One month later.
On the eve of "Ghost Day," dark clouds surged across the night sky of the city of Dolos.
Three hundred and one chivalrous thieves gathered in the abandoned Clock Tower Square, their appearances varied like a panoramic scroll of all living beings.
There was a withered old man draped in a cloak.
A female thief with a graceful figure and a slight smile on her red lips, wearing a stolen royal emblem as an earring.
A vagrant with a face full of stubble.
And even a youth who still looked somewhat naive.
Among them were handsome and extraordinary wanderers, but most were unremarkable in appearance.
A face too beautiful or eyes too bright are easily remembered; without a high level of skill, it is difficult to deceive in this profession.
Elysia and Pardo were also mixed among them.
Elysia wore a pitch-black Zorro mask.
Pardo was dressed in a "Phantom Thief Kid" outfit—a pure white suit with a monocle reflecting a crescent-like halo.
This drew frequent side-glances from the other thieves.
Around the square, the people of Dolos came and went, somewhat shocked by the sight of three hundred and one bandits gathered together.
"My god... so many thieves gathered together. Are they going to rob the Lord's treasury?"
"Shh—don't talk nonsense. Tomorrow is 'Ghost Day.' Zagreus will manifest in the mortal realm; they are here to challenge the Titan's divine authority."
"Ah? How do you know?"
"Tch! With something as grand as the 'Deception of the Gods,' I just wasn't chosen."
Amidst the surrounding whispers, Cipher leaped onto the broken base of the clock tower, her tail held high.
The "Haji-Sai" scanned the field with burning eyes.
Then, she raised her arm and gave a loud shout.
"Alright, everyone! What I promised you has been achieved. 'He' is right here."
The square fell silent instantly.
Then, the crowd surged like boiling water, with gasps, sharp intakes of breath, and the sound of restless footsteps intertwining.
"Is it the De..."
"Shh—"
"For this 'Deception of the Gods,' not a single syllable of his name can be mentioned."
Cipher suddenly raised her hand, pressing her index finger to her lips, and winked mischievously.
The group of thieves reacted immediately, their expressions turning solemn.
"Right, right. Once mentioned, the flipping coin might never appear again."
"Yes, even Zagreus would likely become alert because of it."
"But... how do we know 'He' has really come?"
Someone couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.
Cipher chuckled, standing with hands on hips, her tail wagging proudly: "That's simple. The 'most illogical thing' present here is him."
As she spoke, she looked around and laughed.
"As for whether you can see through it, that depends on your eyesight."
"Furthermore, after the Deception of the Gods, you will all gather in Okhema, where he will personally receive you."
Although Ryuga was smiling slightly, the veins on his forehead were throbbing, and a thousand "grass mud horses" were galloping through his mind.
He should have known that Cipher would definitely make some kind of promise.
But he never expected this girl would actually use him as the bargaining chip.
Damn!
It seems that during this past month, she hasn't been fed enough "protein."
After this Demigod Trial is over, he'll make sure her "mouth" is filled to the brim.
"..."
Cipher suddenly felt a chill, her spine tingling, and a layer of fine fur stood up on her cat tail.
Haha~ She gave a forced laugh.
Mainly, besides the honor of deceiving a god, the thieves also had the desire to meet the Demon God.
Everyone knew Cipher came from the Holy City of Okhema.
And so, the "Haji-Sai" directly identified herself as the "Demon God's Companion." Otherwise, did you think a Haji-Sai who had only debuted for a dozen years could really lead this group of master thieves who had dominated for decades?
Among them were even some of the "Golden Descendants."
"The most illogical thing?"
The thieves murmured.
In other words, "Lord Demon God" was mixed among them?
In an instant, three hundred gazes swept over each other like searchlights.
Then, as if realizing something, they all turned their heads in unison to look at Pardo.
That pure white suit and formal attire were far too conspicuous among a group of grey and brown rags, and those cat ears and cat tail were also quite eye-catching.
A "cat girl" like Cipher was very special in Amphoreus; they were basically never seen normally.
No one had ever heard of such a figure among the Dolos bandits.
"Is it her?"
Pardo felt uncomfortable being stared at, shrinking her neck and quietly hiding half a step behind Elysia.
The group of thieves felt it didn't quite seem like her.
"Now, this is where you are going."
"Once midnight passes, you will use the power of the 'Gatekeeper' Demigod to scatter to different city-states, putting into practice the deceptions you have most desired to try but never dared to perform."
"Afterward, I will personally receive Zagreus and become the Trickery Demigod."
"Most of you will likely be thrown into prison, but that doesn't matter. I will rescue you."
Cipher raised her voice again, interrupting everyone's speculation.
Then she waved her hand, throwing out three hundred documents.
"..."
The thieves leaped up to catch them, reading carefully to confirm their targets.
Their expressions changed rapidly—some with wild joy, some with solemnity, and some with a burning desire for battle.
Some thieves felt their assigned deception didn't suit them and began looking for people to trade with.
"Oh~"
"This fatuous Lord shall be left to me."
Elysia stared at a piece of intelligence, smiling very happily.
"Treasures!!"
Pardo clutched the document in her hand tightly, looking as if she were afraid someone would snatch it away.
Her eyes gradually widened from excessive excitement.
Eight nobles, plus a King's treasury—countless ill-gotten gains buried deep in an underground vault.
If it were before, that would have been a challenge she never dared to imagine.
But now?
It was as easy as reaching into a bag to take something.
"Money, here I come."
Pardo murmured as if in a dream, a vigorous fire burning in her eyes.
"..."
Elysia gently massaged her brow. She didn't dare tell Pardo that the King's treasury she was so obsessed with was nothing more than a pile of "Data Memoria."
It couldn't be used if taken out.
Actually, it couldn't be taken out at all.
An hour later, all the thieves had traded for targets they were satisfied with.
These were the "forbidden deceptions" they had most desired to try in their lives but had never dared to perform due to fear.
Now they weren't afraid.
With Lord Demon God backing them, they were punishing evil and promoting good.
After a brief discussion, the clock tower's hands slowly approached midnight.
Cipher stood on the high platform, her tail swaying gently, her voice booming like thunder.
"May your blood always surge, your journey always be tranquil, and your deceptions never be exposed—see you in the Holy City, everyone."
The Haji-Sai gave a loud mobilization.
"May deceptions never be exposed!"
"May deceptions never be exposed!"
The shouts of three hundred thieves converged into a torrent, breaking through the night and soaring into the clouds.
At this moment, they were no longer stinking rats in the gutter, but "Gully-dwellers" who dared to challenge the authority of the Trickery Titan.
Soon, Tribbie opened the portal.
The three hundred thieves filed in, their figures disappearing one by one into the flow of light, scattering to different city-states.
After arriving in the foreign lands, many of the thieves finally realized something was wrong.
(Damn!)
(So the most illogical thing was the 'Gatekeeper Demigod' herself!)
(She isn't the Gatekeeper; she's the Lord Demon God in disguise.)
This portal was slightly different from the "Century Gate" opened by Lady Tribbie.
Many of them had also seen the Century Gate performed by "Tribbie."
In an instant, an unprecedented fighting spirit exploded in the hearts of the three hundred people.
They were people who gambled with their lives to begin with. Now, with Lord Demon God personally sending them to various battlefields to participate in the great undertaking of deceiving the Trickery Titan...
Far from being afraid, they were like they had been injected with chicken blood, their fighting spirit even more fierce.
"May deceptions never be exposed!"
...
"Lycia."
Inside a dark and damp prison.
Mold spread across the four walls like a plague, and the air was filled with a nauseating stench of rotting corpses, blood, and dust.
Behind the iron bars, prisoners huddled in corners, skin and bones, their eyes hollow like skeletons that had yet to be buried.
Merchants, farmers, scholars, and even nobles were now branded with the name of "treason," reduced to mere ants.
Clang! Clang!
Chains rattled as the jailer twisted open the rust-stained lock with a "clack," then kicked the iron bars hard: "Get up! Get out! You've been pardoned and released!"
"What?"
"We... are being released?"
"This..."
The prisoners looked up hesitantly, their faces full of numbness and suspicion.
After a moment, they supported each other and staggered to their feet, their steps floating as they moved outside.
No one cheered, no one shed tears, because they were innocent to begin with!
"Let's go, to the next cage. It stinks too much here."
Elysia lightly covered her nose and mouth, her fingertips pinching a silk handkerchief embroidered with gold, fanning it gently to drive away the foul smell.
"Yes, yes, Lady Dumaine."
"To think you would personally come to release these lowly slaves. You only needed to give the word; why come to such a filthy place yourself?"
"Please watch your step; don't step in the dirty water."
The jailer bowed and scraped, catering to her with flattery.
In his eyes, Elysia was the powerful "Dumaine," the iron-fisted new noble of Lycia's new regime.
That this person would personally come to release prisoners was truly a bit incomprehensible to him.
Soon, the news of a thousand prisoners being released spread like the wind.
And at this moment, Elysia already stood before the final cage.
The prison official here was a distant relative of Dumaine.
Although he wasn't familiar with that new noble relative, the official knew very well that "Dumaine" could absolutely not appear here.
"Release them; these are the last three."
Elysia covered her nose, casting a look of feigned disgust at the three people in the cell.
"Yes, respected Lady 'Dumaine'."
The official quietly approached, suddenly drew his sword, and lunged toward Elysia's back.
Elysia gave a "gasp," retreating with the momentum, and was forced into the prison cell.
Clang! The iron door was slammed shut and locked.
Of course, this was a part of Elysia's plan.
Squelch! Blood splattered.
Three heads fell one after another, blood spraying from their necks onto the stone walls.
The three former ministers who had been released and had once acted with overbearing authority never understood until their deaths why things had turned out this way.
"Trying to save them?"
"The lackeys of a political rival? Pity, your scheme was seen through by me long ago!"
The official sneered, holding the dripping longsword and pointing it at the "Dumaine" in the cell.
"Oh~ is that so?"
In the cell, Elysia slowly looked up.
In the next instant, she wiped her hand across her face, turning into the likeness of the official.
"You!"
The official was furious.
Elysia smiled.
These three former ministers were bait she had intentionally left.
They had preyed on the people, colluded with foreign enemies, and oppressed the virtuous—they were truly evil to the core.
The only reason they were here was because they were at odds with the new usurper.
And she, by using the hand of the official, had removed three rotten tumors for the people of Lycia.
"Tomorrow, just wait to be executed."
The official snorted in anger, sheathed his sword, and turned to stride away in a huff.
...
The sun was high in the sky, and the execution ground was crowded with people.
"I am the Lord of Lycia!"
"What do you want to do? Damn it, are you trying to usurp power?!"
On the execution platform, "Elysia" roared.
"Gag him!"
The executioner shouted angrily.
Several soldiers lunged forward, stuffing a rag firmly into the prisoner's mouth.
"Mmph—!"
In just that one night, they had seen with their own eyes "Elysia" turn into a man, then into a woman, and even her body shape could change.
Even though she now looked like the Lord, the executioner and the prison officials didn't believe it.
Besides, on the high platform, the real Lord was watching the execution.
Who would believe it?
"The damned thief 'Zorro of a Thousand Faces,' using sorcery to delude the masses and releasing a thousand serious criminals, is beyond pardon! He is hereby sentenced to beheading, to be executed immediately!"
The judge announced loudly.
"Mmph!"
"Zorro of a Thousand Faces" struggled desperately, the veins on his neck bulging, his eyes almost splitting.
But the ropes bound him tightly; he couldn't move at all.
Around the execution ground, the prisoners rescued by Elysia were mixed in the crowd, watching their benefactor go to his death, yet powerless to save him.
From arrest to execution, it had been less than half a day; there was no time to plan.
They could only lower their heads, praying silently.
Praying for the Death Titan's mercy, that their benefactor might be reborn into a good family in the next life and suffer less.
"Mmph!"
After "Zorro of a Thousand Faces" gave one last whimper, shing—the cold light fell!
The head rolled, and blood sprayed.
But when the head stopped rolling, people were shocked to find that it was actually the head of the Lycian usurper.
The executioner trembled all over, suddenly looking up at the high platform.
"Hahahahahaha~"
On the viewing stand, Elysia, who had been disguised as the "Usurper," suddenly stood up, wiped her hand across her face, and instantly changed her appearance.
Then, she covered her forehead and laughed loudly.
"The truth of magic, I have deciphered, ahahahahaha."
The laughter made it impossible to tell if it was a man or a woman.
The crowd erupted instantly.
Soldiers drew their swords and rushed toward the high platform, only to be blocked by the surging commoners.
Those who had been imprisoned, oppressed, and bullied spontaneously formed circles, using their bodies to clear a path for Elysia.
Under the gaze of thousands, "Zorro of a Thousand Faces" Elysia quietly vanished into the crowd.
"Deception of the Gods" Get +1.
With "Protean Jak'Sho," magic was as simple as could be.
...
On the other side.
Pardo was sitting on the eaves of a clock tower, a golden coin flipping nimbly between her fingers.
Can-chan was also comfortably coiling her tail around gems one by one.
The city-state of Mistystay.
The underground treasuries of eight nobles and the King had been looted clean.
The treasury doors were tightly shut, the keys were intact, there were no signs of prying, no tunnels, yet the mountain of wealth had vanished like a ghost.
"Damn it!"
"My money!"
The King and nobles were ashen-faced.
And just as the first ray of morning light fell upon the land, the poor found a golden coin in their pockets.
Not just in Mistystay; the miracle quickly spread to the surrounding city-states.
All the poor people received a golden coin gifted by Pardo.
"With me, the Phantom Thief Cat, on the job, it's as simple as can be."
"I wonder how things are going on Elysia-nee's side?"
Pardo chuckled, leaping down from the clock tower, her figure merging into the morning light.
She continued on to distribute more coins.
...
"Ghost Day," night.
"Hehehehe, roar~"
"Oh!"
"Jie jie jie~"
"These little thieves are quite hardworking, aren't they?"
The moment the "Deception of the Gods" was performed, Zagreus had been watching those three hundred little thieves.
"Ooh~ someone successfully escaped? Not bad."
"Jie jie jie, most of them were caught. Too embarrassing, too embarrassing, hehehehe roar~"
At nightfall.
Zagreus was greatly satisfied with this feast of lies and specifically sent clones to mock every chivalrous thief who had suffered imprisonment.
However, he didn't notice the triumphant look in the eyes of every captured thief.
Zagreus' appearance meant they had succeeded.
And, in the final moments of the twilight.
"Are you the one called Cifera?"
Amidst the "jie jie" mocking laughter, Zagreus manifested before Cipher.
"You went to such great lengths to arrange this Ghost Day feast just to lure me out, didn't you?"
"Now I have come as promised, but you are but a mortal. What can you do against the Great God of Trickery?"
"Jie jie jie."
Cipher chuckled, cupping her hands around her mouth like a megaphone: "Lord Demon God!"
In the next instant, a phantom of a Hound God suddenly appeared in Zagreus' eyes.
"Holy crap!"
To be continued…
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