A tremendous shockwave erupted. Delford's head bent down greatly. His massive frame, which wouldn't budge against ordinary attacks, collapsed helplessly.
That alone created a thunderous sound that shook the entire passage. Delford, who had awakened the power of the Ancient Fierce Wolf and gained immensely enhanced physical abilities, durability, and recovery power, had been neutralized.
On Delford's forehead, above the footprint that Osian had struck down, the power of starlight was rippling. Because the power of starlight had traveled through his skull and greatly shaken his brain, he couldn't move easily.
'In one strike, he subdued the Ancient Fierce Wolf?'
Phillis looked at the white knight who had suddenly appeared. He roughly knew the story. This was the man that Cardinal Zaxilos was most wary of and said must be killed at all costs.
"That's quite unfortunate. If you knew what the Cardinal is trying to do down there right now, you'd realize you made a really wrong choice."
Phillis mocked Osian who had come to save Basilio. To be caught up in personal emotions and make such a foolish judgment. He had been tense thinking this was the Knight of Heaven, but in the end, wasn't he just human?
"No. I wasn't wrong. I definitely made the right choice."
Osian pointed his starlight sword at Phillis.
"Here, I'll help Basilio and kill you. Cardinal Zaxilos comes after that."
"You, I don't like you."
For the first time, a crack appeared in Phillis' smile. It was annoying that his plan to take Basilio away was being interfered with, but what he liked even less was Osian's attitude.
That arrogant attitude as if he could take his head at any moment, like pulling a coin from his pocket. That attitude of looking down on him without considering defeat even by a speck, irritated Phillis' nerves.
"You seem to not understand something. I'm different from ordinary Archbishops. Rather, I'm an existence that can be equal to Cardinal Zaxilos, or even surpass him."
Even until Osian arrived, he had continued fighting against Basilio and Delford and had even been pushing them back.
He was strong, and was even growing at tremendous speed while fighting.
'I don't know what exactly Cardinal Zaxilos feared about this guy to react like that.'
He had no intention of going down so easily. Phillis extended his hand toward Osian. But the severed cross-section of the arm cut by Osian wouldn't obey.
'It won't regenerate.'
Indeed. Was this the power of opposition? He seemed to understand why Cardinal Zaxilos had been so afraid. But that didn't mean there was no way.
Phillis tore off his arm from the shoulder like a lizard cutting off its tail and regenerated a new arm.
The moment he aimed at Osian with that fully grown arm, an invisible shockwave shot out.
-Clang!
But Osian stood in place and lightly swung his starlight sword, cutting through that shockwave.
'He blocked that? Let's see if he can block this too.'
Consecutive shockwaves shot out. These were attacks with the power to crush barriers that Basilio had deployed with all his might like candy. Being invisible also made them difficult to respond to.
But Osian swung his starlight sword as if he could see them all, deflecting or cutting through every single one.
"Invisible shockwaves. You concentrate power at your fingertips, erode space, then embed your own laws there to exert physical force."
He had even completely grasped the principle of how the technique was used in that brief moment.
For the first time, Phillis felt some invisible eeriness brush past his neck. Phillis frowned.
'What was that just now? Did I actually feel fear?'
Since receiving the blessing of Red Eternity and becoming an Archbishop, he had reached the point of observing his own body and controlling everything.
He could ruthlessly cut off affection for his family and friendship toward someone he once admired.
Most human emotions work through hormones. It was entirely possible by suppressing such hormones and making some adjustments to parts of his brain structure.
Thus Phillis had become the ultimate life form that didn't even feel fear. At least he himself believed this without doubt.
Osian crouches down.
'He's coming.'
The moment he thought "he's coming," his figure shot out like a cannon and reached right in front of him. The movement from preparation stance to arrival was as smooth as if it were one motion.
'Fast. But unlike when I was caught off guard, if I'm aware of it, there's nothing I can't dodge.'
He knows it's dangerous to be caught in that sword's trajectory. Then he just needs to not get hit. He possessed the reflexes and speed to dodge all the slashing attacks that Delford had unleashed while dominating space. And that speed could become even faster than before.
Osian's sword swung, and Phillis stepped back with a leap.
"If I can see it, I can dodge it. That sword is dangerous, but I just need to not get hit, right?"
Phillis bounced around in place on his reverse-jointed legs, provoking Osian. Osian looked at such a Phillis and said.
"To speak while being cut. You have good skills."
"What?"
Belatedly, Phillis felt one side of his vision split diagonally and disappear. A red wound split open belatedly across his right eye, spraying blood.
"How, how did you!"
That wasn't all. There were also multiple cuts on his chest, thigh, and forearm. The sword had clearly been swung only once, but the wounds carved on his body weren't just one. This was something that couldn't be understood conventionally.
Unless, like himself, he used the power of outer gods to erode and twist the form of space as he desired.
The regeneration of wounds was slow. Phillis quickly carved out his wounded areas and made new flesh grow. The speed was so fast that it seemed as if he had never been wounded in the first place.
But in that brief moment, Osian had leaped again and reached right in front of Phillis.
'I need to confirm!'
While stepping back, Phillis enhanced his eyesight and stared intently at Osian.
Six eyes sprouted on his face, making eight in total. Those eight eyeballs moved in different directions, examining Osian's movements in detail.
And the moment Osian's sword swung, Phillis could see it.
-Swish.
The blade of the approaching starlight sword seemed to shake greatly, then bluish energy appeared along with pale sword blades in succession.
"...!"
The sword swung, and faint blades cut through space one after another following its trajectory. Phillis' robes were torn. This time, because he had reacted properly, he was barely able to avoid getting wounded.
"What the hell is that? How are there other blades above the sword blade..."
"Oh. You saw that. Increasing your eyes wasn't just for show."
Osian spun his starlight sword once. Following the trajectory of the spinning starlight sword, bluish blades appeared like afterimages.
Phillis knew what that was. There was information passed down through blood memories from believers who had died at Osian's hands.
The power used by the Knight of Heaven was mainly the brilliantly shining power of stars, but they had another power.
Specifically, the power of the moon that confounded opponents and took lives with chilling coldness. The coldness that froze to the bone was strong enough to turn even believers who had received the power of Red Eternity into powder at once.
And now, what was moving along the trajectory of Osian's starlight sword was precisely that moon power.
"Moon Scar Afterimage."
Osian casually revealed his technique.
This, which added the power of moonlight to the power of starlight, was a technique where moonlight swords delivered additional strikes following the trajectory of the starlight sword's swing.
Right. If he had to categorize it, this wasn't a pure moonlight technique, but closer to a collaboration between starlight and moonlight.
Star-Moon Combined Technique.
Using his previous experience of using both powers simultaneously, he had elevated it into a proper technique.
"No matter how fast your feet are, you can't escape attacks that overlap in space."
Just swinging the sword once caused additional blades to inflict second and third damage. The number of blades that appeared was over ten even when counted by eye.
'Using two powers simultaneously? I've never heard of such a thing!'
He knew it was only starlight when using starlight, only moonlight when using moonlight.
"Maintaining the balance of starlight while using the power of moonlight. Using two powers simultaneously is impossible without extraordinary balance. So I had quite a hard time adjusting this."
But now there was no need for that. The rough adjustment of energies was finished. Now Osian was harmonizing these two powers well and deploying new techniques.
"And if you handle this well, this is also possible."
Osian disappeared from his position. Phillis' eight eyes lost track of Osian's movement.
At the same time, he felt a presence behind him.
‘Fast.’
Phillis tried to move his legs to evade, but his feet wouldn't move. When he looked down, frost rising from the ground was grasping his ankles and blooming blue flowers.
And that frost was flowing from Osian's feet planted on the ground.
The leg guards that had been white were now dyed a chillingly beautiful blue color. The moment he thought it was too late, sword strikes unfolded.
"Aaaaah!"
Phillis screamed for the first time. This wasn't physical pain felt through the skin. It seemed to penetrate to his soul and slice through each joint with sharp blades.
Phillis, who thought himself an absolute powerhouse, felt fear for the first time.
The fear he had felt moments before wasn't a simple delusion. Despite having modified his brain and suppressed hormone functions, his breath caught and his vision blurred.
This fear wasn't fear from the body. His heart, and beyond that, his soul was fearing the monster before his eyes.
"Fedilac! What are you doing wherever you are!"
Phillis cried out pitifully. As if responding to that call, the floor opened and countless corrupted beings gushed out like a fountain.
The corrupted beings poured down toward Osian.
Osian stared at such corrupted beings before taking his stance.
The blade of the starlight sword turned blue and changed shape from a western sword to a blade sharpened on only one edge. And Osian sheathed the moonlight blade at his waist before lowering his upper body. His cloak fluttered, scattering countless white lights around.
[Star-Moon Wild Dance]
Starlight and moonlight scattered and drew countless thin lines in the air.
Blue light runs. The sharp and cold light changed direction at right angles upon touching white light and headed elsewhere. And the blue light that cut through everything blocking its path in the middle collided with another white light and changed direction, then advanced again and changed direction upon meeting white light.
The blue light drew all sorts of metaphysical and geometric structures. Such pure white lights surrounded by blue light from the outside.
The inside of the pure white crystal sphere was filled with blue.