Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 177: Balance Game
As a master alchemist, coupled with her skilled use of time stop, Winter has become an almost omnipotent intruder. In the empire, there is no restricted area that can stop her.

However, this invincible master of infiltration suffered a setback on his first day in Ophira.

She hadn't even put her plan of infiltration into action yet. When she was brewing the invisibility potion, the alarm was triggered and she was splashed with water by the spray showerhead above her head.

"Please do not use magic in the mansion."

The guards and the maids rushed over after hearing the news. They just tried to persuade Lin Dong earnestly but did not take any punishment measures.

Ethan asked Winter, who was soaked to the bone, to take a bath, and attributed this to the racial characteristics of the sub-human cat. At some point, Winter was a cat from the north, and she would sometimes cast spells unintentionally.

The guards were skeptical, but seeing Ethan's righteous face, they had no choice but to believe him.

They felt that a righteous man like Ethan would not lie.

The maid stayed and patiently explained to Ethan the mechanism set up in the mansion. "This is an anti-magic system made by experts from the Steam Technology Research Institute. Whether it is elemental magic, magic or the blessing of a priest, it will be detected immediately and an alarm will be sounded."

Her tone was full of pride.

Anyone who comes to Ophira must accept a restriction - unless necessary, all forms of magic are prohibited. This is a country that does not encourage magic. In serious cases, the offender may even be expelled, even the guards of the imperial diplomats are no exception.

Among them, "necessary situations" means that only when the personal safety of citizens or the protected objects is threatened, they can use magic for legitimate defense.

"Thank you. This is the first time I've heard of an anti-magic system."

The maid's cheeks flushed with sincere gratitude. What a handsome and polite gentleman.

Normally, she shouldn't have mentioned this in front of the Imperial delegation, but the atmosphere when she was talking to Ethan was very harmonious, so she couldn't help but want to chat for a while longer. "The mansion's anti-magic system is only used for warnings and reminders. Ophira's law enforcement team is also equipped with weapons that can invalidate magic, so please abide by Ophira's laws."

"We will comply."

The conversation ended when Rin Dong returned to the living room after taking a bath. Under Rin Dong's majestic gaze, the maid smiled slightly and praised, "Your lover is so beautiful." Then she left the house and returned to her post.

"This is a great shame!"

Winter sat down next to Ethan and leaned on his shoulder in distress. She was a master of infiltration, but she was defeated by such a device. She felt that she should hold a self-reflection meeting.

"Conventional magic will be detected by the anti-magic system, but the ascended element does not seem to be affected."

As Ethan spoke, he covered the surface of the table with a layer of red ice. When Winter triggered the alarm, he was not idle either. He secretly released a wind blade, successfully causing the water flow to become stronger. "I also heard that Ophira's law enforcement team is equipped with a full set of anti-magic weapons. These weapons technologies may have been used in the military field."

While the Holy See was still busy with its internal strife, the technology of the Western Continent had already taken off. Once a head-on conflict broke out, the Empire's frontal forces, which were mainly based on magical supernatural powers, would be caught off guard by these technologies that had never been seen before.

This also seems to mean that the era of the empire has come to an end and it is no longer the overlord of this era.

“But it’s not entirely a bad thing.”

The water cup on the table changed shape under the distortion of the red ice. Soon, two bottles of invisible potion appeared in front of Winter. "Once they rely too much on the anti-magic system, it will be easy for unexpected magic to take advantage of it."

Ophira has extremely strict control over potions. Only institutions that have obtained permission from the Deep Sea Council are qualified to sell potions. Any resident of the Western Continent who wants to buy potions must undergo strict certification, and the review is much stricter than the gun ownership order that Ethan had heard of in his previous life.

Ethan always felt that there might be special reasons why the Western Continent was so strict on concepts like magic and evil gods. Even the only person they recognized, the Lord of the Tides, was not given the title of "god". They used more concepts like pioneers and great men to blur his identity.

Winter was surprised, "You can even make an invisibility potion!"

The bitter feeling became stronger. Could it be that Ethan would surpass her in the field of alchemy?

"This is all thanks to the teacher's daily teaching. I was unable to construct things beyond my cognition. It was you who told me the ingredients needed for the invisibility potion and brewed the potion in front of me many times. Only then did I understand the essence of it."

"Hehe, you have a conscience."

In order to avoid triggering the alarm again, the two left the mansion with the potion and went straight to the underground facility where Kane was imprisoned.

After deciphering the secret of why the upgraded elements could not be recognized by the system, the infiltration operation became much smoother. The facility was guarded as solid as a rock. In addition to the fully armed law enforcement officers, the Lofik Consortium also deployed patrol guards coming and going. At the end of the facility, their old friend Magic Kane was trapped in a huge container filled with magic arrays with unfamiliar symbols.

"For dinner I want to have grilled..."

Hearing the noise coming from the door, Kane said subconsciously, and a smile appeared on his face before he saw Ethan and Winter, "I was just wondering when you would come here, it's a pity that I can't give you a hug."

Kane's condition looked a little bad. The space in the container was not big, making it difficult for him to move his hands and feet inside.

Ethan originally thought that this was just another of Kane's fun, but now it seemed that he had really become a prisoner, and what was restraining him was the magic circle in the container.

"I haven't seen you for a few days. How come you were captured by a group of humans?"

When Winter saw Kane's appearance, she suddenly found it a little funny. In comparison, she didn't seem so embarrassed after being drenched by the anti-magic system in the mansion - here was an old god captured by humans.

"Humans? They don't have the ability to write these magic circles. Their existence is much older than the history of the empire." Kane looked around and his eyes stopped above his head. "This was probably taught to them by one of my brothers. It seems that they are very interested in my way of harvesting energy."

Ethan asked, "You mean something like soul sacrifice?"

He guessed that each evil god had a different way of harvesting power. Lao Ba was fond of soul sacrifice and his abstract art, while Kane, who was always committed to provoking fights, seemed uninterested in sacrificing living people.

Kane in the container snapped his fingers and then pointed at Ethan, "I told you that you were born to be my brother."

Even though he was imprisoned here, he seemed to have maintained a positive and optimistic attitude.

Then he added, "But in essence, it's the soul, that's the key to everything."

Once a fight breaks out, there will be a large number of casualties, and those who die will be harvested by him. "For example, if someone plans to break through the seal of the valley in one fell swoop, they will need to harvest a large number of souls. As far as I know, my brother who has been sealed in the valley for several epochs is always full of anger in his heart. Once he finds a chance to get out..."

Kane didn't continue.

He believed that Ethan must have known the history of the Western Continent before coming to visit them.

"Aren't you brothers?" Winter asked, "You're just going to betray Him?"

"Brothers, let's settle the score."

Kane said, "Just imagine, if the flood submerged the entire Western Continent, how many souls would there be? When I think about those people using my power to help Him, I would rather Him stay in the valley. Partner, this is what I think. If you can't stop Him from breaking the seal, at least you have to grab these souls. I would rather watch you get the benefit, but the current situation is a bit complicated. There are three evil gods eyeing Ophira now."

"A friend of mine started having the same nightmare a while ago, dreaming of an octopus in the deep sea."

"Oh, that's Eliom. It's a little pet raised by my brother. Just like the little hen you raised, it's a personal hobby."

Kane paused for a moment when he spoke here. "But I recently heard that he was pecked by the chicken he raised, and was sealed into the valley with it. Maybe the little animal wanted to send some dangerous signals to the people of the Western Continent." "Is it still alive?"

"Maybe, but don't have any more expectations on it. It has been locked up with my brother for so long. Who can be sure that when it leaves the valley, it will still be the pure Eliom that helped the people of the Western Continent?"

There were footsteps in the corridor.

The patrol team of the Lofik Group is gradually approaching here.

“It’s all about my strength.”

Kane said, "Just imagine if you had my power, how would you use it to start a conflict?"

……

Another vicious case occurred on Paradise Island.

This was the news that Ethan and Winter heard after they left the underground facility. The mobilized law enforcement team was rushing to Paradise Island. This commotion was very loud and might even escalate into a riot.

The two followed at the end of the team.

When we arrived at Paradise Island, the entire road was under martial law, two steam locomotives were blocked in the middle of the road, and armed law enforcement teams blocked the streets.

Congressman Lewis also arrived. He lost his usual composure and walked to the front of the protesting team, trying to appease these angry Asians with a speech.

The victim was the owner of a yak barbecue restaurant. He was attacked by thugs while out delivering beef and was stabbed dozens of times. When people found him, the boss had already fallen in a pool of blood. It seemed that they had learned a lesson from the previous incident. The thugs first shot the boss with a crossbow containing a paralyzing toxin.

The case of the lion girl's husband is still under trial, and now a new conflict has broken out. The atmosphere on Paradise Island has suddenly become tense.

The number of demi-humans in Ophira is very small, and almost all of them are gathered in Paradise Island. They have become unprecedentedly united - especially when facing ethnic issues.

In addition, the yak boss was one of the opinion leaders of the Asian people, and his attack was like lighting a powder keg.

In the end, Lewis finally managed to calm the conflict after he repeatedly promised the Asians that he would severely punish the murderer and give them an explanation.

It was a terrible day for Lewis as he realized that things were spiraling out of control.

After leaving Paradise Island, he did not go home, but went straight to the mansion of another congressman, knocked on the other party's door aggressively, as if he was going to accuse him.

"Jacob, your people have crossed the line."

The first moment he saw the other person, he harshly accused him.

Politics in Ophira is a balancing game, and small-scale conflicts can help them stabilize the people's hearts in their jurisdiction and obtain the most stable votes.

Jacob held a pipe in his mouth and let Lewis curse at him before he said calmly, "Take care of your people first. The lion killed someone, and the Pure Society will definitely not be able to swallow this breath."

"From a legal perspective, this is legitimate defense."

In this balanced political game, where there are congressmen who support equal rights, there will naturally be nationalists who believe that subhumans have squeezed out their jobs and living space.

For politicians, diverting conflicts is a compulsory course.

As long as the "advantages of sub-humans" are mentioned to those homeless people through certain channels, these people will transfer their anger to the sub-humans.

The Purity Society was born from this. Although it has never been officially recognized, it has always been taking actions to "defend human rights."

The focus of their work is to suppress the sub-humans of Paradise Island.

Lewis was originally happy to see this happen. He only needed to handle one or two typical matters to easily win the votes of the Asians. The same was true for Jacob.

But now, he felt that Jacob was trying to overturn the table of the game.

"I don't care about the process, Lewis, self-defense, premeditated murder, that's just a legal interpretation. The point is that purity will kill people, and they won't let it go."

He paused and said, "This is their way of exerting pressure. If the lion does not receive the justice it deserves, the revenge will continue."

........................

Meanwhile, somewhere in Ophira.

On the second floor of a shop, a group of people were celebrating the victory of the hunt.

Several blood-stained daggers were displayed on the table like holy objects. The perpetrators became heroes in the eyes of others. They walked onto a makeshift podium and told others how they stabbed the daggers into the yak people's bodies again and again.

They described in detail the wails of the yak people and the terrified looks in their eyes.

This became the best spice of the night.

The atmosphere was high and they opened their glasses to celebrate the victory.

But this is just the beginning, they won't stop until that lion is sentenced to death.

Until a discordant voice interrupted the revelry, "Are you satisfied with just this?"

People looked in the direction of the voice and saw a strange young man.

"who are you?"

The revelers became alert, picked up their weapons and glared fiercely at the uninvited guest.

"Heisenberg."

After introducing himself, the young man asked everyone, "Didn't you see how many law enforcement teams came this time? Even the councillors were alarmed."

"You mean Lewis? The subhuman lackey?"

People asked with disdain.

"The key point is that it will be difficult for you to succeed in your next operation."

The young man said, "I think you need a plan."

(End of this chapter)