On the ring road around the morial Square, students who had only just left turned their heads sharply at the sudden change, eyes drawn back to the massive outdoor screen.
The doubt in their expressions quickly shifted into grim seriousness.
In an instant, the whole square erupted in noise, voices overlapping in shock and disbelief, while only the image on the screen continued to shift.
No one had expected such a drastic upheaval to strike at the very end of the Shadow World!
Although Huperion had temporarily gone into hiding, the students watching were left trembling at the bloody scene that had suddenly unfolded in the botanical garden.
Anyone who launched an attack against challengers within a Shadow World was without exception a red-na criminal, utterly depraved and insane.
These outlaws, cruel and rciless, cared nothing for the disasters that Shadow World failure might bring. They would slip through temporary small Void Gates in the wilderness, infiltrate lower-tier Shadow Worlds, and unleash massacres.
Masters of disguise, deception, and psychological gas, they were equally adept at life-or-death combat. With their years of hunting and plundering, their strength and magic card decks were never lacking.
Ordinarily, encountering a red-na criminal was extrely rare—pure misfortune.
But Huperion’s encounter was clearly different.
This one had co prepared.
Soone must have been watching the Duke’s daughter from the shadows. The mont she was seen entering a building sealed by a Void Gate, word was spread—perhaps even to assassins across nations—who would then begin entering Shadow Worlds en masse, raising the odds of clashing with her.
“Wait… that disgusting rcury…”
In front of the outdoor screen, a senior from the Alchemy Institute’s intelligence branch gripped his chin, frowning at the silver mass the scarred woman was controlling.
Soon, new information flashed across the screen from the Southern Continent’s Shadow World Managent Association:
【Information Match Successful. Summoned creature identified: Immortal rcury. Holder: S-rank wanted criminal Lilaite, follower of the Decayed Bishop of the Resurrection Church.】
【Immortal rcury】
- Category: Summon Card
- Grade: Pink Sacred
- Attribute: Alchemy / Corrosion
- Tier: 5
- Effect: Immune to 50% of physical attacks. On contact, devours living creatures, absorbing their attributes and increasing size. Duration: 10 minutes.
- Note: rge with , and your body shall never decay.
“The Resurrection Church scum?!”
The outcry burst from countless senior students, voices sharp with anger.
“The Resurrection Church?”
So freshn on the square blinked in confusion, hearing the na for the first ti.
Without challenger licenses, they had yet to touch the true Shadow World or glimpse its darkest underbelly.
“They’re a cult festering across the Northern and Southern Continents, like parasites that never die out. Their presence is recorded even before written history existed.”
“Even if the world perishes and history shatters, they will not vanish!”
“In every age, the Resurrection Church erges within the Shadow World…”
Just speaking of them made many upper-year students grit their teeth, their trembling voices laced with both hatred and fear.
The Resurrection Church was responsible for much of the staggering death rate within Shadow Worlds.
So of its most twisted zealots delighted in tornting exhausted challengers, driving them to despair before killing them, broadcasting such atrocities for all to see.
Even Ikerite’s seniors who had never directly crossed them had heard stories—or knew soone who had lost their life to the cult.
“Their nace isn’t limited to the Shadow World. The Resurrection Church’s influence in reality is even more terrifying.”
Though unwilling to admit their own fear, the older students would not mislead freshn—the cult was dangerously real.
And beyond the ordinary zealots, what truly terrified the powers of the age were the ten Cardinal Bishops of the Resurrection Church—walking calamities, beings with the strength to bring nations to ruin.
They were the embodint of human evil.
Even the mighty Hedon Kingdom dared not provoke the arrival of even one bishop upon its lands.
“Why would Duchess Huperion ever draw the wrath of such a cult…?”
For many freshn, this was the first ti seeing a Resurrection Church zealot in person.
Even separated by a magical projection, they felt death itself creeping closer.
“The disappearance of Duke Aransal… it must be tied to the Resurrection Church.”
At that mont, many upper-years who knew the aristocratic intrigues of the capital finally understood why the once-powerful Aransal faction had never pursued the Duke’s trail.
It wasn’t that they wouldn’t.
It was that they didn’t dare.
Huperion must have learned sothing she should never have known. That was why she had to be silenced.
The morial Square fell into rare silence.
Every student held their breath, eyes locked on Huperion’s struggle.
Even those who loathed her half-demon blood did not wish to see her butchered by such cultists.
…
Minutes passed.
Demonic Botanical Research Garden.
Huperion, forced out of invisibility, coughed blood in midair. She barely controlled her body enough to land, staggering to the ground.
Her scarred foe sneered, lunging again.
Huperion’s eyes drooped, lips streaked with crimson. Her body trembled violently, at its limit.
Even as she read her enemy’s movents, she lacked the strength to dodge, only barely lifting her dagger to block.
Another savage kick hurled her across the grass, where she rolled and finally lay sprawled.
“Huff… huff…”
She pushed herself up, head heavy from wounds and poisonous mists.
Even with the brief blessing from the Demon King’s banquet, she was no match for a fifth-tier zealot like Lilaite.
If not for Lilaite’s intent to stop her from fleeing, the silver abomination at the door would already have devoured her.
And behind Lilaite stood another cultist—a second-tier warlock, continually weaving curses and hexes.
This garden was now nothing but a cage.
Huperion knew if her last survival card was forced out, death would be inevitable.
It must be punishnt for too many misdeeds with Lan Qi, she thought bitterly—karma striking at last.
But there was only one thing left she could do.
Huperion drew in a breath, her voice breaking into helplessness:
“Lan Qi… save !!”
If he didn’t co now, she wouldn’t last.
“Your companion?”
Lilaite sneered. To her, the plea was as pitiful and laughable as an infant’s cry.
A second-tier freshman from Ikerite Academy? He would only co to die with her.
And yet—
Two seconds later—
With a thunderous boom, the silver abomination guarding the door was blasted aside. The great doors of the garden shattered open.
“!”
Lilaite’s eyes narrowed, sharp with sudden caution. She turned toward the collapsing wall.
And froze.
Her pupils contracted violently as she saw—
A demon who had no business, no reason whatsoever, to appear here.
The Headmaster of the Purgatory Corridor Academy!
The author’s note:
Draft stock exhausted, I’m burnt out. Tomorrow I’ll resu with two updates, but this month I’ll burn my heart out to push for more chapters!
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