Badge in Azure

That was the very first time Saleen’s family badge’s attack ended up not killing his enemy. The shock he felt however, did not affect his actions. He recalled his badge back into his Devil Ring and held the golden magic book in his hand. The seven elemental creatures before him launched their attacks as well.

Van Gogh was shocked to his core. He had thought he would have ended up dead. “Was that a lightning bolt attack?” One shot, and his connection with his lance was completely destroyed. He no longer had any means of defending against such attacks if it was to happen for second time. The Lance of Order had been his strongest weapon, as well as his strongest shield.

As Saleen put away his family badge, Van Gogh felt as if he had walked to the edge of hell and returned.

“Such attacks can never be cast twice in a row. There would be no one that that mage could not kill otherwise. He would simply be able to strike the core of the Holy See and kill Pope Theisio with his tower if he were that powerful.”

As the thunderous boom stopped and the six Stone Statue Soldiers rushed at him, Van Gogh opened his mouth and spoke softly, “Time, reverse.”

The Stone Statue Soldiers and the fire fox were halted where they were. Grade-9 creatures were not things Van Gogh would be able to fend away with words alone. It seemed that time had truly stopped. Van Gogh bent over and picked up his Lance of Order. Despite having lost soul control over it, the weapon remained his sharpest arsenal. He flicked with his wrist, and the lone chains went straight and stiff. The tip of the lance went on to pierce the chests of two Stone Statue Soldiers.

“Fossilize!” Saleen’s reaction was quicker than Van Gogh’s. The divine spell before had affected him. Saleen had only regained control of his Stone Statue Soldiers when they were pierced by the lance.

The Stone Statue Soldiers spell fixed on the devil suit was something, that even when totally destroyed, could be reconstructed within six hours, allowing for summoning again. They embodied the true meaning of cannon fodder and were beings that could be used as the user fancied. They were unlike the Elemental Stone Statue Soldiers from the elemental badge, which while powerful, needed a month or two to restore if their cores were completely broken. That was something made possible only when their leader was still alive and well.

If the grade-10 leader ended up being crushed as well, the Elemental Stone Statue Soldiers could only be summoned when the leader was restored.

The tip of the lance that penetrated the two Stone Statue Soldiers wiggled about in the air like the head of a snake, looking for the next target. Saleen’s Fossilization spell activated right there and then.

Fossilization, was a spell that was inherent in the statues themselves, instead of something that was derived from Saleen’s elemental conversion skills. It turned the statue soldiers into giant rocks immediately, fusing with the earth beneath them. Saleen was able to tell that the floor of the cave was sturdy rock as well. The statue soldiers fused with the floor beneath them through the spell and trapped the lance within.

The two snake heads in the small lake of lava were severely cut up by the heavenly angel. The Sword of Glory that the heavenly angel wielded was laced with the Lord of Glory’s rules on it. It had unique divine light which exhibited strong exclusivity, preventing them from healing quickly even in the lava. Van Gogh’s divine spell cast previously also affected the snake heads, while the heavenly angel remained unaffected. The heavenly angel added several hundred slashes within half a second.

The grievously injured snake heads retreated into the lava and refused to emerge. The heavenly angel emerged from the lava, moving in Van Gogh’s direction with the Sword of Glory in hand.

The very reason why he had summoned it back was because he knew he was no match for the mage. He had plenty of powerful equipment on his person, but it proved no match for the mage. The mages’ attack was simply too quick, while divine spells were typically slow.

Blasted lesser prophecy spell!

Van Gogh stared at Nicholas, who was at a distance, with cold eyes. The old man with gray hair held a scepter in his hand. It was an equipment of a fallen one, soul power remained on the weapon.

The heavenly angel had the edge in terms of weaponry. The power of rules on the sword were something that Saleen used to unleash two grade-10 creatures to contend with. When fighting solely one-on-one, his grade-10 elemental creature leaders would not necessarily be a match for the heavenly angel.

Van Gogh moved decisively. While the fire snakes were powerful, they hated to leave the lake of lava. If he had not recalled the heavenly angel, he would have probably ended up being killed by the mage. He would have rather killed the mage, even if it meant inviting further trouble afterwards. It was especially so given how he had a fallen holy master with him.

It was rare to see a mage and a holy master working together. The Holy See had mages as well, but their levels were low, and their magic chords regressed in time. It was only natural that the two never fought alongside each other. Van Gogh knew that despite holy masters’ attacks being slow, they were near insurmountable and unpredictable, especially the likes of curses. The more advanced ones after that would be lesser prophecy spells.

Greater prophecy spell attacks were a power bestowed by the gods, which worked similarly to magic. Lesser prophecy spells however, were inventions created of the fallen holy masters themselves. Whatever the result those fallen holy masters wanted, they would get it, hence its eerie nature.

Van Gogh’s attacks were slowed inexplicably, and lag happened all the time. He knew it was the work of the old holy master. He had no choice but to let go of the fossilized lance, pointing his finger before him, he shouted, “Protect!”

A crystalline structured transparent beam of light shot out from the ground, blocking the Stone Statue Soldiers and the fire fox. The fire fox was nimble enough to stop one step before the barrier, while the Stone Statue Soldiers ran straight into it, cracking their bodies and making them wobble.

The heavenly angel covered the distance of tens of yards in a blink an eye. Strong light exploded from the golden magic book in Saleen’s hand.

A twelve yard long shaft cut through the air and went for Van Gogh’s chest. The speed of the spell was impossibly quick. It was a grade-9 spell left behind by the Angel of Brightness leader on the golden magic book, which came with a damage potential comparable to a grade-10 spell.

The heavenly angel swiped its sword at it, cutting the shaft up completely. The Lord of Glory was well-versed in all manner of light-based attacks, which included light-based weapons. The Sword of Glory itself was a construct created with divine power of light to begin with. The clash ruined Saleen’s grade-9 spell. A similar shaft was refracted and went straight for Saleen.

The counterattack surpassed Saleen’s attack speed. None of the ancient warriors around him reacted to it, and the attack landed a hit on the area where Saleen’s heart was.

Van Gogh was able to see that the shaft disappeared all of a sudden, like it was never there in the first place.

Cold sweat was all over Saleen and Nicholas was tense all over. He had buffed Saleen with Immunity from Death, and it actually activated. Lesser prophecy spells had a certain chance of failing.

If Immunity from Death had actually happened, the lesser prophecy spell was something that was capable of suppressing attacks regardless of levels.

Van Gogh underwent multiple mood fluctuations within just a single minute. First, there was the lightning attack that robbed his Lance of Order of most of its functions, reducing it to a common weapon. Then, Saleen’s shaft of light, which penetrated his protection with holy light and almost killed him. The follow-up counterattack conjured by the heavenly angel was repelled right there and then by the lesser prophecy spell.

“Just what is with that old holy master!”

Van Gogh had no time to dwell on it. The golden magic book in Saleen’s hand unleashed yet another magical light attack. A ring of light appeared right under Van Gogh’s feet containing a snow-white membrane that had holy prose flowing on it.

The ring of light was only capable of providing protection to him, as it was a divine spell stored within his armor. The earth beneath Van Gogh’s feet cracked as Saleen finished casting his spell, shooting violent pillars of fire from underneath. The flames crossed in the air, forming a magic pattern, raising the temperature of the flame by a dozen times.

The flame attack conjured by the spell had a temperature far beyond that of the lava.

Van Gogh had not been able to react in time. He felt his nose boiling and his throat hurting, even breathing itself came with a searing sensation. The ring of light beneath his feet protected his body, yet it did not lower the temperature. Van Gogh was scared into shutting all gaps to his armor. He activated the divine crystals and divine rune charm arrays on his belt.

Saleen felt the tension where he stood and continued to sweat. Had the counterattack from before been able to reach its intended target, he might have ended up dead, as there was no one capable of verifying if the devil suit was capable of withstanding such an attack. No matter how powerful he had gotten, he was still a human, and an attack that pierced his heart would definitely kill him.

Both him and Van Gogh had ventured near the edge of death. While both wore high level armor, one practiced divine spells while the other practiced magic, which meant none of them were actually warriors. Experiencing each other’s attacks in such distances weighed heavily on both men’s psyche.

While Saleen was immediately able to adapt to it, Van Gogh remained thoroughly shaken.

Nicholas did not say a word. He did not even need to chant anything. The new Scepter of the Fallen enabled him to directly cast any fallen divine spells without needing to chant.

Van Gogh was surrounded by magic flames and the heavenly angel was unable to rush at Saleen in time. It had no choice but to stab its sword into the earth to cut off the magic attack. The light on the sword was visibly darkened when it pulled it out. The cost of cutting off a grade-9 spell directly was a hefty one.

The heavenly angel was heavily fatigued from its battle with the two snake heads. Van Gogh knew that if he held back using his equipment, he would end up being killed by the mage before him. The golden magic book in Saleen’s hand exploded with light for the third time.

Van Gogh’s armor was barely able to hold itself together against continuous grade-9 magic attacks. His opponent was a grade-9 mage, and one that could have cast at least twelve more grade-9 spells. He knew that in most cases, powerful mages like those would have ample mental powers. They would use spells stored within magic equipment during battles, to keep themselves at the top of their game.

Van Gogh decided to go all out and pulled a small puppet from his space badge, which he threw out soon after. The puppet flew and expanded in size in the air. The puppet, which was about half the size of a full grown adult initially, grew to more than two yards tall in the blink of an eye. It then charged at Saleen.

The puppet was more powerful than the one Van Gogh had unleashed in the sea. It moved nimbly and aggressively, picking up two Stone Statue Soldiers after running outside the prism constructed from light, and smashed them hard at each other. The two statue soldiers were reduced to dust in an instant. The fire fox pounced at it, but was quickly blown up with a single punch, scattering wisps of fire all over the place. The puppet flicked its hand about, extinguishing the fire on it.

Saleen was certain at the moment, that the puppet was something created by holy masters; it was a weapon belonging to astrologers. They left quite an amount of equipment behind all those years back. While it was modified by the tribunal, it nonetheless maintained its remarkable combat capacity.

It was an act of the gods. Saleen retreated half a step behind and let his ancient warriors come forward. The warrior thrust its spear, stopping the puppet’s advances immediately.