# 1217
Chapter 1218: "Holy Grail" Wish
Wu City.
The edge of the city-state.
In the pitch-black Ancient Well, a dark-gold chalice emanated dreamlike radiance. The blood-red crimson liquid sloshed within its walls, tugging at every onlooker's heart and soul.
Claude and the others stared intently at the floating 【Holy Grail】 before them, swallowing hard.
"The 【Holy Grail】... so this is the 【Holy Grail】?"
An agent murmured to himself.
"The supreme wish-granting machine that can fulfill any desire." Joy flickered in Claude's eyes. "We found it!"
He reached out, about to touch the 【Holy Grail】 hovering right before him, when suddenly, a sharp cold light flashed from behind!
Claude's nape chilled. Every hair on his body stood on end. Without thinking, he hurled himself forward.
The next instant, a ghostly blade silently swept past the top of his head, severing a few strands of hair while decapitating the two agents standing beside him in one clean strike.
Terrified and bewildered heads sailed high into the air. Blood spurted everywhere, but the dark-gold chalice floating at the center pulled them in like streams, sucking the crimson liquid inside.
The scarlet wine rose slightly, rippling against the smooth inner walls.
Claude snapped back to his senses, whirling around. Two agents had already teamed up and began ambushing all the other agents below the Ancient Well.
The strike that had nearly cost Claude his life just now came from one of these agents. Frowning that his surprise attack hadn't killed Claude, he let his surrounding幽光 surge like a tsunami, sweeping toward Claude.
"You're insane?!" Claude roared.
"In sane? I think the insane ones are you." The agent sneered. "You actually think you can slay gods with just a few divine artifacts? Do you really think gods are pushovers?
Now the 【Holy Grail】 that can grant any wish is right before our eyes. If we kill all of you, we can wish to directly erase the divine marks from our bodies... Since we can survive, why would anyone want to risk opposing gods?"
Pfft, pfft—!
Two splashes of blood bloomed. Two more agents, caught completely off guard, had their chests pierced instantly.
They clutched their chests in agony, turning to glare at the two traitors behind them, their eyes burning with fury. But as their life force rapidly drained away, that rage eventually dissolved into nothing but suffering.
"Claude..." A dying agent reached out his hand, seemingly begging Claude to save him, but the latter simply gave him a complicated look and shook his head.
"Sorry, I can't save you."
Upon hearing these words, all hope in that agent's eyes shattered, leaving only endless despair.
He clutched Claude's sleeve and went still forever.
In the narrow confines of the Ancient Well, of the seven who had originally searched for the 【Holy Grail】 together, only three remained.
Though four agents had perished one after another, there wasn't the faintest trace of blood in the well. Every trace of flesh and blood had been devoured by the 【Holy Grail】 at the center, transforming into crimson liquid that rippled within the cup.
Claude gazed at that dreamlike 【Holy Grail】, his eyes flickering. After a moment, he narrowed his gaze and looked at the two ambushing agents before him.
"Your plan was flawless, but unfortunately, you failed to kill me in the first strike." Claude's voice was ice-cold as streaks of crackling thunder flashed beneath the Ancient Well.
"Since your original plan has failed... then you two can serve as my offerings."
The two agents' expressions immediately soured.
Though they were both of the "Klein" realm, the Claude before them was ranked sixth among the 【Ten Foreguards】. What he wielded was the highly destructive Thor's God's Ruins!
"Seize the 【Holy Grail】 first! Use the 【Holy Grail】 against him!" one of the agents bellowed.
Both agents struck simultaneously, lunging for the dark-gold chalice floating at the center. Claude coldly harrumphed. Thunder erupted around him as he rocketed forward with staggering speed!
BOOM—!!!
A blinding flash of lightning erupted with a thunderous roar at the edge of the city-state. Countless bolts of lightning shredded the Ancient Well to bits. Two scorched, blackened figures rose from the ground below.
Then, like Thor descended to earth, Claude floated up from the dust, his left hand cradling the dreamlike 【Holy Grail】.
Claude gazed at the dark-gold chalice in his palm, watching the crimson liquid slosh within. His eyes grew somewhat dazed.
He averted his gaze, fixing his sight on the disheveled pair of agents before him, and sneered:
"Only the two of you, trying to snatch the 【Holy Grail】?"
"You're insane!" one of the agents shouted. "Causing such a huge commotion—the old man will come with the 【Scepter】 again, and then we're all dead!"
Claude's eyes narrowed. He turned to look toward the distance.
The sudden thunderstorm had awoken the slumbering city-state. Countless residents stumbled out of their homes in terror, staring toward where they were. Meanwhile, a black dot was hurtling toward them from the direction of the lord's mansion.
Claude glanced at the 【Holy Grail】 in his hand. For some reason, an unprecedented confidence welled up within him.
"This time, I won't give him a chance to use the 【Scepter】."
He said calmly.
In the distance.
The old city lord, dressed in his nightclothes and gripping the King's 【Scepter】, was rushing over at full speed.
His gaze fell upon that terrifying figure wreathed in lightning. The instant he看清 what was in the man's hand, his face changed.
"Damn it—the 【Holy Grail】!"
The old city lord's heart sank.
The 【Scepter】 could forcibly commandeer other people's power, but its effective range was limited. To抽走 drain Claude and the others' spiritual energy from afar, he needed to be within one kilometer.
Under normal circumstances, one kilometer was nothing for the old city lord. After all, the vast majority of battles happened at close range. Even if someone attacked from a distance with spiritual energy or divine power, as long as the attack entered the one-kilometer radius, he could forcibly commandeer it with the 【Scepter】.
But never in his wildest dreams had he expected Claude to actually obtain the 【Holy Grail】!
The 【Holy Grail】 was a supreme wish-granting machine—it had no range limitation.
And the wishes invoked through the 【Holy Grail】 did not constitute any form of energy. Even the 【Scepter】 could not forcibly commandeer them.
The old city lord gritted his teeth, about to加速 rush into the one-kilometer range, when in the night sky far away, that figure wreathed in lightning slowly raised the 【Holy Grail】 in his hand.
"I wish—for bodily petrification." Claude said calmly.
As his words fell, the crimson liquid sloshing in the dark-gold chalice diminished by a fraction.
At the same time, a faint glow flickered across the surface of the 【Holy Grail】. Some indescribably profound force rippled outward. The old city lord, several kilometers away, felt his body stiffen. His entire form froze in place.
Gray-white stone rapidly filled his body. He stared in astonishment at his swiftly petrifying form, his eyes filled with terror and despair.
Three seconds later, a stone statue of an elderly man clutching the 【Scepter】 appeared on the stone-paved street of the city-state.