Chapter 178: Grayscale (Part 3)
BANG—
A golden light shot up into the air, exploding above the town’s fiery chaos like a flare, dazzling everyone and momentarily turning the gloomy dusk into something that felt like broad daylight.
In this blinding radiance, the Old Pope was ensnared in a frenzy of flames, his once mighty arm now resembling charred bone, drooping helplessly.
“Oops, looks like I accidentally killed him… Can’t anyone put up a fight and then make a run for it? Seriously, is that too hard to grasp?”
The monster hovering in midair casually commented, its bl**d-red mouth gaping wide, almost as if mocking, “I mean, Miss Silvya, I just took out a bishop right in front of you! Why didn’t you even try to stop me? Not even a little attempt to save that poor old guy?”
Buzz—
A slight ringing in my ears came with a wave of headache, hitting me like a ton of bricks.
My thoughts felt like a jumbled mess, and it was difficult to think straight.
What he said… sort of made sense…
I should have saved that old guy… but I didn’t… I…
What on earth… am I doing…
“Oh well, dead is dead, right? At least he flared up a signal before kicking the bucket. Shouldn’t be long before more church folks come around… Hmm, but judging by your current look, you really don’t seem to care. Hey, beautiful Miss, are you thinking of taking a bite out of me?”
I…
“Uh.”
Do I want to consume him?
I do…
I’m pretty hungry here…
Rumble rumble rumble…
To the south of town, a massive echo like an explosion emanated from where I came, ringing clear and powerful. That was where Olivia was battling. The racket was enormous… Both of them were still alive; I should go over and save them… I…
[You still refuse to accept the real you.]
A voice echoed from within my consciousness, soft and surreal, almost like an auditory hallucination, but I knew it was my voice.
[At times like this, why not just give in…]
That voice had a surreal pull.
“Mmm…”
My head ached, my chaotic thoughts clouding my brain while the suffocating dead smoke around me slightly lessened its grip. A glimmer of clarity returned to my eyes, mixed with confusion, as I shifted my gaze from the old man’s still body to the south. Once the golden light faded, I faintly saw a glow beyond the distant thicket.
k*ll the jester and save the day…
k*ll the jester, save the day…
I kept that mantra repeating in my head.
In the next moment, from the corner of my eye, the floating monster suddenly opened its gaping maw, with wisps of black mist swirling out. Crimson flames instantly surged to gather, forming a fiery orb in its mouth, followed by a scorching wind that burst forth.
Boom—
…Moon Step.
A massive flame belched forth as a thick column, rushing towards me. In that very moment, I stepped into my Moon Step, my form flickering, “Kaboom,” I passed just barely beside the tidal inferno, swept up with the raging black mist, shooting skywards. Dark flames and white light trailed behind me like splattered ink, charging towards the hovering monster!
k*ll him…
Devour him…
Turn him to dust, leaving nothing behind…
The wind howled, fire roared; all my brain could focus on was that singular, burning thought, painfully clear. The jumbled visuals twisted before me, the enormous head spewing flames still drew near.
“Jest—er—”
Just as I approached the head, the monster’s eyes rolled, its pupils constricting, it realized what was happening and tried to turn the direction of its fiery breath. But in that very moment, I swung my right fist, the wind from my punch echoed like a tiger’s roar, coming from below up, colliding squarely against its open jaw.
SPLAT!
A deafening sound reverberated through the air, the collision’s shockwave radiating outward, my hair whirling in the tornado of air. The monster, still spewing flames, felt the impact, its mouth snapped shut with a loud ‘thunk,’ then each side of its cheeks bulged, followed by its entire neck; the unspewed flames abruptly blasted out through its nostrils and tooth gaps, its head snapped back like a pogo stick—then BOOM—
Boom!
With a thunderous crash, the monster’s jaw was blasted to pieces, the raging inferno quickly consuming my sight. I didn’t flinch, taking on the tidal wave of heat, my eyes bright with crimson, as I secured one hand on the monster’s face and unleashed black flames along with the dead smoke.
“Roar!”
The jester, now a monster, screeched, thrashing in a chaotic mix of black mist and red fire, carrying me upward towards the higher night sky. Winds howled in my ears as I clutched a bl**d pearl in one hand and grabbed hold of its horns with the other, chaotic power erupted from within me, engulfing the surrounding flames that rapidly dwindled. The monster roared and shook, trying to throw me off.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
The frenzied wind filled my ears as I rode the air, monster in tow, soaring from one side of the town to the other at blinding speed, then CRASH, we collided with the towering high tower at the square’s center. As earth and stone crumbled, we plummeted, the monster’s enormous frame smashed down into a flower bed, carving a deep trench. Meanwhile, the girl gripping its horn tumbled away, rolling several meters before flipping upright, backward stepping a few paces, lowering her head to inspect the broken horn in her hand, then casually tossing it aside.
“Whoooooosh…”
Not far away, at the completely demolished flowerbed’s edge, the monster supported itself with its massive bloodied hand on the ground, leaning in low with a rumble like a beast yet laden with agony, the dead smoke wrapping thicker, the ‘hiss hiss hiss’ sound was uncomfortably sharp, the black flame burned on its back, the once crimson fur now wilted, gaping wounds soullessly exposed to bone. Its shattered jaw hadn’t regrown yet, the bloodied tongue dangling feebly, fiery bl**d pooling on the ground like a waterfall of flames.
“Ah ha, ha ha… Silvya…”
Despite its jaw being wrecked, it still managed to speak, as if its vocal cords didn’t require that mouth to resonate. One could hardly blame the wretched thing—it’s abnormal for a head to produce human speech, to begin with.
But even now, the monster’s voice lacked the prior confidence; despite still attempting to sound teasing, the agony from the dead smoke corroding it was impossible to hide. Its massive body trembled violently, nearly unable to stand, as it rasped out, haltingly, “Did you know? I like the you of now… You’re powerful, cold-blooded, cruel, nothing like that hypocritical act you paraded earlier… I have a proposal; since you’re interested in that pearl, let me tell you what it is and what it does, then you can swallow it… You don’t need to look at me like that; I’m actually not that keen on it.”
“……”
I stayed silent, just exhaling slowly, feeling the injuries on my body healing, that stormy pain in my stomach finally easing. I then tilted my head, spitting out a mouthful of bloody foam, and stretched my neck a bit.
Before me, the creature continued its pleasantries in a slightly unhinged manner, rambling, “What, are you still hell-bent on consuming me? Oh come on, given how much I adore you… that pearl should suffice, right? Church folks will be here soon, the Faith Organization, or the Pope Knights might even show up…”
“Those monkeys won’t spare you; they certainly won’t see you as a hero saving the southern lands. Just look at yourself… I mean, I’m the only one in this world who might actually like the you that’s standing here right now… just me… I’m serious… hahahaha!”
The monster’s body shook more violently, an irrational laugh escaped it, “But you don’t need to fret, I think the you of now and I could turn this place upside down. How about it? You must have thought so at some point too, so let’s give in to our inner selves, shall we…”
…Headache, headache, headache!
What a freaking lunatic!!
“You…”
I spat out a melodious note to cut him off, “Are you begging for mercy?”
“……”
The monster fell suddenly silent.
Then it broke into laughter again: “What silly thing are you blabbering about? I’m really good at… running away!”
In a flash, just as the monster finished its sentence, crimson bl**d ignited into flames, engulfing its massive frame. A shrill scream pierced the air, the grotesque angel seemed to teleport away, leaving behind a deserted ground, surging with black smoke.
…Trying to run!
“Ah ha ha ha!”
I heard my voice shrill out.
Even if you can teleport, you won’t escape from me!
The next moment, I threw my head back to gaze at the night sky, burning black wings unfurled from my back, flapping, rushing at me as they twisted and turned with a raging hurricane, propelling my body upward like a cannonball, shooting to nearly one hundred meters in height, my white hair streaming behind me, my bl**d-red eyes darting, during the inhale and exhale of breath, I locked onto the huge body speeding eastward.
Got you!
Flames spread from my wings, whipping up tremendous air currents as I seized the opportunity to race towards the morphing monster’s jester. The misty air parted ahead of me, my ears bombarded by a series of explosive ‘BOOM BOOM BOOM’ sounds, one second, two seconds… below, the intact and wrecked structures whooshed backward as I closed in on the low-flying monster, waving a hand in the wind as several thick, menacing black smoke serpents howled forward, instantly enveloping the creature.
“Roar—”
In the thunderous call, the monster writhed within the black smoke, its flight path veering off, plummeting like a dark meteor towards the eastern ravine outside the town. I flapped my wings, accelerating again, twisting mid-air, hot on its tail!
Devour him…
Turn him to ashes…
The monster entangled in dead smoke slammed into a low dirt mound, scraping through a storm of debris, plunging into the silvery-glistening creek below with a “THUMP”. Water splashed high, and in the next moment, I gathered my fists, conjuring icy frost with a shrieking wind, plummeting down—
Boom!
An explosion echoed like a torpedo detonating in shallow water, the splash rising hadn’t yet settled when a second roaring wave of water shot up even higher, the massive impact rippling across the surface, swirling layers of foam into the air. In the next instant, everything froze solid, the flying water crash landing like hail, shattering atop the hardened ice.
Massive black wings fanned out from my back as I stepped my foot onto the frozen chest of the monster below the ice, in the enveloping dead smoke, I seized its hand, now withered to bone, mimicking a clumsy grab as I yanked half of it out with a loud “CRACK!”
Though most flames had died down, it still had strength to resist, swiftly raising its other hand—the huge shadow broke through the ice surface, coming directly from the left with a resonant BANG. Its bloodied hand flung me away, slamming into the mountainside beside the creek, nearly embedding me into it. The bl**d pearl I clutched so tightly, slipped from my grasp, flying away who knows where.
