"The rope breaks at its thinnest point, tears find those who endure suffering."

The woman seemed like a towering black deity, the spreading darkness gradually staining her dress in a solemn chaos.

"They blamed me for not having the same emotions as them."

"But they don't know that I also feel pity for them."

"If only they had no emotions, they wouldn't have to bear so much pain."

"And they wouldn't have to endure the endless destruction that I am about to bring upon them."

There was no trace of tenderness or serenity left on the woman, the scent of slaughter rising like the hidden veins beneath her skin.

"Op...pen..." Turing was stunned, unable to speak as if under a petrification spell.

Seeing Turing's reaction to her transformation was perhaps more painful than seeing her dead.

"Are you kidding me?"

"Is she an angel? Not human?"

"But... but how is that possible? She clearly has memories about the Altria family, memories of the lab too."

"Could it be that I was deceived? Was it all an act?"

"Including... including that genuine and warm tenderness?"

"Was it all a lie?" Turing trembled and asked.

The woman smiled faintly, her vermilion lips parting.

"I've never lied to you, my dear child."

"Just now, I indeed forgot something important."

"But you helped me remember."

With a slanted glance and a captivating gaze, the woman effortlessly touched Turing's heart, even in this inappropriate circumstance.

"Have you heard of a story about a genie from abroad?"

"For freeing me, I will grant you three wishes."

Towering flames soared into the sky, blowing away several layers of the ceiling above the woman's head.

The compression of intersecting acrid and terrifying flames produced an immense heat, almost reversing the cosmos, swirling and condensing energy in the woman's palm.

"To ravage you, kill you, and destroy you..."

Turing's brow furrowed, the intense magical fluctuations forcing her to be extremely cautious of the terrifying magic about to be unleashed—evidently the Altria family's favored Incandescent Spiral.

And Turing's intuition told her that the power of the woman's next attack would be enough to level four or five buildings.

A blazing spiral lance appeared in the woman's hand.

Facing this woman in front of her, Turing felt like she was facing Elizabeth or Merka, unable to fully guard against her, unable to fight her with all her might.

Turing's mind became inevitably filled with various random thoughts.

Imagined scenes of women's deaths flooded Turing's brain, occupying the space that was supposed to be used for combat calculations.

Turing couldn't accept it, she felt that even just recalling the angel holding a woman's severed head in her hand would cause her arms to involuntarily weaken.

"Was I...was I ever that weak of a person?"

However, just as Turing was focused on the woman before her, a pair of massive hands like ancient towering trees broke through the wall behind Turing, grabbed her body, and lifted her into the air.

"Farewell." The woman bent her waist fiercely, her whole body like a slingshot, shooting the spear in her hand towards Turing.

In the blink of an eye, the shrieking spear was about to pierce Turing.

——————————————————————————

Lachesis City, Sidewalk Cafe

A woman sat in a quiet cafe, holding a cup of aromatic brown beverage in her hand.

"If not for Lord Oedipus, I wouldn't have come to this kind of cafe that sells foreign drinks."

"But even if they sell this kind of foreign tea that no one drinks, I remember this place usually doesn't have such poor business?"

The woman anxiously held the cup and rubbed the handle with her index finger.

She was clearly becoming restless.

"When will that guy come to deliver the message... He usually comes earlier."

"Could it be...?"

The woman seemed to hear the increasingly intense sound of her own heartbeat.

A dense and dangerous atmosphere, like a demon stirring in the depths of a sinister den, quietly nurturing the forthcoming, exhilarating disaster.

"Isn't this Dungremy?"

"Why are you here? Do you also have an interest in drinking coffee?"

Provence, dressed in a white village shirt, greeted the woman with a smile.

Dungremy immediately regained her composure and replied with a smile, "Of course not."

"I'm just meeting an acquaintance here."

Dungremy knew that the most skillful lie was only telling half the truth.

Besides, she didn't like drinking coffee, so she couldn't deceive others.

"Who is this acquaintance? I can see that you've been waiting here for a while."

"Well, I'm also waiting for someone. It's been quite a while."

Provence's probing words made Dungremy slightly furrow her brow, but Provence's evasive words stopped Dungremy from asking further.

Dungremy had a feeling that if she didn't leave now, she wouldn't be able to leave.

"Are you... here to celebrate someone's birthday?" Dungremy noticed the gift box that Provence was holding in her right hand, placed on the table.

"Oh no, this is just a insignificant... farewell gift."

Provence casually played with the ribbon on the gift box, as if the slightest tug would unravel it, and said with a smile.

"May I ask... who are you waiting for?" Dungremy's expression had gradually turned unpleasant.

Without looking at Dungremy, Provence quietly leaned on the table.

"I am waiting for someone who deserves to die a thousand deaths."

Provence gently pulled the ribbon of the gift box, and a head drained of blood rolled out of the box, stopping in front of Dungremy.

It was the messenger's head that Dungremy had been waiting for.

"But it seems that the person you're waiting for is unwell and won't be coming."

"How about the two of us make do with each other?"

Dungremy fell silent.

"..."

In an instant, without any magical fluctuations, the table in front shattered as Dungremy's tentacles surged out of her body and collided with it.

The sneak attack without magical fluctuations is extremely difficult to defend against! Dungremy's claw strikes Provence directly in the face.

However, a giant mouth formed by several black skeletons suddenly appears behind Dungremy, opening its bloody jaws and biting through Dungremy's tentacles and limbs, restricting Dungremy's movements.

The intense magical battle rips the coffee shop apart, leaving only two damaged walls standing.

Maria and her ten disciples, standing or sitting, all appear on these two walls, surrounding Dungremy from above.

"I initially thought you were the least suspicious," Maria says.

"Because Oedipus wanted to kill Merka, you didn't need to help me match Merka and Turing. You could just personally take action," she continues.

"But actually, it's easy to understand why you did it. The closer Merka and Turing are, the more opportunity Oedipus, that angel, has to unleash chaos. You didn't need to take that risk to expose yourself."

"But I also want to thank you. You reminded me of something."

"It's impossible for there to be a loyal and wonderful subordinate like you, isn't it?"

Maria smiles calmly.

She realizes now that even if she recalls being hung on the city gate for ten days without water, with no subordinates or relatives coming to save her, she can still maintain a calm state of mind.