Naoki and the others were now in an apartment building in Misaki Town—specifically, the place where he had found Arcueid before, which could be considered Arcueid's residence in Misaki Town.
Of course, not everyone was here. Only Naoki, Gray, Arcueid, and Aoko were present. Touko and Shiki were elsewhere, not too far, just a two-minute walk away.
After leaving the hotel last night, they had temporarily moved here.
While waiting for Gray to wash the dishes, Aoko looked at Naoki and Arcueid sitting across from her: "Then, let's start the strategy meeting to deal with Nero Chaos. Although it's unclear if he's the one causing the frequent vampire appearances in Misaki Town, seeing his actions of massacring the hotel last night, I, as the manager of Misaki Town's ley lines, feel it's necessary to eliminate him."
This morning's news had already reported last night's incident. It was said that everyone on the lower three floors of the hotel had died, only those on the fourth floor and above had survived, and the confirmed death toll was over a hundred people.
A true massacre.
"The police have already intervened to investigate, but that will only add to the futile casualties." Aoko said, "Arcueid, your special case doesn't need to be discussed, but can Nero move in sunlight?"
"Without considering the loss of power, it shouldn't be a problem. The reason vampires don't move during the day is that direct sunlight makes us very uncomfortable, and our power also weakens. The regeneration ability we pride ourselves on will also be hindered."
Arcueid explained, "Nero probably won't be active during the day. Instead, he will release Demon Beasts from the Primordial Sea to roam the Town and gather information. You must have seen them."
Demon Beasts from the Primordial Sea—no, not just that.
'Nero, he can even release Demon Beasts, combine several factors of Demon Beasts, creating even stronger Demon Beasts... it's just that I don't know if he can create ones of a higher level than Demon Beasts.'
Of course, no matter how high the level of those Demon Beasts, it wasn't really a problem for some of the people present. The most important things were their sheer number and the difficulty in dealing with them, as well as Nero's immortality. Especially the latter was the most difficult point to defeat him.
"Arcueid, how's your recovery?"
"Almost done, it will be fully recovered by tomorrow noon. What's up?"
"Can you return Avalon to me first? I want to give it to Shiki first, to let her recover." Naoki explained, "Nero's immortality is very troublesome. Last night I tore and burned his body several times, but he was still fine. To kill him, the best way is to let Shiki—let the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception do it."
Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, the greatest nemesis of immortality. Even a True Ancestor like Arcueid couldn't avoid the end of death because of it.
"Sure, why didn't you say so earlier? Here, take it."
Without much thought, Arcueid patted her chest, and the glittering golden scabbard instantly floated out.
Naoki caught the scabbard: "Thank you."
"You're welcome; it's your thing anyway. Besides, I've actually almost recovered; I'll let my own healing abilities take care of the rest!"
"In that case, we can say we already have an ace card to deal with Nero. The rest is just thinking about how to lure Nero out and protect Shiki to kill him?" Aoko looked at Naoki, "Kouhai-kun, what do you think of his strength when you fought him last night?"
Nero's combat strength?
"In a one-on-one fight, I can suppress him."
"For how long?"
"A few hours is no problem; if I have Avalon, I can fight him until the end of time."
That meant there were at least two people on their side who could directly suppress Nero.
Aoko nodded: "In that case, when we fight Nero later, Kouhai-kun and I will suppress Nero, creating an opportunity for Shiki to kill him. No problem, right?"
"No problem. But where is Nero now? Are we just going to sit and wait for him to come?"
"Let me lure him out." Arcueid suggested, "Nero was ordered by the White Wing Lord to kill me. He will only appear where I am, so I can go to an open place to lure him out. If it's around here... the park over there is very suitable. Set up a Bounded Field so we don't have to worry about ordinary people."
"Then that's fine. The time of operation... quick and precise, let's set it for tonight."
Aoko concluded: "First, Kouhai-kun, Shiki, and I will go to the park and prepare everything. After night falls, Arcueid will lure Nero out. After suppressing him, we will protect Shiki to kill him—in short, that's it, right?"
"Understood. Then I'll deliver this scabbard to Shiki first. With the scabbard's ability, Shiki will definitely be fine by nightfall."
As he said this, Naoki felt a little guilty towards Avalon. It had only been in his hands for a few days and had already been used by several people. He himself hadn't even used it much; it was truly just being treated as a walking spring of water.
An EX-ranked Noble Phantasm being used like this... he wondered what Artoria would think if she knew.
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Meanwhile, far away on the other side of the globe, London, England.
"General."
Placing the white queen on the chessboard, Merlin smiled brightly at Morgan across from her: "This time I win. 32 wins and 29 losses; I'm the first to be ahead by 3 wins. I will happily eat this last cake."
"Hmph, just you eat it."
Morgan raised the teacup in her hand and took a sip: "By the way, did that child go to Japan?"
"Um, a few days ago. Why, do you miss him?" Merlin chuckled, "If you miss him, just go find him directly, although I think he might still not be too eager to meet you."
"I remember you returned Avalon to him before he left."
Putting down her teacup, Morgan's gaze at Merlin became a little cold: "For these past few years, you've always made excuses that the crisis we faced hadn't reached the point where Avalon needed to be released, and you never returned it to him. This time you suddenly returned it... do you know what will happen in Japan?"
"Umm... I'm not too sure either, just had a feeling like that."
"Still not planning to release your Clairvoyance?"
"Then it wouldn't be fun. The unknown is the most interesting, isn't it?"
Merlin looked at the darkness of night outside the window.
"Returning Avalon to him is just as insurance. Although it doesn't matter whether Naoki lives or dies, at least for now, I still hope he lives. If he dies, this world will be very boring."