Chapter 133: Azure Fury

“Fakenna? No… how are you here?”

The moment Perleti saw the burly man suddenly appear in front of her, her pupils contracted sharply. Her voice was filled with disbelief and shock.

The knights guarding the gate still stood ramrod straight in place, watching everything unfold with indifferent eyes, showing no intention of interfering at all.

Perleti’s heart sank.

As expected, everyone here was probably one of Fakenna’s men.

She quickly scanned her surroundings. Compared to the last time she ran into him, there were seven more people here.

Fakenna shrugged helplessly, a roguish grin hanging on his face as he spoke as casually as if discussing something utterly trivial.

“Don’t look at me like that. All warfare is based on deception, you know? If I don’t screw her over today, who knows, maybe tomorrow she’ll be the one poisoning me. I’m just striking first.”

Before his words had even fully fallen, he suddenly pulled out a black dagger about the length of a forearm from his waist.

The movement was so fast it caught everyone completely off guard.

A flash of cold light.

The dagger stabbed precisely into Mephistopheles’ skull.

Then another strike—straight into her heart.

He even twisted the hilt for good measure, making sure the woman was thoroughly dead.

“I really didn’t expect you to use such a dirty trick.”

Perleti stared at the corpse on the ground, her throat tightening.

“I already said it. All warfare is deception.” Fakenna flicked the blood droplets off the blade and sneered. “This kind of thing happens all the time on the battlefield. If you want to blame someone, blame that idiot woman Mephistopheles for being stupid enough to go in by herself and leave her attendants here. With such a perfect opportunity, I’d be wasting all her good intentions if I didn’t take it.”

Josuna’s gaze locked onto the dagger in Fakenna’s hand, her eyes suddenly lighting up as her breathing quickened.

That was [Azure Wrath].

The dagger’s special effect could temporarily strip its target of all special abilities after being struck—whether it was magic, alchemical buffs, or racial talents.

Although its raw power was no different from an ordinary short blade, making it nearly useless if it failed to land a hit, it was more than enough against Scarlet Night.

That woman’s regenerative ability was absurdly monstrous.

She had always disdained defense.

In her eyes, defense was something entirely unnecessary.

“I heard those people from the Taboo School spend all day researching things like immortality, resurrection, and all that alchemy nonsense.”

Fakenna lifted his foot and kicked Mephistopheles’ head twice without the slightest courtesy, like he was kicking around a worn-out ball.

At the same time, he seemed to be gauging whether she still had any trace of life left as he spoke lazily.

“But after getting stabbed by this knife, she should be dead for real, right?”

Just then—

Bang!

The doors of the military camp were kicked open.

Anasha’s figure appeared at the entrance, her face dark enough to drip water.

“Miss Anasha, you insisted on chasing after me. Aren’t you afraid you’ll be punished for interfering with official duties when you return?” Fakenna raised a brow at her, his tone teasing.

“I already told you. There are just some things I need to make clear to Perleti.”

Anasha gritted her teeth, suppressing a bellyful of anger.

With one glance, she spotted Mephistopheles’ miserable corpse on the floor, along with Perleti and Josuna trapped in the middle of a crowd, surrounded with no way forward or back.

Her heart instantly shot into her throat.

“Oh, meeting again already, Miss Anasha.”

Fakenna wiped away the blood splattered on his face, smiling as naturally as though greeting an old friend.

“This woman’s death shouldn’t matter much to you, right?”

Faced with the group of knights glaring at her like hungry wolves, Anasha didn’t recklessly draw her blade.

She quickly shot Mingtong a look, signaling her to return to camp immediately and bring reinforcements.

She knew clearly that although Fakenna himself was powerful, if she teamed up with Perleti, they might still have a chance.

The truly troublesome part was these numerous knights.

An Artificer was certainly powerful in one-on-one combat, but when outnumbered, the longer the fight dragged on, the worse it would be for her.

Fakenna smiled and waved casually at Mingtong as she turned and ran back toward camp.

Watching her retreating figure, there wasn’t the slightest trace of fear in his eyes, as though he had merely witnessed something utterly irrelevant.

He rolled his wrists, his knuckles cracking sharply.

“Look at how tense you are. The great Head of Tuning really is cautious. But unfortunately, I can’t die in a place like this.”

Before the last word finished—

His figure suddenly shot forward, charging straight toward Perleti.

Josuna’s face turned pale.

She instinctively raised a hand, trying to cast magic to intercept him.

But the guards behind her had clearly prepared for this long ago.

The moment her attention was fully focused on Fakenna, a longsword carrying fierce wind slashed viciously toward her back.

“Watch out!”

Perleti’s shout almost overlapped with the sword’s whistling arc.

Without even thinking, she lunged forward and shoved Josuna aside.

The longsword barely grazed past Josuna’s shoulder, carrying a bone-chilling coldness.

“Well, well. Didn’t expect you and your sister to actually have such a good relationship.”

Fakenna’s voice sounded right beside them.

Before Josuna could even regain her footing, Fakenna drove a brutal punch straight into her abdomen.

Agonizing pain exploded through her entire body.

Her vision went black, and she nearly fainted on the spot.

Her body was flung lightly to the ground, as though all her internal organs had shifted out of place.

“Big Sister!”

Josuna curled up from the pain, struggling to get up, only for a nearby knight to pin her shoulders down firmly, making her unable to move.

“Watch her. If she dares try anything, kill her.”

Seeing this, Anasha’s heart tightened, and she immediately drew her sword to support Josuna.

But the moment she moved, several knights blocked her path.

Blades crossed.

Cold light flashed.

Even if she could quickly deal with a few of them, there was no way she could save Josuna in time.

Amid the chaos, Fakenna had already circled behind Perleti.

The icy dagger instantly pressed against her throat, slicing open her skin and drawing a thin line of blood.

Her hands were firmly restrained by him, completely immobilized.

She struggled symbolically twice before giving up entirely.

Her magic was still suppressed by the inert factor.

She couldn’t use it at all.

Any resistance was just wasted effort.

“Hey, seriously? You went through all this just to capture me?”

Perleti tilted her head, her voice carrying a helpless, bitter laugh.

Fakenna lowered his head.

Warm breath brushed against the edge of her ear as he lowered his voice to a near whisper.

“Do me a favor. The Church’s security is too strict. Taking you out of the city normally is way too difficult. No choice—I had to use this method.”

“Huh?!”

Perleti looked like she couldn’t believe what she’d just heard.

“What could I possibly help you with? Did you grab the wrong person?”

“We can talk after the two of us make it out alive.”

With a twist of his wrist, he pressed the blade harder against her neck.

The cold touch made Perleti shiver all over.

He looked up toward Anasha, who was still being entangled by the knights, and shouted loudly:

“Miss Anasha, I suggest you calm down a little, how about it?”

Once Anasha saw clearly that the hostage was Perleti, she froze for a second.

Then she exploded in rage.

“Perleti! What the hell are you doing?! Why aren’t you using magic to attack him?!”

“I want to! But I literally can’t use any!”

“You—are you joking?! What do you mean you can’t use your magic anymore?!”

Anasha’s voice shot up sharply, her face full of disbelief.

“Then go ask Mingtong! She drugged me! Now I don’t even have the strength to risk my life even if I wanted to!”

The moment those words fell—

It was as if a bolt of lightning struck Anasha directly.

Her entire body froze in place.

She stood there blankly for a long while before finally snapping back to reality, letting out a confused, bewildered sound filled with shock.

“…Huh?”