When the plot-skips players into the game world

At that time, she strode with vigor, appearing exceptionally healthy... However, thereafter, she was as if "retaliated" against—the Phantom Demon Egg inside her body relapsed once more.

And now, Lily finally understood the reason behind all this.

"...Heracles."

Lily whispered softly.

According to critical intelligence provided by Minister Griffiths, Yulia possessed the blood of the Heracles family.

—That was the royal lineage from the Helasal Empire era.

White hair, red eyes, endowed with tremendous strength—these were the characteristics of the Heracles family.

But this seemed improbable...

Because this family had long since perished before the era of the Fractured Earth War.

If they had not been annihilated, the catalyst for the Fractured Earth War wouldn't exist—the reason being that the split of the Helasal Empire into the four nations of Star Antimony, Iris Flower, Narcissus, and Black Hawk stemmed from the complete extermination of the royal family, leaving no legitimate heir. Therefore, each nation declared that they were the true successor of the old empire, branding the other three as rebels.

Even if a single Heracles had been alive at that time, the Fractured Earth War should not have occurred.

Unless...

"...Swampfolk?"

Lily muttered to herself, faintly realizing something.

She too had followed Aiwass throughout Eagle Cape Village.

Even though she usually remained silent, that did not mean she was deaf to everything around her.

On the contrary.

She was always listening to others' conversations, constantly gathering information.

If Yulia was a Swampfolk created using the "Blood of Heracles," then it would explain why her biological parents could never be found.

It was said that when old family head James planned to take Yulia away from the orphanage, she unleashed an immensely powerful force—several grown men could not pull her away.

When Lily first heard this story, she thought it meant "They dared not use force for fear of hurting Yulia," a testament to Yulia's firm resolve not to leave.

But now, looking back...

It might have been a literal, factual "could not pull her away."

Minister Griffiths himself was unaware of his "soon-to-be master's" motives, but Lily, with access to more intelligence, understood the full picture.

—Star Antimony had somehow obtained information about Yulia. Explore more stories at My Virtual Library Empire

They demanded that Minister Griffiths find a way, but in any case, they needed Yulia's blood.

The method Griffiths thought of was to claim that Yulia was a Phantom Demon Egg, asking for an examination—they didn't truly know that Yulia was the Phantom Demon Egg, it was mere slander. The purpose was to obtain Yulia's blood.

Although Yulia indeed had been a Phantom Demon Egg, and secretly harboring a Phantom Demon Egg was also a serious crime... Aiwass possessed a special ritual that could safely remove the Phantom Demon Egg from the body. By now, the Phantom Demon Egg was long gone from Yulia's body, so of course, they were not afraid of an examination.

Thus, Minister Griffiths could obtain Yulia's blood.

But when Griffiths proposed this plan, the Eye Demon made a new demand. He had to attack Aiwass—at the very least, make an explicit show of hostility toward Aiwass and not side with him.

Griffiths did not understand why, so he was very confused.

But Lily knew.

In fact, Griffiths was just bait.

He was being used as a lure.

If he became hostile towards Aiwass, and also showed hostility towards Yulia... then, in Aiwass's style, he would most likely directly send someone to eliminate him.

But the Star Antimony people did not know of "Lily's" existence.

In their expectation, the person to act should be "Aleister." Thus, it's highly probable that the Eye Demon leaped away immediately after detecting the traces of the Shadow Demon through "Future Sight" or "True Vision."

Because it was always ready to flee at a moment's notice.

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If all goes well, "Miss Aleister" should be able to learn about Yulia's bloodline from Minister Griffiths's mouth.

But...

...what then?

Lily's eyebrows furrowed slightly.

After all, she wasn't as smart as Aiwass. She could only analyze up to this point, feeling as though her thoughts had hit a transparent wall.

If it were Aiwass or Sherlock, they'd surely have guessed what the Star Antimony people really intended to do.

But there was one thing she was very clear about.

——In that case, "Miss Aleister" couldn't be allowed to appear here.

Others didn't know, but Lily did. There was no such person as "Aleister Crowley"; that was simply another identity of her young master.

And at this moment, Aiwass was nearby, treating reporters to a meal.

His goal was to use these means to pressure the knights of the Round Table Hall—his message was, "I'm watching you." And he might resort to violence outside of meetings at any moment to achieve his goals, while actually having the strength to do so, and they were still unable to counter it.

Officially, Aiwass and Miss Aleister had already had a fallout. If Aleister were to assassinate a minister now, it couldn't be blamed on Aiwass, and one could even say Aleister was intentionally causing trouble for Aiwass. Thus, Isabel certainly couldn't "punish Aiwass for the fault of a foreign spy or assassin who wanted to bother him."

...However, the situation was now different.

This matter might involve Miss Julia, and there seemed to be an even larger conspiracy behind it.

Aiwass had taught Lily some ways to handle these situations in advance.

There were many things Lily didn't understand, but one sentence she clearly remembered and understood was—

"If you can know what your enemy hopes you'll do... then you better not do it. From this perspective, the essence of the game lies in discerning the true intentions of the other party amidst layers of disguise and misdirection," said Aiwass, "You're not my tool, you must have your own thoughts, Lily."

Lily thought rapidly.

This was the first time she encountered a situation where "following Aiwass's plan would lead to Aiwass falling into a trap." She had to independently think of the best solution in a short time.

And Shadow Demon had been very silent lately, not saying a word.

Before, she could consult Shadow Demon's opinion. But now, she had to think for herself.

——Since the Star Antimony people wanted to snare Aleister, "Aleister" shouldn't take the bait.

Fortunately, Lily had prepared a second measure...

And fortunately, she hadn't used any of Shadow Demon's power so far, so she hadn't left any shadow traces tainted with the aura of the Path of Transcendence. The shadows she used came entirely from herself, from what Aiwass had bestowed upon her, with the aura of the Path of Love and the Path of Adaptation.

She pushed her glasses up and gently rotated the bracelet of the glove on her left hand by one notch.

She switched the "Love Elixir", which was used for interrogation, attached to the glove, for the "Mist of the Moon", which could rapidly dissolve a person's internal organs in a few seconds.

Then, Lily extended her left hand, clad in a black silk glove, and slowly but firmly grasped Minister Griffiths's neck.

Pink arboreal patterns rapidly spread down from the neck. Dark blood started to ooze from between his mouth and nose.

This young talent, no more than forty this year, lost his breath in the blink of an eye.

Miss Croix, looks like it's trouble for you again...

Lily sighed silently, slowly removing her gloves.

Up until now, Miss Croix had taken the blame for many things.

And this one might just be the biggest of all.

Lily's body gradually mutated, transforming into a grey werewolf standing on two legs, with crimson pupils.

Without any hesitation, she shredded Minister Griffiths's corpse, destroying the traces of her interrogation—although she only partially destroyed them, if inspected carefully, one could still find traces of "Hawk Feather" used to torment the flesh while he was alive.

But this was just right.

The findings of one's own investigation are always more convincing.

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