The eleven figures within the pillar of light vanished as suddenly as before. However, this time, the Damselette felt an inexplicable tightening in her chest.
This sensation of her heart being squeezed was something she had never experienced before.
"No, nothing will happen. They don't remember anything now. They are just eleven empty shells," the Damselette murmured to herself. She seemed to be explaining something, yet also comforting herself.
As the pillar of light dissipated, the Damselette separated her clasped hands and lowered her head, searching for the black blades. Perhaps this invisibility was their instinct?
But the black blades, having forgotten everything, soon showed the Damselette what their true instinct was.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" A series of deafening explosions came from afar, followed by a cacophony of noise.
The Damselette seemed to realize something; the previous serenity on her face was gone. She rushed out the door in a panic, completely losing her composure.
"Stop… who are you…?"
"Pfft… it hurts so much… is there anyone… is there anyone who can give me a quick end…?"
"What happened…? Who can tell me! Tell me!!!"
...The crackling of Burning flames, the stench of charred bodies, the wails of countless people... They eagerly drilled into the Damselette's ears and nose... Even if she saw nothing, they still painted a picture of purgatory in her mind.
The Damselette removed her pristine white veil. There was no point in keeping her eyes closed now. Sometimes, without even looking, pain would transmit and engrave itself in her heart.
The Damselette opened her eyes, and then she saw the purgatory in her mind turn into reality.
Black flames filled the Sky, everything as far as the eye could see was Burning. Countless Burning severed limbs and remains emitted a foul stench, and the Sky was tinged with a gloomy gray.
Whether those ashes were from ordinary objects or from bodies, the Damselette could no longer distinguish.
Further away, eleven towering pillars of black flame, condensed together, were still swinging. Each swing turned everything within a hundred meters into ash.
Whether it was people or buildings.
She saw Arlecchino and The Rooster step forward to stop the black blades. But the black blades' aura merely disappeared and then reappeared. Afterward, both of them had several hideous wounds on their bodies and also turned into rising gray ashes.
It was then that the Damselette realized that the black blades' strength was also god-tier. And they were the invisible kind.
Now, the invisible gods had gone mad, in Snezhnaya.
"Lady Damselette… quickly go stop them… they… they are heading towards the city!" A pair of black hands, their skin completely destroyed, grabbed the Damselette's ankle.
The Damselette looked down, only to see a corpse that was no longer recognizable as human.
"I… I will," the Damselette's lips trembled incessantly, unsure if it was from fear or anger.
"Swish!" Three pairs of wings appeared on the Damselette's back. Then, with a slight flap of her wings, she instantly appeared beside one of the black blades.
"Stop—!" Even though she knew the other party wouldn't listen, the Damselette still roared in anger. Her voice was hoarse, no longer sounding human.
The black blade's figure vanished again. All she knew now was killing, but killing ordinary people was certainly easier than killing the Damselette.
"I won't let you go!" The Damselette, feeling the black blade's aura dissipate, said in a hoarse voice.
Then her wings began to flap, and a dense element of fire began to gather.
"Boom!" A violent flame storm swirled around the Damselette. Its temperature was so high that it melted the ground below, where no buildings remained, into lava.
"Ah!" A cry of pain came from the Sky. In this level of power, the black blade, having lost her sanity and only driven by instinct, could not withstand it.
The surging flames found their target and instantly swarmed it. In a short moment, the black blade turned into ash.
"Ten left," the Damselette took a deep breath, then looked at the other black blades still relentlessly killing in the distance.
Ordinary Fatui soldiers were useless in front of the black blades unleashing their full power. Even if they burned their lives with a Delusion, it would only prolong their lives by a few seconds.
But at this very moment, something unexpected happened!
An extremely vast aura came from the horizon, freezing everything in Snezhnaya.
The black blade with her sword raised to strike, the soldiers with ferocious expressions, the fleeing residents in a panic... Everything was frozen, including the Damselette flying in the Sky.
Then a bizarre scene unfolded. The Damselette saw everything in Snezhnaya begin to flow backward.
She saw the black blade she had killed come back to life, the pervasive black flames dissipated, and the ashes in the Sky reassembled into houses and life. Morning turned back into night, and the dead people were resurrected.
The Damselette was like an observer, watching her body being manipulated like a Marionette, repeating the past moments.
Summoning the flame storm, making the black blades lose their memory, the tentative battle... scene after scene of recently happened events replayed in reverse before the Damselette's eyes.
Finally, everything froze at a certain moment.
"Everyone, there's no need to be nervous. The Marionette is yours to deal with. As long as you promise to leave Snezhnaya afterward, that's fine," The Rooster's voice, full of laughter, came through.
The Damselette suddenly snapped back to reality. She found that she could control her body again. She touched her veil and opened her eyes.
She looked around and felt that everything was so beautiful. The cunning The Rooster was good, The Knave, full of schemes, was good, and the black blades who had regained their memories were also good.
"I have no objection!" As soon as The Rooster finished speaking, the Damselette's lighthearted voice rang out again.
The Marionette's eyes widened, as if she couldn't believe such words came from the Damselette.
The Rooster and The Knave also looked at the Damselette in surprise. They had never seen her so happy. Usually, her eyes were always closed, and she seemed nonchalant about everything.
But now, her eyes were open, and a smile was on her face. The Rooster and The Knave exchanged rare glances, then both shook their heads slightly, not knowing what had happened.
However, they quickly stopped caring. The top three Harbingers of the Fatui were all incomprehensible individuals. The Damselette being like this was acceptable.
"Heh heh, it seems you Fatui are quite heartless. You treat soldiers the same way you treat Harbingers who have no value."
As the black blade spoke, she cut out one-eighth of the Marionette's soul. Then, along with the unconscious soldiers, she threw them at The Knave's feet.
"Bye bye, have a good journey, I'm going back to sleep!" The Damselette, seeing the familiar scene before her, was afraid of any unexpected events. So after saying that, she immediately ran out without looking back.
Everyone present, except for the black blade, looked as if they had seen a ghost. Was this what the Damselette was like as a Harbinger? Was the emotionless Damselette from before a fake?
"It seems there are strange individuals among your Harbingers too," the black blade looked in the direction the Damselette had left, chuckled a few times, and then her figure also disappeared.
The factory floor was quiet for a while. But soon it became noisy again—The Knave dragged the Marionette and the soldiers, and kicked the Balladeer out.
The sunlight fell on The Knave, making her a little uncomfortable.
"Is tonight a little short?" The Knave muttered softly, then shook her head and continued walking into the distance… "Burn, burn, burn! I'm Burning to death!" In Cider Lake, Yu Jin was lying like a corpse at the bottom of the lake. Surrounding him, rising steam constantly floated upwards, coloring the surroundings pure white.
Yu Jin found it very strange. Before, when he was Overloaded like this, his head would feel dizzy. Now his head wasn't dizzy, but his body was hot.
Being hot was one thing, but the key was that he could actually feel pain! This… this was truly wonderful! If only he could taste things sometime.
After rolling around at the bottom of the lake for a while, Yu Jin felt this wasn't working; his body hurt too much to move.
So he decisively calmed down and entered the Initial Fire Pit.
"Little You, I know you've hidden some things. Care to take them out and burn them?"
"No, my Lord. Heaven and earth bear witness, I am just an empty shell now."
"You won't listen to reason, huh? Don't make me use force!"
"No, no, no—don't flip! They both have some too!"
"Hmm? None of you are being honest, huh?" Yu Jin turned his head to look at the Frenzied Flame and rot, who were watching the show nearby, and rubbed his hands.
Then the Initial Fire Pit became lively for the first time in a long while.