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Chapter 291: Closing the Net

As the Saint of Bright Light gazed up at the blood-red remnants of clouds in the sky, a rare curiosity and surprise flickered across her delicate face upon hearing the words.

“Miss Xī? What does she want to tell me?”

After pondering for a moment, the Soul began to speak in a tone that combined a sense of frivolity with seriousness, distinctly mimicking the attitude of a certain Miss White Fox.

“Yuna, sometimes the correct choice… may not be the most appropriate one. Excessive rationality only leads to regret.”

“…Is that all?”

The Gray-clothed Swordsman nodded again and bowed deeply.

“The Merchant Association has fulfilled all your requests, and I have delivered Miss Xī’s instructions. Your Highness Yuna, we will be waiting for your army to advance east from the Sarnoth Province to rescue the people of the two provinces. Farewell.”

The Soul turned and, with a flap of its silver-gray wings, vanished into the eastern horizon where the blood-red sunset was.

“The correct choice isn’t necessarily the best…?”

With a light sigh, the Saintess shook her head helplessly.

“Miss Xī, you speak so lightly of these matters, but it’s I who has to make the difficult choices…”

She shifted her gaze.

“Wing, are you there?”

“I’ve always been here.”

A white feather descended from the sky, transforming into a four-winged girl with feather-like patterns on her forehead. She gracefully landed before Yuna, radiating a flawless glow like a holy angel descending from the heavenly realm.

Well… the phrase “like” could probably be omitted.

The girl’s name was Wing.

Though her existence might not be known to the majority, mentioning the “Inquisition Order,” a special unit that has remained mysterious and powerful under the Saint of Bright Light from ancient times to the present, might clarify her significance to Yuna.

Wing had been the leader of the Inquisition Order from the very beginning.

The Saintess looked once more at the blood-red horizon.

“Do you feel it?”

Wing nodded, her white feathers gently ruffling, creating glowing, firefly-like dots, which were breathtaking. Despite her sacred aura, her expression showed a hint of seriousness comparable to the Saintess’s beauty.

“He is about to succeed; within three days, the Blade of Killing will tear through the heavens and descend upon our world. This is his reckless gambit, yet it poses a significant threat to us.”

“Yuna, do you understand what that means? This time, it’s not a situation you can resolve by sacrificing yourself. Moreover, the Crown of Uncrowned…”

“Yeah, I get it. ‘Killing’ is different from ‘Corruption.’ He is more insane, more reckless this time; the scale of his descent will likely be far greater than what we faced over three hundred years ago. We may have to confront a真正 God.”

The girl, who seemingly embodied an angel, turned to Yuna.

“Do you regret it? If it weren’t for your intervention, this situation would probably have come much later.”

However, the blonde girl simply chuckled.

“That would just mean prolonging the Saint Kingdom’s suffering for a few more days. The implementation of that plan equates to opening a box of disasters. No matter how many benefits we receive, we will ultimately pay a correspondingly greater price… The blessings of a god are never free.”

“Even if Slutut doesn’t come, sooner or later, others like him will notice the situation here and act. With his maturation, it’s an unavoidable reality.”

“A group of shortsighted fools who can’t even grasp this simple truth. If it weren’t for the battle with Iloren that led to the loss of the Crown of Uncrowned, if I had been able to intervene in time… Such a foolish plan would have never passed three hundred years ago.”

Wing quietly listened to Yuna’s critique until she sighed, concluding the topic before finally speaking.

“They were also deceived, caught in a situation they couldn’t escape. It’s pointless to dwell on that now; let’s think about how to resolve this.”

“Right, let’s go meet Philomina. We’ve built enough trust over this period, and the arrangements with Clisia, Iloren’s daughter, should also be nearing completion… It’s time to regroup the power of the three Saintesses and bring about His arrival again.”

…

At the end of the teleportation array was a door.

A metallic door that was completely different in style from what the White Fox Girl had seen not long ago.

Simply standing at the periphery, its heavy and solid presence filled the air, making one reminiscent of the so-called underground military bases or nuclear bomb shelters back on Blue Star.

As she moved forward, Vilyric gently placed her hand on the door that seemed ready to unleash high-tech weaponry or war machines at any moment.

Sure enough…

This type of metal was not common in any world, but she had had past encounters and knowledge of it.

【Fusion Demon Alloy】

If she remembered correctly, that’s what it was called?

As for the manufacturing method, it likely involved mixing certain magical crystal powders in a specific ratio with metal and then casting them together through special techniques. Miss Vilyric wasn’t a forging master, so she could only make this basic inference.

Of course, compared to the fusion demon alloy from the Puppeteer Clan, the constituent materials here were evidently different, so its functions and properties must differ as well.

She looked up at a few red orbs twinkling at the top of the door; although the locals of this world might not understand what they were, the White Fox Girl had already grasped their identity.

Electronic eyes… or something like that.

The beings inside were aware of her arrival but had yet to react, indicating their reluctance to welcome a certain fox lady and their desire to keep her at bay.

“The attitude varies so much; it seems to align with what that old coot Auguste said… It’s not all smooth sailing.”

But Miss Vilyric couldn’t possibly turn back just because of this.

“Whoosh ~”

A swirling, pitch-black orb, radiating boundless magical energy, emerged around her. The girl silently counted in her mind.

3…

2…

1…

The door remained completely still.

“…Go.”

Like a valiant warrior receiving a command, the black orb whirled around her once before darting out at full speed!

“Boom!!!!!!!”

The seemingly fragile crystal-like body, enveloped in deep magical energy, abruptly collided head-on with the door obstructing the intruder, causing the latter to bulge inward over a wide area, reminiscent of land struck by a falling star, with an almost deafening sound!

“Zii… ziiiii…”

Even with a near meter depth indentation, that rather elastic and tough fusion demon alloy door remained unbroken, once again leaving the White Fox Girl astonished at the brilliance of its maker’s craftsmanship.

Followed by this, the black orb embedded in the door began to revolve, unleashing a terrifying storm of magical power!

The black halo transformed into an all-conquering liquid that swiftly infiltrated the door as the magic spread. Within mere seconds, the massive door standing over ten meters high, weighing a hundred thousand tons, turned a shade darker, morphing into a bizarre black jade form.

Seeing the orb return, resuming its human-like rotation in the air, the White Fox Girl nodded slightly and stepped forward, tapping her finger on the dark, crystal-like door.

“Crack crack crack crack crack… Boom!!!”

The defensive line shattered like a broken crystal, revealing the internal scenery that naturally appeared before the White Fox Girl.

Oh, unlike the earlier appearance, there seemed to be something else.

That was a surging red beam nearly one meter in diameter.