18 17. Hard Fight

Among the three present, Leonard could put others to sleep through poetry, Angel was familiar with Mrs. Sharon and held a "Phantom Phosphorus Eruption" in her hand that could easily detect invisible targets. However, the biggest threat to Mrs. Sharon was undoubtedly the "Spirit Medium" Daly, who could manipulate blue spirits to burn away the invisible threads she used.

The moment the new "Phantom Phosphor Eruptor" illuminated Mrs. Sharon's figure, she also launched an attack on Daly.

Angel didn't think Daly could withstand the assassin's full-force strike, especially since the latter was caught off guard and facing away from the enemy. In a moment of urgency, she raised her hand and fired a shot at the approaching figure, simultaneously moving sideways to shield Daly from the attacker.

As Angel expected, the hastily fired shot was easily dodged by the attacker, but her physical blockade prevented them from passing through, forcing them to attack Angel in close combat instead.

Even at close range, Mrs. Sharon's invisibility was still effective. Angel could only faintly discern her outline through the Phantom Phosphor powder attached to her, which significantly impacted the close combat.

Seeing the outline formed by the light powder swinging a punch at her, Angel extended her left hand to block, while her right hand, holding the gun, continued to press closer to Mrs. Sharon, ready for a close-range shot to limit her evasion space.

Just as her left hand was about to block Mrs. Sharon, a chilling intuition warned Angel of the danger of doing so.

Without hesitation, she trusted her instincts, retracting her extended left hand while diverting her gun towards the center of Mrs. Sharon's outline and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The muzzle flashes, sending a bullet towards Mrs. Sharon. However, in that instant, Mrs. Sharon seemed to be pulled sideways in an incredible angle, dodging the bullet that was almost upon her.

This also caused her strike towards Angel to miss.

The spiritual warning was very accurate. If Angel had attempted to block that "punch" with her left hand, she would have likely had her arm severed by a dagger, invisible along with Mrs. Sharon, and ignited with dark flames, which only became visible as it silently swept by Angel, then disappeared without a trace.

It seems Mrs. Sharon wasn't truly unarmed for the surprise attack, but compared to the more noisy firearms, she chose a dagger, more suited for an "assassin's" attack.

Although invisible weapons are hard to defend against, just seeing the shape and length of the dagger significantly reduced the pressure of close combat for Angel. Being an "assassin" herself, she feared nothing, even against someone of a higher rank.

Moreover, she caught a glimpse of Leonard, already freed with Daly's help, raising his pistol towards them.

Mrs. Sharon evidently also noticed that Leonard, previously immobilized by invisible threads, had regained his ability to move. She quickly retreated a few steps, her figure reduced to mere outlines, and sidestepped to avoid the hastily fired bullet from Leonard. At the same time, several black flames appeared around her, drawing complex trajectories in the air as they flew toward Leonard and Daly.

Ignoring the need to continue firing, Leonard displayed agility comparable to that of an "assassin," grabbing Daly and rolling behind a sofa to avoid the incoming black flames.

The black flames struck the surface of the sofa fabric like bullets, but they did not ignite it. Instead, they dissipated quickly in the air, as if they were phantoms that never existed in this world.

Seizing the opportunity, Angel aimed her gun again and fired the last two bullets from her magazine at Mrs. Sharon's outline, which was adorned with phosphorescent powder.

The bullets, like Mrs. Sharon who also possessed the "assassin's" precognitive ability to foresee danger, were dodged. Her evasion seemed not powered by her own effort but as if an invisible giant hand was rapidly moving her, causing both bullets to miss and hit the wooden partition behind her, creating two irregular holes.

The invisible giant hand... It seems that the threads that had bound them earlier could also serve as a means of movement...

Angel chased Mrs. Sharon's figure with her eyes while silently speculating.

Under such a mode of movement, long-distance shooting was purely a waste of bullets. She flicked the revolver's cylinder open, ejected the spent casings, and, discarding the momentarily useless lady's pistol with her left hand, quickly reloaded with a speed loader. Leonard also cooperated by firing from behind the sofa to constrain Mrs. Sharon, but the shooting was equally ineffective.

The black flames appeared again beside Mrs. Sharon. She raised her hand and waved, sending several black flames drifting towards Angel this time.

Angel knew that the black flames could not penetrate objects, so she immediately flipped over the table beside her, letting the teacups and kettle roll off onto the floor, and crouched behind it. She heard the "puff, puff" sounds as the black flames hit the table and dissipated, causing her no harm from her position behind it.

It seems the "Witch's" Beyonder abilities have too many limitations, incomparable to the "Nightmare"...

Crouched behind the table and lost in thought, she suddenly felt a pang of anxiety and lunged forward.

The spot where she was a second ago was pierced by a transparent ice spike that penetrated the wooden table, with the spike of ice stuck in the wood and its tip piercing through the carpet, sending waves of cold air that made the surroundings feel like midwinter.

Affected by the cold, Angel felt her movements slow down. She scrambled away from the frost-covered table, dodging several black flames that flew towards her like bullets.

From a distance, Mrs. Sharon held an icicle that formed out of thin air in one hand, with even more black flames swirling around her than before, preparing to launch the next round of attack.

Suddenly, the chaotic reception room seemed to be swept by a cold breeze. The swirling black flames froze in mid-air as if a pause button had been pressed, and Mrs. Sharon's waving arm also stiffened in place. Under the gradually dimming phosphorescent powder halo, a figure slowly became visible.

Unlike the graceful and charming socialite of Cole Granger's memory, the person who appeared before them now wore a short-sleeved shirt and leather slim-fit trousers, holding a black flame dagger in one hand and an ice frost spear in the other. Her exposed slender arms and beautiful face showed an unhealthy shade of gray, her expression angry with a hint of panic.

Just like the Night Watchers who were bound by invisible threads a minute ago...

With a thought, Angel turned her gaze to Leonard hiding behind the sofa, seeing his surprised face, then he suddenly realized, looking at Daly Simone next to him, holding a pendant and closing her eyes tightly.

It seems to be another masterpiece of this "Spirit Medium".

Angel no longer distracted, she raised her revolver, fully loaded, aimed at Mrs. Sharon, who could no longer move or hide, and pulled the trigger.

This time, Mrs. Sharon, immobilized by the medium, had no chance to dodge. The bullet accurately hit her head, her entire head... no, her entire body shattered like an ice sculpture, and the fragments melted into the air before hitting the ground. The black flames surrounding her, having lost their controller, scattered in irregular paths and extinguished with a "puff" when they hit obstacles.

A giant decorative mirror hanging on the wall also shattered into pieces the size of fingernails, some sticking to the frame, others falling to the floor along the wall.

Another mirror substitute... Angel's gaze quickly swept over the reception room, spotting several decorative mirrors, both large and small, immediately raising her gun to shatter one.

"Be careful!" Leonard's panicked and sharp shout came from behind.

Without looking back, Angel dove forward, rolling away from her original spot.

A dagger engulfed in black flames silently swept past where Angel had been, and Mrs. Sharon, also enveloped in black flames, appeared behind her.

Her complexion had returned to normal, indicating that the effect binding her had been lifted.

"The black flames drove away the spirit." Daly's reminder came too late, "Give me another twenty seconds."

From the corner of her eye, Angel saw Daly rip off the crystal pendant from her wrist, clasped her hands together around the pendant, her gaze deepening.

"Whoosh—"

Mrs. Sharon, preparing to continue her pursuit of Angel, disregarded the target close at hand and instead condensed an ice frost spear in her hands, throwing it at Daly, who was in the midst of channeling.

Angel hurriedly fired the remaining bullets in the cylinder, accurately hitting the ice spears in the air. The powerful "Storm Convergence" tore through the solid ice, shattering it. A few ice shards grazed Daly's body; she remained motionless as if only a summer breeze brushed against her face.

"Reload!" Angel ejected the cylinder of the revolver to replace the bullets. Taking advantage of the moment, Mrs. Sharon advanced two steps forward, stabbing with her dagger trailed by dark flames.

Bang, bang, bang—

Leonard fired several shots at Mrs. Sharon's side, forcing back her aggressive momentum.

He knew that the most important thing now was to buy time for Daly to regain control over Mrs. Sharon through spiritual possession. Otherwise, once they ran out of bullets, they would have no means to counter her.

To restrain Mrs. Sharon, Leonard rushed out from behind the sofa, rapidly firing until his magazine was empty.

Like before, Mrs. Sharon manipulated invisible threads to dodge all the bullets swiftly. She looked at Leonard charging towards her with a hint of disdain in her brown eyes. As Leonard's movements became entangled and slowed by the invisible threads, his trench coat outlined his movements clearly.

As Mrs. Sharon was about to deliver a fatal blow to Leonard with her dagger, her expression suddenly changed. She was pulled sideways by the threads, avoiding a bullet shot from a blind spot.

"Tsk."

Angel felt a bit anxious as his ambush failed. Mrs. Sharon also possessed the combat instincts of an "assassin," and with the control of invisible threads, even a sneak attack from behind couldn't hit her. The battle had gone on, and after changing bullets twice, except for hitting a mirror decoy, Mrs. Sharon remained unharmed.

The only chance to kill this Beyonder being, with her myriad of survival tactics, was for Daly to complete the séance, letting the spirit take control of Mrs. Sharon and then shattering all nearby mirrors to prevent her from using mirror decoys.

But how long had it been since the twenty seconds started? Seven seconds, or eight?

While his thoughts raced, Angel didn't stop firing, forcing Mrs. Sharon to dodge around.

Though the bullets flew past Mrs. Sharon without hitting her, her constant movement to dodge didn't leave her any opportunity to gather dark flames or ice spears for attacks. As time ticked by, Mrs. Sharon's expression darkened, and she charged directly at Angel.

With a "bang," Angel accurately hit the panicking Mrs. Sharon, but the sound of another mirror shattering made her realize she had been tricked again.

"Daly!" Angel, realizing the danger, quickly called out. He looked towards Daly's position, where a faint figure appeared next to her. Mrs. Sharon, using a mirror decoy, reappeared, still holding the dagger with dark flames, wearing a victorious smile.

Daly, clad in a black robe, still had her eyes closed, holding the pendant tightly, seemingly unaware of the imminent danger.

Without hesitation, Angel raised her gun to fire, but only the crisp sound of the hammer striking the primer was heard. The large-caliber revolver could only hold five bullets, and the last one had just been used to shatter the mirror decoy.

A breeze brushed past everyone, as if someone had hurriedly passed by. Angel shivered, her thoughts momentarily sluggish. She gathered her spirits and looked again at Daly and Mrs. Sharon.

"Séance" Daly reopened her eyes, which regained their gem-like emerald color. The skin of Mrs. Sharon next to her showed the unhealthy gray color again, and the raised dagger stopped in mid-air, unable to descend.