Chapter 974
Falling Sun
…Even the Fallen Heavenly Envoy dared not directly block Master Amber’s Petrification Spell?
Eivass split his attention, glancing at the battlefield and suddenly realizing a detail.
The Fallen Heavenly Envoy completely ignored the scorching from Butterfly and the attack from the Grand Guardian, and his illusion spell had likely failed directly—only when facing Master Amber’s spell did the Fallen Heavenly Envoy specifically use a spell to summon a lightless shield specifically to resist ray-type spells…
—Perhaps an opportunity could be created for Master Amber!
With this thought, Eivass planned to break free from the restraint of the Mark of Sin!
The six gold-trimmed, pure white wings on his back suddenly unfurled!
A divine storm roared forth—
The next moment, a strange thing happened.
Eivass did not break free from the Mark of Sin’s restraint. The dark power that continuously tried to convert Eivass, was instead being continuously converted by Eivass and spontaneously drawn into his wings.
Unlike last time… without Eivass’s own mana to recharge, this pure “dark attribute mana” turned into sustenance for casting “Paradise Lost”!
However…
This time, even though Eivass spread his white wings, he still did not break free from the Mark of Sin’s restraint!
The Mark of Sin erupted with streaks of dark electricity, preventing his wings from fully opening, and he was suppressed within!
It was like locking a person in a cage where they could crouch but not stand up; merely “trying to stand” would consume a lot of stamina! He could not fully open his white wings, nor could he transform into a Sin Eater Beast…
The white wings themselves were clearly effective.
But Eivass felt as if a drain had been opened in this “swimming pool”—as water flowed in, it also flowed out, and now a stalemate had formed!
“…Do you think I would use this move again, knowing it’s ineffective against you?”
The Fallen Heavenly Envoy, who had just flicked away the Grand Guardian, revealed a cruel smile: “Such [Arrogance]… is wonderful. It shows our good relationship. I shall bestow some power upon you.
“This is enough power to evolve a Demonic Hound into an Upper Demon. It’s yours.”
As he spoke, his claws gently tapped forward. Like plucking strings, the “Mark of Arrogance” on Eivass’s body hummed.
Like a strong current surging into his body, a torrent of dark power also poured in—but surprisingly, Eivass’s white wings successfully resisted the influx of power from the Fallen Heavenly Envoy this time.
…In that instant, Eivass roughly understood what trick the Fallen Heavenly Envoy had just used.
These white wings, symbolizing the King of Winged Ones, had an absolute suppressive effect on “Winged Ones.” Last time, his power had been neutralized like this… but now it was ineffective.
There was only one explanation—the power restraining Eivass did not come directly from him!
Rather, it came directly from this land!
The fallen ritual the Fallen Heavenly Envoy had previously performed was to bury his power within this land. It was converted into pure dark attribute mana, thus removing the “Winged One” label from him!
Because this mana was incredibly pure, Eivass could absorb it… and because it was merely pure mana, it could not resist!
In a sense, the Fallen Heavenly Envoy was not attacking Eivass, but rather “replenishing mana” for Eivass!
It was just that the mana he replenished far exceeded Eivass’s mana limit.
It was the Mark of Sin that became active after Eivass received an overabundance of mana…
In terms of a card game, Eivass had resistance against the Fallen Heavenly Envoy. However, this was not the Fallen Heavenly Envoy activating an effect on Eivass on the field, but rather directly bypassing Eivass’s resistance and activating an effect on the opposing duelist! And the current “invalidation” of Eivass was a status applied to Eivass by Eivass’s own duelist!
—Clearly, the Fallen Heavenly Envoy was not as he claimed.
He had not fully understood how to counter it, otherwise, he wouldn’t need to try injecting power directly into Eivass. He simply didn’t know which aspect of Eivass’s resistance to target, so he intended to try them all!
“Hmph.”
Realizing his attempt had failed and that Eivass had understood his intention… the Fallen Heavenly Envoy seemed somewhat annoyed.
He once again strummed the Mark of Envy, muttering, “Since you have pure white wings, why not transform you into a black-winged Night Demon…”
“—Haaaaaaahhhhhhh!”
The Fallen Heavenly Envoy’s voice was completely drowned out by Siegfried’s loud battle cry as he charged.
The Holy Sword in Siegfried’s hand was far sharper than the Grand Guardian’s dual blades!
This slash, infused with the power of the Hourglass Deity, might have the ability to dispel spells or disarm weapons—this forced the Fallen Heavenly Envoy to take it seriously.
The Fallen Heavenly Envoy had to temporarily set Eivass aside and turn to face Siegfried, who was charging from below.
The next moment, six purplish-black wings suddenly stabbed out from the Fallen Heavenly Envoy’s back!
As he agilely spun in place, his steel-like wings transformed into six continuous attacks in mid-air—Siegfried’s slash landed on one of them, emitting sparks like colliding metal. And there were five more such wing attacks!
Siegfried was forced to switch from offense to defense, placing his left hand on his sword to block. A shower of sparks erupted as his wings scraped against the blade.
After the Fallen Heavenly Envoy spun around, his extended right leg was ready—
A fierce roundhouse kick directly struck the side of Siegfried’s jaw!
With a crisp crack, Siegfried’s neck was instantly broken, and his spine snapped. The remaining force permeated his skin, bursting forth with speckles of blood.
Siegfried’s body spun uncontrollably and fell.
In just a moment of contact, it was a fatal wound.
This was a combat technique passed down through generations of Winged Ones, the divine martial art of the former Wing Heavenly Envoy used to slay gods!
It was like the injuries sustained by a mortal driving a motorcycle at over 300 kilometers per hour when suddenly having a car accident. There was no possibility of recovery, only involuntary reflexes—
But at this moment, a divine radiance fell upon Siegfried.
Saint Joan looked solemnly this way, with both her hands now burning with pure white flames. As if turning her hands into fireballs, they emitted a brilliant and warm radiance!
As Siegfried’s body spun and plummeted, he was already healed!
This was not only because Saint Joan’s healing ability was astonishing, but also because as a Devotee, his recovery rate after receiving treatment was far stronger than others.
He woke up in mid-air and regained full control of his body before hitting the ground. With a nimble backflip, he landed steadily on the ground.
The Grand Guardian, on the other hand, landed a step behind him—Gryphon Philip had absorbed the impact for him, neutralizing all the force before landing. Otherwise, such a casual counterattack could have embedded the Grand Guardian directly into the ground, making him impossible to dislodge!
“Stay quiet here for now.”
The Fallen Heavenly Envoy was somewhat enraged, and purple flames burned in the depths of his pupils.
He truly unleashed his power—purple light spread across his armor, constructing an ancient spell within a complex magic circle that appeared out of thin air.
This was a spell of the Winged Ones! The prototype of “Ritual Spells”!
In an instant, the Fallen Heavenly Envoy created a black, rhythmically contracting void sphere, like a heartbeat, which was bound to the outside of Eivass’s Mark of Sin.
This was a binding curse made of pure curses.
It was like trying to stop someone from passing by hanging an electric fence on a wall—if one touched this curse sphere, they would become powerless.
It synchronized with Eivass’s heartbeat and continuously contracted inwards. Eivass could only struggle to spread his wings to avoid being crushed directly by it. But if his wings touched the sphere, his body would become powerless. As soon as he regained strength, he would face a second contraction… In this way, even if he succeeded in neutralizing the Mark of Sin’s power in a short time, he wouldn’t be able to escape immediately.
This seal would not pose a life-threatening danger to Eivass—as the Fallen Heavenly Envoy had said, it was simply to “stay here quietly.”
He intensely desired to transform Eivass into a Night Demon under everyone’s gaze.
For the Fallen Heavenly Envoy, killing these insignificant mortals was not a victory. It was like someone suddenly jumping out on the street and saying to the richest person, “Let’s see who has more money”… Even if they won, there would be nothing to be proud of; it would be a foregone conclusion.
But the meaning of “Snake Tail” was different.
That was one of his obsessions!
He had willingly accepted the Ouroboros Ring Ritual and descended upon this world—one of the things he intended to do was to transform the Ring Heavenly Envoy’s Snake Tail into his own apostle!
The Fallen Heavenly Envoy himself didn’t care about an apostle.
But the more “Snake” wanted something, the more he wanted it too!
Therefore, the Fallen Heavenly Envoy wanted to free his hands first to deal with those insignificant beings who could actually interfere with him!
—However, at this moment, Eivass clearly realized a fatal loophole in this spell.
If he utilized this loophole, he could immediately break free from it!
But Eivass did not immediately break through the restraint of this curse sphere. Instead, while enduring the torment of the curse, he rapidly ground down the power accumulated on the Mark of Sin—the sphere itself also isolated Eivass from the land, making it much easier for Eivass to break free from the Mark of Sin’s restraint!
At this moment, the Fallen Heavenly Envoy looked down at everyone, his gaze ice-cold, killing intent in his eyes: “Rushing to your deaths? You can’t even wait a moment?
“—Then I shall grant your wish!”
His “game” with Snake Tail had been interrupted repeatedly by these insignificant ants—he was at the peak of his rage.
The Fallen Heavenly Envoy raised his hand above his head.
The massive magic circle covering the sky condensed, spun, and glowed—
The “Taurus” bone armor on his body trembled—it was desperately restraining the Fallen Heavenly Envoy, trying to prevent him from showing any emotion. However, ever since the Fallen Heavenly Envoy had seen Eivass, his emotions had begun to gradually spiral out of control, and he had become more alive.
This caused the Fallen Heavenly Envoy to feel a hint of dissatisfaction.
If not for the restraint of the bone armor, how could his previous kick have only shattered the elf’s spine?
But although his “violence” was restrained, the spells of the Winged Ones era were not limited much—
The eyeless Taurus mask on the Fallen Heavenly Envoy’s head blazed with purple radiance, and the sky, which he had turned into a “screen,” suddenly cracked open a small piece.
An eyeless eye, purplish-black, appeared—
It looked like the sun, but it exuded an extremely ominous feeling.
“The afterglow of sunset from the Taurus era—”
The Fallen Heavenly Envoy laughed cruelly and swung his hand down: “Enjoy it!”
—The next moment, the sun fell.
That purplish-black sun transformed into an incomparably huge fireball—and descended!
“Is that… a meteor?”
Yulia whispered.
The massive fireball with a radius of over ten kilometers was undoubtedly more destructive than last night’s meteor strike!
And this world-ending heavenly fire was much faster than a meteor—it did not come from outside the heavens, but condensed directly from the sky and fell instantly!
However, at this very moment.
Saint Joan suddenly looked much older, her life aura significantly weakened.
No prayer, no incantation, no ritual—
A colossal, skinless giant riding a divine white lion and clad in crimson armor was instantly summoned by her—
The giant had no skin, and its armor was as scorching as a branding iron. Every muscle emitted sizzling white smoke. But despite enduring such pain, the giant remained silent and solemn. It was an apostle in its descended state, its body half spirit, half reality.
This was “Heavenly Raksha”!
The guardian deity of the Devotees!
Not all villains repent—what philanthropists find inconvenient, “Heavenly Raksha” will act on behalf of!
He thrust his halberd into the ground, his size growing and growing.
“Haa—”
He spread his arms, propping up the falling sun with all his might, appearing to reach the heavens!
The sun shattered under the immense force.
Countless small purplish fireballs rained down—though small, they were several hundred meters in radius.
They scattered and fell, each one easily burning and melting the rocks of the surrounding ruins upon impact!
Not only that, but these purplish fireballs also caused the earth to fall after landing—the mud and rocks were shaped by the purplish flames into giant stone figures that slowly crawled up from the ground.
The Fallen Heavenly Envoy condensed another spell—his left hand formed a purplish fire pillar with a pure black center and shot it fiercely towards Heavenly Raksha’s chest!
Master Amber condensed a defensive barrier—it lasted for about four or five seconds before being burned through.
The spell landed on Heavenly Raksha, and he instantly showed a pained expression.
His body neared shattering within a few breaths, and the fireballs still slowly pressing down from the sky caused him to kneel on one knee.
At this moment, Saint Joan burned her life force again, and a second apostle was instantly summoned by her—
This was also a giant—an old giant with a white beard, holding a tower shield in his left hand and a colossal candelabra sword in his right!
He was clad in a simple white robe, his entire body radiating a divine glow—this was none other than “Eternal Vanguard” Carstenning, who had been murdered by giants in the past!
He had since been reborn in the Dream Realm and recovered his lost power.
However, the Holy Lance he once wielded was still missing, so his state was not complete.
But even so, his defensive power could not be underestimated. After all, he was favored by the Candlemaster… although divine artifacts imbued with the laws of the Path were rare, Pillar Gods were never short of slightly inferior good weapons.
“—I am the Eternal Vanguard of the Deer!”
The old giant shielded Heavenly Raksha, advancing slowly while announcing loudly: “Unbending, Unretreating, Undefeated, Undying—”
The tower shield withstood the purplish-black beam of light, and the dissipating aura of corruption transformed into two purplish fire wings, scattering diagonally from both sides of the shield.
Carstenning advanced resolutely, step by step, and the Fallen Heavenly Envoy’s spell did not even make him retreat a single step!
His eyes shone brightly, and he remained fearless even when facing a Heavenly Envoy.
Merely an apostle!
“—How dare you look directly at me!”
The Fallen Heavenly Envoy was instantly enraged: “This bothersome armor!”
He reached out, grabbed his bull-headed mask, and crushed it fiercely!
The face beneath the mask instantly stunned everyone for a moment.
It was a face almost identical to Eivass’s, only with purplish-black hair and eyes!
(End of Chapter)
