Chapter 39
Chapter 39: The Erosive Dark Saint
The moment moonlight was swallowed by thick clouds, Sein felt a bone-chilling cold crawling up his spine.
In the empty alley, even the rustling sounds of rats disappeared, leaving only his violent heartbeat pounding against his eardrums.
The shriek of the scythe blade cutting through air almost grazed his ear as he jerked sideways, yet still felt sharp pain in his left arm—blood gushed from his torn sleeve, drawing a striking arc in the moonlight.
“Cough!”
Sein staggered and rolled several meters, kneeling on one knee as his palm was already soaked with warm blood.
He stared intently at the white-haired girl emerging from the shadows. The streetlight’s glow seemed to be swallowed by a black hole when it touched her vicinity, leaving only a blurred silhouette.
The girl’s black and white spotted uniform remained perfectly still, blood drops on her scythe slowly dripping, blooming into dark red flowers on the stone path.
“Drip”
A blood drop from Sein’s left arm wound struck the stone slab, the sound particularly clear in the deathly silence.
“Who are you?”
He covered the wound on his arm, staring unblinkingly at the white-haired girl three meters away, his throat tight.
The girl remained silent, merely standing there, yet she seemed like the embodiment of the entire night. The streetlight’s rays twisted strangely an inch from her clothing, as if severed by some invisible force.
“Why do you want to kill me?”
Seeing her silence, Sein continued questioning, but his words caught in his throat as the girl suddenly moved.
Her skirt didn’t flutter, her boots made no sound—her entire being seemed pushed forward by the night itself, the scythe dragging behind her, its edge striking blue sparks against the ground.
Sein’s pupils contracted sharply—as those sparks hit the ground, the surrounding shadows suddenly writhed to life, responding only to the sound of heels striking the ground.
Tap, tap, tap—each step made the surrounding light grow dimmer.
Sein quickly tore fabric from his sleeve to bind his wound, looking around frantically, cold sweat sliding down his forehead.
This girl was like a specter crawled out of nightmares, even her breathing dissolved into darkness.
He vigilantly observed his surroundings, wondering where she would attack from next. Could it be…
Suddenly, all the hair on Sein’s neck stood up. He suddenly realized his shadow was stretching and twisting beyond his control, finally standing up by itself!
The shadow condensed into the outline of a scythe, its tip aimed at his heart.
Indeed, the closest thing to him was naturally his own shadow.
Almost as the thought flashed through his mind, Sein lunged forward, the scythe scraping past his back, tearing his clothes to reveal several bloody scratches.
He turned back panting, finally seeing the girl show a slightly surprised expression for the first time.
“You actually dodged twice in a row.”
The girl’s voice was like ice picks piercing bone marrow.
“Who exactly are you, why do you want to kill me, what do you mean by heretic—if you’re going to kill me, at least let me die understanding?”
Sein took advantage of the girl’s surprise to rapidly fire off his questions, his hands behind his back moving swiftly, assembling seemingly decorative metal pieces from his belt into a deadly weapon.
“Given your transaction with Herarith, Skadi judges you as a heretic attempting to disturb the Light Cathedral and orders your elimination.”
The white-haired girl walked toward Sein step by step, scythe in hand.
Sein was stunned. He hadn’t expected his transaction with Herarith to be observed by this girl, when even that Radiant Saint hadn’t noticed.
This showed the girl’s abilities were extremely abnormal—she could hide in shadows, or perhaps she was darkness itself.
“If I’m not mistaken, you’re also a saint, aren’t you?”
Combining the girl’s strength and her attitude toward Herarith, Sein formed a hypothesis.
Skadi remained silent, as if acknowledging it.
“As far as I know, there’s no saint among the Light Cathedral’s twelve saints who uses dark elements and shadows.”
Sein continued trying to buy time, deliberately provoking her.
“Compared to me, a dark saint like you seems more like a heretic, doesn’t she?”
“Skadi doesn’t belong to the twelve saints, nor does she manage any sector.”
Skadi spoke again, still expressionless, like an emotionless doll.
“Skadi only judges heretics in the shadows.”
She tilted her head at a precisely measured angle, her right eye visible through her white hair glowing with crimson light. The scythe in her hand suddenly decomposed into countless shadow particles.
“Now continuing elimination.”
“Though killing a saint wasn’t my intention, for my plan, I can only ask you to die.”
Sein had completed his assembly. When his hand reappeared from behind his back, he held a handgun assembled from Death Ore components. As he pulled the trigger, a bullet compressed from light elements shot from the barrel without giving Skadi any chance to react.
“Bang—!”
Brilliant white light tore through the night.
The element-compressed bullet precisely hit the girl’s forehead, exploding a penetrating wound in her pale skin.
The light beam directly pierced through Skadi’s head, leaving a blood hole in her forehead identical to the one in the werewolf’s head before, except the bullet that killed the werewolf was Cynthia’s fire attribute, while this time he used Herarith’s freshly obtained light attribute elements.
“Huff.”
Seeing the bullet had hit its mark, Sein sighed in relief and collapsed to the ground. He had nearly died just now.
However, what happened next was somewhat incomprehensible to him. Though the girl’s pupils dilated instantly when hit by the bullet, her body showed no signs of falling, remaining eerily upright.
Only then did he realize what sprayed from the back of the girl’s head wasn’t blood, but viscous shadow matter.
Skadi’s penetrated wound was being rewoven by writhing shadows, even her bangs returning to their original arc.
She dipped her finger in the light elements remaining at her forehead, and the shadows immediately devoured them completely.
“Herarith’s light…”
The girl’s skirt suddenly moved without wind.
“Very painful.”
All streetlights within ten meters simultaneously shattered, plunging Sein into absolute darkness.
He could hear the humming of spinning scythes from all directions.
Skadi’s voice overlapped from every shadow:
“But Erosive Dark… is immortal.”
Sein’s pupils contracted rapidly, the afterimage of the light bullet still burning on his retinas.
He saw clearly—as the streetlight fragments fell, each piece of glass reflection contained a white-haired girl wielding a scythe.
He retreated while breathing rapidly, his heel suddenly hitting a wall.
The moment his back was against the dead end, something cold wrapped around his ankle—it was the black tide extending from his own shadow on the ground!
Skadi’s main body emerged half-way from the wall’s shadow, scythe held horizontally at Sein’s throat.
“Last words?”
The scythe blade pressed against Sein’s Adam’s apple, the cold metal touch making his entire body tense.
He could clearly see the blood-red flames dancing in Skadi’s eyes—there was neither anger nor hesitation, only mechanical judgment.
“If you kill me, Lady Cynthia and Lady Herarith will never let this go.”
Sein said hoarsely.
“Are you sure you want to simultaneously oppose two saints?”
“I don’t care.”
Skadi’s expression showed no fluctuation whatsoever.
“I was born to punish heretics.”
Just as she was about to slice open Sein’s throat—
“Crack.”
A subtle brittle sound came from Skadi’s wrist.
Sein’s pupils contracted sharply.
He saw her pale wrist’s inner side suddenly crack with several fine lines, black crystals drilling out from her flesh like living things, rapidly spreading to her entire forearm.
Those crystal surfaces were covered with blood vessel-like red patterns, gleaming ominously in the moonlight.
This was… demonification?!
Skadi’s body suddenly swayed.
She looked down at her arm, her empty gaze showing fluctuation for the first time—fear so deep even she hadn’t noticed it, buried in the depths of her soul.
“Ugh…”
She staggered back half a step, her scythe clattering to the ground.
The weapon made of shadows dissolved into black mist upon touching the ground, while her fingers spasmed uncontrollably, black crystals already climbing up her elbow.
Sein took the opportunity to roll away and stand, yet froze in place.
The current Skadi had completely lost her previous oppressive presence.
She knelt on one knee, white hair hanging messily, covering most of her face.
But Sein still saw—her bitten lips were seeping dark red blood drops, and crystalline traces were beginning to appear on her neck.
“Today… you’re lucky.”
Skadi lifted her head, those blood-red eyes actually flashing with a hint of relief.
The next second, her body shattered like a broken mirror, dissolving into countless shadow fragments that dispersed in the night. Only a few black crystals remained on the ground, proving she had once truly existed.
Night wind swept through the empty alley as Sein stood in place, his heart still racing wildly.