Chapter 367: Mistaken Honor

It is entirely covered with black, cold armor, only its eyes flash two deep‑blue‑almost‑purple glows, giving an unusually holy, wise impression, yet it appears rather aloof, without warmth.

In its hand it also grasps a straight, profound great sword, like a solemn dark knight.

"White Saint, Katirina Peile?"

Leiketon's voice, flat and unvarying, came from the tall dark knight.

"Do you know me?"

"What a pity. If you had not seized that Conqueror trait, I would not mind a true pleasure with you, but now I can only follow the primal oracle and take you back to the Witch Sect."

"Of course, perhaps your companion would be willing to trade that Conqueror trait with us; after all it is a Hunter path trait, and neither the Knowledge Church nor the Aurora Assembly requires it."

Responding to her words was a slash from below upward; each swing of the black, abyssal great sword was accompanied by a thick aura of corruption, making the surrounding seawater hiss.

Katirina Peile's body twisted at an incredible angle, easily evading the black great sword's slash.

The jet‑black hair on her head suddenly swelled, each strand twisting and intertwining like black tentacles, like snarling poisonous snakes, attacking the tall dark knight from various angles.

Zi~zi~ The black tentacles struck the black armor hard, instantly corroded by the dense corrupt aura, emitting a sizzling sound.

Relying on the armor's strong defense, Leiketon barely tangled with these hair‑twisted tentacles; they were very agile, as if each had its own mind, deftly dodging the black great sword's swings and seizing the chance to coil around the dark knight's wrist.

Leiketon controlled the dark knight, and following the pulling force of those hair‑formed tentacles, he slammed into Katirina Peile ahead.

Power from the realm of corruption continuously gathered on that black, abyssal great sword, as if it could corrode flesh and erase souls.

Boom! Boom! Boom! In the layered dark clouds, massive bolts of lightning fell, striking the entwined witch and dark knight at an unavoidable speed.

These lightning strands carried a strong paralyzing effect; after hitting the dark knight and the long‑hair‑flaunting witch, they quickly shattered into countless tiny electric snakes that darted outward, lighting the surrounding seawater bright as day.

Even with the dark knight's shielding, Leiketon still felt some stiffness in his body.

The hair‑twisted tentacles of Katirina Peile felt the same; Leiketon clearly sensed the black tentacles coiled on the dark knight becoming weak and feeble.

With a slight lag, the tall dark knight instantly dissolved into a patch of deep black, and as if conscious, it wrapped Katirina Peile with the black tentacles formed by the twisted hair.

The dense corrupt aura instantly corroded her hair, causing it to break, or to generate a corrupt consciousness that then wrapped around herself.

The thick darkness encased Katirina Peile in a huge cocoon, constantly writhing and deforming, as if something inside sought to break the cocoon's limits.

Leiketon's eyes swirled with deep‑blue‑almost‑purple light, appearing ice‑cold and holy; suddenly his gaze flickered, becoming extremely profound, then quickly returned to normal.

Before the relentless lightning, he summoned an invisible giant hand, sending the constantly writhing black cocoon high into the sky, toward the "Sea King" Yaen Kaote.

"Hm!"

A cold snort wrapped with a wailing wind sound exploded around, forming a terrifying sonic boom.

Leiketon's body instantly turned transparent, shattered, turning into countless brilliant star sparks swirling in the seawater, probing toward the deep sea.

The Sea King Yaen Kaote's gaze fell on the black cocoon tossed before him; inside it seemed countless serpents wriggling, twisting bizarrely, swelling. He reached forward, summoned invisible wind, and firmly sealed it.

Sss! A black tentacle pierced the black wrapping.

Sss! Sss! Sss! More and more tentacles emerged, beginning to wrestle with the invisible wind, trying to break free.

In just a moment, heavy layered clouds shrouded everything around; silver‑white electric snakes leapt out, bearing a violently tangible destructive aura, striking those tentacles densely, striking the witch who had not yet fully broken free of the black.

Katirina's expression suddenly twisted; she had been thrown directly before the Storm Church's Sea King, her eyes cloaked by dazzling silver‑white, while invisible wind and the black, corruption‑laden bindings surrounded her.

Damn, that mad woman Yalina—if she doesn't use that thing again, even with the immortal witch's strong survival ability, I'll find it hard to leave this sea safely.

In the near‑sea area left of Baiyam, the reef exposed by the lowering sea surface glittered with brilliant starlight forming clusters of star specks, re‑revealing Leiketon's figure.

He reached out to rub his forehead; his spirit was already struggling to sustain the starlight state.

The previous simulation of a solar flare had consumed too much spirit. How does the Witch Sect possess such secretive magical items, mastering higher‑level Night and Artisan path artifacts? While pondering, his spirit was suddenly stirred, and his wary eyes turned to the reef on his right.

Dark‑red flames suddenly surged, and a bright figure stepped out; her fiery red hair was tinged with ash‑yellow, wildly flaring in the dark‑red flames, twisting.

Invisible transparent threads centered on her spread rapidly outward.

Some were hard, some soft, wrapping unseen mystical viruses and bacteria, attempting to infiltrate Leiketon's body.

From his back, patches of pure white, illusory feathers gathered; as pure, holy wings unfolded, Leiketon's body cracked open fissures, and eyes sprouted from those gaps.

They were indifferent, cold, eerie and twisted, as if each eye were alive, each with its own thoughts.

"Do you still have any means of resurrection?"

Leiketon slightly opened his mouth, emitting a hoarse, low voice, laced with provoked emotions and desires, wrapped in a mass of useless knowledge.

It was closer to a kind of babble; although it lacked the contamination of a complete living organism, through his deliberate influence this babble would become more dangerous.

Yalina's mind entered a brief daze; a flood of tangled, useless knowledge transmitted with the sound into her brain, slowing her thoughts, blurring judgment as emotions and desires surged, causing her to forget her actions.

Every eye that cracked open on Leiketon's body met hers; those eyes seemed to contain countless brilliant stars, hazy and dreamy, making her unable to resist looking more closely.

Those countless brilliant stars amplified in her mind, forming a pair of eyes—cold, indifferent eyes—from which she saw the all‑encompassing knowledge; no, it was Knowledge itself!

Immersed in knowledge, she did not notice her body undergoing mutation; her flesh continuously cracked, layers of crimson revealing eye after eye opening, these eyes tinged with a strange aura, quickly contaminating her.

Leiketon's mouth corner slowly curved into an arc, murmuring dream‑like low whispers; his voice easily pierced everything around, polluting the whole sea: "Sage who perceives the world, eye that probes truth, embodiment of endless knowledge and spirit numbers!"

Standing on the opposite reef, the eyes that had sprouted on Yalina, lost in knowledge, suddenly became active, as if on a pilgrimage they gazed upward, toward the depths of the spirit realm; under the influence of those eyes, Yalina began to speak in a dream‑like tone:

"All disasters' source, symbol of apocalypse and destruction, the witch who commands chaos."

(End of Chapter)