Chapter 72: Clash of Fire and Shadow

“Hey, hey, hey! What’s happening?”

The sudden, colossal roar instantly extinguished their enthusiasm, sending them cowering to the ground, hands clasped over their heads.

“Was that… was that an explosion?”

“Damn it! How should I know?”

The disheveled woman shakily lifted her head, only to behold a scene that would forever be seared into her memory.

Fragments of brick, tile, and wood splintered outwards, as if the entire street had been subjected to an inhuman onslaught.

Thick black smoke billowed skyward, interspersed with blinding flashes of fire.

From within the swirling smoke, a dark figure suddenly shot forth, her black cloak burnt beyond recognition, her exposed skin torn and flesh raw, while wisps of white smoke rose from her entire body.

Yet, despite this gruesome sight, Carol seemed utterly unfazed; instead, her spirit grew even more exhilarated.

“Haha, it hurts… it truly hurts! It’s been so long since I’ve felt such pain! More! Give me more!”

A pair of hideous, bat-like wings sprouted from her back, and as they unfurled, something within them seemed to writhe.

Another figure burst through the thick mist, enveloped in golden flames, a longsword forged of fire clutched in her hand, making her appear like a blazing sun.

The red and black figures collided, unleashing a massive shockwave that hurled the woman hundreds of meters away, knocking her to the ground.

The woman’s legs turned to jelly from fright, rendering her unable to even stand.

Regardless, she believed with unwavering certainty that no matter the peril, the man who loved her most would rush to her rescue without hesitation.

“Where are you?! I can’t move! Come carry me!”

Yet, only the cacophony of explosions answered her desperate cries.

Frantically, she twisted her head, only to see the man who, merely three minutes prior, had sworn ‘May lightning strike me down if I ever betray you,’ now fleeing in disarray, his figure shrinking into the distance, leaving behind only a panicked silhouette.

“Bastard! You absolute bastard!”

Her curses continued to echo, but the two combatants locked in a deadly struggle high above remained utterly oblivious to them.

They chased and parried, their forms moving with such blinding speed that pedestrians on the street could not possibly track them, seeing only two streaks of light continuously interweaving and flashing.

Longsword and scythe clashed repeatedly, sending forth dazzling sparks.

After merely a few exchanges, Carol was struck once more, her body propelled like a cannonball, plummeting violently into the distance.

Her hands, gripping the scythe’s hilt, trembled imperceptibly; she could no longer even spare the presence of mind for a taunt.

Carol was forced to concede that Celeste was indeed no easy opponent to contend with.

The flames that enveloped Celeste were not a power mortals could wield; they were the sacred fire of Azer, the Sun Goddess, stemming from divine authority and transcending the very laws of this world.

These flames possessed the power to incinerate all things in existence, leaving nothing but ash, a force from which even souls could not escape.

As the golden radiance surged towards her, Carol raised a hand, sending dozens of tentacles lashing out at her adversary.

Yet, Celeste’s speed remained undiminished, and her surging flames instantly incinerated the encroaching tendrils.

The agony of her soul being scorched finally proved too much for Carol to bear, causing her speed to falter.

Seizing this opportune moment, Celeste roared in defiance, and the tip of her sword erupted with scorching light, plunging into Carol’s chest with an unstoppable, devastating force.

This strike, imbued with nearly all of Celeste’s power, proved too much for the obsidian scythe in Carol’s hands, causing it to shatter into two pieces.

The longsword, wreathed in golden flames, pierced through Carol’s chest, emerging from her back, and the inferno instantly consumed her entire being.

“Urgh, ahhhhhhh!!”

Wracked by an unbearable, soul-searing pain, Carol let out a bloodcurdling shriek.

Blood gushed from her wound, only to be instantly vaporized into a crimson mist.

As a scorching wave of heat propagated outwards, Celeste tightened her grip on the longsword, dragging Carol along as they plummeted from mid-air towards the open ground below.

Boom!!!

Like the impact of a falling meteor, the ground was rent open, forming a massive crater several meters in diameter.

Debris scattered like a tempest, and the entire earth trembled.

After a long moment, the dust cloud gradually dissipated, leaving the air thick with the acrid scent of burnt flesh and a metallic tang.

The longsword in Celeste’s hand still blazed, deeply embedded in the earth.

Yet, what lay pinned to the ground was not Carol’s body, but a piece of her cloak, charred almost to cinders.

In the final critical moments, Celeste had lost her strength, failing to fully restrain Carol.

“Haha… hahahaha…”

From a short distance ahead, Carol’s faint, mocking laughter drifted through the air.

Her appearance was utterly gruesome; an arm and a leg had been blown clean off, flesh splattering everywhere, leaving her sprawled on the ground like a crushed insect.

Nevertheless, the tentacles writhing within her body were rapidly mending her wounds.

Gurgle… gurgle…

The hideous tentacles continued to undulate, seemingly reshaping her body in a manner utterly unnatural to humans.

In a mere few dozen seconds, new scaffolding had sprouted from her shattered thigh bone, swiftly covered by skin and flesh, gradually forming a grotesque lower leg.

“Hahahaha, you wretched thing… you almost killed me.”

Carol conjured her scythe anew from the void, and dragging her mangled body, she struggled to push herself up from the ground.

In stark contrast to Carol’s wretched state, Celeste remained far more composed, standing majestically like a valiant knightess.

However, her face was deathly pale, utterly devoid of color.

“Heh heh, it’s not pleasant, is it, having your body controlled by [those guys]? How much longer can you hold on?”

As if to underscore Carol’s words, no sooner had they left her lips than Celeste could no longer sustain herself.

She collapsed to her knees with a thud, coughing up a torrent of fresh blood.

Carol was not mistaken; this technique placed an immense burden on the body.

Celeste, still unable to fully master this power, was maintaining her current state purely by expending her own life force.

“Cough, cough… cough, cough…”

Violent coughing wracked her shoulders, Celeste’s golden pupils gradually dimmed, and the sword forged of inferno dissolved into particles, vanishing into the air.

She attempted to rise again, but her body felt as if it had been filled with lead, utterly refusing to move.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, Celeste, you truly are a formidable opponent… but I have still won.

My apologies, but you will die here.”

Carol raised her scythe, resembling a harbinger of death, and slowly advanced towards Celeste.

Just as she prepared to end the battle, she suddenly caught a whiff of danger, causing her to halt her steps.

The next instant, walls of ice erupted from the ground, encasing Celeste in layers.

From the surface of these ice walls, numerous ice spikes then emerged.

Carol recoiled several steps, brandishing her scythe to deflect the majority of the attacks.

Nevertheless, a few ice shards managed to graze her body, leaving several streaks of blood.

“Tch, that wretched woman… she’s truly a nuisance!”

Carol cast a glance at Liyang, who was hurrying towards them, and muttered a low curse.

Her current condition was dire, almost half-dead, barely any better than Celeste’s.

Yet, Liyang was not an Awakened One, and if it came to a true fight, Carol might still have a chance of victory.

To eliminate two troublesome pests at once—there could be no better opportunity.

As Carol pondered these thoughts, her brow suddenly furrowed once more.

“So that’s it.

Quite a few have arrived.

The kingdom’s lackeys truly have sharp noses!”

She let out a cold laugh, retracted her scythe, and soared into the sky, gazing down at the two figures on the ground.

“Your luck holds for now.

This shall be all for today.”

“However, do not rejoice too soon.

One day, one day, I will slaughter you all!”

With these words uttered, Carol spread her wings and vanished into the distant sky.