Translator: AtlasStudios Editor: AtlasStudios
“The Dark Brotherhood?”
Lydia stood by the window and observed the arena below. There wasn’t any anger on her beautiful face, but the temperature of the room instantly fell below freezing point.
“It seems the reformist party is aware, hm?”
“Please immediately command the guards to prepare an attack, Your Highness!” Amund frowned, with worry in his eyes.
“That’s the Bloody Devour! It will completely consume down the young man! I can feel that Waltz’s strength is reaching the edge of Legendary! That young man cannot hold him!”
“Don’t worry, Teacher.” In response to his concern, Lydia perked her index finger cheekily by her lips and revealed a smile.
“Since you’re aware that it’s the Bloody Devour, you should understand if this spell is forcefully hindered, it will cause a spatial disorder and that’s going to be even more dangerous. Furthermore, now’s not the time for us to show up. You see, isn’t Mr. Rhode standing there perfectly fine? I guess he won’t have any problems.”
An incredibly sharp bone pierced through Rhode’s afterimage, producing an ear-piercing sound that followed soon after. Soon, Waltz’s gigantic frame emerged from the fog.
At this moment, Waltz had already reached two meters tall, and oddly enough, his inflated leather ball-like body didn’t obstruct his agility. Waltz no longer used his weapon. The ‘Sorrowful Tears’ was already split into half and had turned into a pile of scrap. Moreover, his enormous palms would perhaps give him a hard time holding it. But he didn’t need it anymore.
“Heyahh!!”
With an intimidating roar, Waltz swung his fist downwards, but Rhode dodged it as though he knew it was coming. Waltz’s punch crushed the surface of the ground, leaving a small crater. But he still wasn’t able to injure Rhode at all. Just when Waltz lifted his head, he discovered burning meteors hurtling towards him!
The Blade of Destruction exploded from Rhode’s blade, sending dozens of random light blades shooting towards Waltz. Although Rhode was only at the Advanced stage, his level of swordsmanship was similar to a Master, so even Waltz, who was buffed by the Demon Bracelet, couldn’t simply neglect the strength of his sword skill.
Facing the counterattack from Rhode, all Waltz could do was to deflect them with his excessively huge arms. Then, Waltz suddenly widened his arms and swiftly slammed them together, generating shapeless ripples of shockwaves in all directions. Rhode immediately dipped his body downwards, and the mighty shockwave passed over his head.
Again?!
Waltz began to grow anxious because similarly to Rhode, he was also rushing for time. Although the ‘Bloody Devour’ was a high-end spell, the spell duration wasn’t that long. Waltz knew the consequences; however, since he’d received this order from those people, all Waltz could do was just to follow through. Like Mobis, he needed to eliminate this growing threat as soon as possible and would not hesitate to put his life on the line. The spell only lasted for twenty minutes, so Waltz needed to defeat Rhode within this time frame. Initially, he thought that it would be in a walk in the park, but the current situation proved otherwise.
The young man didn’t seem nervous when confronting his demonic form; instead, his movements were quick and relaxed. No matter how powerful his attacks were, the young man would dodge it as though he had predicted his next move. Demons hadn’t officially appeared in this world for many years, yet this young man’s reactions were as if he had fought with them on a daily basis!
Waltz snarled as he slammed the ground with both hands, sending two shockwaves towards Rhode. After he had avoided Waltz’s previous shockwave attack, Rhode frowned for a while, seemingly contemplating about something. Then, in a flash, he lifted his sword and slashed towards the two incoming shockwaves.
A bright aura coalesced at the tip of the Crimson Blade, forming a faint image of a sledgehammer. Rhode swung it downwards, colliding head-on with the two shockwaves.
“Bam!!”
A deafening explosion sounded, and the ground beneath Rhode’s feet instantly swelled before shortly caving in.
“Ah!!”
Many spectators within the arena screamed in horror as the explosion swallowed Rhode’s figure. They even witnessed at least one-third of the arena turning into dust, and the remaining was on the verge of collapsing.
“Sh*t! Is Leader okay?!”
Shauna tried to locate Rhode in the midst of the chaos. Although she hadn’t seen an actual demon before, anyone would think that Waltz’s appearance was anything but ordinary. Initially, Shauna was confident that Rhode would be able to secure the victory. But right now, even she couldn’t help but feel anxious.
However, Shauna didn’t notice that Christie was quietly observing a certain area of the chaotic battlefield.
Her mystical eyes were flickering with a muddled radiance.
The smoke and dust settled.
Rhode stood by the edge and gasped for air. Even though he had experience when dealing with demons, the adverse effects of the Bloody Devour on Rhode’s body were unavoidable. As time passed, he felt more of his strength slipping out from his body. If he couldn’t think of a way to defeat Waltz, the one going down would possibly be him.
Rhode caught in a deep breath to calm his senses.
It looks like I need to resort to that.
“Seems like you have nowhere to hide now, Mr. Rhode?”
Waltz lifted his head and stared at the young man with his cold, fiendish eyes while the corners of his mouth drew back, revealing a sinister smile.
However, what happened next surprised Waltz.
Cha. Rhode stabbed the Crimson Blade into the ground and raised his head towards Waltz.
“Mr. Waltz — I’ve got to admit that you did exceedingly well. To be honest, it was above my expectations! But it’s a pity that… you made a grave mistake—”
“Oh?”
Waltz raised his brow as he waited for Rhode to continue. Rhode did not keep him waiting and courteously gave him the final answer.
“… You shouldn’t have converted to a demon.”
Rhode straightened his arms to his chest, and a blinding light from countless of summoning arrays began gleaming on his palms. Then, the light began spreading towards Waltz.
Sh*t!
Waltz’s heart sank. Waltz didn’t know what was Rhode up to, but he knew that it wasn’t something good. He lifted his arms, causing the spurs on his arms to transform into sharp razors and swept towards Rhode, creating a gigantic whirlwind.
Black and White. Both cards rotated on Rhode’s palms in tandem.
Rhode suddenly clenched his hands.
Crash! The sound of glass breaking burst out.
Just one more step and Waltz’s attack would reach him. However, before he could land the final blow, a mesmerizing and alluring voice echoed in his ears.
“Halt, you lowly race!”
The moment the charming voice spoke, Waltz immediately froze on the spot. He saw dozens of shadows rushing past him, sending chills down his back, and suddenly, before he knew what happened, he realized that a thorny whip had wrapped tightly around his massive body.
Waltz turned his head towards the source of the thorny whip in terror. Standing beside Rhode was a twin-tailed woman dressed in a black-laced mini skirt. She lifted her chin proudly and revealed an expression of disdain when she looked at Waltz. Her right hand held the thorny whip which was constricting his body, while the other rested on her hip.
Beside her was an expressionless battle angel. Her holy sword was lifted up towards her chest, emanating a cleansing aura that caused Waltz to feel nauseous. He tried to escape the thorny whip but was unable even to budge an inch as if his body wasn’t listening to him.
“This… This…”
Waltz opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Celia’s sword had already pierced through his skull.
In an instant, a raging pillar of holy flames erupted and devoured Waltz.
“What’s this?”
“Oh, my god! What did I just witness?!”
This scene forced the audience to their feet as they screamed in horror. They stared blankly at the two stunning women by Rhode’s side. Their hearts were filled with the same doubts and confusions as Waltz — where did these two maidens come from?
“This is…!”
No one noticed that Lydia, who was relaxing on the sofa comfortably, suddenly shot up and approached the window in astonishment. When Amund saw Lydia’s reaction, he turned towards her and asked, “Is anything wrong? Your Highness?”
“No… Nothing… Nothing at all…”
Lydia shook her head and narrowed her eyes, thoroughly scanning the two women before mumbling very softly.
“… Lady Celia and… Her Highness Celestina?”
