While winter in Pixar rarely brought snow, it wasn't exactly warm either.
But such trivial concerns meant nothing to a Lore Cardian.
Early that morning, Azrael crouched beside the road, watching the crowds pass by as he devoured his bowl of duck blood and vermicelli soup.
Beside him stood Artoria, her cheeks puffed out like a hamster's as she struggled with her food.
"Mmm..."
"Vulgar."
"That's good," the blonde girl muttered around her mouthful, waving her beef potstickers in front of Azrael.
Behind them lounged Amina and Azrael's other summoned cards, materializing faintly in the morning light.
Hearing Artoria's garbled words, Azrael sighed helplessly. "Swallow first, then talk."
Ignoring Artoria, who had resumed her epic battle with breakfast, he finished the rest of his duck blood soup in two or three efficient gulps and stood to pay.
However, the shop owner, upon witnessing Azrael summon so many cards at once, had already deduced that the young man was likely a Lore Cardian of considerable skill and refused any payment.
In the end, Azrael had to force the money on him, claiming he'd been disciplined by the Association for excessive freeloading.
"Let's head home," Azrael said, dismissing the cards back into his consciousness.
Soon, his Shadowkhan transported him and Amina back to the apartment.
After sending the little girl upstairs to tackle her homework, Azrael collapsed onto the sofa with an exhausted sigh.
Indeed, Amina had discovered shortly after arriving in the Empire that Azrael didn't actually need her care. Instead, her schedule had been packed with endless lessons.
This was all thanks to Alice, after all, she was the one who'd hired the tutors.
"Well, eating at a street stall once in a while isn't so bad," Azrael mused, stretching comfortably.
It had been some time since Jacob had convinced him to leave the Northern Defense Army.
His presence in Pixar naturally meant he'd accepted his senior colleague's advice.
It wasn't because he feared death, but rather because he'd completed the mission Jin had assigned him.
After Jacob finished his persuasion that day, Azrael had immediately relayed the intelligence he'd extracted to Cliff.
This was precisely what Azrael had wanted. He'd been agonizing over how to deliver information about the demonization experiment without raising suspicion.
But when his senior colleague brought it up himself, those concerns evaporated.
Under Azrael's indirect prodding, Jacob had readily divulged the entire demonization experiment process.
However, the primary reason was that Azrael had been the one to capture Cliff and discover the experiment in the first place.
Therefore, Jacob simply assumed his junior colleague was curious and thought nothing of sharing the details.
Though under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have suspected Azrael of gathering intelligence for Jin anyway.
Reflecting on the experimental information in his mind, Azrael had already reached a decision.
Simply handing it over to Jin unchanged seemed inappropriate, it would be better to edit it before submission.
"Blood of a demon with fusion abilities, used as the cornerstone for the cultivation vessel, and a blood relative of the Lore Cardian."
"Plus a card capable of manifesting the abilities of other cards."
Azrael silently recited the necessary conditions for the experiment, contemplating how to modify them.
He wasn't going to alter the first requirement, the blood of a demon with fusion capabilities.
After all, if he wanted to deceive Jin effectively, he'd better not make any major changes to the experimental procedures. Otherwise, with the old man's years of experience, he'd likely notice something amiss.
The second ingredient was the cornerstone for the cultivation vessel, the victims from Donglai at the time.
Azrael only planned to slightly adjust the required quantity. Li Gang had caused such a massive incident in Donglai that Jin could easily deduce the relevant details from previous events if he wanted.
As for the third requirement, blood relationship, according to Cliff, the original experimental procedures hadn't required this, including Li Gang's case. The Demon Army had simply used a random human as the carrier.
However, due to the shockingly low success rate of the experiment, after repeated investigations, the Demon Army discovered a different variable in Li Gang's case: the carrier, Li Xie, was his son.
After this discovery, the Demon Army changed the carrier requirement to a blood relative of the experimental subject, and the success rate improved significantly.
However, precisely because of this stringent requirement, the number of demonized Lore Cardians in the Demon Army remained extremely small.
"Since it was changed later, then wouldn't I..."
Azrael's eyes flickered as he deleted the blood relative portion from the experimental information he planned to submit to Jin.
"Cards that can manifest the abilities of other cards."
Honestly, when he'd first heard the materials required for this experiment, Azrael's first thought had been his [Flame Sword Driver].
But he had no intention of conducting this experiment.
Being a Lore Cardian suited him just fine, and Azrael had no complaints.
Besides, he couldn't bring himself to kill innocent people, and as for the so-called blood relatives, he had no idea where they even were.
"That should do it," Azrael said, breathing a sigh of relief after completing the edits. "Finally, I can hand this in."
Jin's mission had been weighing on him like a mountain.
Azrael had even considered coming clean, leading the Empire's Master-level Lore Cardians to eliminate the old man.
But in the end, he'd calmed down.
First, the most suitable person to confess to, Lucian, wasn't currently in the Empire.
Second, Azrael still didn't know where Jin was hiding. Memphis had led him there the last time.
The city-within-a-city in Australia might indeed offer a chance of catching Jin, but don't forget, he wasn't the only Master-level Lore Cardian in that place.
Chris, the [Inverted Cross] of the Fallen Cult, the Skinner of Indo-America, and Marcus, whom Azrael had never even met, were all Master-level Lore Cardians.
By that calculation, the city-within-a-city actually had more Master-level Lore Cardians than the Association.
While those three Masters might not necessarily help Jin, Azrael wasn't willing to gamble on it.
"Let's wait until this is over."
According to his speculation, the Crimson Oath Society wouldn't be assigning him any more missions in the near future.
With that thought, he immediately retrieved his encrypted communicator.
[Six: President, I've almost finished gathering the experimental intelligence you requested. I'll bring it to you.]
[Jin: Well done, Six. See you at the usual place.]
After reviewing Jin's reply, Azrael wasn't surprised that he still hadn't revealed his whereabouts.
He then headed to the bathroom to create the ritual circle.
Since his disguise had been completely blown by Alice, Azrael no longer bothered finding secluded locations to use the [Blood Sacrifice Ritual].
After all, even if something went wrong, his senior sister would cover for him.
There were only a handful of people in the entire Empire who could quietly approach his residence under the nose of a Diamond-level Lore Cardian anyway.
Therefore, doing this at home was actually the safest option.
"Come to think of it, the Crimson Oath Society still owes me a full set of Emerald-grade materials, don't they?"
With a flash of crimson light, he vanished instantly.
Australia.
Still the familiar city of chaos.
Azrael found Jin's hideout with practiced ease.
He knocked gently on the door, and before he could speak, it opened by itself.
Walking into the house, Azrael saw Jin and couldn't help but bow his head respectfully. "President."
Then, without waiting for the other party's instruction, he'd already retrieved the prepared demonization experiment information.
Seeing this, Jin nodded with satisfaction and patted Azrael's shoulder with his skeletal palm. "Well done."
After saying this, he began examining the information in his hand.
After a long moment, Jin released a strange chuckle. "Their approach is quite interesting. I'd never considered it before."
He glanced at Azrael beside him. "I'm very satisfied this time, Six."
"Tell me, what reward do you want?"
The hook-nosed elder had expected Azrael to take longer, but he hadn't anticipated him succeeding so quickly.
He'd just reviewed the detailed information, ensuring it wasn't fabricated.
"It seems Six has truly invested his heart and soul into this," Jin thought, completely unaware that the Six he was referring to was planning to have him cosplay a certain infamous character.
Azrael simply replied respectfully, "At the President's discretion."
He said this because he genuinely didn't know what to ask for.
He had 120,000 points from the Association yet to spend, and the Crimson Oath Society had a complete set of Emerald-grade materials waiting to be claimed.
Azrael had never fought a battle so well-funded.
Seeing his expression, Jin said with a hint of exasperation, "You."
"Then come back when you reach Diamond-level. By then, it'll be about time you get a taste of what I'm planning."
Azrael's heart trembled at this revelation.
Without a moment's hesitation, he instinctively replied, "Yes."
Silence settled over the room.
Just as Azrael was growing restless, Jin suddenly spoke up. "Six, you won't be staying with the Northern Defense Army anymore, will you? Have you decided where to go?"
The elder's question made Azrael's heart sink.
He'd anticipated this possibility before coming here.
Fortunately, he'd prepared.
Azrael replied calmly, "Not yet. The Association hasn't announced the position transfer yet."
This was a lie. In fact, the Association had offered him several positions a few days ago.
But he'd temporarily postponed the matter, using the excuse of needing some time off, to prevent Jin from causing any more trouble.
Hearing this, the old man waved his hand dismissively. "Alright, you can head back first."
"Notify Memphis when you have news later."
Azrael felt relieved, knowing he'd successfully deflected the inquiry.
Without another word, he simply nodded and quickly retreated.
Standing on the street, he breathed a deep sigh of relief, then retrieved his encrypted communicator.
Now that he was already here, he planned to go directly to Memphis to collect that set of Emerald-grade materials.
[Six: Fifth Brother, where are you? I'm going to collect the set of Emerald-grade materials the President gave me earlier.]
[Five: 'Location.']
Looking at the location Memphis had sent, Azrael frowned slightly.
The coordinates he'd transmitted weren't far from Velkairos.
More importantly, they were right next to the Master-level secret realm, the [Demon's Nest].
"No wonder."
Azrael now understood why the Association had been unable to locate the Crimson Oath Society's base.
Considering the materials Jin possessed, which were clearly produced by the [Demon's Nest], he wasn't surprised to find a connection between the Crimson Oath Society and that secret realm.
Putting away his communicator, he used the Blood Sacrifice Ritual to return to his previous anchor point and immediately headed for his destination.
After a long journey, the sea beneath his feet gradually disappeared, replaced by a landscape of flesh and blood.
"This is a Master-level secret realm," Azrael said with a heavy expression, continuing toward the Crimson Oath Society's base.
A moment later, just as he gazed bewilderedly at the barren flesh-and-blood terrain, wondering if Memphis had sent him to the wrong location, a massive crack suddenly appeared before him.
Sensing the dense aura of contract power emanating from the fissure, Azrael knew this was the Crimson Oath Society's base.
However, until the crack appeared, the young man hadn't noticed anything unusual about it, evidently, they possessed some form of concealment technique.
Memphis then materialized before Azrael and waved, gesturing for him to follow. "Follow me."
Without further explanation, the man in the black suit led him deeper into the crack.
Along the way, Azrael passed numerous Crimson Oath Society members. Upon seeing the two of them, these lower-ranking members paused their work and watched them depart with respectful expressions.
However, Memphis ignored these low-level members, whom he considered mere expendables, and silently led Azrael to a wall of flesh and blood.
"Come in."
As if sensing their arrival, the flesh-and-blood wall instantly opened a portal wide enough for one person to pass through.
Azrael followed Memphis into a darkened space.
With a simple gesture, Memphis dispelled the gloom.
Azrael's eyes opened to a blood-soaked room strewn with countless grotesque demonic limbs.
"You know the situation in the Society. The materials aren't as comprehensive as those in the Association."
"So you'd better be prepared," Memphis said flatly.
Azrael nodded in understanding.
Then Memphis tossed him a device and said, "Choose for yourself. I'll retrieve them for you."
After Azrael briefly examined the materials, he understood Memphis's reasoning.
The Crimson Oath Society possessed very few materials, most of which were blue quality, completely incomparable to the Association's inventory.
"Tsk..."
"I was originally planning to just collect Nelliel's materials," Azrael muttered, pursing his lips.
Plans had changed. Since Nelliel's materials couldn't be gathered here, he'd have to settle for other suitable materials instead.
Soon, he handed the device back to Memphis.
Glancing at the materials Azrael had selected, Memphis said calmly, "You're not at a disadvantage."
As for why he said that:
Emerald-grade [Loyal Sword Maniac] (Red) ×2.
Emerald-grade [Undying Blood] (Red).
Emerald-grade [Sheep Demon Knight] (Red).
The four materials Azrael had selected were all among the few red-quality items in the Crimson Oath Society's inventory.
He'd prepared one of the two [Loyal Sword Maniac] copies to advance Retsu Unohana, while saving the other to decide whether to use it for Yoriichi or Zoro.
The [Undying Blood] was naturally for Shiraori. Thanks to the [Ruler System], Shiraori now only needed one ingredient to advance to Emerald rank.
[Ruler System]: A planet-wide system constructed by the evil deity [D], with the goddess [Sariel] at its core, originally created by [D] simply for entertainment. Shiraori could gain experience points by defeating creatures, reducing the cost of card advancement.
The final [Sheep Demon Knight] copy was for Nelliel. After all, Azrael had originally intended to advance her to forge a bond with Memphis.
However, it now seemed that plan would need to be postponed.
After collecting several copies of the ingredients, Azrael returned to his Pixar home without delay.
Not far away, at Alice's residence, she breathed a sigh of relief upon confirming that her junior apprentice was safe.
After reporting to Alice on his phone that he was unharmed, Azrael entered meditation to recover his mental strength.
Three ingredient copies lay before him.
[Crimson Overlord], [War Maniac], [Sword Maniac].
He was about to advance Retsu Unohana.
While it was unfortunate he couldn't form a bond with Memphis, fortunately he'd reached Emerald rank before [Seireitei] did.
Thinking about it that way, it wasn't such a loss after all.
After a long moment, Azrael opened his eyes.
"Let's begin."