Chapter 399: The Sky-Covering Rotten Wood
(What kind of divine support can I request?)
(No. The Divine Tree is doing its best to support the city-state. We have to rely on ourselves!)
The telepathic communication was instantaneous, no words needed. The two, once side by side on the battlefield, understood each other's intentions. Trek shifted repeatedly across the field, testing the vine's maximum binding range. Benintik's figure flashed behind Perriman, raising his rapier, a gleaming emerald green like a gem.
The Sword of Law, the embodiment of the legal system's concept of "punishing evil and promoting good," was a divine weapon that offered near-death blows to those who violated the law. He had long been away from the battlefield, yet his skills had never diminished. With pinpoint accuracy, his strikes pierced Perriman's head and back, the Sword of Law's unique properties shattering his protective psychic powers while inflicting heavy damage.
However, Pariman's wounds healed rapidly, not even bleeding. Several more vines emerged, piercing like a forest of spears, but Benintik slashed them all with his sword. Layers of ethereal "roots" erupted from beneath his feet, breaking through the ground and grasping at his spirit, only to suddenly lose their grip. Trek, in the distance, activated his compass and, at the critical moment, relocated Benintik.
(Why is the Sword of Law ineffective?)
(I'm afraid he's evading punishment by using the concept of "cluster," and direct punishment and sanctions based on detailed laws won't work.)
(The law doesn't punish everyone... Then a purely physical and energy attack?)
(Wait a minute.) Benintic said, (This feels strange. His methods are not that simple. Let's force his true nature out first!)
Benintic and Trek leaped simultaneously, dodging the massive vines that crashed down from above. The space behind Perriman twisted unnaturally, as if something were "bursting" from within him, its form undetectable, revealed only as countless vines. The vines gathered, swarming forward like a swarm of frantic snakes. Trek teleported again, and the two of them appeared beside Perriman, one on each side, across the sea of vines.
Sharp wooden spears and razor-sharp rapiers, two divine weapons thrust at vital points. Enhanced by the relics and divine power, their attacks were almost comparable to those of the same level, yet Parriman's combined power intercepted them simultaneously!
In that instant, he accurately discerned the flow of power between the moves, deciphering them with the precision of a secret eye. However, this was practically impossible, as Parriman himself wasn't even an ascender. Even with the divine blessing of being the Speaker, he shouldn't have been able to achieve such exquisite skill.
"The captain used the swordsmanship inherited from his family, while you employed the spearmanship of the barracks," Pariman said calmly. "I understand. I know your techniques, so I will not lose."
Parriman's movements were unnaturally stiff, as if he were being manipulated into fighting. Yet, it was precisely this unnatural movement that blocked the two men's attacks. He twisted his wrists, transmitting power from his bones to his skin. At the cost of his own wrists, he pushed both men back. Then, he soared vertically, smashing down with his severely injured arms.
The brutality of his movements made Benintic frown. It was like he was manipulating a worthless puppet to fight. Yet, his attack was extremely effective. Beneath the brutality lay a precise movement, and the attack, designed to damage the body, produced an unexpected effect.
"Your skills are quite unique, Mr. Speaker." Trek raised an eyebrow. "With such great abilities, you were only a mere sergeant back then. What a shame!"
"Don't be surprised. You know in your heart that this is just a false power."
Parriman clenched his hands, ignoring the pain, as if the pain had no effect on him. Invisible power gathered in his palms, transforming into a rusty and dirty gun.
"It's simply the knowledge that's been imparted, the abilities that have been granted, the basic qualities that a vessel must possess in order to accomplish its purpose."
"However, the will behind me is real. I will let you experience this... experience my determination to dedicate myself to this cause!"
He gripped the rusted spear tightly and pierced his abdomen with it. A clear liquid oozed from the wound, seeping into the spear's surface. The spear came to life, its tip vibrating violently and emitting a wailing sound!
"Mourning for the bleak soldiers of the past!"
In an instant, pain came.
Slashing. Puncture. Scorching. Erosion. Shattered limbs. Ruptured organs. Intracranial hemorrhage. Pain that felt familiar yet unfamiliar all at once, so intense it made even Trek pause.
Parriman made no special move, only the spear in his hand continued to clang. Was this an illusion? A mental attack? Trek rejected this theory, seeing the burn marks on the back of his hand. The pain inflicted by the spear was becoming a reality!
It was like a demonic force. Trek sensed the source of his déjà vu. He shouted to Benintic, "Unfinished Cursed Armament!"
"Wait three seconds!"
He and Benintic flashed simultaneously, reaching a kilometer away—the maximum binding distance the vines had determined in previous tests. The streets of Mansa Star Fortress were now in utter chaos. Numerous buildings swayed violently from the sacred tree's movement, and bungalows with weak foundations threatened to collapse. The people were already in dire straits, but the successive incidents exacerbated the situation.
They beheld the sickening black decay of flesh, the foul blood seeping from the cracked earth. The royal power, having penetrated the divine power center, had corrupted the sacred tree. Now, the thorny tree's vitality was being sapped by the pollution, giving rise to countless ugly, fallen creatures. These corrupted beings had entered Mansa Star Fortress, ready to lay their clutches upon the common people!
"Sorry, I can only give you 0.5 seconds...!"
Trek acted decisively, stabbing the ground with his spear, unleashing a wide-ranging divine spell with his captain's authority. A surge of vitality poured into the earth, expelling impurities and stimulating the growth of the sacred tree's roots. Dense roots erupted like a jungle, piercing and crucifying the fallen.
Senluo Divine Art: Pure Spear Forest.
Tiny magic circles emerged in large numbers, blooming like flowers at the top of a forest of roots. The fallen were forced into the roots, purified and reborn as life force. Trek's magic saved the city's civilians, but he had no time to deal with the immediate threat.
In the blink of an eye, Parriman was in pursuit. He pulled the dim spear from his body, and illusory "blood" splashed through the air, transforming into a dense rain of weapons. Those weapons fell with wails and cries. If they touched, the materialized pain would shatter life!
"——Senluo Divine Art: Absolutely Forbidden Divine Court!"
Like a painter smearing a canvas, color took on a definite form. A flash of green light followed Benintic's shout, transforming into a sturdy roof that shielded the plunging rain. A majestic hall sprang to life, the forest of spears summoned by Trek connecting with the light to form a solid foundation. In an instant, the temple rose from the ground, its conceptual barrier blocking the onslaught of dim spears.
This was the embodiment of the protective aspect of law, a "Divine Court" that separated conflict and protected the safety of the innocent. Parriman's attack was momentarily blocked, but the two could not relax even for a second.
This man was incredibly powerful. His defense against the sanction of the Law was one thing, but his offensive methods were also incredibly fierce. Even a pure blow from his vines was beyond the reach of ordinary particles. If it weren't for Trek's ability to adapt to changing circumstances, he would have been smashed to pieces by now.
(Civilian Sephiroth 6, huh? Gaomu, have you become nearsighted in the past 20 years?)
(You've dealt with Pariman just as much as I have. Has Captain Trek's commanding insight ever been effective in the past 20 years?)
The two men bickered to ease the tension, both feeling a considerable degree of anxiety. Their original plan had been to remove Parriman after the trial, stripping him of his authority before the Independence Act could be safely lifted. However, they had underestimated the power behind Parriman, a power so immense it could directly influence all citizens. Even a single second of instability was enough to shatter all their plans.
They did prepare backup measures, but those were only for use under extreme conditions... After all, when "extreme conditions" like the independence of the sacred tree appeared, the other side had almost achieved victory!
Trek calmed down first: (1.7 billion people were blind for 20 years, but it doesn't matter to the two of us. Expand the temple, and then give me the authority of your oracle.)
Benintic pushed up his glasses. "What are you trying to do? Prove it and then give a 'definition'? That's too risky!"
(Without a "definition", there's no way to find a weakness, no way to counter it, and just wait for both of them to be beaten to death by him?)
(But the consequences of doing so are——)
"When you can't even protect yourself right now, why are you still thinking about the future?"
"You rebuked Pariman for holding this view ten days ago, and now you're going to make the same mistake yourself?" Benintic's eyelids twitched with anger. "Jas Trick, you bastard!"
Trek vanished, gun in hand, teleporting to Pariman's side. The bastard had actually forced him to make a choice by threatening to entangle himself in a trap. If he didn't give him the right, he'd be killed instantly. That was Trek's character. Once he made a decision, he acted immediately. Without this decisiveness, he wouldn't have made the decision to fight a bloody battle 20 years ago.
Benintic had no choice but to compromise and open up his oracle machine to him. Trek's eyes lit up, and he felt himself immersed in a current of information. Regardless of the "proposition" held, the Floating Light Road's Particle 6 Oracle machine possessed unparalleled computing and analytical capabilities. Using the oracle machine to interpret intelligence was far more efficient than he could attempt.
[Computing Power Allocation: Analyzing the Essence of Enemy Capabilities]
He gave the command, brandishing his spear. Weapons evolved from the Dark Arms rained down, but Trek dodged them with his mobility. His spear pierced and shattered each weapon, the fragmented information captured by the Oracle, piecing together the full extent of his power.
[Curse Binding: Remembrance. This weapon, crafted from the painful memories of the deceased, can manifest past tragedies as attacks. Due to its unclear nature, it cannot function as a curse binding weapon.]
"The dead still feel pain...!"
Trek's thoughts were momentarily interrupted, and the invisible pressure reappeared, stopping his movements. This was an ability he had experienced many times, so the oracle immediately gave its conclusion.
[Curse: Savage Voice. The embodiment of fixed ideas, the collective voice that halts action.]
He gradually grasped the essence of the "mass unconscious," but the current situation precluded further analysis. Parriman lunged at him with his dark weapon, and the vine whips attacked simultaneously. The barbaric cry prevented him from activating his abilities, leaving him without any means of counterattack.
"——You really deserve to be scolded by your subordinates!"
Fortunately, Trek wasn't alone. Benintic burst from the temple, intercepting the Dark Soldiers with his Sword of Magic, and temporarily blocking the vines with the expanded temple foundation. "Now!" He abandoned his imminent attack spell to buy Trek some time. Regaining consciousness, Trek seized the opportunity to draw his spear, the tip of his spear piercing Perriman's chest!
【Curse&%￥#】
[Curse...%Curse...]
But there was no way to analyze it! Unlike many of the previous methods, Parriman, who should have been the most innocent, became the biggest obstacle! Benintic's support was about to end, and he had only a split second to make a decision. Trick decisively abandoned retreat, teleporting himself and Parriman high into the sky, and the tip of his spear pierced the Speaker's body and burst out!
【————————Cursed: False Hero】
Finally, the oracle machine reached a conclusion, and the truth of that conclusion made Trek realize what a wrong choice he had made.
[This person is the contractor who carries the will]
Never give up until the goal is achieved.
The strange blade broke, and Pariman suffered another wound. However, just like the damaged arms, the severe chest wound did not affect his movements. He threw the spear through Trek's abdomen, and endless resentment flowed into it, almost shattering Trek's spirit.
Trick's face was covered in dense text, many of which twisted like worms, crawling from his eye sockets into his brain. His consciousness was severely damaged, and he was almost unaware of his own existence. He felt that he was about to be swallowed by something extremely huge and become a part of it.
"Trek!"
Then, his consciousness returned. He lay in the center of the temple, the air thick with the smell of blood. Benintik clutched his chest. He had been struck directly by the Dark Soldier, the price of saving Trek. But Trek had lost his ability to speak. He struggled to regain consciousness and relayed the information he had gathered to Benintik.
Thus, the captain accepted the three cursed messages. As the oracle machine's true self, he finally understood the other party's true nature.
"I see."
Benintic's voice was somewhat melancholy. He raised his magic sword and pointed it at Perriman in the distance.
"I already know your obsession, and I've made clear your purpose. This wandering consciousness, unnamed, now 'defines' you in the name of Benintik, Captain-General of the Jingsha City-State Divine Guard."
"You were born from the hearts of the people of Jingsha, fulfilling the wishes of all the souls of Jingsha. You carry the resentment of those who have died for thousands of years, the sorrow of those who have lived for thousands of years, and the wish for survival of countless people throughout history.
Born from the remnants of a demon king from a thousand years ago, and shaped by the obsession of the current city-state hero, Parriman. He is a demon of 'love alone,' resisting the end and striving for survival alone!
Thus, the invisible force finally took shape.
The invisible enemy's true form appeared before them.
It was a dead, blood-red tree, its veins like millions of weeping faces, its branches like withered hair. The decayed tree stood behind Parriman, its canopy the invisible weight of its weight, its branches the endless vines.
And Parriman was nailed to the tree, like a sacrifice to the gods. He never had to move on his own, as countless dense vines bound his limbs, controlling him like a puppet, performing countless precise movements.
He smiled, a smile of contentment. The "meaning" he carried finally took shape at that moment. Then he slowly sank into the tree, his voice drifting like a dream.
"A rotten tree covers the sky, and the masses bind a tyrant."
At this moment, the Devil of Love was truly born.
(End of this chapter)
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