Having understood his identity, the Count was no longer that scrawny ordinary person. The Old Butler covered his face and squatted down, letting out a sobbing sound.
Xia De looked at Priest Augustus:
"I definitely can't beat him. You said you could handle it."
The Outsider was very self-aware.
"You misunderstood. I didn't say I could deal with someone who came back from the dead. I said I could help you deal with him."
The Priest said, walking first in the direction of the door. Xia De gathered his rhode cards, picked up the longsword placed by the wall, and followed him:
"Xia De, remember, in the world of the living, I am just an old man, frail and powerless."
He had his back to Xia De in the corridor, but when the Priest turned, the Darkness Field that unfolded in that the moment made the Priest truly seem like an angel descending to the mortal realm:
"All I can do is provide you with power."
Dim sunlight penetrated the mist and cast onto Latt Augustus from the window at the end of the corridor. His expression was very serious:
"Xia De · Su Lun · Han Mi Er Dun, do you know about angels?"
"Yes, there was even a mortal soul that ascended into an angel before me."
Xia De answered just as seriously. This was the first time the Priest had actively introduced his situation.
Priest Augustus was clearly startled by Xia De's answer, but fortunately, he adjusted his emotions in time:
"Do you know about the first angel?"
"Yes, the angel belonging to the ancient death god, also known as the Death Angel."
Xia De continued to answer, and the Priest nodded:
"Although it sounds incredible, I possess a part of the power of that first angel. Pray to me, Xia De, and I will use this power to give you a blessing, just like before you entered the Darkness Field."
In other words, the Priest didn't have much outstanding combat power in the world of the living, but he could provide power to others:
"What do I need to do?"
"Pray to the ancient death god and the first angel."
As the Priest spoke, he bit his finger and used his blood to draw a holy emblem in the palm of his left hand. The symbol represented the purest death:
"This is the holy emblem of the ancient god."
Xia De nodded, drew the holy emblem in front of his chest, and then softly said:
"May the original death be with me, and may the Death Angel grant me blessings."
The wings behind Priest Augustus fully spread, and he placed his right hand, covered with the blood-stained holy emblem, on top of Xia De's head:
"May death be with you."
A chill, a chill that truly stiffened the soul, surged from the top of his head into his body. Subsequently, that chill, which seemed capable of extinguishing all flames in the entire world, quickly merged with his soul. In that strange power, Xia De seemed to return to the mudflats before the land of death, as if once again looking up at the silver moon with the myriad souls on the water's surface.
【Outsider, you feel the whisper.】
Xia De was almost certain that the source of Priest Augustus's "first angel" power must have been the Level 0 relic out-of-control incident he encountered in his youth. The Priest chose to become a Letter-based Ring術士 of Saint Byron's, rather than a church Ring術士, precisely to investigate this matter.
Illusory wings flickered behind Xia De, and his body temperature gradually decreased as that power surged in.
Xia De felt the power. Unlike the comprehensive enhancement provided by the witch's jewelry, the blessing given by Priest Augustus was more clearly manifested in the application of the power of "death." As long as one could withstand the coldness originating from the most authentic death, even an ordinary person could become a transcendent controlling death.
The Red Butterfly on his fingertip flew out and landed on Xia De's shoulder. The power of this second Red Butterfly was completely absorbed by Xia De, and with the blessing given by the Priest, he was confident in completing the upcoming duel.
"How do you feel?"
The wings behind the Priest disappeared, and he looked very tired.
Xia De nodded:
"Don't worry, I won't lose."
He shook off the gray cloth wrapped around the longsword, held the scabbard in his left hand, and slowly drew the longsword with his right hand. The bright yellow runes of 【My Heart is Clear, Sword Slashes Demons】 radiated light on the sword blade.
The Priest, leaning against the wall, smiled:
"When I was young, I was even more handsome than you. Go, Xia De, I will wait for your good news."
Having prepared the spell materials and put on the necessary rings, Xia De walked out of the mansion and into the open. The courtyard was hazy with mist, and standing at the building's entrance, he couldn't even see the courtyard walls.
Upon entering the courtyard, he saw Count Darak, holding a rapier, standing on the path in front of the picket gate, waiting for Xia De.
He looked very different from a living person now. He was at least 10 inches taller than before, had no shadow in the mist, and blue veins on the back of his hands and face trembled constantly. From his expression, he was suppressing his anger and the desire in his heart.
Seeing Xia De approaching with a longsword, the Count's eyes, now completely white, quickly scanned his heart and throat, then he raised his rapier and held it in front of him:
"Mr. Watson, then let's begin."
He walked towards Xia De, holding the sword in his right hand, stepped forward with his left leg in a lunge, and thrust forward with his right hand. Xia De did not dodge, but swung his sword forward—
Clang~
The rapier was directly parried. As the Count immediately retreated, Xia De's diagonally slashing sword landed at his feet.
Two lights constantly flickered in the white mist, the silver light of the Night Watchman and the light of the rapier. The clanging collision sounds rose and fell. Xia De relied on the sword-fighting techniques taught by the Night Watchman, and the Count relied on his years of training skills. For a time, purely by swordsmanship, neither of them gained the upper hand.
"Mr. Watson, you also practiced swordsmanship?"
"Yes, I practiced for three hours on the mountain yesterday."
He dodged the rapier sideways, then gripped the Night Watchman with both hands, swung the low-hanging longsword upwards, parrying the rapier. As the Count lost his balance, Xia De stepped forward, turned, and performed a reverse slash. The silver sword mark in the air had not yet dissipated when the blade had already cut a slanted tear in the front of the Count's black coat.
"If that's the case, I won't be polite."
The Count said in a low voice. After speaking, he took a step back, his body color faded, and he dispersed into the mist.
【Left side.】
Xia De held his breath and concentrated. The Night Watchman's blade drew a streak of light in the mist, and the unique sound of cold weapon collisions could not travel far in the mist. The sweeping longsword accurately deflected the thrusting rapier, then Xia De twisted his wrist, swung the sword with one hand, and pressed the rapier towards the ground:
"The opponent's strength is not stronger than mine!"
He thought to himself. As the Count tried to wrestle with him, he lifted his left foot and kicked forward, sending the Count back into the mist.
The revived undead disappeared, and Xia De closed his eyes. As the voice in his ear gave a prompt, he turned and slashed diagonally. The Night Watchman glowed slightly the moment it touched the rapier. Xia De, opening his eyes, gripped the sword with both hands, and as the force of the diagonal slash ran out, he used his strong physical qualities to sweep diagonally upwards.
The increasingly inhuman Count Darak had to retreat. Xia De's right foot pressed another step closer, and the raised longsword slashed down with the momentum:
"Hmph!"
A cold chill flowed down his arm and gathered into the sword. A sword light composed of dark light swung forward. A biting black light suddenly appeared, wiping away the white mist it touched. This sword light, originating from the angel's power, directly passed through Count Darak's body.
The latter grunted, and his body became even more transparent. He immediately floated backward, then disappeared into the mist again.
"He's injured."
Xia De snorted, standing in place with a serious expression, then suddenly rolled forward—
Boom!
Where Xia De had originally stood, the tall Count, holding his sword with both hands, struck down from the sky. Amidst the slight tremor of the ground, spiderweb-like cracks rapidly spread outwards.
Xia De, who had rolled to dodge, hadn't had time to get up when he heard an inhuman roar from the Count's mouth. He squatted in place, opening his mouth wide and aiming at Xia De. As Xia De rolled sideways again, a gray beam of light broke through the white mist and shot out from his mouth, sweeping from left to right. The withered yellow lawn and the trees next to the courtyard, upon contact with the gray light beam, rapidly withered as if their growth cycle had been accelerated.
Xia De didn't dare to try what it was. After getting up by supporting himself with one hand on the ground, he used the power of sorcery to leap into the air:
"Wasn't this a sword fight?"
The gray light beam immediately swept towards the sky, as if to tear open the curtain of white mist, but Xia De in the air had already disappeared.
As the half-crouching Count closed his mouth in surprise, the Outsider, who appeared behind him, used the longsword in his hand, which was covered in black light, to slash diagonally, causing the blade to cut down at his neck until it was stuck in his hard shoulder blade.
"You—"
The Count turned his head one hundred and eighty degrees to look at Xia De, and as the Night Watchman touched his body, black smoke with the smell of decay actually came out.
"Do you surrender? It seems I've won. I can let you leave with some dignity—"
Xia De looked at him.
"If I were you, I would say such things too. But I'm truly unwilling. Why can all of you live?"
He seemed to be losing control of his emotions. Black mist floated out from his pores, and his entire body seemed to swell as if about to explode.
Xia De immediately retreated, and the suppressed anger finally erupted at this moment. Black airflow burst from the Count's entire body. The powerful impact in that the moment even leveled the lawn, sending Xia De, person and sword, flying into the distance, where he rolled twice on the ground before using the momentum to get up.
Looking up again, the pitch-black mist coiled around Count Darak's body, making his originally thin frame look incredibly strong. The black mist was even eroding and transforming the surrounding white mist. In that mist, countless wailing human faces surged.
As the Count, holding his rapier, rose to his feet and floated in the air, he waved his left hand, and black mist projectiles in the shape of human faces, with sonic booms, shot out like a string of raindrops.
"Is this getting stronger and stronger?"
Xia De hurriedly dodged to the side, but the stone chips splashed by the black mist projectiles hitting the ground still scratched his right leg, fortunately, it was only a superficial wound.
