To carry out their plan, Tia and Mephia lived together for three days.
During these three days, Tia tried every possible way to steal the ring from Mephia’s hand, but all her attempts ended in failure.
However, she did manage to get her hands on the two Magic Crystals promised by Grey Cat.
After absorbing the Magic Power from the two crystals, the Magic Power within her body took a massive step forward.
Still, she was about two-thirds of the way short of reaching the next stage.
In other words, she needed four more Magic Crystals before she could step into the final stage of the Iron Rank: Three-star Iron.
By then, Mephia would likely be the only person in Hela City who could openly defeat her.
However, acquiring Magic Crystals was not something that could be rushed.
For now, she had to deal with Grey Cat first.
—
Three days later, inside a carriage heading toward the Old Library of Hela City.
Tia sat poised inside the carriage, her eyes sparkling with an inexplicable light, though her words remained filled with worry.
“Will I really not be recognized, dressed like this?”
“Mhm, rest assured. This is a necessary disguise. Besides, as long as she dares to step into that Old Library, it will be impossible for her to escape my grasp.”
Mephia, sitting across from her, smoothed her sleeves and spoke indifferently.
Tia fell silent for a moment.
As the target of this mission, she, the daughter of a Count, was still dressed in a glamorous noble gown.
Mephia, however, had put on a black-and-white maid outfit.
She claimed she needed to disguise herself as a maid to accompany Tia to the Old Library…
Regarding this, Tia maliciously speculated that wearing a maid outfit might just be one of Mephia’s personal proclivities.
As the carriage approached the vicinity of the Old Library, although Tia did not see a single Inquisitor, she could vaguely sense a heavy, murderous atmosphere.
A dozen Inquisitors were already lying in ambush here, including two or three Iron Rank Inquisitors.
“Act the part once we are inside. Be careful, she might be observing from the shadows,” Mephia instructed.
She stepped out of the carriage first and elegantly assisted Tia as they walked into the library.
Because this library had been abandoned for a long time, the sunlight filtering through the windows was hazy, looking as if it were draped in a thin veil.
The floor was covered in a thick layer of dust.
They made their way up until Tia brought Mephia to the top floor of the library.
This was a vast, empty hall.
According to the plan, the ancient book she was looking for was on a shelf on the top floor.
Mephia soon found an excuse to leave the top floor and return to the first floor.
To an outsider, this looked like a perfect opportunity for an assassin to strike Tia.
At that moment, a nimble grey cat leaped down from a broken window on the top floor, arriving silently behind Tia.
—
Nightingale: **[The investigation is complete. There was originally Trap Magic on the top floor of the Old Library intended to deal with you, but I will teach you the spell to dispel it. At the same time, I will help you stall the Inquisitors who are coming to capture you.]**
Nightingale: **[But remember, I can only stall them for 1 minute at most. This means you have a maximum of 1 minute to kill that daughter of a Count. Once time is up, you must retreat even if you haven’t finished, or you will be caught by the Inquisitors!]**
—
Recalling the messages Nightingale had sent her a few days ago, the grey cat landed and transformed.
A Witch wearing a grey dress with a cat tail trailing behind her appeared on the top floor of the library.
The moment she appeared, she knitted her brows, sensing a terrifying magical aura near the top floor.
‘Is this the Trap Magic Nightingale mentioned?’
‘So, how exactly did she find out? And how did she learn the dispelling incantation from the mouths of the Inquisition’s Inquisitors?’
‘Tsk, Nightingale…’
She felt as though she had slightly underestimated this newly ascended Witch.
Fortunately, they were teammates now.
Deep on the top floor of the Old Library, in front of the bookshelves, Tia, dressed in her elegant gown, heard the movement from Grey Cat.
She turned around.
Upon seeing Grey Cat, her pupils dilated in terror, and her chest heaved slightly.
Her voice carried just the right amount of trembling and confusion.
She instinctively gripped the edge of the nearby bookshelf as if it were her only support.
“Wh-who are you?”
Grey Cat walked like a true cat, making no sound at all.
She stopped several paces away from Tia.
A silvery-white short sword slid from her sleeve, and a look of mockery and coldness appeared on her pretty face.
“The person here to kill you.”
Tia backed away, looking utterly confused.
“Why? There… there must be some misunderstanding between us. I have never even met you…”
“Sometimes, hatred doesn’t require a meeting to be established.”
Grey Cat took a step forward, the invisible pressure around her intensifying.
“If you want to hate someone, hate your own ridiculous kindness. Did you think you were a hero for saving those girls living in misery? Did you expect people to be grateful to you?”
She let out a sneer.
“You touched an intricate chain of interests and blocked too many people’s paths! Today is the day you pay the price for your naive kindness!”
Tia’s face turned pale, but not out of fear of death.
Because of Grey Cat’s words, a genuine surge of fury and sorrow rushed into her heart, igniting a flame of anger she hadn’t felt in a long time.
“Are… are the lives of those innocent girls not even worth as much as your so-called interests?!”
Her voice trembled with emotion.
Her fingers dug deep into the leather covers of the books, and the rims of her eyes turned red.
“How much longer… is this terrible world, where human life is treated like common grass, going to last?!”
Grey Cat froze for a moment.
She realized that the daughter of a Count before her was too pure and too kind.
She was like a piece of flawless white paper, holding onto her beliefs in the face of a filthy, dark reality.
She fell silent for a second.
When she spoke again, her voice carried a hint of twisted resonance.
“I used to be just like you—cynical, thinking everything should change.”
“But… later I understood. Instead of trying in vain to change this rotten world, it is better to learn to conform to its rules, gain Power from it, and become the perpetrator!”
“Because only then will you not get hurt. I… I didn’t want to be like this either… It was you! All of you forced me!”
Grey Cat almost growled the last few words.
It was as if she wanted to pour all her accumulated resentment onto the naive noble lady before her.
Beneath that resentment, however, a hint of twisted ecstasy was hidden in the depths of her eyes.
The feeling of personally defiling and tearing apart a pure white paper gave her an indescribable sense of excitement.
Tia seemed intimidated by her aura.
Her body leaned back slightly, her spine pressed firmly against the cold bookshelf.
Yet she still held her ground, lifting her chin to make her voice sound firm.
“It’s no use. You can’t kill me. I believe in the Inquisition. I believe in Master Mephia…”
Her gaze seemed to drift involuntarily toward several corners of the room, where hidden magic runes flickered and flowed.
“You believe in them?”
Grey Cat looked as if she had just heard the most hilarious joke.
The corner of her mouth hooked into a malicious smile.
“You mean these trap spells hidden everywhere, as fragile as spiderwebs?”
Under the girl’s terrified gaze, Grey Cat elegantly raised her right hand, which was covered in a black glove.
After chanting a few incantations under her breath, she softly snapped her fingers.
*Snap* —
Accompanied by the crisp sound, the magic runes shattered like a broken mirror.
Cracks appeared across them before their light rapidly dimmed, turning into scattering dust of Magic Power that vanished into the air.
“How… how is that possible?!”
The color completely drained from Tia’s face.
Her forced composure shattered, replaced by unbelievable horror.
The fear and unease of a young girl were now fully exposed.
One must understand that this Trap Magic was personally laid down by Mephia.
No one in the Inquisition could crack it, and the only person capable of breaking the spell, Mephia, was not here…
So, how did the Grey Cat in front of her manage to break it?!