Badge in Azure

Reincarnation allowed the bloodied, grotesque body of the divine child to develop a perfect, complete body, yet it did not allow her to become a god. The body was just like any other human’s, instead being of an energy construct that resembled a human’s body. After forcing her way off of the altar, the divine baby girl suffered grievous injuries all over. The pain deep within her soul rendered her almost completely insane.

The twenty-four chains seemed to still stir within her soul. With every stirring it seemed like her soul was to be seen torn apart in twenty-four pieces.

The Shackles of the Fallen went past all obstacles and stayed to harm her soul. Her soul healed continuously and was then torn apart right after. If she had not been reincarnated, and she was not half god and half human, she would have ended up dead.

The injuries suffered on her body were all the same. After forcing her way off of the altar, the divine baby girl’s body was all a mess of flesh and blood. The injuries burst right after they were healed by the green energies. The pain had her screaming at the top of her lungs, leaving her without any hint of dignity or pride usually seen in gods.

A flicker of pale divine fire sparked at the depths of the divine baby girl’s soul amidst the pain. The divine fire began to burn, enveloping her soul. The shade of the twenty-four chains were no longer able to tear at her soul. They remained stirring all the time, bringing her great pain.

Such a pain was what she considered bearable.

She crossed the one mile in the blink of an eye and arrived at the foot of the Magical Element Tower. Nailisi’s reactions had never been slow ones, yet when she was about to enter the tower, the divine baby girl’s finger had already found its target.

Nailisi knew she stood no chance at defending against the attack, and she retracted her body into the dark instead.

The shot from the finger missed. Green energy exploded from the divine baby girl’s finger, enveloping the Magical Element Tower completely, cutting off all teleportation portals off, leaving Nailisi stranded outside.

Saleen’s mind was suspended in fear all of a sudden. The divine child was suffering grievous injuries, yet her combat capacity remained far superior to even Nailisi’s absolute limit. His mental powers were unable to lock onto the divine child, rendering the family badge in his hand completely useless.

“You are in way over your head!” The divine baby girl’s bloodied palm reached into the darkness after locking down the tower, and fished Nailisi right from it. Nailisi activated her collection of purgatories yet was unable to throw the divine baby girl inside.

The difference in levels was just too great. Despite suffering grievous injuries, she risked cutting her lifespan short and lit up her divine fire, forcing her advancement to the levels of pseudogod. While she fell short of attaining grade-13 power and was unable to use grade-13 rules, but nothing Nailisi and Saleen had on them would have worked against her.

To a mage, being unable to lock onto one’s target would mean that one’s combat capacity getting reduced by more than half of what it was.

Nailisi’s two other heads slumped, as she was being held at the neck by the divine child. The divine child shook her arms a little, and all of Nailisi’s weapons dropped onto the floor. That was the first time Saleen saw Nailisi to be utterly helpless. She had not been so helpless even when she was fighting against the angel of fear.

“Is Nailisi going to die?” The thought had Saleen feeling very cold inside. Everything about Nailisi rushed to his head in an instant. “For the past several years, what has the imp got from me? Nothing.” It was a truth that simply could not be covered by advancement, no matter how great. Her soul remained controlled in his hands. Everything Nailisi owned was his. She had no way of fighting back.

Saleen knew of everything Nailisi did. She was just a child who failed to grow up, and one who wanted to find warmth in her parents’ embrace. She had been unreasonable at times, brutal at other times, and incomprehensible at yet some other times. Most around her feared her, yet the imp had not truly grown until that very moment. She remained a lost soul.

“Now, is that imp who has yet to grow up is going to die?”

Seeing how the divine child held Nailisi by the neck, the cold feeling in his chest began to recede, replaced by a fire that was gradually burning up.

“Let her go!” Saleen’s voice was heard from the tower, albeit somewhat muffled by the green energy barrier.

“Alright,” The divine child slammed her onto the ground, crushing all the bones below her waist and her legs were turned into a bloody mess. Her remaining half was writhing on the floor.

Saleen, after seeing the divine child let go of Nailisi, stepped outside the Magical Element Tower, which rendered Nicholas completely dumbfounded. Mist began to build around Saleen’s body, whipping up a powerful vortex in the seawater. He held onto the family badge in his hand, charging in the divine child’s direction.

“You are a stupid one. Here I thought I had yet to find a way to get to you out of the tower…”

The divine baby girl held back the pain inside her and took a step forward, coming to face Saleen. Her naked body was engulfed in green energy. Tens of vines whipped up from the sides of her torso, wrapping Saleen’s body tightly.

Nicholas felt a pain surging up to his brain. He was thoroughly frightened, as he had never seen Saleen being so careless. Nicholas chanted ancient words without any hesitation, bringing about a bright light in the Scepter of the Fallen in his hand.

Prior to that moment, all light emanated from his Scepter of the Fallen had been gray. The light that shot out of the tower’s window however, was pure white, charged with ample divine powers.

“Here I say, your fate is cursed. All life will betray your faith!” Nicholas’ words were short, yet it was the first time he truly put his life on the line.

It was a curse spell, and one that was meant to curse gods. Nicholas was but a grade-9 holy master still, while the divine child was of a terrifying grade-13 instead. If the attacks had been physical, such difference would not have been apparent. The divine spell that Nicholas was using, brought about the clash of two types of divine power rules.

The clash of the rules meant that Nicholas had no way out whatsoever. When the curse was finished, his Scepter of the Fallen blew up right there and then. The two-hundred-thousand souls gathered painstakingly were reduced to nothing in an instant. The blood soul tower was also split into six pieces and lost its color entirely, rendering it damaged beyond repair.

When Nicholas was casting his divine spell, the divine child was able to feel the power of another god. Nicholas was a fallen holy master, which meant he would never become a god, yet the power he commanded, was a power of very pure faith.

The bloodied, messy face of the divine child smirked sarcastically. “Divine powers at such levels?” She could have stood there and let him do whatever he wished with her, and nothing would have happened. “Your poor creature, do you think you can really…”

Snap…

A clear, fine needle penetrated the green vines enveloping Saleen, and was shot at the divine child’s face. The fine needle penetrated the bone and went straight for her divine fire. The vines around him broke, and his face was seen.

A face that looked eerily calm.

Saleen shot the grade-19 Star Gathering Needle with his mouth. It was a breath that he had held for a very long time. The sharpness of the needle meant that the vines conjured by the divine baby stood no chance against it.

When the Star Gathering Needle was shot out, the divine baby girl had intended to twist her neck to evade. Yet at that very moment, Nicholas’ curse petrified her body for a split second.

Nicholas was imitating the power of faith of the Lord of Glory. He had no control over the rules, yet it did not necessarily mean that such rules would be ineffective. The difference in levels had him suffer massive recoil, but the curse worked nonetheless, for one-thirtieth of a second.

Nicholas’ hair turned completely gray within the tower, and he slumped slowly to the ground. The scepter that blew up took his hand away with it, reducing even the bones to dust. He had no more power left in him to fix the damages with divine powers. The curse was a two-way spell. With the divine baby girl’s level being so high, the curse was rebounded on him as well.

All the previous injuries fixed by divine spells all erupted in that instant, as if time had reversed itself. All that pain that he had gone through and endured for nearly one-hundred years, replicated all over his body in that very second.

Saleen felt something lost within the depths of his soul. It was his contract with Nicholas. Nicholas was still alive, but as a cursed man, everything that proved advantageous to him was utterly lost.

The fights between gods were utterly devoid of fairness. Nicholas had attempted to provide Saleen with an opening, by paying the price of one-hundred-thousand souls. He had not expected the recoil to be so ferocious nevertheless.

Having the Star Gathering Needle stabbed into the divine fire was like having common flames being smothered by a piece of ice the size of a continent. The divine baby looked at the puny mage in utter fear, as he made his way to her. She was unable to move her body even by an inch. All powers were lost to her, as they totally went out of control.

Her divine fire remained, but was frozen. The Star Gathering Needle did not bother itself with the weak divine fire and had not even attempted to absorb any of it. Saleen took a step forward and took out a second needle.

Under Nicholas’ curse, the divine baby girl was unable to obtain any power from the souls of believers residing within her. With her divine fire suppressed and her physical body incapacitated, she was unable to do anything but witness Saleen stab the Star Gathering Needle into her eyeball.

The divine child’s eyeball was not made of liquid, but a crystalline construct like a magic nucleus. With her divine fires flaring up before having wasted all of her energies, the strength of her body was not even comparable to Nailisi’s. Saleen’s needle went right through her eyeball, breaking it.

Saleen pulled out the needle quickly and went to break the remaining eyeball. He then went stabbing the divine child’s ears, throat, and even her nose with the needle.

Every single jab robbed her of one of her senses. After Saleen went stabbing six times, the divine baby girl became utterly incapable of perceiving the outside world.

Saleen then shot golden runes out of his eyes, focusing the electric current at the girl’s head. Thunderous boom was heard, and those blue monsters still attempted to get close all slumped onto the floor. They were cursed as well, and the divine child was no longer able to provide them with power.

The blue electricity wrapped tightly around the divine baby girl’s head as it surged about. Saleen picked up the Sword of Rules left on the ground, and then brought it down hard on the divine child’s head.