"Cough, cough, cough!"
Silas bent over, letting out violent coughs.
He suddenly felt his forehead burning hot, his body turning cold, his lungs itchy and painful, making him cough uncontrollably, unable to stop.
It's "Disease"!
Having had several similar experiences before, Silas immediately understood that Mr. A had also shepherded a Sequence 5 "Affliction Witch"!
"Hehe... Worthy of being a 'Devil.' Your body's resistance is indeed high enough.
The 'disease' I spread on you actually took so long to erupt."
Mr. A canceled his "Demonization," his body returning to its original form.
He admired Silas's pained expression as he coughed incessantly, a cruel satisfaction appearing on his face. "How is it? Does it feel good having your lungs corroded?"
So that's it. His previous exchange of blows with the lava sword was just to buy time until the disease erupted in Silas's body!
"Cough, cough, cough!"
"Achoo!"
"Cough, cough!"
Silas didn't respond, only coughing violently, constantly sneezing. Blue phosphorescent fire flickered with his body's movements.
The demonized body delayed the disease's deterioration but couldn't reduce the symptoms.
The coughing greatly interfered with his actions. He could barely hold onto the lava sword in his hand.
No, this can't continue!
He thought groggily, turning his palm over to ignite flames, trying to use "Flaming Jump" to pull away from the other party and then make other plans.
As long as he got away from the pathogen, the symptoms would quickly ease!
Coughing and sneezing constantly interfered with Silas's actions. Several times, before he could release his ability, he was forcibly interrupted.
He finally managed to condense a fireball with difficulty, but before he could release it, he saw Mr. A on the opposite side change again.
That feminine, handsome face suddenly became incomparably majestic.
Mr. A extended his right hand and gently clenched it. Some kind of invisible rule was generated.
Silas instinctively felt that his teleportation wouldn't succeed; he would only spin in place.
Damn it!
Silas cursed inwardly.
His scarlet eyes coldly stared at the other party as he shouted in an extremely profane, extremely depraved voice:
"Death!"
Mr. A's body shook.
Blood immediately flowed from his nostrils, eyes, and ears. But even so, he still grinned, revealing a cruel smile, and didn't stop his next action.
Before him, a transparent, illusory ancient book suddenly appeared.
The book's pages flipped rapidly with a rustling sound, and a distant voice floated down from above:
"I came, I saw, I recorded."
The ancient book stopped on a certain page.
The illusory paper on it was suddenly dyed black, gushing out and wrapping around Mr. A's body.
"Swish!"
The darkness was as tangible as substance, outlining and shaping his body. Finally, he transformed into a giant over two meters tall, covered entirely in pitch-black, cold armor.
The red light flickering at the eye position was the only different color on his body.
"Clank."
The small giant took a step toward Silas, the armor clanging together.
The "demonized" Silas was a full three meters tall, clearly larger than this black-armored knight, but somehow, the opponent looked more oppressive.
It was like intimidation from higher in the sequence pressing down from the depths of his heart.
"This is our pathway's Sequence 4 Dark Knight's Beyonder ability. How about it? Did you learn something this time?" Mr. A's voice came from behind the helmet, buzzing with an echo.
"Although it's only half its original effect, it's enough to deal with you."
As he spoke, he raised high the straight, deep, pitch-black greatsword that seemed to reflect no light at all.
"Die!"
Silas roared.
An intense sense of crisis erupted from the depths of his soul, warning him that this sword was extremely dangerous.
However, at this moment, he was bound by Mr. A's rules and could no longer escape. There was nowhere to avoid.
Since he couldn't escape, he'd fight to the death. Silas charged forward, also raising high the lava sword in his hand!
Like slow motion, he saw his lava sword swing out and collide with the black blade slashed by the Dark Knight.
That black, deep greatsword was exceptionally sharp.
The lava sword was smoothly cut open, the upper half flying out, its firelight tracing a dark blue trajectory through the air.
At the same time, that greatsword rapidly enlarged before his eyes...
"Slash!"
Silas's body was split by the blade.
It immediately became flat, shrunk, and finally transformed into a paper figure cut in two, falling to the ground and soaked by black muddy water.
His true body appeared over ten meters away.
"Paper Substitute"!
After one strike, the black armor dissolved and dispersed, revealing Mr. A's original body inside.
It seemed he couldn't use such a powerful ability indefinitely. Unfortunately, such a powerful slash only hit the paper figure...
However, Mr. A didn't become angry that the greatsword missed. On the contrary, a cold smile of success appeared on his face.
Silas stood dumbly in place.
The next second, his body suddenly split diagonally in two. Exactly the same as the injury the paper figure received, also from upper left to lower right.
This annihilating sword, aimed directly at soul and body, pursued him relentlessly, passing through the paper figure to act on his body!
"Thud."
Silas fell backward just like that.
Not a trace of blood flowed from the edge of the wound, as if his soul had been completely destroyed by that dark longsword.
"Huff, huff..."
Mr. A withdrew his ability. Some fatigue appeared on his feminine, handsome face as he panted softly.
"Hmph, you got off easy..."
After panting for a few seconds, Mr. A's breathing steadied.
Looking at Silas's body split in two, he couldn't help but laugh coldly.
This guy was even more troublesome than he imagined, actually forcing him to use the gift from the "Dark Saint."
That was something he had spent great effort to record, an absolute trump card that could only be used once: the core ability of the Shepherd pathway's Sequence 4 Dark Knight, "Spirit-Flesh Blade."
It could not only corrode flesh, annihilate souls, and break through barriers, but also render the defenses of any creature with fallen thoughts ineffective.
Even a Shepherd with extremely vigorous vitality, after encountering such a strike, would only face the outcome of having both body and soul destroyed simultaneously.
It's just that this blasphemer died so easily.
The only downside of this move was that even the target's spirituality would be destroyed, making it impossible to shepherd them... Mr. A thought with some regret.
Since the spirituality wasn't preserved, he couldn't learn the other party's background and the true reason for his peculiarities, couldn't help the Lord solve his worries...
Black snow fell in profusion. This devout, fanatical believer even felt somewhat poetic.
Wait, something seems wrong.
It's been so long, why hasn't the characteristic precipitated yet?
Mr. A looked at Silas's corpse in bewilderment and surprise, then saw that the corpse was quietly dissolving, turning into blood.
***
All of Mr. A's abilities are based on the original work. Can only say they're indeed somewhat overpowered.