Chapter 651: Decent Burial!

Chapter 651: A Decent Burial!

Regrettably, that dashing silhouette did not endure for long.

Miki, who had previously been sent flying by Neo’s sneak attack, struck the ground. Propping herself up with her blade, she dropped to one knee, her eyes burning with fury.

Yet, the armor of sand enveloping her body began to peel away rapidly, like cascading quicksand. Beneath the armor, there was unexpectedly no one; even the vivid gaze from moments before had vanished without a trace.

Using a decoy to cover the original body for a counterattack was a commonplace tactic in battle, particularly within the realm of assassins, where it was essentially a mandatory skill. However, this was the first time Karen had ever witnessed it executed to such a high standard.

The ground beneath Neo’s feet turned to sand, while simultaneously four sandstone monuments manifested, attempting to entrap him completely.

Nevertheless, Neo chose not to dodge. Instead, he swiftly cast a spell, speaking into the ground beneath him in a deep voice:

"Tower of Light!"

In an instant, a Tower of Light began to emerge with Neo's position as its point of origin. However, it did not rise upward with a conventional apex; rather, it spread downward.

This could be considered a manifestation of an exceptionally profound understanding of light sorcery—the jester's inverted Tower of Light.

A fierce clash of spells erupted underground, triggering a violent explosion.

Karen completed his defensive array just in time, enveloping himself and the VIP carriage within it, thus escaping any significant impact.

Amidst the smoke and dust, Neo initially believed he had thwarted the opponent’s sneak attack. Soon, however, the phantom of a woman appeared behind him. Her hands reached forward, invisible threads intertwined between her fingers as she gestured to sever Neo’s neck.

Neo thrust his greatsword backward, but it had absolutely no effect on the woman’s phantom. She seemed entirely nonexistent, yet the chilling sensation continuously assailing his neck was altogether real.

Driven by necessity, Neo could only choose to retreat his posture, slamming his entire weight into the woman. She dissolved into mist first, only to solidify instantly, as countless minuscule grains of sand pierced directly into Neo’s body.

"Hiss..."

Neo drew a sharp breath as an intense wave of pain and confinement rushed over him.

Within the deep crater blasted out below, Miki gripped her blade and seized the momentum to charge upward.

Seeing this, Neo relaxed his body. A dense fire of light ignited across his entire being, suppressing all restraints. He then transformed into a streak of flaming light, hurtling into the distance.

Strictly speaking, Neo had taken the loss in this round of confrontation. The small advantage he had gained initially had caused no substantial damage to Miki, whereas his own body might now resemble a hornet's nest. It was only because he was sustained by a high lineage of the Bloodthirsty Demon; had anyone else suffered such injuries, they would have been stripped of combat capability, if not killed outright.

At that moment, Karen noticed Luther, who was pressed against the carriage window like a curious child gazing outside, utter a sentence.

No sound carried through. Karen could only discern the mouth movements, and it did not appear to be Maklai.

Yet Miki understood. Her silhouette paused in mid-air for a moment, and she immediately pursued in the direction of Neo's flight.

Not a Son of God... yet still able to issue commands?

Karen did not believe that information accessible to the Church of Order's intelligence system would be unknown to Miki herself. Yet she still obeyed his command, choosing to pursue at a highly inopportune moment.

With Neo's departure, the sneak attack by the Remnants of Light drew to a close as they began a rapid withdrawal. Karen even spotted a figure resembling Vic amidst the crowd; it seemed he was integrating quite quickly.

By chance, the barrier arrays at both the front and rear ends were breached at this moment, and security forces began to enter rapidly. Karen also dismantled his defensive array and instructed Lyon:

"Take them to the hotel."

"Yes, Director."

Karen then shouted using an amplification spell: "I will pursue! You continue to protect the target!"

"Yes, Director!"

Subsequently, Qian Mei appeared. With a flap of black wings, Karen pursued in that direction.

...

The chase between the two ahead persisted for a long time. Karen was well aware that this was intentional on Neo’s part; having suffered a setback, he wanted to find a wider space to reclaim his honor.

This was precisely what worried Karen most. Even when you understood his character—that he often failed to control himself once there was fun to be had—it did not prevent you from worrying about his safety every single time, terrified that he might push his luck too far this once.

Along the way, Karen left markers from time to time, diverting any reinforcements or search parties that might follow into the wrong direction. He performed these actions now without any psychological burden. After all, this special department for the Remnants of Light had been approved by the District Head and possessed endorsements from even higher authorities;

The highest level could even be traced back to the deathbed recommendation made by the elder Taixi Sen to the Grand Priest and Foden.

Therefore, while the Remnants of Light was a taboo topic in other grand districts, the York City Grand District... could be considered a pilot unit.

Finally, they arrived at a mudflat. Neo halted his stance as the dense covering of sand and stone began to peel away rapidly from his body. Previously, these had been embedded deep within him, making him resemble a human shotgun mold.

Miki did not seize the opportunity to launch an attack, stopping in place as well. However, her body formed a certain subtle resonance with this beach.

When Karen arrived at a distance from which he could observe the battlefield, he clearly perceived that a unique magnetic field had formed there. Miki had already altered the terrain where their battle was about to erupt.

This was experience.

Karen deployed a barrier to conceal his existence. Next, he could properly appreciate a duel between two old brine jars overflowing with experience.

The phantom of his grandfather slowly manifested upon Karen's body, controlling the fluctuations of his grandfather's aura as much as possible so they would not spread outward. This meant Karen was utilizing the characteristics of his family's belief system.

While others watched a show equipped with melon seeds, potato chips, and tea, Karen was far more rigorous and upright.

It was not that he wished to learn this style of combat, but rather that with the elevation of his own status and the continuous increase of personnel around him, the probability of him encountering assassinations in the future would likely be quite high.

What a pity that Philomena was still lying in the hospital; otherwise, if she were here too, she would certainly have gained a great deal.

As for having Karen teach it, that was unrealistic;

Because Karen was a good student but not a good teacher. He could understand certain things very quickly, but others could not. It was impossible to teach someone by saying, "Do it like this," then "like that," "and it's done," "you get it, right?".

The preparation between the two sides did not last long. One had tended to his wounds, the other had prepared the grounds, and then came an extremely classic collision.

Neo resembled a sphere of the sun, crashing down toward the earth below.

Karen felt that Neo, enveloped in light, appeared somewhat happier; he just did not know whether it was due to the background color or the individual.

Seven sandstone monuments instantly loomed before Miki. The light emanating from Neo melted six of them in an instant. Just as he was about to melt the final one in a single breath, Miki struck out of her own accord.

Her blade slashed through the light, her silhouette appearing to execute an extreme pull in mid-air, arriving instantly before Neo as her blade hacked down toward him.

The greatsword in Neo's hand moved to parry, yet the expected sound of clashing weapons did not occur. Miki's blade suddenly melted away, revealing a yellow amber from within, which encased a scroll.

Miki's body was rapidly covered by layers of sand and stone as she plummeted quickly. A depression appeared in the ground below to receive her, and the beach—along with the earth beneath it—began to harden layer by layer, forming an absolute defense.

Above, the amber melted and the scroll unrolled, a surging power of destruction about to manifest.

Watching from afar, Karen could not help but frown slightly at this sight. Well, this could also be considered a very ingenious way of fighting, though it differed from what he imagined, because it was highly expensive in terms of scrolls.

High-grade destructive scrolls were exceedingly costly. Even if one produced them oneself without purchasing them, the required cost remained extremely high.

Seeing Miki utilize this combat style so proficiently, it was clearly not her first time.

It was difficult to imagine that a family power existing constantly in the shadows—or what one might call a Desert Church fundamentalist group—could master such an extravagant method of fighting so skillfully;

This only served to indicate that the internal issues of the Desert Church were exceptionally massive. The current breakaway factions had themselves grown robustly by relying on the resources of the Desert Church, which was tantamount to the Desert nurturing its own opposition with its own resources.

In the records, those "My Lord Bishops" who died at Miki's hands were very likely killed by spell scrolls or special holy artifacts "plundered" from their own storehouses;

It was even possible that Miki's people were within their security forces, directly opening the doors at night to let Miki in to commit murder.

Furthermore, Karen recalled that he still possessed a forbidden spell scroll obtained from the skeleton. Thinking of it this way, it seemed he could practice an identical pattern himself.

That way, when dealing with powerful and troublesome opponents in the future, he could employ it ingeniously—for instance, by having Qian Mei fly over with the scroll while he immediately entered a defensive state maintained by Conna.

The black wings that had been flapping quite merrily behind Karen’s back faltered momentarily at this thought.

However, Neo did not panic. Faced with the activating scroll, a mist of blood appeared before him. The blood mist solidified instantly to form a massive blood-colored crystal, completely sealing the already initiated scroll within.

Which type of Bloodthirsty Demon sorcery was this?

Recalling how Neo had been constantly pursuing Kevin with questions on the territory of the Earth Cave Church a while ago, this meant that after the severe injuries sustained in that cave, this fellow had not only recovered, but his lineage, far from being degraded, had actually been elevated!

!

At this moment, even Cullen found himself unable to comprehend, feeling it was somewhat absurd, even unfair.

For the first time, Cullen cried out from the depths of his heart: On what grounds!

How could one reason through this logically? With only a single breath left, a life he had personally retrieved, a mere spell of bed rest, and he had made such monumental progress once more?

If everyone were like you, what meaning would the efforts of others even possess?

Soon, Cullen discovered where the issue lay, for behind Neo appeared the phantom silhouette of the Mad Pope, yet where the Mad Pope had originally merely struck a roaring, frenzied posture, now a stream of crimson flowed across his body, the corners of his eyes flushed with red, long claws extending from his upraised hands.

For a time, one could no longer distinguish whether this was the phantom of the Mad Pope or that of the Bloodthirsty Demon Progenitor.

Neo had successfully taken... two separate lineages of inheritance and completed their fusion.

Even if one were to flip through every page of Mr. Hoffen's notebooks, no similar record could be found; it was simply beyond belief.

Yet the fact was laid bare right before Cullen's eyes, leaving him no choice but to believe.

Recalling how Neo had lived in a state of utter chaos for nearly a decade in the past, unable to discern whether he was Philias or Neo, later receiving the First Embrace from Miss Elisa to gain the Bloodthirsty Demon lineage, he had frequently grumbled to Cullen about how a whole table of people was constantly holding a meeting inside his head;

Later, Philias "departed," and by relying on the god-making project born of the cooperation between the Church of Principles and the Church of Order, he inhaled the special smoke that awakened the bloodline of the Mad Pope, causing the attendees of the meeting to multiply once more.

In truth, this so-called meeting... was in essence Neo alone playing multiple roles.

From a psychological perspective, he was a textbook case of split personality.

But from another angle, was this not precisely the fusion of multiple elemental attributes and powers that he had been constantly conducting within his body?

The alleged arguments and quarrels were more akin to a sublimation and embedding of ideological concepts.

The Light-type power was inherently the finest vessel capable of interpreting other spellcrafts, and Neo had excavated it even further, achieving a forceful amalgamation of bloodline and faith.

If it could be said that Cullen, relying on his own uniqueness, the exceptionally outstanding teachers like Purr and Kevin prepared for him by Dis, and his own immense natural talent, had entered the fast lane ever since progressing from Purification to God-servant upon arriving in Wien;

Then Neo, through the accumulation and settling of the past ten years, had precisely encountered this wave of powerful, explosive ascension.

Had the two men not happened to meet at that stage when neither had truly taken flight, the present Neo might not have spared a glance for a mere God-servant, and the present Cullen would not have cared about a Captain of the Whip of Order whose squad was actually named the Bloodhound Squad... truly childish enough.

Therefore, had they not met by chance during that period, it would likely have been impossible for them to become friends in the future; indeed, because two individuals such as himself and Neo had appeared within a single diocese, both sides would have launched investigations against each other, determined to root out that remnant of Light hiding beneath the system of Order.

The blood-colored crystal sealed off the effects of the scroll, leaving Miki, who had descended into the underground in advance to evade the fallout, waiting for absolutely nothing.

Yet Neo did not keep her waiting long; with both hands, Neo clasped the crystal, and in the next instant, his body shattered entirely with a loud bang, transforming into a stupendously massive mist of blood.

Crimson blood began to rain down, instantly staining this stretch of beach.

This was a spell entirely predicated on the high-level bloodline of the Bloodthirsty Demons; Cullen knew he could not learn it. Even if he could cast it, it would be nothing more than a crude imitation, and what meaning was there in mimicking a high-level spell only to achieve the effect of a low-level one?

Unless he also went to find Neo for a bite, letting Neo grant him the First Embrace, and then painstakingly raised his own bloodline tier, only then might he have a chance to employ the same effect.

This was also the reason why Cullen now basically utilized only Order and Light spellcraft; high-tier spells began to demand specific configurations.

Below, Miki also sensed that something was amiss; the beach cracked open a fissure, through which she beheld the changes above and all around.

She began preparing to flee.

Then, from within the rain of blood, what sounded like a highly arrogant laugh echoed, followed immediately by the appearance of yet another Tower of Light.

Still inverted, its spire pointing downward.

Only this time, the Tower of Light possessed none of that sacred, inviolable aura of Light; instead, it was completely enveloped and suffused by a blood-red hue, as twisted faces of agony continuously interwove and surfaced across every tier of the tower's structure.

From within the tower itself, bursts of furious roars and snarling shrieks reverberated, as though a maddened existence were imprisoned within.

Was this... the aura of the Undead?

No, it was not the aura of the Undead, but rather a borrowing of the Undead system's manner of manifestation.

Was this the inspiration blasted out of Neo by Morindi back in the cave?

Cullen already felt a wave of numbness; no matter how many surprises Neo manifested upon his person now, he could manage not to feel surprised.

But he disliked this feeling; it brought him a sense of loss, and he instinctively believed that this fellow was deliberately putting on a show, deliberately flaunting—what are you so smug about?

What Cullen did not know was that in the past, he had given those around him the exact same feeling countless times, and the only one who had always stubbornly refused to admit defeat verbally was Neo.

The Tower of Light thundered downward, and below, the absolute defense that originally belonged to Miki was at this moment forcibly pried open layer by layer.

The surrounding rain of blood continuously saturated and dissolved, undermining the very foundations of this defensive system.

Miki fought back furiously throughout, yet she could not reverse this turn of events; she was like an onion, for even if she continuously released a pungent, stinging odor, it could not alter the ultimate fate of being peeled away layer by layer.

Finally, the last layer arrived; protecting Miki now were only those shifting stone tablets of sand around her, which ought to be an ancient inheritance belonging to the Desert Godic Religion, possessing the most astounding defensive power.

This was also the final line of tug-of-war between the two sides, and it was precisely at this moment that Cullen heard that great shout echoing from within the rain of blood:

"Come..."

"Hum!"

In an instant, from above, a expanse of Light shone down, followed immediately by the rapid condensation of the blood-red hue, the crimson phantom presenting a highly three-dimensional sensation.

To either side, blood-colored skeletal structures spread outward, forming two massive ribcages akin to a human torso;

In the center, a cluster of blood-colored halo appeared, perfectly enveloping Miki entirely.

Cullen frowned immediately; he could understand that cluster of blood-colored halo in the center, but what on earth was that crimson shape spreading out from the skeletal structures on both sides!

No, to be precise, those superfluous forms on either side were completely additional, cumbersome, and useless in this battle!

This could only prove that this spell of Neo's was one he had only recently created, having not yet had the time to refine or familiarize himself with it, and was now merely dragging it out by force to apply it.

Yet this method of suppression via the massive ribcages on both sides and a focused assault in the center...

Was it not aimed precisely at the defense of his own Dragon God Armor!

While lying on his hospital bed, this fellow had actually been researching day and night how to break the Despair Defense he had obtained after acquiring the little bone dragon.

He had actually been plotting all along how to shatter his defense and beat him down!

Heh, what a bastard.

Next, when Neo's voice completely shouted out the name of this spell from within the rain of blood, it amounted to an absolute confirmation, because what he cried out was:

"Crimson Light—A Decent Burial!"

Cullen: "..."