New Form

Declaring victory prematurely, Saliba gazed over Birmingham, which overlapped with the border, and shook his head in pity.

Not pity for the lives lost, but for his opponent's mercy.

In hospitals, bars, schools... Every life struggling under Blood-Thirst Syndrome, every connection between them and him, had been severed at once, never to return to what they were.

Without the catalyst of the source carrier, the bloodthirsty impulse was slowly subsiding. It was only a temporary fix, but it had still saved countless lives that would otherwise have become nourishment.

[Realm of Separation] continued to operate, cutting off all further interference from [Beelzebub]. The terrifying plague, which could seep through any opening, was held at the threshold and could not advance an inch.

Just maintaining a barrier on such a massive scale must have tied up half the attention of the formidable foe before him.

That was why Saliba could act with such impunity, even daring to taunt her.

She had gone to all this trouble just to rescue these expendable creatures from his grasp, though they were already drowning in their own desires and unable to pull themselves free?

A blade this dull—could it still kill?

His answer came in the form of golden-red rays of sunset falling from the sky.

Falling Glow as Mountain!

A door opened out of nothingness. In an instant, Veronica had appeared above the clouds, beneath the firmament, at the very edge of the border's reach. Looking down at Saliba's tiny figure, she unleashed divine punishment.

Rising from the smallest beginnings, it fell like a mountain turned upside down. Woven from [sharpness] honed to its utmost, the sunset glow was breathtakingly beautiful, yet powerful enough to tear apart anything with physical form.

Fall!

Rather than futilely trying to block or dodge, Saliba let his newly reborn body be bathed in the dazzling sunset until it was reduced to nothing. In silence, he stirred the [Fallen Heart] that had been transferred inside his body, accelerating its absorption and conversion of [Restless Blood].

He even used the damage Veronica had inflicted to guide the power of the [Heart] toward repairing himself, gaining a deeper understanding of the essence of this authority.

Then came a flash of lightning and a peal of thunder!

The lightning-wreathed storm clouds were swallowed by the giant beast. Saliba purified an immense amount of spirituality through a cycle that ran from earth to sky. Then a rainstorm rose against gravity and crashed toward Veronica above the firmament.

"Honestly, what a nuisance."

Veronica clicked her tongue softly and let the unfinished cross in her hand fade away. Watching the rain fly upward, she traced a circle in her field of vision with her index finger. A creaking door opened in front of the onrushing storm.

Passing through the hastily opened doorway, the torrential rain rushed onward just as fiercely, its course diverted. It slammed into the deserted street, pummeling the overpass until it was riddled with holes and came crashing down with a roar.

His first attempt had failed, but discouragement never touched that throbbing heart. Lost in its pulsing rhythm, Saliba was utterly entranced, almost moved to tears.

"Ah... So that's how it is. That's how the heart beats!"

Following the rhythm of a polka, a roaring sound wave swept across the sky. Saliba's enormous body swelled further, growing from the size of an elephant to rival a blue whale, yet his heartbeat grew ever stronger, nearly drowning out the rolling thunder.

The ritual of [Storm Burnt Offering] had never ended. In the midst of his trembling, Saliba underwent a further ascension.

[Heart] and [Blood] had become one, inseparable. Every foundation was in place. Now Saliba needed only to establish a cycle and lay the cornerstone of his great work. Then, through the sacrifice, he could truly transform and ascend into a being that could well be called a god.

Foundation of Immortality!

And so the heart beat once more. This time, what poured down from the clouds was a blinding bolt of lightning!

"Is this what you were relying on?"

The dazzling lightning, which should have ionized everything in its path, split in two against her raised palm. The two diverted bolts struck the border's barrier, dimmed slightly, making the boundary, severed from reality, tremble.

Amid the thunder, Veronica plunged against the lightning, cutting through every obstacle in her path like a blade. She aimed straight for the conspicuous dark-red heart exposed in Saliba's chest.

"What, getting desperate?"

Feeling power well up within him, far beyond anything he had known before, Saliba could no longer contain his excitement. He sneered, "I have to admit, I've begun to wonder if you're really stronger than me."

As Veronica drew closer, the storm coiling around Saliba suddenly expanded. He abandoned its focused power and instead swept everything into its frenzied rhythm.

The clash of cymbals rang out, shaking heaven and earth!

In a suicidal attack that inflicted eighty wounds on his enemy at the cost of a thousand on himself, Saliba cut off every possibility of Veronica teleporting away.

Caught off guard, Veronica let out a muffled groan despite retreating through a door into nothingness. The fragile balance within her body was disrupted; her heart abruptly skipped a beat, and backflowing blood battered her valves. The tips of her golden hair singed and curled.

Against an opponent who could not be targeted, the best approach was a suicidal, wide-area attack!

With both [Heart] and [Blood] at his command, Saliba possessed more spiritual reserves than some Immortals. And he had no need to worry about regeneration. As long as his opponent lacked the means to kill him in a single blow, she would face endless torment!

"Is this what you've accomplished?"

As she spoke, Veronica raised her fist and crossed the negligible distance between them, striking Saliba's heart. Its light had dimmed slightly, but it pulsed with his breathing and was slowly recovering.

All outward signs had been discarded. Forged into that delicate-looking fist was nothing but solemn killing intent!

Boom!

The world paused for an instant. Then an impact louder than thunder erupted, unleashing a cataclysm that shook the entire hospital!

Piercing through the hurricane and lightning, ignoring the layers of proliferating flesh in her way, Veronica shattered even bones harder than metal and stone. She threw her full strength into that single strike, hitting the source of Saliba's power.

The storm was dispelled, his flesh torn away, and most of his body erased once more as Saliba fell toward the ground. Yet a voice still came from him. Relief and wild delight appeared on his mutilated face.

She had stopped it!

[Sixth Mark] · Blood Macro-Spring!

Right in front of Veronica's fist, boundless joy filled the ruptured, withered heart once more. Fresh flesh spread over it, and new bones intertwined to form a shape unlike any beast.

Age and death were far from this body. Scales and horns adorned it; its claws were savage, and its heart pulsed with scorching, searing blood. It was a complex, majestic form found only in mythology.

This was the end point of evolution, the top of the food chain, the destination of that brutal path where all living things devoured one another.

A new form!

His wings, covered in hooked claws, unfurled, and Saliba's fall abruptly halted. Above him, the crimson storm clouds that had been about to dissipate gathered once more. Countless strands descended, pouring every last drop of a miracle nurtured through suffering, a life wrung from death, into his newly reborn, monstrous body.

Extend, absorb, grow!

Though [Realm of Separation] had cut off the spreading plague, blood of transfiguration continued to rise from the Blood Pool, into which Saliba had poured all his accumulated power, offering up its sacrifice for this rite dedicated to the gods!

The Gate of Tricuspid was close at hand. The Burnt Offering had never ceased!