pierce through flesh and space, emerging from behind her, countless twisted, tentacled parts almost instantly filling the Keybearer’s entire field of vision.
Fear burgeoned within her, the buzzing and murmurs of the potion nearly bursting her brain. The Keybearer could no longer maintain her disguise, half of her face twisting into a monstrous form.
And that terrifying half-face continued to spread rapidly toward her still-normal side.
In the silvery-white space before her, she saw countless scenes flashing before her—scenes of her plans failing time and again, ones she had never witnessed before.
“She’s truly the most useless ‘Subverter’ I’ve ever seen...”
“Gotcha, hee hee~”
“Useless.”
“This is what you call a plan?”
“Scraps.”
“...”
Countless voices exploded in her ears, some from the girl just now, others from memories of different people.
Faced with an almost endless tide of fear and negative energy, the Keybearer instinctively raised her hands, wanting to use her powers, to dismiss it all as an illusion. But as she prepared to wield her abilities, she encountered an unprecedented barrier...
The potion was resisting her, refusing to acknowledge her.
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