The moment Lisa's mother stepped out the door and saw her daughter in the hands of a strange man, she dragged her utterly exhausted body, forcibly squeezing a shred of power from a physique that had already exhausted all its potential, like wringing water from a sun-dried sponge.
She drew the longsword from her waist and transformed into a phantom, lunging directly at Lucas Reeve.
Lisa was startled and was about to cry out and stop her, but her mother's speed was simply too fast. It was hard to believe this was a person with such severe injuries. Perhaps this was the power of a mother's love—when her daughter was in danger, even if her body was too weak to stand, she could still erupt with unparalleled strength.
Lucas Reeve didn't dodge, smiling as he slowly greeted her.
Finally, the blade stopped just as it was about to touch Lucas Reeve's neck, its sharp edge cutting through the air with a hum.
"You are... my daughter's Shikigami?"
Lisa's mother suddenly remembered that her daughter seemed to have successfully summoned a Shikigami.
Otherwise, the dozen or so mafia members in the secret room couldn't possibly have died so horribly.
Seeing her mother come to her senses at the critical moment, Lisa breathed a sigh of relief. She was afraid her mother might have just killed the god in a fit of rage.
Lisa's mother didn't doubt it.
Because after realizing what was happening, she finally noticed that the handsome man in front of her was in a semi-transparent spiritual state. Although she didn't know why he was humanoid, Lisa's mother didn't question it. Her husband was an Onmyōji from Higashi, and a very powerful one at that. As his wife, she had naturally seen her husband's life-bound Shikigami.
A very cute, pink-furred little fox.
Normally, it was the size of a small dog, tiny and adorable, but in battle, it could transform into a giant demon fox several meters tall.
"Ma'am, you seem to be in great danger."
Lucas Reeve's handsome face maintained a constant smile. Even as the sound of dense footsteps grew louder downstairs, Lucas Reeve seemed not to hear them.
Lisa was a little worried.
Although Lucas Reeve had just boosted her physical capabilities, she had no combat experience whatsoever. At best, she was an ordinary person with a strong body. Other than being a bit stronger and having slightly more powerful Originium Arts, she had no other advantages.
In fact... Lisa's own innate physical talent wasn't high to begin with. Even with the boost from Lucas Reeve, it was questionable whether she was as strong as an ordinary mafia member.
Lisa's mother's expression was grim. She forced her body to stay upright, took a deep breath, and seemed to have made a decision.
She suddenly ripped off her own necklace and thrust it into her daughter's hand.
This was the necklace her husband had given her when they got married.
"Mr. Shikigami, I'm entrusting my daughter to you! Their target is me. Take my daughter and run!! Leave Siracusa....."
She had resolved to die.
She no longer even hoped that the faction she served would send reinforcements.
From the moment someone leaked her daughter's secret to the fact that she had received no word from her superiors after killing so many enemies to save her daughter, it was clear....
For some reason, she had been cast aside...
Everyone wanted her dead.
"Mom!!!"
The intelligent Lisa also knew that her mother wanted to sacrifice herself to buy time.
Lisa's mother's expression was also pained, but she had no other choice.
Suddenly! Lisa's mother seemed to sense some danger. She yanked Lisa and Lucas Reeve, rolling backward. However, because Lucas Reeve's body was materialized, she couldn't grab him.
The next second, the floor where the two of them and the spirit had been standing suddenly exploded.
A heavy crossbow bolt instantly blasted through the second floor's floor, even blowing a hole in the ceiling. This showed the immense power of this heavy crossbow. If they hadn't moved just now, Lisa might have been impaled by this huge bolt.
*CRASH~*
The floor collapsed.
In the past, Lisa's mother could have easily dodged with her nimble movements, but now, her injuries were far too severe. The knife wounds on her legs and body, which had just started to clot, tore open again with the violent movement, and fresh blood once again stained the bandages wrapped around her pale thighs.
With such excessive blood loss, an ordinary person would have already fainted, but Lisa's mother was desperately holding on.
After the floor gave way, the two of them fell to the first floor.
Lisa's mother quickly shielded her daughter in her arms, turning her own back towards the ground to take the impact.
At this time....
The first and second floors were already packed with a dense crowd of mafia members.
Among them were even many secretly trained Assassin Casters.
One should not underestimate the power of a candidate for a ruling mafia family's leadership. They could be considered second only to the boss. In terms of power within Siracusa, it was no less than that of any Lieutenant General in the Ursus system, second only to a Legion Commander under the Ursus Emperor.
No one knew just how many subordinates or hidden experts such a person had.
At the very least... these 'Assassin Casters' were no less famous than the 'Wolf Pack' from another ruling mafia family.
Was there no escape?
If she were at her peak, she might have been able to escape such a siege, but now... her legs were so severely injured that even standing was a problem, she had lost a lot of blood, and if not for her incredible willpower, she would have fainted long ago. And she also had to protect her daughter.
As for the Shikigami...
Lisa's mother didn't think the new Shikigami her daughter had summoned could be that powerful.
Killing those dozen or so ordinary mafia members was probably its limit.
She had heard from her husband that a Shikigami's power is intrinsically linked to the Onmyōji themselves.
Because a portion of the power a Shikigami uses in the mortal world needs to be borne by the Onmyōji, an ordinary Onmyōji's first life-bound Shikigami won't be very strong. It needs to grow and become stronger alongside the Onmyōji.
"Daughter... Mom is so sorry....."
"Mom! Don't say that!!"
Lisa cried out, a scene of tragic parting about to unfold.
Only Lucas Reeve was standing by, scratching his head as he watched the show.
"I say... excuse me, sorry to interrupt your 'tragic farewell'."
"Can we not look like we're about to die?"
"?"
Lucas Reeve's semi-transparent body stood between the mother and daughter and their enemies, looking completely unconcerned. He turned slightly to the side.
"Ma'am, don't forget, I am little Lisa's Shikigami, you know. I count as part of her power. And besides..."
The enemies didn't seem to want to waste any time, preparing to fire their heavy crossbows to take the two of them out.
"I'm very strong, you know."
Lucas Reeve's smile was dazzlingly bright in the firelight.
At this moment, Lisa also took a deep breath, wiped the dust and tears from her baby-fat cheeks. The mixture of tears and dust made her small face look exceptionally determined in the light of the surrounding burning houses.
She struggled out of her mother's embrace and then shielded her mother with her own small body.
"Mr. Reeve!! I'm counting on you!!"
"You got it."
[I hereby beseech thee! May my power become thy body! Descend upon this world! Swift as the law's decree!]
Lisa chanted the Onmyōji's incantation in the esoteric language of Higashi.
The moment she finished, a faint blue glow radiated from within Lisa's body, and this glow slowly flowed into Lucas Reeve. In an instant... Lucas Reeve's originally semi-transparent spiritual form began to solidify, as if forming a new body.
*BOOM!!*
The heavy crossbow bolt was released, flying unhesitatingly towards Lisa, who was shielding her mother.
However, the next moment, the heavy crossbow bolt stopped just a few centimeters from Lisa's chest.
The now-solid Lucas Reeve still had a smile on his face, but before everyone's eyes, he had effortlessly caught the heavy crossbow bolt, which was powerful enough to pierce through multiple concrete walls, with a single hand.
Is that something a human can catch?
"Sorry, I'm not a human, you know."
Lucas Reeve seemed to have read their minds.
[Noble Phantasm: Knight of Owner!]
A crimson glow lit up on Lucas Reeve's right hand, and black and crimson patterns crawled over the heavy crossbow bolt.
Property bestowed: Explosive.
"Returning it to you!!"
Lucas Reeve threw it back with one hand.
Instantly, the crossbow bolt turned into a streak of light and flew back into the crowd, easily piercing one person's chest. The moment the bolt touched that person, its surface emitted a blinding white light and exploded with a boom. The people at the center of the explosion never imagined that a crossbow bolt could explode. Caught off guard, more than twenty mafia members died in the blast.
"Kill her!! Quick!!"
The order was given.
All the mafia members and the emotionless, specially trained Assassin Casters swarmed forward.
Lucas Reeve wasn't interested in the ordinary mafia members, but he was a little interested in the Assassin Casters.
In Ursus, there was a bug-level unit, on par with the Emperor's Blade and the heavy Wendigos, called the War Casters. Although Lucas Reeve had never seen them, he could already imagine how powerful this unit was. And he seriously suspected that these Assassin Casters were a neutered version created in imitation of Ursus's War Casters.
Unlike traditional Casters who hid in the back and shot out uniform balls of Originium energy, these Assassin Casters charged forward like true assassins. They manipulated different weapons through their own Originium Arts. Some controlled multiple sharp blades that coiled around their bodies, some used drones, and some flew through the air on specialized staff-swords, like they were riding swords.
In short, it was a wide variety of styles.
In Lucas Reeve's eyes, it looked like an acrobatic show.
However, he had to admit that although it looked flashy, their killing techniques were not flashy at all.
Especially the ones controlling the sharp blades. These floating blades were incredibly fast, and while not as fast as Originium Rounds, they weren't far behind. These blades were also specially forged; each one could cut through metal like mud.
However, these flashy attacks were useless against Lucas Reeve.
With the help of the Transparent World, Lucas Reeve could easily see through any attack. He could clearly see what anyone wanted to do next. However, these mafia members had no intention of fighting one-on-one. Their primary target was Lisa's mother. Although they didn't know who Lucas Reeve was, as long as he was tied up, they would aim for Lisa.
"The times have changed, everyone."
Lucas Reeve snapped his fingers.
Then, a small transport drone hovering in the sky seemed to receive a command, and several of its hatches opened.
The prepared equipment instantly flew out, piercing through the ceiling just before the attacks reached them. Countless large alloy shields slammed into the ground with a series of *clangs*, blocking the path in front of Lisa and her mother. The heavy crossbow bolts that could easily pierce concrete walls were finally stopped by these alloy shields.
With a loud *CLANG*, the bolt merely left a tiny dent on the shield. These shields were not extravagantly made of Nirvana Metal. Although Lucas Reeve had the forging technique, the cost was still extremely high. This was a new type of metal he had recently forged.
Its hardness was less than D32 Steel, but it had good ductility and some ability to absorb energy and impact, making it very suitable for shields.
These alloy shields were also something Lucas Reeve and Zumama had developed together to protect others.
After landing, the sides of these shields quickly expanded, eventually forming a seamless fortress that protected the mother and daughter inside.
As for the support drone in the sky, Lucas Reeve had summoned it long ago. It had been hovering up there the whole time. With Siracusa's level of air defense, they were unlikely to discover a drone at that altitude.
And on these drones, Lucas Reeve used a special summoning method that could recognize his spiritual pattern and thus accept commands. This was ineffective for ordinary people, but very effective for him.
Innumerable attacks were relentlessly unleashed on the alloy shields.
However, these attacks only left small dents on the shields, making no substantial progress at all.
"What... what the hell is that!!!"
These mafia members had never seen such a device before. It flew down from the sky?
What was in the sky??
Although Lucas Reeve often talked about rotary cannons and Vulcan cannons firing a thousand rounds a second, these things couldn't be used casually, mainly because they were expensive...
Moreover, these special types of Originium Rounds were all hand-forged by Lucas Reeve.
He might spend days painstakingly forging them, only to have them all fired in a single burst. Using them against these mafia members...
It was a losing proposition no matter how he thought about it.
After all, bullets in his previous life were mass-produced on an assembly line. Forget a thousand rounds a minute; even a ship-mounted missile defense cannon firing over ten thousand rounds a minute was affordable.
But he didn't have an assembly line.
Every single bullet was personally forged by him and couldn't be wasted.
Lucas Reeve had been planning to build an assembly line recently, but it was not an easy task. After all, what was mass-produced couldn't compare to what he forged by hand.
*Whoosh~
Lucas Reeve summoned again.
A staff-sword launched from the drone in the sky and landed accurately in his hand.
*Phew....*
As expected, he had to return to basics.
[Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash!]
Lucas Reeve took a deep breath.
Lightning-wreathed white mist surged forth.
He hadn't used this breathing technique since his trip to Bolívar, but now, Lucas Reeve unleashed it once more.
In an instant, his body became lightning, reaching the pinnacle of speed.
These so-called Assassin Casters couldn't even see Lucas Reeve's figure clearly. They only saw a blinding flash of lightning approaching, then passing by them, and finally...
Their heads fell to the ground, their consciousness gradually fading away.