Rael stared at the sword for a few more moments, and then swiftly bought it.
In an instant, a thin red blade manifested itself in his palms, and almost like magic, it adjusted itself to his grip.
It was comfortable, and the stat increase was even more appealing.
So when Petra’s blade neared him, Rael raised his new sword and slashed forward.
To his surprise, the sword managed to completely shatter Petra’s sword and embed itself straight into his shoulder.
But then, another transparent red blade appeared, deepening the cut. Finally, the last blade emerged, completely black.
It struck Petra’s wound and made its way straight into his lungs.
And then, the damage came.
-3%! | Critical Hit! (x1 Supreme Blade)
-2%! | Critical Hit! (x1 Supreme Blade)
-6%! | Critical Hit! (x1 Supreme Blade)
Three separate types of damage hit all at once, shaving off hundreds of quadrillions of HP per slash.
But clearly, it wasn’t over. Petra still had over 78% of his HP remaining.
"Hahaha! I wish I could just pull out a godly sword like that out of nowhere," Petra remarked with a laugh, then took a step back.
Immediately, the wound that Rael had just inflicted on him closed up, and what replaced it was yet another scar.
From Petra’s posture, and the fact that he wasn’t doing anything, Rael had grown wary.
The ground once again shook, and when he looked down, his eyes widened.
What was left of the city earlier had vanished. Instead, there was one giant circular object levitating slightly above the ground. 10 coils were wrapped around it, spinning constantly.
With each full rotation, a pulse shot out, destroying the nearby land.
Then, it suddenly stopped rotating, and in the next moment, Rael felt a wave of dizziness wash over him.
"Oho... it’s starting..." Petra muttered as blood began to trickle down from his eyes. "I sure as hell hope this shit is worth it."
With those words, he took what remained of his shattered blade and stuck it through his heart.
He was durable enough to not die in an instant, so he slashed upward, cutting his body in two.
Just like that, his corpse hurtled toward the ground and splattered straight onto the Shadow Creation machine.
Rael stared in shock, more so because he didn’t even gain experience or stats from dealing damage to this guy.
It was almost as if he hadn’t really died.
Still, the dizziness continued. Moments later, he found it hard to even stand on air, so he summoned his mosquito wings to stay afloat.
He spotted another corpse hurtling toward the Shadow Creation machine, and of course, it belonged to none other than the mage, Vistorian.
And like that, silence once again descended, with the occasional creaking resounding from the machine below him.
Shortly after, he sensed someone approach, and when he turned to the side, he spotted Lilith.
Her horn had a slight crack, but otherwise, she seemed fine.
But from the look in her eyes, he could tell she was also dazed.
"Did you get him?" she asked. "Because I didn’t get mine. Bastard killed himself at the last moment."
"Same." Rael nodded. "It looks like some sort of ritual."
"Blood ritual, maybe?" Lilith said. "I remember there existed rituals that could only be activated with the blood of a strong individual. If these two were the catalysts, then I suggest we get out of here."
Rael glanced at Elarin, and in the outskirts, some people were still alive but gravely injured.
He wasn’t noble enough to go check the machine out himself, so in the end...
"Do you think we should destroy it?"
"Absolutely not," Lilith said, raising a single finger. "If you try to disrupt rituals that have already begun, then you will basically disperse all the energy they had gathered and unleash it onto the entire world."
"It’s honestly safer to just wait, Rael," Lilith added.
In all honesty, nothing about this seemed safe.
The moment he had that thought, his dizziness vanished, and what replaced it were all his hairs standing up.
As he glanced down at the shadow machine contraption, he froze.
The circular object in the very center slowly opened up, revealing a single golden eyeball. Then, the coils surrounding it twisted in various shapes, forming angelic wings.
"What the fuck...?" Rael mumbled. "What even is that?"
Lilith seemed equally as shocked, so without wasting another second, he inspected this weird winged blob.
—Eye of Solenne’s Shadow (Grade 4 | Rare Class) [Level 1] | Vitality: Tier 15 [100% / 100% HP]
All of a sudden, the eye locked onto him, and the moment it did, a wave of pop-ups appeared.
The eye hovered above the ground as it flew up to the sky.
Bit by bit, its colossal size shrank until it was finally normal-sized.
But that was when golden tendrils began wriggling out of the eye.
They obscured his vision, and shortly after, the golden tendrils dispersed, revealing an extremely familiar figure.
It was the body of a frail young girl, with golden locks spanning down to her feet. She had piercing golden eyes and ten white pigeon wings behind her.
Their size was much smaller, but despite that, she now looked like an angel.
And when he focused on the figure ahead, he let out a sigh.
—Solenne, The First Light (Player) (Grade 5 | Rare Class) [Level 1] | Vitality: Tier 15 [100% / 100% HP]
"So you used that machine to get yourself a body?" Rael asked, not hiding his malice.
He was sure that wasn’t all, but for the time being...
"So what now? Are you going to give me some bullshit ultimatum again?"
Instead of replying, the pop-up from earlier appeared again.