"Xia De, you first..."
Fearing that the crystals on her body would spread to Shade, the maid pushed Shade, but Shade shook his head:
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
He poured a whole bottle of Holy Water No. 3 onto Tifa. As the liquid flowed along her body, her crystallized body began to return to normal.
But the holy water was evaporating quickly, and Xia De reached out and held her in his arms, allowing the light from his body to fully permeate her.
The two of them hugged each other motionlessly until half a minute later when the earthquake ended and the crystallization trend around them stopped.
The darkness around them became thicker and thicker, and the trickle of darkness flowed towards the center of the crystal forest. The ground suddenly rose a level due to the crystals, and all the objects around were covered by black crystals.
The depressing environment was affecting the spirit. With the explosion of these dark crystals, Shade clearly felt that his mood was getting worse.
"Be careful. The power of the devil is affecting us. It is the pus of man. Don't have any negative emotions. Any negative emotions should be avoided as much as possible."
The maid warned carefully, her voice was very low. After all four amulets were broken, she could hardly hold on any longer.
"I see."
The trickle of darkness was still flowing forward. Following the direction of the darkness, the two passed through the thick darkness, crossed the large crystal trees in the depressing and silent environment, smashed the black crystal boulders that blocked the way, and finally broke through the crystal forest and officially entered the core of the dark realm.
That blow just now could indeed be the final blow in the decisive battle. Along the way, they encountered many people who were sealed by dark crystals, and even the hidden servants and hidden people in the dark realm were sealed by crystals. Shade risked touching it and confirmed that the people inside were not dead, but the crystal was extracting power, which was very similar to the "Human Pus".
After leaving the Crystal Forest, we finally arrived at the large open space under the giant black pillar.
The dark stone pillars were quietly rooted here, as if drawing power from the ground, spreading the darkness and engulfing the world. Around the open space under the pillars, huge black crystals sealed up people with surprised faces.
Of the more than 20 crystals, two-thirds were from the church's ring sorcerers, and the rest were probably helpers that Bloodweeper had found. Judging from their positions, they were engaged in a fierce battle before the earthquake just now, and it was clear that the Orthodox Church had the upper hand.
But now, neither side was moving.
There was a faint light beneath the trees, but the obstruction and sound absorption of the darkness prevented Shad and Tifa from knowing who else was able to remain active.
They walked carefully among the strange black crystals, hiding their bodies in the darkness, and confirmed that there were only eight people under the tree who were not affected by the dark crystals.
Three of them belonged to the Orthodox Church: Mr. Sari Pirot, the thirteenth-ring sorcerer of the Church of Creation, the "Iron Right Hand", a middle-aged eleventh-ring sorceress with a glowing holy emblem of overlapping leaves on her chest, and Iluna.
The girl with long brown hair had a golden light flashing in her right eye. As she moved, this eye, which was formed by Shad using his last divine power, dragged out golden bright traces in the darkness, as if a golden flame was burning in her eye socket.
Among the other five people, an old woman holding a large bronze book with the emblem of Zaras Liberal Arts School stood with the three people from the church; the injured Miss Carina stood a little further away, leaning against a crystal; a strange tall middle-aged man with a twelve-ring life ring spinning behind him was leaning on a cane, and beside him was a strange ten-ring warlock.
Everyone's figures were unusually blurry. If Shade was not familiar with Miss Carina and Iluna, it would be really difficult to recognize them.
Shad and Tifa came behind Miss Carina. The witch glanced to the side and nodded slightly to signal them not to speak.
As for Darkness, he was leaning against the trunk of a giant tree, holding a bandaged metal hilt in his left hand. The black blade on the hilt was made of wriggling pus. This should be the hilt of the Dark Sword.
The black trickles coming from all directions were flowing towards his right hand. The red glove on his right hand disappeared. The darkness was being swallowed by the open devil's mouth, and at the same time, it was dyeing his entire body black, making him look stronger and stronger.
But his condition didn't look good either, his entire right leg was covered by a black shadow, and there were dark marks all over his body. These marks were his way of repairing his body, which meant that if it weren't for his dark talent, he would probably have lost his body now.
"Ritual, the ritual of the chosen one of darkness is to devour the darkness, absorb the power of the distant past, let that power merge with himself, and piece together the path to the future with 'darkness' and 'history'."
The witch explained the current situation in a low voice, but the darkness absorbed sound so that no one except the two people nearby could hear her voice.
"Why are you here?"
The witch asked cautiously, but because the situation was complicated, Shade did not explain. His hand was placed on Miss Carina's side from behind, and the silver light represented the Silver Moon Gift of Cynthia.
"Who are those people over there?"
Shade, who was hiding beside the crystal, asked in a low voice.
"There are three ring sorcerers in the church. You should know the Iron Right Hand. The eleventh ring is from the Church of Nature. The youngest girl is the first chosen one. She is very powerful. I remember you took her to the Lucky Southern Cross Club. Next to them is Professor Golis of the Zaras Spell Academy. The man with the cane is a vampire, twelve rings. The one next to him may be a tenth ring sorcerer from the Blood Spirit School."
Miss Carina gave a quick introduction, and at the same time, Darkness silently raised the dark sword in his left hand.
This sword is a ritual sword used by the priests of the ancient god Fuxing Darkness. After the human pus repaired the blade, it seemed to have the power of a demon. The creeping darkness made the blade appear curved, but no one would question its power.
"Do you think Mr. Helmons was really led away?"
Scarlet eyes looked at everyone around. Even though the black crystals had not sealed the remaining people here, everyone was in a bad state. Darkness was in a very strange state now. The stone pillar behind him seemed to be giving him strength.
Shadra pulled Tifa and quickly hid behind the black crystal. He had a feeling that Darkness's eyes could also see through the darkness around them.
"What does the Bloodweeper know?"
The old professor of the Zaras School of Spellcraft asked in a deep voice as she manipulated five balls of fire that were suspended in an arc above her head.
"You lose."
The demon’s mouth devoured the surrounding darkness. Darkness breathed deeply, and the life ring behind her also expanded:
"You shouldn't have let me come here. When I stand here, I have already won. Why do you think our Blood Spirit School sent people to investigate the dark realm half a year ago?"
He must be referring to the vampire that Shad killed in the underground ruins.
"The Blood-Weeping One has long known that the second chosen one is related to the Dark Realm? Do you have more Whispering Poems?"
Mr. Sari Pirot, who was stopped by the twelve-ring vampire, asked in a deep voice. Although the vampire still couldn't beat the thirteen-ring warlock in the darkness, he was able to stop him. The racial ability of transforming into a swarm of bats was quite troublesome.
"Not only the Bloodweeper, my partner gave me more information. I am not only the chosen one, I am also the one favored by the devil!"
Darkness's right hand suddenly moved back and pressed against the tree trunk, biting the giant pillar with his devil's mouth. Something seemed to be flowing in his arm, and his right hand was absorbing something from the giant tree. The golden light on Darkness' body became stronger and stronger. This improvement in strength was simply weird.
"The gods once killed a powerful ancient evil demon here and sealed the body here, so this area was formed. But do you know where the demon's body is?"
"Is it this pillar? This pillar is the body?"
Professor Golis of the Zaras Academy of Literature asked. Her opponent was a strange shadow. It looked like the shadow of Darkness crushing the Servant of Secrets and then the two merged. It looked more terrifying than the twelve-ring vampire.
"Yes, this is the key to completing the ritual. That's why Mr. Helmons led the Sunshine Greatsword away early. And none of you can escape! Mr. Helmons has arranged everything, and I am the chosen one. Fate favors me!"
He took his right hand off the tree trunk, then bent down suddenly and thrust it into the ground. The black pus spread instantly, the ground began to tremble again, the airflow around it became turbulent, and as the earth wailed, crystals began to spread again.
This time it was even more terrifying than before. Rustling crystals climbed up layer by layer onto the surface of all matter.
Of the eight people who were still able to move, the eleventh-ring warlock of the Church of Nature and the tenth-ring warlock beside the vampire were first sealed by the crystals. Then, the old professor of the Zalaas Academy of Literature was unfortunately also sealed because he had to tremble with the shadow:
"If we had known there were ancient demons here, we should have sent people from the Serkses Medical School."
This was her last grumble of dissatisfaction.
Shad hugged Tifa tightly, but even so, their feet were completely crystallized. Fortunately, they were wearing boots, so they just had to take them off. This power from the ancient crystal demon seemed to be immune only to the light on his body.
Miss Carina summoned the witch's eleven-step golden ladder and barely resisted the dark crystal state, but she had no more energy to attack. Mr. Sari Pirot, the thirteenth ring warlock of the Church of Creation, was completely unaffected. He cooperated with Iluna, who was also unaffected, and actually grabbed one of the flying bats in the third second after the earthquake, and then used his iron right hand to restore it to a human form.
Mr. Pirot looked at Darkness:
"Don't you care about your companion's life?"
He grabbed the twelve-ring vampire's neck. The latter tried hard to pry his hands open, but could only make a hoho sound from his throat.
"Companions? Aren't all my companions dead?"
Darkness smiled, panting and leaning against the giant pillar behind him, his right palm continued to absorb the surrounding darkness. Although it seemed that he used human pus combined with the power of the ancient demon to seal all living things in this crystal forest, as a human, this was also a great burden for him.
Mr. Pirot also smiled and threw the unconscious vampire aside. The moment it fell to the ground, black crystals immediately appeared on its body surface, and it was covered by the crystals in a breath.
"Beas, don't interfere. This thing is very dangerous. I will deal with him. I want to see if the power of the so-called ancient demon is enough for him to deal with a thirteen-ring warlock like me."
"I am the chosen one. I have embarked on the path of destiny. I will not lose."
Darkness looked at Mr. Pirot with his scarlet eyes, looking as confident as the Thirteen Rings Warlock.
Iluna did not disobey the order, but nodded slightly and took two steps back. She looked sideways in the direction of Miss Carina, and instantly met Shade's eyes.