Enhansé didn't mind, as he was already accustomed to such a title. He had short silver hair, wore a black form-fitting suit and a red cape, vaguely resembling a certain "Red A." His eyes, like those of most Dead Apostles, were the color of fresh blood.
His right hand retained its human form, gripping the demonic sword "Avenger" seized from the previous Eighteenth Ancestor. Due to the sword's corrosion, the nerves in his right hand were constantly being destroyed... His left hand maintained the characteristics of a Dead Apostle, yet wielded the "Holy Burial Artillery" manufactured by the Church. Consequently, his left hand was continuously corroded, wrapped in gauze forever soaked with blood, in a state of perpetual destruction and regeneration.
Ryougi Raku had only one assessment of this guy: a masochist! Yet it was precisely through his persistence and will that Enhansé maintained the combat power of a Twenty-Seventh Ancestor!
No one knew how he had eliminated the previous Twenty-Seventh Ancestor; by the time the world learned of it, he had already taken over. Perhaps forced or for other reasons to become a Dead Apostle, his human will had never been eroded. Therefore, he deeply hated Dead Apostles, despised the Ancestors, and did not hesitate to betray the Council of Dead Apostle Ancestors to cooperate with the Holy Church, hunting other Ancestors. Naturally, he earned the contempt of other Ancestors, but he possessed the formidable combat power of a Twenty-Seventh Ancestor, and it was through this strength that he had survived to this day without being eliminated... The battle between Enhansé and Bremet was one of speed and will. The Holy Burial Artillery resembled a surrealistic pistol, its crimson barrel periodically emitting terrifying, suffocating fluctuations, imbued with the unique aura of the Holy Church, firing cannon-like shots at Bremet.
However, each time it was dodged, and even if it struck the ground, it caused no damage. This was the difference between the Holy Church and magecraft: the former primarily targeted life and spiritual entities, with little destructive power against matter; while the latter, like modern science, caused devastating destruction to matter!
...The Black Knight's battle was the most peculiar. His opponent was Nrvnqsr Chaos, the coordinator of the Burial Agency. That woman drew a rapier from somewhere. Although her swordsmanship was formidable for ordinary people, it was simply insufficient in a battle of this caliber.
Sturlhoute's swordsmanship was immeasurably superior to hers. Yet, Nrvnqsr Chaos always fought with a reckless disregard for her own life, trading injury for injury.
This fighting style, which should have been extremely advantageous for a Dead Apostle, actually forced Sturlhoute to retreat repeatedly!
Sturlhoute seemed unwilling to trade injuries with Nrvnqsr Chaos, extremely wary of his opponent's longsword.
Seeing this, Ryougi Raku surmised that Nrvnqsr Chaos's longsword was problematic, or perhaps she possessed some special ability that made even Sturlhoute, whose immortality ranked high among Dead Apostles, so cautious.
He kept this firmly in mind. He couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't face Nrvnqsr Chaos, and it would be truly foolish to charge recklessly at someone he knew was problematic!
However, this was only temporary. With Sturlhoute's experience, he would soon gain the upper hand, provided Nrvnqsr Chaos had no other tricks up her sleeve.
But as the nominal leader of the Holy Church's strongest combat agency, her strength could absolutely not be this weak! For a time, the two were deadlocked, and Sturlhoute was extremely anxious about Altrouge's safety. He would likely eventually resort to an all-out desperate attack!
In terms of loyalty and guardianship, Sturlhoute was just like a true knight!
...Even those in the worst situations were only temporarily at a disadvantage, and with time, they could all defeat their respective opponents... Altrouge's situation, however, was very grim. Facing the attacks of the leader of the Heretic Inquisition Knights and the encirclement of two members of the Burial Agency, already severely injured and not fully recovered, she did not have enough energy to cope.
The Burial Agency had very few true combat personnel, and individuals who could, in human form, contend equally with a Twenty-Seventh Ancestor for a certain period were naturally powerful!
If she were in her prime, even if these three attacked together, Altrouge could defeat them in a short time, but in her current state, it was simply impossible.
Sometimes she greatly envied her sister, Altrouge. The perfect True Ancestor Altrouge possessed infinite energy and magical power. Although Altrouge's magical power could also be considered infinite, her energy, like that of a Dead Apostle, had a limit. Altrouge could endlessly exert her maximum output; even if her mind grew tired, her body would not.
As for Altrouge, as the battle time extended, her maximum output would gradually decrease. Although she believed her will was strong enough, even the strongest will could not exist completely separated from her body. The concept of fatigue would still exist within her.
Altrouge was not Ryougi Raku; her power was not entirely determined by her will. From this perspective, Ryougi Raku's very existence was truly perfect.
The Clone Squad brought by Lorelei also focused their main target on Altrouge. It could be said that while facing the attacks of three individuals, she also needed to expend enough energy to fight against fifty powerful mages!
'If the Holy Church still has any hidden cards, then Altrouge's defeat will come very soon!' Seeing the White Knight disappear with that large force of knights and monks, taken to another 'world' by his Reality Marble, and witnessing the battles of Bremet and the Black Knight, Ryougi Raku immediately understood the situation on the field.
'The Holy Church's goal is to eliminate Altrouge as quickly as possible, and then gradually devour the rest!' This was an open conspiracy. Everyone present knew this, but even knowing, they were helpless. Everyone was entangled with their respective opponents and simply couldn't provide assistance. Even Bremet and the Black Knight, due to their worry, had to constantly pay attention to Altrouge, preventing them from fully utilizing their combat power!
'If it really comes to that...' After a slight hesitation, Ryougi Raku made a decision!
'Even if I have to use that move, I must save her...' Thinking this, however, Ryougi Raku forgot one thing: his opponent was also a powerful entity!
"Instead of worrying about others, you should worry about yourself first!" Seeing Ryougi Raku, who was confronting her, actually get distracted, Lorelei was furious!
This situation was simply a display of contempt and disregard for her!
As the head of the Barthomeloi family, she naturally had to teach her opponent a lesson!
---
Ryougi Raku snapped back to attention, his peripheral vision catching his opponent's long whip, which was like lightning—no, it had transformed into lightning, striking him before he could react!
"Ugh!" With a painful grunt, Ryougi Raku was knocked back several steps by the force of the whip. The struck area, however, didn't bleed at all; instead, blue smoke rose from the wound, which was a charred, bloody mess!
"Hmph!" With a cold sneer, Lorelei continued to crack her whip, and the lightning-transformed whip struck again!
This time, Ryougi Raku was prepared and dodged the attack. The whip struck the ground, as if hit by lightning, and with a "Boom!!" a large crater appeared!
The sound effect and destructive power created a stark contrast with the Holy Burial Artillery from the Church in Enhansé's hand!
Ryougi Raku secretly rejoiced that his speed was faster than his opponent's! He had anticipated the landing point of the opponent's attack and dodged in time; otherwise, he wasn't confident he could be faster than lightning!
Power flowed through his body, and both his damaged skin and ruined clothes began to visibly regenerate.
"This recovery ability... Hmph, it could almost be called resurrection..." Lorelei watched Ryougi Raku's recovery speed and snorted coldly.
Then she looked at him suspiciously, "You, are you really not a Dead Apostle? Your immortality, even among the Twenty-Seventh Ancestors, would rank high..."
"Whether I'm human or not, I don't know, but I'm certainly not a Dead Apostle..." Ryougi Raku shrugged, answering seemingly casually, but he remained vigilant towards Lorelei.
"Whether you're a Dead Apostle or not, today I'll see if your recovery ability can keep up with my attacks." She declared proudly, as if she had already won before the real battle even began.
"Tsk..." Ryougi Raku scoffed, a hint of indescribable mockery in his laugh, "Are you out of your mind? Or are all you mages brain-damaged?"
Lorelei was extremely enraged upon hearing this, her lips twitching slightly. Although she had never heard the term "brain-damaged" before, its meaning was easily understood.
"You're asking for death!" With a roar, the long whip once again transformed into lightning, flying towards Ryougi Raku from all directions.
"Is this all you've got, just repeating the same move?" As he spoke, Ryougi Raku's long sword danced rapidly, emitting countless sword qi. These sword qi didn't fly out but, as if controlled, quickly rotated around Ryougi Raku, forming a spherical shield of sword qi.
The lightning struck the sphere, shattering countless sword qi, but the next moment, more sword qi surged in, filling the shattered gaps and perfectly protecting Ryougi Raku within.
Just like that, in a sword dance, surrounded by sword qi, Ryougi Raku finally began his offense!
Moving swiftly, the sword qi around him rubbed against the air, as if even the air began to burn!
Lorelei refused to be outdone, continuously brandishing her long whip, as if Zeus himself had descended. Amidst endless roars, lightning danced wildly, electric snakes flew everywhere. This violent yet beautiful scene caused the other battlefields to temporarily halt, as everyone looked towards them.
"Princess... Where are you looking?" With Sabra's gloomy voice, he seemed to transform into an illusory spirit, suddenly appearing beside Altrouge.
With a slash of his dagger, he cut through Altrouge's jade-like skin. The next moment, her skin felt a searing pain, as if burned. The dagger had something like holy water on it, and it was a high-grade product, extremely rare even within the Holy Church. Only such items could harm an existence of the Twenty-Seventh Ancestor level!
Frowning, the air around Altrouge seemed to suddenly turn into blades, slashing towards Sabra, but it was like cutting through an illusion, passing through his body. Then Sabra, like a shattered mirror, vanished into nothingness.
The next instant, Sabra appeared next to the Knight Commander.
"As expected of the Ancient Crimson, the Ruler of Blood and Contracts... Can you sign contracts and dominate even something like air, not just living beings?" Facing this miraculous scene, Sabra unconsciously praised her.
As the Ninth Dead Apostle Ancestor, Altrouge's title was the Ruler of Blood and Contracts. Even the Thirteenth Ancestor gained those mysterious supernatural powers because he signed a contract with her!
However, few knew that the reason she was called the Ruler of Blood and Contracts was because she could contract everything in the world, making the contracted objects obey her commands.
But this ability also had a major flaw: she could only contract one object at a time. For example, if she contracted wind, she could not simultaneously contract fire...