Normally unstoppable, Requiem had only managed to pierce Koranda's skin at this moment, something Loren was not at all surprised by.

Before the Sin-Burning Flames could erupt from the sword tip, Koranda had retreated a step in time. She was pulled back by the vines, as Loren's movement was too fast; relying on physical movement alone would have been impossible to dodge.

"Master Mentor, you've hidden yourself so deeply. You've been concealing your weakness from the very moment we met... no, from the moment you joined the Church.

"A person as powerful as you, hiding within the Church yet never revealing your true strength, you must have some very dangerous purpose, right?"

Koranda covered her neck, channeling the Justice Card's ability with all her might. Soon, the wound on her neck was completely healed.

She stretched her body a bit, adopting a fighting stance. Simultaneously, her right hand began to mutate, growing larger, more twisted, sprouting countless irregular mouths. Some were three-lobed, some were circular, and some were simply irregular shapes.

But without exception, all these mouths had sharp teeth, though these teeth were also irregular, many protruding outward. The densely packed teeth of varying sizes made Loren feel a wave of nausea.

"Pluto's Hand, but it's a defective version. Want to know how to get the complete version? I can teach you."

"So it's true, you know everything. Trying to scheme against you was truly a mistake."

Koranda knew Loren was merely trying to distract her with words while secretly building up his magic, so she gave him no chance to charge up, directly using the vines to fling herself forward.

At the same time, Loren finished his charge. A flash of electricity shot from the tip of Requiem's blade, arriving before Koranda in an instant. Yet, the result was the electric light uncontrollably flying towards Koranda's hand. The mouths on her hand opened wide one after another, forcibly swallowing Loren's magic.

"So the Night Worshipper who attacked me was you... I should have realized it sooner."

By now, Koranda had already reached in front of Loren, grabbing the blade of Requiem. Those teeth gnawed at the sword, emitting a sound that set one's teeth on edge.

"Indeed, you really should have guessed earlier."

Loren was not surprised by what had just happened. He was very clear about the effect of Pluto's Hand—it could capture and devour magic, but it had an upper limit.

The genuine version's effect was much stronger than Koranda's defective one and slightly more aesthetically pleasing, but it was still ugly, which was why Loren had never considered acquiring one.

Koranda was now within arm's reach of Loren; it seemed she could take his life just by reaching out.

Then, at that moment, Loren's other hand pulled out a submachine gun. Opening fire at close range during melee combat was truly a tried-and-true tactic.

Koranda sensed the danger and promptly released her grip, but the bullets still struck her abdomen. With the Judgment card's enhancement, the damage from these bullets was not insignificant.

The powerful impact force caused the bullets to flatten upon hitting Koranda's stomach. Koranda's clothes were shattered, yet she was not injured.

Loren gave Koranda no chance to react at all. After emptying the magazine, he directly activated Lightning Flash, arriving before Koranda and thrusting down with the lightning-charged Requiem.

Before Requiem could pierce Koranda's heart, she successfully caught it with Pluto's Hand, and the lightning on it was completely devoured.

Simultaneously, Loren's other hand released Sin-Burning Flames.

"Ah!"

Instantly engulfed in flames, Koranda let out a scream. Her sins were too profound, so much so that under the combined damage from Requiem and Sin-Burning Flames, even with the Justice Card, she was beginning to struggle.

In her pain, Koranda's grip loosened for a moment. Loren seized this opportunity to pull out Requiem, delivering a side kick squarely to Koranda's kidney. The speed was so fast it was enough to create a sonic boom.

Now powerless to defend, Koranda's entire body was bent by Loren's kick, then sent flying by Loren, bouncing and skidding across the ground like a stone skipping on water.

Loren continuously swung Requiem. With each swing, a Crimson Blade was unleashed. At this moment, Koranda was completely unable to raise her hands to block.

After unleashing dozens of Crimson Blades, Loren raised Requiem, pointing the tip at Koranda. Koranda, who had just landed, was once again engulfed by Blood Moon Condensed Light.

Pluto's Hand also had an upper limit; at the very least, Koranda couldn't block Loren's Blood Moon Condensed Light.

From the start of the exchange, Loren had been beating her like using a stick to whip a plastic bag in the air. Koranda had no chance to fight back.

Koranda was the strongest enemy Loren had encountered so far, but Loren's own strength had long since undergone a qualitative transformation.

When the attacks finally subsided, Loren saw that a layer of Koranda's skin was missing. This series of attacks, combined with her previous injuries, meant the stored damage had exceeded the Justice Card's upper limit.

The Justice Card's upper limit was related to mana capacity. If the user were Loren, it would be roughly equivalent to having no limit at all. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The use of many Tarot cards was related to mana, which was one of the reasons Loren chose to request mana during his first sacrifice.

"I also don't want this to end with mutual destruction. Hand over the Justice Card, and I'll let you go.

"The injuries stored by the Justice Card will transfer to the new holder. Injuries fatal to you mean nothing to me. It would be better for everyone then."

Not a single sentence of this was true. What Loren wanted was for Koranda to hand over the Justice Card and then die instantly as her injuries erupted.

After obtaining the Justice Card, Koranda couldn't possibly have given it to someone else to experiment with, so she had no way of knowing whether what Loren said was true or false.

Loren inspected Requiem. It now had several notches, something that hadn't happened since Loren acquired the sword.

But this didn't matter. Requiem was a Cursed Blade with self-repairing abilities. Loren estimated these notches would disappear soon anyway, so there was no need to worry.

Even if it broke completely, full repair wouldn't take long.

Loren sheathed Requiem and slowly approached Koranda.

"You really do know even this..."

At this moment, Koranda had accepted her fate. She reached behind her back, attempting to retrieve the Justice Card:

"Things have come to this, and there's no point in me resisting anymore. I hope you will keep your promise."

As Koranda reached out, Loren also drew his blade:

"Deathly Silence! Throat-Severing Slash!"

Before striking, Loren activated the Deathly Silence effect, successfully submerging Koranda, so much so that when the blade light flashed, Koranda had no chance to resist at all.

Koranda's eyes widened, and then the wound manifested—a bloody gash diagonally splitting her face in two.

Several seconds later, half of her head slowly slid off. Her brain matter spilled onto the ground before her body finally collapsed.

She released her grip. Sure enough, there was nothing in her hand; she had indeed been preparing to ambush Loren just now.

Fortunately, that awkward situation where the other party genuinely keeps their promise and Loren continues to attack didn't happen again. But it didn't matter anyway. Loren had no grudge against that necromancer, but he truly had a grievance with Koranda. There was no way he would have let her go under any circumstances.