"Why are you Shadow? What does The Order's conspiracy have to do with you?!"
"You don't need to know these things! And I have already abandoned the name Shadow."
Shadow's ambiguous words made Alpha suspect whether he had joined The Order.
The creation of counterfeit money was The Order's plan, and the person currently executing the plan was named John Smith, but he was also Shadow.
What Shadow Garden needed most right now was time. Was the counterfeit money really made by The Order?
Alpha didn't have enough time to investigate this.
Investigating this matter required time, but a credit crisis was imminent.
They simply didn't have enough time.
"I don't understand what you mean by that!"
"Tell me! What exactly do you want to do?!"
Alpha shouted.
"You don't need to know these things!"
John Smith once again refused Alpha's inquiry.
"I don't understand, I don't understand what you're saying. Say something I can understand!"
"All that I do has its own meaning!"
Alpha recalled the message Sino had Gamma relay.
Shadow would give them a test.
But how was this a test? It seemed entirely like he wanted to push Mitsugoshi Company to a dead end.
Alpha remembered when they first met, how Phantom and Shadow had painted a grand ideal and goal for her.
For this, he had been working hard to resist The Order. However, as one of the original initiators, Shadow, he betrayed Shadow Garden.
The former Shadow's favorite thing to do was to loudly proclaim his name:
"I am Shadow, one who lurks in the shadows and hunts shadows!"
It was clear he cared deeply about the name Shadow.
But now he claimed to have abandoned the name Shadow and changed it to John Smith.
She didn't understand, Alpha didn't understand. Everyone was clearly on the same side, so why did Shadow stand against her?
Slime magic transformed into black wings, gradually forming behind Alpha.
Alpha crushed the black crystal on her necklace.
This was a gift from Sino.
It could temporarily double Alpha's magic power.
Alpha's body couldn't withstand double the magic power.
She could only rely on this necklace.
After crushing the black crystal,
blue-purple magic entered Alpha's body.
Alpha felt her entire body filled with magic, a powerful sensation she had never experienced before.
Now, even if she fought Elizabeth, she didn't think she would lose.
"Crunch!"
John Smith twisted his head at some point.
And a crack appeared on his mask.
John Smith revealed his classic smile.
"I underestimated you!"
Alpha's speed and strength had undergone immense changes.
John Smith could no longer gain any advantage over Alpha with his threads.
So he simply stopped using threads.
John Smith retracted his threads and gathered magic into his fists.
He fought Alpha bare-handed.
That magic sword could definitely injure John Smith.
He always used exquisite techniques to deflect Alpha's attacks.
The two exchanged blows in an intense battle, neither Alpha nor John Smith having a significant advantage.
John Smith's strength was not weak, but his greatest skill was swordsmanship. Fighting bare-handed was like cutting off his own limbs.
Moreover, he couldn't use his nuclear strike.
Although John Smith was powerful, he truly couldn't defeat Alpha quickly at this moment.
At this time, the necklace on Alpha's body suddenly broke completely. The necklace's effect only lasted five minutes, and now the time was up.
The magic power the necklace provided to Alpha also began to dissipate.
The necklace had reached its limit. If the extra magic power on Alpha's body didn't disperse, Alpha would explode.
After all, that magic power completely exceeded her body's tolerance limit.
The weakened Alpha was struck by John Smith and knocked off the train.
The train continued further away, leaving Alpha alone lying on the snow-covered, unusually cold railway tracks.
Alpha tried to stand up, but her legs gave out, and she couldn't.
Just as she was about to fall,
a pair of warm hands pulled Alpha up.
He held Alpha in a princess carry.
Seeing the tears in Alpha's eyes, Sino took out a handkerchief and wiped them away for her.
"Lord Phantom!"
Alpha hugged Sino tightly, unable to stop herself from crying loudly.
When a person is lost, they desperately need someone to lean on.
He, Sino, would become Alpha's support.
"Sino, Shadow, he! Shadow, he joined The Order!"
This was the first time Sino had heard Alpha call him by his real name.
"I know!"
Sino stroked Alpha's head.
Alpha was also a girl, and she also had a vulnerable side.
Sino did not tell Alpha the truth immediately.
It wasn't good to tell her.
After all, the truth was that Sid wanted to make money, and Mitsugoshi Company was unintentionally affected.
Alpha cried and cried, then suddenly stopped.
Then she hugged Sino's head.
"Kiss~"
Sino could still see the tears in Alpha's eyes.
Sino brought Alpha back to Mitsugoshi Company.
Alpha at this moment showed no trace of her earlier haggard appearance, instead, she looked like a decisive leader.
She called a meeting.
"Everyone, John Smith's strength exceeded my imagination. I am not his match! Now we must think about how to survive the most difficult period during this paper money crisis!" Alpha said.
"To reassure the citizens, we need a large amount of gold coins, for example, a mountain of gold coins displayed in the hall!" Gamma said.
"We just tallied the amount of gold coins collected, there are only five billion Zeny." Nu replied.
"Gamma, how many gold coins do we roughly need to stack them like a mountain as you said!"
"Approximately 20 billion Zeny!"
"Funds transferred from other regions will arrive in a few days, which should allow us to gather 10 billion Zeny in gold coins!" Beta said.
"Now we still have a 10 billion Zeny shortfall!" Alpha lowered her head in thought, pondering what to do.
20 billion Zeny, if Mitsugoshi Company was given time, it wouldn't be difficult to gather.
But now, time was a bit short.
Citizens had more or less begun to realize that Great United Company's paper money was becoming more and more abundant.
And new paper money had also appeared.
When everyone had a large amount of paper money in their hands, everyone would discover the problem.
At this moment, Eta pushed the door open and entered.
"I invented something called a magic projector, which can copy an existing item and project it! However, it requires someone to continuously input magic for a long time!"
"Let's go together to see your invention!"
Everyone went to see Eta's invention.
The effect was as Eta described; as long as it wasn't touched, no discrepancies would be noticed.