Meanwhile.

Fedorovich led the south.

On the banks of the Sword River, on a verdant meadow, an ink-colored villa suddenly appeared, breaking the tranquility here.

This is the residence of the supreme leader of the "Hand of the Sea of Clouds", Mr. Ionia. It is an artifact in its own right, and can be used to move back and forth to several pre-planned locations, or to escape into the shadows.

Levi holding the "Staff of Scalu"?? Fedorovich walked into the villa. He rarely shows pointed ears that reveal his half-elf status. A red-haired girl in a chainmail shirt followed him, none other than the Fifth Apostle, Alice?? Dapeptide.

The wooden door of the villa creaked open.

"Come in, Pale Moon, and the Nightmare Chariot," Mr. Ionia's voice was unwavering, "and welcome the two 'Apostles'. ”

……

Long hallway.

It was sunny outside, but when I looked out of the window of the villa, I saw a silent scene at night.

"Hey, I heard he ......," Alice couldn't help but ask.

"Hugh is rude." Levi said with a straight face.

Ionia, with a goatee, was already sitting in the living room waiting for the two of them. When he saw the black chainmail shirt on Alice's body, he couldn't help but linger for a moment.

"Mr. Ionia." Lévy bowed.

--------------------

On more than one occasion, the great Elrios, the most prominent spellcaster of the Cloud Age, feared about the fate of the kingdom he had founded: how would his descendants protect the kingdom from falling into the hands of others when they no longer possessed powerful spell casting powers?

In order to perpetuate the Elrios family, Elrios did everything he could.

Using several broken artifacts as materials, Elrios created a magical item: it had no soul, but it possessed basic intelligence. Erios named it "Hand of the Sea of Clouds". The "Hand of the Sea of Clouds" continuously draws energy from the endless sea of clouds, and continues to carry out the orders to secretly protect the Elrios family after he sealed himself.

Day after day, year after year, the "Hand of the Sea of Clouds" works diligently, recruiting spies and killers for the royal family, and eliminating the risks of the kingdom, whether it is light or dark. It is the guardian of the kingdom that has disappeared.

A hundred years of time is fleeting. I don't know when the originally dull intelligence of the "Hand of the Sea of Clouds" has increased day by day.

It began to wonder ...... Elrios' command is to protect the kingdom and the royal family forever, but when the mediocre royal family is not enough to be the ruler of the kingdom, how will it choose?

…… Elrios did not expect that the secret hand he left behind was about to dig a grave for his family.

Among the killers recruited by the "Hand of the Sea of Clouds", "Lorenz" is the most powerful one. Many people are deceived by Lorenz's name, not realizing that the owner of the name is actually a woman.

Lorenz is intelligent, astute and ambitious, and the "Hand of the Sea of Clouds" also gives her the greatest trust. In order to realize her full potential, the "Hand of the Sea of Clouds" gave her a weapon made by Erios himself. This weapon has the power to change everything, and the user's thought will transform it into the form the user thinks, a sword, an axe, a bow, or even a staff, or a shirt of armor that can be hidden under the robe. Using this weapon, Lorenz assassinated numerous kingdom threats.

But the "Hand of the Sea of Clouds" trusted Lorenz too much...... Trust more than anyone else. Intelligent machines have become too human. It incarnates itself as Ionia, a handsome young man who goes on a mission with Lorenz and silently protects her safety. And Lorenz gradually realized that this seemingly ordinary young man was the real body of her immediate boss.

Finally, the "Hand of the Sea of Clouds" confessed his true identity to Lorenz. It was also under Lorenz's persuasion that the "Hand of the Sea of Clouds" began to believe that only when the royal family was under their absolute control could the interests of the kingdom and the royal family truly coincide.

On a moonless night, the "Hand of the Sea of Clouds" launched an offensive against the royal palace. In the Kingdom of Elrios, including the king himself, more than half of the Blue Sea-level mages were easily slaughtered by Lorenz who held the artifact. After the legendary mages had to go all out, the incident was quickly quelled, and Lorenz was nowhere to be found. Since then, Elrios' royal power has been in an irrepressible decline.

No one knows why in the end, the "Hand of the Sea of Clouds" completely abandoned their responsibilities and set their sights on the large and small underground organizations in the cloud world, and unified them in their own name.

Maybe it's just simply tired of protecting Elrios.

Maybe he didn't just fall in love with Lorenz, but he really lived a peaceful life with her. However, the curse of longevity in the mortal soul forced the intelligent machine to watch his wife grow old and die...... After Lorenz's death, he completely chose to part ways with Elrios.

People only know one fact: none of the legendary mages who participated in quelling the incident that day died well.

Ionia and Lorenz, they end up killing everyone.

-------------------

Ionia looked wistfully at the artifact that Alice had transformed into a chainmail shirt and wore on her body.

Lorenz's Weapons......

When Palamedes was young, the "Hand of the Sea of Clouds" once launched an attack on him. As a result, Palamedes easily defeated all the killers, and even the "Staff of Lorenz" fell into his hands.

If it had been hundreds of years earlier, Ionia would have gone to great lengths to retrieve the artifact at all costs. But now...... He has long lost the impulse of the year.

It's not a cold machine, and it's not a young man who is just starting to fall in love.

It's just a cunning dragon entrenched in the underground world, trying to hold on to power.

In the hands of Palamedes, this artifact has a more suitable owner. This girl, named Alice, is very similar to Lorenz back then.

But......

Sensing the faint aura of necromancy on Levi's body, Ionia sighed secretly.

He had already seen from Alice's eyes on Levi what kind of status Levi had in Alice's heart.

Fall in love with machines or lichs...... Such feelings are not destined to end well.

……

"I've come to exchange information with you at your invitation," Lévi said as if he hadn't noticed Ionia's condition, "I hope you keep your word." ”

Ionia nodded. Levi's necromancy was of little use to him, and he couldn't do anything with Levi, a living lich.

"First of all, I want you to allow my sister Renee to quit the 'Hand of the Sea of Clouds' completely," Levi said, "and you promised last year. ”

"She stayed of her own free will," said Ionia, "and I will tell her again of your wishes." Until then, I'll keep her on the station and avoid dangerous missions. ”

Levy's face was expressionless.

"In return, you have to tell me about your teacher, Mr. Palamedes." Mr. Ionia said.

Levi's turquoise eyes twinkled.

"Once I'm on Okad's side," the necromancer said coldly, "I won't be able to reach out to the teacher. However, he had come to see Alice once yesterday...... In the form of 'Dream Come'. ”

He glanced at Alice, as if to reproach her for "not asking for any more information." Alice pouted, rarely without rebuttal.

"Tell me the time." Ionia said.

"Twelve o'clock in the night," Lévi stopped Alice's clamour, "Alice interrupted my meditation, so I remembered the time clearly. ”

Ionia nodded slowly.

It's not so easy to keep track of Palamedes' movements perfectly.

Fortunately...... According to Ionia's estimates, he should not have the strength to invade the sea of clouds again now.

。 m.