Badge in Azure

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Star light covered the whole place. The great head inquisitor felt his body being shackled. Divine arts could be overwhelmed when used against skills of astrologers. What was even more terrifying was that Sika's javelins came right before him.

The javelins came swooping down from above. A huge hole appeared on the great head inquisitor's robe. All the javelins seemed to have changed course at the same time, heading straight for the hole.

The great head inquisitor was unable to control his body midair, and he was already facing upward. One of his arms was destroyed by the dragon's breath, putting him in so much pain that he was unable to chant his prayers.

Semi-godly items were comparatively easy to craft. The Sreeger Island mages had joined efforts to craft one. The only problem was that its materials were difficult to procure.

The semi-godly item in the great head inquisitor's hand turned automatically into a square tablet after it dropped from his hand, stuffing the hole that was burned by the dragon's breath.

Six javelins hit the tablet one by one. The javelins broke inch by inch while the great head inquisitor spat blood yet again.

Sika's javelins were far inferior to that tablet in terms of materials, but the impact caused by her strength was all transferred to the semi-godly item. The great head inquisitor was too injured to use the semi-godly item properly to absorb the shock. As such, he had to bear all impact from the javelins with his own body. His breath quickly smoothed after he spat blood. He hastily said, "My god, lend me life!"

The square tablet's size expanded after the line was spoken, blocking the great head inquisitor's entire body. The unending icicles from the air were unable to hit the great head inquisitor's body. The dark double from within the great head inquisitor's robe appeared once again, but in a color as pale as water.

The great head inquisitor's body went straight into the double's body. In no time, his arm grew out.

The star light in the sky dimmed for a bit. The great head inquisitor's soul did not seep into the double. Instead, it went to summon over a hundred angels, which blew up in the sky.

When the dazzling white light dissipated, there was only a tall, ferocious dark double left in the air, clad in armor. The eyes of that creature shone with purple light, yet the soul of the great head inquisitor was nowhere to be found.

Saleen slumped to the ground. Having given his all to cast the astrological spell and a level nine magic spell with a large area-of-effect, his level of exhaustion exceeded his body's tolerance.

Sika felt rather worn as well. She had a broken semi-godly item with little more than six common javelins. The outburst of power made her incapable of searching the whereabouts of the great head inquisitor's soul.

The crisis was not over yet. The dark double simply hovered in midair. The purple eyes in its sockets began to spin slowly, locking its gaze on the people on the ground.

Nailisi's golden dragon form wiggled on the ground and transformed into a devil. She dared not take her skeleton king form haphazardly. Her skeleton king form was having a feud with the Winged Skull. It seemed inappropriate to use now. It was unable to reach perfection before devouring more king level ones.

She still did not have any certainty of being able to take on the monster in the air even after taking her devil form. She saw Nicholas had greedily taken the souls of the 12 adjudicators with his Scepter of the Fallen. The severely injured adjudicators were unable to fight against the attack of the fallen holy master.

Nicholas still wanted to search the adjudicators' bodies for equipment after he was done bagging their souls. There was only one power left in his scepter. If he were to fight, he needed a new weapon. He regretted not crafting more equipment for himself and thought the Scepter of the Fallen would have been enough.

Nailisi took Nicholas up by the neck from behind while her other three arms took Sika and the two golden grand swordmasters. She swiped her large tail in a hurry and coiled around Saleen, running toward the altar. She knew that Saleen would be angry even if there was one of their people left behind. She usually kept her tail concealed since it took quite an effort to control it. If it had not been for the Starline Armament having tremendously high defensive powers, Saleen would have had bones broken from being coiled up by such a large tail.

All 36 Blue Ice Maidens that he had summoned took to the sky while the level 10 elemental creature leader returned to the badge. Having forced herself to attack a level 10 holy master and suffering a recoil made it very hard for her to maintain a stable form. Her elemental core would be wrecked if she did not return to the badge to recuperate in time.

The dark double held the huge square tablet up and brought it down hard on the ground. All 36 elemental creatures were thrown in the air and hit by a specter with a diameter of over 900 feet, crushing them all at the same time.

Those elemental creatures had grown rather weak after providing Saleen with elemental powers. The dark double had no concerns for recoil and worked the semi-godly item with all its might. Not even the elemental cores of the 36 Blue Ice Maiden was able to escape.

But, the obstacle had depleted more than half of the semi-godly item's energy, making such an attack impossible to be pulled again. The dark double rushed at the ground and saw Nailisi fleeing for the altar with five people in tow.

The battle at the altar was almost done. Casualties could be seen among the golden-armored knights. At the side of the demons, only the two supreme demons were seen taking a handful of surviving demons running all over the place.

Nailisi passed through the altar and went straight into the purgatory of the fallen hidden behind the altar.

The dark double landed on the ground and headed straight for the altar. Don, who had been hiding beside a dead body, finally found the chance to strike. Golden energy burst from his God-hunting Spear, which struck the head of the dark double. His speed and skill were brought to bear with that one attack.

While the dark double's powers were formidable and had been infused with most of the great head inquisitor's energies, it was still no match to Don, who was a veteran knight in terms of close-quarters combat.

Don's God-hunting Spear circled the square tablet's block eerily and went straight into the dark double's head, which blew up.

The dark double's square tablet rammed hard on Don's spear. He felt as if he was about to stop breathing altogether, like death was within an inch of him. He was sent flying more than 300 feet, crashing hard onto a rock. The spear left his hand.

The God-hunting Spear was far superior to the tablet in terms of material quality. Unfortunately, Don's strength was lacking when compared to the dark double. It spoke volumes of his skill to be hit by the tablet and still survive.

Most of the impact was absorbed by the spear. Don was left with enough to pant. Unable to retaliate, he sighed. There was nothing he could do if Saleen proved incapable of surviving the ordeal.

He brought a devastating skill to bear after hiding for so long, yet he was still unable to kill that dark double. If Saleen died, that scaly creature would never let him off easily. Don was not afraid of death, it was just that it felt vexing to die before accomplishing what he wanted to do.

The dark double wiggled its shoulders, attempting to grow a new head after having its head blown up being hit by the spear. However, the pure power of the spear itself proved adequate to suppress the attempt. The head was unable to grow out.

The dark double stopped caring about its head since it did not need eyes to see. It went up the altar in great strides. The golden-armored knights chasing after the demons all knew what was happening and lost all intention to fight.

When Nailisi streaked past them, none of the knights bothered lifting a finger against her.

With the great head inquisitor gone, the golden-armored knights began to want to leave. Given that the dark double was still around, it was anyone's guess what punishments would have awaited them back home if they were to simply run away.

The dark double walked onto the altar guided by instinct after losing its head, attempting to chase after Nailisi and the others. The 24 chains hiding within the mist lashed out at it as soon as it went onto the altar, dragging it into the purgatory of the fallen.

Nailisi could be seen panting in the purgatory. She returned to her imp form after putting everyone around her down.

The purgatory of the fallen looked prosperous and peaceful. The dark double, which was dragged in by the Shackles of the Fallen, was hoisted to the altar floating in the air. The Shackles of the Fallen sealed its powers and began to slowly absorb it.

The dark double had sustained severe injuries and totally lost the ability to fight back.

Saleen lifted his head to look at the sky. The purgatory of the fallen was only 36 miles high. His Elemental Eye was able to see every single corner of the place.

The Shackles of the Fallen penetrated the dark double and shackled it at the center of that altar. Nailisi's double opened its eyes and observed the internal energy structure of the dark double.

It was a pity that the Shackles of the Fallen were incapable of leaving the 12 Notes of First Purgatory. Otherwise, it would have become a powerful offensive equipment. If the dark double had not lost its head, it would have been difficult to get it near the range of the chains since the Shackles of the Fallen was unable to go far.

Saleen recovered for a bit and saw Nicholas began to breathe regularly. He asked, "Nicholas, who was that old fellow?"

Saleen was unable to kill the great head inquisitor despite giving his all. Not even the lightning bolt from his family badge or the attacks of his Thunder Dragon Blaster proved adequate in penetrating his enemy's defenses. No figure like that would have gone unnoticed within the Holy See.

"He's the great head inquisitor. I only saw him once when I was young. Damn, I never knew he was that strong…" Nicholas was impressed with what he had done.

He was unable to tell that they were fighting the great head inquisitor from looks alone. When the great head inquisitor brought the Divine Skull to bear, he finally recalled who that old man was.

"Great head inquisitor, huh. It's too bad we didn't get to kill him," Saleen said in a rather regretful manner.

"My liege, it's lucky enough that none of us died fighting him." Nicholas let out a bitter smile. "The great head inquisitor had three godly items. While those items were not as powerful as the ones held by the pope, which would have suffered a huge reduction in powers when separated, they did not come in a set. If every single one of those items were to be used at full power, we wouldn't even have the chance to run."

"So, why didn't the final attack kill him?" Saleen asked in a vexed manner. He had unleashed all of his strongest attacks and was still unable to kill the great head inquisitor. The Holy See was a little too powerful.

"The Divine Tablet spell," Nicholas said. "I'm sure the great head inquisitor had one."

"What's a Divine Tablet?" Saleen asked.

Nicholas pondered for a bit and said, "Well, my liege, you do know the spirits, right?"

Saleen nodded.

Nicholas continued, "Spirits are capable of entering the bodies of any creature and taking said creature's form. They are able to possess other creatures as well. The Divine Tablet spell is something similar, but it's very brutal."