Volume Four: Fading from the World of Men, Chapter 361: Angel Hunting Zone (4)

The arms wrapped around my waist tightened slightly.

An indescribable laugh echoed in my ears.

What exactly is that sound?

It possesses both the purity of a young girl and the debauchery of a seasoned prostitute.

Just hearing it made me feel like my consciousness was being torn in two.

"What's wrong, my Husband? Have I upset you again?"

Although she referred to herself as "this humble servant," her tone lacked any respect and instead carried a subtle sense of mockery.

"No... I already told you to stay right there!"

"Yes, yes, this lonely concubine has no choice but to spend her days alone in her empty room..."

As she said this, the sound gradually faded away, and the sensation in her waist and arms gradually disappeared.

I didn't look back until the very end.

I don't know what that is.

No... perhaps I've already vaguely realized it, but I'm just too lazy to think about it.

"As my Husband wishes, please use me as a tool as you please."

Nothing else matters, this sentence is enough!

"Now it's my turn to retaliate, Heavenly Law!!!"

"A fool's dream!"

Her fist, which had been locked in a stalemate with mine, suddenly moved, transforming into a claw that gripped my scarlet Demonic Claw tightly! The force was so great that, if not for the malevolent Killing Intent of the Rakshasa True Word, I would have already suffered broken bones and severed tendons!

"Holy Devour!"

A viscous white light emanated from her hand, coiling towards my Demonic Claw like plant vines! The moment it touched me, the white light, like a hungry wolf, began to devour my flesh, obliterating all defenses and relentlessly eroding my body! If it were before, I probably would have decisively severed my own arm, but now—

"Don't underestimate me, you bitch. Since I dare to face you alone, I must have come prepared!"

Sa--!!!

The Killing Intent within the demonic arm surged forth, clashing head-on with the all-pervasive, corrosive Holy Power! Caught off guard, the Heavenly Law was at a disadvantage for the first time, its Holy Power being constantly forced back, until in the blink of an eye it was forced back to where our hands met! White light and red light intertwined, devouring each other, neither giving way!

"Tch, I thought you had some real strength to rely on? Is this all you've got? Such petty tricks!"

Tianlu scoffed dismissively and suddenly increased his power! The previous stalemate was immediately broken, and the Holy Power overwhelmed the Killing Intent, surging towards me once more!

However, I wasn't foolish enough to think that I could fight her by "slightly controlling the Rakshasa True Word for the first time". No matter what external aid I used, it would be difficult to bridge the qualitative gap, so I absolutely could not fight her head-on!

All attention is focused on the hands.

Material selection--

Separation from the body--

Permeate out of the body--

Mix with an appropriate amount of blood--

Morphological reconstruction -- Complete!

Just as the divine power was about to seep into my flesh again, I suddenly pulled my hand away—not freeing the Demonic Claw from Tian Lu's grasp, but pulling my hand out of those Demonic Claw! I had just completed the separation of the Killing Intent from my body, completely mixing the expelled Killing Intent with my blood, finally creating this hard, exoskeleton-like layer! Like a cicada shedding its shell, my hand slipped out of this "shell," while the "shell" itself remained firmly in Tian Lu's grasp!

"Shedding your skin? Do you think you're a snake?!"

"A snake? Hmm... if you connect it with religion, it becomes the Serpent of Eden? Sounds pretty cool, doesn't it?"

I raised my other hand, and the same mixture of Killing Intent and blood seeped from my skin, solidifying.

"--Incorporating religious elements? Thank you for providing the naming inspiration for my new collection!"

Bang!!!!!

With a powerful punch, Shell and Heavenly Law's divine fist collided fiercely. After a brief stalemate, I was sent flying backward, covering a distance of over two hundred meters before using Flame Wings to stabilize myself! But it's alright, my original goal was to escape, and this time, apart from the slight turmoil inside my body from the impact, I suffered almost no damage!

Sure enough, it was only that "shell" that collided with her, while I was only connected to the "shell" at the base, so the impact on it had almost no effect on me. It just pulled me back when it was thrown away.

By the light of the Blood Flame and the moon, I saw for the first time the strange substance formed by the mixture of the Killing Intent of the Rakshasa True Word and my blood.

If I had to describe it, it would be like a scarf compressed into the texture of leather, with a faint sheen like a horny shell, and finally, layers of strip-like objects floating detached from my body beside me—it's practically a product that embodies the concept of "flexibility." The color is a rather dull ochre red, without complex patterns or gorgeous light effects, yet it has a sense of oppressive power that is restrained and compressed to the extreme.

The more I look at it, the more familiar it seems... Ah right, it's like the Spear of Longinus and the Tree of Life from Evangelion.

Speaking of this thing... I can't just keep calling it a "shell," it sounds awful.

An ochre-red substance...

"Let's call it 'Ochre' --"

"Holy Nail Gun!"

A dazzling light coalesced before my eyes, and a gigantic crossbow, seemingly composed of light, appeared in Tianlu's hand. But instead of arrows, it was loaded with—

"Emission!"

The trigger was pulled, and a streak of silver light instantly reached me! There was no time to dodge, and I hadn't used my blood crystal for defense. I merely crossed my arms slightly in front of my chest, and the ochre material immediately detached from my body. Leather-like strips instantly formed two enormous arms in front of me, blocking the silver light—a silver spike—which struck directly at it but failed to penetrate! I thought I had blocked it, but the Silver Nail exploded violently the next instant! The force of the explosion sent me plummeting through the air, piercing the clouds once more. Although this attack left me quite disheveled, overall I only suffered minor injuries. The ochre arms that had absorbed most of the damage were now mangled and broken, but new Killing Intent and blood immediately surged forth, mixing to form new ochre material!

"Godly Sword of Heaven!"

A hundred-meter-long Light Sword cleaved through the clouds and slashed towards me, just as it was about to reach me—

"Grab it! 'Rakshasa Arm'!"

At a command, a massive ochre arm—let's call it the Rakshasa Arm —regenerated on the left, forcefully grasping the giant Light Sword! A hissing sound emanated from the point of contact between the ochre arm and the Light Sword, and the ochre was dissipating at an extremely rapid speed. At this moment, the other arm had already completed its preparation.

With his right hand's five fingers spread and aligned with the direction of the Heavenly Law, the ochre substance that had just swelled outside his body now acted like a tightened spring, clinging tightly to his right hand and compressing its power to the extreme.

"Hell Serpent's Kiss!!!"

The Rakshasa Arm's arm-like form opened into a hollowed-out spiral, with five long ribbons intertwined in a spiral shape. The five ends of each ribbon transformed into the shape of snake heads, and the ochre ribbon tightly wrapped around the right arm erupted completely at this moment! A red shadow shot towards Tianlu with lightning speed, like five long snakes moving as fast as lightning!

"A snake? An ominous symbol— the Supreme Godly Sword of Heaven!"

A more dazzling and magnificent Greatsword emerged from her hand, clearly an upgraded version of the previous one! The Greatsword slashed down, its toughness, which had temporarily blocked the ochre of the Godly Sword of Heaven, was now torn to shreds by the sword wind like soft tofu. But fortunately, it was the barrier that prevented the sword from swinging down. The speed of the sword was reduced to a fraction of an instant, allowing me to accelerate with my Flame Wings and barely dodge the Greatsword's slash.

Hey, hey, hey... I finally came up with a move that seemed pretty impressive, and you just broke it so easily? At least show some panic and give me some face!

"Divine Punishment Thunder, cleanse me of all sins!"

Lightning flashed from the rolling thunderclouds, and bolts of lightning coalesced into a gigantic cross of lightning that hurtled downwards! The towering bolts of lightning that shot up upon impact were clearly visible even from high above. My keen eyesight told me that the power of a single cross was enough to flatten more than a dozen city blocks! The destructive power was as terrifying as ever, but with something new—

"Arbitration Collapsing Fist!!"

"Huh!? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait--"

I had barely brushed past a lightning cross when a powerful punch, imbued with divine force, slammed towards my face like an air-to-ground missile! She closed in so fast that I didn't even have a chance to fully activate my Rakshasa Arm!

"Gurgle!!!"

Even though the hastily put together ochre absorbed most of the impact, the aftershock of the Crushing Fist still completely shattered the bones in my right arm. Now my right arm hangs from my shoulder like a crumpled piece of paper, and my nerves are already numb before the pain even reaches me!

No, the important thing is—this is the first time Tianlu has used divine magic while simultaneously launching a close-range attack! Before, she either used divine magic from a distance or engaged in melee combat, making me think she could only choose one attack method at a time! It seems she's very similar to me in this respect—she'll definitely conserve her strength until she figures out whether her opponent is worth taking seriously!

Wait, if the Heavenly Law has been holding back something all this time...

"Holy Flame Burial - Earth Fire Heaven Charge!!!"

Really!

The countless lightning crosses continued to fall, while a gigantic flame blade, a thousand meters high, erupted from the ground! The raging holy flames and the lightning crosses attacked me simultaneously from both above and below!

It turns out she can use multiple powerful divine spells simultaneously!

We absolutely cannot tough it out!

"Ochre Substance Martial Body!"

All the scattered ochre returned, clinging tightly to my body like a layer of armor! At the same time, all the blood in my body erupted, like a blood-red Fireworks exploding in the sky! Amidst the surging blood tide, several dragon-shaped beasts, each a hundred meters long, flew out, roaring as they charged towards the thunder and fire!

"Stop them!!!"

These Blood Colored Flying Dragon possessed physical strength that was almost at the peak of any Blood Beast I could create, yet they were instantly reduced to charcoal by the ravages of heavenly lightning and earthly fire! But I had no time to feel sorry for them, because at the same moment, Heavenly Law had already arrived before me! Her thick crystal shield was shattered by a single punch, and neither the Blood Flame nor the Crystal Spike could penetrate the light shield on her body!

"The Holy Beast Thunder Dragon!"

The stray lightning bolts that scattered across the sky coalesced into a long, golden dragon, roaring as it lunged at me! Bloodworms and swarms of Blood Eagle flew out of the churning Blood Sea, only to be reduced to charred remains the instant they reached me! Tianlu raised her left hand high, and the summoned thunder dragon immediately coiled around her left fist, becoming one with it!

"False Ascetic Thorns Bind!"

Just as I tried to dodge, countless thorny Thorns of Light emerged from the void and bound me tightly. My ochre armor and the crystalline layers beneath it resisted for a moment before being pierced through.

Pierced by...?

The thorns pierced through.

"Ugh--ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Pain! So painful! Excruciating pain! So painful that even I, who wouldn't utter a sound even if I cut off my own thigh, couldn't help but scream! It is said that in ancient China, in regions where witchcraft was prevalent, there was a kind of torture using hollow needles. While piercing the most sensitive parts of the body, the hollow needles would drain the blood from the victim, and the pain was enough to drive anyone insane! The pain brought by these Thorns of Light is absolutely no less than that!

"I thought you really had some skills, so I went into serious mode, but I didn't expect you to be so vulnerable when you really got serious."

Tianlu's eyes gleamed with golden light; though the color was bright, it only instilled a chilling fear in people.

When I fought her before when she was holding back her strength, I only managed to escape in a sorry state, but I still survived, which led me to underestimate her strength.

Goddess Heavenly Law possesses combat power comparable to that of high-ranking officials.

The power she displayed before was only slightly stronger than that of Special Class Combatant.

Now that she no longer holds back her strength, she is equivalent to a true high-level combatant.

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Midterm pills