175: Chapter 175 Backstab!

Rumble— The entire top-floor office of the Gun Barrel Building began to shake violently at this moment. The originally luxurious and classical Victorian décor began to peel away inch by inch like a weathered sand sculpture under the pull of some indescribable, immense magical energy.

At this moment, countless eerie, spiderweb-like cracks had split across the surface of the old man's skin, and from those cracks surged a torrent of black-purple magical energy that did not belong to humans, nor even to conventional Heroic Spirits!

"Crack... crack..." The sound of bones breaking rang out clearly in the silent office.

Under the terrified gaze of tens of thousands of viewers in the livestream room, the old man's body expanded and tore apart frantically under the agitation of the magical energy, finally shedding its disguise completely to transform into a towering, massive fleshy pillar covered in countless scarlet eyeballs!

[Demon God Pillar · Baal]!

That terrifying yet familiar form, and the abyssal malice swirling around the pillar that seemed capable of distorting space itself, instantly dragged everyone's memories back to that ultimate, intensely tragic final battle!

"This... this is impossible!"

Da Vinci's voice, which was usually calm and sweet, carried undeniable shock when it transmitted through the communicator at this moment:

"In the final battle at the Grand Temple of Time, Romani Archaman used his Noble Phantasm to cut off Goetia's infinite timeline; all 72 Demon Gods should have perished completely along with the collapse of the Temple!"

"Why... why is there still a residual spirit origin reaction of a Demon God Pillar here?!"

Not only her, but the tens of thousands of veteran players in the livestream room also felt their scalps tingle at this moment.

"Damn! It really is a Demon God Pillar! A remnant of Goetia?!"

"How could there be a survivor after everything the Doctor risked his life to take away?!"

Facing the shocked questioning from Chaldea, countless blood-red eyes on the towering Demon God Pillar turned simultaneously, locking firmly onto the PD on the ground.

Layered, inhuman, distorted overlapping voices boomed through the ruins:

"Do you not believe the reality before your eyes, Master of Chaldea, and the omnipotent genius lady?"

Baal let out a chilling low laugh, filled with mockery. "Indeed, in that absurd final battle, our great King, as well as the vast majority of our brethren, were reduced to ashes along with that traitor Solomon's self-sacrifice."

"But, you have underestimated the foundation of our 72 Demon Gods' integrated spirit origin."

Black sludge continuously overflowed from the base of the Demon God Pillar, sizzling as it corroded the surrounding floor.

"At the final moment when the Temple completely collapsed and the spacetime axis crumbled, five spirit origins among us successfully detached from the integrated network and escaped into the cracks of time."

Baal's massive pillar body swayed slightly, emitting a world-destroying sense of oppression:

"We escaped the ruins and acted separately. We no longer thought as a whole, but instead followed our own instincts and desires, descending into different spacetime coordinates to accomplish what each of us wanted to do."

"And my desire..."

On the Demon God Pillar, all the scarlet eyeballs became bloodshot at this moment, igniting with nearly violent flames of hateful black fire:

"Is to take revenge for our vanished King—Goetia!"

"That is why I created this magical realm of Shinjuku. I spent three thousand years researching the technology to fuse Phantasms. I want to use this planet as a bullet and fire it, completely shattering the future that you old humans are so proud of!"

The truth was finally completely revealed at this moment.

Sherlock Holmes slowly took the pipe from the corner of his mouth, his deep, wise, blue-gray eyes staring coldly at the behemoth before him.

"A fine performance, Demon God Pillar Baal."

The great detective's voice carried not a hint of warmth. Even when facing the Demon God Pillar, his reason remained unshaken:

"You have explained your origins and clarified your motives for revenge. Logically, all of this can basically be closed as a loop. But..."

Sherlock Holmes took a step forward, his gaze fixed on the other: "As a detective, my principle is to never let any minor loophole slip by. In my reasoning process, there still remains one last, and most fatal, question."

"Although you are a Demon God Pillar, in this Shinjuku Singularity, you were able to calculate against me and Chaldea so perfectly, and set up this flawless criminal network. You absolutely borrowed the criminal brain of some high-IQ human."

Sherlock Holmes' sharp gaze seemed capable of dissecting the darkness before him:

"James Moriarty is a criminal whose soul has been thoroughly blackened. How deep is the connection between you and that old fox?"

"Did you forcibly occupy his spirit origin, or is it that... he is actually just another poor wretch calculated by you?"

Hearing Sherlock Holmes' questioning, the mockery in those blood-red eyes on the towering Demon God Pillar intensified.

"Good question, detective. As for how deep the connection between us actually is..."

"The answer is—"

"ALL."

Bang—!!! A heavy gunshot that shattered the night sky exploded without warning on the silent top of the tower!

The magical bullet attacking from behind, within a thousandth of a second, at a terrifying speed that was completely impossible to block or dodge, pierced directly through Sherlock Holmes' heart from behind!

"Squelch!" Blood bloomed on his chest, and Sherlock Holmes' walking stick slid powerlessly across the floor. On the great detective's handsome, pale face, a look of extreme astonishment appeared for the first time.

He struggled to turn his head to look at this lifelong nemesis, but the cursed poison lingering on the bullet began to frantically devour his spirit origin the moment it made contact, causing him to kneel powerlessly on one knee amidst the ruins.

"You... James..." Sherlock Holmes struggled, clutching his chest, his voice hoarse.

And behind him, James Moriarty straightened his slightly disheveled tailcoat collar and blew the faint smoke from the muzzle of his gun.

He looked at the famous detective kneeling on the ground, a mocking smile of victory curling on his lips:

"Separation of good and evil? Deprivation of memory? A weak 'good thought' that was cut out?"

"Oh Sherlock Holmes, no matter how smart you are, you are ultimately just a suspicious detective. And I am the nemesis in this world who understands your suspicious nature best."

The old man's aged voice echoed in the wind, each word like a bloody slap, striking hard across the faces of the PD and all the players online:

"If I didn't act out that 'kindness' so realistically, if you couldn't personally confirm that 'James Moriarty has lost his threat'..."

"How would the naturally suspicious great detective ever be willing to voluntarily walk out from that dark corner?"

"From the very beginning, there was no separation of good and evil."

"I am James Moriarty himself."

...Watching Sherlock Holmes, who had fallen into a pool of blood with his spirit origin beginning to flicker incessantly, the PD's mouth hung open, his brain instantly falling into a state of complete system crash.