Chapter 544: The Angel of Slaughter
"Alright, the Angel of Confusion is dead, now I can have some fun with the rest of you."
Loren casually snapped a twig from a nearby tree and pointed its sharpened tip at the other angels.
His words were bluffing. Swan Song only lasted three minutes, but the angels did not know that.
Swan Song turned Loren's attacks into true damage, and at this moment any weapon would do— even a twig could easily sever an angel's head.
That was why Loren hadn't taken Requiem. A simple twig actually lowered the angels' guard, giving Loren a chance for a killing blow.
Ten seconds had passed.
Loren did not rush. He only needed to make contact to kill them, as long as he wasn't dragged away.
"How's Kramoss doing lately? Still daydreaming all the time?"
After executing the Angel of Confusion, Loren turned to look at the Dream Angel.
Angels of Light were strong in direct combat, but they posed no real threat to Loren now. His concern was with angels like the Dream Angel and the Angel of Confusion, whose abilities were strange and unpredictable.
And the God of Dreams was clearly not as hot-tempered as the God of Light and Fire. Even if Loren exposed the god's true name, the god had not ordered the Dream Angel to kill Loren.
At this moment the Dream Angel actually backed up a few steps.
"Blasphemer, die."
As the Dream Angel retreated, an Angel of Light rushed forward instead. The longsword in its hand glowed, then accelerated into a streak of light, slashing into Loren's arm.
When the Angel of Light tried to pull the sword free, it found the blade jammed in Loren's flesh.
As the angel tried to draw the sword, Loren clamped his hand around its neck.
"The second one."
Deathly aura seeped from Loren's hand. He could have simply squeezed the life out of it, but instead he released Death's Grasp, deliberately misleading the other angels.
From the start of the fight until now it had been less than thirty seconds, and two angels had already been slain.
The other angels stayed where they were, silently watching.
Loren scanned them, assessing their threat.
"Rabble."
Loren spat the insult without restraint. Though they were angels, their minds were full of thoughts on how to pay the least cost while weakening other gods as much as possible.
They were already planning how to divide the spoils after victory, without any certainty they'd even survive.
Loren pulled the sword from his body and breathed heavily, feigning weakness.
That intentional flaw was immediately seized by the Angel of Pain. The angel wrapped its newly healed intestines like a lasso around Loren, and then crushed its own eyeballs.
Loren understood exactly how that move worked. The angel inflicted self-harm to transmit extreme pain to others, deceiving other minds into believing a body part was ruined.
But that had no effect on Loren. Even with its eyes crushed, Loren's vision remained fine.
Indeed, he felt searing pain, but it wasn't enough to alter his expression.
Gales burst forth behind Loren, and the Angel of Wind formed a spear again.
The spear carried not only the authority of wind, but also the authority of Vows.
So its power could tear anything apart and it had guaranteed hits.
But this came at a cost—while forming the spear, the angel's mobility was impaired.
Loren, naturally, would not miss this chance. He seized the Angel of Pain's intestines, swung it like a meteor hammer, built momentum with half a turn in the air, then slammed it into the Angel of Wind.
"Three, four."
When the two collided, Loren instantly stabbed them with the twig.
Thus, two more angels fell.
At this moment, the remaining five angels finally grasped the seriousness of the situation.
It looked like they had ganged up on him nine to one, but in reality they had been sacrificing themselves one by one, like the children from the gourd-pulling story saving their grandfather; now only five remained.
There were still two minutes left on Swan Song's countdown—plenty of time—but the other angels had raised their guard, making them harder to kill.
Loren kept seeking an opening; when he found one he could kill instantly. At that moment Orianna was activating Hermit's invisibility, slipping behind the Dream Angel.
Suddenly Orianna sprang up and clamped the Dream Angel's neck from behind. Because Orianna had no killing intent, Intuition's warning was insufficient.
The Dream Angel began to struggle, its ten fingers frantically trying to pry apart Orianna's iron-like grip.
But in the next instant, Loren drove the twig through it.
That was not all. Without turning his head, Loren launched a disc of Blood Moon Condensed Light dozens of meters wide, erasing the Epidemic Angel and the Angel of Night in a single sweep.
With Swan Song's blessing, Loren had no need to consider restraint—only range mattered.
"Five, six, seven."
From the fight's start, Loren had avoided using magic so that when he did unleash it, the strikes would be lethal.
Now only the last two angels remained, and Loren no longer needed to keep up the pretense. Even if they tried to flee, he would pursue and kill them.
One minute and thirty seconds remained; most of the time Loren had wasted on waiting.
Finally Loren looked at the Freedom Angel. The Angel of Bountifulness had limited mobility, but the Freedom Angel was extremely mobile, so Loren decided to kill the Freedom Angel first.
The Freedom Angel realized this and suddenly exploded—its body became countless tiny fragments that moved chaotically, many of them covering Loren.
This was its authority: every piece of its flesh was free, independent and no longer constrained by the whole.
Loren's body immediately ignited. Sin-Burning Flames turned the nearby flesh fragments to ash, while Loren searched for his target.
He had to find the brain fragments. If enough brain pieces were destroyed, the angel would die.
At this moment the Angel of Bountifulness also attacked, merging with earth and trees into a towering colossus. When its palm came down it felt like a mountain falling.
They had understood Loren's method and were trying to avoid being struck.
"A little late to act now, aren't you? Are you still thinking that killing other angels would be a great achievement?"
Loren met the falling palm, easily piercing through the giant hand, though that did nothing to the Angel of Bountifulness.
The Freedom Angel's fragments spread even further, with many burying themselves underground.
Loren soared through the air, mobilized all his mana, and began to gather his final Blood Moon Condensed Light.
"Take this! This is my last Blood Moon Condensed Light!"
Loren shouted with resolve as the Strength Card's enhancement peaked.
Coupled with the angels' sins, the Judgment card's boost reached terrifying levels.
He poured every drop of his mana into the attack and the Blood Moon Condensed Light burst outward from him, turning Loren into a blood-colored sun.
Everything hit by the blast was instantly annihilated, including the two remaining angels.
"Success... there's still plenty of time... thirty seconds left."
Exhausted, Loren began to fall toward the ground. With all his strength he finally retrieved a potion from his clothing that could fake his death.
On the map there was already a missing chunk; seawater poured into the gap on land.
Before Loren could force the antidote into his mouth, the sun sank and the seawater began to boil and evaporate. The glass vial in his hand melted instantly, and the potion spilled across the ground.
"God of Light and Fire..."
Loren let out a sigh of relief. He had more antidotes, but he had no intention of taking them now.
The witches hadn't run far yet.