Chapter 703

The pale blue smoke wrapped around Diarmuid, and by this time, Diarmuid had already begun to turn into energy.

In less than a few seconds, Diarmuid had turned into a mass of golden energy; this Heroic Spirit energy swirled in Su Xiao's palm, while Diarmuid's soul drifted away.

"The amount is less than I imagined."

Perhaps due to the consumption during the battle, the Heroic Spirit energy Su Xiao obtained was not much; although not much, it was far more abundant than the amount from a single arm earlier.

The golden Heroic Spirit energy sank into Su Xiao's palm and, using his arm as a conduit, entered the Devouring Core near his heart.

The intricately constructed Devouring Core immediately began to operate, starting to purify, cleanse, and finally convert this Heroic Spirit energy into a colorless energy.

When the first wisp of colorless energy drifted out from the Devouring Core, the Qing Gang Ying energy within Su Xiao's body was already active to the extreme; in an instant, it swarmed up and absorbed that colorless energy completely.

As the Heroic Spirit energy within the Devouring Core decreased, the amount of colorless energy drifting out increased significantly; a few minutes later, all the Heroic Spirit energy had been converted.

Su Xiao stood in place, pale blue light flickering in his eyes, and the blue smoke drifting from his arm vanished.

"Hoo~"

Su Xiao let out a long breath; every time he devoured high-level biological energy, it was a test of his mind.

He turned his head to look outside the unfinished building; having just devoured Heroic Spirit energy, his perception of this energy was extremely keen.

"Have they already gone far? Compared to Diarmuid, your energy is so fragrant and mellow it makes one drool."

The direction Su Xiao was looking was toward Saber and the others, who had already strategically retreated.

In the distance, Saber, dressed in a black suit, suddenly stopped her steps and subconsciously turned her head to look in a certain direction.

"What's wrong, Saber?"

Emiya Kiritsugu's wife, Irisviel, looked at Saber in confusion; she was a beautiful white-haired woman.

Irisviel's identity was not simple; she was not a human, but an artificial human created by the "Einzbern family." More importantly, she was the vessel prepared by the "Einzbern family" for the descent of the Holy Grail.

As the Holy Grail War continued, every time a Heroic Spirit died in battle, Irisviel would become weaker; the weaker she became, the closer it meant the descent of the Holy Grail was.

Destined for tragedy from birth, this was the life of the beautiful woman Irisviel.

Irisviel was not too weak at the moment, as only two Heroic Spirits had fallen (Diarmuid + Lancer).

Hearing Irisviel's question, Saber shook her head.

"Nothing, just a bad premonition. The combination of that Heroic Spirit and Master is too strange, it's as if..."

"As if their identities were swapped."

Emiya Kiritsugu took over the conversation; he had also noticed the clues.

"That's right, identities swapped!" Saber agreed with this statement.

"The Command Spell on that 'Master's' hand... was drawn on."

Emiya Kiritsugu's words left Saber and the others stunned.

"Drawn on?" Saber was somewhat surprised, clearly unable to accept such an operation.

"That's right, drawn on. Although no Master in previous Holy Grail Wars has done this, it's a good method."

"Then we should also..."

Irisviel raised her fair hand, seemingly wanting to draw a Command Spell on it as well.

"No."

Emiya Kiritsugu flatly refused.

"Drawing a Command Spell on your hand can deceive enemies from a distance, but it requires corresponding combat power and many conditions. You cannot do it, but Saber could consider it."

Hearing Emiya Kiritsugu's words, Saber remained silent, clearly not wanting to draw a Command Spell on her hand to deceive others; the "honesty" in her knightly character did not allow her to do so.

The group remained silent, and after a long while, Emiya Kiritsugu suddenly spoke.

"Saber, if you were to face that Heroic Spirit, what are your chances of winning?"

"Sixty percent... no, at most fifty percent. I have the advantage in Noble Phantasms, and I have ways to deal with that Heroic Spirit's sword skills, but the pale blue smoke drifting from his hand... that smoke seems to be able to... eat me!" Saber's sword skills were not weak, but they were weaker than Su Xiao's blade skills. However, Saber had the A-rank ability "Intuition," and A-rank Intuition could foresee the future for a short time, such as predicting the angle of Su Xiao's slash in advance.

"Is that so? Then the best way is to avoid his edge."

Emiya Kiritsugu began to think about the next strategy; the reason he retreated now was to let Su Xiao kill a few more Heroic Spirits, thereby reducing the number of competitors.

Unfortunately, Su Xiao would not appear in Fuyuki City again for a short time.

Inside the unfinished building, Su Xiao sat cross-legged on the ground, and he could faintly hear the roaring of Matou Kariya in the open space downstairs.

The Qing Gang Ying energy within his body gradually stabilized, Su Xiao opened his eyes, and the Reincarnation Paradise prompt appeared.

【Due to absorbing the energy converted by the Devouring Core, the Qing Gang Ying level has increased.】

【Qing Gang Ying has been upgraded to lv. 27.】

【Qing Gang Ying has been upgraded to lv. 28.】

Qing Gang Ying had increased by two levels—or to be precise, by one and a half levels. As Su Xiao continuously used the Qing Gang Ying ability, this skill would gradually improve.

A Heroic Spirit increased the Qing Gang Ying level by about one and a half levels, far less than the Tailed Beast, as the energy base of the two was different.

The combat power of a Heroic Spirit was different from that of a Tailed Beast, and the power systems of the Naruto world and the Holy Grail world were also different.

Compared to chakra, the magic power of the Holy Grail world was several tiers lower—not in terms of power, but judged from multiple levels such as the function and nature of the energy.

"Arcs" flickered at Su Xiao's fingertips; the manifested Qing Gang Ying energy resembled lightning, but the nature of the two was different.

Although it only increased by two levels, Su Xiao felt that the density of the Qing Gang Ying energy had increased significantly. He opened the skill list to check the detailed data after the Qing Gang Ying skill upgrade.

【Qing Gang Ying: lv. 28 (Active Skill)】

Usage Condition: After activating (Qing Gang Ying), the Hunter consumes 66 Mana points per minute (increased by 4 Mana consumption), and it automatically closes when Mana is below 1%.

Skill Effect: After activating (Qing Gang Ying), each melee attack will burn 140 Mana points from the enemy (increased by 10 points) and deal true damage equal to the burned Mana value + 10% of the enemy's already consumed Mana (increased by 1%). The enemy will suffer intense pain after the Mana burn.

Controller: Can manifest Qing Gang Ying energy with high intensity, in three forms.

Form 1, Demon Hunter: This is the basic form of Qing Gang Ying, which is burning the enemy's Mana and dealing true damage.

Form 2, Pride Song: This is a defensive form that can generate energy shields of any shape to defend against enemy attacks. The strength of the energy shield is related to the Mana consumed, with a single Mana consumption limit of 400 points.

Form 3, Blue Shadow King (2% awakened).

Various attributes of the Qing Gang Ying skill had improved, and when he saw the introduction at the bottom, he suddenly discovered that the "Blue Shadow King" ability had actually awakened by 2%.

This left Su Xiao both pleasantly surprised and puzzled. He hadn't done anything; could it be because the Qing Gang Ying level had increased?

Perhaps that wasn't the reason. Previously in the Naruto world, the Qing Gang Ying ability had increased from lv. 20 to lv. 26, but there had been no sign of the "Blue Shadow King" awakening.

Could it be a natural awakening? That possibility was also not high.

Su Xiao felt a bit of a headache. There was no doubt that the "Blue Shadow King" ability was definitely one of the ultimate moves of the Shadow of Law-Breaker, but now this ability could not be used, and the awakening method was unknown.