Don't force me to use my right fist.

Are you sure this will be enough to win her over?

Lianye still couldn't quite believe it. Zuoyou's attack was indeed powerful, but this didn't seem like an attack that could affect the soul, did it?

She is dead.

After wiping the blood off his fist, Sōyu turned around and smiled at Wakana.

Chapter 282 Liberation

Although Zuoyou's words sounded like he was just showing off, Lianye decided to believe him this once.

Even if she didn't believe him, Lianye still couldn't do much to Shirley with her own strength. The moment the time stop was lifted, Shirley remained in her position, rushing towards the cave entrance. She knew Zuoyou would definitely stop her, but having already decided to escape Wenli even if it meant taking Zuoyou's attack head-on, she didn't care about anything else. Shirley didn't believe that Zuoyou could really kill her here in such a short time; it was clearly impossible. However, as it turned out, nothing was absolute. Shirley's expression in mid-air...

Shirley's body was like a sandbag being constantly kneaded and deformed by a pair of invisible hands in mid-air, twisting and deforming into various shapes.

What made her even more desperate was that her usually proud recovery ability seemed to be suppressed by something at this moment. No matter how much she tried to activate her power, she could not get any feedback from her body.

At this moment, she was just like an ordinary person, freed from her strange identity and inner strength, yet suffering blows that no ordinary person should have to endure.

.. !!"W

Finally unable to bear it any longer, Shirley let out a mournful cry, and Rang-zhi, who had been staring at her with an indescribable expression, turned his head away.

Even he couldn't accept this tragic situation, but when he thought about what she had done, he felt that she deserved it.

"Help, help me!"

Like a drowning person grasping at a straw, Shirley reached out her hand towards Ruoqing Wine, as if wanting to...

But what she received in response was Qingjiu's eyes, which had gradually calmed down.

As for Zuoyou, he hadn't even glanced at the woman who had fallen victim to his Hundred Fragments Technique with its Illusionary Kill from the moment he made contact with Time Stop. Even if Qingjiu told him to stop now, that woman was already doomed.

Instead of worrying about this dead guy, it's better to take advantage of this time to deal with the surrounding Sherry's familiars first. After all, they were vampires of this guy's personal guard level; killing them would at least give him some experience. Compared to Sherry, these guys were much easier to deal with. Although they still possessed terrifying strength and speed compared to ordinary people, they were still a little lacking in front of Saya. Like a killing machine, Saya drew the diamond sword from his backpack and, without even letting Renya help, slaughtered the swarming werewolf-like vampires one by one. In almost the blink of an eye, the once-aggressive familiars lay on the ground, leaving only Saya standing above them with a look of lingering satisfaction, collecting his spoils.

"It's about time to go pick up the big heads." Scratching the pumpkin on his head, Sōyū finally turned his gaze back to Sherry, who was now completely lifeless.

The delayed punches finally stopped, and Sherry's gruesome corpse, already reduced to a bloody pulp, crashed to the ground, instantly turning into a stinking black sludge. Upon closer inspection, however, one could see that this pure white figure, while almost identical to the Sherry Sawa had seen, lacked the dark and bloodthirsty expression on her face, instead displaying a more intellectual and composed demeanor.

"Could it be that Imagine Breaker also has the ability to purify malice?"

Sawa looked at his right fist. The Shirley that had appeared now was probably the soul of the original Shirley, only the malice attached to her had been removed, so she was no longer considered strange. He just didn't know why this thing had come out; Sawa didn't think it had much to do with him. And that was exactly what happened. The pure white shadow that emerged from Shirley's corpse simply nodded to Sawa as if to express its gratitude, before turning to look at Haru, who was already too excited to speak.

"I'm sorry, Kurosawa."

A gentle smile, the one Qingjiu knew best, appeared on her face. Ji Li seemed to know the absurd things she had done over the years, and her smile contained a hint of bitterness and helplessness.

"It seems too late to apologize for the mistakes I made back then. I can only say that I was too naive. In the battle against malice, I lost. I truly bowed down to Qingjiu. Clear tears slid down Xue Li's chin. She didn't ask for his forgiveness, but just felt that she had to say this to him."

"You're not sorry to me, you should know that."

Qingjiu turned his head away, his eyes feeling a little moist, but he still tried his best to hold back the tears from falling.

"Well, when we get down there, I'll try to apologize to them one by one. It's just that you've had a tough time all these years." Xiangli opened her mouth, but in the end, it turned into a sigh.

Sōyū quietly took two steps back and stood next to Jīyāzā. He figured it was best to just observe from the sidelines; once the strange threat was gone, he wasn't interested in anything else. Watching from the sidelines was fine.

Qingjiu glanced at her gradually fading body, but she just couldn't bring herself to say that she forgave her.

“Death is a relief for me, and you don’t need to blame yourself for it anymore. But how should I put it, the fact that you were able to let go of your obsession is the most comforting thing for me.”

"Don't let me make you feel lost anymore. Do what you should be doing, instead of letting hatred cloud your judgment like before. I think you don't need me to remind you of the rest, do you?"

She pointed to the location of Haruyu's heart, and Shirley, who had dissipated to the point where only her upper body remained, looked at Saya.

"Brother Saya, thank you for helping me escape. As a reward, I can only remind you to protect the child beside you, whether it's Kaguya or that girl over there. Absolutely do not let the Church of Truth take them away." With that final "Ah!", Sherry vanished completely from Saya's sight. But Saya felt no joy whatsoever. This girl couldn't control her mouth even before she died, did she? Did she have to reveal her identity? She was just taking revenge for him whipping her corpse for so long, wasn't she?

Chapter 283 A Different Kind of Qingjiu

"Can you just pretend that what she said was pure nonsense? She's never even seen my face, how could she possibly know who I am? Right?"

Zuoyou covered his pumpkin head and stepped forward. He really didn't expect that even after this guy was dead, he could still trick him again. It could be considered that she had gotten revenge on him.

Moreover, it's not good to say it in front of anyone else. If you insist on saying it in front of Qingjiu, you're just asking for trouble.

"Boss, I think... even Lianye can't help but want to come out and explain for Saya. We just finished dealing with this vampire issue. If we get involved with Saya and start fighting amongst ourselves, it won't be a good thing for the Black Organization."

"Hmm, probably. Maybe Sherry was just playing a joke on me after all. She's always been the kind of person who likes to tease people." To everyone's surprise, Haru actually nodded, acknowledging that Saya's words were something no one would likely believe.

"The Headless Rider is the Headless Rider, and the bodyguard from the Yuzaki family is that bodyguard. I can tell the difference between these two people. After all, one is a monster, and the other, for now, should still be considered human." Haruyu glanced at Saya with a meaningful look. A smile appeared on her usually stern face, but it quickly returned to a serious expression.

"And I hope even more that you can become more human in the future. Otherwise, the day you truly become a monster, I will spare no effort to make you understand what you did wrong." Saku laughed after hearing these words, which had a hint of warning. Haru's words seemed to still not let him off the hook, but the attitude she was trying to express was already very clear.

As long as he doesn't do anything bizarre or harmful to others, he shouldn't target him in such a morbid way as before.

In other words, Haruyu had finally, in a sense, acknowledged his humanity. That was enough for Saya, since no one knew better than himself what he was capable of doing.

Why bother targeting ordinary people when he has nothing better to do? He's not someone who's bored out of his mind. Besides, killing people—no experience points, no loot, etc.—isn't he just asking for trouble? Nodding at Haruyu, Saya gave a thumbs up. It was good for both of them that he understood this. They couldn't just knock out every person from the brewery they encountered.

The matter that had been troubling Sōyū for so long was finally resolved, and he was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw a huge, bright red magic circle suddenly appear in the sky.

"Hey, besides this guy, did you guys encounter some other troublesome fellow?"

Sōyū's lips twitched. He might not know much about other things, but he was someone who had been creating magic for quite some time. He could recognize quite a few of the structures in this kind of magic circle.

"Hmm? There's another green-haired threat heading towards the Index, but logically, he should have already been defeated by the Index's auto-book mode, right?"

Haruyu also noticed the familiar scene in the sky; wasn't that the magic the Automatic Book of Documents had used to finally banish Sherry?

"Your idea is quite good, but I suggest you check that forbidden book list you mentioned. After all, its coverage is clearly aimed at the entire brewery." Zuo You swallowed hard. This commotion was almost as big as the small meteorite he had conjured earlier. If she really struck, Zuo You didn't know about the others, but at least the brewery employees still fighting wouldn't survive.

"What do you mean?" Haruu realized what was about to happen as soon as she heard Saya's words. She looked at him with an incredulous expression, clearly unwilling to believe that such a thing was happening.

It's one thing if other people could be turned, but the Index of Forbidden Books is ultimately just a derivative of a book; to put it simply, it's an AI. Is that enough to justify defection?

"I didn't mean anything by it, I just wanted to tell you that you owe me a huge favor." Zuo You sighed and released the spell he had prepared.

If he didn't lend a hand, the entire batch of wine would probably be wiped out because of this, which wouldn't benefit him at all. He'd finally managed to clear up the misunderstanding with the distillery, so he figured he should help if he could.

Saku tossed an ice block and a shield into the magic circle in his hand, then raised it and slowly aimed it at the red magic circle in the sky that was gathering magic power.

They poured all their magic power into it, and a chill ran down their spines. As Zuoyou unfolded the magic circle in his hand, a barrier like ice crystals appeared above their heads.

The instant the barrier unfolded, the red magic circle in the sky also emitted light, and flaming arrows rained down like raindrops, crashing wildly onto the ice crystal barrier constructed by Zuoyou. Moreover, the arrows exploded violently the moment they touched the barrier; even through the barrier, Qingjiu below could clearly feel the terrifying power.

If it weren't for the magic released by Saya, the brewery might have been destroyed in the explosion. It's ridiculous that the magic meant to protect the brewery ended up destroying it instead. Thankfully, that didn't happen. Haruyu looked at Saya with gratitude, but this also confirmed one thing for him: something definitely went wrong with the Index series.

"This attack was definitely made by the Auto-Book, which means that one of our trump cards has been turned against us?" Renya also recognized that this was the Auto-Book's signature magic, but like Haru, she couldn't accept this fact and could only look helplessly at Haru beside her.

"I don't know either. Maybe there's something going on, but now's not the time to talk about that. We should go and see what's going on first, shouldn't we?"

Harujiu still had some trust in Index: A Certain Magical Index, an AI that never lied. He preferred to believe that there was some hidden story, or that the green-haired man had done something to cause this situation. But before that, Harujiu turned his attention to Saya, who had finished casting his spell and was now sitting with his arms crossed, looking like he wanted to slack off and watch the show.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Do you expect me to help you with your own problems?"

Sōyu scratched his head, wondering if they would just ask him to be a tool after trusting him so much. That would be incredibly shameless of him.

Haruyu calmly uttered three words while looking at the pumpkin head on Wakasaya's head.

"You should have said so earlier, I would have definitely helped you with this."

Sawa, who had been lying flat, suddenly perked up.

Chapter 284 I Bet There Are No Games in Your Book

To everyone's surprise, just as Haruyu and the others were clearing out the intruders and heading toward the room where the Index of Forbidden Books was located, they bumped into Western Land, who was about to leave, and a girl dressed in a pure black nun's habit beside him.

"Index to Forbidden Books, why have you become like this? Have you truly betrayed us?"

The person who deals most frequently with the Forbidden Book Index here is Qingjiu. Sensing a significant difference between the current Forbidden Book Index and the past, he directly questioned her.

But the girl standing beside him in the western land didn't even glance at him, just staring blankly ahead like a robot.

"Just between you and me, did this guy always wear white before?"

Saya tugged at Renya's sleeve and asked her in a low voice.

"Hmm? Yes."

Guan Ye answered Zuo You's question with a puzzled look. Was this the time to ask her what color clothes she used to wear?

"That makes sense then. Judging from her appearance, she's clearly been manipulated and turned evil. Instead of asking so many questions, why not just grab that perverted old man next to her and beat him up first?" Saya retorted seriously. In fact, he already had a general idea of ​​the identity of this Index of Forbidden Books character. This nickname, which they were too lazy to even change, must be that little yellow book from A Certain Magical Index. No wonder the Right Seat of God came looking for her; if nothing else, it's definitely a bond.

Of course, Sasuke couldn't figure out why she had turned evil and betrayed him, since these plot points weren't in the original work he read, and she had never actually turned evil before.

"Pfft, has that guy with the pockmarked head shown up? I don't know what Shirley did, she just disappeared. Do I have to do it myself?"

Frowning slightly in annoyance, the Western Lands glanced at the approaching group. The others were fine, but that familiar figure in sky-blue armor—even with his pumpkin head, he was still easily recognizable.

What he didn't expect was how this guy, who was clearly an oddball, had ended up with Haruyuki. Fortunately, he had a new and helpful ally; judging by this guy's fighting strength, he should be able to take care of Saya, right?

"If you're talking about that vampire, she just died under my fist a few minutes ago. Want to try it too?"

Saku cracked his fist and greeted the green-haired man, who was somewhat of an acquaintance to him.

Dealing with this guy back then was quite troublesome, but now, he could handle him with just his feet.

"Hmph, you bastard who's spouting nonsense, do you think I'd believe you?" The Western Land clearly didn't believe that the vampire who was only one step away from becoming a True Ancestor would die as easily as Saya said. Taking Saya's words as mere bluff, he directly ordered the girl in black beside him.

"Kill them." He coldly raised the key, gleaming with silver light, and pointed it at Saya and the others ahead. The girl, who had been stunned, looked towards Saya and the others as if she had received a command.

"Hostile target confirmed, to be eliminated." The girl's emotionless voice came from her lips, and two patterns resembling magic circles gradually appeared in her cold eyes.

Getting physical at the slightest disagreement—doesn't that have any manners?

Sōyū sighed and exchanged a glance with Ryūya beside him.

"Should you do it or should I?" Aye didn't answer Sawa's question. Instead, she pressed the pocket watch without hesitation, trying to snatch the strange-looking key from the hands of the Western Land.

However, an unexpected situation occurred once again. The magic circles in the eyes of the Index Forbidden Book, which should have been trapped in time stop, contracted and regained their freedom in the time-stopped space.

"Time-based abilities have been analyzed, and the adaptation magic construction is complete."

A clockwork-like halo emerged from behind Index of Forbidden Books, enveloping the western lands beside him, and instantly dispelled the time-stop effect on him.

If this thing is not only an encyclopedia, but also comes with automatic problem-solving capabilities, then it's truly something quite tricky.

Zuoyou frowned. This was the first time he had ever met someone who didn't eat time-stopping food, except for himself. But after thinking about it, it was barely understandable.