When Sword Law spoke of all offense and no defense, it meant not only abandoning his personal defenses, but also ceasing to micromanage the operation of the Sword Rain Pool.
Even a world secret realm tuned and conditioned by the Divine Lord of Stars was a weapon of extreme difficulty for a Law Angel to wield. In order to ensure that Yaxiu and the others could not break out of the Sword Rain Pool, at least eighty percent of Sword Law's concentration had been dedicated to sustaining the Realm of Suffering, the Curtain of Sorrow, the Coffin of Weeping Rain, and the Sword Rain Pool itself.
It was precisely because he could only employ twenty percent of his mind that he had been battered by the female sorcerers without being able to fight back. However, that hardly meant much; after all, the Realm of Suffering and Curtain of Sorrow had likely suppressed more than eighty percent of their combat power. If Sword Law could barely hold his own even while employing a world secret realm, he would have stood even less of a chance without one.
Now, however, the female sorcerers were all sealed inside the water coffins. The only enemy remaining was Yaxiu. Furthermore, Sword Law was utterly certain that even if Yaxiu found a flaw allowing him to escape, he would never abandon the battlefield. Thus, Sword Law only needed to focus his attention on the Coffin of Weeping Rain; he cast aside the ineffective Curtain of Sorrow and left the Realm of Suffering to run on its own.
Having suddenly liberated most of his focus, Sword Law could finally display his true swordsmanship—and more importantly, it meant he could call upon gods.
The Sword Net God from the Realm of Suffering, the Sword Technique God from the Curtain of Sorrow, and the Heart Sword God from the Prison of Self-Harm—the angel could draw upon the might of all three gods without disrupting the operation of the wonders.
The curtain of rain in the hall was brutally torn asunder. A figure was sent hurtling violently back, crashing onto the pool's surface and sending up sprays of water over a dozen meters high. Yet this time, the monster that hit the ground was not the angel, but the fiend. The moment Yaxiu absorbed the impact and broke his fall, leaping back to his feet, an overwhelming golden sword net had already engulfed his vision.
Trapped inside the water coffins, Sonia and the others watched helplessly as Yaxiu dragged his chains with one hand and brandished his sharp sword with the other, locked in a brutal clash with the angel from the floor to the ceiling. A blazing gale surged amidst the dense sword rain, shaking the entire hall to the brink of collapse. Yet what rained down alongside the shattered stone was crimson blood and blue blood, dissolving into the downpour.
"What do we do? What do we do? What do we do... Waah... Why did I ruin things again? How could it be my fault again..."
Diya broke down in frantic distress, hugging her knees and wailing like a child.
Sonia pounded against the interior of the water coffin punch after punch. Even though she could only raise faint ripples across its surface, she never stopped, putting all her focus and strength into every single strike.
"You might as well cry along with the Witch," Weise said calmly. "It's impossible to break through from the inside. You're only wasting your energy like this..."
When Sonia turned to look at her, the depth in those ruby eyes made Weise shut her mouth immediately. Yet Sonia did not resume attacking the water coffin. Instead, she turned to Vichy. "Vichy, what did you and Yaxiu do?"
Vichy was busy studying the water coffin and was in no mood to answer. Only when Sonia asked a second time did she reply irritably, "Him and me..."
The maid turned to glance at the expressionless Sword Princess, instantly suppressing any urge to provoke her, and answered honestly, "I haven't done anything with him that you haven't done."
It sounded a bit convoluted, but inverted, the meaning was simple: *Whatever you've done with him, I've done too.*
"Really? But right now, the only virtual wings and god he's sharing are yours," Sonia asked placidly. "The priority is solving this problem. Everything else can be conceded. Just tell us—I promise no one here will be angry with you two."
Vichy sighed helplessly. "We really haven't done the things you're imagining... Sword Princess, do you have so little faith in Yaxiu? He hasn't even given it to you yet—how would he ever let us lay a finger on him?
"As for this sharing business, it's probably just a matter of probability. After all, during the demigod promotion ceremony, we all shared with each other. This time, in his desperation, he managed to share my virtual wings; perhaps next time, he'll be able to share the Silver Lantern's.
"The recipient of the sharing definitely has nothing to do with emotional closeness. Do you really think I rank higher in his heart than you do?"
"That's hard to say..." the Witch sobbed. "I'm not even allowed to call him Papa, but you get to call him Master. Only you have an exclusive title... and you're the only one he wanted to drag down into the grave with him..."
"Is that supposed to prove I have a closer relationship with him?" Vichy was caught between tears and laughter, yet the corners of her lips curved up faintly, an inexplicable trace of superiority welling in her heart.
"Still, we can't just sit and wait for death," the Sword Princess said solemnly. "Weise, Vichy, we can only rely on you two now. Felix, Daidalos, please inspect the water coffins closely to see if there are any flaws. Witch, stop crying and try contacting the Gospel God again."
Felix and Daidalos were hiding near the water coffins. Knowing the girls were in terrible spirits, they naturally hadn't dared to interject, but upon hearing Sonia's instructions, they nodded repeatedly.
The Witch let out a tearful hiccup and hummed in acknowledgment. Vichy and Weise glanced at Sonia, inwardly marveling at Yaxiu's luck.
Although it was impossible to say who was the most anxious among them, the one feeling the most powerless was undoubtedly the Sword Princess. The Witch had her sisters to consult and could reach out to the Gospel God; the Silver Lantern was herself a god and could analyze the water coffins; Vichy's thousand years of experience and erudition gave her the qualifications to unravel the coffins. Only the Sword Princess could do nothing, throwing punch after futile punch.
It would hardly have been surprising if the Sword Princess had broken down like the Witch. Yet not only did she calm herself to search for a breakthrough, but she also rallied the team and assigned tasks. The brilliance she displayed in favorable circumstances was already remarkable, but the character she demonstrated in helpless adversity was even more breathtaking. Even without Yaxiu, she would still be a genius sorcerer unmatched in her era.
Compared to Weise and Vichy, the only things Sonia lacked were experience and knowledge. Though they were reluctant to admit it, Yaxiu's deep favoritism toward Sonia was not without reason.
"Silver Lantern," Vichy said suddenly, "you count as a soul body right now, don't you?"
"What are you thinking...?"
"A sympathetic soul detonation," Vichy said. "I can trigger a sympathetic explosion using soul fragments alone. Though it will damage our soul bodies, we have no time to worry about that. Accept my hypnosis, and we'll synchronize for a sympathetic detonation."
"And then we can break through the water coffins?" Diya's spirits lifted.
"Impossible. At most, it'll shake them a bit," Vichy said. "But it might create an opening for Yaxiu."
"Then let's not just use fragments—detonate my... my hands and feet and tummy too!"
Vichy looked helplessly at Her Majesty the Empress. "I can control myself, but I can't control how much of you detonates. If we detonate your actual body, you'll definitely blow up completely like fireworks."
Frightened, the Witch shook her head frantically like a rattle-drum.
"Still, the hypnosis and synchronization will take time," Vichy said, looking outward. "I have a feeling... Yaxiu doesn't have much time left."
Yaxiu's time was running out.
Sword Law glared with his remaining eye at the fiend wrapped in deep, primordial darkness before him. His other eye had already been slashed to ribbons; had he not leaned back in time, half his head would have been shorn off by Yaxiu.
Two fingers on his left hand were gone, his waist had been sliced a quarter of the way through, and his pale, gruesome shoulder blades were exposed to the sword rain. Riddled with wounds and mangled with torn flesh, he looked every bit as hideous as a fiend. Indeed, something as beautiful as an angel had no place here; a bloody, filthy battlefield was meant only for fiends.
Because only a fiend could vanquish a fiend.
Chapter 1102