Supersonic Strike

Confronted with Arthur Ryan's invitation, Anbaixiu was genuinely taken aback. Inviting a lich to believe in the Lord of the Dawn—did this heroic spirit have screws loose in his head? Even the slightest trace of the Holy Light's power could cause an undead agony beyond endurance. Anbaixiu was a legend, making him comparatively resilient, but that didn't mean he was immune to pain. Other undead burned in agony for a few seconds before being purified; Anbaixiu would suffer until the Holy Light's power was utterly spent. Such torment was by no means lessened just because he was a legend. To follow the Holy Light—wouldn't every prayer be a round of thousand cuts? He was no masochist devoted to Loviatar. "Your Majesty Holy King, having faith in the Holy Light is out of the question. After all, I am a lich." Yet Arthur Ryan said with eager enthusiasm, "You shouldn't be so absolute. If you haven't tried it, how do you know it won't work? Come, recite the prayer with me..." Anbaixiu showed Arthur Ryan the back of his skull, then fetched a mechanical mirror from the corner of his private pocket dimension and set it before him. "Your Majesty Holy King, this device allows for long-distance communication. I've already gifted several to the elves. If you're bored, chat with your old friends, and stop dwelling all day on impossible nonsense like an undead worshiping the Holy Light." Anbaixiu gave Arthur Ryan the command phrase to activate the magic mirror, then exited his private space. Alan was nowhere to be seen. There was no telling how he planned to deliver his speech and rally more Ryan people to his cause. Liuyan City was no longer a place to linger. The Iron-Blood General had claimed he was petitioning the Ryan Emperor for funds, but in truth, he had likely asked for permission to override the imperial pardon and take Anbaixiu into custody. That old fox. If he had enough time, Anbaixiu would have loved to set a trap that bled him dry, but alas, time was not on his side. Taking advantage of the fact that the immunity item in his hand had not yet expired, Anbaixiu prepared to leave the city, gathering a few strands of hair along the way. The soldiers of Liuyan City were suffering quite severe hair loss; along the patrol routes, he could easily scoop up dozens of strands. Anbaixiu began to wonder if his Destiny Weaving ability had grown stronger. He had clearly aimed to make Rachel Angelo go bald—how had it turned into the entire city losing hair? Anbaixiu soon reached the city gates. Just as he prepared to slip out under the cover of illusion, the magical token in his hand shattered. "Fuck!" Anbaixiu had barely cursed when a terrifying beam of Holy Light plummeted from the sky, crashing down directly onto his head. Leira's True Mirage could deceive even deities, provided he wasn't carrying a built-in tracking beacon. Shar had been able to see through illusions because Anbaixiu had studied her knowledge of the Shadow Weave. And now, the shattered magical token had exposed his location, bringing down the Holy Light strike that had long been brewing within the city right upon him. He had guessed correctly: that old fox really had requested to revoke the imperial pardon. But Anbaixiu hadn't expected it to happen so fast. In less than an hour, the Ryan Emperor had already replied? Did they really have to be this efficient? With the Holy Light descending, the only thing Anbaixiu could do was summon his Golden Throne and deploy a magical shield. The powerful blast of Holy Light instantly riddled Anbaixiu's magical shield with fractures, but in that fleeting instant, Anbaixiu fired up his thrusters, hurtling toward the city gates at supersonic speed. The moment the shield shattered, Anbaixiu smashed through the gates and hurtled into the gate passage. The strike of Holy Light from the heavens would not damage Liuyan City's walls and dissipated swiftly, allowing Anbaixiu to breathe a slight sigh of relief. Yet the gate passage was not a blind spot for the Holy Light barrage. Soon, a second beam would erupt from the ground, relentless until Anbaixiu was destroyed. Thus, Anbaixiu could only maintain supersonic flight. When the second blast of Holy Light shot forth, he dodged it with a slight tilt of his body. Thanks to the legendary ranger abilities shared by Catherine, and fortunate that the Holy Light couldn't curve around corners, Anbaixiu danced on the edge of death. Dodging barrage after barrage of Holy Light, he circled around in a wide arc until he reached an altitude of three thousand meters above Liuyan City. At this height, shielded by the clouds, Liuyan City's Holy Light could no longer lock onto Anbaixiu. Anbaixiu looked down at Liuyan City below with cold eyes and sneered, "Supersonic flight—never seen it before, have you? Well, allow me to broaden your horizons." Opening his private space, Anbaixiu hauled out a massive alchemical airship. It was an abandoned prototype from an earlier design, and now happened to be the perfect opportunity to recycle it. With the multi-ton alchemical airship hovering in midair, Anbaixiu began stuffing alchemical bombs into its hold. These were not the TNT from his past life, but their power was only slightly inferior, and they didn't come cheap either. A hold full of alchemical bombs plus this airship cost three hundred thousand gold coins, but it didn't matter—Anbaixiu wasn't short on money now! Once it was packed with alchemical bombs, Anbaixiu mounted several jet engines onto the rear of the decommissioned airship—yet another design that had been scrapped due to instability. "A perfect repurposing of scrap! Go, my Reborn, and show these Ryan folks the might of alchemy!" The jet engines roared to life, and the scrapped airship dubbed the Reborn hurtled toward Liuyan City below... or rather, it plummeted. Propelled by jet thrusters and gravity alike, the airship broke the sound barrier after plunging several hundred meters. Consequently, the colossal sonic boom and the airship reached Liuyan City below almost simultaneously. The world had never seen an attack this terrifying. The immense force generated by several tons plunging at supersonic speed could demolish any defense system. The magical barrier Liuyan City relied on to withstand magitech cannon fire was instantly punctured, offering virtually no resistance. The only thing that could remotely count as a defensive effect was that the impact prematurely detonated the alchemical bombs inside the airship. The moment the airship breached the barrier, every alchemical bomb in the hold detonated at once, turning the vessel into a rain of fire across the sky. Flaming shards of steel rained down, crushing houses and immediately sparking infernos. Rachel Angelo hadn't even processed what was happening until the airship pierced the barrier and exploded. He had just discovered Anbaixiu's escape. Unwilling to let the special arrest authorization he had worked so hard to secure go to waste, he had promptly stripped Anbaixiu of his immunity to the Holy Light. The city's Holy Light defenses immediately triggered, indicating the lich was still inside. Rachel Angelo had intended to destroy one of the lich's bodies, considering it a modest lesson for him. But how on earth could he fly so fast? The moment the sound barrier was shattered, Rachel Angelo felt his ears buzzing violently. What was that bizarre white vapor around him? Before he had time to ponder these questions, shortly after Anbaixiu shot into the sky, another deafening roar came from above, followed by that horrifying devastation. Rachel Angelo couldn't even see clearly what had crashed down. Had it flown even slightly slower, Liuyan City would have had the chance to detonate it prematurely with Holy Light strikes. But why had it fallen with such incomprehensible speed? The sea of fire spread, sweeping over the armory and granaries that Alan had originally aimed to destroy, setting them ablaze. Rachel Angelo had no choice but to immediately order the fires put out, but right at that moment, another paladin beside him let out an agonizing wail as his body abruptly began to undergo undead transformation. What was more, this time the transformation began at his neck. An ashen color spread upward from his neck, soon covering most of his face. His mouth began to open and close involuntarily, foul-smelling drool dripping down. Rachel Angelo cried out in grief, "Phil!" Yet this time, Phil couldn't wait for a Time Stop scroll to take effect before lurching toward Rachel Angelo. A beam of Holy Light flared above Phil's head, reducing the newly transformed undead to ashes. In fury, Rachel Angelo threw a punch, a powerful burst of Holy Light shattering a distant wall to pieces. "Damned lich, I will make you pay for this in blood!" Rachel Angelo had already made up his mind: whether Anbaixiu admitted it or not, he was pinning the crime of his subordinates' undead transformation squarely on the lich! However, this matter had to be reported upward. Such impossible-to-prevent undead transformations dealt too severe a blow to morale—far more terrifying than the raging fire before them. Rachel Angelo quickly regained his composure, methodically organizing the fire suppression, and then wrote a dispatch to the imperial capital at top speed to report the incident. In the letter, to avoid widespread undead curses recurring during the war, Rachel Angelo requested that the Ryan Emperor protect his soldiers with the Dragon Tyrant Armament. High in the sky, Anbaixiu looked down at Liuyan City, half engulfed in a sea of flames, and chuckled. "Now it truly lives up to its name. If it doesn't burn, how can it be called Liuyan, City of Flowing Flame?" Spending a few hundred thousand gold coins had let off some steam, but Anbaixiu knew it wouldn't change the outcome; Ryan would still launch its attack on the Kingdom of the Unholy Hymn in a month and a half. Still, this trip hadn't been an utter waste. At the very least, he had learned Ryan's approximate military strength, and discovered that the Dragon Tyrant Armament hadn't originally been part of Ryan's plan. Perhaps today's unforeseen turn of events would force the Ryan Emperor to bring the Dragon Tyrant Armament to the front lines. If so, the Emperor might deem Rachel Angelo incompetent. As long as there was even a sliver of friction, mistakes could creep into their cooperation, and the battle might not be entirely unwinnable. Provided that Mister Misfortune could resolve the devil's contract of the Kingdom of the Unholy Hymn. Whether the entire nation fell to Hell or the majority of nobles plunged into Hell, either outcome would deal a devastating blow to the Kingdom of the Unholy Hymn. Yet Anbaixiu himself couldn't think of any solution. Facts that had already occurred could not be altered even by reversing time. Under the dominion of the Goddess of Fate, traveling to the past produced no paradoxes and could not change established facts in the slightest. Anbaixiu found an arbitrary spot, slipped into his private pocket dimension, and contacted Mister Misfortune through the magic mirror. Having not seen him for merely half a day, Anbaixiu found that Mister Misfortune's wrinkles had deepened considerably, and his entire vitality had grown exceedingly frail. "Vladimir, what did you do?" Anbaixiu asked. Mister Misfortune smiled faintly. "Only what I had to do. Rest assured, this kingdom can be saved. I will sever every disastrous future and allow the Kingdom of the Unholy Hymn to survive." Hearing this brought Anbaixiu no joy. He simply said flatly, "You know you can't do that. Even if you and I joined forces, we couldn't eliminate every possibility of the kingdom's downfall." Mister Misfortune said with excitement, "Indeed, mortals cannot achieve such a magnificent feat—but a deity can. I prayed to a deity, and received an answer." Anbaixiu grew even more alarmed upon hearing this. He said to Mister Misfortune, "The Goddess of Fate never responds to anyone's prayers. Vladimir, who is this deity you speak of?" Mister Misfortune fell silent for a long while before speaking: "It is Zariel. I paid with myself as the price to reclaim the souls of two million tieflings. Although hundreds of thousands of nobles will still plunge into Hell, I have preserved the vital generals of the army. With the remainder of all my strength, I can reverse the doomed outcome. I will fall to Hell in exchange for a glimmer of hope for this kingdom."