Chapter 184 (1): Better than Divine Blood

“I’m taking her with me!” Wayne declared, lowering Kristen and shielding her with his body. Kristen hid behind him, hearing his words ringing in her head. Her heart raced, and her eyes almost brimmed with tears.

But soon, her gaze grew increasingly icy. She put one hand on Wayne’s torso and placed her other hand on her chest, feeling both their hearts. Their heartbeats gradually became synced.

What are you doing, Senior?

Wayne stared at the Thousand-Eyed Demon warily, confused by Kristen’s reaction. He knew that he had just said something touching, but this wasn’t the time to flirt.

Calm down. Once we win this fight, we’ll have all the time in the world back home.

Moonlight radiated from Kristen’s body, shrouding her and Wayne. A strange energy streamed from her palm to his chest; it was the life essence he yearned for, extracted and distilled by the alchemy circle before being injected into her, and now, she gave it to Wayne.

In addition to earth, fire, water, and wind elements, the energy also contained what could only be felt rather than described: Dark Moon’s banishment and absorption, Waning Moon’s tolerance and tranquility, Waxing Moon’s vitality and empowerment, and Full Moon’s cleansing and balance.

The four moon phases represented the essence of the Church of Moonlight’s faith. Of course, each phase embodied much more than a couple of concepts, and the abridged version of the

Book of Moon Shadow

that Wayne had acquired detailed the different types of magic.

However, the

Book of Moon Shadow

only recorded the spells and the summarized knowledge, far from as simple and straightforward as what Kristen had given Wayne. According to the

Book of Greed,

the delicacy was scrumptious and worth tasting.

Yum, it was happy again!

Kristen had gifted Wayne such incredible knowledge that it was greater than the divine art used by Dorrin, a Gold-ranked mage. One had to be a legendary mage to accumulate such a profound reserve.

Indeed, the knowledge had come from Obed. To break through the limit of the Legendary rank and become a demigod, he had injected all the knowledge he possessed into the divine descendant.

A regular mage would’ve gone mad, and not even someone with divine blood would be exempt. To complete the important step, Obed had transferred all the negative effects to Dorrin’s other adoptive children through the alchemy circle.

As a result, the Church of Moonlight’s base in Londan was wiped out, Kristen enjoyed the fruit of the sacrifices, and Obed was going to reap the benefits.

Obed had high hopes for Kristen. He believed that divine blood could create miracles, allowing him to forgo a Divine Realm and instead forge a new faith outside of the existing ones.

Due to the difficulties of the undertaking, he had leveraged Storm and Lightning, planning to bring back the faith that had become lost in the long river of history and ascend as the new God of Storm and Lightning.

He had never planned to join the Church of Moonlight or enter Moonlight’s Divine Realm to swear fealty to the goddess. Dorrin knew nothing about his true plan, and thus Wayne hadn’t been able to extract the information from her. All he knew was that the

Book of Greed

had had a good meal.

He controlled the book to return the life essence to Kristen; it wasn’t enough for him to get greedy. The knowledge, on the other hand, he would accept gladly.

On the cover of the book, the small eyeball representing Moonlight glinted radiantly, much brighter than the eyeballs of Darkness and Sun and almost rivaling the eyeball of Nature.

“Let go of that girl!”

The Thousand-Eyed Demon’s expression twisted. Conjuring darkness with a swing of his hand, he lunged at Wayne. It wasn’t a deadly move since he wanted the mage alive.

The veteran demon had keen enough observation to see that Kristen had transferred her power to the young mage, which made all the difference from when the divine descendant held the power.

The Thousand-Eyed Demon had no interest in the young mage’s body. The divine blood was what he had bet on. To gain a host with divine blood, he had descended to the human world in his real body and abandoned all his territory in hell. He had basically given up on everything, so he could not let the young mage be the final winner.

He had to capture the young mage alive and regain the knowledge. He would not let anyone have what should be his!

Darkness energy rolled down, inducing illusions, weakness, manic, and distortion... The psychological debuffs were meant to hit the thoughts and compromise one’s intelligence. It was a trick the demon had employed many times to convert numerous mages into parts of him.

He was severely weakened, and his real body was being overwhelmed by Mona and Filomina, leaving only a strand of his thoughts facing Wayne. However, his existence was still extraordinary. Twisting thoughts were his expertise, and he believed he could turn the young mage into his pawn.

The Thousand-Eyed Demon scoffed. He was in need of a familiar. The young mage would do.

𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The black mist wriggled, concealing Wayne and Kristen. The Thousand-Eyed Demon waited, but his smile gradually faded, replaced by surprise and disbelief. Where did the mage come from, and why could he resist divine will?

Boom!

Mana tides surged, creating powerful currents that dispersed the thick black mist. A pale body with tentacles extending from its back appeared before the Thousand-Eyed Demon. It had no facial features, and its wrinkled skin was covered in bumpy growths. Its torso opened vertically to form one massive single eye, radiating an energy of madness.

“What is that...” The Thousand-Eyed Demon stared. He was going to describe it as a monster, but before he uttered the word, he saw something beautiful about it. The large eye, especially, was mouth-wateringly appealing.

“Is it not a creation of the corruption of the Astral Plane, a magical creature created by God?” he murmured. He was a veteran demon, yet the being didn’t seem to belong in either hell or heaven, and it bore no resemblance to any of the known deities. He couldn’t figure out its origin no matter how he observed it.

I’ve seen everything.

I haven’t seen anything like this.

The Thousand-Eyed Demon was confused. Could that be his chance? While the divine blood was precious, it was complicated and difficult to control, and there was a chance that the thoughts could be traced back to him. Obed and he wouldn’t have bet everything on it if they had had another choice.

The monster before him was different. It was mysterious and seemed to possess greater potential.

The thought emboldened the Thousand-Eyed Demon. With a cackle, he sent his thoughts rushing toward Wayne in the form of a cloud of black mist.

Meanwhile, Wayne had just returned the life essence to Kristen. Due to his inexperience, he ended up knocking Kristen out. Her eyes rolled back, and she lost consciousness. Two tentacles suspended her in the air. Her long hair ran down her unmoving body, painting an eerily beautiful picture. An outsider would’ve assumed that the magical girl was held hostage by the tentacle monster!

Meanwhile, the blond man the Thousand-Eyed Demon had taken control of had a pair of eyes and a nose. While he didn’t look that heroic, at least he was human and could be on the side of justice.

Anyone would take one look and decide that the blond man was the hero, and the tentacle monster the villain.

Boom!

Black mist swept down and clashed with the large eye’s gaze. The two waves of thoughts intertwined and confronted each other, entering a temporary stalemate.

There was no radiating energy or disintegrating materials, but a clash of pure thoughts. The Thousand-Eyed Demon and Wayne heard an explosive sound at the same time.

The failed attack made the Thousand-Eyed Demon even more pleased. His future body had greater potential than he thought. It was a good thing!

Forget the divine blood. He would let Obed have her. But this precious chance? He wouldn’t let anyone have it.

The Thousand-Eyed Demon gathered more thoughts and struck Wayne with greater power. As a result, Mona and Filomina gained a greater advantage against his main body and easily defeated the remaining thoughts it carried.

The long black worm spanning roughly a thousand meters writhed reflexively. The demonic eyes under its body opened, shooting intersecting energy beams that tore through the sky and land below, forcing Mona and Filomina to dodge and defend themselves.

Suddenly, a flash of light blasted through the space. Renata arrived with her sacred spear, her wings unfurled. As soon as she saw the demon, she braved through the energy beam and charged at the worm.

An angel’s obsession with demons was greater than the two women had expected. In their eyes, the demon was already on the verge of death and was only making a last-moment resistance before his demise; there was no reason to meet the attack head-on. After the attack ended, they could easily defeat the demon.

However, Renata chose direct confrontation.

An angel had to be the most professional in dealing with demons. The two women exchanged a glance, remembering a certain man at the same time. They headed straight to the eastern side of the ruined ancient city. As if they were in a race, they increased their speed over time, refusing to be overtaken by the other.

In terms of speed, Mona’s wings were more agile. Filomina wouldn’t be able to catch up with her even if she were riding Wayne. Clenching her teeth, she glared at Mona’s back and pondered whether she should stab her.

A black veil blocked their way. Mona raised the sacred lance and gathered sacred flames at its tip, forging a five-meter-wide path with an attack. Filomina followed right after her, emerging from the path before it closed.

Seeing Mona stopping in the air, she scoffed silently and hurtled toward her with a panicked look on her face, shouting for her to watch out.

Bam!

They knocked into each other and plunged from the sky.

“Damn it, are you out of your mind?”

Mona picked herself up with dirt staining her face, fuming. She was ready to put a hole in Filomina with her sacred lance.

Smothering a laugh, Filomina put on a furious expression and snapped, “You’re the one out of your mind. The sky’s so vast. Why did you have to block my way?”

“Yeah, the sky’s so vast. Why did you have to knock into me? Are you blind?!”

“I told you to get out of the way. Are you deaf?!”

Arguments were inevitable between them. After the exchange, they turned away at the same time and huffed.

Old woman, I’m gonna tell my master to keep his distance from you!

Old woman, I’m gonna tell my boyfriend to keep his distance from you!