Chapter 528: A Half-serious Battle

Although Baiyi always questioned the authenticity of the Church’s accounts — as the immense difference in their description of Apostle Joel and the behavior of the real Joel did not inspire his confidence — it could not make an error this grave. The only similarities that Apostle Yula in the historical records and this young Yula shared were their names and their preference for slingshots, which they seemed to consider a solution to problems!

Furthermore, the Church claimed that Apostle Yula began to spread the word of their god after the fall of the ancient Rohlserlian Empire, yet the Yula before Baiyi had already begun to do so — a thousand years before the fall of the ancient Rohlserlian Empire. In fact, the Emperor, Rohserl the Nineteenth, was still in the early stage of his reign. How then did this young lad and his slingshot manage to survive for as long as the Church claimed he did?

Yula did not possess the qualities expected of men-of-cloth, let alone saints. Could holy men be this ill-tempered? Yula’s claim of not being Mornserian was also suspicious.

Although Yula had only fired a pebble at Baiyi, the Soul Armature was not calm; he was angry. He wanted nothing more than to curl his fingers around the pipsqueak’s throat and watch him cry for mercy.

Although the Church’s canonical accounts were romanticized, it could not make such a severe mistake in its record. Hence, Baiyi decided that the Yula before him was not Apostle Yula.

Having come to this conclusion, Baiyi no longer felt the need to hold back.

A loud bang rang out as Baiyi flicked the pebble between his fingers back at the young cleric. The pebble streaked towards the forehead of its target as though it had just been fired from a rifle. With its momentum, if it struck the kid, his head would surely explode.

Fortunately for the young cleric, he had the backing of a powerful being, which was hovering behind him. Dong! A loud sound reverberated through the air as the pebble struck the golden blade of the angel’s claymore.

“Well, well, well. I get to experience fighting an angel in this era. This unplanned venture was not a waste, after all.” Baiyi’s flashed a sinister smile. “Come on, then; show me what you’ve got. Since you are using a sword, let’s start with physical combat.”

Without waiting for a reply, Baiyi pounced, and the fight began.

Baiyi wanted to get a feel for his opponent’s strength and skills, so he held back his power and refrained from his more advanced skills and strategies. He opted for the Caveman Walker’s crass fighting style, which consisted of a flurry of punches and kicks, with which he hoped to gauge the angel’s reflexes.

The Angel parried Baiyi’s attacks with her gold claymore. Her fighting style was just as intuitive as Baiyi’s; none of her moves had methods, tact, or flair.

The fight was a stalemate; no one had the upper hand. The town square was quiet. The occasional flash of the angel’s beautiful wings was the only indication that a fight was taking place there. It was akin to fights in mobile games.

Mia watched from high above in horror. She was too far to hear what Baiyi and the young cleric had said to each other. She could only watch them talk for a few moments before a fight broke out. Unable to contain herself any longer, Mia dove and landed nearby, after which she dispelled the camouflage magic and screamed, “Mr. Hope, please control your strength! Please don’t hurt Lulu!”

Mia wanted to stop the fight, but she was hesitant. First, she knew it would be hard to stop the two behemoths and was afraid to try. Second, she could see that Baiyi was pulling his punches, so she let the fight carry on. However, she had made sure that she reminded him to be kinder to her friend.

“Don’t worry! You are looking at a master of control!” Baiyi called out in between attacks. “This fight is a piece of cake. I can even continue with my eyes clo—”

Bang!

An ashen grey blur careened through the air towards Mia and skid to a stop beside her. It was Baiyi, who seemed to have been blown backward.

“Um, Mr. Hope? Are you alright?”

“Well, ‘even nods sometimes Homer'[1],” Baiyi, who felt embarrassed, hurriedly explained. His head was facing backward, his neck seemingly snapped. “You see, it’s been a while since I fought with my bare hands, so I have gotten a little rusty.”

“Um, Mr. Hope? Your helmet…” Mia whispered.

“Oh, right.” Baiyi held his helmet and turned it back around. “That fella is quite skilled in physical combat; I’ll give her that. I should not have engaged her in fisticuffs.”

Baiyi reached into his storage pouch and took out the Aldhelm. With a flourish, the chains that held the staff together was revealed. Baiyi was holding it the same way one would hold a pair of nunchakus.

“Hwaaaaaaahhhhhhh-chaaahhh!” Baiyi’s battle cry rang out, as he charged towards the angel once more.

This time, fighting with a weapon this time, Baiyi quickly gained the advantage, even though he did not use any martial art techniques. Despite the might of the angel’s strikes, Baiyi knew that she was pulling her punches, only fighting reflexively.

“Tsk tsk. What’s holding you back?” Baiyi gloated. He returned the Aldhelm to its original state and began to spin it at high speed. The staff was spun faster as Baiyi began to use a technique that the Sorcerer Walker was renowned for — Moloch Tanoura.

Mia instantly recognized the technique, and in a panic, she screamed, “Lulu, watch out!”

The angel froze for an instant.

Boom!

A gold ray of light spiraled in the air and crashed at Mia’s feet.

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“Um, Lulu? Are you alright?”

The angel did not reply, neither did it attack. However, a trace of annoyance tainted its indifferent expression. The angel got to her feet and glanced at Mia.

An invisible force gently lifted Mia and moved her further away. Mia wondered if this was the angel unwilling to see her so close to the scene.

A strange pattern kept recurring.

“Go, Mr. Hope—”

Bang!

Baiyi, who had crashed beside Mia, got to his feet and glared at her, after which he dashed forward.

“Look out, Lulu —”

Boom!

The angel crashed to the ground beside Mia. She quickly got up and frowned at Mia, after which that invisible force gently pushed Mia further away.

“Can the two of you just stop fighting—”

‘Ke-rrassh!’

An ashen grey streak flew backward, in the opposite direction of a golden ball of light, which was also careening through the air. Both lights crashed into cottages on opposite sides of the town square.

“Maybe, I should just shut up.” Mia sighed, at a loss for what to do.

The battle was temporarily stopped as both sides slowly crawled out from the rubble they had caused. Neither Baiyi nor the angel was hurt, but Baiyi’s scarf was completely torn, and there was a grumpy cat atop his head. He had just crashed into the cat’s home.

The angel was more graceful. There was no speck of dirt to be seen on her, but a curious chick could be seen on her palm, flapping its wings. The angel had careened right into a chicken’s nest.

Invisible forces lifted the cat and the chick, sending them both to Mia, who froze at the sight of them.

Why would two of the most people she has ever met fight each other?

The fight continued, though.

A few rounds later, Baiyi had fully gauged the angel’s might. “In terms of brute strength, this angel is stronger than the Alpine Barbarians,” he muttered to himself. “Her defense is even more formidable; regular attacks cannot make a dent on her. I’ve thrown so many punches, yet there is no scratch to be seen on her. Furthermore, she can fly while holding that powerful sword of light…”

Baiyi ran his fingers over his Aldhelm staff, feeling the many scratches on it. The scratches were shallow, but the staff was made from Aldhelm steel, which is famous for its resilience to physical attacks. The scratches on the staff were all it would take for one to understand how powerful the angel was.

The angel had not used her Holy Power and theurgical spells yet, despite getting hit by Baiyi a few times. Hence, Baiyi could not tell how strong she was when she went all out.

“What are you hiding?” Baiyi asked quietly. “Or, are you afraid ?”

The angel remained silent, and Baiyi, who was no longer in the mood to play, muttered, “Specialized Encasement Shaping…”

With a resounding bang, waves of terrifying black energy surged out of Baiyi and encased him in a black ball.

Baiyi knew that the Angel’s Holy Power was not as potent as that of the Abyss Lord’s Marionette that he fought years ago. Furthermore, his powers had grown in the past decade, due to Mia’s improvement and his discovery of the Ember of Hope. Using his Void Energy would force the angel to go all out, as well.

“If you do not take this fight seriously, you will not leave here alive.” Baiyi’s voice reverberated from within the black ball. Fiery black flames gushed out from the black ball, rushing towards the angel.

The angel spread her wings and instantly took to the sky, putting as much distance as she could between herself and Baiyi. This was the first time she had seen Void Energy, yet she knew not to come in contact with the tar-black flames.

From high up in the sky, the angel emotionlessly looked down at the black ball. Her lip’s parted, and Lulu’s voice escaped her lips in a hiss. “Power unpermitted by the Laws! A heretic !”

The angel’s wings glowed brighter than ever before. The light glowed so brightly, it seemed to take form and wrapped itself around her body. The light then hardened and a golden armor set, moments later. White-hot flames began to burn atop the claymore in her hand.

“Finally taking off the kid gloves, are you?” Baiyi calmly watched the angel transform in the sky. Void Energy swirled atop his palm and condensed into a long, jet-black lance.

With a Void Spear in hand, Baiyi looked up and frowned at the angel, who was staring daggers at him.