Chapter 829 - 402: Sub-grade Star Soul Creation
The Dimension Blade formed by the Domain severed the malicious blood vessels that the half demon’s lower body had turned into, but even after being cut off, semi-illusory crimson veins still extended outward, reaching into the void, connecting across the Domain.
"Physical cutting won’t work," the half demon laughed. "I told you, she and I are already one."
The moment he saw those deep-reaching blood vessels, Li Ang already had a general sense of it, which was why he’d wanted to use the Decomposition Beam for a thorough purge.
Given the current situation, he wasn’t sure he could really save Hedaya; seizing the chance to kill it might be the better option.
Of course, in the fused state of the Divine Bull and Lupus Island, a single Decomposition Beam couldn’t completely kill it, only weaken it, and by then, Anna would have to make a move.
But much of Zoe’s power operated more like instinctive confidence; Li Ang was willing to fight for an opening and let her give it a try.
As for the demon in front of him, naturally he wasn’t going to let Li Ang have an easy time.
"Talk. Who are you, and where do you come from?"
The demonized freak ignored Li Ang and kept muttering under his breath; his demonic transformation was becoming more obvious.
At this distance, it was enough to observe him through the panel.
[Horarius the Demon Scholar]
[Race: Human · Star Soul · Demon]
[Combat Wisdom: Tier 9]
[Summoned Beast: half-body Molten Mountain Behemoth, Tier 9[-2]]
[Energy Source: Light of the Star Soul]
[Physical Strength: regenerative parasitic half-demon body, Tier 9]
[Secret Technique: Volcanic Eruption [Thief’s Domination]]
[Skills: Mage Spell Group, Eye Magic Field, Demon Resistance, Stealing of Favors]
[Combat Power Amplification: 11%]
Judging from the panel alone, this guy wasn’t particularly strong.
Li Ang unfolded his Spiritual Horizon and saw this man’s bizarre spirituality. He had observed himself many times; if that alienated portion represented the Demon Power, then overall it showed that the freak had been constantly suppressing his own demonization process.
He was also one of the cursed? But he clearly knew much more.
Li Ang clenched his palm, and a Spiritual Piercing attack punched through the half demon.
"Uaaahhh!"
The man howled in pain, interrupting his chant.
"Talk."
"Tch! I may not see eye to eye with that lot, but I will never kneel under other Saint King believers!"
"Eye of God, is it?"
The half demon no longer responded. He tried to resume his chanting, but this time Li Ang did not use Spiritual Piercing as a mere damage amplifier; instead, he precisely pierced the portion of spirituality he used for Casting.
After probing a bit, he found that the man began to stammer, his words no longer clear.
Half of his face showed an anxious expression; in the next instant, his demonization suddenly accelerated.
Li Ang immediately understood: this man’s Casting was actually borrowing Demon Power while at the same time suppressing that process. The earlier demonization had clearly been just a side effect of drawing on Demon Power, whereas now, it was truly slipping out of control.
He had been trying his best to preserve his self. He wanted... oh, he intended to use the Demon’s power to seize the Star Soul body and turn himself into a Star Soul?
He must originally have possessed considerable power, along with bizarre methods performed via Demon Secret Technique, but all of that had begun to vanish after he half-demonized.
He had already succeeded halfway. As long as Hedaya completely submitted, he could be reborn, but if he failed, he would lose everything. So, he was already in a burn-the-boats state.
"Where did you get the Secret Technique for seizing Star Soul Power? How do you implement it?"
Opening the Demon’s Hand, Spiritual Driving descended over him, and Li Ang began to grind down the half demon’s will.
He had never considered that besides Eye of God’s ability to perform demonic transformation, there would also be someone who voluntarily let himself begin demonization by relying on demonology.
"No... way..."
This man’s will was far firmer than that Excellence Realm powerhouse from the Order Sandstorm Corps whom Li Ang had dealt with at the start, but once he knew that Spiritual Piercing could shatter their will, the difficulty was no longer in the same league.
He unleashed another Spiritual Piercing, the man screamed again, and the control of Spiritual Driving sank even deeper.
Farina rode her dragon close to him, wanting to speak but holding back.
Li Ang’s heart was as calm as a cold abyss; he showed no mercy, repeatedly switching between Piercing attacks and Spiritual Driving, trampling this Half Demon underfoot.
Yes, let him wail, let him beg, let him tremble under your unmatched Power.
Before absolute Power, there are no secrets.
"It... it’s like a kind of... technique derived from the knowledge dripping from the Divine People... analyzed and summarized by me... the principle of creating Star Souls..."
The submissive Horarius lowered his head, but his speech was slurred, his narration difficult.
With no fluctuation in his heart, Li Ang waited for him to speak, and slowly, he more or less understood this guy’s past.
He had originally been a Mage of Thousand Tower City, secretly researching knowledge related to the Crimson Demon in the city. To seek more relevant clues, he set out on a journey to visit various ruins.
And that led to his encounter with the Eye of God.
To obtain more profound knowledge, he threw himself into Eye of God with all his might, but he could never gain true recognition. After all, he treated Demons as research subjects; both his faith and his fusion with the Demon of the Eye’s Power were subject to constant doubt.
However, the hidden knowledge left behind by the Eye of God is a colossal treasure vault, filled with many pieces of knowledge that even those who worship the Demon of the Eye have yet to master.
Horarius was unable to take a seat among the Eye of God, and he disdained becoming a mere Oracle envoy. As he analyzed the information about the Divine People preserved inside, he suddenly discovered that the Divine People had long left behind research on a method to fuse themselves with a Star Soul and thereby obtain immense power.
From that, he summarized several feasible Spells on his own, but with the strength of a mortal Mage, it was impossible to achieve this goal.
He could only rely on Demon Power.
But the structure of Demons cannot fuse with a Star Soul. Demons are cursed by the world, while the power of Star Souls is stolen from a portion of the world; the two cannot mingle.
That left only one path: first partially Demonize, obtain Spiritual Control Ability, then begin the fusion, and at the moment of success discard the Demonized body.
This Demonization was similar to yet different from the situation of the Eye of God. They did it to better serve as a medium for wielding the power of the Demon of the Eye, whereas Horarius had abandoned his Human flesh and had to rely on mutation to grasp this Spiritual Control Ability he could not comprehend.
Horarius felt he was a genius enough, but he was only short of finding a suitable Star Soul.
He naturally did not dare use any Star Soul under the control of the Eye of God for his experiment. Fortunately, within the Eye of God there were precise methods recorded on how to search for and hunt Star Souls.
Thus, he came to Lupus Island.
Hedaya’s power was among the strongest of the Star Souls; the power she had left behind was also abundant. But just as the Star Soul Greenhouse has an irreplaceable effect on Star Souls, and Jenocide’s Thunder of Annihilation holds overwhelming restraint over other Star Souls, the various mechanisms the Divine People left inside them determined that they could not defy certain things.
Backdoors had been left from the level of basic construction itself. When Horarius used Spells to dismantle the Star Soul’s primal structure, Hedaya was utterly unable to resist.
"So, you and her engaged in a sixty-year-long struggle over that body."
"Th-that damned cow... O-obviously just a Creation, yet she refuses to give up!"
Horarius was filled with unwillingness and resentment. If Hedaya had not been so persistent, if the suddenly arriving "Six armed Holy King’s Followers" had not appeared, he would have been able to seize control of the Star Soul Power and directly approach the pinnacle of the world.
[Prompt: Star Soul nurturing function expanded, branch unlocked: Sub-Grade Star Soul Cultivation]
[Sub-Grade Star Soul Cultivation: Combine an existing Star Soul with a chosen Human Race, forming an entirely new and powerful individual]
This System...
Though a more complete function set is a good thing, this was simply too complete. In this aspect, the power was becoming increasingly outrageous, just like Demon modifications, and Li Ang didn’t want to touch it at all.
"Even if you become a Star Soul, without an Energy Source, how much power can you actually wield?"
"That’s none of your concern."
Horarius’s speech suddenly became fluent. He let out a few cold laughs, his face completely covered by crimson Blade Scales.
Even if one attacked him with Spiritual Piercing, the Demonization process was like a malignant Curse, still impossible to avoid.
The front tip of Li Ang’s Treasure Staff spewed out a Decomposition Light Wave, breaking Horarius down.
The next instant, he reformed again not far away.
The Demon Eyes on his body were far fewer than in the Eye of God’s Demonization state, but the power came from the same source. Four Magic Power–filled eyeballs were still displayed at the center of his palms, on his chest, and on his face.
"With the Six armed Saint King intervening halfway, even though I am insignificant to the Eye of God, the balance between multiple forces will be broken. You will bring upon yourself calamities you cannot bear.
"But before that, you will be swallowed up by this island’s destruction."
The attempt to usurp the Star Soul had utterly failed. The hatred of the Demonized Horarius was almost tangible, triggering a heavy, layered, crushing Force Field.
He raised his head high and roared, orderly polygonal Spiritual Lines shooting outward, Spiritual Fluctuations carrying a Force Field of incomparable power expanding in all directions.
Li Ang likewise used a Spiritual Force Field to offset it, but the newborn Demon Power at this moment far surpassed what it had been just now. Even though he neutralized most of it, he was still pushed backward and sent flying by the Force Field.
The Blazing Winged Dragon let out a miserable screech as its Skeleton cracked within the Force Field, and only when the Fire Dragon Divine Statue swung its wings and claws to block the impact was it saved.
The flames burning on the Dragon God Statue contained a portion of the World Origin Power, and the Force Field could not break through. But its Pure Demon Body was only constructed by Spells and could not compare to the Dragon God; under the bombardment of the Eye Magic Field, layer after layer of cracks appeared.
Horarius lifted his palm, and as the Demon Eye in his palm blinked, the Fire Element in the entire space violently condensed into solid lines, piercing the air with countless Fire Lines.
These things looked thin, but absolutely could not be touched. Li Ang cast Spiritual Activation and Acceleration Technique on himself, Farina, the Blazing Winged Dragon, Salamander, and ALulu riding atop Salamander, carefully and swiftly avoiding the Fire Lines.
After Demonizing, Horarius had severed the possibility of Star Soul Transformation, yet he was still connected to the Molten Mountain Star Soul. This was drawing on Star Soul Power, using High tier Flame Control to launch attacks in a space where the Fire Element held absolute dominance. Even with hasty evasions, they still sliced off a portion of the Blazing Winged Dragon’s wing and the tails of two Salamanders in the lava.
The Blazing Winged Dragon could no longer fly, plunging toward the web of Fire Lines. Horarius clenched his hand, tightening the fire net, intending to kill the Flying Dragon and Farina.
The Dragon Witch’s eyes burned with flame-light as she cast a Wall of Fire, offsetting part of the fire net. Her hands moved rapidly; the Blazing Flame Feather from her Hand Guard and the Flaming Flower Crown from her Wizard Hat were released together, scattering as they continued to cancel out the attack.
Though plummeting rapidly, the Blazing Winged Dragon was also spewing its own Blazing Flame. In the end, the Fire Lines dissolved before the Dragon Flame Shield raised by Farina.
Horarius began Casting again, but the new fire net was shattered by the charging Dragon God Statue. It could not withstand the impact of the Force Field, but the flames were useless before it. Seizing the opportunity, Farina rode a mass of Blazing Flame down onto the shoulder of the Fire Dragon Divine Statue, while the Blazing Winged Dragon fell into the magma, twisting its body in a circle and hiding behind the Dragon God Statue.
The Demon launched a Force Field toward the Dragon Summoner’s direction, while drawing in the fire net and casting it over toward Li Ang.
Just then, a faint blue Magic Barrier emerged in midair, greatly weakening the web of flames as it passed through.
This was ALulu, clad in Sapphire Armor, activating the Set Skills. This layer of [Shield Wall of Water] could weaken Fire Attribute attacks by 90%. The currents of fire that could have incinerated everything instantly lost their might and were easily blown away by the icy wind Li Ang released.
As for the Fire Lines shot at the Paladin Maiden, they were deflected by the Round Mirror Shield in her hand, ricocheting back toward Horarius.
He raised his hand to block the splashing residual flames. Their power was weak, but they were like mockery. The Demon Eyes on Horarius’s body rotated, all fixing on the Paladin Maiden.
"A follower of the Goddess of Kindness... It seems your group being here is no coincidence. You’ve long been preparing for the moment of holy punishment, haven’t you?
"Enough. Let’s see how you escape this island! Useless cow, come out for me!"
The Demon drew upon the Light of the Star Soul, attempting to Summon the Molten Mountain Behemoth that had been isolated by the Domain.
But his power elicited no response at all.
Zoe’s communication worked? Li Ang steadied his mind, using Anna to sense the situation on Zoe’s side.