Israfel looked down silently, growing weaker and weaker with each passing second.
Actually, had it not been for his treasure boots that had the ability to keep him standing firmly in the sky he would have fallen long ago as a result of the severity of his wound.
The clear eyes of the Supreme Pontiff stopped first on Naomi currently passed out after being hit by Bai Shilin, the terror of any mage. Then, his eyes moved a little more to the left until they met the eyes of his right hand, the man who although already over 30 years old had been raised by him as if he were his son.
Israfel smiled gently and nodded, making Matthew Sanchez had to grit his teeth hard enough to make his gums bleed to keep from sobbing when he saw the thin trickle of red blood sliding silently from the corner of the mouth of the man who to him was not only a leader but also his father.
Israfel turned his face to face Bai Zemin, and after a moment's hesitation asked weakly if he would give him a moment to talk with his subordinate.
Bai Zemin looked at the wound on Israfel's chest, noting easily that where the heart should have been there was nothing but a fist-sized hole going from side to side.
After a moment's consideration, he nodded but extended his right hand outward, "Cut your connection with the spear first."
Israfel was not surprised by Bai Zemin's request but still could not help but smile bitterly as he glanced at the spear in his hands.
More than the ultimate treasure of the Holy Church, the spear called Longinus was the ancient spear left behind by God. Its meaning was simple but extremely deep, and whoever wielded it would become the most powerful human who would lead mankind to glory after overcoming the legendary Armageddon.
Israfel sighed and muttered to himself before closing his eyes.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the Supreme Pontiff suddenly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood and his aura weakened even more. His steps faltered as if he was about to fall from the clouds, and it was not until after a couple of seconds that he managed to compose himself as he shook his head vigorously.
Without saying a single word, perhaps saving his energy, Israfel looked at the bronze-colored spear for the last time before throwing it towards Bai Zemin without a hint of murderous intent.
Even so, however, Bai Zemin used a blood arm to catch the spear instead of grabbing it himself.
Israfel smiled ironically seeing the other party's immense caution despite the fact that he was already a dead man. He no longer wasted the precious but scarce time he had left and descended from the sky silently.
"Y- Your Majesty..."
The eyes of the First Knight flashed with sadness and grief as he received and supported him.
Israfel surveyed the surroundings, and noticing that all of his group had lost except for Matthew he couldn't help but feel sadness in his heart. However, he was not a young man but rather was an old man who had seen and lived enough to be able to forcefully shake those emotions that tied him down.
No matter how strong the healing or skill, unless one had the ability to regenerate it was impossible to survive after having one's heart crushed. Unfortunately or not, the only treasure capable of regeneration had already been used on Matthew when the latter lost an arm in the battle against the demons on the coast of Italy.
Bai Zemin simply confirmed that Israfel wanted to have a serious conversation with the First Holy Knight before turning his attention to the spear in his right hand.
The spear was dark brown in color and seemed to be made of bronze. It looked extremely old, with no decorative embellishments except for the dull purple Soul Stone right between the blade/piercing and the rest of the body.
If not for the multiple inscribed runes and the terrifying power surrounding the spear, Bai Zemin could have suspected that Israfel had exchanged the weapon with a different one without him noticing.
__________ [Longinus -] [Type: Two-handed weapon - Spear] [Rank: 6] [Physical Attack Power: 56.000]
[Magical Attack Power: 43.000] [Durability: 321.954 / 322.000] [Special Characteristics *]
[* Absolute Killing Strike: Once Longinus targets it will definitely hit regardless of the distance or evasive moves from the other side]
[* Human Leadership: When fighting humanoid beings, the consumption of all attack skills are reduced by 40% while Longinus is wielded. Status: Weakened by half due to missing Soul Contract]].
[* God's Piercing: Increases the probabilities of penetrating strikes by 30% when fighting against enemies whose level surpasses the wielder of Longinus while those of lower level will always be hit by penetrating strikes after being attacked. Status: Sealed due to missing Soul Contract].
[* Devourer: Can swallow other weapons to slowly grow stronger]. [Unique Special Skill -]
[Decimation of the Moon: Massive and absolute destruction skill that should only be used as a last resort since it does not discriminate between allies and enemies. Effect: Increases the general power of the user 20 times after consuming all the Mana of Longinus' wielder and launches a blast of energy up to 50.000 meters far away, destroying everything in its path unmercifully. Cooldown time: 2 months. Currently sealed due to missing Soul Contract with a soul evolver].
[Description: A weapon that was forged with the intention of creating a new Soul Armament but whose process failed. Despite failing to become Soul Armament for undisclosed reasons, Longinus who bathed in the blood of hundreds of soul evolvers over the Fourth Order grew stronger after absorbing their records through countless years].
__________ 'What a terrifying weapon!' Bai Zemin's pupils trembled imperceptibly as he tried his best to keep his expression indifferent on the surface.
Although he somehow expected it after hearing the story of the terrifying bronze spear from Fire Sorrow, Bai Zemin still felt shocked to the core when he verified the records of the Rank 6 weapon in his hand.
'I... did I really defeat someone wielding this artifact?' Bai Zemin could not help but feel a wave of fear at the thought of what he had just accomplished.
Annihilation of the Falling Sky only had 8000 points of physical attack power and didn't even have magic attack, let alone that the Special Characteristics of said weapon weren't particularly useful in combat; there was no way to compare the two weapons at all!
Even the feature that weakened all other weapons by half could not be counted against Longinus as it was a spear that exceeded Rank 5!
Bai Zemin felt extremely grateful with his luck. 'If the Supreme Pontiff had chosen a prolonged battle I would definitely have lost horribly unless I use the power of Soul Manipulation.'
Of course, Bai Zemin also won thanks to the skill he gained along with the acquisition of his new subclass.
_______________
[Rending of the Night (UNIQUE Fifth Order Skill) level 5: Uses the power of shadows and space to cut off distances and unleash a double attack towards the unguarded enemy, becoming easier to activate as the user becomes more adept at controlling space and shadows. Currently only works with spears, daggers, javelins, arrows, and darts.
[Effect 1: It closes the distance between your weapon and the enemy's body after rending the space screen].
[Effect 2: It creates a night-black shadow that copies your attack to produce an assault from which it is practically impossible to protect oneself thanks to the first effect. The replica attack shadow contains 100% of the power of the original attack and has a 100% probability of penetrating through the enemy's defenses].
[Its activation consumes 2 Spiritual Power points / 20.000 Mana points / 1 Spiritual Power point and 10.000 Mana points. The user is free to choose the type of energy to be consumed in each activation].
[Cooldown time: 2 seconds]. _______________ The power of his new skill was formidable; terrifying; practically unstoppable.
Although the effects of Rending of the Night might seem to be as simple as its unglamorous activation, Bai Zemin had it very clear in his heart that the killing power of such a skill was even comparable to the destructive power of Rumbling the Heavens, Shaking the Earth.
Of course, while the 2-second cooldown time could be ignored and make Rending of the Night his most powerful skill to use in battle, the reality was that its activation criteria limited Bai Zemin greatly.
To begin with, he could not use the skill with complete freedom as he was not a master in the use of spatial power although he was able to command the shadows with ease after obtaining the title Master of Shadows.
The real problem was the absurdly high amount of Mana needed to use the skill.
'If other people were to see the words Spiritual Power they probably wouldn't have any idea what is it.' Bai Zemin shook his head in his heart.
The only energy that propelled everyone's magic power was Mana. As for Spiritual Power, probably only Bai Zemin in the entire cosmos knew what it was.
The current Bai Zemin had no way of reaching 20.000 Mana points even through using Overlap Regeneration to overlap his natural Mana points with another stat, which meant in other words that during his one-hit clash against Israfel he was forced to use that 1 point of Spiritual Power he had been reluctant to use so far.
At the end of the day, Bai Zemin did not know if that point of Spiritual Power could be recovered after being used.
What was Spiritual Power? Where was it? What could one do to restore it?
Bai Zemin knew nothing about it except for the fact that he could only obtain more Spiritual Power by cracking the seal that blocked the memories of his life inside that ten-thousand-year illusion.
But to defeat Israfel whose armament was hundreds of times superior to his own, Bai Zemin had no choice but to take the risk.
Fortunately and to his utter surprise, Bai Zemin discovered something he did not expect after using his single point of Spiritual Power along with 10.000 Mana points to activate Rending of the Night.
'My Spiritual Power definitely dropped to 0 when I activated Rending of the Night, but...' Bai Zemin looked at that small but at the same time big 1 in his stats with shock in his heart.
He didn't dare to make wild guesses, but Bai Zemin was at least 80% sure that when he attacked with his spear just before, he felt a strange energy other than mana silently flowing through the crack of the seal and slightly nourishing his soul.
What was the seal in his soul? What did he live in those ten thousand years? His doubts were too many at this point and his curiosity was at its peak.
Bai Zemin even suspected that the spirit of the Collector's Pocket Watch was pretending to sleep at this point.
Be that as it may, what he had to do was obvious right now. 'I need more Spirit Power. Only then will I be able to use Rending of the Night with absolute freedom.'
Such a terrifying skill whose cooldown time was pitifully low... If he could use it freely in combat his enemies probably wouldn't have time to cry.
Of course, breaking the seal was not a simple thing and required a lot of time; time that Bai Zemin did not have even though the flow of time worked in his favor inside the Collector's Pocket World.
'But, more importantly than that...' Bai Zemin's eyes flashed coldly with a hint of hidden murderous intent as he glanced at Corruption Demon in the distance.
Tightening his grip on the Godslayer Spear and letting his blood bathe the weapon's form, Bai Zemin thought in his heart, 'It would be good to put an end to this here and now.'
[Do you wish to forge a blood-based Soul Contract with the two-handed weapon, 'Longinus'?]
* * * * * * * Really thank you very much to all those who send gifts to the novel and support with valuable Golden Tickets. I hope we can all keep it up <3

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