Chapter 87: Transformation (Nine)
Bang!
The bl**d-red tentacles writhed to block the fireball with a cross-shaped blade of energy, sending a shower of severed limbs and bl**d exploding everywhere. This stunning sword strike still failed to cut through the sphere’s defense, but the man remained unfazed.
He narrowed his eyes and, amidst the crackling lightning, flashed thrice in rapid succession. Taking advantage of the dispersing tentacles that hadn’t yet regrouped, he swiftly maneuvered around the splattering bl**d, slipped past the tentacle’s defenses, and charged straight to the side of the burning bl**d sphere, now just under two meters away!
Clang—
With a flick of his wrist, the blade glimmered and rang out again.
The flames from the bl**d sphere almost licked his face, and the searing heat burnt his skin in an instant, sizzling and crackling as smoke billowed from his silver armor. Carlos could hardly keep his eyes open, but his movements grew all the more ferocious. Gripping his sword tightly, he thrust his hand into the rolling tongues of flame, gritting his teeth, aiming for the roiling bl**d, and resolutely struck down!
Splurt—
The resounding strike unleashed a storm of bloodflowers.
The bl**d sphere encasing the young girl now bore a straight gash from the lethal blade, and the burning scarlet liquid flowed out like molten lava, gushing from the cut. Despite Carlos’s attempt to withdraw, his hand and arm ended up splattered with hot bl**d, the sizzling noise growing ever more piercing as he couldn’t help but groan, his brow furrowing in pain.
But he didn’t retreat.
“Ugh…”
Carlos closed his eyes and let out a pained m*an, his expression turning fierce. As his body began to falter, he hoisted his now-red-hot steel sword once more, preparing to strike deeper, disregarding his injuries in a desperate attempt to pull the girl from the bl**d sphere. The fingers of his sword hand bore several charred burns, his wrist trembled, bl**d splattered onto his chest armor, creating holes in the silver surface, while his face turned a deep crimson, and some skin began to peel off.
“Little… Shay…”
Whoosh—
In the next moment, a rush of wind came from behind.
“d*mn it…”
That second sword strike didn’t get to happen; engulfed in infernal fire, Ailna swooped down from behind in a blur. As her scarlet claws came crashing down, all Carlos could do was retreat, the electrical energy around him flickering again, transforming into a blue will-o’-the-wisp appearing a dozen meters away in the ruins. He barely stabilized himself, almost collapsing.
Hiss hiss hiss—
Grayish-white smoke rose from the slightly reddened silver armor, his hair that had been tied back now a wild, tangled mess, almost singed to oblivion, and his face bore several serious burns. The same went for his sword hand, the wounds blackened and throbbing, making it hard to breathe.
“Ha… ha… What did you do to Little Shay…”
Between heavy breaths, Carlos opened his eyes and looked up at the position of the floating fireball. The Female Heretic slowly descended from above, and above her, ever since Carlos had struck, the writhing tentacles that resembled eels seemed to have been severely injured. They emitted eerie, squeaky sounds and twisted back into the bl**d sphere.
Above the bl**d sphere, the swirling dead smoke enveloping the towering beams of light began to stir anxiously, wrapping the burning sphere once more. The gash that Carlos had cut was slowly healing, and a faint silhouette of the girl could be seen struggling within the bl**d, as if enduring some kind of agony.
That scene flashed before Carlos’s eyes for just a moment before being entirely obscured by the swirling black mist, making it impossible to see what was happening inside the sphere.
In front of him, the Female Heretic landed on a burning pile of rubble not far away, her loose garments fluttering gracefully in the flames. The cuffs of her pants and sleeves had burned away, exposing a face covered mostly by shimmering scales with no signs of emotion. Her cold, icy eyes met Carlos’s indifferently, as if she were casually asking, “Do you know her?”
“What did you do to her?!”
Clang—
Carlos swung his sword to the side, sharp energy slicing through the remains of the ruins, the yellow earth flying into the air as he squinted through the rising dust. His glare, as sharp as his blade, pierced towards the expressionless face of the Female Heretic.
“Do you want to save her?”
“Heretic…”
“If you try to ruin her evolution ceremony like you just did, you might end up killing her.”
“…What do you mean?”
In the rapid exchange, Ailna, the Female Heretic, reined in the swirling infernal flames around her, leaping down from the ruins and taking one step after another toward Carlos.
“She’s evolving.”
The woman spoke softly, her tone as cold as a mountain spring: “I don’t wish to harm her; I am simply helping her. You understand, Pope Knight, you already know about these matters—you’re quite clear in your heart. The Church Knights outside right now are the ones who would truly harm her, not me.”
“…So what?”
The man retreated a half-step, eyes alert, fingers slightly twitching around the sword hilt: “Why has she become like that, and why should I trust you?”
“You don’t have to believe me.”
Seeing the swordsman poised to strike at any moment, the woman remained calm, stopping about ten meters away in a seemingly unguarded, relaxed stance: “In your eyes, I’m just a vicious heretic, a true villain in your book, and someone like you doesn’t have to, nor would easily, trust a villain’s words. But… I don’t have time to explain everything right now.”
“But if you damage the egg from outside in your ignorance and put an end to Silvya’s evolution, allowing the true demons to finally descend into this world, then I will have no choice but to k*ll you here. Otherwise, I think we could coexist peacefully. Or perhaps, we could join forces to fend off those Knights’ attack and save Miss Silvya’s life…”
As she spoke, she turned her gaze back toward the bl**d sphere.
At that moment, Carlos’s right hand twitched.
He nearly swung his sword, planning to seize the opportunity to finish off the Female Heretic right then and there, at least to incapacitate her before his teacher and the others arrived, then rescue Little Shay from the sphere and flee with her and Leah from this place of chaos.
That was Carlos’s plan.
But for some reason, the strike never came. His sword hand shot up like lightning, and then… slowly lowered to his side.
“…Evolving has reached a critical stage.”
He heard the powerful Female Heretic gaze at the egg in the sky and say softly, as if to herself: “Silvya is about to be reborn through fire, transforming into a new existence worthy of standing alongside the deities… But at such a moment, her powers must be concentrated to resist the final will of the essence. Right now, neither the infernal fire nor the dead smoke can spare any effort to protect her physical form amidst this battle…”
The Female Heretic turned her head back, her bl**d-red, indifferent eye meeting Carlos’s once more.
“If, at this moment, someone were to destroy this egg from the outside… then she would completely vanish, dying with her flesh and consciousness forever lost to this world… I only wanted to tell you this.”
“The rest is up to your own judgment.”
