Astrea bashed her divine shield at Kiel’s wings, pushing him away and burning Kiel’s wings with divine energy. When she was about to swing her sword at him, Yaza appeared behind her and slashed her back with his demonic sword. Astrea didn’t scream or react even though her back was cut open, revealing the glowing golden light underneath her skin. She used her divine wings and hit Yaza away from her.

“Who would have thought, Gabriel the destroyer is so easy to deal with?” Yaza chuckled mischievously as he pointed his left hand and released a beam of demonic energy at Astrea.

Astrea turned around and used her divine shield to block the beam. Her left arm had fully cracked open like a dried twig, unable to contain the being inside her. Her body was covered in her own blood, her eyes were no longer pure glowing gold, they had been mixed with blood. Her body had been trembling uncontrollably, and she was on the brink of disappearing.

Astrea was busy blocking demonic energy with her shield when suddenly she got hit by a demonic energy on her back. The demonic energy began to corrupt the divine energy inside her body, and for the first time, she let out a scream, a distorted and deep voice.

Kiel and Yaza took that opportunity to fly toward her and slashed their swords downward at Astrea. She used her divine sword, but she was too weak to block them, making her fall beyond the speed of sound and hit the ground really hard. A massive crater was made from the impact, and she was lying on the ground while struggling to get rid of the demonic energy within her body.

Aris had been observing those three fighting for almost half an hour, and she knew that Astrea wouldn’t stand a chance against those two. It was a matter of time before Astrea got killed by those two, or even worse, became their plaything.

“Aris, how are you feeling?” Rasmus asked as he got down from his horse. His face was pale, and the exhaustion was visible in his eyes.

“Not so great…” Aris answered. She always put on a stoic expression all the time, but this time, Rasmus could tell that she wasn’t feeling great. “She’s going to die, Rasmus. What are you going to do?” She asked as she stared into Rasmus’s eyes, seeing the exhaustion in his eyes.

“We can’t let her die,” Rasmus answered and stared into Aris’s eyes. “Can you help me with that?” He asked as he sat down on the ground beside Aris.

Aris and Rasmus looked at each other for a few seconds before Aris nodded and pulled out her sword. She then reached out her left hand to Uriel, staring at her coldly. Uriel didn’t know what Aris wanted from her until Rasmus pointed at his sword at her waist. She immediately pulled the sword and gave it to Aris.

“I can’t do much about them in this state…” Aris said as she stared at Kiel and Yaza, floating in the sky, waiting for Astrea to get up and fight them again. “They have consumed thousands of souls and demons back then. Although they got weakened by Astrea, my condition is worse than theirs,” she continued.

“It’s okay. Just go back when you have to. Your well-being is more important than Her Holiness,” Rasmus nodded with understanding.

When the others heard Rasmus’s words, they were in disbelief and shocked that he could say it so easily. However, Lenin was the only one who found his words logical because Aris was worth a thousand more than Astrea.

“(You really don’t have to say it like that, Count)” Lenin thought as she shook her head.

Kiel and Yaza realized that Gabriel, who resided inside Astrea’s body, could no longer use his power or move her body because Astrea’s body had reached its limit. Knowing that, they both spread their wings and balls of demonic energy formed in front of their wings. Once the balls had grown big enough, they released demonic beams at Astrea.

Aris arrived before the beams could reach Astrea, and then she swung her swords, redirecting the beams to the side. Kiel and Yaza didn’t expect her to join the fight, and knowing that she had decided to join the fight, the thousands of unconscious soldiers were vulnerable, and they could feast on them to regain their strength.

“You’re useless now. The body can’t bear your power anymore,” Aris glanced at Astrea and the being inside her body.

Astrea stared at Aris for a moment before she slowly closed her eyes. Once again, the sky shattered and it felt like collapsing, but then it felt like the sky was launched upward. A blast of divine energy was released the moment Gabriel left Astrea’s body. The blast was enough to burn Kiel and Yaza’s existence quite a lot, pushing both of them to the ground.

Aris used the opportunity to chase after those two who were still lying on the ground. She jumped high and found those two on the ground, hurting. When she was about to stab them, they got up and blocked her swords with theirs, creating a massive shockwave.

Aris managed to deal with both of them at the same time, clashing her swords with them at the speed of sound. Rasmus and the others could only watch and hoped that she could defeat them. Thalior took the opportunity to retrieve Astrea’s unconscious body while Aris fought those two.

“Count, what happened to Lady Aris?” Lenin asked.

“She used so much of her power, which could hasten her evolution,” Rasmus answered as he kept watching, thinking if there was a way for him to help her.

“Evolution? What do you mean by that, Count?” Novia furrowed her brows.

“Orthias is an ancient race, and what else is an ancient? A dragon. If you’re asking, where are dragons now when Orthias still exists? It’s because Orthias can become a dragon,” Agnesia answered instead of Rasmus.

Rasmus glanced at Agnesia, mildly surprised that she knew a lot about Orthias’ race. He then remembered what Aris had said to him about Sorcerers, they were taught by Orthias, and they could be said to be humans who were adopted by Orthias. Their knowledge about magic, Mana, and the world was from the Orthias, and perhaps they also taught those Sorcerers about the Orthias race.

“And why is that a problem?” Xena tilted her head with a confused look on her face as she looked at Agnesia and Rasmus.

Agnesia looked at Rasmus as well since she didn’t know the answer to that question.

“Because it will make her forget about worldly affairs except for protecting the world. She will forget about her existence as Aris and be reborn as a true dragon since she’s an Aristoria. She doesn’t want to become a true dragon yet, and I don’t think she wants to become one in the first place,” Rasmus answered as he kept watching Aris and her well-being.

Thalior came back with Astrea’s body in his arms, and everyone was covering their mouths when they saw her body. They could see her bones, muscles, and flesh underneath her cracked skin. She was bleeding, and they couldn’t believe that she was still breathing in that state.

“She’s dying…” Thalior put Astrea down slowly and carefully. His armor and arms were covered in Astrea’s blood. “What should we do?” He looked up at the others.

“Unfortunately, we can do nothing. All the archbishops are dead, and even if one of them is still alive, I don’t think they can heal a severe wound like this,” Lenin answered as she shook her head and went down to her knees to look at Astrea’s condition.

When they were busy checking Astrea’s condition, they heard a loud banging sound in the distance. They all looked at the sound that was coming from, and they saw Yaza and Kiel floating above the ground with big smoke underneath them while Aris was nowhere to be found. They realized that Aris got outmatched by those two, but then Aris came out of the smoke and attacked them relentlessly.

Aris seemed exhausted, and so were Kiel and Yaza, but Aris was worse than the other two. Nobody could help them since they had to protect the soldiers, or they would only give those two a chance to regain their power. If they went there to help her, they stood no chance, and they would become their fodder, food to make them stronger. Rasmus wanted to help, but the only magic that was effective against those two would affect Aris as well.

Aris clashed with her swords nonstop until Yaza punched her ribs and sent her flying. Rasmus dashed and caught Aris before she could hit the ground. Aris was out of breath, her hands trembled uncontrollably, and she was also at her limit.

“That’s enough,” Rasmus said to Aris as he stared at Kiel and Yaza.

“Okay…” Aris nodded as she got up.

Kiel and Yaza landed in front of them while Astrea began to cough blood, on the brink of death. Everyone was powerless in the presence of the masked beings.

“That was… something… Rasmus Blackheart…” Kiel stared down at Rasmus with his glowing red eyes. “You almost won, but unfortunately, you lost…” he continued.

“You killed my creation, and you’ll be my next creation, mortal…” Yaza glared at Rasmus, his voice having a hint of anger and excitement at the same time.

Yaza walked toward Rasmus while Rasmus stood there and stared right into Yaza’s eyes without any fear in them. Before Yaza could reach Rasmus’s head, an immense divine energy descended from the sky. The divine energy was so strong that Yaza and Kiel had to avoid it.

A paladin and a blonde woman landed in front of Rasmus, protecting him from the masked beings. Thalior and the others were shocked by the appearance of the paladin and the blonde woman.

The blonde woman looked at Astrea’s body, and she immediately went down on her knees. She placed her right hand on Astrea’s chest and healed her; however, the wounds barely healed. She was confused that her divine power was supposed to heal any kind of wounds, but she couldn’t.

“She should be fine now, even with those wounds…” The blonde woman said as she got up.

“Who are you?” Lenin looked at the pale and beautiful young woman.

“My name is Serena Valentine, a Saint,” Serena answered.

“(A Saint?!)” Everyone had the same thought about Serena. They knew there shouldn’t be more than two Saints, and the third Saint they knew was a false prophet called Ermaine, not Serena.

Aris looked at the paladin as she walked toward him with a cold gaze. The paladin stared at her from underneath his helmet without saying a word or moving a muscle.

“Absorb my power… now…” Aris said as she reached out her hand to the paladin.

The paladin held Aris’s hand without hesitation and absorbed the power within her. The paladin was smiling with his eyes, and Aris could see the huge grin underneath that helmet. After the paladin devoured a lot of her power, Aris forcefully pulled her hand away and then turned around to look at Yaza and Kiel. She was no longer restrained by her power, and she could use her power freely again.

“Now I’m confident to deal with those bastards,” The paladin chuckled mischievously.

“You’re fucking late, stop talking…” Aris said coldly.

“My bad…” The paladin responded as he swung his sword around and stared at Kiel and Yaza. “Let’s have some fun, now…” he readied his stance and pointed his sword at Kiel and Yaza.

Serena glanced at Rasmus for a moment, finally seeing the man that Videl looked up to. She didn’t say a word, nor did Rasmus bat an eye at her because he was glad that Videl came right on time.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep