Lucius put Eden down and looked at the pink-haired assassin Spade 4, who was currently breaking out in cold sweat.
For the actors in his pre-determined script, Lucius had locked onto their identities and locations in advance.
Although she wore a mask and didn't have the iconic rabbit ears on her head, Lucius still recognized her at a glance.
Previous Era's Thirteen Flame-Chasers—Sakura
However, just as Lucius was about to have a good chat with her, a whistling sound of something cutting through the air came.
Lucius tilted his head and looked toward those fleeing assassins.
At this moment, these well-trained guys had already run quite a distance using their various methods, just one step away from escaping to safety.
However, Lucius saw dense sparks appearing in the air, accompanied by the rapidly growing whistling sound.
What came into view was a dense array of missiles.
The next moment, these missiles fell from the sky, precisely landing on those assassins who were about to escape.
"Boom boom boom!!!"
Continuous explosions accompanied by sky-high flames rose up. Rising to the sky along with them were the fragments of assassins blown apart by the missiles.
"Tsk, they're all dead~"
Eden stood beside him, also seeing what happened in the distance. Regarding the carnage everywhere, she frowned but didn't seem particularly uncomfortable.
"Ellie, the local government must have reacted. Those missiles are clearly military standard weapons."
As if confirming Eden's words, accompanied by the sound of ion thrusters jetting, autonomous mechs several meters tall, as large as small buildings, rapidly closed the distance with the two of them.
After seeing the United Government's emblem on these mechs, Eden breathed a sigh of relief.
"It seems today's farce is over. Ellie, thank you for your help."
Regarding Eden's optimistic view, Lucius shook his head.
"Over? No, this is just the beginning~"
Looking at her confused gaze, Lucius said:
"These are military mechs. They're normally stationed at United Government military bases."
"And the nearest military base is over fifty kilometers from here. That's not even counting the startup time for the mech's reactors, the United Government's military approval time, and the Far East's own administrative delays."
"So, my dear Eden." Lucius looked at Eden. "We've been out for less than ten minutes. How did they arrive so quickly? Spatial teleportation?"
Hearing Lucius's words, the relaxed expression on Eden's face gradually became serious again.
"To arrive here so quickly, there's only one possibility—these autonomous mechs were already nearby... They already knew I would be kidnapped by these bandits?"
"But if that's really the case, why would they do this?"
Regarding Eden's confusion, Lucius came before her and raised his finger to lift her chin.
"My dear Eden, you really have no self-awareness about your own identity~"
"As the wealthiest and most renowned person in all of human civilization, isn't your favor the greatest value?"
"Think about it—saving you when you're in danger, like a hero saving a beauty in storybooks. A life-saving grace! What a huge favor that would be, wouldn't it?"
Feeling the warm touch from 'Ellie's' fingertip, Eden felt like a slight electric current passed through her heart, tingling and numb, as if some strange feeling was brewing in her heart.
Meeting 'Ellie's' orange-red pupils, Eden said: "A self-directed performance?"
"Bingo~"
"My good Eden, you're so smart~"
Lucius moved closer to Eden, whispering softly in her ear.
"My good Eden, regarding these guys who view you as a bargaining chip and are so self-righteous, don't you... want to get a little revenge?~"
It really is Ellie's scent.
Being close, Eden clearly distinguished her good friend's aura.
But at the same time, she could also confirm that this person in front of her was definitely not the Ellie she knew!
If the one she knew was an Elysian Realm fairy who could bring joy to people, then this one was a demon that bewitched hearts.
This light purple Ellie was more sinister and more dangerous compared to the one she knew.
At the same time, she also possessed a certain attraction completely opposite to the Ellie she knew.
Eden had to admit, she was bewitched.
So Eden smiled. Her fingertip swept across her hair, still so elegant, but her tone carried a certain unusual excitement.
"Occasionally being a bad girl seems like a novel experience?"
"However, Ellie... I'll call you that for now. Are you really confident you can escape from the encirclement of these mechs?"
At this moment, due to their conversation, those mechs had already surrounded them.
"Does Eden not have confidence in me?"
"I'll be sad, you know? Really sad, you know?~"
Eden smiled. "Then my dear Ellie, I'm counting on you."
Hearing this, Lucius pulled away from Eden. After an elegant turn, he bowed slightly to Eden, like a knight pledging loyalty to a princess, or like a magician about to perform on stage.
"Then, please witness the finale of this drama!"
A mechanical synthesized voice came from the mech.
"Dangerous element, stay away from Miss Eden!"
"Warning again, dangerous element, stay away from Miss Eden!"
The moment they arrived at the combat location, the autonomous mech's fire control system locked onto Lucius and issued a stern warning.
Lucius had no doubt that if he weren't too close to Eden, these big guys would absolutely fire without hesitation.
However, after the warning was issued, the mech's combat AI discovered it had lost its lock on the target.
The light purple figure that had been beside Eden had actually disappeared into thin air.
Fortunately, the fire control system captured the target's location the next moment.
Unfortunately, the location where the fire control system captured the target was above the mech.
"Yo, big guy, hello there~"
Lucius crouched on the mech's gun barrel, greeting the combat AI through the mech's surface monitoring.
Then he punched through the mech's outer armor, precisely grasped the mech's control core, and crushed it.
"Goodbye~"
The mech fell with a crash.
A one-sided slaughter thus began.
On one side was armor forged from refined steel, cannons enhanced by chemistry, engineering, and physics.
On the other side was only a seemingly weak and powerless body, a physique that seemed like it would fall at the slightest breeze, and beautiful clothing that was completely unhelpful in battle. Any normal person would know this should be a battle with no suspense.
But what Eden saw was 'Ellie' using her slender fingers to form a fist that punched through armor made of refined steel, using two seemingly powerless arms to forcibly tear off the mech's cannon and smash the power furnace with an elbow, using a long leg without any excess fat to kick the entire mech like a ball.
Fortunately, she had long since witnessed her good sister's incredible physique, so she was only slightly surprised.
It didn't take long before all the autonomous mechs that came to 'save the beauty' were taken down by the final boss, the Faded Elf.
However, Lucius looked toward where Sakura had been cowering and found she had already disappeared.
Taking advantage of his rampage just now, Sakura had already made her escape.
But it didn't matter. He had already doxxed Sakura and her sister's residence long ago. There was no rush.
As for now, it was time to handle another matter.
Facing the ground full of mech wreckage, Lucius turned around, smiling as he looked at Eden.
"The annoying guys are finally cleared out."
"So my dear Eden, now you've been kidnapped by the great Far East bandit, Miss Faded Elf."
Lucius raised both hands and curved his claws, grinning wickedly: "Scream all you want! No one will come to save you."
Eden was amused.
"Then my dear Miss Bandit, are you after money, or... are you after my beauty?"
Lucius blinked and smiled.
"Forget it, my good Eden, I won't tease you anymore."
"I want to make a deal with you, using some things... that you might really like."
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Advanced 30+ Chapters of Honkai: Is this even the Prevoious Era