Chapter 114
Chapter 114: The Last Stand
Seattle Mercy Hospital, 7th Floor.
"And the curtain falls~"
The Joker bowed toward the Plague Ghost.
Then.
He straightened up, his peripheral vision flickering toward the shadow outside the window.
"You two, you've watched long enough. Isn't it time to come out and show yourselves?"
Outside the window.
Silk-Stocking Desperado and Guan Ming, crouched in the cold wind, felt their hearts simultaneously tighten.
They had already anticipated it—against a monster like this, being discovered was only a matter of time.
"Oh my~"
Since they'd been called out, Silk-Stocking Desperado simply stopped hiding.
She pushed open the window and climbed into the ward with Guan Ming, bold and unhurried.
"Why, isn't this Mr. Joker? Truly, what a small world—what a coincidence!"
"Hmm?"
Hearing the other party's utterly familiar tone.
The Joker smiled. "We meet again~ Miss Silk-Stocking~"
"If I'm not mistaken, you two were forcibly teleported to somewhere nearby as well, weren't you?"
"Yes, yes, it seems we've all fallen into someone's scheme."
"If there's nothing else, we won't take up any more of your time—bye-bye!"
Silk-Stocking Desperado took the offered out with complete naturalness.
Then she pulled Guan Ming around, lifted her foot, and prepared to slip out of the ward entirely.
But just as they'd taken 2 steps, hands nearly reaching the door handle.
"Miss Silk-Stocking, please wait."
The Joker's voice rang out again.
"Didn't you...leave something behind?"
Silk-Stocking Desperado stopped in her tracks and turned her head.
Only to see the Joker's hand, casually swinging a dagger!
That dagger was...
The very dagger Silk-Stocking Desperado had forcibly seized from Chen Daozi's hands—the one enchanted with 200 days' worth of temporal power!!
"!!"
Silk-Stocking Desperado's pupils contracted slightly, and she thought to herself.
'Is that the Sequence Ability?'
'Only that move could take something from me.'
Guan Ming, walking behind her, had just been quietly congratulating himself for seeing through the Joker's hand.
Now he didn't dare even breathe!
He had already learned through his Premonition Dream the weakness and limitations of Cycle Future.
But in this tense standoff, it was clearly not the time to tear through that paper screen.
If he blurted it out now, a madman like this would silence him instantly!
The Joker, however, was entirely unhurried, even toying with the dagger in his hand, his smile turning cold.
"What a lovely thing~"
"Inside this dagger, there is an exceptionally dense power of time."
"That familiar aura..."
"Reminds me of the man who first crossed blades with me here..."
"Someone called...Daozi, I believe?"
"It seems, Miss Silk-Stocking, that you and he have quite the intimate connection—hahaha!"
The reason his smile was so cold was simple.
Because anyone with any knowledge of the Card Players' Association would know.
The body he was currently inhabiting belonged to none other than Chen Daozi's junior brother!
And between the Joker and Chen Daozi, there was absolutely no question—they were mortal enemies!
Guan Ming, caught in the middle, had already caught the scent of gunpowder in the air.
'Are they going to fight right here?'
Cold sweat slowly trickled down his forehead.
Yet.
Right at the instant when battle seemed inevitable.
To no one's expectation, Silk-Stocking Desperado looked as though she'd been deeply offended!
"Hmph!!"
She stamped her foot hard, crossing both arms over her chest.
"Mr. Joker! Say that again and I'll actually get angry~"
"Who said I have a close relationship with that awful man? Don't go pinning labels on me!"
"This dagger..."
Silk-Stocking Desperado thrust out her chest with perfect righteousness.
"I simply seized it from his hands fair and square on the 2nd floor just now! Ever heard of war spoils?!"
"Oh?"
Hearing this answer, which sounded like something meant to fool an idiot.
The Joker was even more pleased—he loved this kind of exchange!
"I see! Then I've wronged Miss Silk-Stocking. My sincerest apologies."
"However..."
"Well....theft is never a virtuous thing."
"Since this dagger is stolen goods, allow me, a law-abiding citizen..."
"To take the trouble of returning it to Brother Daozi~"
Saying so, he took the dagger and made to tuck it at his own waist to keep for himself.
Yet!
In the very next instant!
Whoosh!!
No sound of cutting air!
No windup, no telegraphing motion!
That dagger, which should have been tucking itself into the Joker's waist...
Vanished into thin air right before his eyes!!
And when the Joker raised his head again.
That dagger had already returned to Silk-Stocking Desperado's fingers.
"That really won't be necessary, Mr. Joker."
Silk-Stocking Desperado twirled the dagger.
"Something I've seized..."
"Is mine. There's no logic by which it goes back."
"......"
The Joker stilled his hands.
He gazed at Silk-Stocking Desperado in silence.
In this moment, his eyes grew even more delighted.
'Silent and traceless, not even a startup motion or trajectory.'
'To forcibly take something straight out of my hands like that...'
'This conceptual, overwhelming style of plunder can only be Sequence 091—Plunder.'
The Joker thought to himself.
'No wonder that woman Tiffany, who looks down on virtually everyone, went to such lengths to set her sights on her, even trying to recruit her.'
'This woman's ability is simply a bandit that defies all conventional reasoning!'
'If she tried to seize my mask...'
The Joker's gaze turned veiled.
Then he clapped his hands together.
"Hahaha! Brilliant, truly brilliant!"
"Since Miss Silk-Stocking is unwilling to part with it, then so be it."
"A gentleman does not covet what others treasure."
"However..."
The Joker's smile faded, and he asked a pointed question.
"I still want to ask—are you 2 planning to go upstairs?"
"If that's the case, out of the regard one feels for a chance encounter, I advise you..."
"Give it up."
The Joker extended a finger toward the ceiling.
"Because that old one who has been lurking in the shadows has likely already set a trap for my esteemed colleague."
"If you go now..."
"You will only be meaningless cannon fodder at the funeral of a 'King.'"
Saying so.
The Joker rolled up his sleeve, showing off the brand on his own wrist.
【Villager】!
"You see."
"Even I, who hadn't yet entered the Fate Casino, was forcibly branded with the Villager Mark by that man's rules."
"In this stage where we're suppressed down to the level of worthless trash, a Villager simply cannot fight them."
"Or perhaps it's just pure bad luck."
"But go up there, and it's death."
Silk-Stocking Desperado looked at the Villager Mark on the Joker's wrist.
How could she not know the dangers of the Villager Mark?
"My apologies, Mr. Joker."
"Whether what awaits up there is the funeral of a fallen King or a dragon's den and tiger's lair."
"I have a reason I must go up."
"Even if the outcome is death, I must go up there and bear witness to it all."
"Because..."
"There is someone important..."
"Still waiting for me up there."
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Hearing this resolute declaration, the Joker didn't mock her—he applauded with admiration.
"It seems Miss Silk-Stocking and I truly are kindred souls."
"What a coincidence—I also have someone important waiting for me."
"So!"
The Joker suddenly fixed her with a serious gaze and offered a suggestion.
"That is precisely why you two should not go up there to throw your lives away right now!"
"Instead, you should..."
"Work together with me to find the one pulling the strings!"
Silk-Stocking Desperado caught the implication beneath the Joker's words.
"You're inviting me to join you?"
And moreover, his reasoning was extremely sound.
Someone who could brand every human in the entire hospital with a mark, soundlessly and without a trace.
Someone who could even calculate against a Divine Chosen...
There could only be 1 such person.
And that was the founder of Seattle Mercy Hospital!
That legendary figure said to have already died—the former Hospital Director!
He had never died at all. Instead, he had lurked in the shadows, orchestrating an utterly earth-shattering scheme.
"Give me one reason to work with you."
Silk-Stocking Desperado went straight to the point, without wasting a single word.
The Joker didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he placed his index finger at his lips.
"Shh..."
"You two."
"In this enormous hospital, haven't you ever felt that..."
"There's one critical place that's been missing all along?"
"All those useless remains left behind after the Ghost Doctors harvested them of every last 'Gundam Part'..."
"Where did they get piled?"
"Or rather...where should they go?"
"!!"
Silk-Stocking Desperado froze.
Guan Ming, standing behind her, also jolted to the realization that something was wrong!!
This hospital had always used "harvesting Gundam Parts" as its primary trading currency, with countless casualties every single day.
And yet it had caused all of them to instinctively forget the one thing a hospital should absolutely possess!
The one place where corpses truly belonged!!
That was!
The place that had never once been marked on any map...
Never once mentioned by any ghost...
Basement Level 1!!
The Morgue!!
......
"Roaaaargh!!!"
A wretched shriek tore through the 15th floor.
A Supervisor, in the instant it lunged forward to kill, was run through the heart by a razor-sharp blade!
Its body crashed to the ground with a thunderous impact.
And in the open ground at the very center of the hall, formed from a mountain of countless piled corpses.
Tiffany wore a pained expression, sustaining the operation of her rules.
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!!!"
She stared at the churning fog on all sides, nearly grinding her teeth to dust.
"These goddamn creatures!"
"Why...why won't they run out?!"
At the edge of her vision, wave after wave of Supervisors kept surging forth in swarms!
Every single one of them—the moment they drew within 10 meters of Tiffany.
Would trigger the rebound and die from their own attack!
And yet, they charged on without the slightest fear of death—consuming Tiffany's stamina and mental strength with their own corpses!
This was not a hunt.
This was a pot of slowly boiling water!
Tiffany suddenly understood everything.
"Thousand-Face Demon Lord..."
"It must be you!!!"
"You rat hiding in the gutter! You're deliberately targeting me!"
"You intend to use this despicable war of attrition to drain me to death right here!!"
"Get out here!!!"
"You ancient relic who should have been buried in the dust long ago!!!"
At those words.
In the darkness.
The fog parted to either side.
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord stepped out from the shadows.
He looked at Tiffany, trapped in a sea of blood and a mountain of corpses, and laughed coldly.
"An ancient relic? Heh..."
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord gazed down at her with arrogance.
"Isn't your lot from the Arashin-Kai just the same?"
"If I'm not mistaken, Miss Tiffany."
"Your true age, hidden deep in your soul..."
"Shouldn't be much younger than mine, should it?"
"To pursue that utterly hypocritical kind of power..."
"This young body of yours, bartered for by selling your soul."
"For monsters like you, what is there to be proud of?"
"Shut up!!!"
Having her sore spot stabbed, Tiffany instantly bared her teeth.
"You creature who won't even dare show your true face!"
"Lay a hand on me...and the Arashin-Kai will never let you go!"
But the Thousand-Face Demon Lord, facing this venomous curse, didn't feel even the slightest flicker of fear.
He only shook his head with pity.
"I will admit, the Arashin-Kai is indeed formidable, even terrifying."
"But at the end of the day..."
"You are nothing but a pack of dogs, wagging your tails and begging for scraps at the feet of a wicked god."
"And once my Deity-Forging Plan succeeds completely here today..."
"I believe that even your organization's powerbroker will have the self-awareness to understand."
Saying so.
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord waved his hand casually.
Hmmm!!
Accompanied by a roiling cloud of black smoke, the Fate Slot Machine shattered through space and appeared at his side!
"Don't you long to obtain this slot machine?"
"Come, then."
"Kill me."
"It's yours."
"But..."
"If you can't."
"Then this 15th floor, today, will be the funeral for a 'King' such as yourself."
Finished speaking.
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord no longer paid any attention to Tiffany's furious gaze.
He raised his hand, converting all the Gundam Parts the Director's Faction had just hunted into Ghost Coins!
Then.
He switched the slot machine's mode from 【Management】 back to 【Game】.
And then, right in front of Tiffany...
He started drawing on the spot!
Ding! Ding!
Hmm...
Seeing this scene, Tiffany's pupils contracted!
She instantly realized the other party wasn't drawing prizes at all!
He intended to use the slot machine's weapon directly against her!!
Time was running out.
The number of rules in Sovereign Rule was determined by the host's current physical condition.
And each second of sustaining even the most stringent rules consumed an enormous amount of power.
Her current self had been suppressed down to Grade F by the Villager Mark, and the power inside her body was leaking away like a sieve.
At this horrifying rate of consumption, she could hold on for 10 more minutes at most!
'I can't hesitate any longer!!'
Tiffany realized the moment of life and death had arrived.
Seizing the slot machine would solve absolutely nothing!
Because the man standing before her.
Was not the Thousand-Face Demon Lord's true body at all, but a puppet being controlled by his mask!
Right now, she had absolutely no way to kill him completely!
Then there was only 1 path left...
'Destroy that damned slot machine directly!!'
As long as she forcibly terminated the Reselection Ceremony, the Villager Mark's suppression rule on her body would collapse on its own!
At that point, with her physical condition restored to Grade A, these paltry Supervisors and doppelgangers could be eliminated with a snap of her fingers!
So Tiffany reasoned.
And so.
She drew a deep breath, and immediately cancelled the "attack rebound rule."
Keeping only the most basic absolute shield of "cannot be approached in close range."
"In the name of the King!! 【Cancel】 the rebound rule!!"
Then, in the next second!
Tiffany issued the offensive rule she could currently sustain.
"In the name of the King!!!"
"All who approach within 10 meters of me..."
"Shall suffer...the cruel punishment of ten thousand blades, slicing them apart!!!"
Boom!!!
With the issuing of this rule.
All of the Supervisors within 10 meters around Tiffany.
Were immediately sliced into a pulp of flesh and gore by the invisible sword energy—the Ten Thousand Blades!!
"Die already!! You ancient relic!!"
Tiffany, hair flying wild, carried her 10-meter meat-grinding domain and sprinted madly toward the Thousand-Face Demon Lord!
Yet.
Facing Tiffany's counterattack.
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord, seated at the slot machine, didn't even lift an eyelid.
He simply continued drawing prizes with utterly monotonous calm.
"5th draw. Failed."
"What rotten luck."
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord remarked flatly.
And as Tiffany's footsteps drew closer and closer to him.
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord's failure count stacked up rapidly.
"8th draw..."
"13th draw..."
"15th draw, still failed."
At this point, Tiffany was already very close—just 10 meters away!
She could destroy the slot machine!
The Thousand-Face Demon Lord had no time for another draw!
"It seems fate has ultimately come to stand on my side!!!"
Tiffany burst out laughing.
Watching as her domain was about to shred the Thousand-Face Demon Lord and the slot machine to pieces!
But the Thousand-Face Demon Lord remained perfectly calm, even breaking into a smile.
Because.
His lovestruck dear niece was coming.
At the same moment.
Before Tiffany's eyes, something suddenly changed!!
The hall vanished.
That slot machine and the Thousand-Face Demon Lord vanished as well.
Replacing them was a hospital corridor!!
"How...is this possible?!"
Tiffany's eyes went wide as she halted in shock.
As the Arashin-Kai's 7th Seat, she instantly recognized what technique had been used on her.
A Domain!!
In this hospital, there was actually a ghost that possessed a Domain!!
What was a Domain?
In the Savage Realm, a powerhouse could exist without a Domain—but one who possessed a Domain was without exception a peerless expert!
And such a terrifying entity, given enough time!
Would eventually grow all the way to Special-Grade!
And a Domain skill...
Was precisely the absolute nemesis and counter to Sovereign Rule!!
Because Tiffany's Sovereign Rule, at its conceptual essence, also belonged to the category of a Domain.
And any Domain...
Could be neutralized before a stronger Domain!
In this very moment.
Tiffany felt it.
The Ten Thousand Blades and the "Cannot Be Approached" rules she had just released!
In this hospital corridor, they had been neutralized and stripped of all effect!
In other words, she had been stopped in her tracks!
The wind of victory...
Had not blown from behind Tiffany.
But from the far end of that corridor, intending...
To bury her here completely!
Bunny-Bunny