The unfamiliar yet stirring music, the fervent and ethereal youth. Amid the blood mist, old Bond and the two blood-robed figures saw Ye Dui’s emergence and faltered slightly. They had schemed this trap to lure Ye Dui’s group here, precisely to capture Ye Dui and claim his flesh and blood. Yet that nun believer had appeared abruptly. She wielded holy power utterly antithetical to theirs. With her at his side, seizing Ye Dui would prove a hundredfold harder.
But unexpectedly, this lad now voluntarily left the others, presenting himself before them?
Regardless of that bizarre music, seeing Ye Dui appear, after a brief stun, old Bond acted first. He roared from his mouth, “Seize him for me!”
The other two blood-robed figures lunged towards Ye Dui like savage beasts. Their arms etched with eerie blood runes, their hands like razor-sharp claws, vast and capable of pulverising a human body into mince with one strike. Their speed was astonishing.
Worshipping evil spirits granted them taboo powers, twisting their profane bodies into monstrous horrors. Magic tutors could wield spells, yet their physical prowess was ever a weakness. For Ye Dui to expose himself thus was sheer suicide.
Boom.
The claws slammed into the ground, carving a terrifying gash. Yet Ye Dui had vanished.
The music turned somewhat ethereal. Old Bond raised his head. The youth leapt mid-air, gales swirling around his form. This was the wind-element aid spell [Breath of Wind], granting superhuman leaping prowess.
Old Bond’s blood-red eyes narrowed sharply. Before he could react, flames coalesced around the youth’s body in clusters. Amid the simple yet kinetic rhythm of brass and drums, Ye Dui seemed to transform into a battling dancer.
Whoosh whoosh.
The youth descended to earth. Those flames he had summoned earlier raged outwards in a frenzy.
Though old Bond was exceedingly aged, his long service to the evil spirit had yielded fuller taboo powers. His body skimmed the ground like a grotesque serpent, slithering back dozens of metres. The two blood-robed figures were less fortunate. Ye Dui’s flames engulfed their bodies entirely.
Flames bore scorching might, and Ye Dui’s release carried potent binding force as well. The flames coiling around the two swiftly morphed into twin colossal fire serpents, constricting them tightly. This was [Serpent of Flame], yet not wholly so. Under Ye Dui’s BGM, the spell grew far more potent. Ye Dui stood amid the writhing, screaming blood-robed duo.
He advanced slowly towards old Bond. Against that rhythmically pulsing music, this moment’s him exuded indescribable coolness, brimming with a cold, ruthless charisma like a powder keg igniting on stage. His fingers trailed across the iPad grimoire. Behind him, the bound blood-robed figures’ screams sharpened abruptly. The fire serpents’ coils tightened with lethal force. Under that power and searing intensity, the pair burned to ashes, crumbling amid the blaze.
Swifter speed, greater strength, a physique rivaling a swordsman’s. Most crucially, that combative zeal. Beneath this rousing BGM movement, Ye Dui’s blood boiled. All felt invigorated, as if dosed with stimulants.
Hot-blooded buff!
“Aaaah!” Old Bond bellowed like a madman. The prior blood-robed deaths stemmed from the nun believer’s clashing power. But what of Ye Dui now? This defied all reason!
These blood-robed figures had once been bandits infesting Nanfeng Watchtower. He had bestowed upon them the evil spirit’s wicked force, rendering them formidable combatants, his most vile and brutal thralls. Yet Ye Dui slew them so effortlessly. In furious rage, he roared and thrust his hands high. Blood-red mist coalesced swiftly between his arms, forming a clump of crimson, profane flame.
The prior blast that reduced Ye Dui’s carriage to splinters had been this very technique. Worshipping the evil spirit endowed old Bond with might akin to both swordsman and magic tutor, potent like a magic swordsman. Yet against Ye Dui, it availed him naught.
For now, Ye Dui was magic tutor, swordsman, believer. If needed, he could yet be summoner.
Boom!
The blood-red fireball crashed to earth, gouging a horrific crater. But Ye Dui’s form had long vanished from the spot. Swordsman’s agility, amplified by the music-boosted spell [Windstride]. In the next instant, Ye Dui materialised at old Bond’s flank.
A war without honour or humanity. This BGM had reached its cli·max. Brass intoned a somewhat desolate legato, joined by frantic drums and a brooding guitar barrage. Ye Dui’s fists and feet struck in rhythm upon old Bond’s body. Bang! Bang! Bang! Violence and fervour, blood and roars. Old Bond’s aged yet unyielding frame endured Ye Dui’s rhythmic barrage.
From the start, Ye Dui had been a magic tutor adept at close quarters. Melee was his forte. This moment amplified that tradition. Amid his BGM, he evoked that film slayer facing down an entire Ja·panese syndicate solo, unstoppable, invincible.
In my BGM, I am invincible!
Old Bond’s blood-red robe shredded to tatters, exposing a body etched with crimson wrinkles, that inhuman fiend’s form rent asunder. Yet this sufficed not to claim his life.
In a shrill roar of fury, old Bond dissolved into a spray of blood mist, evading Ye Dui’s fist.
The music neared its close. The zealous mood ebbed slowly. Ye Dui furrowed his brow, scanning the surroundings. In this blood mist, old Bond held home advantage. He had escaped amid the successive strikes. A slight regret, that. Still, Ye Dui glanced back at the watchtower faintly visible through the original mist. A cold smirk curled his lips. You cannot flee. Soon, I shall raze that tower!
The surrounding blood-red mist seemed to thin gradually. But the haze cloaking the watchtower remained dense as gore.
Debbie, Lessa, Green, Nick, and the others listened as that unprecedented yet instinctively stirring music concluded. Their faces held surprise laced with concern. When the youth’s shadow re-emerged from the blood-red mist, they finally exhaled fully.
As a believer, Lessa sensed most directly what Ye Dui had just done. She no longer needed to sustain the surrounding light barrier. Thus, with delight, she rushed to Ye Dui’s side. “Little brother, what was that sound just now? You… are a believer too?”
“No, this is merely magic.” Ye Dui stroked the grimoire as he replied. In truth, the recent music evidently resembled a believer’s chant. Yet revealing that his iPad grimoire spanned nine elements, summoned heroic spirits, and even wielded believer chants would shock the world utterly. Better to stay low-key. He eyed Lessa, diverting the topic. “How did you end up here?”
“Actually, I returned to Stan Town a couple of days ago. I passed by here then and sensed an unsettling aura. I planned to contact the church to handle it. But unexpectedly, you dashed right here.” Lessa explained.
She seemed somewhat reproachful towards Ye Dui for it, arms crossed in a coquettish pout. Yet soon the ice thawed, yielding a playful smile. She affectionately hugged Ye Dui’s arm. It was truly affectionate. The fullness at her chest pressed against his arm, forming a rounded imprint. “Little brother, five years without seeing you, and you have grown so formidable.”
“Heh heh, heh heh.” Ye Dui chuckled, feigning composure. Holy crap, so big! So soft!
Debbie had taken a liking to Lessa initially. This stemmed from her longstanding envy of believer nuns. She meant to approach and voice concern for Ye Dui. But witnessing this, Debbie froze. Her small face darkened slightly as she addressed Lessa. “You seem quite close to Ye Dui. But how can you call him little brother? This auntie.”
Emphasising “auntie” with that malicious edge, Debbie even glanced pointedly at Lessa’s chest. Such abundance must have ripened over many years…
Lessa’s eyes twinkled with amusement as she appraised Debbie. She laughed. “I have called him that since childhood, you know. Oh, I am only fifteen this year.” She paused, her eyes retaliating with a glance at Debbie’s chest. “Big sis.”
“Fif, fifteen…”
Debbie suffered ten thousand points of damage at once. Her inner turmoil: holy crap holy crap holy crap holy crap…
