Volume Five: Return from the Other Shore - Dark Knight (III)
In the Cathedral of the True God, which is usually decorated with white as the base color and gold as the secondary color, something very out of place appeared.
It was a vast expanse of bizarre darkness, covering a quarter of the cathedral area. It was like a tangled mess of vines, cocoons, labyrinths, nets, and ruins, a sight that was enough to make one's head spin.
Tianlu raised her hand above her head, and boundless holy light gathered in her palm, transforming into a light array several hundred meters in diameter.
"Bomb it!"
The light array emitted a deafening roar, releasing fireballs like meteors that crashed one after another into the massive black labyrinth below. Piles of fire shot skyward in succession, the shockwaves from the explosions causing the entire ground to tremble. The enormous black structure was visibly disintegrating, but compared to its sheer size, the rate was still somewhat slow.
"Tsk..."
Tianlu couldn't help but click her tongue. If she could, she really wanted to use a large-scale, high-damage attack to completely destroy this pile of black stuff, so that it would continue to defile this sacred place. But doing so would definitely raze at least a quarter of the Cathedral of the True God to the ground! To let the sword of God do such an extremely heinous blasphemy as destroying the Cathedral of the True God? That was simply a joke.
Tianlu wanted to use his enemy-finding divine technique to strike precisely, but the darkness seemed to shield him from all prying eyes. The entire space seemed to be controlled by someone, and outsiders could not reach him. It seemed that the only way to find them was through brute force.
"...?"
Just then, Tianlu suddenly had a strange feeling.
Someone is watching me.
This was nothing unusual. She was floating in the air, and the ground was filled with paladins and Divine Spellcaster rushing around in a panic, along with this black thing protecting the apostate. Anyone could see her if they just looked up.
But this gaze is different.
It wasn't a gaze of awe or fear, but more like the stare between two equals, or... the gaze of a hunter looking at its prey?
"Who!?"
She turned her head to look in the direction from which the gaze had come, her long orange-yellow hair dancing in the wind, but there was no one in that direction. She looked in another direction, and all she could see were ruins, not a single person in sight.
Is it just my imagination? Am I being paranoid because I acted so out of character today?
The celestial laws are somewhat chaotic.
That's understandable.
The woman known as the Celestial Law had never encountered a powerhouse of her own level in the past twenty years, nor had she ever heard of a human stronger than herself. Because of this, she had no idea what it was like to be "targeted by a powerhouse of the same level".
"... No, forget about that, there's something more important now! Holy Flame, heed my call, Sky-Shattering Flame Blade!!!"
All the fireballs emitted by the light array suddenly stopped in mid-air, flying back into the sky like a rewind. At the same time, Tianlu released the Godly Sword of Heaven with a whoosh, and all the fireballs immediately attached to the blade of the Light Sword, continuously compressing and condensing, forming a Greatsword hundreds of meters long after a few breaths.
If the bombing speed is too slow, then use your firepower to cut it apart!
Swish!!!
The flaming blade slashed down, leaving behind streaks of crimson afterimages, as if a painted screen had been unfurled in the air! The darkness hissed and buzzed the moment it came into contact with the flames, barely managing to resist the intense heat. However, after only a few seconds, the raging flaming blade shattered the darkness! With the outermost layer breached, the inner layers crumbled even more completely. The flaming blade sliced through the Nightmare Maze like cutting fruit, cleaving it in two with a single stroke.
"..."
But the labyrinth was merely cut open; it did not collapse or disappear, and the two spirits did not appear.
Tianlu silently raised his longsword and slashed down again! The previous slash was horizontal, this one was vertical, the cross-shaped cut dividing the maze into four equal parts.
"Still not showing up... then!"
Tianlu raised her other hand, and amidst the surging flames and holy light, a second Sky-Shattering Flame Blade appeared! She raised both swords simultaneously, let out a low shout, and slashed down at the labyrinth—
Sizzle sizzle sizzle!!!
The darkness below suddenly surged, making a sound like a balloon deflating, and began to twist and deform, eventually losing its original form completely, transforming into a mixture of liquid and gaseous darkness. The amount of darkness forming this area was astonishing, so much so that when it coalesced, it formed a long, pitch-black river hanging upside down in the air, with strands of darkness cascading into the sky like inverted waterfalls, and the pinkish-purple light patterns had never been so dazzling.
A man appeared in the darkness.
He pointed his long sword at Tianlu, a cynical smile on his face.
"You've finally shown yourself!"
"I'm so sorry! It's definitely the worst thing for the guy to be late for a date!"
Where is she?
"Her? Who are you talking about? I don't know any 'her'."
"... So that's how it is. You're trying to buy her time so she can escape? Don't even think about it!!"
With a swift shout, the entire sky turned golden! Giant crosses of light surveyed the earth, golden lightning bolts struck down from the heavens, and countless holy flames surrounded her. At that moment, she seemed like a god descending to earth!
"Delaying is out of the question! I will take care of you as quickly as possible, capture her, and then punish the Rebel Army who dared to invade the Holy Land!!!"
Half a minute ago--
Sound is everywhere.
Wherever there is sound, there she is.
The sounds of explosions, cries, collapses, and battle were all so powerful and chaotic.
There needs to be a conductor, someone who will lead the orchestra, to arrange all this noise in a rhythmic manner.
And now, the commander is atop the highest spire of the Great Hall.
The spire, standing over 400 meters tall at the very center of the entire Cathedral of the True God, is the axis of the architectural layout and the site of historical ceremonies for the Pope and the investiture of Goddess. Every brick in its construction is made of corundum mined from the earth, combining the smooth luster of jade with the hardness of diamond, and the fit between each brick is seamless. The uppermost room is a masterpiece of religious art, with stained-glass windows of vibrant colors on all four walls. This vibrancy, far from being vulgar, possesses a natural and sacred beauty. Every tile, every carving, and even every inch of floor tile has been meticulously measured and matched, leaving nothing to be desired.
The lady leaned against the stained-glass window, gazing at the scene outside through the dazzling sunlight. Her mature body was perfectly outlined by the well-tailored long dress, and her imposing nobility only accentuated the beauty of her figure. Even the spire, which could be described as a masterpiece of art, paled in comparison to her.
"Tsk tsk tsk~ As a woman, you really have no taste, Little Celestial Law. As expected, the Holy See is a bunch of brainless, barbaric fools."
She watched as Tianlu, his face contorted with rage, relentlessly bombarded the black labyrinth, and sneered, feeling pity. In her eyes, this so-called Sword of God was nothing more than a boorish woman devoid of any restraint or elegance.
"To dedicate your will and life to a vague and illusory faith, to restrain yourself with unfounded precepts, and to prove your blind loyalty with pathetic actions—what is this if not tragedy? You possess none of the virtues of a woman, you despicable yet pitiful little thing..."
When should we start?
She could sense Prayer's current mental state.
The fact that her beloved rescued her rival right in front of her must have been too much of a shock for her. She is currently in a very unstable state, like a drunkard staggering along the edge of a cliff. With just a little effort, she could be pushed into hell.
"But wait... wait a little longer! My lovely guests haven't arrived yet, how can we set the stage so hastily? Let me see first, puppets, clowns, just how ridiculous your farce can be!"
The boy was born into a family of swordsmen.
He began practicing swordsmanship at a very young age, never slacking off in his pursuit of becoming a great swordsman who would not bring shame to his family. But perhaps it was his naturally somewhat capricious nature that made him so unpredictable; sometimes he was ambitious and determined, sometimes unrestrained and dissolute, sometimes exuding youthful naiveté, and sometimes acting with an air of premature maturity. Family, friends, and partners had mixed opinions about him; some called him a warrior, others a fool, but no one ever denied his talent and strength.
The boy had a first love, and until two years later when he personally killed the girl suffering from a terminal illness, people always saw the young couple inseparable. After that, the boy disappeared, and no one ever saw him again. No one knows when he transformed from a boy into a man, when he gained such great power, or what he experienced, gained, and lost along the way.
He joined an organization, inadvertently uncovered a deep secret, and then decisively escaped. With a "let's see what happens" attitude, he joined the Divine Law Cult and unsurprisingly became the Goddess's Guardian Knight. What exactly guided his actions behind this series of events? He probably doesn't even know himself.
Now he is surrounded by darkness, facing his enemy alone, his sword pointed at the messenger of God.
The endless stream of darkness converged behind him, rearranging itself in a pinkish-purple halo. In the misty darkness, a mirage-like phantom gradually took shape, becoming increasingly solid, and finally transformed into a bust tens of meters tall.
The streamlined black armor, the pinkish-purple light patterns flowing across it, the jet-black Greatsword formed by compressing all assimilated solids together—every line is a perfect combination of power and beauty.
"What my mind conjures is my will; sing the funeral dirge, Night Knight!"
"██████████████!!!!!!!!!"
Responding to his will, the Night Knight let out a deep, rumbling roar that shook even the space itself! Compressed darkness erupted across the land as the man and knight roared and shattered the ground, shooting into the sky like black rockets! The dark Greatsword, radiating an aura of destruction, transformed into a black streak of light, shattering the space it passed through. And at the end of the countless cracks lay the divine sword known as the Law of Heaven!
"Yang Yujie, I sensed your will, your resolve..."
Tianlu slowly raised her hand, and a radiant light emerged from it. However, this was not the Holy Power she had temporarily absorbed, but rather the supreme and pure divine light that had been stored within her body and refined countless times.
"That is why I must execute you before the Supreme God! Light, into my hands!"
Just as the Night Knight approached his limit, a holy lance that seemed capable of piercing through heaven and earth finally took shape.
Facing the colossal black Greatsword, the holy lance was hurled—
"Take this! The eighth Super Divine Spell — the Myriad Wheel Heavenly Light World-Piercing Holy Spear!!!"
Then, a beam of light pierced the sky.
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Go, Uncle Yu Jie!