Chapter 562
The Death of Cardinal Loki
The streaking light was originally intended to cleave towards Eivass’s head. However, it seemed to be attracted by something and faltered midway. It was pulled by some power, veering towards Eivass’s lower back, as if to cut something off. But even without that momentary hesitation, it would not have hit Eivass. This was because from the moment Eivass saw Loki, he had kept his hands behind his back. And a card, depicting two dog-headed humans, was held between Eivass’s fingers. Just before the scarlet radiance turned into a slash and came flying, Eivass let go of the card in his fingers. Time itself seemed to slow down. The card spun downwards, disintegrating and shattering into black mist in mid-air. In the next instant, a whistling, pitch-black storm surged from Eivass, engulfing everything in all directions! And at the center of the storm, Eivass himself instantly turned into shadow and vanished without a trace! When that attack missed, several shadow hands condensed in the center of the shadowy storm Eivass had generated. Like catching a fast-flying baseball, seven or eight hands grasped the ethereal blood-red light! *Bang*— At the same time, all the crystal mirrors in the entire surveillance room cracked simultaneously. The chain reaction of exploding mirrors spread outwards from Loki’s central surveillance room, shattering all the mirrors in the Eleventh Ring! And from the cracks of those shattered mirrors, blood began to seep out slowly. Within every shattered mirror, a scarlet pupil could be seen. That was the Eye of the Night Demon! In the next moment, the light source dissipated, and darkness descended. Clean water turned into blood, and plants began to wither. The air was filled with the smell of rust, as if a great many people had died. And in the pitch-blackness, only the densely packed red eyes on the mirrors were clearly visible. Those faintly glowing red pupils illuminated the night sky. In the night, the Night Demon finally revealed her complete form. The shadowy wings behind her spread wide, their feathers incredibly ethereal, hidden within the darkness. Her gnarled wings looked like withered trees at night. Her pitch-black long hair blended into the night sky, and her body hovered in mid-air, fragmented as if ninety percent of her afterimages had been erased. Only in the red light could one barely make out the outline of her figure. The Night Demon’s furious eyes glared at the indistinct blood-red light she had bound in mid-air. It had no physical form, but rather like a ball of radiance. It was precisely because of this that it could be captured by shadows. Her right index finger and thumb formed a ring, while the remaining three fingers stood together like a blade, pointing towards the constantly shining, spherical, amorphous blood-red light. Black curses clung to it, forming chains that sealed it tightly. The light began to dissipate at a visible rate. And at this very moment, a radiant splendor ignited within Cardinal Loki’s body— It was a deep crimson radiance. His hair burst into flames, and then the fire spread to his entire body, his skin rapidly melting under the scorching flames. His grey robes also burned fiercely in the flames, and black thorns pierced out from the joints of his body. Those ominous Sin Thorns continuously spread and grew, condensing behind him into two giant spirals, looking as if he had grown two massive black arms. There were no prayers, no incantations—this was a High-Tier Divine Art! And at this moment, another Eivass suddenly appeared on the other side of the room. In his right hand, he held a scepter, and in his left hand, a Grimoire floated out. That was the Book of Law! He remained silent, and the Book of Law itself flipped rapidly. One, two, three… Golden-red Flame Butterflies appeared out of thin air around the blood-red light bound by curses. They then collided and merged into the lantern sealed by the curses. A fierce explosion occurred within the cage, no larger than an adult’s fist, and a golden flame suddenly ignited—only to be easily swallowed and sealed by the shadow curses again. On the other side, the Sin Thorns behind Loki suddenly turned into spears and thrust towards the Night Demon! Facing the Sin Thorns, the Night Demon did not dare to face them head-on. However, their speed was only that of ordinary arrows, completely unable to catch up to the Night Demon. As the Night Demon flew, she shed black feathers, and as they fell, they turned into black needles, piercing towards Cardinal Loki! Cardinal Loki raised his right hand, and a scorching wild-fire that seemed capable of burning everything condensed before him. However, this wall of fire did not manage to burn away those shadows—they broke through the fire, instead wrapping around the flames. But at this moment, those Sin Thorns abruptly reversed direction and their speed suddenly increased threefold! They forcefully turned at a sharp angle and pierced the Eivass who was flipping through the Book of Law! But the “Eivass”’s lips curved slightly upwards, and his entire body cracked and scattered into black feathers. —【Righteous Summoning: Nightmare Mirror】! Mirrors were everywhere here, this was the Night Demon’s home ground. Eivass could summon his own spellcasting mirror image at any location reflected by any mirror. And when the mirror image was shattered, Eivass could inflict three types of damage—shadow, defilement, and curse—on the attacker! These three types of damage corresponded to the Shadow Demon, Sin Thorn, and instant death lineages respectively, and the commonality was that they were all black. “Ugh…” Cardinal Loki let out a muffled groan. A black radiance suddenly burst from his body, and a pool of ink-green liquid gradually seeped from his heart. That was damage of the defilement type! For living beings, it could cause damage while ignoring defenses, but for the undead, it was actually healing. But golden flames suddenly ignited on him, and the damage was being repaired at a visible rate. And the Night Demon raised her left hand towards him. Centered on her, countless shadow hands shot up from the ground. Even the priests outside, who felt something was wrong and wanted to rush over to help, were tightly grasped by shadow hands emerging from the ground, walls, and mirrors. For a mere instant of being grabbed, a chilling black mark was branded onto their skin. A bone-chilling cold invaded their bodies with the power of shadows, and at least hundreds of priests were frozen in place, unable to move. And more shadow hands grabbed Cardinal Loki from all directions. Those two Sin Thorns wanted to counterattack, turning into two sharp spears and charging towards the Night Demon! But at this moment, a blue lightning repeatedly crackled in the air. Ethereal lightning condensed into a majestic and ferocious Halberd, which the Night Demon, with a completely different art style, held in her hand. That was the Lightning Halberd with the “Punish Sin” attribute! The Night Demon swung the Halberd, easily severing the Sin Thorns. And when his resistance failed, Cardinal Loki was tightly grasped by the Night Demon’s countless shadow hands, his entire body submerged in the sea of shadows. Then, all the shadow hands tightened and tore! In just one blow, Cardinal Loki’s entire body was covered in a spiderweb-like, fatal, scarlet cracks! “…I praise, Candlemaster.” Finally, Cardinal Loki opened his mouth and uttered his last words in an extremely hoarse voice. His entire body ignited, flames reaching the heavens. But at this moment, he suddenly turned his head towards the location where the invisible Eivass was, a slight smile on his lips. Eivass’s heart tightened. He was certain that Cardinal Loki had locked onto him. —But Cardinal Loki did not attack Eivass. …Come to think of it, why did he suddenly attack himself? Eivass had just had this thought. But in the next moment, Cardinal Loki’s entire body cracked, burned, and in a brilliant, radiant posture, turned into a phoenix-like flame! Just as he was about to self-destruct, the Night Demon suddenly extended her right hand. She opened her thumb, index finger, and middle finger in sequence. One, two, three—curses turned into slender spears, red tinged with black, condensing from the void and pinning themselves to Cardinal Loki’s heart! With each falling curse spear, a layer of blessing was shattered. After all three curse spears landed, the divine and radiant aura on Loki completely disappeared. As the third curse spear fell, even the Sin Thorn wings behind Loki exploded into a mass of black smoke. Without any obstruction, the Night Demon instantly moved in front of Loki. She gently brushed Loki’s chest with her right hand and pulled out an ethereal heart that was still beating and splattering flames, while Loki’s chest was actually intact. *Squish*. The Night Demon easily crushed the heart. Cardinal Loki’s eyes instantly lost all their light, and his entire body slumped forward powerlessly to the ground. (End of Chapter)
