Lord of the Mysteries

Kacha!

Kircheis only half-turned his body as the cup of beer hit the round table beside him, smashing to pieces.

Amidst the gunfire, he didn’t attempt to dodge, as though he had instinctively seen through the illusion. It was as though he had a spring installed in him as he bounced to the forefront amongst the gamblers and alcoholics who were crouched down or scattered. His gaze was locked onto the cold adventurer wearing a suit by the door.

Gehrman Sparrow… Kircheis’s pupils constricted as he opened his mouth and chanted the Language of Foulness that stemmed from the Abyss.

At this moment, Klein truly pulled the trigger as a pale golden bullet that appeared to be scooped out of boiling-hot water shot out, going straight for the “Slaughterer” who had a bounty of 9,500 pounds.

However, all Kircheis did was gently lift his right hand and spread his fingers to produce a light blue flame in his palm. Then, he grabbed the bullet in an unimaginable manner.

The bullet entered a “cage” as the light blue flames solidified. Following that, the bullet emitted sunlight, just enough of it to neutralize everything.

Two figures stood up beside Kircheis, one of them was a short-haired woman wielding dual pistols, and the other was a boorish man in boxing gloves.

Clearly, Kircheis didn’t come to Toscarter’s pier in search for supplies alone. Or it should be said that he definitely had partners he knew here!

Three Beyonders… Kircheis might even be a Sequence 5… At that moment, Klein nearly blurted out something along the lines of “sorry, my bad.”

One couldn’t make any preparations when attacking a Devil, relying on complete chance. Furthermore, there couldn’t be any hesitation; otherwise, the Devil would immediately detect the ill intent and danger.

However, under such situations, it was truly hard to tell who held the advantage in such situations!

Klein didn’t hesitate to turn around while holding his revolver. Then, he agilely dashed for the staircase leading to the bar’s second story amidst the crowd and above the crouching alcoholics.

Just as he dashed in, a light blue fireball smashed into the side of the staircase before instantly exploding.

Boom!

A tiny part of the bottom of the staircase collapsed as the bar began to tremble. The strong smell of sulfur spread.

Kircheis and his two companions didn’t delay as they jumped across the first few steps of the staircase in fervent pursuit of Gehrman Sparrow.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Klein ran for the second story, and midway, he quickly began his examination of the corresponding Spirit Body Threads.

This allowed him to easily find an empty room without any humans. He turned around, took a step, and was about to enter the door before jumping off the window to escape from the bar.

At that moment, Kircheis and his two companions chased up to the second story, and upon seeing this scene, they tacitly split up. The former continued the pursuit, while the latter entered the rooms on the same side in a bid to head down to intercept Gehrman.

And Klein was waiting precisely for this opportunity!

He suddenly half turned his body as his left black-gloved hand grabbed at the air.

The woman with the dual pistols and the man in boxing gloves continued their actions without detecting any abnormalities. They rushed into the other rooms, jumped off the windows, and went far away without returning.

Their goal and actions of “separate and intercept” had allowed Klein to use the Baron of Corruption’s Distortion to change it to “separate and take action alone!”

This wouldn’t last very long, but it was enough time for Klein to fight Kircheis one-on-one for a brief moment.

Boom. Having completed Distortion, he fell to the ground, rolling inside the building and avoiding the light blue fireball which Kircheis kept shooting out.

Amidst the incessant booming, the buildings where the bar originally was wavered as though it had experienced an earthquake.

Right on the heels of that, Kircheis rapidly lunged forward, entering the rather vast room.

Seeing Gehrman Sparrow adeptly somersaulting and jumping without fighting him head-on while also controlling his emotions very well, Slaughterer immediately opened his mouth and used the unique Language of Foulness to say the word, “Slow!”

The entire room and all the objects inside seemed to calm down. Klein’s somersaulting actions slowed down significantly and weren’t as smooth as before.

Kircheis didn’t hesitate to lock onto his target as he followed up with another word of the Devil language.

“Die!”

Klein’s figure instantly froze as he stood rooted on the spot and gradually turned faint and thin, becoming a paper figurine filled with spotted red rust.

At the same time, he surfaced by the side of the door, wearing a half top hat and black double-breasted frock suit. He reached out his black-gloved hand, grabbed the handle, and shut the door to the collapsing room with a pull.

Creak!

The din outside vanished as the room seemed to stand out alone, becoming a firm cage.

Upon seeing this, Kircheis’s body swelled as his clothes tore.

He instantly transformed into a behemoth nearly three meters tall. His skin appeared dark, but it was dark black and sinister. Goat horns filled with countless mysterious patterns grew on his head as a pair of bat wings on his back spread open. Swirling around him were light blue flames that emitted the strong smell of sulfur.

Sou! Sou! Sou!

Light blue fireballs shot out in unison, blanketing the region around the door. At the same time, the redness in Kircheis’s eyes bloomed as he said with the extremely corruptive words of the Devil, “Corruption!”

This was also an area of effect attack!

The light blue in his eyes filled up as Klein clenched his left hand, which wore a sinister and noble glove, and quickly did a half twist.

The fireballs immediately lost their trajectories and acted chaotically as though in random motion.

They smashed into the ceiling, the door, ground, or flew backward at Kircheis. Immediately, the booming sounds in the room undulated. The seal created by the power of Distortion suffered an intense blow as it trembled, but it didn’t show any signs of damage.

The light blue flames soared into the sky as the smell of sulfur spread. Klein’s body suddenly bent down as his body was covered in a layer of clearly sticky black liquid.

Bang!

His figure exploded, turning into torn pieces of paper and corrupted black fog.

Immediately following that, he surfaced on the other side, his skin a clear dark shade. His clothes were torn from the explosive force and the flames from the abyss.

Corruption, which had splash damage, was useful against his Paper Figurine Substitutes to a certain extent, inflicting damage to a certain degree via an unavoidable influence. And the aftermath of the explosion wasn’t within Klein’s control. Similarly, it dealt damage to him.

However, upon their first encounter, Klein had “given” Kircheis a cup of beer, completing the Bribe; therefore attacks and control effects directed at him were greatly negated!

Kircheis clearly didn’t expect the minor influence that Corruption had dealt to Gehrman Sparrow. Just as he pulled out a long blade formed entirely of flames, and before he could unleash his speed and strength in a fervent attack, he saw his opponent’s left hand’s glove transform as though it was made of gold.

Two blinding streaks of lightning tore out of Klein’s eyes!

Psychic Piercing!

“Ah!”

Kircheis instantly let out a tragic cry as he felt as though a hundred bottles of holy water had been infused into his mind.

He was rich in actual combat experience and, knowing that having been struck by a psyche attack, knew that he would subsequently suffer a series of relentlessness attacks. Hence, he instinctively transformed into a pitch-black liquid and began spreading across the floor.

The liquid appeared to be the coalescence of the darkest and evilest desires of a person’s heart as the liquid spread across the room towards Gehrman Sparrow, as though it would corrupt everything.

This state is truly perfect… In a battle encounter, either party would suffer the problem of not being sufficiently prepared… Thankfully, I’ve always remembered the suspected Desire Apostle I encountered, and I’ve completely held back all desires and emotions… Klein didn’t dodge as the glove on his left hand rapidly bloomed with pure and clean sunlight.

He spread out his arms, allowing a pillar of holy light that had golden flames swirling around it descend from the sky. It illuminated every corner and every shadow of the room!

The column of light struck the richest parts of the pitch-black liquid as it radiated outwards in a rippling manner.

Amidst the bright and holy light, the pitch-black liquid quickly evaporated and mostly vanished.

Kircheis hurriedly materialized his body and reformed near the window.

He still maintained his state as a three-meter-tall Devil. He was as calm as always, but he could hardly hold back his intense bloodlust and desire to kill.

The present him was already rather weak. He didn’t dare to circle around Gehrman Sparrow as he waited for him to show any emotion so as to control his desires. He ignited the two mysterious goat horns on his head in an attempt to forcefully attack his enemy’s psyche, inducing emotions to a certain degree in an unavoidable manner.

Once he had any desires or emotions, the situation would be in the Desire Apostle’s control!

At that moment, Kircheis’s head suddenly turned numb, causing him to nearly lose the thoughts he previously had!

After both parties entered a range of five meters, the reason why Klein remained in a passive state, using Paper Figurine Substitutes and a Baron of Corruption’s Distortion powers to barely put up a fight and stall for time, was to divert attention in order to control Kircheis’s Spirit Body Threads!

With the strength of a Sequence 5’s Spirit Body, it wasn’t easy to obtain initial control over Slaughterer to begin with. However, with the cup of beer Bribe, it reduced Kircheis’s defense and resistance. And after that, this Desire Apostle suffered a Psychic Piercing and was thoroughly purified once by Light of Purification. As a result, he had become rather weak!

Therefore, even though Klein was using his other powers, he still took fifteen seconds to obtain initial control over Kircheis.

The intense battle in the room instantly turned quiet. Although Kircheis’s thoughts had turned slow, he still had the ability to complete certain actions. He could still forcefully resist the control that stemmed from the depths of his Spirit Body.

The bloodshot colors in his eyes converged as his eyes reflected Gehrman Sparrow’s figure. The curled goat horns on his head began to burn intensely as hatred, greed, lust, wrath, and other emotions and desires began to spread outwards in a corporeal manner.

Klein entered a half-Cogitation state as he calmly focused on deepening his control, hoping to quickly make Kircheis lose all means of resistance.