Between the sky and the sea, the Authority Angel spewed out dazzling golden flashes, darting around almost randomly.

The Authority Angel began to exert its full strength, leaving behind a series of explosive booms from sonic booms.

During the prolonged flight, he even slowly accelerated once more. After breaking through Mach five, the oncoming hurricane seemed to turn into knives.

Now up, now down, sometimes spiraling or dropping without any pattern.

Dizzying tactical maneuvers played out, yet still, he couldn't shake off the bastard sticking to him. Clinging firmly to Huai Shi, Old Xiao kept conjuring all sorts of grotesque organs to fiercely assault him.

During the rapid flight, Huai Shi found it challenging to suppress Old Xiao's erratic and bizarre attacks for a moment, and instantly, several more gashes appeared on his body.

The Stigma Genealogy is truly stingy! They gave me a fighter jet but were unwilling to provide missiles. If only I had a Sulfur Bow in hand and a few Salt Arrows, I could've blown this bastard's head off from hundreds of miles away! There would've been no need for all this trouble!

"I've upgraded, so why won't you just die quietly?" Huai Shi taunted.

He suddenly performed a barrel roll, throwing Old Xiao in a wide arc through the air. But immediately after, the Chimera surged forward again, its tentacles lashing out, its beastly claws and sharp limbs slashing crazily towards Huai Shi!

Sparks of steel flew incessantly.

As Huai Shi's climb reached its peak, he was now only inches away from the pitch-black, iron-like clouds.

Intuition told him that if he charged into the indescribable terror and frenzied power hidden behind those clouds, it definitely wouldn't end well for him.

So, his speed abruptly stalled, and he began to plummet.

At that moment, he heard Old Xiao's cold laughter.

"Guess—" Old Xiao said softly, "why your Reviewer has been silent until now?"

Huai Shi froze, then awkwardly blocked an insidiously angled strike.

"She's almost dead, Huai Shi!" the Chimera cackled. "All thanks to you! She must be stone cold by now, right? I haven't gone over to look yet, but her death must have been... quite gruesome indeed."

Huai Shi's eyes widened in shock. In that instant of distraction, a beastly claw cleaved his Mask Armor, and the Sphinx nearly bit his neck off.

"Are you stupid?" Ai Qing's hoarse voice, weak and faint, sounded in his ear. "Are you a pig? You believe whatever he says?"

"You're alright?" Huai Shi was overjoyed, then confused. "What's wrong with your voice?"

"Why worry about that now!" Ai Qing's voice rose, tinged with an inexplicable anger. "Just don't listen to his nonsense! Are you here to chat with him?"

During another collision, amidst countless flying sparks, Huai Shi opened his mouth and took a deep breath, countless lights swirling within.

Old Xiao was stunned, instinctively raising an arm to guard his face, bracing for Huai Shi's anticipated flame breath.

But then, he saw a hint of mockery in Huai Shi's fiercely glowing eyes.

Then, everything went dark for Old Xiao.

It was as if he had jumped from the nineteenth floor and landed on a marble slab, the impact and excruciating pain instantly making him feel like his whole body had turned into a pulpy mess.

They had smashed into the sea.

Falling from hundreds of meters, the water surface wasn't like marble—it was as hard as the Green Gold Fortress. No matter how terrifying their vitality, such an impact would cause severe injuries.

Yet Huai Shi fared far better.

In the instant before impact, he folded his wings and positioned himself behind Old Xiao, using his former teammate as a cushion. Even though he was battered and his steel frame groaned, he appeared largely intact.

Unlike Old Xiao, who had been reduced to a mangled heap.

They rebounded from the water, but immediately afterward, Huai Shi, despite the pain and stupor, forcefully flared his wings. Light erupted, carrying them up again—only to dive downwards!

Thus, amidst the roaring crash as the sea surface broke, they plunged into the blood-red depths.

It was like instantly jumping into a pool of sulfuric acid.

Even the Authority Angel, now barely human, felt waves of searing pain from the corrosive Source Substance. His steel wings and shell began to rust and decompose rapidly in the seawater.

What frightened him even more were the twisting dark shadows swimming in the deep, their countless limbs stirring violently. Sensing this speck of light, thousands of tentacles snaked towards them.

Huai Shi felt a bone-chilling cold. The vector thrusters abruptly reversed direction, thrusting him upwards.

In an instant, they broke through the surface!

But to his dismay, even after such a heavy blow, Old Xiao still hadn't let go, clinging tenaciously to his wings.

Then, Old Xiao pulled with all his might!

BOOM!

Under Old Xiao's strenuous tug, the light from Huai Shi's left wing dimmed instantly, followed by a brutal tear. Ignoring Huai Shi's slashing axe, Old Xiao pulled again!

A rust-streaked steel wing ripped from Huai Shi's body amidst excruciating pain.

Their flight became erratic. They staggered and pirouetted mid-air, ascending and descending, before ultimately crashing into the ship's cracked hull in a violent roll.

In the ensuing roar, the Chimera was finally thrown off, slamming onto the deck. Huai Shi tumbled from the wreckage, landing on the ground, gasping for breath.

Suddenly, he felt like he couldn't catch his breath.

Huai Shi opened his mouth and vomited a mouthful of blood, staring in bewilderment at the crimson on his hands.

By now, I should be an Authority Angel, transformed into metal and energy, my body filled with light. How can there be blood?

When he looked down, he saw the Bone Dagger lodged in his chest.

The dagger was hollow.

As it cracked, it slowly released strands of black sludge that spread within the surging light like a spiderweb across Huai Shi's chest.

So familiar. Is that… Koshchey's Source Substance? Back when I was still a vampire, although I could sense the malice swirling within it, I had never personally experienced its corrupting nature. No matter what, we were all considered kin among Dark Creatures. But after my transformation into an Authority Angel, Koshchey's residual Source Substance revealed its terrifying infectivity. It felt like a nail embedded in my core, constantly causing trouble.

For a moment, Huai Shi even felt a dizzying, feverish sensation.

He struggled to pull the Bone Dagger from his chest. Lifting his hand, he used the red-hot Axe Blade to burn away the sludge flowing over his chest. Unfortunately, the poison within him remained.

Panting, the wing-impaired Authority Angel rose from the ground and stared at the Chimera slowly emerging from the ruins.

"You predicted even this?"

"I told you, Huai Shi," Old Xiao said, opening his mouth to vomit a metal weapon coated with thick gel and copious amounts of stomach acid. "I made many preparations, very, very many… After all, KP has been on my side from the very start, haha, HAHAHAHA!!!"

Amid his triumphant laughter, he reached out and tore the gel from the weapon, revealing an ancient weapon underneath, tinged with verdigris.

It was a curved Sickle Sword.

Faintly visible on the blade's surface was an engraved gold emblem: unmistakably the open Eye of Horus.

The last legacy of that worthless Pharaoh, Old Xiao thought.

"Turning on me so easily," Huai Shi sneered indifferently, once again lifting his heavy silver axe from the ground. "Just because I couldn't carry you to a higher rank, you get all arrogant, my friend?"

Even if I can no longer fly with just one wing, if it's merely about acceleration, I can still manage that!

In an instant, the wooden deck beneath Huai Shi's feet splintered.

Within the flare of the vector thrusters, the last illusion enveloping the cruise ship was shredded, revealing the true form of a battered, mast-and-sail ship riddled with holes.

The last hanging sail was torn apart by the Authority Angel's sudden charge.

The Steel Angel lunged, slashing down!

Sword met axe.

But immediately after, Huai Shi pulled a Short Knife from behind him and thrust it mercilessly into the gaping maw of the Sphinx, spraying Plasma.

The runes of the Eye of Horus on the Sickle Sword shuddered abruptly. The bronze Sickle Sword seemed to lose its solidity in an instant, transforming into a rift in space.

From that rift, amidst endless light and heat, the eagle-headed God cast an indifferent glance upon the mortal realm.

Just one look.

Then, uninterested, it averted its gaze.

Huai Shi felt as if struck by lightning. His vision went dark, and he was barely able to maintain his Authority Angel form.

The counterfeit divine emissary had encountered authentic divine power; it was a miracle he hadn't exploded on the spot.

In Huai Shi's moment of weakness, the Sphinx snapped its jaws wide, shattering the Short Knife in its mouth and lunging for his throat. Instantly, the harsh screech of metal scraping against metal exploded.

Under the closing Teeth, the Authority Angel's Iron Armor cracked. Dim light seeped out like blood. Just as the Sphinx, with its ferocious bites, was about to completely sever his neck, Huai Shi quietly asked, "What is your father's father called?"

The Sphinx froze, seemingly pondering.

No matter how distant the lineage or how feeble its power compared to the original, no Sphinx could resist the lure of a riddle. It was instinct.

In some historical records, many learned Sphinxes even served as wise advisors to the Pharaoh, offering shrewd counsel on matters of state.

Unfortunately for this particular brainless head, even such a simple question required considerable thought. By the time Old Xiao tried to forcibly regain control, it was a beat too late.

The Axe Blade, dangling from Huai Shi's hand, swept behind him in an arc. With a flick of his wrist, it cleaved across the Sphinx's face.

Deep cracks spiderwebbed across its features, and blood gushed.

The Sickle Sword vibrated again, but this time Huai Shi released his axe, clenching his fists. His genuine Iron Fist let out a metallic cry, thundering with his swing.

"Eat my Babylon Iron Fist!"

The silver axe had yet to hit the ground.

A left hook, a Right Hook Punch, an uppercut… After a fluid set of Rome Boxing Technique, augmented by a blast of light from his remaining wing, a Holy Light Iron Fist smashed into Old Xiao's face. A sickening crunch echoed from Old Xiao's neck, hinting at a fractured skull.

Huai Shi had already caught the descending axe. He swept it horizontally, deflecting the delayed flare of light from the Sickle Sword's blade. The Eye of Horus opened, saw nothing, and closed again.

Meanwhile, Huai Shi charged forward, his steps shattering the deck. He slammed his shoulder into the Chimera, pushing it back a step.

The silver axe was lifted, erupting with Holy Light.

Then, it slashed down towards the Sphinx's forehead!

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