Xia De, suspended in the air, slowly descended, finally standing on the tranquil water surface shimmering with starlight.
Behind him, the Four-Ring Warlock’s brass Destiny Ring was gradually calming its frenzied rotation. Except for the core Ling Rune, twelve Ling Runes on the surface of the Destiny Ring exuded a spiritual light that seemed to liquefy, flowing over the four surfaces of the Destiny Ring.
Divinity cleansed Xia De’s soul, and he once again took a crucial step on the Path of Twelve Divine Ascensions. The dissipated divine power still lingered, and he was finally qualified to face the Chosen One of death in death directly.
His feet touched the water, and the moment he opened his eyes, the silver Moonlight that had stained his body slowly faded, and the light in his pure golden eyes gradually receded.
Joey Barton completely stopped his pursuit into the deepest part of death, turned around, and walked against the countless white shadows towards the direction of the mudflats. Xia De, holding the Night Watchman, also walked forward on the water, his shoes lifting from the surface and then falling, creating ripples that continuously spread outwards.
“It has begun.”
On the mudflats, the three people by the bonfire watched this scene. Priest Augustus held his arms across his chest, Sister Devlin sat on a stone, turning her head slightly, only Iluna was very nervous:
“This time, I can’t do anything at all.”
“Mr. Watson, I am surprised that we will ultimately fight in this way.”
The two stood on the water, looking at each other from a distance. Joey Barton did not speak, but his voice directly reached Xia De’s ears.
He shook his head:
“There’s nothing left to say, Mr. Barton. This place is the deepest death zone that we living beings with special powers can enter. Once we cross the Nether Moon and see the Wall of Unbelievers, there will truly be no possibility of turning back. This time, I will not try to persuade you again. Countless people have sacrificed themselves because of you, and lost their lives because of your actions. You need to pay the price for this.”
Joey Barton nodded expressionlessly:
“If viewed from a storytelling perspective, I am indeed the villain. I know I’ve done wrong, but I still have to do it.”
Such people are actually the most terrifying.
“Mr. Watson, standing here, no one is stronger than me. Are you sure you want to start?”
“Yes. And, my name is Xia De · Su Lun · Han Mi Er Dun!”
Joey Barton lightly tapped his toes, and his entire being ascended into the sky. In the darkness that even the Nether Moon could not illuminate, the colossal figure wearing a black cloak appeared behind him.
The scythe swung, cutting down towards Xia De below. The scythe was silent, so heavy, yet so light above this body of water. death struck, and compared to the Grim Reaper’s scythe in the real world, the silent black scythe now truly signified that fated death.
But this time, Xia De did not dodge. He pointed the Night Watchman downwards at the water with his right hand, and the silver Moonlight in his hand poured into the sword, making the sword glow with brilliant Moonlight. He closed his eyes, held his breath, concentrated his mind, and envisioned the pure Nether Moon in his heart.
This was simple, because that Silver Moon had always been in Xia De’s heart. Facing the scythe, facing the myriad departing souls, he opened his eyes and looked upwards, shouting out the greatest wish in his heart at that moment:
“Moonlight Slash!”
He drew his sword and swung it upwards, and a huge arc-shaped sword mark also flew out silently. After colliding with the scythe, both shattered into silver light particles.
This was Xia De using the characteristics of the Night Watchman to unleash the 【Silver Moon Slash】. Unfortunately, only in this state could he achieve that strike just now; the light blade in his normal Ring術士 form would only be of regular size.
After the scythe shattered, the colossal black-robed figure bent down to grab Xia De. Xia De retreated, lightly tapping his toes, transforming into a large cluster of Red Butterfly that flew into the sky, slipping through the fingers of the giant hand. The swarm of butterflies flew towards Joey Barton in the air, who extended a finger, causing a black rain of light to fall, but it merely passed through the center of the butterfly swarm.
The Red Butterfly danced in the darkness and reassembled into Xia De in the air.
“Moonlight Slash!”
He kicked out two streaks of light in the air, but he did not fall again, because the light of the Red Butterfly attached to fifty-four rhode cards, forming a staircase in the air.
Two streaks of Moonlight were easily shattered by Joey Barton, but the Night Watchman that followed forced him to fly backward.
Xia De had already reached the end of the rhode cards paper bridge. He crossed space to follow, holding the sword with both hands and thrusting it towards Barton’s chest.
The latter dodged in the air as lightly as a sheet of paper, his figure suddenly blurring. Three identical Bartons split from his main body, surrounding Xia De from the front, back, left, and right.
Xia De was falling, and rhode cards drifted over, building a platform beneath his feet, allowing him to use the leverage to leap upwards.
The four Bartons solemnly extended their hands, and two intersecting black light crosses sealed Xia De’s head, then pressed downwards.
“Red Dragon Power - Moonlight Slash - Blade of Disordered Time!”
He swung his sword upwards, and the expanding physical strength made the flashing sword light almost form a continuous line, forcefully shattering the black light above his head. At the same time, Xia De once again used the rhode cards to leap upwards, holding his sword and thrusting it towards Joey Barton, who had the enormous black-robed figure behind him.
The latter’s clones completely vanished, and his deformed body floated lightly backward towards the giant black-robed figure, then completely merged into it.
It was silent, but Xia De understood that the gigantic black-robed figure now possessed wisdom. Pale hands jointly gripped the scythe, raised the weapon, and then brought it down again.
This was the strongest strike Joey Barton had unleashed; this strike was unavoidable, and it was impossible to dodge. Xia De stepped on the rhode cards for one last upward leap, bringing himself level with the unseeable head beneath the giant figure's hood.
He gripped the Night Watchman with both hands, and his Destiny Ring appeared silently behind him, its core Ling Rune, Silver Moon, shimmering with brilliant light. The light on the sword reached its peak intensity, and Xia De saw the Nether Moon before him. Whoever possesses you truly possesses the entire world.
The Nether Moon merely detached from the water, suspended in the darkness. And bathed in that Moonlight, the strongest strike learned from Miss Olanorde was finally mastered by Xia De:
“Moonlight Greatsword!”
The Night Watchman swept out, and to the three people by the bonfire, the longsword, which was originally just a point of light, suddenly expanded to almost the same size as the scythe. The colossal Moonlight Greatsword collided with the scythe, and the holy silver greatsword slowly split the scythe, then cut the hooded black-robed figure in half at the waist.
“Top-tier transcendent battles in the Mythical Epoch were probably like this too.”
Iluna said softly, resting her face in her hands, watching Xia De, enveloped in Moonlight, float down to the water:
“In the Church epic stories I’ve heard, there are battle scenes like this. It’s really amazing.”
Although the almost silent battle just now seemed intense, the white shadows on the water were completely unaffected. This was death, and these souls were its masters. They still looked towards the Nether Moon, allowing the two living people to fight fiercely on the water.
Iluna couldn’t tell which side had the advantage, but in any case, Xia De, holding the Night Watchman and occasionally sweeping the water with a giant greatsword, was certainly not at a disadvantage.
“Mythical Epoch, huh…”
Priest Augustus had taken out his pipe at some point and was trying to light a match with the bonfire in front of him. Sister Devlin manipulated the flames to help, and the Priest thanked her softly. He used the long match to ignite the surface of the tobacco in the pipe. After the tobacco started burning, he gently pressed down the burning tobacco with a tamper, then lit the tobacco again with a match, and only then took a satisfying puff:
“It’s a pity that Xia De’s current state clearly cannot be maintained for too long, otherwise many future problems could be easily solved.”
Smoking his pipe, he turned to look at the water illuminated by the Nether Moon. Among the countless white shadows, Xia De, in the air, held a giant “Moonlight Greatsword” and swept downwards. Joey Barton rolled to dodge, but then Xia De’s left hand threw out yellow Moonlight Greatsword after Moonlight Greatsword, which continued to hum and tremble after being stuck in the water.
“Looking at it this way, Xia De seems even stronger.”
Iluna said softly, watching the scene without blinking:
“It’s truly amazing…”
There was an indescribable melancholy in her tone.
“To display such power is indeed almost a Miracle.”
Sister Devlin’s silver eye patch glinted in the bonfire:
“In even older epochs, above the mortal transcendent levels, and below the high-dimensional gods, there existed so-called demigod heroes. It’s just that with the changes in epochs, fewer and fewer mortals can reach that height. In the fifth epoch, only a few two dozen individuals, like Miss Mana Feilianna, can be considered demigod witches. Mr. Hamilton’s current state is already close to that of a so-called demigod.”
“You all know so much?”
Iluna mumbled softly, and the Old Priest comforted her:
“I’m just old, so I know more things. Miss Bei Ya Si, you are still very young, I remember you’re not even eighteen. Your future path is still very long, so there’s no need to envy us.”
“But Xia De is only in his twenties, and he’s been a Ring術士 for less than half a year.”
Iluna continued.
Sitting on the stone, with her hands clasped on her knees, Sister Devlin also chimed in:
“Chosen of Balance, the gift of Destiny comes with a price; any gain is accompanied by loss. Don’t compare yourself to Xia De Hamilton. You are completely different from him. You are a fated hero, destined to become an epic; he is an audience outside of Destiny, a spectator beneath the stage.”
She glanced at Xia De, who was locked in battle with Joey Barton. At this moment, Barton was again in mid-air, a black beam of light rushing towards Xia De. Xia De held his sword with both hands and thrust forward, a warm yellow Sunlight Ray meeting the light pillar. Both their clothes billowed backward, their faces contorted in fierce expressions, and this scene was also silent.
“Your trajectory is different from his.”
“Actually, I’d prefer his destiny trajectory to be the same as mine, so I could…”
Her face flushed slightly, realizing she had said something she shouldn’t have, Iluna stopped speaking in time. Ratt Augustus, the Old Priest, smiled and shook his head, tapped his pipe on the ground, placed it by the bonfire, and then stood up, facing the Nether Moon:
“I should help.”
Xia De believed he had the upper hand, at least he himself thought so. On the water of death, which was originally Joey Barton’s home ground, bathed in the glow of the Nether Moon, Xia De also felt how good his condition was.
The night watchman once again cut through the light bullet in front of him, and his body dispersed into a swarm of Red Butterfly, dodging the light rain falling from the air. Restoring to human form in the air, the night watchman, while emanating Moonlight, once again used the giant sword formed by the Moonlight Greatsword to sweep forward.
This sword strike, of course, did not take effect, but Xia De didn't care. Under the effect of “Raglai's Leap,” his body shifted ten meters to the left in the air:
“Blade of Disordered Time!”
Two giant Moonlight Greatsword, one on the left and one on the right, attacked Joey Barton in a pincer movement. The latter suppressed his instinct to dodge, slamming his hands onto the water below. A black light curtain blocked both sides of his body, and while blood seeped from the corner of his soul body’s mouth, he blocked the fatal attack:
“What?”
He looked up in surprise and saw that after Xia De descended, an angel with two wings looked down at him from the high altitude where his body had originally been. Its wings were scorched black, and white feathers scattered onto the water. Faceless and formless, without shadow or shape, yet it stood so naturally above death:
“An angel?”
The Chosen One’s Knowledge seemed to be reminding him what this was, but Barton couldn’t immediately get the answer. The angel above Xia De’s head extended its right hand, making no sound, but both people on the water knew what it was:
“Finger of death!”
A straight black beam of light pierced through Joey Barton’s head. His feet left the ground, and he flew backward, tumbled on the water, and lay motionless.
Priest Augustus at the edge of the mudflats smiled, shook his head, turned back to the bonfire, picked up his pipe, and took another satisfying puff.
