"It's not a big deal." Judas squatted on a low eave of the church, with a cigarette in his left hand and the witch's pipe in his right hand.

Merka lay quietly on the cracked ground, his body oozing fresh blood as his skin slowly began to heal.

"Your self-healing ability is quite strong, similar to mine." If someone were to carefully observe Judas's tentacles at this moment, they would notice that the boundaries of the tentacles were unusually blurred. They seemed sharp and blunt at the same time, constantly changing their shape. It was very similar to what happened to Merka just now.

Judas actually has such incredible power... Why didn't I notice it before?

Merka slowly sat up from the pit, the intense pain temporarily preventing him from assuming a fighting stance.

I can't defeat him alone... If I want to stop him, I need someone else's help.

The white flames on Merka's body gradually extinguished, and his lifeless eyes stared straight at Judas.

"What's the matter? Planning to run away?" Judas looked at Merka and suddenly burst into laughter.

"Hahaha... Well, well, it's all up to you, whether you escape or not. Your legs are your own." Judas turned around, crazily scratching his hair. He yanked out a bunch of beautiful golden curls.

"But as I said earlier, if you run away, I'll find someone else..." Judas suddenly calmed down, and the corner of his eye glanced deeply at Merka.

Even though Merka couldn't see anything, he couldn't help but tremble under that gaze. "But... if I kill more people, it will be on your head. And you know... I'm not very good at math, if I accidentally kill a few more..."

Judas jumped from the rooftop to the ground in front of Merka. Instead of attacking, he just watched Merka, waiting for his choice.

"Judas... aren't you a cashier?" Merka said sadly.

"Yes, I am a cashier at our little family, the Gethsemane Hotel. How can I not be good at math?"

"What happened to you? Tell me."

Merka gritted his teeth and stood up. His body had already recovered almost completely.

"You clearly... back then, you liked Prince An so much. But you... were all of that just a disguise?" Merka had been hesitant whether to use this explosive emotional bomb or not, but perhaps under the influence of anger, the questioning words slipped out.

"Regardless of your obsession with the witch, or your unreasonable reasons for your plans. Regardless of who you did it for, or what you believe is righteous."

"You only killed people because of your own ideas, because of your own wishful thinking! That even includes the woman you used to have a crush on!"

"Do you think that as long as you kill everyone who might hold you accountable, your calamity won't come?" Merka became more and more excited as he spoke, forgetting his original intention of buying time to recover from his injuries. He shouted loudly at Judas.

"You will... pay the price..." The steaming white flames appeared on Merka's body again. Due to his emotions, the power of the flames was exceptionally strong.

"The flames of the Highness burn...!"

The tentacles grasped the ground forcefully, flinging Judas at Merka like a stone in a slingshot. A heavy elbow strike shattered Merka's nose bridge, sending him flying far away. Merka lay motionless on the ground.

The clinging white flames flickered like candle flames blown by a gentle breeze, almost extinguishing.

"Prince An will never die." Judas looked coldly at Merka, his face covered in blood in the distance.

"The witch's grand plan, once completed, will ensure that Prince An stays by my side forever."

"Not by the side of another man, not by the Agio family, and certainly not abroad."

The resurrection of the dead? Is this another cliché lie? Why does the witch make him believe in it so deeply?

Judas walked steadily towards Merka, the meaningful footsteps echoing heavily in Merka's heart.

"I've changed my mind now, and I want you dead. A few more kills won't matter."

Despite not knowing if the police station was actually destroyed by him.

However, with his immense power, it has reached a point where the family needs to intervene.

The closest one here is the Raphaël family... Turing is also there.

Merka listened to the approaching footsteps, fully alert.

"Merka, you are always clever."

Judas came to Merka's side and squatted down.

"But now, if you even utter a spell or use the slightest trace of magic, I will blow your head off."

"In this situation, let me see what tricks you still have up your sleeve."

"To be honest, I have always wanted to open up your head and see what's inside." Judas smirked, looking at Merka.

Merka didn't care about Judas watching nearby. Silently, he reached out his right hand and touched his blood-stained face.

Meanwhile, Judas merely nodded and did nothing, intending to see what Merka could do.

Suddenly, with lightning speed, Merka stopped his current action and shook out a curved iron piece from his sleeve, directly pressing the trigger towards Judas.

"What..." Judas exclaimed. Merka didn't chant a spell or generate any magical fluctuations. Just a second ago, Merka appeared motionless, but now he delivered a heavy blow to Judas.

"Boom!" A bloody hole was carved out in Judas' shoulder, and he stumbled back several steps.

But Merka didn't stop attacking, firing several shots at Judas in quick succession. Caught off guard, Judas suddenly had four or five holes in his body.

The pistol brought out from the witch shop... It was unexpected that it would be put to use so soon.

"I knew it! You truly live up to your reputation!" Judas coughed up blood. His excited expression didn't resemble someone who had been shot - his injuries were rapidly healing.

And if my guess is correct... The little gear isn't actually a familiar of the witch, and it may not even qualify as a familiar.

"To be honest, I have always been envious of you, you know?"

"Why... How is it that you did nothing and were sought out by the Agio family, rising in the monastery..."

After all, if the little gear was considered a familiar, its intelligence was too low. But for some reason, it oddly understood human speech. This was strange, as there had never been any magic in this world that could control the actions of magical beings; at most, they could be controlled through daily training.

"If I could pass the monastery exams... I could have stayed with the Agio family that oversees the church and be with Prince Ann..."

However, considering the witch's experience of going abroad, I have some clues about what the little gear actually is.

"But I'm not deserving! The answer is that I don't deserve to be with her! This is such an impossible situation!"

Isn't it similar to some kind of machine? Although it doesn't have exact intelligence, it obeys human commands and naturally responds to certain conditions. Just like the machines and artificial intelligence abroad.

And the biggest characteristic of artificial intelligence is that it gives the same response to the same question.

"Here, you won't be able to understand the deep pain I feel... But Xixi Fushi should be the same kind of existence for you, right?" Different parts of Judas' body gradually transformed into the material of his tentacles, and his body size doubled. "Don't worry, I will let you experience that indescribable feeling in detail very soon."

Merka frowned and looked at the charging Judas, throwing the pistol directly at him.

--------------------------------------------------

In Erisburg, Theresa stood in the middle of the overgrown garden, lost in thought.

Clearly, she was just a few steps away from leaving through the gates of Erisburg.

"Hey, Madam Steward." Wednesday greeted Theresa in the garden with a basket in hand.

Thinking about Turing, whom she hadn't seen for over a month, Wednesday felt a pang of loneliness. "Are you finally going to pick up Miss Turing? Um... the lady has given her permission, right?"

"Yeah...I have to go pick up that child," Theresa looked up at the sky and smiled faintly.

"Although she is the legitimate daughter of Ochiai."

"But she is always nervous."

"She lacks confidence in everything she does. So every time she falls short of perfection, she forces herself to improve, even to punish herself."

"Although sometimes things may go wrong."

"But usually, it's just because she overthinks, there is absolutely no lack of seriousness."

"After all, that child has been too sensitive since childhood."

"But this kind of child...is bearing the most unspeakable and least should endure pain in the world."

"Yes, yes...sir."

"She's just a little too stubborn," Theresa's tone was sad and long, as if talking to herself.