"What's the point of pretending now? It's not like I don't know you carry the bloodline of a bloodthirsty aberrant demon. I even treated you personally back then, didn't I?"
"You treated me?"
It would have been fine if he had never brought it up, but the moment he did, it stirred up a rather shameful memory for Neo. In any case, Yorktown's streets had been far cleaner that day than usual.
His brief stint as a street sweeper had earned him no end of mockery from that fellow surnamed Inmeles.
Bernie spread his hands and asked, "Can't we just be honest with each other?"
"Except I really don't know who you are."
Bernie froze for a moment before understanding dawned. He nodded. "Oh, so you don't even deign to know me."
They had once shared a superior-subordinate dynamic, perhaps even something that could be called camaraderie—after all, they were 'comrades-in-arms' who had engaged in political opportunism together.
Yet all of that had shattered completely the moment Bernie betrayed Karen.
Even though Karen had triumphed in the last round of struggle, taking over Bernie's position while Bernie was reassigned, that was merely the outcome of a factional clash. It hardly meant their mutual enmity had vanished.
Another meaning of keeping public and private affairs strictly separate was that winning out in the open did not preclude continuing private retribution in the dark.
Their brief exchange was merely a fleeting prelude; in truth, neither side had paused their maneuvers.
The corrosive rain of blood surrounding Bernie surged frantically toward him, but after getting past his initial panic, a grayish sheen surfaced across Bernie's skin, miraculously counteracting the blood rain's negative effects.
Furthermore, a gray sapling sprouted from Bernie's chest, expanding a peculiar domain around him—not for defense, but for neutralization.
This completely threw off Neo's rhythm, spoiling his plan to follow through with a 'Decent Burial' spell and detonate Bernie on the spot.
A bloodthirsty aberrant demon's power carried negative attributes, yet the man before him countered directly with 'healing' methods. This seemingly illogical clash had actually succeeded.
Immediately after, Bernie pulled two wooden puppets from his robes. Their small heads were blood-red, soaked in gore, and each bore a blue halo of light at its chest—a soul binding.
"If you don't want to die here, if you still want to live, lower your defenses to me!"
As Bernie's words rang out, the giant still locked in combat with Ventura roared in response, while the assassin who had just disengaged from Philomena let out a deeply helpless sigh.
In the next instant, crimson threads manifested across the two wooden puppets before Bernie, snaking directly into his chest.
"In the name of the legacy, I call upon the void for an answer, ushering in the true blessing!"
Behind Bernie, two exceptionally blurred phantoms materialized. It was impossible to discern what they were, but the moment they appeared, they dove into the two wooden puppets.
The true blessing was complete!
Next, the giant and the assassin would receive a colossal and unmistakable surge in strength. This was the true might of a priest; they were far from simple healers.
Karen had personally witnessed the Order Knights besieging the Dragon clan's domain within the Church of the Crypt. Once the knights took formation, the buffs granted to the entire force by the priest company were nothing short of terrifying and exaggerated.
The only reason this technique had not been unleashed earlier was presumably because such blessings exacted an immense toll on both the caster and the recipients, potentially even causing irreversible, permanent damage.
The extreme caution this squad had displayed from the very beginning was also a reflection of their innate selfishness—to say nothing of the fact that someone like Bernie was among them.
"Roar!"
Black patterns carved their way across the giant warrior's flesh. His body did not grow any larger, but his form became far denser and more solid than before.
A single downward punch sent Ventura—who had previously been holding him at a deadlock—flying backward. The giant then leapt, hurtling straight down toward Ventura.
Ventura twisted, attempting to dodge, but thick illusory arms abruptly erupted from the giant's torso, forcibly pinning and binding Ventura to the spot.
Boom!
The giant crashed atop Ventura, raising his fists and hammering them relentlessly into him.
Splashes of blood burst into the air, accompanied by countless fragments of shattered stone.
Ventura was suppressed so utterly that he could not retaliate, plunging into dire jeopardy.
Over on the assassin's side, the sudden spike in speed made his silhouette nearly impossible to track. Fortunately, Muri handled defense while Philomena led the offense. Under their joint coordination, though forced onto the back foot, they kept the assassin from finding a clean opening to strike.
The assassin was holding out for a flawless solution, unwilling to trade injuries.
Yet after another round of probing, the assassin's silhouette materialized behind the fiery skeleton in an extraordinarily bizarre posture.
"Meow!"
Purr let out an alarmed screech.
A razor-sharp dagger plunged into the skeleton's skull.
The skeleton did not bother blocking; instead, it pressed both hands downward, sending a fire dragon roaring up from beneath its feet to form a cage. Yet the assassin had already disengaged in advance after landing his blow. Staring at the skeleton still standing upright, astonishment flashed across the assassin's eyes: A puppet?
Purr's voice carried a tinge of regret: "Sigh, didn't work, meow."
"Had enough fun? Let's end this."
Karen shouted, his voice aimed squarely at Neo's side.
You came all this way, faced your former boss, and yet failed to suppress him right off the bat, letting him pull off his blessings instead. Can you pull your weight or not, you scrawny bat?
"Philomena, Muri, pull back on defense!"
"Yes!"
"Yes!"
Philomena and Muri immediately fell back, bracing themselves against prospective sneak attacks from the assassin.
Karen dashed straight to Ventura's side. Under the current circumstances, he had to intervene where he could directly influence the battlefield rather than waste time playing hide-and-seek with that assassin.
Agility and high-speed maneuvering were not Karen's strong suits anyway. By contrast, powerful though the giant was, having such a massive target in front of him felt far more reassuring.
Swinging the Sword of Diamans upward, Karen cleaved straight down toward the neck of the giant pinning Ventura.
Yet the moment the greatsword was about to make contact, the giant abruptly leaned aside to dodge. Had Karen continued the swing, he would have cut down his own subordinate.
Even so, the giant's evasion fell right within Karen's calculations. The greatsword did not fall vertically; halfway through, Karen fluidly swept the blade across, its edge raking violently over the giant's chest and sending a long shower of sparks flying.
The giant stumbled backward in a hurry. He was clearly in pain, yet there was no sight of torn flesh or gushing blood—such was the terror of his defense.
Infuriated, the giant spread his arms wide and charged directly at Karen.
Recalling how Ventura grew impulsive and irritable every time he petrified into a giant, this adversary—who had received an even more exaggerated blessing—was undoubtedly suffering severe suppression of his rational thought as well.
Trying to overpower him through brute force would be excessively difficult. Karen's previous strike had shattered nearly all of his outer warding, yet had still failed to truly breach his defense. Unwilling to drag things out, Karen decided to switch methods.
This was the perk of running an all-purpose emporium: with plenty of tools at his disposal, he could always pick and choose an ideal combination for any situation.
"Thanks for your hard work," Karen said softly. "Don't break any crucial bones. Keep yourself safe—just check his speed and lure him in."
Little Kanna did not reply.
The giant had already closed the distance. Karen hovered midair, Sword of Diamans in hand, putting on the posture of meeting him head-on, which only drove the giant further into madness.
A brute pumped full of high-dose stimulants naturally wanted the most straightforward, brutal thrill possible.
Yet directly before the charging giant, two colossal white bones suddenly jutted out, lunging toward him.
The giant seized one in each hand and snapped them with a ferocious roar.
Yet as he pushed forward, more and more white bones manifested in ever-denser clusters. Though Karen was hovering right in front of him, the perceived distance between them was infinitely stretched by the endless forest of bones.
"Roar!"
The giant bellowed, ignoring the bone barricade entirely. Relying on his newly amplified physique, he launched an indiscriminate charge.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Like a monstrous rhinoceros, he plowed through every white bone daring to block his path, snapping them layer by layer in an unstoppable momentum.
Karen maintained his sword-wielding stance throughout. The greatsword in his hands now resembled a red matador's cape, taunting the raging bull's frayed nerves.
Beneath Karen, however, a peculiar wind had already begun to gather, while the Scythe of War insignia on the back of his hand flashed rapidly.
Foundations began taking shape upon the ground, though the process seemed deliberately subdued.
Finally shattering the last of the bone barricades, the giant let loose a guttural, impatient roar and threw a punch straight at Karen. A dark sheen coated his fist; even if the Dragon God Armor could deflect most physical impacts, the concussive force clinging to the strike would still transfer through the armor to the body within.
Yet just as the two were about to collide, black wings unfolded behind Karen, who had maintained his dueling pose for so long. Thousand Phantoms exerted nearly all of its strength, whisking Karen out of the area at blinding speed.
Whir!
The giant's fist struck empty air. Just as he instinctively lunged forward to swat the 'butterfly,' an uneasy premonition gripped him. He glanced down, only to discover the unnoticed black foundations from earlier were violently erecting additional stories!
In a flash, a black fortress materialized. Massive as his body was, the Black Prison Castle was by no means small, securely trapping him within.
Karen had deployed a similar trick against the Church of the Moon God's giant insect. Against opponents boasting immense attack and defense, it worked wonders.
Originally, Black Prison Castle was a wartime spell meant for defense and protection. Yet thanks to Karen's peculiarities, what should have been a squad-wide collective spell became a solo art, shifting from defensive containment to outright imprisonment—with the added bonus of leeching power for free.
Boom!
The giant's fist punched clean through the castle wall, an arm protruding almost entirely as his whole body prepared to burst free.
Yet from inside the command chamber of the Black Prison Castle, a vine shot forth and wrapped around Karen's wrist.
Answering the call, the Scythe of War enshrined within the Temple of Order began channeling down power to bolster the spell.
The breached castle wall rapidly regenerated. Time and again the giant smashed through, and time and again the castle repaired itself.
With the divine artifact's power backing him, Karen bore very little personal strain.
As for whether siphoning power from a divine artifact would draw the temple's scrutiny... probably not. After all, it was a complete, high-grade divine artifact; this tiny expenditure was truly a drop in the ocean.
Behind him, the assassin abruptly rematerialized, this time locking onto Karen as his target.
Yet with Thousand Phantoms' wings wrapping into an arc of defense, reinforced by the Dragon God Armor within and cushioned at the deepest layer by the Sea God's Armor, Karen held firm.
With one hand, Karen maintained control over the Black Prison Castle, while his other hand held his sword, casually parrying the assassin's attacks. Though the assassin still managed to land opportunistic blows, they elicited little more than a grunt or two from Karen.
Bolstered jointly by Blanche and Richard, the heavily wounded Ventura rose to his feet once more. Though his body was fractured and battered, he did not dispel his giant form, actively charging toward the Black Prison Castle to stand guard outside.
Wherever the giant inside tried to break out, Ventura shoved him right back in.
The skeleton slipped another fire crystal into its chest, muttering under its breath, "The cost this time is getting pretty steep, meow. How many premium coffees is this going to take?"
The skeleton spread its arms and began chanting an incantation.
The surrounding magma gathered toward the fortress, eventually cooling around its exterior into a rigid, solid shell, encasing the Black Prison Castle in an additional crust.
With that, the giant was completely smothered within.
Seeing this, the assassin flickered upward into the air. He knew full well the battle was lost and intended to flee before his blessing wore off.
A lion's roar echoed out as the phantom of a golden lion manifested around Muri, appearing overhead. His round shield expanded once more, successfully shutting down the assassin's escape route.
Using Muri's back as a springboard, Philomena vaulted into the air, the Nightmare Blade in her hand flashing with swift slashes as she plunged into another close-quarters duel between assassins.
Yet her opponent clearly had no desire to prolong the brawl; even though he could still maintain the upper hand, his mind was entirely fixed on escaping.
Spotting an opening, Philomena deliberately exposed a flaw. Almost instinctively, the assassin thrust his dagger straight toward her face. Philomena clamped her palm around the blade, ignoring the agony of having her hand pierced through, and closed her eyes:
"Enter the dream!"
The assassin shuddered violently, his consciousness dragged into a dreamscape. Though his blessed state did not leave him as berserk as the giant, he was certainly far from his calmest self.
Philomena had deliberately saved this technique for this exact moment, catching him entirely off guard.
Neo was thoroughly irritated. He had picked what was supposed to be the softest target—a mere priest—yet he had failed to make any headway.
Believing himself to be his side's strongest combatant, he had ended up locked in a messy stalemate with a healer from start to finish.
Neo decided to stop holding back. If negative attributes were countered by your methods... then I'll show you what true Light looks like!
Yet before Neo could strike, Bernie, having realized the situation was unsalvageable, let out a sigh. A scroll appeared in his hand and ignited spontaneously.
Rumble!
A colossal dark cloud abruptly gathered above, from which a gigantic hand reached down.
The hand was here to pull Bernie out.
***
"Old fool, there was another array here and you didn't even notice?"
Seeing this, Madame Tangli immediately began berating her husband.
Old Delon protested with an aggrieved tone, "That's not an array—it's this region's Guardian of Order making a move."
"Which one?"
"He didn't deploy his dharma body because he doesn't want his identity exposed; that way, he can brush it off afterward. The guardians of each region are independent third parties who don't meddle in regional affairs, answering only to the Holy See.
What on earth is going on here anyway? How did this turn into infighting within our own church?"
"It has been infighting within your Church of Order all along!" Madame Tangli snapped again. "You're only noticing now?"
"My dear... you should have at least explained things to me beforehand."
"What, would you have refused to come if I had?"
"Of course not! I would have come fully prepared!"
"Heh."
Madame Tangli cast a sidelong glance at her husband, musing: Should I consider letting him acknowledge Karen as his grandson?
Then she felt a twinge of reluctance, thinking it might be too cruel to Richard.
At least Richard enjoyed the doting affection of his biological grandfather right now. If her husband learned Karen was his grandson as well, wouldn't Richard be cast aside entirely?
Madame Tangli never felt her favoritism toward Karen was unwarranted. She knew that once her husband learned the truth, he would be ecstatic to the point of madness, because Karen also carried the blood of the Guman family and could naturally activate the Key to the Rubik's Cube.
When that time came, her husband might well camp outside Karen's door every day, eager to impart every trick to wielding the Key to the Rubik's Cube.
Their brilliantly talented eldest daughter had died young; their reasonably gifted son had suffered mental trauma, squandering his prime years; their younger daughter was of ordinary talent and cared only for her little domestic life...
Worse still, their biological grandson had gone astray, wasting his time playing with caterpillars!
The lack of a flourishing family legacy had always been her husband's deepest sorrow.
Up above, the colossal hand descending from the dark cloud reached lower, intending to shatter all obstacles and forcefully extract its target.
Madame Tangli waited a beat. Seeing that the fiery skeleton had yet to act, a smile blossomed across her face.
"My dear, are you about to act on impulse?"
Old Delon phrased his dissuasion with utmost delicacy.
"Yes. Just like when I impulsively accepted your proposal all those years ago."
Delon shut his mouth instantly.
Madame Tangli rolled her neck. "A regional guardian, is it? Come then, let's see what you've got!"
The moment the words left her lips,
Madame Tangli shot into the air, raising the kitchen cleaver she had sharpened countless times, and cleaved straight toward that colossal hand!
In that instant, Madame Tangli seemed to return to her youthful days;
While down below, Old Delon, whose heart had been fluttering with anxiety just moments before,
Stared up in utter fascination.
Chapter 662