A hand pierced through to her heart.

Poo-hahk!!

Pisces vomited blood. She had been attacked from the back!

“Kuh-huhk!”

The black arm had flown in from behind her, piercing through her chest. A hole appeared in the region where her heart should be.

Pisces looked down at the hand that had appeared out of her chest. It was a black arm with fingernails sharp like the claws of a wild beast.

‘This is...!’

The arm itself weighed as much as a weapon.

[Black Prosthetic Arm (Left)]

Manufacturer: Lee Gun.

Pisces immediately realized who the culprit was. “Leo!!! You crazy bastard!!!”

A hysterical shout rang within the palace.

Stevens laughed. “I can acquire an EX-rank weapon if I kill you, Liv. Ah! I guess you’re the Zodiac?”

Pisces gritted her teeth when she saw the mad eyes of a beast. In truth, she had occupied this body a year before Lee Gun had gone into the Devil’s Tower. Basically, she had lived like the Zodiac Saint for the past twenty years.

This was why she knew about Stevens’s obsession with weapons. Moreover, Stevens had been obsessed with Lee Gun’s keepsake not long after Lee Gun had died. Even Pisces didn’t know the reason behind his obsession.

At the very least, she did know how his attitude would change when Lee Gun said he would make Stevens a weapon as payment. Still, this was too much!

“Do you want me to wipe out all the members of the Leo temple!!”

Stevens was simple, but he wasn’t dumb. He knew what would happen if she tried to antagonize them! In reality, he had tried to back off earlier when he had to fight against a Zodiac.

Stevens let out a menacing smile.

“As expected of a Zodiac, you have a lively mouth despite having your heart pierced.” He immediately ripped out her heart.

Poo-hahk!!

“Ahhhk!!”

An enormous amount of blood sprayed into the air. The reporters froze when they saw the ruthless scene.

They came to their senses only when Stevens crushed the extracted heart.

“Stevens-nim!!”

The reporters looked at Stevens in chastisement.

Stevens glared at them. “What? The real Liv died a long time ago. The content within the body is the Zodiac, so what about it?.”

“Mmm! Since her soul still exists, it would have been possible to revive her. However, that option ended with what you did.”

“?!”

Stevens became deathly pale when he heard Lee Gun’s words.

On the other hand, Lee Gun just grinned as he looked at Pisces.

‘As expected, that set her back.’

He had no idea what had caused a Zodiac to go through the trouble of living as a Zodiac Saint for the past twenty years. However, this meant that the body was human.

‘The Zodiac Saints of battle-type temples shouldn’t be looked down upon.’

As if to show proof, Pisces’s body shook after her heart was ripped out. The Zodiac Saints and the Zodiacs of battle-type temples were indeed no joke.

‘Of course, my baby did all the hard work for him.’

The Black Prosthetic arm (Left) seemed proud of itself as it kept slapping Stevens’s cheek. Lee Gun cackled when he saw this.

The left prosthetic arm became excited when its parent looked at it. It increased the frequency of its slaps.

Slap, slap, slap, slap, slap!

[Black arm (Left) is overjoyed by its parent’s warm gaze.]

[Black arm (Left) is excited, saying it’ll extract more rental fee.]

Amongst the recent items that Lee Gun had made, this arm possessed a special rank.

‘It can be used as a weapon substitute.’

However, Steven’s right arm seemed to have been made by the Capricorn temple. It caused Lee Gun’s eyes to flash.

‘I should have made the right arm too. That way, I could extract more money from him.’

However, that thought lasted only a moment.

‘!’

Lee Gun smirked when a green light started circulating his hands.

Flash!

He could use his skill since Hugo had destroyed the first urn.

[Pisces’s first magic, Equipment Disarmament, has been canceled.]

[Skills of the Serpent Bearer temple may be used normally.]

When the skill restriction was released, Lee Gun kept his distance from Pisces as he tried to use a long-range skill.

Seeing the skill that Lee Gun was about to use, Pisces grinned.

‘As expected, he’s too scared to approach me.’

While the 1st skill Equipment Disarmament had been canceled, the thirteenth “Thirteenth Killer” was still active.

‘You’re dead as soon as you get close.’

It was a distance of two meters. The direction didn’t matter.

Lee Gun just had to enter within the distance, and he would lose all functions in his body and fall. The Thirteenth Killer skill changed the current state of one’s bodily functions into a state right before death.

It wasn’t an effective skill since it only worked on the Serpent Bearer. However, the restriction set on it made it that much more powerful!

Lee was quick on the uptake, so there was no way he would easily approach her.

‘That also means Lee Gun is limited in the skills he can use.’

Unlike the healing-type Zodiac Saint Sophie, Lee Gun wasn’t one to use support skills. Among his skills, Gluttony was the closest to being a long-range skill. Or he could use a capture-type skill, such as Serpent Eater or Pool!

Well, it didn’t matter which one he used.

‘I’ll use an attack skill counter!’

If Lee Gun used a powerful skill, she just had to send it back! If he used a capture-type skill, it would allow her to capture Lee Gun! She would be thankful then!

When Pisces was about to activate the counter skill, however...

Lee Gun suddenly grinned. “It’s a feint, idiot.”

“!!”

[Creation Workshop (Manufacturer Workshop)]

An enormous serpent magic circle appeared underneath Lee Gun’s feet. When the magic circle activated, a simple workbench appeared. This skill was useless unless Lee Gun was making an item, yet he had used it unexpectedly.

[Domain attribute “Quickness” of the Manufacturer Space has been activated.]

[Increase speed by 10%]

The speed of the two people within the domain of the Creation Workshop changed.

Stevens and Hugo were at least SS-rank, and they were awakened beings who had high specs when it came to fighting. This was why 10% was a big difference!

The speeds of Stevens and Hugo increased, and they reached Pisces in an instant.

“...!”

Pisces quickly tried to use her attack magic, but it was useless.

[“Bow made out of Fish” neutralized its sister’s attack]

“...!”

Clank!!!

Finally, the thirteenth urn was destroyed. Hugo had swung the Bow made out of Fish to destroy it, and it didn’t end there.

“Taeksoo!”

“You don’t have to say anything! I know what to do!” Hugo grabbed the content of the urn and looked for Sagittarius. “Bald— Oh, Zodiac!”

With his shout, a crack formed in the air, and the head of a crow appeared from it. The crow immediately took the piece of meat in its beak and disappeared into the crack.

Pisces gnashed her teeth when she recognized the crow.

‘Sagittarius!!!’

Sagittarius had taken her item. If the item were taken to the Divine world, Sagittarius knew she couldn’t use the Thirteenth Killer skill for a while.

She wouldn’t be able to retrieve it easily even if she used the power of Time. Sagittarius had shown up at the right time, and his timing was impeccable. This angered her that much more.

‘There should be a limit to how much you love your nephew! Do you think your sins will be washed away if you do this?’

It felt as if the Sagittarius had been waiting for an opportunity to steal the thirteenth urn, as if he had timed it for the moment she took it out.

Pisces ground her teeth as she tried to activate her magic. However, it seemed she wouldn’t be given time to use her magic.

“Hello.”

“...!!!”

Lee Gun appeared in front of her.

The reason he couldn’t approach her was gone. He no longer had to hold back. He moved at an unimaginable speed. This was why Pisces tried to summon a different urn.

“Oh no, you won’t.” Lee Gun grabbed Pisces by the neck and slammed her to the ground.

Kwahng!!

“Koohk...!”

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

At the same time, the Serpent Eater skill was activated, and the chains penetrated the Pisces’ body.

Then, the Zodiac’s soul was pulled out of Liv’s body. She seemed to be resisting. She didn’t want to get dragged out.

“Lee Gun...!!”

Screams erupted within the palace.

“Lee Gun-nim!”

“This is...!”

Lee Gun laughed.

“Ah. This bastard gave me instructions. She said she’ll get rid of the unknown civilization if I kill the other Zodiacs and bring the other temples’ Seats of power.”

“What?!”

“Also, they are the ones who called the monarchs to earth!”

The surprise felt by the reporters didn’t last long before Lee Gun took hold of Heaven’s Punishment.

“Koo-oohk!”

After the Zodiac’s soul was dragged out, she seemed to want to shout something. However, Lee Gun’s axe was much faster.

Puh-guhk!

The blade of Heaven’s Punishment cut off the soul’s mouth.

“Kuh-huhk!”

Isis, the goddess of magic, glared when her soul’s face was damaged.

“It seems you feel aggrieved, but it doesn’t matter. I have your sister goddess and Zodiac Saint. I’ll make them testify.”

Lee Gun’s eyes flashed as he spoke. At the same time, powerful darkness emanated from him. It was Death.

The black light emitted a monstrous roar as it impacted Pisces.

Koo-goo-goong!

The incredible pressure greatly shook the palace. It was so powerful that one could feel the Divine status cease to exist!

After attacking a Zodiac, the overjoyed Death ripped out Pisces’s Core.

[Death is overjoyed.]

[It is delightful to be of help to its owner.]

However, for some reason, after ripping out the Core, Death flinched.

[It really is too bad.]

As the voice rang, the time around them stopped.

The speaker was Time.

[It seems you prepared for me, but it was a bit lacking.]

“...!”

At that moment, Lee Gun fell over as he vomited blood. Then Lee Gun watched Pisces come back to life through the power of Time.

Time was being rewound. Pisces, who was using the power of Time, laughed. “I’m facing someone who inherited the power of the thirteenth. Did you really think I wouldn’t make a contract with a monarch to face you?”

Lee Gun furrowed his brows when the Zodiac’s eyes changed into the eyes of a monster. Of course, it wasn’t as if Lee Gun hadn’t made plans for Time.

Hailey had given him instructions on how to deal with Time. “You’ll find that the Scorpio Saint isn’t enough. Of course, I did take a lot of losses for being able to use the power of Time.”

Zzuhng!

The time within the palace froze for everyone, and Lee Gun bled. He couldn’t use his power, and the reason was simple.

‘That is...!’

Pisces took out a familiar item from Lee Gun’s pocket. It was none other than the bone used against Oblivion, the bone of the original owner, which should have been stored within his workshop.

[The power of Time has been activated.]

The bone came out from Lee Gun’s pocket. The time was rewound to the point where Lee Gun had placed the bone in his pocket. It was the reason the bone had made an appearance. However, that wasn’t important right now.

[Thirteenth Killer]

It was the Thirteenth Killer spell that he had neutralized earlier. It had been activated again.

Lee Gun wondered what had happened, but Pisces just laughed.

“The item within the destroyed thirteenth urn came from the same place as this.”

“...!”

Yes, the Thirteenth Killer spell was a spell that needed a special medium.

“Thirteenth Killer can be used only if I have the corpse of the thirteenth original owner.”

She had used the power of Time to fulfill the requirement.

Lee Gun was in pain as he vomited blood.

Pisces laughed and stepped on him. “Now you know. The thirteenth Zodiac cannot win against me. With this, you will die—”

At that moment...

“Uh?”

Pisces, who had been laughing mockingly, suddenly became unsteady on her feet, as if she had lost her power.

Boom!!!

The palace that was considered the holy ground of Pisces fell. That wasn’t all.

“Gun!!”

“Lee Gun-nim!”

The people who had been frozen in time were returned to normal.

The power of Time that Pisces had used was canceled. At the same time, Pisces fell to the ground as she vomited blood.

“W-Wait a moment...! How can this be?”

Lee Gun got up. He grinned as he stepped on Pisces’s head.

[Zodiac Saints of the Serpent Bearer temple have destroyed the Pisces’s holy ground (Alps).]