Chapter 832: Chapter 832

"Don’t press that, it’s my pectoral muscle."

The young boy looked down at Vili, who was nestled in his arms.

The blonde girl obviously hadn’t recovered from the recent panic yet, her hands subconsciously clutched at the boy’s shirt in front of his chest, pressing slightly inward.

But at the moment the boy spoke, those delicate white hands withdrew as if shocked by electricity, followed by the girl’s stuttering voice, "I, I, I..."

Her shoes weren’t tightly tied and had come off during the vigorous movements, her bare white feet slightly tensed, creating an arch.

Just then, a golden radiance suddenly shot toward them from afar.

He Ao wrapped one arm around Vili’s shoulders, while his other hand swiftly swept beneath her calf and fiercely lifted his hand to catch the golden radiance aimed at him as it left her heel.

The slender golden spear revealed itself under the night sky, its sharp tip stopping just short of the boy’s face.

Meanwhile below the boy, on the ground, a new golden spear gathered in the hands of a White Robe Priest.

"Stabilize your center."

He Ao gripped the spear, nodding slightly at Vili who had managed to balance herself on the rooftop.

Then he released Vili, leaped forward, turning into a streak of black light descending through the night.

Vili’s body swayed a bit, but she quickly regained her balance, and by the time she was completely stable, the boy had landed on the ground, standing before the White Robe Priest.

A new golden spear was already forming in the hands of the White Robe Priest, who watched He Ao, "It seems you’ve found some way to ’deceive’ the High Priest’s eyes,"

He lifted the golden spear, holding it horizontally across his chest, "but after so many tough battles, whether against the former Bishop or Bright, your current injuries aren’t light either. Defeating me won’t be so easy. Just wait for the High Priest to realize and retaliate, your end will already be upon you."

He Ao looked at the confident expression of the priest before him, tilting his head slightly.

"Ignorant and arrogant fool,"

Seeing He Ao’s action, the White Robe Priest sneered, the golden radiance gathering on his golden spear, solidifying continuously,

"Do not think that after dealing with one or two people, you can confront the followers of the Eternal Radiance. The Grace of Eternal Radiance is beyond your comprehension."

Golden pendants emitting golden light surged from beneath his robe, gathering in the air, forming a barrier almost entirely composed of pendants.

The number of these pendants far exceeded those used by the other ’Vice Bishop’ Locke, whom He Ao had previously killed.

With so many pendants’ power combined within him, the new Bishop might completely turn into a twisted ’monster,’ possibly even dying right after this battle.

And the power amassed from these pendants might far surpass any of the Eternal Secret Teachings’ followers He Ao had encountered before.

It seems that the ’Archbishop’ wasn’t completely unprepared for such contingencies.

"Experience the power of Eternal Radiance!"

Seeing the contemplation in He Ao’s dark eyes, the White Robe Priest cracked a slightly mad smile, "I offer everything to you, great Eternal Radiance!"

The golden pendants suddenly shattered, countless radiance surging into him like air into a balloon, his twisted flesh bubbling and expanding.

As the power poured into him, his actions did not cease. His eyes, now completely blood-red, watched He Ao as he raised his golden spear and thrust it at him.

As he stepped closer, his body continuously swelled and warped.

He Ao calmly watched all this, simultaneously raising his golden spear, then stepping forward.

At the same time, orange radiance gathered in his left eye, sketching an inverted triangle with tightly shut eyelids right in the center of his pitch-black pupil.

In this instant, the White Robe Priest instinctively looked up at the sky.

Under the pitch-black night, within the endless void, it seemed as if pairs of eyes kept opening, staring at him as he contorted his body.

In the invisible night, a distorted, sharp howl seemed to rise, the sound of something being "erased" from the lowest layer of the world.

A soul-deep anguish emerged in the depths of his consciousness.

That "erasing" noise, like sharp pine needles, kept piercing densely into his tender soul.

With each sound, his strength seemed to be erased bit by bit.

The "eyes" in the sky multiplied, and the "erasing" noise grew more urgent.

Like raindrops falling on a tin roof during a storm, the crackling sounded as if it would never cease.

And his originally "plentiful" strength, like a globe losing gas, started to "wane."

A cold breeze fell on his cheeks and melted on his burning-hot skin.

His gaze instinctively moved forward, the snowflakes in the sky had unknowingly densified, slowly drifting down in the faint light of the night.

He watched these snowflakes melting upon hitting the ground, as if he were watching his own body gradually decay.

The strength from the Grace had been erased, but the damage caused by that immense power tearing through his body remained.

From holding a spear with two hands, he now used only one, as his right hand, previously injured in a battle with the Heretics, was almost completely unusable now.

Yet his pace did not falter for a moment; with an angry howl, he charged undauntedly toward the black-robed youth opposite him.

The sharp spear stabbed toward the young man’s chest.

The youth looked at him calmly, then took a step forward, whirled the brilliant spear in his hand, and thrust it forward with menacing strength.

The entire earth seemed to shrink in front of the youth; with just a step, the youth covered the significant distance, reaching right in front of him.

The golden spear reached him like flowing light.

How could it be so fast...

Accompanied by a severe pain in his neck, his body finally stopped; he opened his mouth, blood filling his throat, but ultimately he didn’t speak a word.

He Ao released his grip on the spear, took a step forward, and passed by the White Robe Priest.

The golden spear shattered dramatically, the White Robe Priest’s body tilted and fell forward onto the ground, emitting a crisp sound.

Orange-glowing blood soaked the ground, blending with the snowflakes drifting from the sky.

A slight chill breeze brushed over the blood-stained white robe, over a body that had been torn apart by the force.

He Ao looked back at the priest on the ground, then leapt, landing back on the rooftop.

Vili stood on the rooftop, looking cautiously at He Ao.

Their movements had been so fast that she couldn’t catch them; she only saw their figures seemingly passing by each other, and then the White Robe Priest, who had just been making threats, was gone.

It was even faster than blinking.

He Ao looked down at Vili’s bare feet on the rooftop, where drifting snowflakes landed on her translucent insteps, gradually melted, and tinged them with a hint of red.

The outdoor temperature wasn’t low right now, yet just in the few moments Vili’s feet were exposed, they had reddened from the cold.

"I didn’t expect the shoes to be of such poor quality."

Vili, seeing He Ao looking at her exposed feet, somewhat self-consciously pressed her left foot onto the top of her right and gently rubbed it.

Actually, her clothes were also somewhat damaged, exposing the skin underneath.

Just then, a figure clad in Exoskeleton Armor flew over excitedly, handing over two sets of Exoskeleton Armor, one black and one rose-gold.

It was the young investigator who had been following Gast earlier.

He Ao reached out, took the two sets of Exoskeleton Armor, then casually pressed the switch on the rose-gold set and handed it to Vili.

Vili immediately slid her hands into the "sleeve sockets," specially designed for hands in the recess of the Exoskeleton Armor, which quickly unfolded and enveloped her entire body.

"I asked you to get these two ’Snow Eagle’ suits ready, but did you predict this too?"

Vili, somewhat surprised, looked down at her feet now covered in Exoskeleton Armor and gently tapped the ground.

This was the ’Snow Eagle’ full coverage Exoskeleton Armor developed by the Yiwis Space System company, a high-end product featuring a comfort system inside, with ’leather boots’ for the feet that could be worn either over clothes or directly on the body.

This armor enveloped everything below the head of the wearer.

When Vian was developing the Adam No. 1 unit, they referenced this Exoskeleton Armor design.

However, the disadvantage of this Exoskeleton Armor was evident, with its high cost and sacrificed protection for the sake of lightness; to high-level Transcendents, it was practically like paper.

Of course, the armor of the conventional "tin can" Armored suits were only slightly stronger than paper as well.

Eve had conducted a competitor analysis between this set of Exoskeleton Armor and the ’Cain Type’ mini Mecha currently on sale by the Nolanka Group.

This ’Snow Eagle’ Exoskeleton Armor was several times more expensive than the ’Cain’ and yet was less than half as effective in combat.

He Ao glanced at the shapely figure outlined by Vili’s Exoskeleton Armor.

The specially-adjusted rose-gold armor along with her youthful bright gold hair and pale skin looked both mysterious and enchanting.

The only advantage of the ’Snow Eagle’ was its aesthetically pleasing design, which was popular among female users.

He Ao slipped his hand into the "sleeve socket" of the black Exoskeleton Armor he held, and the dark armor swiftly wrapped around his whole body.

He maneuvered it slightly, and two bursts of light surged from behind him, levitating his body.

Another advantage of the ’Snow Eagle’ was its ’flying’ capability, which, after Eve had upgraded the firmware, allowed it to burst out with formidable acceleration.

He Ao took a glance behind him. Warriors from the Twilight Society had already infiltrated the area, then he looked up at the floating Mecha overhead, turned back to Vili, and said,

"You continue to push forward, no matter what happens, don’t act rashly, keep your head."

His purpose here was for this ’B-Level’ Bishop. For him, this Priest was easy to deal with, but if he was unable to free himself, this Bishop could cause significant trouble.

That was why he had not shown himself until now; if the Bishop had noticed his presence earlier, he might not have fought so desperately but instead might have fled or called for the ’Archbishop’ in Novite District.

Vili watched as the young man’s body was enveloped by the streamlined black armor and nodded gently.

A wandering breeze lifted her golden locks. He Ao watched the girl before him calmly, slowly lifted his hand as if putting on a mask, then smilingly said, "Boss, keep your spirits up even when you’re alone, alright?"

Vili was slightly stunned and stared at the youth hanging in midair. Her mouth opened as if to say something.

But in the end, she just curled the corners of her mouth, nodded heavily, and smiled,

Accompanied by the roar of a sonic boom, the dark figure disappeared into the dim night sky.

"Yiluo, you seem to be ’not surprised’ about all this?"

In the dimly lit corridor, Cowen looked down at the figure shrouded in a hooded robe, "You seem to have had no body language since you entered this corridor, right?"

At that moment, Lena suddenly realized something. She violently stretched out her left hand, pushing the ’youth’ beside her backward while her right hand, holding a dagger, quickly rose to guard in front.

With a sharp clang, the dark dagger blocked the incoming golden longsword.

Cowen, grasping the longsword, looked up at the red-haired woman in front of him, his eyes showing a hint of surprise, "Impressive combat instincts, Miss Lena."

"I’d still prefer you call me ’little girl.’"

Lena braced her right wrist with her left hand, clenched her teeth tightly, and firmly blocked Cowen’s slash.

Cowen lifted the longsword with one hand, swinging it down again at Lena.

Lena raised her dagger, ready to block Cowen’s long sword again. At that moment, she sensed something and quickly dodged to the side.

But it was already too late; Cowen’s lifted foot had kicked her in the abdomen, sending her flying and crashing through the wall behind her, smashing an enclosed figure beside machinery into a bloody workshop.

The slash was only a ’feint’; the straight kick was the attack Cowen had prepared.

"Good instincts, but a bit slow on the reaction,"

Cowen dropped his golden longsword and stepped towards the hooded youth, "Let me see your face, little guy."

He reached out, ready to lift the youth’s hood.

At that instant, the youth placed something in his hand.

Then the youth quickly back-jumped.

Cowen looked down and saw the grenade with its pin pulled in his hand, and couldn’t help but laugh silently, "Clever toy."

He suddenly exerted force, crushing the grenade in his hand.

The exploding gas wave blew the hooded figure down the corridor, slamming into the smooth floor.

"You’ve made me angry, little guy."

The figure in the golden-threaded white robe, holding a golden longsword, walked out from the flames, staring coldly at the ’youth’ lying on the floor.

With the hood fallen, the man saw only a ’youth’ wearing a simple human skin mask and makeup.

He glanced at the miniature speaker on the youth’s mouth; the golden radiance slashed down instantly.

The thick wall was blasted open, and a fair hand reached out from the dust to catch the falling blade.