Afterwards, Ophelia was taken away by Li Mo. Having taken control of the Greater Command Spell but needing to study it, he could only bring Ophelia to his own workshop. Benefiting from the concept of maintaining boundaries between men and women, Li Mo did not touch Ophelia throughout, instead having shrine maiden shikigami handle the task.
As a married man, he had to maintain propriety.
"You want to study the Greater Command Spell?" Ophelia, being carried publicly by the shrine maiden shikigami on the way, said.
Her body was bound by ropes, but these were no ordinary ropes. They were a manifestation of Scathach-Skadi's power. At Li Mo's request, Skadi had increased the level of restraint on her. Ophelia couldn't even move freely.
"I know, little Ophelia, you're uncomfortable. Just bear with it for the next three or four days; life will be better afterwards."
"Afterwards, I'll simply die," Ophelia said coldly.
"How could that be? I'm not prepared for a full-scale conflict with your Team A. Besides, I'm counting on using you to deal with Chaldea."
"You fear Chaldea?"
Ophelia caught the subtle clue. She found a trace of emotion in Li Mo's words, and that emotion was focused on "Chaldea."
Li Mo said, "Chaldea's Fujimaru Ritsuka, after all, is someone who once saved the world. Naturally, one must be wary of such a Master. As far as I know, within your Team A, only Kirschtaria and Daybit could reach that level."
Pausing, Li Mo sighed. "Your Team A truly has hidden talents. Kadoc is just a regular genius mage. You possess Jewel-rank Mystic Eyes. 'Hinako Akuta' is a pleasant-sounding name, but it doesn't conceal her true nature as a True Ancestor. Pepe has Buddhist supernatural powers. Kirschtaria goes without saying. Beryll is a crazy psycopath raised by witches. The less said about Daybit the better"
"You really know quite a bit," Ophelia said, not doubting the truthfulness of his words, even though they contained much information she herself didn't know.
Because of the Mystic Eyes.
Those golden Mystic Eyes—what exactly were they? Ophelia didn't dare assert, but she knew within the Norse Lostbelt that Odin's eye could see various aspects of parallel worlds.
Li Mo said, "It can't be helped. I've seen too many things. Like your world line, I've seen several possible trajectories. Fortunately, it's not the worst one."
Ophelia said, "What could be worse than this?"
"Fujimaru Ritsuka, on an 'Absolute Evil' world line," Li Mo stated. "That was a female Fujimaru Ritsuka. Her strength could crush all Servants. She was once spiritron transferred ten thousand years into the past, but that individual stubbornly survived for ten thousand years. If that were all, it would be fine, but that individual's mind, for some reason, was abnormal, different from ordinary people."
Not encountering *Gudako* was truly a great piece of luck. He initially hadn't been worried about Gudako, but later remembered that FGO has a crossover event every year, and among the manga crossovers, there were a few instances... one of which featured Gudako's appearance.
This train of thought led him to think of those ultra-spec Servants in FGO. Especially those from the Servant Universe.
Comedy characters are very funny in manga. But appearing in the real world makes one unable to laugh. Comedy characters, in terms of feats, are each more outrageous than the last.
However, considering it, the Fujimaru Ritsuka of this world was probably just the ordinary one, right? Thinking of his gaming days struggling through the Lostbelts with locked support lists brought back discomfort.
He then lost the desire to continue conversing with Ophelia. He brought her into his workshop. The method to research the Greater Command Spell mainly involved stimulating it. Actually using it was quite simple.
—It was essentially account hacking.
Only Ophelia could activate the Greater Command Spell. Now, the connection between her and it had been severed. Li Mo could use the Greater Command Spell under Ophelia's identity. The entire process was like hacking an account, requiring the theft of the account password.
Stealing Ophelia's identity from a mysticism standpoint was precisely something Li Mo could do. Or rather, something the 103,000 volumes of magical texts in his mind could accomplish.
Three days were enough for Li Mo to complete the "account hacking" operation.
He easily obtained control over the Greater Command Spell. Of course, the prerequisite was that Ophelia did not reclaim control. But currently, Ophelia couldn't move at all; her daily needs were all handled by the shrine maiden shikigami, so how could she take it back?
On this day, Li Mo prepared to hand Ophelia over to Skadi, borrow the Bifrost, and then head north alone to reach the location of the Fantasy Tree. During this process, he also needed to shatter Sigurd's spiritual core to release Surtr.
But before taking action, his workshop welcomed another uninvited guest.
Koyanskaya once again entered the workshop.
"My, I was wondering why I hadn't seen you for several days, Ophelia. So you were captured," said Koyanskaya, dressed in a thick military-style coat, standing before Ophelia with a smirk.
Ophelia remained silent.
Seeing this woman at this moment made her uncomfortable. Especially being observed by her like this.
"Ms. Koyanskaya, could you please use the door next time? I can smell something burnt on you," Li Mo said.
"Oh my, my apologies, Mr. Li Mo. I was just worried about disturbing you."
"What brings you here, dear Koyanskaya?" Li Mo didn't linger on the previous topic for long, getting straight to the point of asking Koyanskaya's purpose for visiting.
The latter smiled and said, "Well, I'm about to head to the Atlantic soon, so I came to check on Ophelia's situation. She's missing, so there needs to be an explanation, right?"
"Are you going to see Kirschtaria? How long will it take you to get there?" Li Mo paused, then shook his head. "Even if you go immediately, it doesn't matter. Tell Kirschtaria the truth. Given his character, he won't be overly concerned. After all, Ophelia will regain her freedom soon."
"Ah, Mr. Li Mo is so accommodating. Thank you very much, otherwise I'd be in quite a dilemma."
"As the client, it's only natural to be considerate of the contractor. By the way, I was very satisfied with the last batch of magical materials. Could I trouble dear Koyanskaya to help me procure another batch? As for the payment, same as last time."
"Of course, thank you for your continued patronage."
Under Ophelia's gaze, Li Mo and Koyanskaya concluded their transaction. The latter promptly left.
Li Mo knew she wasn't just leaving his workshop; she was leaving this Lostbelt entirely.
Only... the enhanced defensive barriers still couldn't stop Koyanskaya? Though they could at least accurately identify and attack her. Li Mo thought of the burnt smell.
"You and Koyanskaya really seem like two of a kind."
"Thank you for the compliment, Ophelia. Next, the time for you to move freely is also approaching soon. I hope you won't hold a grudge against me," Li Mo said. "Actually, holding a grudge is fine too; you can curse me a couple of times, I can accept that. Just don't try to kill me, that's all."
He added, "You are no match for me. Even using your Mystic Eyes wouldn't change that."
Ophelia really wanted to ask, then why did you seal my Mystic Eyes?
But she didn't ask.
She had asked during the previous three days, and the answer she got was "prevention is better than cure."