Being a Saint since the age of myth

Watching the great maw draw ever closer, Wuxin curled his lips. He had finished gathering his power.

He opened his right hand, and the power of his Cosmo shifted at his will. A wisp of pale flame instantly flared to life.

"Sekishiki: Demonic Blue Flames!"

When the distance between them closed to less than three meters, he hurled the flame into the hellhound's mouth, then leaped down from the bridge of its nose.

The hellhound lunged at empty air again.

But this time, it would have no chance to strike back.

Before Cerberus could react, the flame in its mouth swelled, then spread outward and rapidly engulfed its entire body.

"Roar-roar-"

It roared in agony and rolled about on the ground as if it had gone mad, trying to extinguish the flames with the rainwater.

Yet it could not comprehend that these were no ordinary flames, but a special fire fueled by souls. Even the special rain of Torrential Rain Hell could not extinguish them.

Cerberus's cries of pain soon drew the attention of Heavenly Beast Star Pharaoh behind it.

This was Hell, his own territory. He had not worried about Cerberus's safety, especially since Cerberus itself possessed strength comparable to a Silver Saint. So he had let Cerberus pursue them alone while he leisurely trailed behind.

Now, hearing Cerberus's agonized cries, his expression instantly changed.

"Oh no!"

With a startled cry, he immediately pinpointed Cerberus's location and rushed over.

The instant the Heavenly Beast Star unleashed his power, Wuxin also sensed the terrifying Cosmo rapidly approaching from behind.

It belonged to a fearsome being comparable to a Gold Saint.

"Damn it, run! Run!"

His expression changed drastically. With no time to explain, he grabbed Tenma and charged toward the garden in the rain, heedless of where he was going.

However, the Heavenly Beast Star was considerably stronger than he was now.

Boom!

With a tremendous crash, Heavenly Beast Star Pharaoh descended into the center of the battlefield and saw Cerberus on the ground, engulfed in pale flames and struggling in agony.

"You damned wretches! How dare you hurt my little darling!" Furious, he forcefully plucked the harp in his arms.

Clang!

In an instant, a terrifying sonic shock wave spread outward, shattering a great swath of the downpour overhead as though it had stopped the rain in midair.

"Oh no!"

To protect Tenma, Wuxin had no time to think. He stepped straight behind him to shield him.

"Argh-"

He felt a tremendous force strike him. The Cloth armor on his back shattered, and blood welled up in his throat before he spat it out. Then he and Tenma were blasted away together, landing in the garden in the rain ahead.

In a single instant, the two seemed to have crossed time and space, leaving hell behind and arriving in paradise.

Birds sang and flowers filled the air with fragrance. The spring sunshine was beautiful, and life flourished everywhere, utterly unlike the deathly stillness of Torrential Rain Hell outside.

Without seeing it firsthand, no one would ever believe such a unique place could exist in Hell.

Unfortunately, Wuxin had no inclination to admire it. He only wanted to escape as quickly as possible.

He had already recognized the man holding the harp as the commander of the Second Prison, Heavenly Beast Star Pharaoh.

"Run! Hurry, run!"

He struggled to help Tenma up, then staggered onward.

Although his opponent had only struck casually, the blow had still injured him badly.

Meanwhile, after venting his anger with that attack, Pharaoh turned his attention back to Cerberus, which was burning in the flames.

He wanted to save Cerberus, but had no idea where to begin.

He discovered that the flames on Cerberus were extremely unusual. Even the rain of Torrential Rain Hell could not extinguish them, and more terrifying still, those flames could burn souls.

Before his eyes, Cerberus stopped struggling and turned to ash amid the pale flames.

"Damn you! I'll crush your hearts!"

Enraged, Pharaoh charged straight toward the garden in the rain.

Even now, he still did not understand why two Specters would attack Cerberus.

But none of that mattered anymore. He only wanted to crush their hearts.

Clang!

Seeing that Wuxin and Tenma still wanted to flee, he plucked the strings again, unleashing another sonic shock wave.

"Argh-"

Unable to withstand it, Wuxin and Tenma both screamed, then fell into the flower beds, crushing countless petals.

Chapter 63: Take your own lives in atonement

The enraged Heavenly Beast Star Pharaoh followed close behind. But just as he set one foot into the garden in the rain, he seemed to suddenly remember something and stopped at once.

Looking at Wuxin and Tenma lying nearby, Pharaoh was deeply unwilling to let them go, yet he dared not take another step forward. He was utterly torn.

Just then, a cool voice reached their ears.

"You've crossed the boundary, Heavenly Beast Star!"

Wuxin supported Tenma as they struggled to their feet, only to see a man in white robes slowly approaching from the depths of the garden, holding a seven-stringed harp.

But the instant he saw the man's face clearly, Wuxin's pupils involuntarily contracted.

Lyra Orphée? Why is he here? This is impossible!!!

He cried out inwardly, but soon realized that the man was not Orphée. He merely bore a seventy- or eighty-percent resemblance to him.

"It's you!!!"

Recognizing the newcomer, Heavenly Beast Star Pharaoh abandoned all thought of entering the garden and bitterly withdrew the foot he had just set inside.

He could only stand at the garden's edge, watching those within through the torrential rain.

By now, the Specters and ghost wardens behind him had caught up as well. Yet none dared take a single step into the garden, and all stopped outside.

At that moment, although the two sides were only a short distance apart, Wuxin and Tenma felt as though they stood in two different worlds.

"Senior, what exactly is going on with this garden? Why are these Specters too afraid to enter?" Tenma was astonished.

"I don't know. Perhaps we can ask the master of this place!" Wuxin cast a meaningful glance at the man holding the harp.

Perhaps sensing their gazes, the man smiled and nodded, then looked toward the Specters in the downpour outside and said sternly, "Pharaoh, what punishment do you deserve for disturbing our lord's peace?"

"I... I..."

His face filled with terror, Pharaoh hurriedly explained, "I only wanted to capture those two who killed Cerberus!"

"Those two are far too suspicious!"

"I suspect they aren't Specters!"

At first glance, it was easy to mistake Wuxin and Tenma for Specters. But their abnormal behavior earlier, coupled with Cerberus's attack, had made him question their identities.

However, since he had not had time to communicate with Cerberus, he did not know that the two before him were the very targets he was searching for.

The man holding the harp shook his head and said earnestly, "That is no excuse for disturbing our lord's peace!"

"Even if you are the commander of this Second Prison!"

As he spoke, he gave Pharaoh a long look through the downpour.

"I... I..."

Pharaoh gritted his teeth, then straightened his hand into a blade and chopped straight at his right leg.

Slash!

Blood sprayed as Pharaoh severed his own right leg with brute force.

"What!!!"

Wuxin and Tenma were horrified by the sight.

They never would have imagined that the commander of the Second Prison, an outstanding figure among the Specters, would sever his own leg over just a few words of rebuke.

"May I ask whether this will satisfy our lord?" Having lost a leg and fallen into a pool of blood, Pharaoh endured the excruciating pain as he questioned the man.

The man did not answer. Instead, he looked into the depths of the garden, as though he had heard something.

Then he looked back at Pharaoh in the pool of blood and said solemnly, "Our lord commands you all to take your own lives in atonement!"

"What!!!"

At that moment, not only Pharaoh and the other Specters outside, but even Wuxin and Tenma within the garden were shocked.

Who is it? Who can decide the life and death of Specters with a single word? Wuxin looked toward the depths of the garden in horror.

Unfortunately, apart from flowers covering the ground, he could see nothing.

Out in the downpour, Heavenly Beast Star Pharaoh was dumbfounded by the command the man relayed.

He had thought severing his own leg would be enough, but that lord was still not satisfied.

"I... I'm the commander of the Second Prison of the Underworld! How can..." He stared fixedly at the man in the garden, somewhat doubtful whether he had relayed that lord's command correctly.

Hearing this, the man gave a cold snort and said angrily, "Never mind a mere commander of the Second Prison-even the gods of death and sleep cannot defy our lord's commands!"

"Don't forget who bestowed everything you have upon you!"

"You have no right to bargain with our lord!"

"Or has your loyalty to Lord Hades become flawed?"

At this challenge, Heavenly Beast Star Pharaoh's face turned deathly pale, and he hurriedly said, "My loyalty to Lord Hades is absolutely without flaw!"

"My loyalty has never changed!"

"Then carry out the command!" the man said coldly, without the slightest courtesy.