The villainous young master just wants to live a Buddhist-like life.

Page 1463

　However, as things have developed to this point, there is no longer any possibility of a win-win situation for either side.

　In the end, only a winner-takes-all scenario remains, or a lose-lose situation! Hermes can't achieve a winner-takes-all outcome, but he can achieve... a lose-lose situation! Call it acting impulsively, call it being out of his mind, but in short, he doesn't want to see this woman make any move right now!

　Under his pressure, Principal Arte was indeed unable to intervene. The gap between the two sides was simply too great.

　Even if Hermes were nothing but bones in a tomb, a flickering candle in the wind, he was still not someone a human being who had not yet attained godhood could offend.

　He has his own dignity and confidence.

　"Sit down and let's have a serious talk," Principal Arte said gravely.

　But Hermes merely sneered. At the top of the tower, there was no wind, only light. Twelve colors.

　Inside the tower, Dark backed away step by step. [Shami] was pulled behind him. The "Demon Beast" didn't move rashly either. The statue of Hermes drew ever closer.

　It has no language system; when it opens its mouth, it can only utter a silent roar.

　Its eyes are pitch black and deep, as if black holes are hidden within them.

　Its energy core emitted a blazing red light, squeezing out the last bit of divine power.

　Its mind was devoid of all other thoughts; its only goal remained.

　It stretched out its hand, and black flames danced in its palm.

　It stared intently at Dark, its murderous aura palpable. The distance between them gradually closed. Finally, only three to five meters remained.

　The statue, which should have no facial expressions, revealed a sinister smile as the black aura covering its face rippled slightly.

　And then the next instant.

　The statue of Hermes hurled the black flames in its hand fiercely at Dark.

　The flame was only the size of a palm when it was launched.

　But as soon as it left his hand, it turned into a raging inferno.

　"Devimon" grabbed "Shaymin" and used "Instant Teleport" to teleport behind the statue.

　However, Dark was locked in by the divine power of the statue and was unable to teleport at all.

　In the end, he never opened his heart, allowing the "witch's wand" to fuel his "jealousy."

　Amidst the raging black flames, he had already made his choice.

　On the face consumed by black flames, an eternal smile remained.

　"Boom!"

　The black flames that completely engulfed Dark Dimon blasted through the wall behind him and also shattered the barrier set up by the idol itself.

　The black mist outside the wall was instantly incinerated by the black flames from the underworld. The contaminants fell from the shattered wall and onto the dark, shadowless ground.

　Outside air rushed in through the gaps between the flames and the walls. There was a breeze inside the building.

　A small wooden puppet appeared in the flames.

　But it didn't even last 0.1 seconds before it was burned to ashes by the black flames.

　Laughter suddenly erupted from the top of the Tower of Endymion. Principal Arte grabbed a magic chess piece and smashed it hard against Hermes' face, laughing heartily.

　Hermes' face looked as if ink was dripping from it. He pressed his hand onto the chessboard, and a corner of the board turned to dust.

　"you lose!"

　Principal Art smiled with immense pride.

　Dark Dimon was certainly not dead.

　The "Fairy Puppet" forcibly broke the statue's lock and teleported him to a safe location.

　Having exhausted its last bit of divine power—no, with only a tiny bit left—the statue ceased its movements. The aura of the underworld emanating from it melted away like snow, revealing the damaged parts of its body once more.

　The energy heart beat as slowly as a rusty clock. Driven by its last vestiges of divine power, it slowly turned around and saw behind it the human boy who should have perished completely in the flames!

　A pink vortex suddenly lit up around the boy.

　A little fairy with dragonfly wings suddenly emerged, its eyes scanning the surroundings with lightning speed.

　Professor Lily

　Dark, who was still catching his breath, immediately exclaimed the little fairy's name with a look of astonishment.

　He originally thought that the creature specially summoned by the extra effect of "Fairy Puppet" would be "Momomon," which was the only fairy species he had recorded in "Fairy Puppet."

　But just now, he watched as Professor Lily emerged from the summoning vortex!

　Professor Lily Laplace demonstrated unprecedented reliability at this moment.

　Without even asking where they were, she grabbed Dak's hand and retreated like the wind.

　"mum!"

　"Shami" suddenly jumped up and grabbed Dark's sleeve.

　Seeing the statue come to life again, "Devimon" quickly flapped its wings and chased after it.

　Only after getting some distance from the statue did Professor Lily hurriedly ask, "What was that just now?"

　Dark succinctly stated, "The statue of Hermes, but its divine power is nearing its end."

　"The statue of Hermes?" Professor Lily suddenly stopped. "There's only one."

　Dark nodded, then added somewhat uncertainly, "There are eleven other statues of gods on the top floor, but they should be beyond Hermes' control."

　"So it was the only one!" Professor Lily's face lit up with excitement.

　As Dak looked at her lovely face, which was gradually turning rosy, he suddenly had a bad feeling.

　But by the time he realized what was happening, Professor Lily had already charged back towards the statue of Hermes.

　Immediately afterwards, he heard footsteps coming from upstairs.

　However, Ollie and the others sensed that something was amiss and rushed down.

　Dark was a little worried about Lily, so he quickly sent "Devimon" to report that she was safe, and then went back towards that place.

　With this back and forth, the statue's power was fully restored. Its last bit of divine power was no longer enough to support it in using any authority, and even the technique of shooting beams from its eyes had to be disabled.

　Its power remains formidable, but its speed has been significantly reduced due to the absence of its "wing boots".

　Even Professor Lily wouldn't find it particularly easy to deal with such an opponent.

　--I guess so

　In short, just as Dark reached a position where he could see them, he discovered that the statue's right fist was passing right through Professor Lily's body—as if passing through a phantom, only causing a ripple.

　Professor Lily then flashed to its side and reached out to touch its head, which was now only half intact.

　"It's so ugly!"

　This time, Dark clearly heard Professor Lily's mutterings. "But Kazel should like it, right?"

　Then, Dark saw that Professor Lily had a "Sphere of Truth" in her hand!

　The process of capturing the idol and placing it into the "Orb of Truth" was not easy.

　Its performance is terrifyingly strong; even that last bit of divine power is enough to sustain it for a long time.

　In order to catch it, Professor Lily summoned thousands upon thousands of "ghost butterflies" in one go!

　That was a Legion-type Magical Spirit card with unimaginable difficulty in its production.

　When thousands upon thousands of "Ghost Butterflies" flew out from just one Magical Spirit Card, Dark almost thought he was hallucinating.

　But the statue was overwhelmed by the countless "ghost butterflies." In legend, "ghost butterflies" are the souls of the dead, and are known as "white, glowing ghosts."

　Countless ghost butterflies live on the outskirts of the dense forest surrounding St. Marian's Academy.

　Dark also keeps ghost butterflies in the club's classroom. The ghost butterflies' main ability is to absorb magic power.

　Professor Lily's summoned "ghost butterflies" also possess similar abilities. Of these thousands upon thousands of "ghost butterflies," if even a few hundred of them successfully sucked a drop of divine power from the statue, they could drain that little bit of divine power.

　But a skinny camel is bigger than a horse.

　Although the statue had lost its ability to unleash area-of-effect attacks, the wind pressure generated by its waving arms was enough to instantly kill all the swarms of "ghost butterflies" that rushed towards it.

　However, Professor Lily later used a different special magic card.

　Thanks to that magic card, she shared the same status with all of these "Ghost Butterflies"!

　Therefore, when she turned herself into a phantom, all the "ghost butterflies" also entered the same phantom state.

　Thousands upon thousands of "ghost butterflies," immune to physical attacks, completely drained the statue of Hermes!

　That statue has lost its last bit of power!

　After carefully confirming that it would not move again, Professor Lily excitedly opened the "Orb of Truth" and threw... no, she put the statue of Hermes into the "Orb of Truth".

　Darke only truly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the statue of Hermes completely disappear.

　This battle with the statue of Hermes was the most difficult battle he had ever experienced.

　So much so that by the end of the battle, he was mentally prepared to give up.

　Of course, he didn't really give up.

　Even if Professor Lily wasn't specially summoned by the "Fairy Puppet," she had already imbued the "Witch's Wand" with magic. The "Flame of Jealousy" she unleashed would allow the statue of Hermes to experience the power of "jealousy."

　"79."

　After glancing at the "Jealousy" stat, Dark put the "Witch's Staff" back into the Orb of Truth.

　79 is still a value within the safety threshold.

　Moreover, since it's "jealousy," it will naturally subside as long as you continue with your daily routine.

　But when Dark returned the Orb of Truth containing the "Witch's Wand" to his backpack, he suddenly felt an extremely strong sense of relief.

　Today's actions... and indeed the entire operation over this period of time, have been far too risky for him!

　He found himself utterly disgusted by this kind of "adventure" where he couldn't control everything.

　"If possible, I hope this is the last time."

　Thinking to himself, Dark met up with Aurora and the others who were walking quickly towards him.

　He did not let his guard down completely.

　This operation is not over yet.

　Subduing the Hermes statue might only be the first step. After all, he still hasn't met Principal Arte. Rescuing the principal is their sole objective.

　Professor Lily's arrival brought him a profound sense of security. He had never felt so fortunate to have Professor Lily around! So, why did Professor Lily manage to escape the vortex of the "Fairy Puppet" summoning?!

　What exactly did she do to the "fairy puppet"?

　Dark slowly stopped and turned to look at Professor Lily, who was excitedly holding the "Orb of Truth."

　However, he didn't ask that question. Instead, he suddenly said, "Professor Lily, you've already come in."

　Professor Lily put away the "Orb of Truth" and said seriously, "They've come in, but not all of them."

　Dark frowned and asked, "Who else?"

　Professor Lily said, "Sarah, Bellamy, Sabrina." (Sarah Sylph, Professor of St. Marian College)

　High Priestess Bellamy Artemis of the Moon Elf race. Bishop Sabrina Melville of the Holy Church. And Professor Lily, who entered last.

　These are all the people who have entered the "Heavenly Court".

　Moreover, apart from Lily, the other three had entered the "Heavenly Court" half an hour earlier.

　They were not teleported here.

　"Why are there only four people? How did they get in?" Dak asked, puzzled. Professor Lily replied, "I won't go into the details of Kazel's research. In short, they used their respective treasures to trigger some special mechanism, which allowed them to successfully bypass the passage's seal and teleport here... This should be the 'Heavenly Court,' right?"

　Dark nodded and said, "That should be true."

　Professor Lily said, “That’s good. Sarah was able to enter because of the ‘Dermeter’s Dress’ she was wearing. Bishop Sabrina Melville, on the other hand, relied on the ‘Golden Key.’ Furthermore, High Priestess Bellamy Artemis possesses a crown…it must be the crown of the ancient Elven King, which also contains the power of Demeter.”

　Dark patted his "scabbard" and said, "In that case, wouldn't this scabbard also serve as a key to enter this place?"

　Professor Lily nodded and said, "Theoretically, yes. However, according to Kazel's deduction, you need to let the scabbard absorb divine blood before it can trigger the mechanism like Sarah's dress."

　“I see,” Dark nodded. “So, how did you get in?”

　Lily chuckled and pulled a jet-black orb from her backpack, saying, "I stole this from Kazel! But it was triggered suddenly not long ago."