Chapter 34: Heterogeneous Element
Dilin was left speechless by the question, and the facts were indeed as stated—Xiu had no enmity with Su Xiao.
Furthermore, neither of them even knew Su Xiao's name; they only knew he came from Reincarnation Paradise and was a Law Destroyer.
In reality, Dilin was merely following her mentor's orders. She had no personal grudge against Su Xiao either. As for their opposing stances, if she were being honest with herself, Dilin actually hated her mentor, Mage Sage Seraphilia, even more—the one who had brought her endless suffering during her childhood.
Despite this hatred, several undeniable facts stood before Dilin: Mage Sage Seraphilia had raised her, taught her knowledge, and even passed down the secret technique related to 'Natural Element Stripping.'
"Raised without birthing, a severed finger can repay; birthed without raising, a hundred lifetimes cannot repay."
Regardless, Seraphilia had raised Dilin and imparted knowledge to her—this Dilin never forgot. Though Dilin's appearance was feminine with a slightly androgynous edge, her conduct leaned more toward the masculine.
Their opposing stances destined many things.
"Xiu, since you won't help, then step aside."
The elemental fluctuations around Dilin grew more intense. A golden formation appeared behind her, and various cold weapons were generated from golden energy. This golden energy was a combination of earth element and light element—not a simple overlay, but a stripping of the characteristics of both elements to form a heterogeneous element.
This heterogeneous element was called 'Li' by Mage Sage Seraphilia (Void language, transliteration, original meaning: gradually scorching light).
The Li element possessed metallic properties—sharp, highly malleable, extremely stable after shaping, high density, and strong controllability.
Not only that, but the Li element inherited some characteristics of the light element. When it came into contact with life force, a magical conductivity reaction occurred, producing terrifyingly high temperatures.
Simply put, the Li element could be shaped arbitrarily, remained extremely stable after shaping, and was sufficiently tough. When shaped into a cold weapon and stabbed into an enemy's body, it would react magically with the enemy's life force, releasing intense heat.
Golden light condensed behind Dilin as swords and spears formed.
"Sigh, what a hassle."
Xiu sighed, black flames rising around him and spreading outward.
"Pirates, I'll borrow your island for a while. I'll return it later."
As Xiu spoke, ring-shaped black flames spread outward. Pirates rushed out from nearby taverns and weapon shops—some still shaken, others bewildered from just waking up.
The black flames spread at a moderate pace, taking about two minutes to drive the pirates a kilometer away.
Seeing this, Xiu leaped onto a stone house and sat down.
"Dilin, as members of the same faction, I'll block everyone except him for you."
Xiu sounded somewhat helpless. Sometimes things were like this—Arcane Eternal Star, as a dominant force in the Void, had internal factions, and he and Dilin weren't in the same one. Doing this much was already quite honorable.
"You power-struggle faction types are such a hassle."
Dilin raised her right arm and grasped a spiral rapier. The sword was twisted like a helix, as if nothing could block its thrust.
"Here it comes, here it comes. I can feel it."
The smile on Dilin's face grew more 'radiant.' She slightly lowered her body, and the next moment, she vanished from her spot.
Boom!
The ground where Dilin had stood cracked apart. As a spellcaster, she was charging straight at Su Xiao—no spellcasting, no buffs, not even a staff in hand.
Dilin appeared abruptly two meters in front of Su Xiao, thrusting her spiral rapier forward.
Bang! An airburst spread as the rapier's tip seemed to tear through the air, creating ripples.
The rapier passed almost right by Su Xiao's ear. He tilted his head slightly, a few strands of black hair falling beside his ear.
"Oh-oh... that's bad."
Even as she spoke, Dilin bent one leg, blocking it in front of her abdomen. The next moment, Su Xiao's straight kick came flying.
Boom~
Dilin retreated rapidly. Su Xiao grasped the hilt of the blade at his waist, his aura growing sharper.
'Blade Path: Azure Demon.'
Clang~
The moment the azure-blue blade glow was unleashed, golden light flickered in Dilin's eyes, and an oval golden shield materialized before her.
A crisp clang rang out as the shield flew far away. Taking advantage of the Azure Demon being blocked, Dilin sidestepped to dodge it.
Su Xiao held his blade with one hand, watching the enemy over ten meters away. Logically, she should be a magic-type, but Su Xiao didn't sense her using mental energy to gather elements or form magic abilities with natural elements.
Based on Su Xiao's perception, Dilin was fighting using some kind of energy within her own body.
A whistling sound came from ahead. Su Xiao swung his blade diagonally, clanging as he sent a spear flying. Cyan Steel Shadow Energy immediately attached to the golden spear.
Strangely, the spear wasn't devoured—it simply stuck diagonally into the ground, no longer under Dilin's control.
"Didn't expect that, did you? It can't be devoured."
Dilin clenched her left fist, and the golden spear stuck in the ground flew up again, floating beside her.
Seeing this, Su Xiao considered a possibility: the natural elements forming this golden spear hadn't been interfered with by mana. Therefore, Cyan Steel Shadow Energy wouldn't actively devour it—not that it couldn't.
Dilin could control it, likely because she had placed coordinates or marks on it. Just now, those marks had been devoured, causing her to lose control temporarily.
Law Destroyers were also known as Element Guardians. Cyan Steel Shadow Energy naturally wouldn't actively devour elements. Mage Sage Seraphilia had exploited this to create the Li element.
Even so, Dilin, who drove the Li element, must have magic circuits or magical energy within her—abilities that spellcasters always possessed.
Throughout the fight, Dilin never cast spells, displayed strong close-combat abilities, and used Li element weapons that 'couldn't' be devoured by Cyan Steel Shadow Energy. All of this seemed designed to counter Law Destroyers.
Dilin's mentor was Mage Sage Seraphilia, and Seraphilia harbored intense hatred for Law Destroyers.
Thinking this way, Dilin was likely specially trained by Seraphilia to deal with Law Destroyers. That's why she had abandoned almost all spellcaster traits in combat.
Unfortunately, both Seraphilia and Dilin overlooked one issue: Su Xiao came from Reincarnation Paradise and had encountered far more types of enemies than just magic-types.
In Su Xiao's experience, magic-types were simply too fragile—they died after just a few strikes.
Dilin wasn't a traditional spellcaster; she didn't cast spells at all. This was essentially a compromise, showing that Seraphilia hadn't developed abilities that could counter Law Destroyers.
Why was that? The answer was simple. How were Law Destroyer abilities developed? Previous generations of Law Destroyers experimented on themselves, accumulated experience, and refined their techniques.
Among the first dozen generations of Law Destroyers, those who died developing abilities outnumbered those who died in battle by dozens or even hundreds of times. It was precisely this that forged the Law Destroyers' strength.
Not only that, but after guarding a world's elemental balance, one would receive that world's blessing. Su Xiao had experienced this in the Wizard World.
Keep in mind, he had only eliminated three Ancient Gods there. Those three Ancient Gods, parasitic in that world, hadn't reached the point of causing complete elemental collapse.
The situations previous Law Destroyers handled were far worse than the Wizard World. After they succeeded, how would those worlds saved from the brink of destruction express their gratitude?
Some things couldn't be caught up to easily, even a thousand years after the Law Destroyers' era ended. The Law Destroyers' power was built on previous generations using themselves as test subjects, constantly developing and perfecting abilities, plus countless blessings from worlds—so many blessings that they couldn't be counted. All of this combined forged the Law Destroyers' might.
Su Xiao's thoughts were clear when the spiral rapier came thrusting at his face.
Ding!
The long blade was horizontal before Su Xiao. Dilin, holding the spiral rapier, stopped in front of him, the sword tip striking the Dragon-Slaying Flash's blade.
Cyan Steel Shadow Energy surged, instantly attaching to the spiral rapier.
Crack!
The spiral rapier shattered. Cyan Steel Shadow Energy wasn't incapable of devouring natural elements—as a Law Destroyer's ability, it simply wouldn't actively devour natural elements in most cases, let alone the heterogeneous element forming the spiral rapier.
Clang.
The blade passed almost right by Dilin's neck. She leaned back desperately, the spiral rapier in her hand shattering.
Dilin's eyes widened, filled with disbelief as she questioned her life.
The suffering she endured in childhood was all to obtain the Li element, all to counter any potential Law Destroyers.
Now, a Law Destroyer had truly appeared. Yet her Li element weapons broke after just two exchanges with the enemy. Along with them shattered Dilin's mentality—a complete mental breakdown.