Chapter 1257: I Have It, You Don't

That deep, dark «ocean» swallowed the resplendent sphere of light in an instant, and the whole «Realm Without Darkness» grew distinctly more sombre.

From its interior burst forth bolt after bolt of silvery-white lightning, turning the area where Eunyuni and Colin Iliad clashed into a forest of thunderbolts.

Amid the buzzing crackle, countless serpents of lightning scurried across the surface of Colin Iliad's silvery armour, racing upwards and slipping into the chinks of the visor.

This «Silver Knight», who had now revealed his incomplete mythical-creature form, abruptly seized up, seemingly somewhat paralysed by the electric flash. Eunyuni's black armour, looking as though composed of the power of «Fall», absorbed the lightning entirely, breaking itself apart in order to keep the main body from being affected.

Seizing the chance, Eunyuni — chunks of pitch-black flaking from him without pause — gripped that deep, dark greatsword in both hands and cut obliquely forward; at that moment Colin Iliad had not yet fully shaken off his paralysis.

With a tearing sound, a deep rent opened at his left shoulder; that solid silvery armour seemed to have lost all defensive power, hewn open in one stroke by the long, dark, straight greatsword.

This was the «Black Knight's» «Blade of Spirit and Flesh» — it could rot flesh, blot out souls, sever barriers, and even render the defences of any creature with thoughts of fallenness useless: the most central extraordinary ability of the «Black Knight», sourced from the field of «Fall».

Seeing the «Blade of Spirit and Flesh» open up the silvery armour at Colin Iliad's left shoulder, the rift swiftly deepening, heading straight for the heart, Derrick's spirit tensed up. At once he condensed a long spear that seemed composed of pure sunshine, crackling and snapping, and with a swing of the arm he hurled it at Eunyuni.

«Spear of Dawnless»!

Eunyuni did not give up his attack, nor did he dodge. He merely raised the remnants of his void-black wings and used them to cover himself.

Hiss!

That «Spear of Dawnless» pierced through two layers of the void-black wings and erupted with light of utmost incandescent white, as though raising a miniature «sun» on the spot.

At that same instant, Colin Iliad as a whole melted, becoming a flowing pool of silver metal liquid.

These liquids streamed swiftly and reassembled at a distance into Colin Iliad's body — still in giant shape, still in silvery armour, but a fair part of the Silver City chief's left shoulder, together with his arm, had fallen to the ground; the cut was clean, and not a drop of blood ran from it.

Relying on «mercurial transformation», Colin Iliad had paid one arm as the price to dodge Eunyuni's killing blow.

His gaze behind the visor had not the slightest waver; he hefted the remaining straight sword of Dawn, and once again rushed wildly at the target, like a steam locomotive that had broken past its own speed limit, monstrously terrifying.

On the other side, Derrick was condensing «Spears of Dawnless» with great speed, sending spear after spear of light flying, crackling, towards Eunyuni.

In the midst of it he also opened his mouth and said with solemnity:

«The god says: the purification takes effect.»

This was the manifestation of the «Notary's» extraordinary ability at the «Dawn-Lighter» stage.

It fitted so perfectly with the «Realm Without Darkness» wrought by the «Sun Saint» that the battlefield brightened distinctly once more, and the aura of corruption upon Eunyuni and Lovia attenuated yet again.

«The god says: takes no effect!» That «Sun Saint» at once negated Derrick's «words», causing the purifying effect of the «Realm Without Darkness» itself to return to its former state.

Amid the crackling, the «Spears of Dawnless» reached Eunyuni; this «Black Knight's» void-black wings, by now «illuminated» by the miniature sun a moment earlier, had faded and lost several pairs, leaving less than half of what they had originally been.

Seeing one bright, pure spear of light come after another, and being entangled by Colin Iliad such that he could not dodge effectively, Eunyuni once again spread one pair of void-black wings fully open and let them disintegrate into an expanse of «deep blackness».

Each «Spear of Dawnless», the moment it touched this «deep blackness», was tainted by a layer of viscous pitch-black; some snapped corroded in an instant, plunging into the magnificent stairway; others, mid-air, arced about and turned, hurtling back at Derrick Berg.

In that one breath, they had all fallen.

Seeing this, Derrick — following the combat instinct fostered through long training, patrols and explorations — leapt sharply forward, rolling, and rolling again.

Bzz! Bzz! Bzz!

Spear after pitch-black spear came down behind him, corroding a great swathe of the stairs.

At this same time, the «Sun Saint» too was hurling «Spears of Dawnless» and shaping «pure-white rays», pressing Lovia until she had no choice but to «blink» continuously by means of one of the soul-spirits she had herded, and tentatively to try to draw nearer to her foe.

What she regretted was that, in such a state, she could only use the ability of one spirit at a time; she could not, while «blinking», also condense a «silvery-white slender sword» to slash that «Sun Saint» from afar and create an opening for herself.

On the other side, Klein and his own «shadow» were locked in an exceptionally fierce fight: amid the booming sounds of air-cannon shells, clusters of crimson flame rose one after another, scraps of paper scattered in flight, and one apparition after another dissolved into bubbles.

That «Silver Knight» secret puppet was, on the whole, suppressing the «Spectator Saint»: for all the spirit dragon's bodily toughness and tremendous power, he could not, in close combat, match a demigod of the «Giant» pathway.

Of course, the «Spectator Saint» had not fallen into peril either. After all, he had shown his incomplete mythical-creature form; were his opponent not merely a secret puppet, and were Klein himself not already done digesting his Sequence 3 potion and acquainted with quite a few high-rank creatures, he could have used the divinity that now showed to disturb the opponent's thoughts and make him ever more frenzied, slowly losing reason.