C452
Only a thin silver line connects Cale’s hand to the silver shield, but…
The shield moves according to Cale’s will.
Whiiiiiiiii-
Cale, propelled forward by the wind, wields the shield towards the Pope, who has his arms outstretched.
The shield wasn’t heavy.
Kwaaaaaaaaaang-!
The shield, moving according to Cale’s will, wasn’t made of iron or any substance existing in the world.
-Eating isn’t like that.
The Glutton Priestess.
The shield was the complete form of her power and will.
Sss-
The Pope’s arms, the arms he had extended as if to embrace Cale, moved.
The silver shield moved once more.
Kwaaaang-!
A thunderous roar echoed as the Pope’s crossed arms and the shield collided.
But there was no explosion when they collided.
There was no breakage or dust.
Chomp, chomp.
Or rather, every time the Pope and Cale collided, the marble floor cracked, disintegrated, and dust rose everywhere.
Chomp, chomp.
The paladins had to retreat from the pressure and wind they generated.
But not a single speck of dust obscured the paladins’ vision.
Chomp, chomp.
Because the countless mouths enveloping the Pope from front, back, left, and right devoured those remnants.
“How disgusting.”
The Heavenly Demon casually commented on the scene.
“Krrrr-”
In the Heavenly Demon’s hand was the neck of the housekeeper, Hitellis.
“¡Kreuk!”
The Heavenly Demon, who attacked Hitellis like a flash of light, had allowed the initial attack, but she was ultimately captured by the Heavenly Demon.
The Heavenly Demon wasn’t someone who would let an opportunity slip by.
“……!”
Hitellis writhed to escape the Heavenly Demon’s grasp, but both her hands were already broken, and a dark red energy was oppressing her.
“…”
And the Heavenly Demon was intently observing the Pope.
Chomp, chomp.
The countless mouths were disgusting, but the multicolored gray enveloping the Pope like a robe, like a cloak…
Those gray clouds expanded, engulfing everything around them.
“…….”
The Heavenly Demon, who had been intently watching this, diverted his gaze.
“I can’t kill him.”
“!!”
Hitellis’ eyes widened at the Heavenly Demon’s words.
Hitellis, who had made eye contact with him, trembled.
The Heavenly Demon approached her and whispered.
“Why don’t you give it your all?”
“!”
“Why are you still acting from before?”
“…….”
The instant Hitellis’ gaze sank.
“Interrogator!”
The highest-ranking paladin, who was fighting Sui Khan and Choi Han, shouted.
“The Pope said you can open your eyes now!”
The moment that was heard.
“!”
The Heavenly Demon had to retreat, releasing Hitellis’ neck.
Hitellis, standing with her broken arms hanging down.
Her eyes were closed.
“…….”
But on her forehead was a new eye.
A gray eye that suddenly appeared.
That wasn’t her eye.
“I am someone who possesses the gaze granted by Chaos.”
Hitellis, with only her third eye open, calmly said.
“All living beings cannot escape the gaze.”
The Heavenly Demon felt a strange sensation.
The third eye.
He felt that the entire landscape contained within that eye, the Heavenly Demon himself at the center of that landscape, was trapped in a spiderweb.
She recited as if she were giving a prophecy to the Heavenly Demon.
“From now on, what you see will not be something you choose to see. You will only be able to see what Chaos allows you to see.”
The Heavenly Demon’s eyebrows rose slightly.
And…
Malicious smile~
The corner of his lips rose.
“I don’t know what will happen.”
I thought it would be boring.
Fine.
In fact, the Heavenly Demon didn’t feel much closeness or concern for Cale’s companions.
Although he is now with Cale and appreciates him quite a bit.
The only ones he feels attached to are the members of the Demon Cult.
But he has no intention of wasting this moment.
Chomp, chomp.
The Pope’s countless mouths are disgusting, but…
Uuu-uuu--
The Heavenly Demon has always been thinking about how to use and develop his own dark red energy, which can become a cloud.
And he got a clue.
The Pope.
The multicolored gray that guy is wearing.
The Heavenly Demon looked at his own body.
He’s wearing roughly made black clothing, mimicking an “arm” or something, not the clothing he wore in the Demon Cult.
He didn’t miss the imposing clothing he wore as the Heavenly Demon, but…
“I like it.”
If there’s no sky to deploy the dark red cloud, wouldn’t it be fun to fight using it?
I will replace the sky.
Because I am the sky of the Demon Cult, the Heavenly Demon.
Uuu-uuu—uuu--
When the Heavenly Demon’s dark red cloud emitted a faint groan and changed shape.
The others couldn’t hear that small sound.
Kwaaaaaaaaaang!
The silver shield Cale wields rapidly strikes the Pope, emitting a thunderous roar.
Chwaak!
And the Pope’s body, which had crossed its arms to block, was pushed back.
“…….”
The Pope looked at the distance he had retreated.
“I’ve retreated-”
But he couldn’t continue.
Kwaaaang!
Because the shield flew towards him again.
Chomp-!
The mouths that had opened.
Kwaang!
Had to close their mouths, even for a moment, when colliding with the shield.
-Cale, he’s fast.
As Super Rock said, Cale was moving rapidly now.
His feet were the wind.
And his whole body-
-It’s alright!
The Crybaby was putting in more strength than ever.
-It’s still alright!
At his words, Super Rock fell silent, and Cale, without saying anything, wielded the shield towards the Pope.
Kwaaaaaaaaaang---!
The Pope retreated further and further.
Kwaaaang!
Cale and the Pope.
No one was approaching the two of them.
They couldn’t even do it.
Because the energy they were using was too overwhelming for the surroundings.
-Why!
And the silver shield shone more fiercely than ever.
The Glutton was still angry.
No, he was getting angrier and angrier.
-Why!
His feelings were similar to Cale’s.
Kwaaaaaaaaaa!
-Why! They won’t close their mouths!
Kwaaaang!
The Pope’s arms had created a barrier of gray smoke, like a shield.
That gray only dimmed slightly when colliding with the shield, but it didn’t disappear.
The countless mouths only closed their mouths for a moment, then opened them again.
And they ate anything.
The surrounding air.
The floating dust.
The fragments of the breaking marble.
They ate everything they could.
-Eating isn’t like that.
The Glutton Priestess couldn’t hide her anger.
But her voice was becoming weaker and weaker.
“…….”
Cale’s expression hardened.
On the contrary, the Pope was calm despite retreating. Because his Chaos hadn’t been sacrificed at all, and the countless mouths remained hungry.
“A shield, what a foolish weapon.”
It can’t be broken.
It can’t be cut.
Cale’s shield, which only collides meaninglessly.
“It seems it will be delicious.”
The Pope licked his lips at the sight of that power.
From the shield emanated the scent of a forest that transcended trees, the scent of nature.
‘I also feel vitality.’
He felt the Vitality of the Heart beating.
It was very tempting.
If he absorbs it and then offers it to the God of Chaos, how much will he rejoice?
“Ah.”
Just imagining it, the Pope felt filled with jubilation and smiled.
Chomp.
More mouths began to appear.
Even if they were denser and more disgusting, the Pope didn’t stop eating.
-Cale.
And the Sky Eating Water said to Cale in a serious voice.
-Right now there’s no way to understand that Chaos.
The energy the Pope possessed.
Cheapskate continued.
-Hmm. To purify it, I think I must touch that Chaos.
Cale possesses the Chaos Purification ability, but it’s a power that purifies what’s contaminated by Chaos.
He can’t purify that fundamental ‘Chaos.’
And that Chaos is different from the God of Chaos’ Chaos.
It’s the Pope’s Chaos.
Kwaaaaaaaaaang!
The shield and the Pope’s Chaos collided again.
-…….
The Glutton fell silent.
The silvery light dimmed slightly.
“Your energy has decreased.”
The Pope’s calm voice reached Cale’s ears.
“I think those swordsmen would be better suited to face this power.”
The Pope’s gaze briefly turned over Cale’s shoulder.
He must have been referring to Choi Han and Sui Khan.
Cale didn’t look back.
He simply raised the shield again.
-Human, do you want me to help?
He shook his head in response to Raon’s question.
Choi Han, Sui Khan, Raon, the Heavenly Demon.
Anyone.
Their power would be absorbed by the Pope.
Cale tacitly realized that there was only one way to confront the Pope.
‘Not to be absorbed by that Chaos, by those mouths.’
Therefore, to approach the Pope without being affected by that Chaos.
That was the only path, Cale understood.
He raised the shield again.
“Aren’t you tired?”
At the Pope’s kind question, Cale responded by moving the shield.
Kwaaaaaaaaaang---!
A thunderous roar echoed again, and Cale observed his insides at that moment.
‘My heart is fine.’
It’s full of vitality.
In fact, I haven’t used much strength, I’ve only been wielding the shield, so I won’t faint.
-…….
The Glutton Priestess fell silent.
The silvery light dimmed.
“Your strength has weakened.”
When the Pope said that, his kind smile became a little more sinister.
Cale raised and wielded the shield again.
It was a movement that would seem too stubborn, even reckless, to anyone who saw it.
Kwaaaaaaaaaang!
And…
“!”
The Pope stopped.
Seeing this, Cale opened his mouth.
“Are you hungry?”
When the Pope looked at his arms with trembling eyes.
The Glutton Priestess softly replied.
-Yes, I’m hungry.
And Cheapskate and Super Rock shouted.
-As expected!
-Yes, you also absorbed the vitality!
As they cheered.
-Churp.
The Glutton Priestess gave a subtle critique, a taste evaluation.
-More tasteless than dead mana earth.
Malicious smile~
The corner of Cale’s lips rose.
It was a movement that might seem reckless to some, but as a result, Cale found the answer.
“…….”
The Pope looked at his arms.
More precisely, near his wrists.
The gray there had faded.
It wasn’t pushed back by the shield’s impact, but disappeared.
No, it was absorbed.
“…How is that possible…?”
The Pope was horrified.
“…How can you imitate my power…?”
At those horrified words, Cale scoffed.
Pffft.
“What do you mean?”
He was dumbfounded. He couldn’t help it.
“She had already absorbed it.”
Cale raised a corner of his lips as he looked at the heart engraved on the shield.
The shield, although in a slightly different situation than the present one, had absorbed the Vitality of the Heart. No, it had contained it.
While saying he was hungry.
Cale didn’t want the Pope to take anything from him.
And he wanted to understand the Pope’s Chaos.
The Sky Eating Water said.
‘Damn it! That Chaos is different from the God of Chaos’! I need time to figure it out!’
Time was needed to figure it out.
And the Glutton had been continuously saying.
-Eating isn’t like that.
Yes, like now.
Eating isn’t like that.
For the Glutton Priestess, eating wasn’t to be absorbed in that way.
The dead mana that almost covered the jungle.
The Glutton Priestess had made the trees consume the dead mana that almost turned countless places into dead lands.
Whiiiiiiiii-
The wind surrounded Cale’s feet again.
-You can’t eat too much. If one eats badly, one gets sick. This is different from dead mana.
Cale listened to the Glutton’s words and took a step.
-You could get contaminated.
The Glutton died after eating the earth and soil contaminated with dead mana.
-I’ll endure!
But unlike that time, Crybaby was beside the Glutton.
-And I can purify it! Cale has Chaos Purification!
Crybaby’s words resonated with Cale’s thoughts.
-Of course, you, Cale, will suffer greatly.
Crybaby also knew Cale’s feelings.
-But don’t you feel better if you suffer instead of others suffering?
Cale didn’t respond to the Crybaby’s words.
Simply, as always.
Kwaaaaaaaaaa!
He wielded the shield.
Kwaang! Kwaaaang!
Unlike before, without rest.
Kwaaaang!
Relentlessly.
Kwaaaaaaaaaang!
And.
“¡Kreuk!”
The Pope could see his Chaos, the gray, dimming.
And the shield is losing its silvery glow.
No, the gray began to stain the silver.
And,
-Cale, it’s contaminated!
The gray began to cover Cale’s hands.
Even so-
Malicious smile.
Cale smiled.
-It can eat more!
The Glutton Priestess’s voice regained strength.
Kwaang!
Kwaaaang!
The shield, instead of shining silver, was covered in a dark gray, but…
It didn’t break.
And he advanced.
One step. One step.
Cale no longer used the wind, he simply walked.
“¡Kreuk!”
And finally.
The Pope lost the gray enveloping his arms.
The barrier created on the Pope’s arms, like Cale’s shield.
When that barrier was absorbed, and the countless mouths of that barrier fled towards the other gray enveloping the Pope, the Chaos…
A gap created in an instant.
“!”
Even at that moment, the Pope saw the shield relentlessly approaching him.
He quickly enveloped his arm with Chaos, but the shield was faster.
Because it didn’t stop.
“Ah.”
The Pope saw the Chaos he had hastily enveloped his arm with being absorbed again.
The shield lost a little more color, but…
“!”
The shield struck precisely the arm without Chaos.
Kwaaaaaaaaaang!
“¡Kreuk!”
With a thunderous roar, a groan came from the Pope’s mouth for the first time.
The instant the Pope’s arms were crushed and broken in a strange way, he had to kneel on the ground as he saw Cale’s cold eyes looking at him from beyond the shield, amidst the pain.
And Cale’s mouth opened.
“One.”
The Pope had only received one blow.
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