Cardinal Loki's Death

That streak of light was originally meant to slash at Iver's head.

But then, as if drawn by something, it suddenly paused.

It was being pulled by some force, tilting towards Iver's lower back. It was as if something was being sliced off.

But even without that moment of hesitation, it would have been impossible for it to hit Iver.

Because from the moment Iver met Loki, he kept his hands behind his back.

A card depicting two black kobolds was tucked between Iver's fingers.

Just before the crimson light transformed into a slash, Iver gently released the card from between his fingers.

Time seemed to slow down here.

The card spun and fell, disintegrating and shattering into black mist in mid-air.

The next instant, a howling black storm surged from Iver's body, spreading in all directions!

At the eye of the storm, Iver instantly turned into shadow and vanished without a trace! As the attack missed, several shadowy hands condensed at the center of the shadow storm that Iver had created.

Like catching a fast-moving baseball, seven or eight hands seized the ethereal ball of blood! Bang—

At the same time, all the crystal mirrors in the entire monitoring room cracked simultaneously.

The chain reaction of mirror explosions spread outwards from Loki's central monitoring room, shattering all the mirrors in the Eleventh Ring! And blood was slowly seeping from the cracks in those shattered mirrors.

Within each shattered piece of the mirror, there is a scarlet pupil.

That was the Night Demon's Eye! The next moment, the light source vanished and darkness descended.

Clear water turned to blood, and plants began to wither. The air was thick with the smell of rust, as if a great many people had died.

In the pitch black, only the countless red eyes reflected in the mirrors were clearly visible. Those faintly glowing red pupils illuminated the night.

In the darkness of night, the Night Demon finally revealed her full form.

The shadowy wings behind her spread wide, their feathers ethereal and hidden in the darkness. The jagged wings resembled withered trees in the night. Her long, jet-black hair blended into the night sky, and her body, like a fragmented image erased ninety percent, hovered in mid-air. Only in the red light could one barely discern the outline of her figure.

The Night Demon's furious eyes glared at the blurry, blood-red light that she had bound in mid-air.

It has no physical form at all, but rather resembles a radiant glow. It is precisely because of this that it can be captured by shadows.

Her right index finger and thumb formed a ring, while the remaining three fingers stood side by side like a knife, pointing vaguely at the irregular, shimmering mass of blood-red light, like a ball.

A black curse clung to it, forming chains that sealed it tightly. The light then dissipated at a visible speed.

Just then, a dazzling light ignited within Cardinal Loki's body—

That was a deep red glow.

His hair burst into flames, which then spread to his entire body, his skin rapidly melting away under the intense heat. His grey robes also burned fiercely in the flames, and black thorns sprang from his joints.

The ominous sinful thorns continued to spread and grow, coalescing behind them into two enormous spirals that looked like two huge black arms.

There was no prayer, no chanting—this is Advanced Divine Arts!

Just then, another Iver suddenly appeared on the other side of the room.

He held a scepter in his right hand, while a magic book floated above his left.

That is the Book of Law!

He remained silent, and the Book of Law flipped through its pages rapidly on its own.

One, two, three... golden-red flame butterflies appeared out of thin air around the blood-red light that was bound by the curse.

Then they collided and disappeared into the cursed, sealed lantern.

A violent explosion occurred inside a cage no bigger than an adult's fist, and golden flames suddenly blazed up—only to be easily swallowed and sealed away again by the Shadow Curse.

On the other side, the thorns behind Loki suddenly transformed into spears and stabbed at Night Demon!

Even the Night Demon dared not confront the Sinister Thorns head-on. However, their speed was only that of ordinary arrows, far too slow for the Night Demon to catch up. As the Night Demon flew, it scattered black feathers, which transformed into black needles upon landing, piercing towards Cardinal Loki!

Cardinal Loki raised his right hand, and a blazing red wildfire, seemingly capable of burning everything, condensed before him.

However, the curtain of fire failed to burn away these shadows—they burst forth from the flames, instead carrying with them the intense heat.

But at that moment, the sin thorns suddenly reversed direction and their speed increased threefold! They pierced through Iver, who was flipping through the Book of Law, with a sharp angle! But Iver's lips curled up slightly, and his whole body cracked and turned into black feathers that scattered away.

— [Summon · Nightmare Mirror]! Mirrors are everywhere here; this is Nightmare's domain. Iver can summon his own spellcastable mirror image from any position reflected in any mirror.

When the mirror image is shattered, Iver can inflict three types of damage on the shatterer: Shadow, Corruption, and Curse!

These three types of damage correspond to the Shadowfiend, Sinister Thorn, and Instant Death types, respectively, and what they have in common is that they are all black.

"Well..."

Cardinal Loki let out a muffled groan.

A black glow suddenly burst forth from his body, and a blob of dark green ink gradually seeped from his heart.

That's a type of evil damage! It can ignore defenses and cause damage to living things, but it's actually healing to the undead.

But suddenly, golden flames ignited on his body, and the damage was being repaired at a visible speed.

The Night Demon raised his left hand towards him.

Centered on her, countless shadowy hands suddenly emerged from the ground.

Along with the priests outside who sensed something was wrong and wanted to rush over to save the day, they were also tightly gripped by shadowy hands reaching out from the ground, the walls, and the mirrors.

The instant they were grabbed, a chilling Black Mark was branded onto their skin. The biting cold, carried by the Shadow Power, seeped into their bodies, leaving at least several hundred priests frozen in place, unable to move.

Meanwhile, more shadowy hands seized Cardinal Loki from all sides.

The two sinful thorns tried to fight back, transforming into two sharp spears that attacked the Night Demon!

But just then, a blue bolt of lightning crackled and danced in the air.

The illusory lightning coalesced into a majestic and ferocious halberd, which was grasped in the hand of the Night Demon, whose style was completely different.

That was none other than the Thunder Strike Halberd, which had the entry for "punishment"!

Night Demon swung his halberd, easily severing the Sin Thorn.

When the resistance failed, Cardinal Loki was already gripped tightly by the Night Demon's countless shadowy hands and was completely submerged in the sea of shadows.

Then, all the shadowy hands clenched and tore open! With just one strike, Cardinal Loki's entire body was covered in spiderweb-like, deadly, and scarlet cracks!

"... I praise the candle keeper."

Finally, Cardinal Loki spoke, uttering his last words in an incredibly hoarse voice.

He burst into flames, the flames reaching the sky.

But just then, he suddenly turned his head to look at the location of the invisible Iver, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

Iver felt a chill run down his spine.

He was certain that Cardinal Loki had locked onto him.

However, Cardinal Loki did not launch an attack on Iver.

... Speaking of which, why did he suddenly attack me?

The thought had just popped into Iver's mind.

But in the next instant, Cardinal Loki cracked and burst into flames, transforming into a phoenix-like fire in a magnificent and radiant aura! Just as he was about to Self-Destruct, Nightmare suddenly extended his right hand, opening his thumb, index finger, and middle finger in sequence.

One, two, three curses—the curses transformed into slender, red-black spears, coalescing from the void and embedding themselves in Cardinal Loki's heart! With each cursed spear strike, a layer of blessing was shattered.

As the three cursed spears fell, Loki's divine and glorious aura vanished completely. When the third cursed spear struck, even the Sin Thorn Wings on Loki's back exploded into a cloud of black smoke.

With no obstacles in sight, Night Demon instantly teleported in front of Loki.

Her right hand gently stroked in front of Cardinal Loki, and she pulled out a phantom heart that was still beating and spewing flames. At this moment, Loki's chest was completely unharmed.

Pfft.

Night Demon crushed that heart with ease.

Cardinal Loki's eyes suddenly lost all light, and he collapsed weakly to the ground.