Chapter 502

Chapter 125 – Encounter

The gale roared and reversed.

At the moment the earth-shattering explosion erupted before my eyes, my consciousness momentarily blurred.

An unprecedented intense impact, like a mountain, crashed against me, with thousands of pounds of weight, suffocating me in an instant. Dazedly, all I could do was struggle to protect myself, bursting out frost that enveloped my body. As I fell rapidly with the impact, I fumbled to adjust my posture, blowing out large gusts of cold air downwards, using the thrust to slow my descent.

“Uh…mm…”

Clutching my half-empty sky, my face flushed red, barely catching my breath. The vision gradually cleared, and apart from the howling wind, I could hardly hear anything else. After a while, as I regained some awareness, the first thing I noticed was…

My dress was burnt to shreds, revealing most of the pumpkin pants underneath.

Damn!

Though it wasn’t quite indecent, the innermost layer under the pumpkin pants was still invisible, but instinctively, I reached out to cover myself. However, once this action was made, I couldn’t use the palm of my hand to spray frost mist anymore.

Thus, I accelerated towards the ground, swinging left and right in the fierce wind at an unknown height, like a leaf. The city below, ablaze with fire, houses and ruins quickly approached my field of vision. My head spun for a moment before I reacted, pressing down on the shorts with one hand and extending the other to spray several jets of frost mist like a machine gun—

Boom boom boom boom boom!

The instant the frost mist was sprayed, it slowed my descent. After stopping, I continued to accelerate. When the speed became faster, I sprayed the frost mist again. This cycle repeated several times, and the northern part of the city was already within reach.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh—

“Ah ah ah ah… Oh no!”

Boom!

Due to the intense wind, my body kept flipping and swaying in the air. Even though I kicked my legs and flapped my arms like wings, I couldn’t adjust my landing posture.

In a dull thud, my just-recovered mind immediately went blank, and my ears buzzed incessantly. As dirt flew, a numb pain, which soon turned into a tearing sensation, spread from my bottom up along my spine.

“Aah… hiss…”

I was torn apart…

Both hands frozen in the air, gritting my teeth, the pain was so excruciating I dared not move.

Damn it…

I never expected that the sixth senator would… use this method to ambush me in the end…

It hurts so much!!

After a long time, when the intense pain gradually subsided, I finally managed to take a deep breath, opening my mouth wide to inhale deeply, then slowly exhaling. Supporting myself with my hands, I slowly got up… straightened my waist, then stood there.

Still too afraid to move.

One hand gently massaging my bottom, the other continuously pulling at the tattered hem of my dress, I frowned, lifting my head to gaze at the sky amidst the lingering pain.

The rolling flames had dissipated, and the thick black smoke, seemingly near the clouds, spread out, forming a massive black cloud. Scattered sparks fell from the night sky, striking the burnt streets and chaotic ruins. One spark landed beside my feet, flickering and flying up, which I kicked away, baring my teeth immediately after.

Pain pain pain…

I stood still, pretending to be profound while looking up at the night sky.

As the black smoke dispersed during the wait for the pain to subside.

Above the night sky, no trace of the sixth senator remained.

…Dying like this might be too easy for him.

“Tch.”

Unable to hold back, I pouted, feeling quite displeased, yet secretly relieved.

The explosive power of the self-destruct during the “Blood Sacrifice” phase was even more terrifying than imagined. If I didn’t possess purer, stronger infernal flames, I might have been forced to unleash chaotic powers to avoid being blown to smithereens along with half of Aletheia City.

Fortunately, such a suicidal attack ultimately failed…

Thinking about it now, I still feel a lingering fear.

The pain in my bottom finally subsided.

I patted my chest and the hem of my dress, taking a deep breath while stretching my legs, then lowering my head to check the damage to my clothes… There were several holes in the waistband, exposing my belly, and most of the pumpkin pants were also visible, making me feel somewhat embarrassed…

Thankfully, my upper body was mostly intact, with nothing inappropriate exposed. Otherwise, I would have had to sneak away… or perhaps manifest black armor, but doing so might risk exposing the power of the abyss…

Suddenly, a series of urgent hoofbeats came from the left.

“Lord Silvijar—”

Someone shouted my name loudly.

Following the sound, I saw over a dozen gold-armored knights riding beasts appear from the broken street, rushing toward us. Leading them, Saphiros rushed ahead, his face full of urgency. His armor was stained red with blood, twisted and damaged in several places. Holding a sword in one hand, he quickly arrived in front of me.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?!”

“I…”

“Not at all!”

Boom—

Behind the burning street,伴随着轰然的闷响与震声大喝，身裹流光的巨大身影出现在视野中。

Shadow leaped out, smashing like a heavy hammer on the road five steps away, shattering the already broken path even more. He then came over, his blood-stained face scanning the surroundings before looking up and asking, “The one who released the fog, is he dead?”

“Uh-huh.”

I nodded.

“Hahahaha!” Isaac let out a burst of laughter, approaching me and scanning me with his eyes before reaching out with his big hand to forcefully slap my shoulder, “Well done! To force such a guy to self-destruct and have you block it! My ears are still ringing from it! Well done!”

“You, you hurt me!”

With a bang, I hit Isaac’s waist, causing him to step back two steps while still laughing, “Haha! How do you feel?! Not injured, right? You look really disheveled… even your underwear is showing!”

!!!

As soon as the bald man spoke, all the surrounding knights immediately revealed understanding smiles. Some turned their heads, but their eyes kept sneaking towards me… ah, I saw Safiro holding back his laughter.

“This is the safety shorts!”

I instantly became furious and lunged at the bald man, sweeping my foot against his calf with a loud clank. The man tumbled and fell face-first onto the ground.

“Hahahaha—”

The knights laughed out loud.

Trot-trot-trot…

The hooves of the ruins around us thundered. More sounds were converging towards this side.

A huge golden light flickered in the northern part of the city. A few scattered heretics fled through dark alleys, soon caught up and cut down. Some cheered loudly. Several flames of burning sins quickly extinguished under the light. The siege had reached a point where fierce fighting had unknowingly turned into one-sided pursuit. The surviving heretics fled in all directions in the city, struggling to survive amidst the relentless pursuit by the knights.

Most of the heretics had lost the will to resist after witnessing the astonishing explosion in the sky—they understood that such flames meant the defeat and death of the sixth councilor.

The situation was beyond redemption.

In the darkness, young knight Barry, pulling Lilith’s hand, ran through several streets toward the direction of the gathering crowd. Reaching the edge of the street, he saw the familiar petite figure surrounded by the knights.

For some reason, Barry’s eyes moistened.

“Shir… sister…”

Standing far away on the street side, the emotions surging in his heart ignited and exploded. His whole body trembled uncontrollably. He wanted to shout the girl’s name, to rush over regardless of everything, and tightly embrace her warm body.

He imagined such a scene in his mind.

However, his feet seemed rooted to the ground, never daring to take another step forward.

Amidst the noisy crowd, cheers and laughter continued. The excellent knights and priests, their faces stern, yet clearly showing joy. All eyes were focused on the small, familiar, beautiful girl in the center. Like Barry, they all had an indescribable fervor in their eyes.

Just like watching a hero they had long admired.

“Barry…”

The woman behind seemed to be calling him, saying something to him, but Barry didn’t hear a word.

His lips trembled, his hands shaking uncontrollably.

Throughout the year, he had fantasized countless times about the moment they would meet again, imagining that one day, he would appear before the girl in polished armor, riding a magnificent white unicorn, as an excellent knight, or even a hero.

Perhaps then, she might look at him more often.

His lips trembled, his gaze piercing through the noisy crowd, directly at her. At the girl he had spent every day with, his Shir sister, surrounded by countless powerful knights from the First Knight Order, by those truly capable of driving the heretics out of the city, being looked at with respect or admiration.

He watched one of the knights in the pope’s cloak, a powerful and reliable great hero, suddenly lift the girl up by the waist and throw her into the air. The girl frantically pulled at her skirt, shouting something, as if cursing, but her weak voice was drowned out by the sudden roar of the crowd. The knights raised their hands high, their cheers like a tidal wave. The girl was thrown up again and again amidst that noise.

The atmosphere of victory rose slowly in the fragmented city, in everyone’s hearts.

Barry clenched his fists tightly, standing on the other side of the street, his eyes slightly red, watching from afar.

At this moment, he was less than a street away from the one he longed for, Kaner.

But suddenly, he felt that he might never reach her side.

“Hey…”

A knight clad in gold armor walked past Barry, glanced back at him, and then stopped.

It seemed the knight noticed the style of Barry’s armor and frowned, asking, “You… are you from the Third Knight Order? Brother, are you okay?”

Barry was dazed and shook his head gently.

The knight approached him, “Which squad are you from… why are you here? Are you alone? Are you hurt? What’s your name?”

“…Barry.”

“Oh.”

After hearing the young knight’s response, the man nodded, but his eyes suddenly widened after a moment.

“What did you say your name was?”