**Chapter 106: Rebirth (Fifteen)**
“d*mn it! You dare—!!”
A whirlwind of yellow wind, dirt, and flowing water erupted as the Captain of Knights’ fist came crashing down. From the chaotic crowd at the side, a roar rang out, and in the blink of an eye, what was far away surged up to their ears!
A plump figure clad in black smoke suddenly appeared on the edge of vision, raising a massive hammer as if it were an unstoppable cannonball. With a “Boom—,” it smashed through the Sin Barrier, and the Captain barely had time to look back before being pounded sideways into Carlos, spewing bl**d and going “whoosh” across nearly ten meters.
“Captain!”
“Retreat! Retreat—”
Outside the shattered Sin Barrier, the three knights who had come with the Captain were stunned, shouting as they rushed toward the silhouette that flew away, eager to get the injured commander out first. But the old woman had no intention of giving them that chance.
At the moment she swung her hammer, she did a quick stop beside Carlos, landing firmly and then leaping up to swing at the three knights again. The hammer crashed down with a bang, sending a massive wave of muddy water fanning out, creating a turbulent splash in the yellow dirt. The knights yelled as they were hit head-on, struggling in the murky yellow water, only to lose their balance, bl**d streaming from their mouths and noses, one by one fainting and being swept away by the mud.
Whoosh—
The Holy Lance whistled past overhead, and the bl**d-soaked Apheir straightened up. With a clank, she leaned her heavy hammer against the muddy ground and turned her head: “Kid, you—”
Her expression twisted, dark red bl**d trickling down her hair. Just as she was about to say something, Carlos’s weak voice interrupted: “Pull me… up… quickly…”
This man, equally battered, gritted his teeth, struggling to rise, but his hand was broken, leaving him powerless. The old woman, seeing this, hurried over to help him up, limping two steps before noticing strands of black smoke swirling out from her body, and her steps came to a halt.
“Kid, you… can’t walk anymore, huh…”
She thought he wanted to leave but couldn’t move. However, that wasn’t the case. Carlos’s left elbow was completely dislocated. He struggled to lift his broken right hand, the index and middle fingers trembling, trying to point.
“There… um… someone wants to…”
Apheir turned her head: “What…”
“Stop them…”
“Stop what?”
The old woman didn’t understand his meaning. As the Dead Smoke eroded her body, she felt herself weakening, her mind a haze, the unbearable pain now numb, and her consciousness gradually fading.
She knew she couldn’t hold on much longer.
But in the next moment, she caught a glimpse in the distance at the edge of the ruins—some shady figures in robes stealthily moving past the knights rushing toward them, heading quickly toward the black sun in the sky.
Those people were approximately three hundred meters away.
She stared for a moment.
Suddenly, she had an inkling of Carlos’s intentions: “Hey, I mean kid…”
Apheir’s expression darkened, and she suddenly laughed, turning to seriously assess the bl**d-soaked and swollen face of the man, her grin spreading though it looked terrifying with the grotesque wounds.
“You can’t possibly want me to stop those little guys from doing something against that damned Abyss, can you?”
“Apheir senpai, cough, listen to me…”
“d*mn it, Carlos… do you want to d*e by my hand?”
“Charge in! Hold them off—”
On the other side, the Golden Armored Knights were quickly regrouping, returning to the position of the two. After a brief pause, they finally organized their formation, pushing forward with the thin Sin Barrier, as if erecting shield after shield of divine miracles, their swords poking through the gaps in the light shield. The Knight Clerics moved in at the back, shouting and planning to quickly surround the two. Someone rushed over to help the struggling Captain.
“Don’t attack recklessly! Just surround them!”
Some shouted while others gritted their teeth, looking at the old woman with fiery red eyes: “Faith Organization, seal this place!”
“Let them fall on their own; no need to waste energy…”
“Really noisy…”
The old woman Apheir frowned at her surroundings, then spat a mouthful of blackened pus onto the ground with a “pfft,” the sound of corrosion still emanating from her, clumps of hair falling out and turning to ash in the air. Her black eye was almost reduced to a rotting mess in the eye socket, completely blind.
But she showed no signs of going down.
“Senpai, please… help me this time…”
The swordsman named Carlos looked anxious, staring intently at the few clerics drawing closer to the black sun. He saw them stop, completely ignoring what was happening here, looking up at the grim sky while muttering to each other.
“Uh…”
Ignoring his injuries, the man started trying to crawl toward them.
“He still wants to struggle!”
“Faith Organization, what are you doing—”
Hum!
The light of the divine miracle suddenly flared up, and several chains burst forth from the ground, just as Carlos, who had barely moved half a meter, was about to be bound again.
At that moment, the man opened his bloody mouth and let out a hoarse scream: “Ahhhhh!”
Crack—!
Brilliant blue lightning erupted from his body, wrapping around him like a startled snake, and all the golden chains missed. The knights were still forming their encirclement when Carlos transformed into a bolt of lightning, blasting through the gap in the crowd with a “Boom—,” the glow blindingly bright, racing towards the clerics in the distance!
This was almost the bursting forth of his potential, using the last bit of his energy.
Everything happened too suddenly. The swordsman, who seemed on the brink of d*ath, exploded with such energy that all the Knight Clerics failed to react in time. The speed of the lightning was too fast; in the blink of an eye, he was already dozens of meters away. Only then did the knights start yelling, some radiating holy light.
“Fleeing knight!”
“d*mn it! Divine miracle, intercept him—”
“Watch out for the Pope Knight Apheir!!”
“d*mn! Kid—”
Amid the chaos, the knights flailed around like headless flies, and without orders, they each acted on their own. A Knight Cleric named Laricx, enveloped in golden light, darted after him, and with the attention of the encirclement now scattered, Apheir jumped up, leaping over countless heads, rushing to the front in the blink of an eye.
In the distance, breaking away from Bishop Aresta’s command, five reckless clerics began chanting, and a blinding glow shot into the sky, piercing through the roiling black clouds.
“Ugh aaaaaahhhh!”
Amid the lightning, covered in bl**d, Carlos screamed at the top of his lungs, racing across the dirt, desperately closing the distance toward the burst of light. Two hundred meters, one hundred eighty meters, one hundred fifty meters… He sprinted with all his might, wanting to delay those clerics just a moment longer, even if it cost him his life; he understood what they were aiming to do.
But in the next second, the lightning encircling him dimmed abruptly, and Carlos’s figure tumbled out of control, crashing into the ground, leaving a long scratch. Stopping, he lay there, as if completely losing sensation, unable to catch his breath for quite some time.
After all…
It was just too much…
The man stared at the gray sky, his vision going blurry. He had exhausted his last ounce of strength, yet still couldn’t reach the clerics in time.
Buzz buzz buzz buzz—
In his daze, he heard the sound of the divine miracle ringing out nearby, growing louder, the golden light dispelling the gray gloom, suddenly filling his entire vision.
Carlos’s face pressed against the dirt, bl**d mixed with yellow mud, and he strained to turn his head, trying to see what was happening—next, he saw the plump figure descending from above, wrapped in black smoke, blocking his view.
“Get lost—”
The old woman’s hoarse shout rang in his ears. He didn’t even have time to register what was happening before he felt a tremendous force on his chest. Apheir had kicked him away, and Carlos tumbled through the air, crashing down several meters away.
“Cough!”
After landing, he coughed up a mouthful of bl**d, feeling as if his insides had been rearranged. His ears buzzed—whether from the sound of the divine miracle or ringing, he couldn’t tell; besides that, he heard nothing. Blinded by the radiant light, he could hardly open his eyes.
“Apheir…”
Rumble rumble rumble—!!!
Suddenly, a massive tremor swept through.
Carlos’s body jolted as a whirlwind slammed into him, almost piercing his eardrums. Lying on the ground, he struggled to raise his head. The brilliance above was blinding beyond imagination, a towering beam of light bursting through the clouds, cascading down towards all the people on the barren ground, arcing through the dark clouds like numerous white arcs of electricity, intertwining with the golden light and dispersing great swathes of rolling darkness. That was…
And then, in the next instant, a thick column of light slammed down from the sky.
“Ugh…”
Carlos shut his eyes.
Boom—!!!
He heard a noise like the heavens collapsing and the earth shattering, and after the world fell silent for what felt like seconds, he managed to open one eye against the howling wind, seeing the blinding light column sweeping down from above like a wrecking ball, engulfing the floating black sun in an instant, followed by Apheir’s plump figure several dozen meters away.
The shockwave hit him, sending him flying again, and after two seconds, he crashed hard to the ground, this time landing on his broken arm, his face going pale with pain, cold sweat pouring down. But he had no time to consider his suffering.
“Apheir!”
It felt like a whole century passed.
As the commotion receded slightly, his hearing gradually returned, and he saw the sky full of white light dissipating like mist. In his line of sight, on the charred barren land in the distance, Apheir let go of her hammer and collapsed weakly.
“Hey…”
He froze for a moment before starting to crawl toward her.
The light of the divine miracle gradually faded.
The knights pursuing from behind, caught in the shockwave, suddenly halted their movements.
Meanwhile, a hundred meters away from him, the five clerics saw their golden light fading as well. Someone glanced at Carlos, but then quickly turned back, not caring.
They panted heavily, eyes wide, staring anxiously at the sky.
“Did we break it…?”
“Not sure…”
Looking up at the sky, the black sun, after bearing the brunt of the dazzling beam of light, revealed its dark red surface again, seeming even more agitated than before. The clerics could hear a rhythmic “thump, thump,” clearer and eerier than any time before.
“Oh no…”
“I have a bad feeling about this…”
“You’ve already said that once…”
“Gulp.”
Someone swallowed nervously.
Someone wiped the sweat beading on their forehead.
And in the next moment, in everyone’s line of sight, that bl**d-red sphere rapidly turned bright crimson, like a small furnace floating in the air, the lava-like liquid writhing and twisting, producing a massive dull roar, before exploding loudly.
Hissssss—
An overwhelming heatwave rushed toward them, and as the bloodlight showered down, the heat shifted to an unbearable chill, freezing the clerics’ hair in place. Towering ice spikes erupted from the ground, clinking with the sound of crushing ice, causing the falling bl**d rain to simmer on top, exuding scarlet mist.
“Hey, hey, hey…”
“Are you kidding me…?”
They glanced at the drifting shadows within the swirling bl**d mist.
