Fall

Allen gripped the Dragon Slaying Halberd, slashing left and blocking right, his eyes bloodshot. He no longer held anything back. The two-meter halberd danced into a mass of dark light, sweeping aside everything in its path. The charging cavalry could not stop him in the slightest.

Xiulunte leaped down from his warhorse, golden Battle Aura pouring into his sword. With broad, sweeping strikes, he cut down everyone before him, whether they were cavalrymen under his command or Undead Skeletons attacking him. He made no distinction between friend and foe.

At last, the two of them broke through layer upon layer of obstacles and stood facing each other.

Xiulunte's feelings were complicated. Fate had placed two utterly different people on opposing sides and turned them into enemies who would not rest until one was dead. He had nothing in common with Allen. With only the sword in his hand, he had carved a bloody path alone, killing his way into becoming the Papal Legion commander whom everyone feared to mention. He knew well that he was lonely. After reaching such a high position, he did not even have a single confidant or friend. Perhaps slaughter was his only companion.

And the road ahead would not change. As always, it would be paved with countless corpses, until one day he too became a pile of bones. Perhaps someone else would step over his remains and continue spreading the Holy Father's radiance.

Yet this fellow before him, barely any younger than himself—a useless noble mocked by everyone, an idiotic lord born into a top-tier noble family—had somehow become his greatest hidden danger, far more dangerous than the other races.

A fine family background, a carefree life, countless people protecting him openly and secretly, living quietly in one place without needing to scheme against or guard against anyone, never becoming embroiled in any factional struggle. How free he was.

Xiulunte had carefully studied every detail of the day the Wolf Cavalry attacked Outpost County. He knew that this Trash Baron had stepped forward to protect Dina and the people of Outpost County. With his life hanging by a thread, he had received the blessing of a god from another world and his strength had surged. Unfortunately, the god who blessed him was a foreign god rather than the Holy Father. That was his tragedy. It doomed him to become the Church's greatest hidden threat and made it impossible for him to remain on the Saint Cassis Continent.

By now, Xiulunte even felt a trace of envy toward Allen.

A father whose influence in the Kingdom of Locke was overwhelming, a Great Archmage of Undead willing to serve as his butler, and so many experts secretly protecting him and risking their lives for him.

Perhaps this was how fate toyed with people. Perhaps the Supreme God hoped to use Xiulunte's hand to destroy a Child of Chaos with limitless potential.

Perhaps, in the Supreme God's eyes, the Saint Cassis Continent was his private territory, and he would not allow any outsider without local standing to stir up trouble on his land.

Xiulunte cast aside those complicated emotions and thrust his sword at Allen's brow.

This was not their first battle. Back at the General Affairs Hall in Outpost County, Xiulunte's Battle Aura had been suppressed by Dina's Titan Bloodline, leaving him with less than a tenth of his strength. That was why Allen had gained the upper hand.

But although Dina was now trapped inside the Old Castle and could no longer suppress Xiulunte, Allen had likewise gained Dragon Power and held a powerful weapon in his hands.

Both men understood that today would end only with death. There would be no mercy, much less sympathy. Even if Xiulunte fell and Allen broke out of Outpost County, countless soldiers of the Earth Dragon Legion waited outside.

Xiulunte was desperate to kill Allen because he did not have much time left. The Grand Duke of the Kingdom of Locke had already arrived with his forces.

Allen was equally desperate to kill Xiulunte because he too had little time left. Only by killing Xiulunte on the spot would he have a chance to lead everyone in the Old Castle out of the encirclement and escape alive.

The sword in Xiulunte's hand was ordinary, more symbolic than practical. But once infused with Battle Aura, the sword shone with blinding golden light. Even without touching the body, the Battle Aura covering it could still wound.

Allen had no Battle Aura and could not cast magic. Relying on brute strength and countless battles' worth of experience, he attacked again and again, almost abandoning defense and parries entirely.

He tilted his head aside to dodge Xiulunte's attack, but the Battle Aura on the sword still sliced his shoulder. At the same time, Allen's Dragon Slaying Halberd smashed into Xiulunte's left arm.

They both sprang backward. Blood gushed from Allen's shoulder like a fountain, while Xiulunte's left arm swelled grotesquely. The finely forged steel bracer around it had been completely warped.

Allen kicked away a cavalryman trying to ambush him and charged again, sweeping the nearly two-meter-long Dragon Slaying Halberd across the battlefield.

Xiulunte gave a savage grin. The golden Battle Aura covering his body slowly turned blood-red, and a faint scent of blood filled the air.

"Holy.Punish!" Xiulunte roared. Blood-red Battle Aura swept toward Allen in wave after wave. Then Xiulunte growled again, "Holy.Destroy!" A skull-covered cross appeared out of thin air and smashed down at Allen.

Every muscle in Allen's body tensed. Back when this bastard Xiulunte had been under Battle Aura suppression at the General Affairs Hall, he had still used these two divine arts. If Sakre had not taken that blow for him back then, grass would probably be growing over his grave by now.

The red Sword Qi and massive cross in the air did not attack in straight lines. As Allen dodged, they seemed to gain minds of their own, clinging to him like parasites on a bone. No matter how he evaded, he could not shake them off.

I'll take it head-on! Allen swung the Dragon Slaying Halberd at the cross, trying to knock it away. But the moment they connected, the massive cross revealed a force weighing a thousand tons. Even with Dragon Power reinforcing him, he could not block or deflect it. Instead, it pressed the halberd downward with irresistible force. Allen's heart jolted in alarm. The crushing pressure kept his body from dodging, like an unimaginably heavy set of shackles.

With no other choice, Allen raised the Dragon Slaying Halberd overhead with both hands, trying to resist the immense downward force of the cross.

As if Mount Tai were pressing down on him, Allen's breathing gradually grew heavier.

Misfortunes never came alone. Two flaming saw wheels flew toward him. Allen hooked a cavalryman's corpse with his toes and kicked it out. The red Sword Qi followed, slicing the corpse in half without losing any momentum.

Just as the flaming saw wheels and red Sword Qi closed to within three meters of Allen, a ghostlike figure rushed over.

With a flick of her wrists, Diao Ling sent two Battle Aura-wrapped Haftless Broken Blades flying, knocking away the flaming saw wheels. She shouted, "Second Young Master, move! Holy.Punish is a binding shackle among divine arts. It can only hold one person back."

After saying that, Diao Ling kicked Allen in the chest.

Allen had no idea what she meant. Both hands were occupied holding the Dragon Slaying Halberd overhead, leaving him unable to block, while his body could not dodge either. He could only watch helplessly as Diao Ling's foot struck his chest.

The pressure on the Dragon Slaying Halberd and his hands vanished. Sitting on the ground, Allen stared in shock. The enormous cross had been caught in Diao Ling's fair hands.

Diao Ling's expression was full of misery. With great difficulty, she gave Allen an incomparably pained smile.

Allen scrambled to his feet and rushed over, holding the Dragon Slaying Halberd across his body to shield Diao Ling. At that moment, the blood-red Sword Qi arrived as well.

The wave-like Sword Qi was almost tangible. Allen held the Dragon Slaying Halberd horizontally as he was forced back step by step, his body trembling faintly.

"Move aside, Second Young Master." Diao Ling's sigh came from behind him.

Allen acted as though he had not heard her. He pushed the Dragon Slaying Halberd forward with both hands against the blood-red Sword Qi as a nauseating stench of blood washed over him.

Diao Ling had already fallen to one knee, as though the immense cross above her could crush her down at any moment. Gritting her teeth, she said softly, "Move aside, Second Young Master. I've seen this kind of divine art before. My father died beneath these two divine arts. Holy.Destroy serves as shackles to trap the enemy, while Holy.Punish destroys them. The two draw each other in. They cannot be resisted at all."

"I don't fucking believe it!" Allen roared, exerting every ounce of strength he had. Yet the red Sword Qi continued pushing him toward Diao Ling behind him.

"Second Young Master, there's something I've always wanted to tell you. You probably don't remember it either. After the border troops of Outpost County brought me from the Fierce Beast Forest to the Royal City, the first time I met you, you were only five years old. It was you who had the Grand Duke buy me from the slave market, saying you liked my black hair. Back then, you changed my fate too. Thank you."

After Diao Ling finished speaking, tears glimmered in her large peach-blossom eyes. Unable to endure the enormous force of the cross above her any longer, her long legs finally buckled to the ground.

From the memories he had inherited, Allen finally recalled a blurry scene.

A small figure with beautiful black hair looked at him helplessly.

"Second Young Master, you still haven't told me. Is my chin too pointed?" Diao Ling understood that Allen would not move aside. She let out a soft sigh, filled with helplessness.

The soft sigh from this woman he had only met on the first day tore Allen's heart apart.

As the red Sword Qi drew closer and closer to the enormous cross, the two seemed like magnets. The Sword Qi's power grew stronger and stronger, and Allen's Dragon Slaying Halberd slowly began to bend.

A warrior in knight's armor swung his sword at Allen's back.

A spray of blood burst forth. Allen staggered and nearly fell to the ground, almost losing his grip on the Dragon Slaying Halberd. By then, only an arm's length separated Allen and Diao Ling.

As the red Sword Qi and cross drew ever closer, a powerful figure rushed over. Broad, solid shoulders slammed Allen away.

Allen fell to the ground and hurriedly turned his head. All he saw were two faces he would never forget for the rest of his life.

A bleakly beautiful smile curled Diao Ling's lips. Even kneeling on the ground, that alluring face remained enchanting.

Rockhammer, pierced through by the red Sword Qi, still wore that foolishly honest expression, as though he were saying, "Second Young Master, the weapon I made is pretty good, right?"

With a bang, the blood-red Battle Aura finally collided with the enormous cross. Between them stood a slender figure and a bald giant.

Countless droplets of blood rained into the sky. The power of the divine arts Holy.Destroy and Holy.Punish swept through the area like a storm, tearing apart everything around them.

Xiulunte, who had forcibly overdrawn his Battle Aura, had a trace of blood running from the corner of his mouth. He panted heavily. "They really were hard to kill!"

Allen stared dazedly at the empty battlefield. Those two figures had long since vanished, as though they had disappeared into the wind.

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