by Jason Hale
Although he couldn't see her face, he could feel her steadfastness from her straight back.
This was the first time he witnessed someone fighting a hopeless battle for him, and it would be a lie to say he wasn't touched.
Loyalty, honor, and dignity all were evident within Nier' every move and contrasted with Konnor's scheming, egotistic, and callous heart.
He may always stand up for his beloved, but never would he risk his life for someone who didn't hold a significant position within his heart. Such a pure individual was a rare sight and put him to shame because he knew that in the future, he was bound to harm her.
Her most cherished relatives, the Holy Emperor, the Crown Prince, and even the fifth prince; who among them wasn't meant to crumble under his hand.
Even if he didn't kill them, it was impossible not to suppress them to take over their power, land, and beloved.
Even if they didn't offend him, he would still take all they had, because he was just that greedy. And wouldn't be satisfied if the world wasn't his to do with as he saw fit.
Did this girl really deserve to get trapped within his schemes? To be used for the sake of his rise and one day forced to choose between her closest kin and himself?
But as Konnor floundered, the fight broke out.
"Even if you're a Pureblooded True Spirit, with your current cultivation level, there is no way you can contend with me."
The Stolien Beast scoffed, assured of its control of the situation.
"Fourth Circle Spell: Noxious Spear Rain!"
The dark-green fog bloating the sky turned into hundreds of green lances that descended from above and dived toward both Nier and Konnor.
A terrible poisonous force rippled from every single one of them and threatened to suck the life out of the earth below.
Besides its sensory abilities, House Stolien was well-known for its control over various poisons. Their magical abilities were all linked to them.
Nier brought her two swords together in a cross shape. They merged, turning into a blue-silver bow rippling with the power of storms.
"Third Circle Spell: Storm Volley!"
She pulled the bowstring, firing a succession of lightning squalls that slammed into the incoming poisonous lances.
*Boom* *Boom* *Boom*
The collision caused an explosion of noxious fog and lightning to spread within the sky and alarm all within dozens of miles. However, Nier' Storm Volley was clearly overpowered by the Noxious Spear Rain whose remains moved unhindered toward the two on the ground.
Her eyes burned with fighting intent, her bow split into the two original swords, and she flew to meet the remaining spears in a frontal assault.
*Slash*
Each of her swords blows fired wind and lightning blades that clashed with the incoming poisonous spears and scattered the Stolien Beast's offensive.
It frowned, then turned into a dark-green beam that descended upon Nier at breakneck speed.
*Bang*
Its long, clawed legs struck Nier from above. Sword energy swirled around her, but she still recoiled from the impact and plummeted toward the ground with a blood spurt.
However, before she could crater, a pair of hands caught her from behind, stopping her mid-flight and softly brought her onto land.
Naturally, those hands belonged to Konnor.
Why are you still here?!"
Seeing that he had yet to depart, Nier was anything but content. Wasn't it to provide him with an escape chance that she was struggling so hard?
The situation was hopeless. Even in her True Spirit Form, she couldn't contend with that Accursed Rank demonic beast. At best, she could delay it for some time.
Still, she hoped that at the very least, that time would be enough for him to run and thus return his lifesaving grace, but now, all her efforts had been wasted.
However, as her eyes locked with Konnor's, she saw no trace of fear or apprehension. Only a warm, gentle smile.
"Foolish girl. Who said anything about running? How could I, as a man, forget my dignity to save my life at the cost of a woman's. If anyone should shelter anyone, it should be me sheltering you."
There was a soothing force within his words that alleviated her fear and made this hopeless situation suddenly seem manageable.
However, she quickly regained her wits and negatively shook her head.
"Do you think this is the time for manliness? Even if we join hands, we might not be able to fight our way out…"
She sighed, turning her gaze toward the dark-green sky where the Stolien Beast had spread its wings to condense a massive dark-green ball of pure poisonous force.
"Afraid?"
Konnor asked while keeping his hands around her.
"Nier von Juras fears nothing under the vast blue sky!"
"Good, a dauntless heart leads to greatness."
Konnor let go of her and shifted his attention toward the Stolien Beast.
"System, equally spread my accumulated energy between my martial and spiritual cultivation."
"Understood."
Without further ado, the system evenly split the spiritual energy accumulated from the dual cultivation with Zamira between Konnor's martial and spiritual cultivation.
The sky-blue pagoda within his lower abdomen glittered with dazzling light and split into two identical towers while within his mind, the spring within his sea of consciousness turned into a large river.
His body was refined to brand-new heights, and his cultivation soared, going from the sixth step Grand Knight and Priest Ranks to the second step Arch Knight and Priest Ranks in one go!
The breakthrough ended, and he revolved the Hundred Flowers Scripture to stabilize his cultivation leap and energy foundation.
Nier who bore witness to the breakthrough couldn't understand why his cultivation received such an enormous boost in an instant.
Could he have been hoarding spiritual energy? But why?
Still, her optimism didn't increase one bit.
The opponent was an Accursed Demonic Beast with power equal to the Transcendent Rank.
Regardless of their battle power within the Arch Rank, they couldn't jump a whole rank to challenge it. Especially considering that the higher the cultivation, the more difficult it was to fight above one's level.
"Foolish girl, how high is your current battle power?"
"I could defeat an ordinary person of the fifth step Arch Rank, and possibly fight someone of the sixth to a standstill, but that would be my limit.
Also, stop calling me -foolish girl!-"
"Good, my cultivation method allows me to establish spiritual connections. If you're willing to let me use it on you, I can connect our two minds and cause our combined battle power to soar."
Nier' eyes widened in disbelief. Where did a member of a count level house get such a treasure?
However, she had no time to dwell on the question.
"Alright!"
"You're not afraid I will play any tricks?"
"With the current situation, I don't think you dare."
She leisurely replied.
Konnor took a new glance at her, her glittering skin and ethereal aura giving her a beauty that transcended the mortal world.
A pink rose petal rose from his index and flew into Nier' forehead.
Instantly, their emotions and sensations intermingled, and their minds became one.
They could peer into one another to see the truth of their respective hearts if they so wished. And even if they didn't want to, some things became evident.
Nier could see that Konnor was a scoundrel, a man of little morals whose only redeeming quality was the affection he bore for the women around him.
Konnor could see that behind the veil of the brat-prince/princess hid a lonely soul shackled by the weight of her birth and forced to fake an aloof, military-like personality for the outside world to see.
In reality, all she wanted was to leisurely play, free of concerns and woes. However
, born within the imperial family, such things were impossible to have.
More relevant; however, they could see their strengths and weaknesses and tap into the other's fighting instinct and attributes.
"Ready?"
"Ready!"
"Surrender your lives!"
The Stolien Beast fired a terrifying ball of toxic energies that descended from the sky like a meteor.
The duo turned into two beams of light, evaded the green ball that transformed the ground into a poisonous land, and flew toward the Accursed Demonic Beast.
"You're the only one surrendering his life!"
Chapter 61 - To Be One
Konnor stretched out his hand, summoning his energy war hammer. Revolving his Hundred Flowers Scripture to the extreme, dazzling white-purple light swirled around his form as he flew toward the Stolien Beast.
Nier tapped into his light attribute to envelop herself in the same white-purple force. Her speed skyrocketed, surpassing all she could accomplish with her wind and lightning attributes.
Their eyes burned with the same fighting intent, and although separated by a distance, they were of one mind.
Surprised by Konnor's sudden breakthrough, the Stolien Beast's large green eyes shone with puzzlement. However, it quickly shrugged off any rising apprehension. Even with that increase of strength, could they contend with him?
"You are merely delaying the inevitable."
It spread its wings, and dark-green fog descended from the clouded sky to enshroud them. It then turned into a green beam and shot toward Konnor.
Konnor had always been its primary target. Nier was just extra. Its thirst for his bloodline drove its every action.
The fog surrounding its wings corroded the air, turning every spot in its wake into a poisonous zone. Breathing in such a gas would be lethal for most people below the Arch Rank. As for those of the Arch Rank, they would feel a rapid loss of strength and see their bodies wither until they no longer possessed the power and will to resist.
Unfortunately for it, it wasn't facing ordinary people.
"Anzu Beast Manifestation!"
Behind Konnor, the tall, illusory form of a lion-headed eagle appeared. It was a manifestation of the Transcendent-level Anzu Beast Totem he absorbed. Thanks to the totem, he could resist any blow beneath the Transcendent Rank and possessed the Anzu Beast's three attributes. Fire, water, and storm.
However, his cultivation was insufficient to make use of them and fully control the power of the Anzu Beast Physique. Still, it was now more than enough to release a part of the totem's power for a short time.
In its life, that Anzu Beast was at the mid-level of the Accursed Beast Rank and could look down on this low-level Stolien Accursed Beast.
Even in death, its power wasn't to be underestimated.
The illusory Anzu Beast spread its wings; a conflagration rose from its left, a tidal wave from its right, and from its beak, a terrifying storm flew, and all three forces soared toward the Stolien Beast.
"How could this be?"
Taken off-guard, the Stolien Beast couldn't respond in time. The conflagration, tidal wave, and storm crashed into it and sent it reeling mid-flight.
As if aware of Konnor's move before he made it, Nier was already waiting for the Stolien Beast's failure. She didn't waste the opportunity and hacked at its neck with her wind and thunder sword.
"Impudence!"
The Stolien Beast roared and flung its battered wing at Nier' swords.
*Clang*
As if metal composed its feathers, the wing met Nier' swords in a ringing boom and propelled her backward from the impact.
But the Accursed Beast wasn't given any time to breathe. Konnor was already upon it with his hammer brandished and the Anzu Beast Totem empowering and protecting him.
*Bang*
He brought his hammer down in a crushing blow that forced the Stolien Beast back from the impact.
Sharing Konnor's light attribute, the duo turned into dozens of afterimages that delivered blows upon blows on the retreating Accursed Beast. Oppressed, it could only keep going backward.
"Hateful! Have they been trained as a duo from the womb? How could their coordination reach such a level?"
It didn't feel like it was fighting one person. Instead, it was getting the feeling that dozens of individuals united in a battle formation were upon it and spotting any weakness within its guard.
And unbeknown to it, the Stolien Beast was quite close to the truth. Thanks to their spiritual connection, Konnor and Nier weren't just two people. Instead, they were two overlapping forces, and the result was several folds what they could have accomplished together was the connection not present.
Better, Konnor's Origin Sight allowed him to draw a pattern of the demonic beast's moves, and as the fight went on, every single flaw and habit within its fighting form was becoming evident to the both of them.
Because people beneath the Transcendent Rank couldn't fly (unless they possessed some special skills allowing them to do so), the duo would return to the ground, in small intervals, before leaping higher to hack at the beast.
Although that inconvenience allowed it some breathing space, at this rate, it was bound to get slaughtered.
"I didn't think I would have to go this far for two toddlers. Fourth Circle Spell: Mystical Essence Poisoning Ring!"
The Stolien Beast opened its beak, four green circles appeared by its side and coalesced into a dark-green dome that encircled the three of them.
Poisonous force spread from within the dome dived into the duo's pores and infiltrated their bodies.
"Fuck…"
There were several poisons at play. A poison to cause pain and paralysis, a poison to cause flesh withering and bone-melting, and a poison to cause hallucinations.
Konnor was well equipped against the problems of the mind. However, when it came to physical poisons, it was a whole other matter. Incubi had no extra defense against such venoms.
The Anzu Beast Totem's power wasn't enough to resist, and he was quickly falling prey to the Stolien Beast's poison spell.
On the contrary, although her situation was still troublesome, Nier was having a much easier time. As a Pureblooded Paragon Spirit, she possessed innate purification abilities that allowed her to resist such poisons. However, her cultivation was after all insufficient. Thus, although she could suppress the toxins, she could barely move.
Only by releasing his lineage weapon could Konnor reverse the situation. But if he did so, after the battle, he would be forced to modify Nier' memories. And for some reason, he found the thought frustrating.
However, Nier who felt his frustration, unease, and decaying body, had different plans.
Without hesitation, she mustered all her strength to float toward Konnor and press her hands against his chest.
She said nothing, but with their united minds, he felt everything.
"Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you."
"You can count on me!"
Those were the words that sprang from her mind and echoed within his. Her mind was fairly simple. Since they were comrades in arms, he was her responsibility as much as she was his.
And since she owed him her life, she had to give it her all to ensure his survival.
Those were her principles.
Within her, Konnor didn't find the usual selfishness that defined all creatures. Or perhaps selflessness was her kind of selfishness? In any case, it was a rare, disturbing sight.
She felt his puzzlement which caused her lips to curl into a radiant smile.
"Don't be so surprised. I know that although you are a terrible person, even you have your selfless moments.
That being the case, how could I as a genuine, good person not be better?
Hopefully, you can break free of that dome and carry both of us to safety.
If you can't, I must say that being one with you was both the most frightening and most mesmerizing moment of my life. I never knew a sco
undrel's mind could be this complex and entertaining.
It almost makes me want to forget myself and wish to forever be one with you.
One in mind, one in heart, one in soul."
Her True Spirit energy flew into his body and suppressed the toxins. Blood streaked down her lips, and her face turned to a deathly pale, but still, her radiant smile remained.