Tsk.
Aries briefly clicked her tongue, pushing back the first apostle's hand as it rushed at her.
'It's resounding throughout my bones.'
The first apostle had already reached the realm of transcendence, worthy of being the White Blood Religion's second-in-command. The fact that he blocked her spatial slash with his bare hands clearly proved that he wasn't weaker than she was.
'Even then... It's not impossible to defeat him.'
Aries advanced, crushing the destroyed ramparts in the process, and thrust her blade at the first apostle's heart.
Whoosh!
The first apostle swung his hand down as if he had been waiting for it. The blazing heat at the tip of his hand implied that he was going for an attack instead of defense.
'Is this the Bloody Flame Art?'
She could ascertain that it was the White Blood Religion's ultimate technique, the Bloody Flame Art, which consisted of maximizing destructive power by burning up bloody energy.
Whaaam!
Aries executed consecutive spatial slashes to remove the first apostle's Bloody Flame Art and thrust her blade as a counterattack.
Cring!
The sudden attack from the space sword caused the blade to emerge abruptly from the first apostle's temple.
"How shabby."
The first apostle blocked the space sword appearing from his temple with the back of his hand. It looked like he had already gotten used to the space sword.
He executed his footwork after defending, closing the distance. He was going for close-quarters combat, which was more advantageous for hand techniques.
"Unfortunately for you..." Aries twisted her lips, dodging the first apostle's hand passing above her shoulder. "Close combat is my specialty!"
She twisted the space. Shifting the first apostle's attack behind him, she smacked his chest with her sword.
Whack!
The first apostle took three steps back, getting hit at his solar plexus. However, he pushed the ground right away and charged at her like a tumbling doll. He looked like he didn't take any damage whatsoever.
"Are you a freaking zombie?"
Aries furrowed her brow as she watched the first apostle closing in. Even though she had struck him with the handle, it should've been enough to crush his bones. However, it didn't look like he was feeling the slightest pain.
"Alright, I'll tear your flesh from your bones!"
She clenched her back teeth and unleashed her sword strikes against the first apostle's hand technique.
Whaaam!
The sword and hand clashed diagonally, and the orange wave of energy engulfed the surroundings. Zieghart's warriors and the White Blood Religion's fanatics fighting around them were sent flying without exception, unable to withstand the shockwave.
"Hah." Aries shook her head, shaking off her blade as she trembled from the bloody energy. "You deserve to be called the White Blood Religion's second-in-command. You are so damn strong."
"Second-in-command?" The second apostle chuckled as she playfully defeated Zieghart's warriors. "He isn't the second-in-command, though." The second apostle curled her lips into a smile, telling her to stop talking nonsense.
"..."
The first apostle clenched his trembling hand into a fist without saying anything.
"I never heard that you had something like a vice leader though." Aries narrowed her eyes while looking at the second apostle.
"Why would we have something like that? The religious leader is God. The second-in-command is..." The second apostle was about to talk about the second-in-command of the White Blood Religion when a faint sound, similar to a whistle, began to disturb her ears.
"They found them. Over there." She licked her red lips with her tongue, shifting her gaze to the left. "I'll leave this place to you."
The second apostle casually waved her hand at the first apostle and disappeared into a swirl of white air.
"Wait a moment, that direction..." Aries bit her lip while looking at the second apostle's back.
'It can't be...'
It wasn't the outer walls or the inner walls. It was the direction of the annex building, located farthest from Zieghart's main building.
'No!'
The warriors in the main building and elders were stationed at the outer walls to protect the civilians. Some powerful warriors were positioned in the annex building, but they weren't enough to stop the second apostle.
'No one can help them.'
Since Balder was scouting outside and Denier was standing by at the main building, they couldn't really help the annex building. The same went for the Gambling Monster. He couldn't leave his position since he was defending the outer walls.
Sylvia had been improving recently, but it was impossible for her to stop the second apostle in her current state.
"Damn it!"
Aries executed the Phantom Flow Spatial Step. She was going to follow the second apostle by cutting through the space, but a white hand suddenly appeared from thin air.
Whaaam!
The first apostle blocked the Phantom Flow Spatial Step's flow by exploding his bloody energy. Her steps were forcibly stopped, causing a dull pain to rise inside of her.
"Fuck off!" Aries slashed at the first apostle's neck without even caring about the pain.
Claaang!
However, the first apostle seemed to have noticed how desperate Aries was. He simply focused on defense and getting in her way.
"You need to learn." The first apostle's gaze changed into a frightening hue. "I'll etch the consequences of offending the White Blood into your bones."
"I'll kill you if you don't get out of my way." Aries twisted her lips and shoved her sword into its' scabbard. She bent her knees, her sword completely covering her chest.
"Sword Field Creation."
She bit her lip, determined to finish the battle in a single strike.
"Obliteration."
The blade surging from the scabbard advanced gracefully, as if the essence of the moonlight was dwelling in it. Her terrifying will to obliterate her enemy erupted within the noble trajectory, as dignified as the goddess's profile.
"Void Blood."
White flames blazed from the first apostle's hand. The energy of destruction capable of incinerating the entire world emerged from the white haze.
Whaaam!
The space-severing slash holding the absolute power and the life-scorching bloody energy clashed against each other head-on.
"Haa..."
Sylvia fastened her combat uniform while letting out a quiet breath.
'To think that they had someone who could match Aries...'
She could sense the clash between huge energies occurring near the ramparts all the way from her location. She could guess that there was a monster among the enemies, capable of withstanding Aries's full-powered strikes.
'What Raon said was true.'
Before Raon had left for the duel to the death, he'd warned that the Five Demons might attack and advised them to be prepared against it.
The Five Demons were really attacking, just like he'd warned them.
"Ma'am..." Hellen came next to her and held her faintly trembling hand. "We've evacuated all the maids to the underground. You should come with us, ma'am..."
"No, I need to stay here." Sylvia smiled faintly at Helen.
"B-but..."
"It's fine." She shook her head, stroking Helen's hair. "The enemies shouldn't come all the way here. Even if they do, it should just be some scouts. You don't need to worry about it."
The annex building was located on the outskirts of Zieghart. The enemies shouldn't even care about the annex building—it was more likely that they'd attack the main building or the civilians at the outer walls.
"Then I'll stay here as well..."
"You should go in there with them."
Sylvia tightened her lips and placed her hand on the hilt of her sword. The sword in her grasp became a blue ray of light, sweeping past the trees in the garden.
Swoosh!
A branch and a masked man in a black outfit standing above it dropped to the ground.
The masked man, who seemed to be an assassin, groaned in pain while clutching his bleeding neck.
Whack!
Sylvia struck him with her sword to finish him off without any hesitation. She narrowed her eyes while looking at the masked man's corpse.
'He isn't from the Five Demons.'
She had clashed against all of the Five Demons except for the Holy Sword Alliance before she gave birth to Raon. However, the masked man in front of him didn't seem to belong to any of those factions.
'Could it be the faction that attacked Raon last time...?'
Since the masked man didn't belong to the Five Demons, she could ascertain that he was from the group that attacked the Beast King Ogram.
Whoosh!
Sylvia raised her gaze upon hearing the violent sound of wind. Many enemies were rushing toward her from the right, clad in sharp pressure.
Whaam!
The warriors that Aries had positioned to protect her blocked their path, but it didn't look like they were going to last long because there were way too many enemies.
"There's nothing to gain here, though."
Sylvia stepped forward, furrowing her nose. As soon as she left the garden, assassins and the White Blood Religion's fanatics dashed towards her from all directions.
Slash!
She swung her sword upwards, stepping forward with her left foot. The navy-colored aura engulfing the blade brushed past her enemies, and the heads of the assassins and the White Blood fanatics dropped onto the ground.
It was an elegant swordsmanship, concealing her murderous intent inside the natural flow.
Sylvia bit her lip while shaking the blood off her sword.
'I need to brace myself.'
If she went easy on the enemies, the guarding warriors and maids were going to be harmed in return. It was necessary to turn the garden into an impenetrable fortress.
She cut down all of the approaching White Blood fanatics, Eden's demons, and the assassins without sparing any aura.
"Haa..."
Sylvia exhaled roughly while looking at the piling corpses.
'What's going on? Why are so many enemies attacking the annex building?'
There was no treasure or anyone important being protected in the annex building. She couldn't understand why the enemies were gathering there.
Slash!
The assassins and the White Blood fanatics surrounded the annex building and didn't move any further, probably because they realized they wouldn't be able to break through her defense.
'This is better for me.' Sylvia licked her lips, slightly lowering her sword. 'The warriors from the main building are going to arrive as reinforcements soon.'
If the warriors at the main building came to the annex building, she could go outside to wipe out the enemies instead of protecting the maids.
'Just a bit longer... Hmm?'
It was when Sylvia was catching her breath, thinking that she just needed to buy some more time, that it happened.
Whoosh!
A tall woman wrapped in a white current like a muffler appeared among the White Blood fanatics. She was a beautiful woman wearing a torn robe with bronze-colored skin, and a chill ran down her spine just from seeing her.
"Red eyes and dazzling blonde hair. It's so easy to tell." The woman with bronze skin curled her lips with a smile while looking at Sylvia. "It's you, Sylvia Zieghart."
She smiled warmly, as if she had reunited with an old friend.
Sylvia swallowed nervously while lowering her posture.
'An apostle...'
Moreover, she wasn't just an ordinary apostle. Considering the fiery pressure, powerful enough to render her arms immobile, she was definitely the second apostle.
'I can't stop her.'
Sylvia could feel the second apostle's murderous intent. The apostle in front of her was an opponent that she could never win against no matter what she did.
"That great son of yours humiliated us a little. You'll have to pay us back for that."
The second apostle walked up to her with a peal of frightening laughter. She gestured with her hand, and the White Blood fanatics who had been staying still slowly started to approach the annex building.
'I can't win against her, huh? So what?'
The reason Sylvia accepted the energy center from Raon was to protect the annex building. She couldn't simply withdraw just because she wouldn't be able to win.
"Step aside, I'll fight her." Sylvia made the guarding warriors withdraw and started to walk toward the second apostle.
Slash!
With a terrifying sound of rending flesh, the encirclement of the White Blood fanatics started to break from the right side, going through the bodies.
Red eyes sparkled amid the cloudy blood.
It was Karoon Zieghart, the sinner who should've been imprisoned in the Central Martial Palace was spearing the attackers with his frightening bloodlust.
Cring!
The moment the tip of Karoon's blade slightly wavered, the masked men standing at the center collapsed, their bodies split in half. His extreme murderous intent far surpassed the second apostle's.
Splash.
He walked up to the second apostle, stepping on the warm blood.
"K-Karoon..." Sylvia gasped upon seeing Karoon's unnervingly heated gaze.
"Karoon Zieghart?" The second apostle furrowed her brow while looking at Karoon's fiendish face. "I heard you were confined. Are you sure you should be here?" She twisted her lips while warming up her fingers.
"I don't care what punishment I get in the future." Thick veins bulged from Karoon's forehead. "I won't allow filthy mongrels like you to set foot into Zieghart even after my death."
He charged at the second apostle, biting his lip to the point of bleeding.
"This is getting damn messy!" The second apostle furrowed her brow and swung her fist at Karoon's sword.
"Cease your rambling and perish." Karoon's eyes sparked ruthlessly as he crushed the second apostle's fist with his thin blade.
"Sword Field Creation, the King."
* * *
Zzzt!
The blue screens showing the battles all around Zieghart were shut down at the same time, probably because of the powerful impact.
Glenn closed his eyes while thinking about Karoon, who was facing the second apostle.
'Karoon...'
Witnessing Karoon's efforts to protect Sylvia heated his chest to the point of bursting. His fingers were shaking because it looked like the ruined relationship in his family was being restored slightly. He wanted to return right away and see what kind of faces his two children were making.
"It looks like your plan went awry," the Archmage of Eternal Flame, Chamber, sneered after appearing out of a large witch hat.
"Well, it's understandable. After all, Raon's way of thinking is quite different from Zieghart's." She curled her lips into a smile while looking at the gleaming gaze coming from the dragon helmet.
"What brings the Archmage of Eternal Flame here when there's nothing for her to gain?" A mocking voice came from the blue dragon helmet.
"What else? It's obviously because of you, bastard." Chamber narrowed her eyes, violently crunching the lollipop in her mouth. "I usually tease that muscle pig, but I do have some affection for him."
Frightening bloodlust emanated from her eyes.
"I'll kill you by tearing your limbs apart."
"I'm sorry, but I'd like to be your opponent."
The Fallen stepped in front of the swordsman in the blue dragon helmet. The handsome man's mask that he was wearing curved its lips into a gentle smile. "Because I'd like to figure out the archmage's skills so that I can plan for an attack on Balkar later on."
"Try it if you want."
The moment a refreshing smile befitting Chamber's appearance surfaced on her face, the world turned upside down.
The river was flying in the sky, and the land was turned upside down and soared into the air.
"Is this the famous Reverse Heaven World?"
The Fallen made a circle with his finger, and the distorting world returned to its original shape. The transcended magicians were performing magic that was capable of affecting the world itself.
"Then is he going to be our opponent?" The South-North Union's leader stepped forward while massaging the back of his neck.
"No, just rest for a moment." The swordsman in the blue dragon helmet shook his hand while stepping forward. "Since the balance between the Six Kings and the Five Demons is broken now, that magician child is likely the most he could call in for reinforcements."
He chuckled while gazing up at Chamber, who was competing against the Fallen. "The others should need to protect their domains."
"..."
Glenn's eyes were quietly shining, the man not responding to his words.
"Well, the same goes for us, though." The swordsman in the blue dragon helmet pulled his glove inward, raising his blade with the blazing energy of death emanating from it.
"Shall we go for a duel?"
"There's something I want to see now."
Glenn lifted Heavenly Tremor. Blood-colored lightning exploded from his white blade.
"I'll finish you off as fast as possible."