Chapter 172: Azure Fire Burning the Moon, bl**d Stained Royal City (6)
The voice felt like a gentle whisper right by my ear, sending ripples through the night like waves in a pond.
A bizarre pattern, dense and bright like a network of bl**d vessels, crawled once more up Teresa’s arms and cheeks, lighting up her tattered nun’s outfit. Her eyes were shrouded in a mysterious bl**d red; with each breath, tendrils of black smoke wafted from her mouth, disappearing into the night.
The night wind roared.
Her black hair fluttered across her face.
From my ragged clothing, I pulled out a pristine white frilly glove and slipped it on, then quietly gripped Captain Gray’s icy scythe handle. After a moment, I loosened my grip, only to tighten it even more. As I stepped forward, I raised my left arm out to the side, grasping at the flickering darkness before me.
Crunch, crunch.
The ice-blue scythe, swirling with menacing white vapor, hissed like a snake about to strike, and in an instant, it was clutched tightly in my left hand.
Cling—
One long, one short, one black, one white. The two distinctly different scythes gleamed ominously in the night, illuminated by the flickering flames on Teresa. The frozen white mist enveloped half of my body, and the dirt beneath my feet hardened to rock in no time.
Not far away, candles flickered to life in the main building of Cataloma, their light revealing a cacophony of panicked voices. At that moment, I heard Rect shout from behind, “Hall, get the kid out of here—!”
In the next instant, the battle erupted in a way that felt jarringly dramatic.
Before my eyes, the nun bent low, curling her legs, and threw a simple punch at the air in front of her. In a flash, dazzling red light burst forth, illuminating the night. A colossal wave of pressure struck me suddenly, sending heightened alarm bells ringing in my mind. I erupted in bluish light as the Frost Order unleashed its full wrath and, amidst the swirling white mist, I raised my icy scythe and slashed upward.
Crash crash crash crash!
Countless massive, sharp ice shards erupted in a fan shape, swirling with the rushing ice mist, charging towards the infernal flames that lashed out like a massive maelstrom from the depths of the ocean.
Boom—!!!
With a sound like a distant thunderclap, two massive shockwaves collided in the center, their furious forces twisting together for a split second before they exploded outward, carrying with them a tempest of cold and heat that lifted grass, stones, and sand high into the air—some freezing into ice, some turning to ash in flames, while steam erupted like a tidal wave, forming a mushroom cloud.
Crack crack crack!
A tall, thick ice wall sprang up in front of me, blocking all the terrible aftermath outside. Debris clattered against the wall with muffled thuds.
The whole spectacle unfolded in mere seconds, as fragments of ice and fire danced in the night sky, the air alternating between icy cold and searing heat. The turbulent airflow battered my clothes noisily, my hair flew back wildly as if someone were tugging at it, and the fierce waves nearly knocked me off my feet. The buzzing in my ears was relentless, as Rect urged from behind, “Get… far away… evacuate… too dangerous…”
I turned back and saw another member of the Sword of Kanli had scooped up Aili and the little boy, hurrying towards the main building. The weight on my chest finally lifted. Rect moved up beside me, his serious face flickering in the shimmering light.
“I’ll help you…”
I gently shook my head at him, about to speak when—
“Boswell has disappeared! What did Teresa do—!”
Rect’s shout startled me into silence.
Boswell had vanished…
My mind was still reeling from what that meant. In the next moment, the ice wall in front of me exploded with a loud crack, revealing glowing red fissures before it rapidly collapsed. My heart raced, and Rect and I leaped to the sides just as crimson flames surged from the broken ice, instantly consuming the grass where I’d been standing.
In the torrential heat, Teresa leaped into the air, a massive black axe ablaze with infernal fire, drawing a blazing line through the air as it came crashing down.
This attack… was unstoppable.
I realized this in a heartbeat, swiftly performing Moon Step to retreat a good distance, steadying myself before swinging the icy scythe again toward Teresa—
Crunch crunch crunch!
Countless half-human-tall icy shards erupted in response to my strike, exploding outwards, the bone-chilling cold washing over everything in a blanket of frost, only for the air temperature to soar suddenly—the infernal fire erupted with a roar from within the ice shards.
Boom—!
The shards of ice reshaped themselves amidst the flames and shockwaves. At the center of the fire, Teresa’s slender figure in nun’s clothing gathered her strength momentarily before dashing towards me, her axe billowing smoke, her oversized double-bladed axe whirling with an intimidating might, smashing through every ice shard in her path.
Boom boom boom boom boom!
In the blink of an eye, she closed the gap of several meters, and the sounds of battle echoed continuously through the air.
Clang! Clang! Crack! Clang! Boom—!
The figures of the young woman and nun sped across the night, the black and white scythes flashing with deadly sharpness. Dozens of collisions and breakaways erupted in a furious dance; ice and fire clashed explosively, the grotesque red and deep blue lights flared up and faded in the night, summoning a furious inferno of sin, or blooming into beautiful yet lethal ice flowers.
Bam buzzing buzzing——!
Once again, with all my might, I struck, but Teresa caught it squarely, the metallic clash reverberating loudly in my ears, and my arm went numb from the impact, making me stumble back a couple of steps. I heard a faint snap, looking down to find my icy scythe had shattered, dropping to the ground.
My brow furrowed.
In the next moment, Rect’s figure suddenly appeared behind Teresa, quietly placing his short sword against her throat and pulling with force.
bl**d sprayed out instantly.
“Ugh… cough cough!”
Teresa coughed a couple of times, utterly unconcerned with her injury, twisting her body to swing the massive axe backward.
Rect clearly knew this alone wouldn’t k*ll the heretic; he had already retreated a good distance by the time Teresa pivoted, now standing in the distance under the fire’s glow, stern-faced, his gaze locked intently on Teresa.
“Teresa, where’s Boswell?”
Boswell…
Suddenly, I widened my eyes and looked up at the night sky.
The moonlight was faint, the stars sparse.
Tonight’s night sky wasn’t particularly stunning, but seemed… no different than usual.
Just that…
The layer of shimmering, almost tangible “egg shell” that should have been rippling over the royal city was nowhere to be found.
