Just as the Aquarius Director was hastily retreating and the Temporal Rift was completely closed, a barrage of dazzling attacks instantly arrived.
The first thing to emerge was an inexplicable sweet fragrance near where middle-aged Joshua had "opened the door," as though welcoming a sticky sweet rain. Various desserts sprouted like mushrooms after the rain and began to swell rapidly.
However, before these suddenly appearing sweets could expand, hundreds of sea-blue tendrils, as thick as an adult's waist, emerged first. With a momentum to crush everything, they wildly thrashed, turning the sweets into multicolored sugar mush, only to be sliced and diced by countless invisible blades, dissolving into sprays of water by pale pink dreams.
Next came the crimson blood domain, whispering laments, golden rivers, nameless sigils, pale dolls covered in barbs, knee-crawling demons with ten bleeding eyes, the masked, voiceless martyrs' corpses, and a hideous evil moon reflected in a jade lake...
It was as if an abnormal exhibition had opened, with a multitude of clearly suspicious things appearing like a revolving lantern at the Aquarius Director's escape point. These things violently destroyed the anomalous abilities that arrived first, only to be torn apart by even more vicious attacks that came later.
Finally, the eye of the sun in the sky suddenly dimmed, and a Sun Shadow darker than the deepest night descended, obliterating everything on the main stage. Only then did the varied attacks of the Purification Bureau finally cease...
Watching the main stage, washed over an unknown number of times in one second, Leon, who had been pulled away in advance by his branch director, couldn't help but shiver. The clothes on his back were soaked with cold sweat.
When the Gate of the Other World began to close, Leon was originally about to pick up two more weights. Suddenly, the shoe on his right foot turned into a wafer cookie, with hundreds of suction cup-covered tendrils quietly appearing around, and a familiar clump of vibrant red hair quietly coiling around his waist.
*The director's trying to save me... so staying here would have been dangerous?*
Although the Temporal Rift hadn't fully closed and Leon had enough speed to dodge the red hair's entanglement and continue picking up the weights on the ground, he trusted his director and didn't move, letting the director's hair coil up and then...
*Just a little more, and that would have been the end!*
Pulled out by the director's red hair along with Prince Freckles and Senior Jerry, Leon witnessed attack after attack fall in succession and felt immensely grateful he had restrained his greed.
The fierce individuals of the Purification Bureau, although unable to catch the sped-up Aquarius Director, could easily have taken him out. Considering the plowing-like overwhelming saturation attacks, if he had stayed to pick up weights, even a thousand lives wouldn't have been enough to survive!
While Leon was still trembling with fear, the red-haired director, who saved all three of them, couldn't help but exhale in relief. He then slightly nodded toward the Lion Sub-bureau's director and said,
"Beverly, thank you for stepping in to help."
"Don't mention it, I almost made things worse."
Raising a hand to point at Leon's right foot, which had been transformed into a cookie, and changing it back, Lion Sub-bureau's director Beverly, with a slight tinge of apology, explained,
"I initially wanted to turn you three into sweets. That way, even if the subsequent attacks shredded you, I could still resurrect you by just adding some sugar and dough."
"But more people stepped in than I expected. The director even used the Sun Shadow for a downward attack. If you had been turned into sweets, you would have really suffered."
"You deserve thanks."
The red-haired director insisted,
"My reaction time isn't that fast. Without your help, blocking some of the summoned Sea-Tendrils, I might not have been able to get them out in one piece. Consider this a debt I owe you... Also, don't think these people came on too strong."
At this point, the red-haired director turned to the three startled individuals, Leon included, and explained with a rather helpless expression,
"The first ones to attack, even if they genuinely wanted to help retain people, exerted themselves a bit, but they held back on your positions. I barely managed to drag you out under such a barrage of attacks."
"Those who attacked later intentionally avoided hitting you, so rather than retaining people, they were showing loyalty, proving they hadn't colluded with the Aquarius Director. Everyone was just putting on a show."
After hearing the red-haired director's words, Leon pondered for a moment and instantly understood what was going on.
This incident involved the Watcher's Palace and touched Purification Bureau's nerve, coupled with the sudden "betrayal" by the Gemini Sub-bureau's director. So whatever happens with the Aquarius Director afterwards, those within the Purification Bureau with "Aquarius connections" were going to face extraordinarily strict scrutiny and repercussions.
Therefore, these sub-bureau directors had to join the fray, even knowing they couldn't hit anything, especially those who might have benefited from Aquarius. They were showing a break from him and aligning with the headquarters to avoid being targeted later...
*Indeed, choosing a side is an eternal issue for humanity, and even an organization like the Purification Bureau isn't exempt.*
It was clear that the red-haired director wasn't the only one who understood this. After waving away the surrounding dark Sun Shadows, the Purification Bureau's director glared in frustration at the sub-bureau directors, who, despite being utterly useless when trouble arose, were competing to align with sides, and barked,
"Stop this nonsense. Right now, the most important thing is how to handle Aquar—hmm..."
Looking down in resignation at one small head biting his trouser leg and another yapping at him, the head of a two-headed... puppy, the Purification Bureau's director darkened his face and said,
"Whose Anomalous Object is this? Take it back immediately!"
Frantically shaking a dog bell in hand and calling back the fierce yet cute puppy chewing on the director's shoe, the acting director of the Harp Bureau stood up, blushing and repeatedly apologized before awkwardly explaining,
"I'm sorry, our Harp Bureau's director and those Level One and Level Two seniors are all freezing in the polar region. I'm the most senior in the bureau, so the Star Palace dragged me here to attend the meeting..."
"Though I'm senior, my actual strength is average. I only advanced to Level Two last month and really couldn't withstand the headquarters' suppression of Anomalous Objects, so I could only summon a puppy to put on a show. I'm sorry to embarrass you, Director..."
*Ah, it's the second-to-last performing Harp Bureau; no wonder the level's so low...*
Waving his hand to indicate it was okay and allowing the stand-in director to sit down, the Purification Bureau's director turned, looking toward a certain bureau ranking first (from last) and frowned, asking,
"Olivia, have your people explain what just happened, and why did the Gemini Sub-bureau's director suddenly betray us?"