Danger, danger, danger!!!
Even though the Therianthrope in front of her simply stood there with an expressionless face, showing no intention of attacking, Alexia's mind was screaming at her to run.
Ignoring that instinct, Alexia lowered her body into a fighting stance, her sword pointed straight at the blonde Therianthrope. She focused completely on every subtle movement, not daring to relax for even a second.
She held that position, locked in a standoff.
As time passed, she could feel her mental state steadily declining. Gritting her teeth, Alexia made up her mind to strike first.
A person's performance always falls within a certain range. At her best, she could reach her peak, but as her mental state worsened, her strength would drop with it. There was no way she could stay at her peak forever.
She didn't know why the blonde Therianthrope hadn't followed up after knocking them down, but if this stalemate continued, her condition would only get worse.
She was already at a disadvantage. If her strength dropped any further, she might as well surrender. So she had to act now, while she could still fight at full power.
Of course, before that…
Tilting her head slightly, Alexia kept her guard up while glancing at Beta beside her, who was also facing the enemy. She gave her a subtle look.
She had always known Beta was hiding her strength, but she had never been able to prove it. Now she finally had confirmation. Earlier, Beta had sensed the attack before she did.
Under normal circumstances, Alexia would have made a big deal out of it and labeled her as suspicious. But right now, she only hoped Beta's hidden strength was as great as possible.
In response to Alexia's look, Beta only gave a strange, wry smile.
This is in the bag.
Refocusing on the blonde Therianthrope, Alexia felt reassured.
If Beta could still smile in this situation, then even if victory wasn't guaranteed, escape certainly was. With two against one, they might even win. That smile probably just meant Beta was annoyed her secret had been exposed.
With that reassurance, Alexia made her move.
She pushed off the ground and lunged forward, her sword cutting toward the blonde Therianthrope.
To her surprise, even as the blade was about to land, the Therianthrope remained completely indifferent, not reacting at all.
Fine. If you won't move, that just makes it easier.
With that thought, Alexia's strike grew even faster.
"Thud!"
Alexia collapsed, hitting the ground face-first.
Beta crouched down, looking at Alexia lying unconscious with a strange expression. The black rod she had used to knock her out dissolved into slime and merged back into her outfit.
"What I meant by two against one… is guessing who the 'one' really is. Second Princess, you still have no idea what's going on around you, do you? Haha…"
As Beta's clear, bell-like laughter echoed, Zeta put away her golden ring weapon and let out a deep sigh.
"Next time, don't just sneak into my territory, Beta. If you want to come, tell my subordinates first."
"Can't be helped. This troublemaker keeps running around everywhere. If I want to complete the mission properly, I have no choice but to follow along."
She pointed at Alexia. Clearly, Alexia was the "troublemaker" she meant.
"You could have handed that mission off to someone else. All we need is for her to stay alive."
"Then Alexia would have it pretty rough…"
Beta poked Alexia's cheek, a trace of pity showing in her eyes.
"Her own sister was manipulated into becoming a weapon of the Cult of Diablos. She can't trust anyone around her. Either they belong to the Cult of Diablos, or they're connected to someone who does… and now we can probably add our Shadow Garden to that list too."
"That has nothing to do with us. We are just a group rejected by the world, gathering together to survive. Even so, we can stand against the Cult.
As for her, she's a princess, yet she doesn't even have a single trustworthy subordinate. If she has no one to rely on, that's her own failure."
Hearing Zeta's cold words, Beta showed an unsurprised expression.
"Don't say that. If we hadn't met Shadow-sama, all of us would have either died as piles of flesh or ended up as test subjects in the Cult of Diablos' laboratories.
And Alexia hasn't done nothing. At least she realized she's surrounded by traitors, so she came out here to seek help from the other two worlds to deal with the Cult of Diablos."
"Foolish."
Zeta didn't change her opinion in the slightest, giving only that blunt judgment.
"Yeah… it really is pretty foolish…"
Beta, who had been speaking up for Alexia just moments ago, simply nodded in agreement.
"You're bringing in outside forces. Even in the best-case scenario, where you manage to wipe out both organizations, what are you going to do about the group you brought in, the one capable of taking on both sides at once? It's easy to invite trouble, but hard to send it away.
And if you lose, then the forces in World No. 3 will turn into a three-way war. Just imagining that… tsk."
"But honestly, what is she thinking? Just like her sister, something's clearly off in her head, actually planning to take on both our organizations at the same time?
Hmm… heh… heh…"
By the end, even Beta couldn't help but laugh in confusion. She genuinely could not understand where the two sisters got that kind of courage.
The Cult of Diablos had thousands of years of history. They had agents embedded in nations all across World No. 3 and countless hidden trump cards. Among the twelve of the Rounds combatants, even the weakest, Zenon, could reach S- rank at full power. Most were solidly S rank, and it was entirely possible that the strongest had reached SS.
Those who had served longer at the Rounds could rely on items, terrain advantages, summons, and other hidden methods to easily kill SS-class opponents. If they were willing to pay any price, even risking mutual destruction, they might even be able to take down fighters ranked within the top fifteen in the world.
As for Shadow Garden, while they didn't have the same depth of history, they had over seven hundred members. Even the weakest among them was at least A-. By the standards of World No. 3's surface world, that meant top-tier magic swordsmen, easily within the world's top fifty.
As for the so-called strongest knight of the Midgar Kingdom, Princess Iris, there were close to two hundred members on their side who could defeat her one on one.
Beta wasn't exaggerating. As long as they didn't run into a top-tier Round Table member within the range of their prepared trump cards, they didn't take something like the Midgar Kingdom seriously at all.
If they wanted to kill all of Midgar's high-ranking officials, one day was enough. If they wanted to destroy the kingdom, three days would be sufficient to wipe out its army and magic swordsmen. And if they wanted to slaughter the entire nation, half a day would be enough. It wasn't like they lacked large-scale destructive methods.
So how exactly did she come up with the idea of going against both factions at once? Any normal person would choose to side with one of them. This was something Beta simply couldn't understand.
"Since you know all that, why have you been helping her this whole time? Just do what I said. Cut off all her connections to the outside. Once we've settled things with the Cult of Diablos, we can bring her in and make her our agent."
Zeta interrupted Beta's thoughts and stated it plainly.
At their core, they weren't much different from the Cult of Diablos. They were simply a group of people rejected by the world, forced together after being persecuted by the Cult, the dominant force of the hidden world, and now determined to destroy it.
Once the Cult of Diablos was gone, whether they wanted it or not, with that kind of power, they would naturally take its place.
"With her personality, unless you cripple her, she's definitely going to cause trouble. But she's still something like a pet I've raised, so I should at least keep an eye on her. Besides, there's nothing else to do right now."
Stretching Alexia's cheek, Beta spoke in a slightly helpless tone.
"I don't care about your relationship with her, but next time, be more careful. Don't just trespass into my territory. I'll overlook it this time.
I have other matters to attend to, so I'm leaving. You should go as well. I don't have time to entertain you."
Zeta turned and began to walk away, but after a few steps, she stopped.
"Beta… you'd better be joking."
She turned back. In her hand, the golden ring reappeared, her voice calm, but the anger beneath it unmistakable.
"Unfortunately, I'm not."
Beta shook her head with a hint of regret as she drew her bowstring.
"I only infiltrated this place because I found some leads related to the Cult of Diablos and came to investigate. But what about you, Zeta? Why are you here? And what were you planning by having the Mitsugoshi Company transport dangerous goods earlier?"
Zeta narrowed her eyes. After a brief pause, she finally spoke.
"This is indeed the Cult of Diablos' territory. But before you arrived, I had already attacked and taken over this base.
The reason I had the Mitsugoshi Company move those goods was to draw out the hidden members of the Cult of Diablos."
"Then how do you explain the artificial Diablos cell clones I saw when I crawled past the lab through the ventilation ducts just now?"
Staring straight at Zeta, Beta showed no sign of lowering her weapon.
"They're artificial bombs seized from the Cult of Diablos. They were already like that when I got them."
"Then why are the experiments still ongoing?"
"Just making use of what's available. Better to use them against the Cult of Diablos."
"Zeta, how is that any different from the Cult of Diablos?"
Beta shouted angrily as she began pouring Magical Power into her bow.
"Artificial beings can't develop souls anyway, and their bodies are flawed. They're destined to live only a few years. What's wrong with me making use of them?"
Zeta's voice also turned sharp with anger.
"Shadow once told me a fairy tale. Though honestly, I'm not even sure it was really a fairy tale…"
With a bitter smile, Beta spoke in a nostalgic tone. At the mention of Shadow, Zeta did not make a move.
Beta drew her bow to its limit. Magical Power surged along its surface, distorting the air around it.
"What stayed with me most was the conclusion Shadow-sama gave. A dragon slayer can claim the dragon's treasure, but must never wear the dragon's skin and plunder like a dragon. Because the dragon killed by the slayer is often just a former slayer who put on that skin.
That… is what Shadow-sama expects from us in Shadow Garden.
Stop now. There's still time."
"…Shadow-sama approved this."
Zeta fell silent for a moment, then gave that answer, though it lacked conviction.
"You think I'd believe that?"
Zeta said nothing.
Of course not. None of them would believe it. Shadow-sama had long since left them to act on their own.
"You can't beat me."
In the end, Zeta returned to a Therianthrope's logic. Strength decides everything.
"When was the last time we fought? How can you be so sure?
We haven't fought since then. Who knows who's stronger now? Let's settle it right here."
With that, Beta released the bowstring.
The arrow, packed with immense Magical Power, shot toward Zeta at terrifying speed.
Zeta didn't take it head-on. She instantly shifted position and dodged.
In the next instant, she appeared right in front of Beta, the golden ring in her hand slicing toward her.
"Clang!"
The sound of metal colliding rang out. Beta had already shaped her slime into a blade, blocking the strike.
"…Hah."
Clashing head-on with a Therianthrope was not a smart choice. Without trying to overpower her, Beta used the momentum of the attack to pull away.
Her weapon shifted again. The blade reverted into a bow. She drew the string to aim, only to find Zeta had vanished.
Where? Where? Where?!
She scanned frantically, but there was no sign of Zeta.
A rush of air came from above.
By instinct, Beta looked up and saw Zeta already swinging her weapon down at her.
"Bang."
Faster than her thoughts, Beta's body reacted. She had already raised her weapon and blocked the strike.
Using the same tactic, she pulled back again. This time, she succeeded in widening the distance. Three arrows shot from her bow in quick succession, but all of them were dodged.
The arrows struck the ground, piercing deep into the floor. The Magical Power at their tails slowly faded.
Zeta continued her assault, diving forward to close the distance and finish the fight. Beta stuck to her strategy. Every time Zeta advanced, she retreated, then counterattacked from afar.
It might take time, but…
This would win.
By the time Zeta realized it, the ground around her was already filled with embedded arrows.
"Boom!"
The Magical Power hidden within the arrowheads was triggered. A blazing red light erupted upward, engulfing Zeta at the center.