For a moment, the area became obscured by smoke and dust.
The assassin, groaning in pain, slowly pushed herself upright, sitting up from the rubble. Her arm trembled faintly, not just from the impact, but also from the condition of her weapon.
Lowering her eyes, she discovered that her dagger had shattered almost completely.
Only a hilt filled with fragments remained, causing the woman's face to darken.
Without wasting even a second, she stretched out her hand, pushed herself up, and with a flicker of spiritual energy, immediately shot sideways once more.
The two remaining Light Chasers resumed their pursuit, while Lord Yang calmly followed from behind.
The chase continued...
-
Meanwhile—
Not far from the battle, Petra and the others had finally arrived near the Central Square after being drawn over by the distant sounds of fighting. After asking some random guy about what had happened, Petra took the girls to find a good spot closer to the action and reached inside her satchel.
Petra's little hands moved, eventually retrieving a cute set of flags that cheered on the 'Great Beauty!'
She proceeded to wave them wildly through the air!
"Go! Go! Go!"
Driven by her innate dislike for the Church of Light, our little lolita, despite being assassinated not long ago, immediately began cheering loudly for the Shadow Clan woman from the sidelines!
"Beat them up! Punch the shiny people! Rip out his eyebrows!" Petra roared in her high-pitched voice!
Poya, naturally dull, copied her actions to absolute perfection.
"Bake them up! Punch the shiny pupils! Rip out his eyes!!" Her words slurred…
Wind: "…"
Mell: "…"
Rose: "…"
They exchanged uneasy glances, but in the end, they couldn't find a reason to stop her…
-
Back to the battle—
The Shadow Clan assassin shot through another dense section of the street before finally emerging into a slightly more open part of the Central Square.
As she ran, her hand lashed out like lightning.
She stole a dagger from the belt of a passing adventurer, and mere moments later, she stole another.
Suddenly, her instincts screamed again, causing the woman's head to snap upward just in time to see a holy lance descending directly toward her from above.
Boom!
The ground exploded as she barely dodged.
At the same time, another attack struck from a completely unseen angle.
The second Light Chaser had already appeared beside her, seemingly prepared. After another attack and parry, the combined shockwaves blasted her body sideways, shooting her through the air! While twisting her waist mid-flight, she landed smoothly on a stone protrusion before briefly glancing at the seven stolen daggers in her hands.
After picking two, she discarded the rest.
…Good enough! She muttered.
Without hesitation, she shot forward and prepared to attack both Light Chasers simultaneously!
But before she could even reach them—
Flash!
Lord Yang appeared directly in front, blocking her and the two Light Chasers.
His silver blade, already raised, descended, and—
Clang!!
Time seemed to slow…
The Shadow Clan assassin crossed her daggers and blocked the swing without slowing her steps. She frowned, feeling an abnormal lack of weight from his attack, but regardless, the result was already too catastrophic to rethink, because one of her daggers had shattered completely like brittle bark, and the second was badly chipped on its blade. Clearly, these mundane weapons could not withstand the pressure of holy artifacts crafted by the Church of Light.
Her gaze turned up as her body continued to slip past him, continuing her advance toward the two light chasers, however, it was also at this time, in this state of slowed perception, that she met Lord Yang's cold and indifferent eyes.
For the briefest of moments, she felt as if she could see ridicule in his gaze.
Time returned to normal, and she swiftly slipped past, leaving Lord Yang to her back as she shot away.
Feeling something was wrong, the woman's body suddenly dissolved into darkness. Like a liquid shadow, she slipped through the gaps between the crowd and rapidly closed the distance once more!
But to her confusion, no attack came…
This time, feeling more uneasy, she completely changed targets.
The Light Chaser who she was shooting towards immediately raised his lance defensively, but at that exact moment, a 'black chain' suddenly erupted from the shadow beneath a nearby magical lamp that had ignited for no reason. The chain tore directly through the man's leg, then embedded itself in his flesh, becoming impossible to remove in a short time.
"Aaagh!!"
The male Light Chaser screamed!
Before he could react further, the assassin bypassed him completely, flashing to his side where she proceeded to curve around him and use his body as a blind spot. After looping around, she stomped on the ground and tore through the air, aiming directly at the other, much younger, Light Chaser.
In a flash of black light, her remaining dagger cleanly sliced through the second Light Chaser's neck, causing blood to erupt outwards!
—!
But just then, an instant too late, her Danger Sense that had been secretly interfered with exploded in her mind, nearly turning her vision white. Following a flash, Lord Yang appeared beside her and reached out with one hand, attempting to seize her neck directly!
The assassin barely twisted away in time, and his fingertips grazed only a few strands of her black hair.
But even so, her instincts were still screaming louder than ever before!
That single near-miss made her realize one terrifying fact!
If he touched her—
She would definitely be doomed!
She didn't know why she felt this way, but his bear hands seemed to be a lot more dangerous than the silver sword he had been using before.
-
Clang!
Meanwhile, the impaled Light Chaser was violently jerked back by the black chain! His feet were dragged apart, causing him to lose his balance. The chain proceeded to pull him away, slowly dragging him toward the shadow beneath the magical streetlamp, the place where the chain had first extended.
Seeing this, his expression instantly turned dark.
He could tell that the shadow was trying to drag him in.
He raised his lance and slammed it down, attempting to destroy the chain.
Clang!
But upon impact, he realized with horror that this was not a spell, no, it was a physical artifact—one that not only his lance could not destroy, but it also seemed to strengthen upon being struck! Rather than inflicting damage, he felt as if his lance had taken the brunt of the impact, slightly denting in the process. With a panicked roar, he smashed his fist against the chain as golden light wildly erupted from his body.
Bang!
Bang-bang-bang!
Bang-bang-bang! Bang-bang-bang!
BANG!
"Damn it!"
…Unfortunately, the golden energy simply dispersed when struck against the black metal.
The man's expression, as he was slowly dragged closer to the shadow, twisted with terror, and he immediately understood what was happening.
He was being dragged towards a compressed pocket of shadow hidden within the streetlight.
This must have been prepared beforehand!
If he entered, he had no doubt that he would be torn apart instantly, crushed by the 'size of the gap' leading into the darkness! The reason the Shadow Clan was so good at using shadows was because they could turn their body into a liquid-like state and slip into basically any shape, regardless of size.
As for him, obviously he could not!
Desperate, he stomped both feet into the ground.
Crack!
Crack!
The stone street shattered beneath his feet!
The two petal-like wings on his back disappeared as he drew in a deep breath, before violently exploding forward with all of his strength in an attempt to use the momentum to shatter the chain!
His roar immediately drew the attention of countless onlookers.
But, as they turned, it failed completely!
The Light Chaser Realm (Fourth Order Priest) focused the majority of their cultivation toward strengthening their backs. Whether it was through the visualisation of artificial muscles, reinforcing the channels connecting to the Holy Heart, or strengthening their spines, everything revolved around maximizing their explosive potential so it could provide the highest level of mobility and output.
But no matter how much they strengthened themselves, they were still fundamentally Mages…
In other words, their physical bodies were fragile!
Under the opposing forces of the artifact that was dragging him backwards, and his own exploding momentum, his physical body simply could not hold on.
Crack!
His spine and back literally tore away from the rest of his body, splitting him vertically in a gore-filled explosion that looked right out of a saw movie.
Blood exploded everywhere, and the Light Chaser died instantly.
As his front half flew away, the back bit, which was still intact by the way, was violently dragged into the shadow beneath the streetlamp and vanished completely.
-
"Woooooo!" Petra roared, the two little flags flapping even wilder in the air!
-
Returning to Lord Yang and the Shadow Clan assassin, who were furiously exchanging blows amidst the increasingly chaotic surroundings…
Clang! Clang! Clang!
As the Shadow Clan assassin continuously darted through the crowd, grabbing weapon after weapon to meet Lord Yang's relentless attacks, she quickly realized something.
Escape was impossible!
Whatever movement technique this priest was using allowed him to traverse space almost instantly, and although it wasn't true teleportation, under these current circumstances, there was almost no difference, making it impossible for her to escape.
As for hiding, she had long given up on it!
What was worse, she had already been fighting for far too long. Her breathing had gradually become heavier, while this pristine priest from the Church of Light still looked almost untouched.
Her eyes narrowed into slits.
Without hesitation, she charged toward him one more time.
This time, a borrowed longsword rested in her left hand while a small hooked blade spun within her right. The hook tore through the air with a sharp whistle, but Lord Yang's response was terrifyingly casual. His hand simply reached out and grabbed it as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
He glared, his eyes clearly reading: 'What's the point? You know this won't work!'
Crack!
The hooked weapon shattered in his grip!
The Shadow Clan assassin's eyes flashed coldly.
The instant her right-hand attack was intercepted, she thrust the longsword in her left hand directly toward his neck, but she kicked off the ground and hurled the weapon toward him like a projectile instead of following through with the physical slash.
Lord Yang, seeing this, calmly deflected the flying sword.
As he did so, his eyes briefly snapped towards the Light Chaser that was torn in half by his own power and felt a headache coming on. Why were those three so useless!?
"Tsk!"
Refocusing, he stepped forward to continue his pursuit, already predicting that the thrown blade had only been a feint meant to buy her some distance.
—!
But at that exact instant, something happened!
For a single, fleeting, incredibly quick moment, Lord Yang felt an aura emerge somewhere within the distant crowd, and this aura caused his pupils to instantly contract!
The aura vanished almost immediately, disappearing so quickly that it almost felt imaginary, yet despite lasting less than a fraction of a second, it was incomprehensibly immense, causing every drop of blood within Lord Yang's body to turn ice-cold.
His body instinctively stiffened, and for the first time since arriving on the Cross Continent—
Fear appeared on his noble and handsome face!
His head violently snapped toward the source of the pressure, but the crowd was far too dense.
There were too many people, and he could not determine where it came from, nor could he determine who it belonged to!
Lord Yang's expression immediately darkened!
After recovering, he felt a wave of anger wash over him.
Without hesitation, he reached deep into his robes and grabbed a concealed artifact hidden beneath several layers of cloth. This was an 'emergency' item personally granted to him before leaving the Church, a life-saving treasure!
The instant his fingers touched it, his confidence stabilized slightly.
He turned away from the crowd, looking back towards the woman from the Shadow Clan, then—
Step!
Lord Yang stepped forward, and a flash of golden light exploded beneath his feet as he utilized the same movement technique again, instantly flashing directly in front of the Shadow Clan assassin.
But the moment he appeared—
BOOOOOOM!!
His eyes widened violently!
The Shadow Clan assassin had somehow predicted where he would reappear!
"You!"
BANG!
The silver sole of her boot smashed directly into his face the moment he ended his movement technique.
The strike landed with horrifying precision, collapsing his nose and blasting him back!
Crack!
Blood exploded as his body was violently launched through the air!
But the kick itself was not the real attack; no, at the exact instant of impact, the strange silver pattern that was lining the bottom of the shadow clan assassin's boot suddenly peeled away, and like some kind of liquid metal, it adhered directly onto Lord Yang's face.
Sizzle!
The silver pattern, like a boot print, covered his eyes, nose, and forehead like a sealing talisman.
Lord Yang crashed violently into a collapsed pile of rubble!
Boom!
For a brief moment, silence followed, and no one talked…
All eyes turned, eagerly awaiting a result; some were filled with fear, others with schadenfreude, but most were looking on with interest, curious at just how hard that kick had hit!
After what felt like a long time—
"AAGHHHHHHH!!"
A horrifying scream erupted from the debris!
Lord Yang, bursting out, frantically clawed at his own face while writhing on the ground in agony.
Smoke continuously rose from the silver markings attached to his skin, seemingly reacting to the light element, and the surrounding onlookers stared in complete shock.
Even the nearby practitioners subconsciously stepped backward.
Nobody understood what technique the Shadow Clan assassin had just used, but the previously overwhelming high-ranking priest from the Church of Light had suddenly been brought to his knees!
To their shock, the battle ended just like that!