Chapter 456

Chapter Seventy-Nine: The Power of the Abyss

“Hah.”

The heretic laughed disdainfully and raised his hand, shooting a ball of scorching sin-fire towards me.

“Little girl, you think this can defeat me… You didn’t even dodge!”

The crimson flames rushed towards me, instantly enveloping me. Flames surrounded my body as I stood on Captain Gray’s blade, squinting my eyes slightly. A faint blue light glimmered from my body.

To me, the sin-fire was as warm as a bath, a bit cozy and very comfortable.

However, being suddenly attacked still annoyed me. I lifted my right hand and extended a slender finger, lightly touching the flame in front of me. The sound of cracking ice echoed again, and a thumb-thick ice spear shot out.

Puff—

The ice spear pierced the heretic’s palm with pinpoint accuracy, freezing it into an ice column that pinned his right arm to it. Another ice spear whistled past, pinning his other hand as well.

The incoming sin-fire abruptly stopped, and a large cloud of steam rose into the air. The heretic, now with two holes in his body, had blood trickling from his mouth and a look of shock on his face: “Y-You are unharmed! This is impossible… You did not perform a miracle, this is impossible!”

I combed through my hair, which had been disheveled by the flames, and asked him, “What does killing feel like to you?”

The heretic looked at me, his face increasingly shocked.

I asked him again, “Is… is it… pleasant?”

Rain high in the sky froze into ice and pattered down around us, stinging my head.

The ice-blade mountains undulated before my eyes, and frosty white mist swirled around me, rapidly spreading, making the decaying village below look like a fairy-tale land covered in snow.

On the outskirts of this scene, a rough voice could be heard shouting, “Hey—! Little one! Silvija—”

It was clearly Isaac.

“Where are you—”

“Did you kill him—”

“Ah? Speak up—”

The vast, intersecting knife peaks seemed to completely block the view of the knights standing below. Isaac couldn’t see where I was, and neither could anyone else.

“Who are you?! Who exactly are you?!”

The heretic screamed like a madman, “Why can’t my sin-fire hurt you?! Why—”

For Marcus, all his previous confidence, his arrogance relying on his invincibility, his grand ambitions, and his overflowing battle intent from just moments ago, all seemed to dissipate like smoke.

Everything was shattered by the seemingly casual strike of that little girl.

Marcus thought this girl was a naive young knight, fearless like a newborn calf. From her age, he knew she might have some talent in the power of order, but he had become overconfident because of it. In reality, she lacked combat experience severely. Marcus had lost count of how many such self-righteous fools he had killed.

But when the girl raised her hand, Marcus saw the light flashing on the scythe, and he sensed something was wrong—but it was too late.

A cold wind swept from all directions, a force he couldn’t resist. Marcus had never seen any Papal Knight achieve this level of power in a single blow. This pure, unadorned, and irrational offensive method was probably beyond even the Sword Saint. It was raw talent crushing everything in its path, with a destructive force akin to a natural disaster. He was sent flying, wondering if this little girl was a goddess of ice.

Marcus would never forget today.

If he could still live.

At this moment, Marcus felt the cold wind invading his body constantly, making him feel cold, numb, and stiff. His limbs trembled uncontrollably—this experience, since he gained his sin-fire powers, he hadn’t felt in a long time.

But now, the sin-fire within him was very weak, and he was almost out of blood. Marcus knew he was done for, defeated by a seemingly harmless little girl who could crush him with a single finger. He might not last much longer; he would freeze to death here.

There was nothing Marcus could do against the little girl in front of him.

But…

At least he had completed the task Mr. J had entrusted to him before leaving.

They probably never imagined…

They almost ran into Mr. J…

Thinking about this, Marcus couldn’t help but laugh.

“Hehehe…”

“I don’t care who you are… You can’t win… Hehehe…”

I frowned and looked at the cultist, who had started laughing again. I spoke softly, “Answer me, what you said just now.”

“Words? What words…”

“Did you kill the villagers?”

“Aah… Yes, it was me.” The cultist laughed distortedly, with more and more frost accumulating on his face. Blood continued to flow, but it was like a dying flame, dimming.

He laughed wildly, “What? I killed them… Are you unhappy? If that’s the case, I’m even happier… Hahaha!”

An ice spear “whooshed” into his eye. The cultist’s laughter paused as he couldn’t help but groan. I continued asking him, “Is killing so joyful?”

“Yes…”

The cultist trembled all over, gritting his teeth and smiling. The ice spear was lodged in his right eye socket, almost piercing the back of his head. Blood gushed out from the ruptured eye, and the flames of sin met the extreme cold, causing thick fog to rise like boiling soup.

“I’ll tell you, little girl… Killing, actually brings great joy… Don’t make such a face. Disgusted? You want to kill me now… You must be wanting to kill me now. If you kill me, wouldn’t you feel joy too… You hypocrites, you dare not face your own desires… Tsk tsk tsk…”

“But, one day you will understand. Now you’re still young, you haven’t killed enough people… One day, when you understand how ugly humans truly are… Look, those are the villagers you desperately tried to save. I killed some, but not all. The rest… I used some methods, coercion and temptation, and they ended up cooking a poisonous soup for you heroes…”

“They thought if they killed you, I would let them go and spare their lives! Hahahaha! They would rather place their hopes in the mercy of demons than believe in you heroes who could save them… Isn’t that laughable? But these are the people you want to save…”

“Shut up.”

“What? Are you angry? Little girl! Are you angry! Do you want to kill me! Ahahahaha—”

The cultist’s tone was excited, his face filled with madness. “You will feel the joy of killing, when you see your daughter take a knife and stab her father in pain. Believe me, at that moment, your soul will be elevated…”

When I realized what he was saying, unbearable rage surged from my chest, rising to my head.

Bastard…

“Listen, you can’t kill me! You can’t kill me! I’ve absorbed much blood, you can’t kill me! Let’s see who can last longer—”

“Is that so…”

Damn thing!

I didn’t want to waste any more words, “Who is Romanie.”

The cultist froze, “Ro… what?”

“Romanie, do you know her?”

I repeated, looking into his eyes.

They were filled with confusion.

“Hahahaha—” The cultist laughed madly, blood mixed with ice fragments spilling from his mouth, “Are you looking for her? Want to know where she is? Do you want to know? Listen, I won’t tell you—”

I nodded slightly, “You don’t know her.”

Since you don’t know, then find someone stronger to ask.

“Why are you here?”

“Guess… Hehehehe…”

“Just you, alone?”

“Hehehehe…”

“Where are your accomplices? What’s the situation in the battle to the south?”

“Don’t waste your time… I know you want to kill me. How about we play a game, see if you can kill me first or if this ice blade melts first… Little girl, I’ll tell you, you might not yet understand the power of the third stage of Sinfire… That means eternal life, understood? I can’t be killed… Even if you are very strong, you can’t kill me…”

I ignored him and looked around.

The surrounding frost mist was heavy.

I didn’t sense Isaac and the others’ presence.

Then—

“Do you want to know who I am?”

I fixed my gaze on the cultist’s mad face and slowly closed my eyes.

“Then, let’s see.”

After a moment, my eyelids reopened.

Those black eyes, once like stars in the night sky, suddenly turned completely red.

“[Abyssal Language] Illusion.”