"This is indeed a clown, how boring."

The judge wearing the spider mask shook her head indifferently.

"You better not let the clown hear that, she'll accuse you of slander."

The hooded judge, however, seemed to recall something amusing and said with a grin.

"Uh..."

The spider judge seemed to have just remembered that she indeed had a clown colleague. For a moment, she was at a loss for words but quickly shook her head.

"I don't have time to chat with you, Merry Maker. Crafty Abnormality, get to work quickly, I'm waiting to go home to take care of my kids."

The cold judge said this, then stepped forward.

"Hehehe, actually I've been taking care of kids lately too, we should exchange tips sometime."

Crafty Abnormality suddenly laughed louder, seemingly recalling something even more amusing.

However, the spider judge couldn't be bothered with this notorious troublemaker in the Judgment Court. She just raised her head to look at the target in the sky, then spoke coldly.

"This is the Witch World, so there's nothing here the Judgment Court can't handle. Preemptive action, The Third King allowed, you're suspected of assaulting a court member, the evidence is conclusive, so please come with us."

However, Kamo Tadayuki couldn't just be caught without a fight. The Great Onmyoji intended to retreat, regardless of the situation.

Yet, suddenly, just as she was about to step out of the area once surrounded by the ancestor's barrier, she unexpectedly bumped into something, her face getting bruised purple and blue.

"What is this, I clearly already dissolved the barrier."

Kamo Tadayuki felt the invisible wall in front of her, utterly confused.

But she soon realized the problem and couldn't help but look at the two judges.

"Is this your trick? Impossible, a barrier of this level can't be deployed so casually."

She identified that the force of this invisible wall obstructing her wasn't much weaker than the ancestor's barrier she had just deployed, but it didn't make sense. These two had just arrived; she hadn't seen them casting spells.

As for her question, the spider judge seemed a bit impatient.

Instead, it was the hooded judge who kindly explained.

"This isn't a barrier; it's just a tiny trick of architecture. No one understands formations and territorial warfare better than the Architect."

"You talk too much. If you have time to explain, it's better spent working."

The spider judge gave her Merry Maker colleague a begrudging glance.

Yet Crafty Abnormality shrugged her shoulders.

"Isn't this setting the stage for you? War Instructors, those who can, do more. I'm here to cover."

She had already decided to slack off this time.

"You arrogant fools."

Kamo Tadayuki was furious seeing these two foreigners singing in harmony, as if not taking her seriously at all.

She pulled out a handful of paper effigies from her side and threw them out.

"Shikigami Secret Technique, Night Parade of Hyakki."

It's just numbers, right? Onmyoji is a summoner profession; as a Great Onmyoji, she has loads of Shikigami under her command, practically a one-person army. Today, she shall teach these two foreigners a lesson.

But, as countless paper effigies scattered, about to transform into a parade of a hundred ghosts, invisible ropes suddenly descended from the sky, hanging all the Shikigami one by one, like dried meat.

The newly materialized Hyakki couldn't even figure out what happened before they were all bound. They tried to resist, but no matter how hard they struggled, they couldn't break free from the seemingly fragile ropes.

Moreover, were those really ropes?

Kamo Tadayuki heard countless soft scuttling sounds around her, as if countless invisible insects were crawling, and she pointed her finger between her eyebrows, a spiritual light flickered at her fingertip.

Then her face changed, turning pale.

The seemingly unobstructed clearing ahead suddenly transformed into a deep cave tunnel. In the winding tunnel, spider webs were densely packed, with numerous large and small spider monsters crawling on the cave walls. The threads binding the Shikigami were spewed by these spiders.

And now, perhaps having detected her Heavenly Eye, the countless spiders in the dark cave simultaneously turned to look at her. The countless eyes glistening with a greasy sheen in the darkness were chilling.

Moreover, at some point, her surroundings had already been enveloped in a heaven-spanning spider web.

She had fallen into the spider's lair, like a moth caught in a web, with no way to retreat.

The next moment, the Heavenly Net contracted. Kamo Tadayuki tried to resist but found her internal strength had completely fallen silent.

Damn, these spider threads were actually anti-magic materials.

The black-robed judge with the spider mask was now lightly stepping on one of the spider threads, striding forward with her long legs, step by step, towards the bound prey.

In the eyes of Kamo Tadayuki, though the judge was in human form, she gradually transformed into a hideous yet seductive Arachne Demon.

The monster had the upper body of a seductive woman and the lower body of a terrifying spider.

"Rokurokubi, you're Rokurokubi."

The Great Onmyoji exclaimed in horror.

The cold spider judge paused slightly upon hearing this title.

"This name is somewhat familiar. Back in the day, an old classmate of mine used to call me that. Sadly, compared to her, you're much inferior. This outdated Yin Yang Technique she abandoned a hundred years ago. Why haven't you updated your skills over the years?"

Kamo Tadayuki desperately wanted to shout that ancestral methods shouldn't be changed, but unfortunately, the judge didn't give her a chance to speak. A cold hand clutched her throat, and soon spider venom was injected, causing her to swiftly fall into slumber.

"All done, end of work."

The spider judge handed over the tightly wrapped human-shaped silk cocoon to her companion, then dispelled the surrounding personal domain.

"Crafty Abnormality, you handle the rest. I need to find my runaway troublemaker at home."

"Sure, sure."

The hooded judge nodded with a smile.

But just then, boundless purple aura came from the West, and dazzling light filled the sky, covering the entire island with phenomena of heavenly petals and an Earth-borne Golden Lotus.

The two judges glanced at the direction of the phenomena and both had a change in expression.

Damn it, my troublemaker is still on the mountain.

The spider judge was quite anxious.

But someone seemed even more so.

With a snap, an eye-shaped spatial gap appeared, and Crafty Abnormality, who was slacking off, now turned to her.

"Purple? Is that you?"

Seeing this iconic ability of her dear friend, Noelle Rose widened her eyes.

"No time to explain, get on quickly."

But Yae Miko, carrying the Obsidian Evil Courtesan in one hand and the unconscious Fiendish Courtesan in the other, stepped into that eye-shaped gap.

.... Witch en route ....