The Inquisitor was quietly resting in his tent, but suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
Danger!
He stood up to run, but it was too late.
Buzz!
The terrifying sword arc of condensed light energy crashed through the thick canvas of the command tent.
The earth itself groaned as the devastating force of Neo’s [Heaven’s Smite] made violent contact with the ground.
The Inquisitor barely managed to summon a hasty barrier of holy light. However, against the sheer, unadulterated physical power of a Type 6 tahuman amplified by the monstrous Vellsing form, his defense was utterly useless.
Shatter~
The golden barrier shattered like fragile glass in a hurricane.
The colossal beam of energy slamd directly into the Inquisitor’s right shoulder.
CRUNCH!
His heavy auric armor instantly warped and lted under the terrifying heat and pressure.
Next up, his flesh sizzled and popped. His thick muscle fibers tore open violently.
Then, the imnse kinetic force crushed his collarbone and pulverized his right arm, ruthlessly ripping the entire limb completely out of its socket.
Blood sprayed like fountain, creating a pool near his feet.
Buzzz!
The catastrophic shockwave blasted the remaining pieces of the tent outward, tearing through the nearby structures and carving a massive crater into the center of the camp.
Bang!
The Inquisitor was violently thrown backward like a broken ragdoll. His chest plate was heavily caved in, driving sharp, splintered ribs directly into his lungs.
He bounced across the jagged rocks, his armor tearing away chunks of his own flesh.
Finally, he slamd hard against a stone wall, coughing up mouthfuls of blackish-red blood.
His eyes bulged in absolute agony as he collapsed into the smoldering dirt. His legs, they were twisted at horrifying angles, and shattered bone fragnts protruded sharply through his blood-soaked clothes.
From the clouding dust and smoke, Neo finally descended.
BOOM!
His bulging legs slamd onto the scorched earth, sending another violent tremor through the ruined camp.
"Look at you now, holy man. It seems your divine light was not enough to save you."
The Inquisitor looked up with his bloodshot eyes, and the mont he saw the familiar face of Zephys, he was speechless.
"Cough... You... Zephys! Cough... How did you get so strong?" he asked with great difficulty.
"Because I learned the true demonic path," Neo replied, smiling.
"Farewell, Inquisitor!"
BAM!
With a heavy bash of the greatsword, the Inquisitor fell unconscious. Neo was careful enough not to allow the safety function to activate. The body of a Type 6 Beyonder could not go to waste, could it?
After lifting the body, he disappeared at blinding speed.
The thousands of Golden Paladins nearby stood frozen, eyes wide with horror.
"Alert! The Demon Zephys has slain the Inquisitor! Inform the Saint at once!"
"Inform The Solar Saint!"
Panic erupted among the ranks. This was the first ti they were seen frantically running for their lives.
Noir then acted according to Neo’s instructions. She kidnapped Paladins by the dozen, delivering them right in front of Neo’s cave where he continued synthesizing, becoming far more powerful and terrifying.
His holy energy increased exponentially, as did his kind desires. To balance these urges, he activated his Primordial Demon Physique, actively devouring the fear and despair from the battlefield.
It was a two-way power-up process, and no being had ever been able to do what he was doing.
Light and Darkness, together into one vessel.
---
anwhile.
High within the central command Ship, the Solar Saint received the frantic ergency reports. Hundreds of his elite Golden Paladins had completely vanished, alongside a Type 6 Inquisitor.
His usually holy countenance broke by fury.
Realizing the invisible threat was far beyond a simple trial setback, he imdiately issued a mandatory command.
"Evacuate everyone imdiately! This is no longer a trial. Pull all remaining forces out of the trial world at once!"
He did not stop there. The Solar Saint imdiately contacted the highest tier of the trial’s administration, demanding a thorough and imdiate investigation into the permanent disappearances.
Within the high-tech obsidian towers of the central administration, panic was brewing.
The grand administrators were completely baffled.
The Gourd was supposed to be a flawless, simulated trial environnt secured by ancient, absolute spatial laws.
When a participant’s health dropped to zero, the safety chanisms were hardcoded to trigger instantly, pulling them safely outside to respawn.
Yet, the data streams showed nothing but an eerie void.
Participants were being permanently killed.
Sothing was very wrong.
The news of the Golden Paladins’ permanent demise did not stay hidden for long. Like a rapid wildfire, the horrifying truth spread across the remaining camps within the trial world, reaching the ears of the other major factions.
In the heavily fortified encampnt of the Crimson Kings, the atmosphere was suffocatingly tense. Commander Vane, a towering man clad in blood-red armor, slamd his heavily gauntleted fist onto the wooden war table.
"Are you telling the reports are verified? An entire battalion of Golden Paladins and a Type 6 Inquisitor, completely erased? Not just eliminated from the trial, but truly dead?"
"It is true, Commander. The Solar Saint has already ordered a full retreat of all Saint Lands forces. The trial administration is entirely silent. They do not know how the safety chanisms were bypassed."
Vane slumped back into his seat.
The Crimson Kings were known for their absolute ruthlessness, but they were not fools willing to throw their lives away in a broken system.
Miles away, within the rugged, mountainous fortress of the Iron Lords.
Lord Garrick, a veteran warrior who feared no demonic beast, paced nervously before his top commanders.
"Fuck this! The Golden Paladins are shielded by divine magic and absolute spatial laws. If their absolute defense could be broken, if their lives were snuffed out forever without triggering a single respawn, then we can die too."
One of his armored commanders stepped forward cautiously.
"What are your orders, Lord Garrick? Should we fortify our positions and wait for the administration to fix this anomaly?"
"Fortify against what?" Garrick shouted angrily.."An invisible monster that casually slaughters Type 6 Beyonders? No! Sound the horn. Recall all our forces imdiately. I will not risk true death in a rigged trial. We are leaving!"
The fear of the unknown was the greatest of all.
The once glorious and highly competitive Gourd trial had completely transford into a terrifying slaughterhouse, and none of the proud factions were willing to be the next prey.
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