After Red Ponytail declared war on the Clock Tower on behalf of the World Tree of a Thousand Realms, the entire Clock Tower was almost driven mad with anger.
Particularly, the Noble Factions represented by the Ulysseus family of the Arrival Department even threatened to completely erase the World Tree of a Thousand Realms from this world.
No wonder the Noble Factions were so enraged. During the previous Holy Grail War, the World Tree of a Thousand Realms had openly opposed the Mage’s Association. Although the outcome at the time was a mutual loss, the World Tree of a Thousand Realms had blocked the news, so the Mage’s Association didn’t know whether the Holy Grail War was successful. Of course, in their minds, the World Tree of a Thousand Realms must have failed.
The Mage’s Association had suffered heavy losses as well; all the magicians sent to participate in the Holy Grail War were wiped out and targeted, causing the Mage’s Association to hang their heads low for quite a long time afterward.
This already infuriated the higher-ups of the Mage’s Association, and now, the World Tree of a Thousand Realms has officially declared war, even denying the suffering of magicians over the centuries, calling it a lie spread by the Mage’s Association’s higher-ups to control the Magic World!
To the Mage’s Association, the World Tree of a Thousand Realms was simply courting disaster!!
They once considered sending magicians to the Far East to completely eradicate the World Tree of a Thousand Realms, but those who went were immediately sent back home to marry by Heroic Spirits, which only further enraged the Mage’s Association but left them helpless.
Lainis, witnessing all of this, could not help but lament. What the Mage’s Association holds dear means nothing to the World Tree of a Thousand Realms. Sadly, even now, the magicians of the Mage’s Association still don’t understand what they’re up against... No, it’s normal they don’t understand, even Lainis herself wouldn’t believe it if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes.
So, Lainis said nothing and quietly made her preparations—Fang Zheng didn’t provide any advice on what exactly to do, as Lainis, being a clan leader, should know what to do.
However, compared to this, Animusphere appeared more carefree. Due to their small numbers and reclusive lifestyle, the Mage’s Association might not even notice if the entire Animusphere clan moved into a spaceship. But the El-Melloi family didn’t have this advantage; their base was in London and Sly. Therefore, even a slight disturbance could attract the attention of the Mage’s Association.
Of course, if El-Melloi’s advantage was to be mentioned, it would be that they have even fewer people than Animusphere. Although the El-Melloi family is a large clan, those standing with Lainis could be counted on one hand. For Lainis, only taking these few people meant she didn’t care about the others’ life or death...
What she had to do next was wait.
Meanwhile, the Mage’s Association was still enraged over the World Tree of a Thousand Realms, and Lords from various families privately coordinated, communicated, and discussed how to deal with the World Tree of a Thousand Realms and the redevelopment of the Great Labyrinth beneath London.
However, unbeknownst to them, a vast net was being spread out.
And it was buzzing with activity.
On April 5th, the card game "Duel City," based on the novel "Duel City," was launched globally. Thanks to the World Tree of a Thousand Realms’ cost-no-object early promotion, this card game quickly became a global sensation. From Asia to Europe to North America, and even in Africa, the sound of this card game could be heard.
And just three months after the cards were released, the manufacturer Soqing Entertainment Company announced a global dueling tournament. The competition was divided into four parts: city—country—continent—world finals. The top ten in the national division would receive prizes ranging from fifty thousand to one hundred thousand US Dollars, and the top five in the continental competition would receive prizes ranging from one hundred thousand to five hundred thousand US Dollars.
The ultimate world finals winner would receive a top prize of one million US Dollars!
This immediately took the world by storm!
With such lucrative prizes, both avid gamers and those uninterested in games but eager to make money joined in. The entry barrier was low; you only needed to spend a little money on buying card packs and assemble a deck to participate.
Moreover, the prize was quite generous!
Even those winning the lowest-tier city division received a prize of one thousand US Dollars if they made it to the top ten. For many, this had a much higher probability than winning the lottery!
The card packs were only a dollar each, making it affordable even in Southeast Asia and even cheaper in developed countries. Some, if lucky, could form a deck by spending just ten dollars, and splurging a hundred dollars was even less of a problem.
A hundred-dollar deck had the potential to yield a minimum tenfold return, enough to drive people insane.
As they say, with handsome rewards comes bravery, this game quickly swept across the world in no time at all because of this. Of course, some tried to make their own rare cards, but Fang Zheng expected this; in fact, all the cards adopted anti-counterfeit technology similar to banknotes, making it quite difficult to forge these cards. Furthermore, under Fang Zheng’s directive, Soqing Entertainment also cooperated with police forces worldwide to crack down on counterfeiting—any problem solvable with money was no problem at all.
The reason for offering such high prize money was precisely this. The mystery of magecraft relied on secrecy, so letting others know sufficed; whether they liked it or not was irrelevant. To win large sums of money, each participant naturally needed to know the effects, functions, and records of each card, which unintentionally revealed the truth of magecraft.
To Fang Zheng, this was enough.
Of course, this involved significant sums of money, but Fang Zheng didn’t care; he siphoned them from FBI accounts, and after draining them dry, he also redirected funds from the CIA and NASA to host the tournaments. Over there, they were equally furious, all tracing who did it, but... hopefully, they wouldn’t find out.
Or Washington would turn into a sea of fire.
Ironically, even as this event reached a fever pitch worldwide, the Mage’s Association remained oblivious. In fact, many magicians from the Twelve Families had already noticed issues; many found that the effects of their magecraft were not as before—what once could grill to medium-well could now only grill to medium...
Currently, only some very young and not particularly strong magicians noticed this problem, so they didn’t really take it to heart, thinking it was just a bad state of their own.
Amusingly, "Duel City’s" posters hung right on the street outside the Clock Tower.
However, to the passing magicians, they seemed completely oblivious to the connection between the two.
That was understandable; who but the new generation of magicians would play with such things? Let alone the magicians of the Twelve Families.
But the new generation of magicians couldn’t possibly know the magical secrets of the Twelve Families. These secrets were only known to the heirs and high-ranking members within the Twelve Families, so even if some magicians did play the card game and saw the content, they’d just find it interesting, never realizing that the essence of their family’s magecraft had leaked.
As for Lainis, who already knew the secret from Fang Zheng, she could only sigh as she watched the scene unfold.
Even if the Mage’s Association or the Clock Tower could sense a slight whiff of threat now, Lainis might reconsider her viewpoint.
But unfortunately, while others were already planning to cut the magicians’ roots, these Lords remained ignorant and didn’t sense a hint of danger. This only made Lainis feel even more that the gap between the Clock Tower, Mage’s Association, and the World Tree of a Thousand Realms was like heaven and earth.
It’s just like an ant, only knowing how to find food on the ground, completely unaware that at any moment, a foot above could step down and crush it to death.
"Isn’t it ridiculous?"
Sitting in the tavern, Fang Zheng, in the guise of Red Ponytail, crossed his legs while sipping a cola and watching TV. A group of people were gathered around the TV watching a broadcast, but the screen wasn’t displaying any kind of sports match, rather it was the European finals of the "Duel City" card game.
In order to maximize the influence of this card game, Fang Zheng even instructed the World Tree of a Thousand Realms and European gambling groups to collaborate, so that even those who don’t play the game... can gamble.
The European finals were held in the city of London.
"Indeed, it’s rather laughable."
Lainis sat beside him, swirling a cup of coffee in her hand. As Fang Zheng said, it’s utterly ridiculous, the enemy was practically confronting them directly, yet the Mage’s Association remained completely oblivious...
"By the way, isn’t today the so-called Grand Council? Aren’t you going to attend?"
The so-called Grand Council is a meeting convened by the Twelve Lords overseeing the Mage’s Association and the Clock Tower, somewhat akin to a closed-door United Nations meeting for the magic world. The location is in the center of the underground labyrinth Albion beneath the Clock Tower. Originally, as representatives of the El-Melloi Clan, Lainis and Lord El-Melloi II were supposed to attend this meeting.
But Lainis chose to forgo it outright.
"What’s the point now? After all, the Mage’s Association is about to be destroyed, attending now would just be a dead end. Olga Marie didn’t go either... My dear elder brother is probably busy at Sly’s right now."
"You didn’t inform him?"
"If I informed my elder brother in advance, the people from the Mage’s Association might see through it— there’s a saying, to deceive your enemies, you must first deceive your own people, right?"
"Indeed."
At this, Fang Zheng chugged down the rest of his cola, then stood up. Glancing at the television screen, the European finals had also concluded, and many among the spectators were cheering.
"Well, now it’s our turn."
For Lord El-Melloi II, recent days have been far from pleasant.
First, Lainis suddenly approached him with a smile saying, "Brother, the El-Melloi Family plans to withdraw from the Mage’s Association, can you help handle the aftermath?" leaving Lord El-Melloi II dumbfounded, forcing him to start dealing with his affairs while popping antacids. Meanwhile, he’s been feeling something off about the Clock Tower lately... what exactly, he couldn’t say.
But he had a bad feeling, a very bad feeling.
Perhaps, he should investigate the Clock Tower.
"Gray, pack up, we’re heading out."
"Yes, Master."
Hearing Lord El-Melloi II’s words, Gray quickly nodded, and the two left their residence for the Clock Tower.
However, just as they reached the entrance of the Clock Tower, a voice suddenly called out.
"Oh my, Elder Brother, what a coincidence."
"Lainis?"
Hearing Lainis’s voice from behind, Lord El-Melloi II was momentarily stunned, then turned around, and— found himself frozen.
On the street, Lainis was waving at him with a smile, and beside her was a girl in a white coat and jeans with twin ponytails as red as burning flames.
"Miss Red Ponytail?"
Seeing Red Ponytail appear, Gray was also somewhat surprised.
"Why are you here?"
"Because the time is right, Gray."
"The time is right?"
"Yes, didn’t I mention it before?"
While speaking, Fang Zheng extended his hand, conjuring the crimson greatsword from thin air.
"I only come to the Clock Tower under one circumstance."
Saying this, Fang Zheng inverted the greatsword and plunged it forcefully into the ground.
"Sealing."

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