721 Backstage 2

"No! No! You can't kill me! I'm Kangstana Oshu! The only divine son of the Ice Blue papacy!"

A wail that sounded like the cries of ghosts and wolves begged and sobbed. It traveled far from the battered campground.

The birds of the forest were startled and took flight. Some of the forest's creatures with intelligent minds left the area quickly as well. They were afraid of being dragged into this situation.

Tia wielded her trusted knife, Contorted Blade. Blood was still dripping down from her blade. However, it was currently pressed against a round pig's neck that was extremely fat.

Tears and snot streaked across the fat pig's face. The awful smell from wetting and soiling himself filled the air. The robe a high-ranked cultivator of the papacy wore was now stained with red and yellow.

Blood trickled out from a fine slit on the fat pig's neck.

Tia looked at the so-called Ice Blue papacy's divine son with derision.

He was the only divine son, to boot.

The only divine son was a human who actually inherited the bloodline of the true gods. It could be said that he was the person closest to the gods besides the chosen ones.

Many would think that the only divine son was a beautiful man with handsome, imposing, righteous, and confident airs. However, the sight before her made Tia, who had imagined the only divine son's appearance before, feel so sick that she wanted to throw up.

"Any last words?" She tightened her grip on her blade. She had no intention of relaxing.

"No! Don't kill me! Please! I'm begging you! If you kill me, the papacy will give the highest killing order! You won't be able to escape!" The fat pig knelt on the ground and groveled. He showed no signs of the determination and dignity of a descendant of the gods.

Tia was expressionless. In her mind, she was replaying the scene she saw from her hiding spot all those years ago when her own tribesmen were being slaughtered.

Back then, while she was comparing and showing off with the others, she unintentionally revealed the greatest treasure of her tribe. It was a contractual summon command from the void.

Then, the Ice Blue papacy learned about this, and slaughtered her tribe. Her parents and loved ones died before her very eyes. Her grandfather used up his life force to send her away with a long-range random transport art. She was sent to a land of extreme cold far away.

There, she cultivated martial skills painstakingly and learned various assassination techniques and sneak attack methods.

From an ordinary beautiful girl, she gradually transformed into the peak golden Warrior she was now.

Her tribe had been wiped out because of her mistake. However, she could not atone for her sins with her life for now. She had an unsettled grudge.

Her bloody past flashed across her eyes. Tia was slightly hesitant before, but she quickly steadied her hand for now.

"I'm sorry," she uttered softly.

"No!" As if understanding the steel in Tia's eyes, the divine son suddenly gave a shout. He turned around and bounded toward the forest.

"Pchht!"

He barely made a few steps when a head-sized hole was opened up in his back.

Tia slowly lowered her Contortion Blade. While she was destroying the various bases, she happened upon the only divine son who was here on an inspection. Hence, this happened.

Tia knew very well that if she actually killed the only divine son, the ones waiting for her would be the most powerful experts of the Ice Blue papacy. They would be of the legendary rank at least!

"Uoh!"

The only divine son was still wailing. He did not die. His powerful god's blood gave him a sturdy body that could survive even with such a wound.

However, he did not use this body of his to fight against his enemy. He merely used it as a final attempt to beg for mercy.

"Pchht!"

Tia took a step forward and drew her blade across the fatso's neck. His head was cleanly separated from the rest of his body.

"Crackle!"

The skies seemed to have been enraged at the demise of a being with the blood of the gods. There was suddenly a thunderclap even though the skies were bright and clear.

Any divine son would have possessed various means of preserving his life given to him by the papacy. It was only natural for the only divine son to have more.

When such a dignified existence was killed in this area, such a huge reaction followed. This was a great insult to any organization.

Tia ran swiftly. She resembled a nimble and agile leopard in the forest.

"Fuh!"

In the blink of an eye, a silver battle axe came at her from the left. It shot through the air with a powerful impact force and lightning speed. The surface of the axe was glowing with unique silver runes.

Tia sidestepped with lightning speed and avoided the axe by a hair's breadth. She did a somersault and leapt toward a tree trunk, where she squatted down.

"Contort, blade of everything." She held her Contortion Blade with one hand and charged. In an instant, she cleaved a holy warrior who was hiding among the bushes in two.

After killing her hidden assailant, she hastened her footsteps and left the spot.

She had not gotten far when a handsome man in long golden robes appeared before her. He was blocking her way.

"Tia Jolin. The final heir of the Void bloodline. I didn't expect that you were capable of coming this far." The man stared at Tia with a gaze which was a mix of compassion and calmness.

When Tia saw the man, she was first stunned. Then, her eyes widened, and her pupils dilated. Her body was shaking as if she had exhausted every ounce of her strength.

Hatred surged up with her and gushed forth in a frenzy. Her hatred was so dense that she did not even notice if there were any other experts around the man.

In this moment, he was the only one within Tia's sight.

"Sacred Sound Executioner! Philemon!"

***

"Bam!"

A huge bone blade moved with an unimaginable nimbleness as it clashed wildly with a knight's huge sword.

The two similarly large weapons slashed at each other with their sharpest points, showing no mercy. However, their clashes would always end up becoming an evenly matched collision.

Baviathan swung his bone blade silently. He was mercilessly exchanging blows with a powerful holy warrior with long red hair.

The Divine Brute Ampnos was already using his full strength. However, he had yet to find any chance of breaking through his opponent's defenses.

The shock waves from their clashes had already destroyed the entire valley. Rocks and fallen trees were scattered all across the land.

As a divine earl, Ampnos was clearly at a disadvantage here.

"Give it up… Your legendary abilities are ineffective against me." Baviathan hacked away at his opponent with a calm expression.

His opponent was very strong. He could only slowly build up his advantage slowly like this. He could not kill his opponent in a short amount of time.

"Never!" Ampnos shouted. He moved in for the kill. "Light Cross!"

He wielded his huge sword with both hands, and it erupted with a star-like radiance. With a battle cry, he drew out all his strength and charged toward his opponent.

"Babel." Baviathan took a step back. His right eye instantly shone with an enchanting, swirling purple radiance.

The radiance instantly expanded, and now seemed capable of devouring his opponent and the sword whole.

"Sacred Sound!" Seemingly at the same instant, an angry shout came from behind Baviathan.

"Boom!"

Baviathan staggered. He was enveloped in a golden holy light which fell on him from the skies. Golden runic chains rose from beneath his feet and instantly bound him.

"The Executioner?!" Baviathan's expression changed slightly.

"You won't be getting away this time!" Ampnos closed in with a fierce smile.

***

In the forest, a golden and black figure exchanged blow with lightning speed. Sparks from the impact of weapons shot out from between the two.

Tia was giving it her all. Her eyes were scarlet. She hacked away at her opponent's vital points with wild abandon.

Caught off-guard, the golden-robed man was at a disadvantage from the start. However, he immediately salvaged the situation. Golden beams of light shone in his hands. This meant that he cultivated in both magic and martial skills.

"Nobody can save you now." The man laughed. "This will be your burial site. The Void bloodline shall end here. I'll erect a tombstone for you someday as a reward for the grand achievements you've achieved."

Tia could not even understand what he was talking about. All she knew was to attack, attack, and attack.

"Pchht!"

A golden light sword instantly shot toward them from afar.

"I didn't expect a mere monster with Void bloodline to be able to kill this many papal knights. Atone for your sins!" A loud voice came.

"Aaah!"

Suddenly, Tia's right arm welled up and contorted. Her arm jolted forward, pulling her body along as well. She moved with incredible speed, seemingly several magnitudes quicker than before.

In the blink of an eye, her blow landed on the golden-robed man's chest who was caught off-guard.

"Boom!"

The two of them charged forward and evaded the shot from the golden sword of light.

"Divine Scythe!" The golden-robed man Philemon spat out a mouthful of blood in pain. His body was protected by layers of golden holy power. However, his layers of protection were completely obliterated by this contorted and swollen arm.

However, after he chanted, a huge golden scythe appeared in midair and slashed toward Tia's back.

However, she paid it no heed. She moved her claw toward Philemon's neck.

"Bam!"

The scythe strangely shattered halfway through its attack. Another claw strike landed on Philemon's chest.

He looked up and coughed up huge amounts of blood. He looked sickly pale now.

"Oh god! Please answer the call of this bloodline!" he suddenly shouted. A complicated golden pattern on his back suddenly shone.

***

"Hiss…"

On an altar far away behind them within the forest, a blurry, transparent ripple suddenly appeared.

With a crack, the dimension shattered on its own. A man in white, covered in golden radiance, slowly walked out from the dimensional ripple.

His eyes seemed to contain countless white stars which shone brightly. He could see Philemon being beaten up in the distance. A look of anger immediately flashed past his eyes.

"The defilers!"

He strode forward, and was about to fly toward the battlefield.

"It's just a fight between two children. It's best for us adults to stay out of this." Suddenly, a voice that was extremely close sounded behind him.

The man shivered. A look of fear registered in his eyes. He hastily teleported to his left before looking in the direction where he was moments ago.

Before he knew it, a peculiar man covered in red radiance was hovering by the huge tree.

"It's been a while, Your Highness Reza."

"It's you! Canstipole?! You've escaped?!" A greater sense of fear and terror flashed past Reza's eyes. He quickly reached for the main god ring on his middle finger.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Canstipole smiled helplessly and pointed behind him. "It's only a fight between two children. Us being here is already escalating things. If you turn this into a larger issue, you have a leader behind you, but I have a boss behind me as well. If we actually fight, I don't know if we'll be able to protect them, but this Ice Blue Cult nation will surely be dragged into this."

"You!!" Reza clenched his fist. He'd initially intended to alert the main god, but he decided against it now.

"Now, now, don't be so tense. Relax. Ever since you ignited your god fire, it's been 1000 years we haven't seen each other. Come, have a drink with me." Canstipole clicked his fingers lazily. A table and two chairs immediately appeared between them. The table was even laid with nice wine and tantalizing dishes.

***

Dawn City.

Lu Sheng's lips were curved in a smile. He stood before the window of his study and gazed at the skies full of layered clouds.

"Come… Whether it's an incarnation or a clone, come and have a taste…"

His eyes shone with a dim, dark yellow radiance. It gave off a peculiarly greedy and evil sensation.