Inside the castle on the barren plain, within the vast great hall, Frederico—now transformed into a gargoyle—continued to swell in size as he incessantly devoured the gold, silver, and treasure from his vault. During the process, some of the treasures occasionally slowed or deviated from their flight paths, but all were ultimately drawn into Frederico’s body. Within just seconds, the enormous treasure vault had been emptied by Frederico’s consumption, and his body began to exhibit transformations beyond those of an ordinary gargoyle. His physique grew even more colossal—bursting through his garments, his body expanded to nearly six or seven meters tall, at least twice the size of a normal gargoyle. Though his skin remained dark gray, it now gleamed with a bright, metallic luster. Gems sprouted from his immense wings like decorations embedded in a metal sculpture. His once-fierce head now bore long horns, and a barbed tail swayed behind him. Frederico had become a moving, metallic statue rather than mere living stone. With his transformation complete and the vault consumed, Frederico turned his now gleaming, brutish face toward the nearby thief and unleashed a furious roar. “RRAAAHH!” With that roar, a torrent of flame—far more massive than any ordinary gargoyle could produce—erupted from his mouth, blasting straight toward the thief standing in the hall. At the same time, he flapped his wings powerfully, stirring up a violent gale. Fire and wind fused, forming a ferocious flamestorm that swept across the entire hall in an instant, leaving no corner untouched. For agile enemies, the most effective countermeasure is overwhelming area attacks—leave them nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. As the flamestorm surged rapidly across the hall, the thief knew it was impossible to resist and immediately turned to flee. However, even their vaunted speed couldn’t outpace the fire, which spread with terrifying swiftness through the confined space, bolstered by the wind. They hadn’t yet reached the window when the roaring flames had already caught up, nearly upon them. Just then, behind them, countless metal objects began to stir. The various suits of armor, weapons, cutlery, and other metal decorations that had been scattered throughout the hall suddenly gathered under an unseen force. They began to form blocks and barriers from the moment Frederico had started spewing fire. Right as the flames were about to engulf the thief entirely, the assembled metal formed a thick iron wall behind them. The incoming fire struck the wall, instantly shattering it—but the brief delay was all the thief needed to leap through the window and, boosted by some force, soar into the night sky. Behind them, flames erupted from every window of the castle’s main hall. Soon after the flamestorm had ravaged the hall, it faded away. In its wake was a scene of utter devastation: everything was scorched black, and fires still flickered here and there. The once-opulent hall was now completely ruined. Frederico stood where he was. Though he had been engulfed in the inferno, his metal body still gleamed as if untouched. He glanced toward the scattered metal objects now lying beyond his control and recalled the minor disturbances in the flow of treasures earlier. “Metal manipulation, huh? Hmph… no wonder...” Frederico sneered. When devouring the treasures, he had indeed sensed someone attempting to seize certain metallic coins. Thankfully, the powerful attraction he held over his own wealth had prevented that interference from fully succeeding. Seeing that the thief had escaped through the window, Frederico sprang into action. With a mighty flap of his wings, he generated a fierce updraft and shot upward, smashing through the ceiling of the hall in pursuit. Meanwhile, back in the hall, the fire-charred Angley and the others, upon witnessing Frederico’s move, prepared to follow. But just as Angley began to take off, a figure suddenly dropped down through the shattered ceiling with incredible speed and slammed directly into him, stomping hard onto his chest. In an instant, Angley was struck by a tremendous force. Though he had just taken flight, he was smashed down into the floor with a crash, leaving a massive crater in the stone. “Who’s there?!” “That thief has backup?!” Roke and Craven, still on the ground, shouted in alarm. From their perspective, the figure that had just taken down Angley landed lightly on the scorched floor of the hall after a brief midair flip. Angley, groaning in the crater, struggled to rise. Deep cracks now lined his chest armor as he glared angrily in the direction of the figure who had stomped him. What the three members of the Dark Gold Society saw was a tall, mysterious woman clad in a dark red fitted top and skirt, wearing a mask and a lady’s hat. Her hair was tied up, and it was she who had struck Angley down. “Apologies, gentlemen. The drama outside is its own performance. And this hall? A different act entirely. It’s best if roles from separate plays don’t interfere with one another… at least not until we’ve finished our scenes.” Facing the three gargoyles on high alert, the disguised Adèle rolled her shoulders and stretched her limbs as she spoke. Right now, Adèle intended to test just how far her power surpassed that of ordinary White Ash. … Outside the main hall, under the night sky, Frederico—who had just burst through the roof—immediately locked onto the fleeing thief’s silhouette. They appeared intent on continuing their flight, trying to escape the castle’s bounds. “Not a chance… petty thief…” Muttering darkly, Frederico flapped his wings again and launched several fireballs toward them. Sensing danger behind them, the thief skillfully dodged, weaving around the projectiles. These fireballs weren’t particularly fast—easily avoided at their flying speed. Frustrated by his missed shots, Frederico growled and began flapping his massive wings even faster. A gust of wind roared forth, this time laden with piercing cold and moisture, forming a frigid storm of ice and snow that surged toward the airborne thief. This blizzard, infused with multiple elemental powers, covered a vast area. No matter how agile the thief was, it would inevitably graze them. Feeling their body begin to freeze under the icy winds, the thief immediately shifted direction, diving back toward the castle. They darted between towers and bridges, using the towering structures as cover to block the storm’s direct assault. Frederico’s blizzard chased them relentlessly, icing over every surface it touched. Even so, he still failed to trap them. His own castle had become the greatest obstacle to his attack. Faced with this situation, Frederico was not angry. As he continued to unleash his blizzard, he opened his mouth once more, firing a succession of fireballs. These fireballs targeted the thief’s potential escape paths, slamming into the castle buildings and ground below and erupting in thunderous explosions that rocked the area. Many of the structures were shattered in the blasts. Although the fireballs didn’t directly hit the thief, the resulting shockwaves and flames from their impact heavily disrupted their movement. The explosions sent debris flying at high speeds—each shard like a lethal bullet. Caught in the crossfire of these omnidirectional blasts and stone shrapnel, the thief was unable to find stable footing. The shockwaves threw off their balance and reduced their agility, allowing several flying fragments to pierce their body. Blood trickled from the corner of their lips. This was Frederico’s strategy. The true goal of the blizzard was not to freeze Thief K—but to drive them from the sky. The blizzard’s wide area made dodging impossible while airborne, forcing them down to seek cover among the structures. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂 Once they were grounded, Frederico’s fireballs came into play. While slow and easy to dodge in the air, on the ground their explosions caused widespread shockwaves and rained debris, making them devastatingly effective—trapping even an agile target like the thief. And since this was Frederico’s own castle, no matter where they hid, he knew every corner. Multiple explosions rocked the castle, and the thief—though adept at crisis evasion—suffered repeated injuries. Fortunately, their bonded being was Nephthys, granting them a second-stage Chalice constitution. Furthermore, a strange power within them redirected and rapidly healed their more serious wounds. So while they were battered, they quickly recovered and continued their desperate flight amid Frederico’s relentless ice-and-fire bombardment. Although they possessed the powerful short-range escape spell “Escape Magic,” it could only be used three times per hour. They had already used it once, with only two charges left—reserved for truly critical moments. Thus, the thief pushed forward through the castle at high speed, struggling to escape as Frederico bombarded them relentlessly. Just as Frederico was about to continue this barrage, something changed in the battlefield. From every room, window, and door within the castle, countless objects began to float out. Upon closer inspection, they were weapons, armor, cutlery, goblets, chains—all metallic objects once scattered throughout the castle. Now, under an invisible force, they coalesced into iron blocks and launched toward Frederico. In mid-air, they collided with his fireballs, intercepting them and triggering premature detonations—explosions bursting harmlessly in the sky. These improvised metal interceptors effectively neutralized Frederico’s fireball barrage. With fewer explosions to slow them, the thief's speed surged, allowing them to bolt much farther—seemingly about to break free from the castle's perimeter. “This power again... It seems that normal methods won’t suffice against you, little thief…” Furrowing his brow, Frederico muttered grimly. The mysterious metallic barrage had severely hampered his offense. He needed a stronger, more effective attack to eliminate them. With that thought, Frederico ramped up his spiritual output. Deep within his body, a unique organ—somewhere between an engine and a furnace—accelerated its activity, converting the treasures he had consumed into a torrent of elemental energy. Gargoyles could absorb external high-spirituality elemental attacks, storing and reusing them. However, this ability was unstable. While it countered elemental Beyonders extremely well, it also depended heavily on them as energy suppliers. Since gargoyles couldn’t generate elements on their own, replenishment was difficult when cut off from friendly elementalists. But that limitation changed at the Crimson rank. Once a Gargoyle reached Crimson, it evolved into an “Aurum Gargoyle.” The Aurum Gargoyle possessed an innate sense for treasure—a draw toward valuables recognized by the world. By swallowing precious crafts, metals, and gems, it could digest them within a specialized organ and convert them into elemental energy. In other words, Frederico could generate elemental power by digesting the countless treasures in his body, bypassing the need for elemental Beyonders. This gave him immense control and storage capacity—far beyond an ordinary gargoyle—and even allowed him to perform advanced elemental techniques that Crimson-rank elementalists couldn’t replicate. Now, having processed massive amounts of treasure, Frederico gathered his energy into his eyes. His obsidian-like pupils began to shine with intense light, then shot out two blazing orange-red heat rays. These beams, scorching and high-velocity, pierced through the sky, instantly vaporizing incoming iron interceptors and streaking straight toward the distant thief. At that critical moment, the thief seemed to receive some premonition. They evaded just in time, narrowly dodging the molten beams that slashed down through the ceiling. When they missed, Frederico turned his head, making the rays track the thief like searing blades. Dodging furiously, the thief swept their cloak toward the nearest ray, attempting to transmute it into a harmless form. For a brief instant, the ray became a stream of clear spring water—but the beam’s intensity evaporated the liquid instantly and resumed its scorching pursuit. Still, the thief managed to use that short transformation to narrowly dodge again. The redirected ray, missing its target, swept sideways and bisected a tall tower—its upper half collapsing with a thunderous crash. Though the attack missed, Frederico didn’t relent. He halted the first volley, reoriented, and prepared a second. This time, he ceased his blizzard and aligned both his gaze and wings on the target below. The countless gemstones embedded in his eyes and wings all began to glow simultaneously. Then, from Frederico’s eyes and wings, nearly ten beams of searing light burst forth in unison, firing downward at the thief. The overlapping beams formed a blazing cage of light—dense, swift, wide—sealing off every avenue of escape. The thief, anticipating this, had already begun evasive maneuvers. But this time, they did something more. They removed their top hat—revealing that it was actually two hats stacked together. Holding one in each hand, they prepared. As the beams sliced through roof after roof toward them, they dodged furiously. One beam, however, flew straight at their chest—impossible to dodge. They blocked it with the top hat in their right hand. The beam struck squarely at the hat’s rim. By all logic, it should have burned through the hat and their chest with ease. But unbelievably, the beam—which could melt steel and stone—completely vanished inside the hat, as if the thin fabric absorbed its power entirely. The deadly ray disappeared into the darkness of the brim. Then, with a flourish, the thief flipped the other hat in their left hand, aiming its mouth toward the ceiling. From within that black abyss, a brilliant orange-red glow ignited. A beam—a thick, blazing heat ray—burst forth from the brim, punching straight through the ceiling and rocketing skyward. Traveling opposite the other beams, it shot into the night and struck Frederico before he could react, creating a radiant explosion of light in the sky. “In stage magic,” Dorothy murmured as she gazed at the distant sky from above the castle, her cloak billowing, “the audience never knows what a magician will pull from their hat. They always wonder: how can something put into one hat come out of another? “This… is the classic magician’s trick—‘Hat Magic.’”