The faction
Unfortunately, thanks to Leilin's interference, the plan hadn't even begun before it received a fatal blow.
Because of Leilin's tip-off, all the arrangements at Ias Port were completely exposed. Every organization and undercover operative was uprooted, with only Belinda managing to escape under Leilin's protection.
For the Eye of Judgment's forces, this was an utterly intolerable humiliation! The enormous losses in materiel and intelligence were equally unbearable.
Therefore, Belinda's superior, Becklake, immediately marched in with a massive army, and together with Belinda's group, they stormed Ias Port in one fell swoop.
With Becklake's fifth-rank power, the fourth-rank Governor of Ias was utterly incapable of resistance.
Under normal circumstances, everything should have gone smoothly. On the Haier Continent, the Governor of Ias had no support whatsoever.
However, as fate would have it, plans were only plans — variables were always most likely to emerge. Especially since Leilin had already set his sights on Becklake, everything the latter had done beforehand turned into a tragedy.
In the end, through Leilin's deliberate arrangement, not only did the Governor of Ias and several other high-ranking members of the Foul Bird manage to escape successfully, but even Becklake himself — a fifth-rank Sacrificer — was used by Leilin as an offering to the Foul Bird, temporarily resolving the trouble on his own body. And Becklake's very True Spirit had been annihilated.
A fifth-rank powerhouse was an extremely rare find even in the Purgatory World. The Sacrificer type was especially so — in Belinda's faction, such a figure would have been mid-to-high management, even fully responsible for this entire region. The loss of such a person was an absolute catastrophe for Belinda and the rest!
Although Belinda did her utmost to salvage the situation, the inevitable conflict erupted once they had regrouped and returned to a base of operations.
No — it couldn't even be called a conflict. It was merely a scheme.
When Belinda stepped forward, she became the sacrificial lamb and scapegoat in the eyes of the remaining Morning Star powerhouses.
"Why? How did things end up like this?"
Belinda leaned half against a corner of the wall, her arms wrapped around her shoulders as though doing so could bring her a shred of warmth. In truth, with her physical constitution, only temperatures approaching absolute zero could make her feel cold.
But deep inside, she instinctively did it anyway.
She was currently in a cold, damp, dark chamber. The walls were covered with reinforcement runes, the door was a grille of cold iron, and not far away, several sea-folk with icy gazes stood watch.
Morning Star-level Field fluctuations radiated openly from their bodies — unmistakably the very same sea-folk who had fought alongside Belinda not long ago.
But now they had long since turned their weapons around and even placed Belinda under house arrest.
The charge? Absurdly — "collusion with the enemy"!!!
Belinda really wanted to laugh. The attack on Ias Port had been a collective decision made by all the higher-ups, yet somehow it had been twisted into the claim that she had persuaded Becklake into doing it.
Even her attempt to steady the troops after the allied forces' leader had been captured was being portrayed as evidence of her power grab.
And what other explanation could there be for her actions, if not collusion with the enemy?
Moreover, compared to the Evil Eye clan and the sea-folk who had always been devoted followers of the Eye of Judgment, she — a descendant of the White Devil — stuck out like a sore thumb. Wouldn't she make the perfect target?
It had to be said: whenever there was suspicion of a spy, it was always someone like her — an outsider — who took the first bullet.
"Belinda, are you feeling any better?" At that moment, another voice came from beside her, causing Belinda to raise her head slightly.
In the dim light, she made out the figure of one of her own kind. Seeing him, a bitter smile tugged at the corner of Belinda's lips: "Nick, you've been thrown in here too?"
The Shadow Puppet operated by Intelligent Agent No. 1 gazed at Belinda with a face full of "concern."
When the sea-folk had suddenly turned on them, Belinda had been nearly helpless, like a puppet with its strings cut.
And Nick — who was actually only a Shadow Puppet in terms of combat strength — had naturally been even less inclined to resist. He had been locked up together with her.
Fortunately, perhaps fearing that overly aggressive measures might provoke resistance and cause unnecessary casualties, they had merely been placed under house arrest. Their True Spirits hadn't been sealed or anything of the sort — they'd even been thrown into the same cell.
[Target is currently in an emotional low, experiencing a period of cognitive confusion. Appropriate psychological comfort can increase her favorability!]
Inside the Shadow Puppet's framework, a line of analysis surfaced directly. But without Leilin's orders, his assigned mission was to maintain Nick's cover as best he could. Emotional support of this kind was precisely the sort of thing an Intelligent Agent struggled with most, so Nick simply stood there looking blank, as though he too had been crushed.
"I'm... sorry! I dragged you into this too. But don't worry, Nick — the Lord of Order our organization serves is the most fair and just of all. He will definitely clear our names. You'll be free again soon..."
Seeing Nick like this, a flicker of disappointment passed through Belinda's eyes. Her arms unconsciously tightened around herself, and her low voice seeped through the gaps between them.
"This girl — she still hasn't given up hope?"
A transparent phantom drifted through the outer walls, passing straight through the various seals and restrictions imprinted on them, and merged directly into the cell.
Leilin looked at Belinda in this state, and a strange smile tugged at the corner of his lips: "Why is it always me who has to shatter a child's naive fantasies?"
The transparent figure merged directly into Nick. Intelligent Agent No. 1 was taken over by the Chip's override. To anyone watching, Nick's eyes had merely gone slightly vacant for a moment before returning to normal.
And no one noticed the change.
Having recalled the Shadow Puppet and the Intelligent Agent, Nick had now become the real Leilin.
For Leilin, once he had received the Intelligent Agent's alert, he had pushed his speed to the maximum and arrived here in the shortest time possible. The outer sentries and magical arrays posed absolutely no problem for him.
When it came to magical arrays and runes, the wizards of the
And Leilin had now recovered most of his strength, making it even easier to employ various methods. Most critically, he was now also a fourth-rank Sacrificer of the Foul Bird and possessed their Feather of Chaos — making it far simpler to break through the seals arranged by the Eye of Judgment's power.
These two forces were not only mortal enemies but their very powers stood in mutual opposition.
Of course, compared to Leilin, those sea-folk outside were simply not worth mentioning.
"Belinda!" Leilin spoke slowly, his voice low and deep. "Even now, do you still harbor illusions about those sea-folk out there?"
"Illusions? No! Even if they've all been blinded by greed and self-interest, the Lord of Order will come to save me..."
Belinda said firmly. With her devout faith in the Eye of Judgment, the fact that she was still only a third-rank Sacrificer struck even Leilin as something of a waste of talent.
"Of course! Those sea-folk's slander is plain for anyone with eyes to see. Not only the Supreme Eye of Judgment — even the other high-ranking members all know the truth..."
Leilin said flatly, with even a hint of mockery in his tone.
"But... so what?" Before Belinda could respond, Leilin continued on his own.
"The situation now is that Becklake's disappearance and the catastrophic failure of this operation both demand someone to take responsibility. Becklake himself is an elder of the Evil Eye clan with deep roots in the organization. He fought valiantly before being captured and may still be alive — no one would rashly punish a fifth-rank powerhouse..."
"That leaves only people like you. And since those sea-folk are essentially a unified bloc, to truly assign blame, they'd have to carry out a complete purge of you and all of them together..."
At this point, Leilin noticed Belinda's shoulders trembling even more violently, but he pressed on: "But such a purge would cause losses that your superiors would never accept. So the matter can't truly be investigated — they need a scapegoat, or rather, a... sacrifice."
"And right now, who could be more suitable than you? An outsider with no backing, unable to band together for mutual protection the way these sea-folk can..."
Leilin's voice took on a mocking edge.
"No! Even if they're all like this, the great Lord of Judgment — the Supreme One of fairness and justice — will never abandon me..."
Belinda raised her head, her originally crimson pupils now carrying a flavor of madness and despair.
"I have no comment on that!" Leilin shook his head. "However, I hope you understand — if the Eye of Judgment truly insisted on absolute fairness and justice, it would have long since fallen, vanishing into the dust of history. The fact that it has survived until now and spread its doctrine to ever more worlds means it certainly understands compromise. Maintaining a relative degree of fairness and justice is already an immense success for the Lord of Judgment..."
"No! I don't believe it! I don't believe it!"
The despair in Belinda's pupils spread in an instant, and yet her entire body went limp, collapsing into a heap as though every bone had been sucked out.
"Hm? She can't take the blow that well? Could it be she's remembering something from the past?"
Leilin shook his head inwardly: "This alien is far too fragile in spirit. Or perhaps she has some kind of specific trauma?"