Chapter 495: Crimson Hell

After running for a distance in the silent, desolate, and dilapidated Fourth Epoch Trier, the wound on Lumian's abdomen was brought under control thanks to his powerful self-healing ability, and it shouldn't worsen in the short term.

Under the sunlight, his direction and that of Fors and the others became completely chaotic. Sometimes they would enter a narrow, half-destroyed street, only to find gorgeous red buildings appearing before their eyes. Sometimes they would head toward a landmark, only to find themselves getting further and further away from it, no matter how they changed direction.

Fortunately, the four of them were close to each other, and no one got "lost" or separated from the team.

Just when Lumian felt it was about enough and intended to find a place to hide, a large amount of light fragments raging violently appeared before their eyes.

This looked like it had been transferred directly from afar by the power generated by the Fourth Epoch Trier being stimulated.

For Lumian and the others, this terrifying light storm was not unfamiliar. They had faced it once before in the wilderness; it was the ability from Gardner Martin's silver-white full-body armor.

Gardner Martin? Lumian stopped in time, not rushing into the light storm, which, although already attenuated, was still quite dangerous.

Fors's expression became quite complicated; she didn't know if this counted as lucky or unlucky.

As the light subsided slightly, she saw Gardner Martin's head dragging a long, blood-stained spine. She saw this old lover's faceplate damaged, his face covered in scorched, hideous wounds, the side of his skull caved in and broken along with the helmet, his gray-white brain faintly visible, while the eyes looking in this direction were hollow and unfocused, filled with dizziness, as if suffering from an exaggerated concussion under the intense impact.

Opposing Gardner Martin was his body wearing the silver-white full-body armor, the body without a head, the neck's opening covered in bloodstains.

It raised its hands, condensing a giant axe made of light.

This couldn't be used to release "Light Storm," but for normal combat, it was enough.

Fors looked at that familiar yet strange, miserable face, let out a breath, took out a mirror, and shone it inside.

At this time, Gardner Martin's thoughts recovered slightly. Reflecting in his eyes, besides his own headless body, were Fors's beautiful lake-colored eyes that seemed to have no fluctuations.

Fors pressed her right hand, which was burning with black flames, onto the mirror reflecting Gardner Martin's head, and said softly:

"I'll help you find relief."

Gardner Martin, who hadn't truly recovered from the huge blow brought by his own body, was instantly enveloped by black flames, his spirituality burning from the inside out.

He wanted to scream, but couldn't make a sound. He wanted to pray to the great will for help, using his own specialty, evoking the power given by the Fourth Epoch Trier, but there was no response.

With a "puff," the headless Gardner Martin swung the giant axe of light, slashing onto the face of that head, shattering the already missing faceplate and slashing into the skull.

Lumian had already moved sideways a few steps, raised his right hand, and let a fireball of crimson-near-white blast toward the caved-in skull of Gardner Martin like a cannonball.

It landed on the opening and exploded with a boom, tearing at the gray-white brain that no longer had protection.

In the continuous attacks from his own body, his own lover, and his own subordinate, Gardner Martin's head had its eyes bulge out, filled with resentment and pain.

With a "snap," the head detached from the helmet, falling to the ground in a half-shattered form, no longer having signs of life, no longer having any movement.

When the silver-white helmet hit the ground with a thud, Gardner Martin's body wearing the armor turned around, raised the giant axe of light in its hands, and rushed toward Lumian and the others.

Seeing this scene, Lumian arched his body slightly and strode to meet it.

With every step he took, his body seemed to grow larger by a fraction. By the time he was close to the headless Gardner Martin, his clothes and pants were already stretched tight.

The power of a "Barren Man"!

Before, while hiding and waiting at the edge of the Fourth Epoch Trier, Lumian had "accumulated" some power, and now he erupted with it.

The power he had accumulated wasn't much, but it gave him a certain change. Plus the improvements in speed, agility, and physique brought by the "Blood-Thirster's Arrow," he had the confidence to block this strike from Gardner Martin, who was wearing the silver-white armor.

Just as the two were about to encounter each other, Lumian dodged sensitively, letting the giant axe of light slash past him, and slammed a fist toward the headless Gardner's wrist.

With a "bang," the headless Gardner directly dropped the giant axe of light, clenched its fist covered in a metal glove, and collided with Lumian's.

Lumian's body swayed slightly, while the headless Gardner was like a mountain peak, not shaking in the slightest.

Lumian, while withdrawing his left fist and loosening it, swinging it in the air to relieve the pain, swung his right fist.

Just at this moment, Fors, who had already hidden her figure when Lumian rushed toward the headless Gardner, appeared behind this enemy wearing the silver-white full-body armor.

She raised the iron-black ring worn on her left thumb, and two lightning-like rays of light lit up in her eyes.

She didn't know if this body that had lost its head would still be hurt by "Mental Pierce," but she felt it should be possible, because as long as there was a spirit, it would be affected by "Mental Pierce."

In an instant, the headless Gardner froze there, the skin and flesh exposed at the neck's opening and the broken armor on the chest twitching.

Because she had to chant incantations and use materials, Jenna, who was slower than Fors, also arrived. She appeared at a distance not too close to the headless Gardner, letting clusters of black flames condense and fly out, landing on the bloody neck that was not protected by the silver-white full-body armor, burning the enemy's spirit, which was in a state of intense pain.

Thump, thump, thump—Anthony Reid ran past Jenna, pulling the distance between himself and the headless Gardner close enough.

Then, he made his eyes stand vertically, floating with pale gold.

"Mania"!

Flames suddenly erupted from the headless body inside the silver-white full-body armor, burning its own flesh.

Seeing this, Lumian, while leaning his body backward and pushing off the ground hard with his right foot to "fly" away from the headless Gardner, condensed multiple small fireballs of crimson-near-white around him.

Those fireballs whistled out, flying into his body one after another from the unprotected neck opening.

Boom, boom, boom!

Those fireballs exploded from the inside out, causing the silver-white full-body armor to tremble violently, turning that headless body into scorched flesh fragments, "coating" the inner layer of the armor.

Boom!

Lumian, flying backward, was pushed even further by the blast and fell to the ground.

At the same time, that silver-white full-body armor crashed to the ground like a collapsing mountain.

Lumian had just climbed up and was about to praise Fors and the others for their good coordination when he suddenly felt the sky turn blood-red.

Drops of rain fell.

No, that wasn't rain; it was fire, scorching white fire.

Amidst the fire rain, there were drops of fresh blood one after another.

Fors immediately rolled toward the side building, using the roof extending from it to avoid the scorching of the white fire rain. Lumian, Jenna, and Anthony also made similar moves.

Those clusters of white fire and drops of bright red blood fell faster and faster, dyeing the surroundings red and completely igniting the buildings one by one.

The burning buildings connected into one, turning into a sea of fire.

Lumian seriously considered whether to trigger the "Blood Emperor" aura to see if it could bring about other changes to deal with the current terror, when the figure of "Magician" wearing a shirt with a bow tie and a beige long skirt was reflected in his eyes.

He instantly breathed a sigh of relief.

Brilliant starlight lit up, taking them and the "Arrogant Armor" on the ground, Gardner Martin's corpse, and other things, disappearing from this street and entering the golden vortex in the high sky that was becoming smaller and smaller.

…………

The countless white flames fell like rain, but passed through Bernadette Gustav's body, failing to ignite Her.

This angel seemed to have turned into a non-existent existence.

She continued to observe the thick gray fog, observing the various pollutions of this city, and only after a while did she make her body suddenly transparent, turning into a pile of bubbles reflecting the firelight.

The bubbles dispersed, and Bernadette also left the Trier of the Fourth Epoch.

…………

Two women with outstanding temperaments and charming eyes had just approached the gray-white fog thick as a wall when they discovered that the sky had been dyed the color of blood, and dense white flames like rain had fallen.

They were just about to find a place to hide when a golden sun was reflected in their pupils.

In the blink of an eye, they were completely purified.

In other parts of the Fourth Epoch Trier, the "Hostel" guests who had entered here either had already undergone mutation and died in a monster state, or were ignited by the white flames, or saw the sun.

…………

Madam Pualis hid at the entrance of an asymmetrical house that was still quite intact.

She saw the sunlight in the distance, saw one cluster of white fire after another igniting the nearby buildings, but the darkness inside the door was so deep and terrifying that she didn't dare to go in to hide.

Suddenly, her head felt a burst of intense throbbing, and she heard the near-illusory crying of a baby in her ears.

That was the crying of her child; it was both like a fragment in memory and seemingly ringing nearby.

Madam Pualis followed that wonderful induction and walked into the endless darkness behind the door.

…………

Amidst the countless falling white flames, Vazan Sanson, who was on the collapsed plaza, was also ignited, but he quickly returned to his original state.

He immediately saw his fate of being purified by the sun.

Just at this moment, he caught a glimpse of a figure turning out from behind a gray-white stone pillar at the edge of the plaza.

That was a transparent, blurry lizard-like creature.

That creature's cold eyes were watching him quietly.

…………

Inside the Fourth Epoch Trier, a large number of buildings were ignited by white flames, dyed red by rain turned from blood, and burned scorched black.

"Red Angel" Medici, wearing blood-stained black armor, walked from the wilderness into this city that was both beautiful and brilliant and full of destructive meaning.

He walked through the scorched and collapsed houses, through the white flames falling one by one, through the blood-like raindrops, with an undisguised smile on his face.

The two rotting wounds on his face that were deep to the bone had initially healed, leaving only traces like a mouth.

Splash.

The flames and blood in the high sky fell like a waterfall, both illuminating the Trier of the Fourth Epoch and submerging these ruins, turning it into a crimson hell.

After two thousand and eighty-one years, Medici became the Angel of Kings once again.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 496 =====