"Wouldn't it be fine if someone else drank from her holy grail?"
Niya wasn't just talking. She reached out directly, intending to grab the golden holy grail floating beside Feili. But Yaxiu caught her wrist before she could. With his other hand, he swung his sword to block a Bloodmad Hunter trying to squeeze through the entrance of the small shopping mall. Beside them, Weixi swung the barbell bar, smashing the Bloodmad Hunter's head like a watermelon.
"Didn't you see? Drinking from a holy grail triggers a pillar of rainbow light now. If you drink it, everyone else like us will hunt you down endlessly!"
"I know. I've been listening to you all talk—even if I don't understand everything." Niya shook off his hand and said calmly, "But aren't I the only suitable person here? I'm the only one who isn't special."
Yaxiu was momentarily at a loss for words. Niya was right. If this was a ritual to restore a demon's power through a sacrifice, Niya was without a doubt the most suitable offering. Both Yaxiu and Weixi could harness demonic power, while Niya was surplus to requirements. Having her made little difference, and losing her wouldn't matter much either.
"As long as we don't deal with that sniper, we'll never be safe," Niya analyzed coolly. "Someone has to take the risk. But aside from an outsider like me, aren't the others all people you hold dear?"
"She's definitely not!"
"I'm certainly not!"
The moment those words left their mouths, Yaxiu cast a thoughtful glance toward Weixi. Her expression darkened, but she sensibly backed away from the entrance to let him take over the defensive line, tossed down the heavy barbell bar, and reached out toward Feili's holy grail.
Besides Niya, Weixi was indeed well suited to serve as the sacrifice. After all, a demon could bind to only one sorcerer. Right now, Yaxiu's Observer Mode was clearly far better suited for PVP, meaning Weixi would inevitably be benched. Thus, she and Niya could be considered on the same tier of combat strength—mortal strength. Once the demon took the stage, it made no difference whether Weixi was active or not.
More importantly, if Weixi drank Feili's holy grail now, her gains from this Angel Hunt would be completely locked in, ending the game early and sending her straight to the settlement screen.
Even though Yaxiu trusted the Ruby Chains deeply, there was no need to take superfluous risks. Every extra second Weixi spent at this banquet increased the odds of her stuffing herself full. For the sake of the maid's figure management, she ought to go to sleep once she was halfway full.
However, Weixi's fingers passed straight through the holy grail; she couldn't grasp it at all.
Weixi paused, startled. She touched her own holy grail and found she could grasp it just fine. Then she reached for Niya's holy grail, but her hand passed right through that one as well.
"It won't work." Weixi shook her head. "The holy grails have an anti-theft mechanism. It seems you can't just snatch someone else's holy grail to drink from."
Right then, the thunderous roar of earth-shattering explosions echoed from the far distance, accompanied by the continuous collapse of buildings. Yaxiu and Weixi exchanged glances. There was only one explanation for such a racket: some sorcerer was brazenly casting large-scale magic without restraint.
Yet with the Six Nations Legion watching as spectators, and with the demons unable to shake the temptation of the holy grails, how had other sorcerers managed to break free from the mysterious chains?
Thoughts raced through Weixi's mind. "Yaxiu, you give it a try."
"Alright." Switching positions with Weixi, Yaxiu reached out and effortlessly caught hold of Feili's holy grail.
Everyone was dumbfounded. Neither Weixi nor Niya could touch it, yet only Yaxiu could drink the nectar from Feili's holy grail?
After a moment's thought, Yaxiu tried pouring the holy grail straight into Weixi's mouth. But as the rainbow nectar reached the rim, it ceased to flow. Weixi stuck out her tongue, but she only licked empty air, completely unable to taste a drop.
"It's not that others can't drink from it, but the conditions are exceptionally strict," Weixi finally realized. "It's probably tied to emotional bonds or inner desire—only someone for whom you are willing to forfeit the holy grail can take it from you."
"If the holy grail could be handed to anyone, there wouldn't be any need for you or Niya. We could just find an unconscious person or pour it down the throat of some cat or dog." Yaxiu's face looked grim. "So..."
"So, unless Feili regards you as no different from a stray dog or cat, you are the only one who can drink her holy grail," Weixi replied. "Those demons who broke free from the chains probably had more than two sorcerers beside them. That way, even if their favorite sorcerer fell asleep, they had a spare sorcerer ready on standby."
Yaxiu became even more acutely aware of the Prime Angel's craftiness. If the holy grails had been completely theft-proof, it would have been fine—no one would have been able to deploy legendary sorceries. Yet it had deliberately left behind a loophole: as long as a demon sacrificed their favorite person, they could regain their power. That way, any demon team with two or more sorcerers would become the ultimate victors of this hunt, while the other teams would be slaughtered and driven out!
Feili looked at Yaxiu and Weixi, asking tentatively, "Yaxiu, can't you drink it? Isn't Sister Weixi still here?"
Yaxiu released the holy grail and shook his head with a foul expression. "She won't do."
It wasn't merely that Yaxiu refused to entrust his life to Weixi. More crucially, Weixi lacked the ability to protect everyone once he was asleep.
Weixi's Maid Mode required relying on another sorcerer to display its power. Without Yaxiu acting as the host body, her Maid Mode was completely useless.
Although she could still expend sorcery power to perform miracles, the problem was that her silver and golden wings of void had just been severed! She had few sorcery spirits left, possessed no flight capability, and was only good for killing and arson. How was she supposed to deal with a hidden sniper? Moreover, once Yaxiu fell into a deep slumber, he would turn into a massive piece of trash radiating a conspicuous rainbow beacon. Not only would the others have to deal with the sniper and the Six Nations Legion while shielding him, but they would also have to fend off demon sorcerers drawn by the rainbow beacon—all while losing Yaxiu, their sole healer. The risk of Yaxiu drinking the holy grail far outweighed the benefit of unlocking Weixi.
Even though they had successfully rendezvoused with their demon, they hadn't escaped their predicament. Clearly, Yaxiu combining with Feili would allow them to sweep away thousands of enemies, but the sole designated drinker of Feili's holy grail just had to be Yaxiu!
"If only Sister Weixi could drink it..." Feili nervously clutched her short sword and lowered her head. "I'm sor—"
Yaxiu smiled. "It's fine. It's just bad luck this time. Igola and Harvey happen to be away, and Weixi is as weak as a Lalafell. It's not your fault."
"And whose fault is it that I'm as weak as a Lalafell?" Weixi kicked back, knocking away a corpse wolf, and snapped irritably, "Is it my fault that I have no wings of void and no sorcery spirits?"
"Even if I bear one percent of the blame, isn't ninety-nine percent of it yours?" Yaxiu glanced at the army of monsters squeezing in from the rear of the mall. "Let's break out! Even without the demon, we have to ferret out that sniper!"
The four of them fought their way out of the north entrance of the small mall, greeted head-on by an onslaught of Star-Flicking Warriors and Crow Culls. At the exact same moment, the gunshot of judgment rang out once more!
"On that tall building!" Weixi deflected the bullet with ease and immediately pinpointed the sniper's direction.
Even with the Six Nations Legion blocking their path, having Yaxiu, Weixi, and Niya spearheading the charge, combined with the arcade architecture limiting the monsters' lines of fire, allowed their battle line to push forward rapidly.
The sniper seemed to grow anxious as gunshots sounded in rapid succession, but every shot was intercepted with ease. Yaxiu even deflected a bullet aimed at Feili with a single slash.
A sudden, tremendous tremor erupted from behind them, so violent that even Yaxiu's group felt it distinctly.
Looking back, they saw a towering colossus of a tree tilting and collapsing within the concrete jungle. Blood-bone dracoliches, Shadow Evil Dragons, and other flying creatures bathed in the golden rain wailed as they plummeted from the sky—a legendary sorcerer was finally unleashing true might in this hunt!
While ordinary sorcerers would envy those capable of breaking free from the mysterious chains, Feili murmured, "That's the Gaode Building... I've been there before. The buffet was expensive, but delicious, and the waitress had such a sweet, lovely voice.
"Yaxiu, will Jiashi suffer catastrophic casualties like Yingnan City?" Her voice carried a trace of sorrow. "Will another million people die?"
Niya sneered, while Weixi remained silent.
Yaxiu severed a Star Swordsman's arm, slashed its throat, and kicked it away. After a brief silence, he replied, "Probably not. You've seen it yourself: these monsters don't attack ordinary people, nor do they deliberately destroy buildings. Cars and civilians they've stepped over remain completely unharmed. This natural disaster won't kill anyone."
Natural disasters didn't kill people; people did.
If everyone had drunk from the golden holy grails right from the beginning, nothing would have happened. The Six Nations Legion wouldn't even have mobilized. But so long as a single greedy sorcerer existed, the Prime Angel's hidden cards would be revealed one after another, until the entire Cage of All Stars was dragged down as a burial sacrifice.
Feili naturally caught the subtext in Yaxiu's words and followed behind in silence, quiet as a shadow.
Niya, however, sneered. "You still have the heart to worry about others? You'd be better off thinking about how to make yourself useful. You're not like me; you're 'special.'"
Feili bit her lip. "Did I offend you before, Servier?"
"All of you offend me!" Niya said coldly. "Every one of you possesses that kind of power, and I'm the only one who doesn't—just because I'm not 'special'!
"If you hate us so much, why are you still hanging around here?" Feili, normally timid and socially awkward, suddenly exploded. "Do you think I actually wanted to be 'special'?! Do you think it feels good having this power yet being utterly useless to anyone?! I'm not some deranged murderer like you—I still have a conscience!"
Niya stopped dead in her tracks. "Fine! It's not like I wanted to stick around with a bunch of loudmouths anyway—"
"Shut up."
Yaxiu turned back and fixed them both with a frigid glare. "Keep moving. Stop bickering, and don't make me angry."
Seeing Yaxiu, who was normally an easygoing pushover, suddenly lose his temper caught Niya off guard. She wanted to talk back, but under his stern glare, she obediently returned to her position. As for Feili, she instantly shrank back into a timid little lamb.
Weixi sidled up beside Yaxiu and whispered, "Is that how you usually manage the Sword Princess and the Witch?"
"Not at all," Yaxiu whispered back. "This was an exceptional performance. Take notes quickly—I'll need to practice it a lot more in the future."
Chapter 872