Chapter 1168 Defeat And Victory

As Israfel released the power of his spear, his eyes slowly closed and he let out a sigh that only he could hear amidst the roar of crimson light that tore the sky in two.

Decimation of the Moon.

A skill that consumed practically all of the user's magic power and Mana, draining it to 0 practically in an instant. 

Despite such a counter, however, Decimation of the Moon boosted all the power of the Longinus wielder 20 times. 

In fact, Israfel was also not confident enough to face Bai Zemin in a 1 vs 1 battle for too many minutes or even hours. After all, Israfel had confirmed during their first clash that his Divine Word skill did not have the slightest effect on the other party, which meant that his overall power would be significantly less powerful against him.

Therefore, the Supreme Pontiff accepted the clash of a single attack.

With the destructive power of Decimation of the Moon added to the special characteristic that only the Godslayer Spear possessed, Absolute Killing Strike, Israfel did not need to worry about his enemy dodging his attack.

'Although such a thing is impossible.' Israfel sighed again.

Decimation of the Moon was a long range attack that could cover over 50 kilometers long and over 5 kilometers wide, making it an attack impossible to dodge in less than 1 second.

Israfel's eyes flashed with a hint of disappointment and regret as he looked at the large mass of crimson light before his eyes: 'His aura disappeared-'

Suddenly, Israfel's expression changed as he remembered the words that Naomi, who loved video games since she was young, always said in a joking tone

If the experience doesn't come, then the monster is still alive.

The Supreme Pontiff's pupils contracted to the size of a needle as a strong sense of danger flooded him.

Out of pure instinct and as proof of how talented he was, Israfel suddenly stabbed forward with his bronze-colored spear.

CLANG!!

The sound of metal clanging against metal produced a loud explosion in the sky, but the roar of Decimation of the Moon was countless times fiercer so no one heard it.

Israfel's face distorted slightly as he looked at the small space crack in front of him.

The spatial crack was so small that only two spears at most could pass through it, and beyond the crack, Israfel could see half of the golden spear engulfed in flames and black mist of the enemy stabbing in his direction.

If he were only 0.1 seconds late, Bai Zemin's spear would have pierced him without a doubt!

Israfel's arms trembled and his gloves cracked as proof of how fierce the attack had been and which he barely managed to parry thanks in large part to luck being on his side.

However, what happened next made his eyes grow wide.

It all happened too fast, way faster than a high-level soul evolver like him could react in the face of an attack of such magnitude and so well masked.

Faster than lightning, and probably only slightly slower than the speed of light, a black shadow emerged from the flame-wrapped spear. 

Even before Israfel could move his spear back to block the unforeseen attack, the black spear that seemed to be made of shadows shot forward completely ignoring all his defenses.

...

Approximately 10 seconds later, the false blue-colored sky regained its original radiance as the crimson light disappeared in sync with the energy beam fired by the Godslayer Spear wielded by the Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Church.

Wu Yijun stared wide-eyed into the sky. Her pretty innocent-looking face was white and her big black shiny eyes trembled with fear awaiting the final outcome.

Saint of the Absolute Felix sighed with his eyes closed as if he felt it was a pity.

Shangguan Bing Xue also could not completely reject the feeling of fear in her heart. Regardless of how strong Bai Zemin might be and how many times he overcame death in the past, when one loved someone they would naturally worry; feelings were irrational after all.

Eleanora ignored the groans of pain from the First Prince of the East Sea who was writhing on the ground with her great sword stuck in his stomach. Her bright blue eyes narrowed, trying to pierce beyond the clouds of magic and mana that partially covered the view.

Matthew Sanchez and his little sister Naomi seemed more relaxed than their enemies, at least on the surface. 

In fact, the most relieved was Naomi. 

When she glanced sideways at Bai Shilin who was looking up at the sky with some apprehension on her beautiful youthful face, Naomi couldn't help but mutter to herself in her heart: 'This little monster... As expected of a hybrid.'

Although Bai Shilin's racial matter was a secret, a large and powerful faction like the Holy Church naturally knew a few things about the Transcendent faction. Furthermore, it was absolutely impossible for Bai Zemin, who was not even 22 years old, to have a daughter who looked like she was 15 or 16 years old.

"Uh?" The beautiful woman with slightly greenish skin and red hair looked past the now scattering clouds of mana and her emerald eyes widened, "Impossible..."

She, as well as approximately 20 to 30 soul evolvers had rushed over after hearing several explosions from the distance, wanting to see the clash to the death between powerful soul evolvers or wanting to snatch the treasures found by the other party.

However, the power of the attack released by the Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Church made many reconsider whether they should continue to approach or not and so, just to be on the safe side, they decided to watch some more from the top of the buildings more than 2 kilometers away.

Corruption Demon Shun was also with them and felt happy in his heart. He sneered, thinking that the loudmouth enemy who had been provoking him for the past few days died just like that.

"Ah!" Wu Yijun cried out in fright when she saw the condition Bai Zemin was in while in the sky.

"What...?" Felix opened his eyes wide, unable to believe his eyes: 'How is this possible...? His aura had definitely disappeared when Israfel's attack hit him!'

While Felix, just like Corruption Demon Shun, felt lost and confused, Shangguan Bing Xue took a step forward with a pale face. She was about to jump off the building she was standing on to support the person she respected and loved the most, but when she looked the other party her footsteps stopped and the murderous intent in her blue eyes subsided considerably.

In the sky, Bai Zemin checked his condition silently for a moment as the two ash-gray wings on his back flickered as if on the verge of collapse.

A bitter smile formed at the corner of his mouth as he saw that, just as he suspected, he did not manage to come out unscathed in the face of the enemy Longinus' power.

'As expected of a weapon worthy of the designation Godslayer.'

Half of his left arm had disappeared without a trace, part of the left side of his upper body had suffered a similar fate and his heart was spared by only a few centimeters. 

Although his wounds were not fatal, the damage he received turned out to be even greater than the damage that Ghost Emperor Jack inflicted on him back then while he was still at level 50.

The scariest thing of all was that if it wasn't for the power of his new subclass, Dimensional Shadow Monarch, Bai Zemin didn't dare to imagine the consequences.

As Bai Zemin lamented regarding the fact that he would surely need at least 1 or 2 months to regenerate his lost limb and recover from his injuries unless he found an enemy with high Health to use Drain Life on, Israfel's voice brought him back to the real world again.

"... How can you be alive after being hit by my spear attack...?"

The High Pontiff's voice was slightly weak but sounded genuinely curious.

There was only a fist-sized wound on his body, so compared to Bai Zemin's considerably more miserable state, his was not noteworthy. However, all those present were extremely powerful soul evolvers who could sense and perceive things a thousand times clearer compared to others.

They could feel clearly and could say with certainty that the Supreme Pontiff's vital aura was falling very, very quickly.

Bai Zemin shook his head and said bitterly, "That attack of yours... It really was horrible. I almost died for real."

"..." Israfel stared at him silently for a few seconds, and realizing that the other party was being honest nodded even though he still didn't understand how it was possible to survive an attack that would definitely hit its target and whose power was enough to shatter the moon.

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[Dimensional Shadow Monarch (subclass): You understand the limits of shadows and gain a small mastery over spatial power after merging two skills that should have always been one, to begin with. Monarchs are those who are one step away from becoming true rulers of their respective masteries].

[Passive effect: Increases the destructive power of all shadow element skills by 100% and reduces their cooldown time by half].

[Passive effect 2: Once every thirty days, the user's body will become an unreachable shadow that cannot be affected by any physical or magical attack when death is imminent. The maximum time limit of the effect is 10 minutes or an attack of magnitude beyond the second passive effect of the Dimensional Shadow Monarch subclass].

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The power of the attack released by Israfel wielding his Godslayer Spear had reached a level that Bai Zemin did not expect at all.

The power of his Dimensional Shadow Monarch subclass, as Shangguan Bing Xue pointed out days ago, was comparable to the power of a special class and yet it was still surpassed by Decimation of the Moon in such a way that the 10 minutes of the second passive effect was reduced to 9.5 seconds at best.

In fact, if Israfel were a soul evolver 10 or 20 levels higher, Bai Zemin was sure that his injuries would not have been as simple as the loss of a limb and some ribs.

"F-Father!" 

As Bai Zemin and Israfel looked at each other, communicating without speaking, Naomi's piercing cry rang out from the magical forest below them.

Naomi hurriedly raised her magic scepter and the white-colored jewel glowed brightly as she put every remaining Mana point into it to increase the effect of her healing skill.

However, there was a person who moved like a flash of white lightning and punched her hard in the stomach long before Naomi could cast her magic.

Boom!!!

The beautiful mage's eyes opened wide and tears that it was not known if they were from the pain of the punch she received on her solar plexus or from the condition of the man who raised her after being abandoned in an orphanage fell down her flawless face.

Naomi's mouth opened as she involuntarily coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood, and as her body fell forward after fainting from the impact, she was caught by two slender arms.

"Naomi!" Matthew shouted in fright and anger at the whole situation.

Like a rabid lion, this First Knight of the strongest legion in all of Europe raised his sword and charged towards his enemy with the intention of saving his younger sister.

Bai Shilin laid the collapsed Naomi on the ground and raised her two little fists in guard as she took small hops in place, making her white gloves and boots shine brighter and brighter with each bounce.

She looked beautiful and cute with her silver hair swinging with every hop, but the dangerous aura surrounding her was definitely not something to laugh at.

As he faced the ice-cold eyes of the little enemy princess and after realizing that they clearly had no intention of killing his sister, the First Holy Knight stopped in his tracks and lowered his sword as he cursed to the heavens, shouting his sorrows and laments at what he knew was the total loss of his side.

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