"Carrance, you decrepit human!"
Sophie"s eyes suddenly erupted with malevolence. "Still remember the ma.s.sacre of Frosty Night Town? I will never forget the innocent souls you murdered with your blade, Duke! I will never forget the sight of my mother"s bones turning into ashes when I returned home! I will kill you!"
Carrance pulled out a silver-colored light sword from his back before replying, "Sinful Sophie, the very fact that you, an undead, are asking me to answer for my supposed crimes, when you yourself have claimed countless innocent lives with your two hands is hypocrisy of the highest degree. You and I will always be sworn enemies. However, I, Duke Carrance, will let you know that I have never murdered an innocent. Therefore, your mother"s death cannot have anything to do with me!"
Sophie howled and surrounded her blade with swirls of red energy. She smiled sinisterly at Duke Carrance and said, "Executioners can always find excuses for their crimes. Carrance, you are a duke of the empire with great power in your hands. You will never understand the anger of the commoners. I may have died and become an undead, but I will have justice for those who are still alive!"
……
Carrance uttered through gritted teeth, "Come, devil! I will not let you stain Sky City with your sinful hands any longer! This is our final bastion!"
Whoos.h.!.+
Sophie"s sword cut through air and struck the Sword Saint of Stars" weapon, causing a mini cyclone and the latter to stagger backward. However, the Sword Saint of Stars proved to be a formidable fighter. His level was invisible to us, and he was the first person today to block Sophie"s attack without being crushed. We have a chance!
Crack crack...
Debris fell off my body as I pulled myself out of the wall I had been pushed into. Then, I called out to Beiming Xue, "Beiming, shoot Sophie with Devil Piercing Arrows and whatever CC skills you have! Everyone else, spread out and get ready to take down Sophie! She is the true evil behind this patch; take her out, and everything will be resolved!"
"Mn!"
Beiming Xue and the Dragonlight Archers immediately spread out as I ordered them to. Very soon, Sophie was taking fire from every direction around her. Unfortunately, even as Sophie was attacking the Sword Saint, she was too fast for most of our players to lock her down. Those who did manage to predict where she would go next couldn"t deal enough damage to really threaten her.
Chiang!
Sparks exploded between Carrance and Sophie as the latter destroyed his parry again. Although they were both thousand-year-old experts, it was obvious that the Sword Saint of Stars was far weaker than Sophie.
I stood in front of Lian Xin, raised the Dragon G.o.d s.h.i.+eld and said, "Little Xin, I"ll cover you, so use your Origin Force Fields and cut off Sophie"s movements!"
"Got it!"
Lian Xin raised her Thunder G.o.d Scepter and slapped a dozen of Origin Force Fields around Sophie. She was so fast that not even the G.o.ddess of Death herself was able to move around them. But she didn"t need to. Sophie simply charged right through an Origin Force Field and shattered it like it didn"t exist!
"Ah…"
Lian Xin shot me a helpless look. "I can"t, Lu Chen. Sophie"s domain power is simply too strong, I"m not even a Divine General…"
I gritted my teeth, but there was nothing else I could try. I could only watch the Sword Saint of Stars resisting Sophie"s attacks as best he could.
"Xinran, faster!" I urged in my mind.
Somehow, Xinran was able to read my mind. She responded, "I"m on the way, big bro. Just hang on until I get there…"
She was wrong. It was the Sword Saint of Stars, Carrance, who had to hang on until she arrived, not me.
……
"Sword formation!"
Carrance abruptly backed to the edge of the city and raised an arm. The next moment, a storm of swords fell right on top of Sophie. However, the G.o.ddess of Death simply smiled and said, "You think you can hurt me with a petty trick?"
She then opened her left palm, summoned a ball of red light between her fingers and growled, "Soul Umbrella. Block it all!"
Whoos.h.!.+
A blood-red umbrella about ten meters in diameter abruptly appeared above Sophie. It rotated slowly and absorbed all the attacks. In the end, Carrance"s sword formation wasn"t able to pierce it completely and deal any damage to Sophie.
"G.o.d dammit!"
Carrance jumped up to the wall, pushed himself off and shot toward Sophie like lightning. His sword glowed with power as he struck the Soul Umbrella three times in a row. He was ultimately able to tear tenacious defense into pieces.
But not only did the Sword Saint not look pleased with his achievement, horror filled his expression when he realized what Sophie was doing while he was blinded. Sophie had dropped to one knee and summoned some sort of red draconic soul to her sword. Her preparation done, she abruptly raised her weapon and shouted, "Let"s see if you can handle the strongest skill of the Dragon Speakers, you hypocrite! War Dragon Strike!"
Roar!
The draconic blast hit the Sword Saint of Stars squarely in the chest and tore a huge hole at the center. At this point, he almost didn"t have enough strength to grasp his sword anymore.
Pa!
Sophie stomped the ground angrily and jumped into the air. At the same time, she cut off the Sword Saint"s arm and sent it flying into the air! The man screamed in pain and horror. Even if he somehow survived this, he would never return to his peak form, and the one who ended his era was none other than the second strongest Purgatory Sovereign, Sophie!
Thud...
In the sky, Sophie caught the detached arm before it fell to the ground and gave it a sniff. Then, she smiled cruelly before biting a chunk of flesh from the limb! A moment later, she spat out the meat and blood with a frown and said, "Disgusting. It is just as disgusting as your rotten heart. Be ready, Carrance. My next strike will take off your head!"
Pus.h.i.+ng down the pain, Carrance picked up his sword from the ground with his left arm and uttered through gritted teeth, "You won"t be able to wipe out humanity even if you kill me, Sophie. There will always be more human cultivators who will rise up to challenge you…"
Not far away, Karinshan staggered toward the duo while saying, "Master Carrance, you cannot give up yet. You are the martial G.o.d of Sky City, and you cannot submit to the power of darkness! We cannot surrender to Sophie even if she kills us!"
Carrance looked up at Sophie before letting out a sudden, shuddering laugh. "I can sense your fury, Sophie. But you must know that we have never slaughtered the townspeople of Frosty Night Town, only isolated them! Yes, we burned some people on the stakes, but they were bandits who had attempted to pillage the city, not the townspeople!"
……
Sophie slowly landed on top of the city wall before looking in the direction of Frosty Night Town. Deep sorrow colored her red eyes as she faced Karinshan all of a sudden before saying, "Princess, I was born and raised in Frosty Night Town, and my biggest dream was to become a proud knight of the empire. I learned my skills in Vanished G.o.d City and eventually became a member of the Ten Heroes. But what did I see when I awoke from my slumber? I saw human n.o.bles scheming and stabbing each other in the back for power. I saw armies slaughtering their own people. I saw Frosty Night Town turned into rubble in a single night! Is this how the empire repays my loyalty, princess?"
Karinshan stared at Sophie in determination. "I don"t know what truly happened in Frosty Night Town, but I"m certain that Master Carrance would have never slaughtered a defenseless person! At least half of the continent was struck by the undead plague that year, and many of Frosty Night Town"s townspeople were infected and turned into soulless puppets. Even so, I"m certain that Master Carrance wouldn"t have raised his blade against these former humans!"
Sophie smiled, but it looked unnaturally white and gaunt beneath the moonlight. A pair of tears slid down her cheeks as she murmured to herself, "It"s been so many years, but I still couldn"t forget my mother"s voice. I could still remember her singing me to bed, the scent of her fried onion pancakes and oat bread, her back when she sent me off to the War G.o.d Academy. Even to this day, the memory of her singing can drive me to tears, and her smile can wake me from my dreams!"
Anger flooded Sophie"s eyes at this moment. "It is you, Carrance, who killed my mother! It is your guards who tied my mother to the stake and burned her to ashes! Even as she burned, she wouldn"t stop calling out my name, her Little Sophie. Even after she died, her soul couldn"t find release! Today, I will crush this hypocritical rule to nothing and return everything to the void!"
Carrance gritted his teeth again and said, "I have… never ordered the ma.s.sacre of any civilian!"
"Die!"
Sophie abruptly shouted and fired a sword beam at him. It pierced his body and slammed him against the marble with the insignia of the city etched onto it. He spasmed like crazy as blood poured out of his wounds. Judging from his eyes that were rapidly losing focus, it wouldn"t be long before he died.
……
Sophie abruptly closed the distance between herself and the Sword Saint before punching him in the chest. His ribs instantly broke like sticks, but surprisingly, the man was able to transform his groan of pain into a frown. He stared at Sophie and said, "A man"s lifespan is destined from the start. If it is my fate to die here, then I will pa.s.s away without regrets, for I am secure in the knowledge that I"ve protected the people of this continent my whole life!"
Sophie gritted her teeth. "Is that so? Protect this!"
Boom!
She punched again, and this time her fist went right through his heart. The Sword Saint was still living because he had great power. Another man would"ve died a long time ago.
……
The Bone Dragons were still controlling the sky. More hurricanes were approaching the city as well.
Karinshan dropped to her knees and cried out, "Master Carrance…"
It was at this moment a red light tore through the clouds, and a dark silver head of a dragon poked out. It looked at me for a second before crying, "Oh! I see your big brother, my beautiful and innocent master! Sophie has totally kicked his a.s.s!"