In the master bedroom of the Sylvie house, Sonia slept deeply in Martha's arms. Her eyes were somewhat red and swollen from crying, and the tip of her nose was red as well. The tear streaks had long since dried, but having subconsciously sniffed back an incoming sneeze, she was now slowly blowing a transparent snot bubble, looking just like a little piglet.
Martha felt both pained and amused. Using her sleeve, she wiped her daughter's face clean, tucked her under the quilt, and tiptoed out of the room. A moment later, she returned carrying a basin of hot water and a thermos. The new towel soaked through with scalding water, and when wrung out, it was pleasantly warm, as if bearing the very weight of a mother's love.
When the warm towel was gently applied to her face, the fast-asleep Sonia suddenly opened her eyes and asked, "What is it?"
Martha shook her head reflexively, but immediately realized that the worry and distress on her face could not be hidden from her daughter. All along, it had only ever been her daughter playing along with her lies; she had never once managed to fool Sonia.
"He's gone. I couldn't find him in the courtyard either." Martha gripped the warm towel tightly and asked tentatively, "Could he have—"
"If he were willing to abandon me on his own, I might have it a bit easier, but there's no such good thing in this world." Sonia chuckled softly. "He will definitely never let me go... just as I will never let him go."
Discussing such topics about lovers with her mother seemed slightly embarrassing. A faint blush crept onto Sonia's face. Pulling the quilt up to cover the lower half of her face, she said in a muffled voice, "Don't worry. It's just a little accident. He'll come back as soon as he takes care of it."
Far from being reassured, Martha grew even more nervous. "What happened? Is it because you and Linda came back, and someone came to arrest you? I—"
"Mom."
Sonia caught her mother's hand. With eyes half-lidded, her voice was so lazy it seemed almost drawn out like melted sugar, yet her tone brooked no argument: "When I say it's fine, it's fine. Don't pester me."
Martha shut her mouth at once. Opening the thermos, she poured half a cup of water and brought it to Sonia's lips. Sonia sipped it slowly, mouthful by mouthful. Only then did Martha tentatively ask, "He won't get hurt, will he?"
Sonia opened her eyes, and seeing the genuine worry on her mother's face, she spoke slowly: "Nothing will happen to him. In the mortal world, no one can hurt him, except..."
"...Me."
As she spoke, she drifted back into a deep sleep. Martha wiped her daughter's face clean with the warm towel. While rinsing the towel, she caught a glimpse of Sonia's lips curling up slightly, as if immersed in a sweet dream.
A sleeping child ought to be a mother's treasure, yet Martha felt a slight chill creeping down her spine.
The last time Martha had seen Sonia smile so sweetly was when she was five years old, coming back after apologizing—and letting the entire village know that an eight-year-old boy had been beaten to tears by a five-year-old girl. Back then, she had even hummed while eating, as though chewing not on bread, but on her rival's humiliation. Her smile had been sweet and refreshingly crisp, like sea wind blowing through rusted barbed wire.
It possessed a cruel beauty.
...
As the sky full of star dust entered his body, Sword Law's wounds instantly healed as if never inflicted. Although enhanced by the Supreme Tail Feather, elevating Vermilion Water Moon's might far beyond the demigod rank to the six-wing level—faintly bearing the profundity of destiny and nearly ignoring all defenses to wound the enemy—Sword Law's Curtain of Sorrow was, after all, an eternal wonder, sufficient to weaken Vermilion Water Moon into injuries he could endure.
Herein lay the difference between a frontline angel and the God-Leaders: during the battle of Senluo, neither Yaxiu's nor Sonia's Vermilion Water Moon had managed to harm the God-Leaders in the slightest.
"This star dust can even be used for healing?... No, that's not right."
Yaxiu immediately realized something was off. "Although Vermilion Water Moon isn't a complex damaging curse, it shouldn't be possible to heal it this quickly. Is this an eternal wonder capable of healing all injuries?"
Yaxiu had suffered far too much from a lack of healing methods. First, there was nearly two months of recuperation in Senluo, followed by half a month wasted in Gospel, all because he couldn't heal his wounds and had to seek out alternative solutions or wait to recover naturally. He was therefore acutely aware of how precious a means to heal any injury was—aside from False Promise, he had never seen a similar miracle wonder.
Even the time wonder he had recently constructed, Jump, could only heal injuries sustained within a certain window of time. Moreover, Yaxiu had to have come into contact with the target's normal state beforehand in order to jump them back to that healthy past. If the other party had already been injured upon first meeting, or if too much time had passed since Yaxiu last saw them, Jump was powerless.
If the Law Angels' healing method could also treat all injuries, it meant that as long as Yaxiu failed to eliminate them in a single move, they could recover in the blink of an eye.
"You could consider this a small perk of being a Law Angel," Sword Law said, smiling like a headhunter pitching benefits to a prospective general manager. "After an Indestructible Star Marker has existed for a thousand years, it transforms our soul body into a 'quasar.' Any star sorcery falling upon us will replace our damaged parts. So this isn't healing, but replacement."
Yaxiu understood instantly: the reason a demigod's soul body was so difficult to heal was that it no longer possessed metabolism, renewal, or regeneration. This granted demigods eternal lifespan, but also forced them to cling strictly to an immutable soul body... Demigods didn't even have the option to cut away necrotic flesh, because a soul body could not regenerate—once cut off, it was gone for good!
Even if one didn't care about maiming oneself, the soul body was intricately linked to the Temple of Sorcery; lopping off parts of the soul body would damage the temple, inviting endless repercussions. Consequently, an ordinary demigod's healing methods were geared toward turning damaged flesh back into healthy flesh whenever possible.
Compared to ordinary demigods, while a Law Angel's soul body could not regenerate or heal itself either, they had transformed it into a quasar that could be replaced at will. Thus, they could lop off any spoiled flesh and swap in healthy flesh without affecting their Temple of Sorcery in the slightest.
Sword Law had voluntarily divulged the nature of the quasar naturally to erode Yaxiu's confidence. Even if Yaxiu could wound them, it was meaningless; unless Yaxiu could execute them in an exceedingly brief window of time, they would recover to pristine condition in a heartbeat.
The angels' vast accumulation was demonstrated to the fullest at this moment. They had served their God-Leader faithfully for thousands and tens of thousands of years without complaint, and in return received their God-Leader's cultivation, converting their boundless time into boundless power. If the growth rate of the gods in Hell was 1, then an angel was at least 2. Although both faced a ceiling, angels were bound to be much closer to the limit of the five-wing rank than Hell's demigods.
The pain points and flaws that seemed insurmountable in Yaxiu's eyes could be steadily perfected by angels over millennia. If a demigod was merely a rough foundational architecture, an angel was a highly polished product refined through countless iterations, leaving no exploitable weaknesses behind.
The only way to defeat an angel was head-on: to thoroughly crush them with strength that surpassed their own!
Yaxiu lowered his arms, his whole body relaxing as if a sharp sword had returned to its scabbard, concealing its edge. Yet behind him, a second golden virtual wing condensed. Looking closely, one could even discern subtle differences: his own golden virtual wing was like molten gold flowing freely across the plumage, whereas the Sword Princess's golden virtual wing was like a tautly stretched harp string, ready to strike a peerless note at its next flap!
He took a step forward, ripples surging through the void beneath his feet.
Sword Princess Wonder: Flashing Ripples!
Yaxiu had never used this mobility wonder before, having only witnessed Sonia's valiant figure during her flash assaults. Yet now, it was as if he had merged into one with that memory. Sonia's sorcery experience flowed seamlessly into his soul; he wielded her power effortlessly, as though Sonia were holding his hands and guiding him through combat. All he had to do was dance to her rhythm.
As the ripples washed over the angels, Yaxiu instantly teleported to Star Law's flank, raising his hand with a blinding wave of blood-tide sword light. Star Law promptly blinked to safety in the distance, leaving Sword Law to intercept Yaxiu while bringing down falling stars in pursuit. She did not fear Yaxiu's swordsmanship—her Monarch was the peerless number one swordsman of all time, and no one in this world was better equipped to counter swordsmanship than she. But her Monarch had entrusted the Ocean of Stars to her so she could assist as a chess player, not dive onto the board as a pawn in a bloody brawl!
All she needed was to maintain the Star Sea Chessboard to secure victory; putting herself in harm's way would be foolish conceit. Star Law dared not underestimate this future Deputy Sovereign of Heaven. Even her Monarch had suffered at his hands, so no miracle Yaxiu created would come as a surprise.
Star Law wanted to run, but Yaxiu refused to let her!
Flashing Ripples rippled incessantly through the curtain of rain. Stepping upon the ripples, Yaxiu relentlessly pursued Star Law across blinks of teleportation, cleaving a path of life and death through any star dust storm with a single swing. Bear in mind that he lacked an eternal wonder, and every step he teleported heavily consumed his source power. Even so, Yaxiu bit down hard on Star Law and refused to let go.
Star Law fled, Yaxiu pursued, and Sword Law entangled. The three barely stayed in any one position for more than a second, engaged in the most bizarre, dazzling slaughter amid endless flashes of teleportation!
Yaxiu was no longer content to remain a statue bathed in the downpour, and Sonia was certainly not the type to take a beating without fighting back. As their bond level reached 4.5, the Sword Princess's battle fervor thoroughly ignited his soul. He darted through the shimmering rain of stars like a child frolicking in the deluge, yet his twin blades were so fierce and domineering—one sword warding off Sword Law, the other chasing down Star Law—that he single-handedly suppressed and pummeled the two Law Angels!
As the fight peaked, Yaxiu felt the blood boiling throughout his entire body. High-spirited and brimming with vigor, he laughed aloud, his laughter even drowning out the torrential rain filling the sky. As the red glow in his left eye spread to his right, a ferocious cat wreathed in purplish-red resentment flames manifested behind him.
The World-Ending Resentful Blazing Dragon seemed somewhat dissatisfied, but with a glare from Yaxiu, it obediently offered up its power.
Star Law and Sword Law were momentarily cowed by his aura. The last trace of disdain they held for Yaxiu evaporated into nothingness, and it suddenly struck them that he truly might have the qualifications to be the Deputy Sovereign of Heaven.
Yet Yaxiu's source power ultimately had its limits, whereas the endurance of eternal wonders was limitless. Victory remained firmly in the grasp of the Law Angels.
As for the greatest variable—Yaxiu's girls—all were undergoing their six-wing trials. No one could come to his rescue, and his voice could not pierce this curtain of rain. This would be the end of Yaxiu, Feeler of the Four Pillar Gods, and that of Yaxiu, Deputy Sovereign of Heaven as well.
Yet a lingering unease still haunted the hearts of the two Law Angels... because Yaxiu had yet to draw the three swords on his back.
When Yaxiu had summoned those three swords, the Law Angels had treated them as formidable threats. Though they did not know the exact effects, with their discernment it wasn't hard to tell that it was a unique wonder. They had remained on high alert, waiting for Yaxiu to reveal this trump card, but Yaxiu seemed to have forgotten the three swords on his back altogether, never once drawing them throughout the fierce battle.
Could this be some permanent passive effect? Or was it...?
Yaxiu's sudden, rabid assault had caught the two Law Angels off balance. Now that they had adapted to his tempo, Star Law and Sword Law abruptly realized—Yaxiu's fighting style was too strange. Even if he could wound Star Law, Star Law could heal instantly. In contrast, by continuously teleporting, he would deplete his own source power, making it entirely counterproductive.
Yet Yaxiu was no fool. For him to drag the Law Angels into such a lightning-fast, high-intensity brawl, there had to be a greater purpose... Since his goal was not to inflict damage, it was to divert the Law Angels' attention!
In the next exchange, Star Law finally stopped evading. She swung her staff with the thunderous fury of a two-handed greatsword. At the same time, Sword Law bore almost the entirety of his strength down onto his blade, slashing from above toward the three swords behind Yaxiu!
The madman who struck like an avalanche and a tsunami was finally suppressed by the angels. Yaxiu's twin blades parried the Law Angels' onslaught, and his earth-shattering momentum suddenly grew calm and still.
"You figured it out after all," Yaxiu smiled faintly. His right pupil also flushed blood-red, lending an unruly, arrogant cast to his smile.
"Still... that's enough."
Yaxiu actually released his twin blades of his own accord, teleporting to the other side of the battlefield. He reached back and gripped the first of the three swords on his back. The moment he grasped the hilt, Sword Law sensed a familiar aura—it was the law of the Heart Sword God, a unique wonder constructed with the Heart Sword God as its core!
Yet Star Law sensed another power as well—an old acquaintance she had dealt with for thousands of years: the authority of death, born of mountains of corpses and seas of blood!
Yaxiu's hand seemed to breathe a soul into the sword. Molten-iron patterns surfaced along the blade, looking as though a brilliant starry river flowed within it. When he drew the sword completely, a chill pierced through Sword Law's soul, sending tingles through the scalp of this youngest Law Angel and casting him into an icy abyss!
"This is the sword I forged for you Law Angels," Yaxiu said, both eyes blood-red and boiling with killing intent. Behind him, his virtual wings unfurled a second kaleidoscopic virtual wing and a second sword-colored virtual wing, reflecting each other with brilliant radiance, as if the Sword Princess had manifested in person.
"This sword is named: Sword Law Bane!"
Chapter 1212