Chapter 46: Qis's Trump Card
The flames on the altar extinguished. Su Xiao didn't bother looking at the Archbishop's corpse; a kill notification had already appeared, meaning the Archbishop wouldn't be getting back up.
[You have slain the Archbishop.]
[You obtained a Holy Spirit Chest (35%).]
[You obtained 327 Soul Coins.]
[You obtained 17.25% World Source.]
The kill reward from the Archbishop wasn't as exaggerated as expected. Su Xiao had anticipated this; Qis and the Wrathful Orphan's assistance had significantly reduced the chest quality, World Source acquisition, and Soul Coin yield.
The most crucial thing now was to obtain the World Seed first. Su Xiao wasn't sure if this was the item required for the quest, but one thing was certain: he couldn't let Qis or the Wrathful Orphan get their hands on it.
Qis's goal was likely to use the Wrathful Orphan's heart as a medium to gather the Ancient God's power within Doom Town, then forge the World Seed into something like a 'filter' to absorb the dark properties of the Ancient God's power.
If Qis succeeded, he would become a replica of the Archbishop—no, he would be even more threatening. The Archbishop hadn't obtained the Wrathful Orphan's heart and couldn't gather all the Ancient God's power in Doom Town, which made his control over that power unstable and kept him from straying far from the altar.
Qis was different. If he acquired the Wrathful Orphan's heart and the World Seed, he would undoubtedly become the strongest existence in Doom Town.
What would Qis do then? Coexist peacefully with Su Xiao? Don't be ridiculous. When Su Xiao and Qis first met, they 'greeted' each other with a long blade and dark creatures.
Qis cooperated with Su Xiao not to save Doom Town or anything like that; he wanted to escape his own predicament and become the strongest.
Su Xiao didn't believe Qis would coexist peacefully with him at that point. The way the Archbishop died was still fresh in everyone's mind. Wasn't Qis worried about that? The answer was that Qis wanted to eliminate Su Xiao right now.
As for the Wrathful Orphan, that went without saying. Su Xiao even suspected that the Ancient God wasn't completely dead, with some residual consciousness lingering inside the Wrathful Orphan's body.
What exactly happened in Doom Town at the beginning, Su Xiao had no way of knowing. The Ancient God that descended was nearly dying, so it hastily cultivated a host capable of containing its own essence, placing part of that essence inside the host to gestate.
Unfortunately, the host didn't gestate for long before the Ancient God itself died. The host also perished due to the changes in the divine essence, and the Wrathful Orphan was born at that moment.
Its father was a lofty deity, and its mother was a powerful human female—one whose combat prowess ranked among the top three in the entire Light and Dark World. With such parents, it was born neither a deity nor a human with limitless potential, but a monster. Hence its wrath, its jealousy of everything born normally. Some will drove it to become stronger, to devour, to destroy, to claim everything in Doom Town as its own.
Once the Wrathful Orphan obtained the Archbishop's World Seed, the Ash Furnace, and the Holy Maiden's Sacred Heart energy, who knew if the Ancient God's will within it would awaken? Even if that Ancient God didn't fully revive, just the awakening of its residual consciousness would make it unbeatable within Doom Town. Even the Archbishop at his peak wouldn't stand a chance. Who knew what rank this deity was? A conservative estimate put it on the same level as the Underworld God.
Battle erupted instantly. Behind Qis, pale white skeletons emerged from the darkness, their eye sockets pitch black.
The Wrathful Orphan was now in a complete beast form, on all fours with a mouth full of sharp fangs, its vertical pupils sizing up Su Xiao and Qis.
Qis's health was at 13.7%, the Wrathful Orphan at 10.4%, and Su Xiao at 11.9%. Qis was in the best condition.
In the final stage of killing the Archbishop, Su Xiao had tanked all of the Archbishop's firepower. If he had retreated then, and the Archbishop fully recovered his Light and Dark abilities, everyone would have died.
The current situation was simple: whichever side made a mistake would die. Su Xiao was confident he could cut down Qis or the Wrathful Orphan with a single slash.
Crack~
A bowstring was drawn, and a pitch-black bone arrow aimed at Su Xiao. Qis was about to strike.
Seeing this, the Wrathful Orphan charged toward Su Xiao, its speed greatly reduced due to its severe injuries.
Bang!
The bowstring thrummed, and the black bone arrow shot straight for the Wrathful Orphan. Yes, it was aimed at the Wrathful Orphan. Qis knew that Su Xiao had an ability to briefly penetrate space, so this arrow would definitely miss. His real target was the Wrathful Orphan.
The Wrathful Orphan, charging at Su Xiao, seemed to foresee this. It leaped with all its might, its four claws gripping the ceiling as it ran swiftly across it.
Bang. Bang.
The bowstring twanged twice more. Two arrows flew toward Su Xiao, but they shattered mid-flight, turning into fragments that rained down on him like a massive shotgun blast.
Su Xiao's long blade carved afterimages in the air, deflecting all the bone arrow fragments that reached him. As he swung his blade, he stepped forward and charged.
Behind Qis, two skeletal arms drew the Dragon-Hunting Bow again. Suddenly, he felt his hair stand on end and immediately leaped backward.
The moment Qis jumped, there was a clatter as Su Xiao's blade thrust into empty space, the front half of the longsword embedding itself in the ground. He quickly withdrew the blade and rolled sideways. His injuries were severe, so any method to dodge an attack was a good one.
Boom!
A cluster of sparks landed beside Su Xiao. He sidestepped repeatedly, and the moment he steadied himself, a blue light flickered in his eyes.
Clang. Clang, clang...
A wide swath of pale blue blade aura shot out. The Wrathful Orphan raced across the concave ceiling, streaks of blade aura slashing behind it.
'Blade Path Sword: Time.'
Thud! A shockwave spread. A bone arrow that had reached Su Xiao slowed down. Two swift slashes cut the arrow into three pieces. Su Xiao spun his longsword, the tip successfully catching the arrowhead's ridged edge.
A burst of air exploded outward. Su Xiao flung the arrowhead off his blade. Dozens of meters away, Qis quickly turned his head, a streak of blood appearing on his face.
"My apologies, you two."
A smile spread across Qis's face as he clasped his hands together. The dark gold mask on his face shattered.
"Darkness, Bury."
Rumble! A giant skeleton burst forth from the darkness behind Qis. This massive creature, lacking a lower body and standing over twenty meters tall, seemed even more enormous in the empty room. Qis had been holding back.
The giant skeleton pressed its hands against the ground, and the dark sphere within its ribs contracted until it was the size of a marble.
Boom!!
The giant skeleton exploded. Shattered bone fragments mixed with highly corrosive darkness erupted, filling the entire empty room.
"White Night, that ability of yours to hide in alternate space is indeed fast, but it only lasts about 1.2 seconds."
Qis muttered to himself. In the darkness, he snapped his fingers.
Boom!
A second dark explosion occurred. From the ceiling came the Wrathful Orphan's enraged roar.
As the darkness gradually dissipated, Qis leaned on his knees, panting heavily. He had saved his trump card until now. It might not have been honorable, but only the victor would know what happened here.
Pfft.
A long blade pierced through Qis's head. Qis staggered back two steps from the force of the thrust, his right hand, now turned to bone, gripping the Dragon-Slaying Flash.
"You should be dead."
As Qis spoke, he fell to his knees with a thud.
Swish! Su Xiao pulled out his longsword, stumbling back half a step. Pale blue energy gradually dissipated from his body surface.
"Huff, huff, huff~"
Su Xiao's breathing was heavy, blood dripping from his chin. Qis had indeed seen through the Dragon Shadow Flash, but what he didn't know was that under the Demon Hunting Hour state, Su Xiao could use Dragon Shadow Flash up to four consecutive times. That was how he had dodged Qis's 'Darkness Bury.'