Chapter 460: 77. Remiel
“Hela?!”
In Fisher’s astonished gaze, the black-and-white colors in his line of sight were gradually dispelled by the warm morning light that enveloped Hela, causing the surrounding feeling of time stagnation to shatter little by little.
But Fisher did not relax; his heart remained tightly wound, as he knew very well that even Hela, at her full strength, could not withstand the Duke of Peach, who was so far above her rank.
In the distance, the Duke of Peach also spotted the angel who had suddenly appeared before her. She was somewhat surprised—surprised that this angel’s stealthy technique had allowed her to overlook her presence. She had not recognized this angel in her team and certainly did not expect an angel to have the audacity to follow Fisher and the others into the Tree Continent.
As a moment of irritation arose within her, the Duke of Peach’s movements did not pause. Her right hand raised slightly, and her fingers came together as branches grew continuously from her palm until a complete crimson illusion of a peach blossom bloomed in her hand, aimed directly at the angel before her.
Even if the angel was indifferent, it was fine; they could die together.
The Duke of Peach’s gaze sharpened, and her raised palm smashed violently toward Hela, accompanied by the peach blossom in her hand.
“Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!”
Hela did not dare to be careless; facing the Duke of Peach, it seemed her only option was to defend. With a serious expression, both her hands and her ethereal blue-gold wings suddenly took flight. She planted her feet firmly on the ground, and the morning light surrounding her reached a brilliant peak. Then she also thundered out with a palm to meet the Duke of Peach’s attack.
“Boom!”
The next second, in Fisher’s eyes, the place where Hela and the Duke of Peach clashed was suddenly filled with a blinding brightness.
Then, in his vision, everything around seemed to be retreating. The dust formed by bricks, the showering peach blossom petals, the splintering wood—all were being pulled back toward the coast by the massive force of annihilation, and subsequently, not only the items on the ground but the ground itself also collapsed, as if the very mountains and rivers were reshaping and retreating toward Fisher.
However, for those of lower ranks, their senses dulled to such a degree that they could hardly perceive the situation.
Only when Fisher felt the pain in his body did he finally snap out of the silent cataclysm surrounding him, wherein the earth and space were continuously crumbling.
Immediately after, the Duke of Peach’s spell that froze their figures and time seemed to shatter as well; Fisher and Tang Zeming Asuka could no longer resist being struck by the shockwaves of the battle between the two mythical beings from afar.
Fisher felt as if his body had collided solidly with a train, delivering a crisp sound. Amidst the intense pain came good news: the Tang Zeming Asuka and Mikhail he had thrown out were finally flying out normally, although it seemed they had completely lost consciousness, hurtling toward the ocean alongside the mountainous debris and soil.
Behind them, outside the silhouette of the World Tree, the cloud-filled sky was pierced by a crack leading to a crevice filled with dreams and emptiness. Through it emerged a massive dragon head, which seemed to have just been watching a show, not expecting the shockwaves from the battle of the two mythical beings to pierce the vast gap between reality and the crevice.
It was the Dragon God, Fei.
He opened his massive dragon mouth, but a moment later, as if realizing he had been inattentive, he quietly extended a dragon claw to seal the crack formed by the aftermath, thus disappearing completely from view.
As a result, the heavens left only a neatly divided line of clouds extending to the horizon; and the sea was not calm either. The tremendous shockwave surged downward into the ocean, splitting the surface and raising two walls of water that soared over a hundred meters high.
“Fisher, run!”
At that moment, from the cloud of dust ahead flew out two extremely disheveled figures. Upon closer look, it was Gouwen, whose clothes were tattered, and Neceria, who floated above, slightly swaying as she dragged her body.
Gouwen coughed once, seeing that Fisher was still conscious and immediately called out, then they wasted no time flying beyond the edge of the Tree Continent, catching Tang Zeming Asuka and Mikhail, who were still in the air.
Neceria was a Fourteenth Rank, so she easily handled the weight of these three people, but it seemed her wings were injured due to the shockwaves, causing her to fly unsteadily.
Fisher had heard Gouwen’s warning, but he still did not stand up and leave right away; instead, he turned his head to look toward the center of the previous battle.
As seen before, merely the shockwaves from their battle could cause mountains to collapse, and both the sky and the ocean to become restless. Yet the impact on Fisher and the others, situated right behind them, seemed significantly smaller—why was that?
Fisher looked at the crumbling earth and debris falling toward the ocean around him. The area he stood in remained undamaged, but that intact part actually formed a cone, extending from some place ahead.
Soon, the answer revealed itself.
From the dust, a figure suddenly flew out, completely covered in peach blossoms. This figure had short golden hair that hung down, with a halo above her head full of cracks, flickering like a malfunctioning lightbulb. The white robe she wore was adorned with blooming peach flowers, yet beneath them, golden blood dripped as if the blossoms were nourished by the angel’s own blood.
Hela tumbled several times in the air before crashing down like a kite with a broken string, about a hundred meters from Fisher, crawling on the ground and twitching slightly, her blue-gold wings slowly breaking apart, leaving only one wing still half intact, struggling faintly.
Hela lay on the ground, with her disheveled golden hair obscuring her face. Fisher saw her cracked face, where only one blue-gold eye still shone and glanced at him. In that moment, Fisher could not discern the meaning behind her gaze, for just a second later, she was too exhausted to even keep her eyes open.
But her halo continued to flicker.
Fisher looked back at the nearby coastline, seeing Neceria dragging the remaining individuals further away. He then turned back to Hela, who was at least a hundred meters away.
He gritted his teeth, violently pulled out the Fluid Sword from his embrace, and dragged his injured body forward toward Hela.
In the dust, from Hela’s distance, another figure was leisurely walking toward them; upon careful observation, it was the unscathed Duke of Peach.
Noticing that Fisher not only did not flee but rather ran toward the angel, even the Duke of Peach was significantly surprised. She glanced at Hela, who was barely alive on the ground, and then back at Fisher.
“I thought that human girl was your girlfriend; after all, she called you ‘teacher’ so endearingly. Who would have thought you preferred those androgynous angels?”
Even though the Duke of Peach still walked leisurely, she was farther from Hela than Fisher was. Yet, she arrived beside Hela first. She did not attack but quietly watched as Fisher approached Hela.
“Not quite; it seems this angel has chosen a gender.”
The barefoot Duke of Peach kicked Hela beside her and said, while the fierce-eyed Fisher had already reached Hela’s side. He raised his sword to slash at the Duke of Peach, but she allowed the blade to strike her leg without inflicting any harm, and the tremendous recoil nearly shattered Fisher’s grip.
The Duke of Peach curled her lip slightly, appearing somewhat bored as she looked toward the distance where Neceria continued to fly away. She then turned her gaze back to Fisher.
“Even if the fish returns, it’s still just fish. Ah, its only function is to deepen your feelings right before you die. Even if you escape, I’ll just catch you again; I can pull that phoenix back even if she flies to the ends of the earth. So perhaps dying together is a good choice, fish?”
Fisher, however, ignored her, crouching down to check Hela’s halo and condition. The angel physiology knowledge she had previously provided was finally useful; at least now he could understand the state of her body through her halo.
Though severely injured, she was still alive.
He breathed a deep sigh of relief, then gradually built up that breath again. After a moment of silence, he tightened his grip on the Fluid Sword, now stained with blood from his palm, and slowly raised his head, expressionless, to look at the Duke of Peach.
“I’m different from G. You should regret it; when I was helplessly chased by death just now, I made a resolution, and coincidentally, that resolution can still be used now.”
“.What are you talking about, fish?”
Fisher did not respond to her but suddenly strained with all his strength, raised the Fluid Sword, and fiercely wrapped it around Hela’s waist before charging in the opposite direction, throwing Hela toward the ocean while he charged toward the Duke of Peach.
The Duke of Peach was no stranger to this human’s suicidal behavior; she assumed this guy had gone mad in the face of his companion’s impending death. She smirked in boredom and extended a finger prepared to finish off the human before her.
But the next second, from this suddenly approaching human, an aura erupted that even she found extraordinarily dangerous.
What is this?
The Duke of Peach was taken aback for a moment. At this moment, when she looked at the human before her, she felt that the man’s chest seemed to have sprouted a black hole that was attempting to consume everything around, like the deepest darkness in the world, seeking to drag her gaze into it, making the very rules of their surroundings tremble uneasily.
At this moment, Fisher lunging hysterically at the Duke of Peach had a symbol on his chest burning hotter and growing extremely unstable.
Renee had once told him that once he expelled death, he could again use the mark on his chest to shatter the rules of time and shoot him back to the time he belonged to.
Though he did not know the specific principle, Fisher, who had crossed through similarly, naturally understood the great power contained within this because even the Duke of Peach could not alter time.
And using this great power not against time but simply to ignite it—that was what Fisher aimed to do now.
He wanted to completely blow this beast before him to pieces.
“You piece of fish!”
Faced with the terrifying power blooming from the future, the Duke of Peach’s mouth was fierce, but her raised finger that aimed to kill was uncharacteristically pulled back obediently. As her toe was about to press down, she realized the opponent’s chest was tugging at the rules around, and at this moment, everything she could do felt infinitely long and difficult.
But Fisher was also not in a good place. Without Renee’s restraining power, the ever-watchful death clawed at him like a shark smelling blood in the sea.
Thus, in this place, Fisher entangled with death and the Duke of Peach entangled with Renee’s power could not escape, allowing that extremely dangerous force to swallow them both completely.
Seeing Fisher, whose face was filled with ferocity and the Duke of Peach, who was being tugged by infinite authority, her expression also twisted with malice. She exploded a shower of peach blossoms in an attempt to kill him first, trying to unravel the current deadlock.
As the terrifying pressure of rank surged in, the form of Fisher, being dragged by death and gradually becoming gaunt, seemed almost torn apart, yet he still drew closer to the Duke of Peach as if he intended to kill her.
“You madman!”
The closer Fisher got, under the chaotic influence, the peach flowers in the Duke of Peach’s hands wilted one by one, as if corroded, causing the branches entwined around her to dry up.
Unlike Fisher’s desperate life-and-death struggle, deep down, the Duke of Peach still wanted to live.
She probably thought she would have to be as insane as Fisher to mutually perish with this Fourteenth Rank Trans.
At this moment, she could not help but feel fear, thus suddenly retracted her outstretched hand and fled backward without looking back.
The stance of fleeing left Fisher slightly stunned, but he quickly prepared to chase her with a body that had grown increasingly frail, his crimson eyes intent on frightening her, as if that unstable mark on Fisher’s chest was some kind of flood beast.
“Stop, Trans, stand down. You’ve done enough, but you must stop; Hela hasn’t escaped yet.”
Just when Fisher’s eyes turned red and he was determined to perish with the Duke of Peach, a somewhat familiar ethereal male voice suddenly echoed in his ears. At first, he thought he was hallucinating, but when he instinctively looked back, he found the unconscious Hela still lying a few steps from the coastline.
It turned out he had been gravely injured earlier, and even with all his strength, he had not managed to throw Hela into the ocean.
Of course, it was also possible that she was too heavy.
“Don’t worry, your plan has succeeded. I’ve seen the winds coming to pick you up. Now, dispel that chaos on you and take Hela to escape; I’ll handle the Duke.”
Upon hearing those words, Fisher’s anxious heart finally settled down.
Because at this moment, his third step of the plan could be considered a true success.
The previous first step was to let Tang Zeming Asuka release all the winds around her upward, creating a massive tornado that pierced through the spatial rift; the second step was to threaten the Duke of Peach with G’s head to gain a chance to escape to the coastline—all of it was for this step.
Because he remembered that before they arrived at the Tree Continent, Salie, the Archangel Pandora, had once mentioned she would send Remiel, the Archangel overseeing the earthly realm, to stand by near the Tree Continent, ready to assist them at any time.
Now that such a disaster had unfolded at Jianmu Palace, he would certainly come to investigate, and only he, as a Nineteen Rank Archangel, could truly stop the Duke of Peach and allow them to escape. That was the only sliver of hope that Fisher had thought of.
Upon realizing this, he shot one last glance at the Duke of Peach, who was continuously shedding peach blossoms as she fled, no longer pursuing her but instead turning back to make his way toward Hela, enduring the immense pain, re-locking the restive mark of Renee back into his body.
As if sensing Fisher’s gradually calming heart, the mark, though still restless, obediently returned to Fisher’s chest.
“Hiss!”
In an instant, it felt as though a piece of magma was pressed against his chest, searing painfully and causing Fisher’s whole body to tremble, yet he did not dare to stop, only sprinting toward Hela, who lay on the ground.
Meanwhile, the fleeing Duke of Peach clearly felt the chaotic aura behind her receding. She looked back but found Fisher already headed far in the opposite direction.
“You fish!! Are you playing me?!!”
Continuously being treated this way by Fisher, even the Duke of Peach reached her limit. Her eyes turned crimson instantly, the terrifying pressure crashing down again, evidently enraged by Fisher, especially since the peach blossoms that had wilted due to chaos had yet to restore.
“Clang, clang, clang!”
But just as Fisher accommodated Renee’s power within his body, the skies immediately erupted with loud, bell-like proclamations.
The clouds in the heavens coiled like living dragons and snakes, targeting the enraged Duke of Peach below.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!”
As countless thunders rolled, an angel descended slowly, with three pairs of wings behind her, white hair and brown skin, gripping a trident that resembled thunder, her gaze fixed intently on the Duke of Peach below.
“Archangel Remiel.”
The Duke of Peach’s actions intended to destroy Fisher slightly faltered, her teeth clenched as she looked up at the angel descending slowly from the sky. She knew the opponent would not let her have her way, and rather than be distracted, it would be better to focus on fighting the opponent.
Remiel adjusted the trident full of lightning in her hand and replied expressionlessly,
“Glad to meet you, Grand Duke, Lady Peach.”
“You Sanctuaries are insane; that Trans has such terrifying chaos, and yet you dare to keep them around without fear of drawing fire upon yourselves?”
Remiel raised her trident, pointing it at the Duke of Peach, and responded,
“That’s not for me to consider. The other archangels will make a decision.”
“.Then you can die too, fish.”
Remiel tilted her head slightly, and it took her several seconds to realize that this seemed to be one of Peach’s catchphrases; she would refer to everyone as fish.
She ceased further dialogue. Fisher’s plan was merely a stalling tactic; the chasm of rank lay here, and it was impossible to completely resolve the issue of the Duke of Peach, just as she had mentioned before: even if Neceria and the others managed to escape, even if they fled to the ends of the earth, the Duke of Peach could just reach out and pull them back.
The only true solution was to fight.
Behind them, the battle between the two Nineteen Rank beings was about to ignite, yet Fisher had no extra energy to concern himself with it.
He ran with all his speed to the shore, then embraced the lying Hela on the ground.
Panting, Fisher gazed at the serene face concealed beneath disheveled golden locks, and suddenly recalled that irritating smirk this person had previously displayed.
Perhaps it was a man’s nature?
“You look better in your ordinary form.”
Fisher was unsure; he just finally let out a sigh of relief, softly uttering those words.
Then, he simply secured Hela in his arms and, before the world-shaking battle behind them commenced, leaped into the ocean before him.
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(This chapter ends)
