In an instant, the cemetery seemed to have transformed into a sea of corpses and blood, with massive amounts of blood energy sweeping across the land. Even the ubiquitous holy light had turned into blood-red light. Under the influence of this dark power, the barren land of the graveyard began to ooze blood, skeleton soldiers sprouted flesh, and the dead blood within zombies started to flow again.
Everyone, whether it was the clerics who followed the Tyr Paladin, the members of the Death Trinity Church who were fleeing alongside them, or even Alicia, who was nearby, was seeing illusions. They no longer felt like they were in the cemetery or in Cando City. Before them lay an endless sea of blood, with countless flies, mosquitoes, fleas, and bugs swarming over it.
Seeing this, I was somewhat surprised. Lavias seemed to have drained the blood pools in the underground castle before he left, concentrating all that power into himself. He had absorbed all the fruits of his long-term cultivation in Cando City into his own body, which perfectly aligned with my understanding of Gluttony.
Then, a storm erupted within the sea of blood. Myriad blood-sucking insects converged into a dark red tempest, carrying a large amount of blood energy and charging towards the Tyr Paladin. If this attack were unleashed in a residential district, it could instantly drain the blood of everyone in an entire neighborhood.
Facing the storm of swarms and blood energy, the Tyr Paladin also went all out. The wings of light behind him blazed so intensely that they were blinding. Then, he did something unbelievable: he gathered all his divine power into his right hand and, with a single sword strike, severed it.
Immediately after, he threw the severed hand directly into the storm of blood and insects. On one side was an earth-shattering sea of blood and storm, and on the other, merely a dismembered arm. The disparity between them felt incomparably vast.
However, when the severed arm entered the blood storm, a blinding holy light erupted, like a supernova explosion. The light instantly incinerated all the surrounding insects, turning them into dust, and evaporated a large portion of the blood energy.
“Boom!” The collision between the severed arm and the blood storm produced a violent explosion. Lavias’s carriage overturned, and countless tombstones and withered trees were uprooted. Even the believers of the Death Trinity Church who were fleeing nearby were affected. Many undead were directly blown to smithereens, and the believers were flung outwards, covered in dirt and grime.
As they got up, they looked with disbelief at the massive crater left by the explosion, the overturned carriage, and the Tyr Paladin, who had been blown back dozens of meters by the blast. They all wondered how Lavias had managed to provoke such a terrifying individual.
They all knew Lavias. Even the members of the other two churches knew he was a guest of the Murder Lord Church. They occasionally attended the Gluttony Banquets in Lavias’s underground castle, treating it as a form of enjoyment. As for this Tyr Paladin, some of them recognized him. After all, he was a top-tier expert in Cando City who frequently appeared in the newspapers – the champion warrior of the God of Justice Church.
The two butlers, who could easily repel Royal Knights with a casual move, couldn’t even withstand a single blow from this Tyr Paladin. Both were forced back simultaneously. When Lavias himself clashed with him, the fat and thin butlers were also blown back more than ten meters before they could barely stop themselves. This indicated that the Tyr Paladin’s strength far surpassed that of ordinary Royal Knights. Yet, even so, Lavias could fight him to a draw, and under conditions where he was severely restrained. This caused many believers of the Death Trinity Church to reevaluate this vampire guest.
As an observer, I knew that Lavias had been injured by this Tyr Paladin before. His ability to fight him head-on now was entirely due to him having just drained the blood pool, filling his body with a massive amount of blood energy, allowing him to barely achieve a stalemate. Of course, this did not mean Lavias was weaker than this Tyr Paladin. In my opinion, if a third-party expert without any restraining factors were brought in to evaluate them, Lavias would definitely be stronger, or at least more threatening, than the Tyr Paladin. However, Lavias was too severely countered by Paladins. He was a vampire; even ordinary sunlight could burn him, let alone holy light. He needed magic apparatus or spells to resist it, let alone the divine power of a Paladin.
In mid-air, the Tyr Paladin looked at the overturned carriage with deep eyes, golden flames burning in them. This enemy had become much stronger since their last encounter, presenting a formidable challenge. Previously, he had been invited by the late Chief Knight of Cando City to suppress an evil cult hidden in an apartment building. It was said that mysterious events had occurred there, and the city lord’s knights had been turned to stone. Shortly after his arrival, he was attacked from behind by a powerful vampire who assassinated many warriors surrounding the apartment under the cover of night, including his own disciple, a promising probationary Paladin. Therefore, he harbored an intense hatred for this vampire and vowed to destroy him. However, he had been unable to find the vampire for a long time and had assumed he was no longer in Cando City. He never expected him to be hiding in Falbedy Cemetery. He hadn’t completely dismissed this possibility, but a Paladin of the God of Justice entering the territory of the Death Trinity was practically asking for trouble. Even if he had found him inside, he wouldn’t have made a move; he couldn’t have defeated so many enemies, even with his strength. Now, taking advantage of the Death Trinity Church being under encirclement and suppression, he finally had the opportunity to face his nemesis and avenge his disciple. The Tyr Paladin took a deep breath, steadied his disturbed aura from the explosion, and waved his hand to stop the bleeding from his severed arm.
Watching the Paladin in mid-air, his six wings of light unfurled, I looked on with a grave expression. Despite having lost an arm, I felt he had become even more dangerous. Tyr was the Nordic god of war and courage, the guardian deity of justice and honor, and the guarantor of contracts and oaths. He was the son of Odin, and his most prominent characteristic was a missing hand, which legend said was bitten off by Fenrir. The God of Justice was merely one of his avatars. It was said that the most effective way to gain divine power was to become similar to the god. The more one resembled the god, the higher their compatibility with divine power and the faster their progress would be. This similarity could be innate, such as personality, height, or appearance, or acquired, like this Paladin before me, who severed his own arm to become closer to Tyr. For a Paladin, a severed arm could regenerate at any time. Older Brother Jayad was just like that. So, despite losing an arm, he could grow it back at any time, and in his one-armed state, his strength was even more terrifying. At this moment, a Black-Robed Person and three purple-robed killers stood in front of the carriage, attempting to cover Lavias’s retreat.
