In the hidden space of the Qiwen Temple on the outskirts of Adis City, the pale-faced Dorothy was still sitting under the divine pattern of the Judge of Heaven, using her ability with focused concentration to influence the distant battlefield. At this moment, large patches of blood stained her body, proof of her near-death experience just now.
Not long ago, Dorothy was perceived by Mukhtar under circumstances she was almost completely unaware of, and was brought under his discipline. The unsuspecting Dorothy used her Corpse Puppet to attack Mukhtar, and was subsequently nearly killed by the reflected damage, but luckily, she possessed the Thread-Controlling Spirit Witch's damage transfer ability.
Dorothy's Corpse Puppet hit Mukhtar's chest with a rifle shot. After the tenfold feedback, Dorothy's entire right chest was almost completely shattered, and her right lung was directly rendered unrecognizable, but fortunately, the damage to her heart was not significant and did not cause immediate death. Although Dorothy nearly went into complete shock due to the intense pain, she managed to hold on with powerful mental strength. She first activated the Raw Consumption Symbol hidden within the mechanical ring on her hand to forcibly boost her physique and prevent fainting, and then used damage transfer, consuming a significant amount of Spirituality to transfer the extremely severe injuries on her body to other Corpse Puppets through spiritual threads, saving herself from dying from the wounds.
As long as it wasn't immediate death, the damage Dorothy's body received could be transferred away. Relying on this damage transfer ability, Dorothy narrowly escaped disaster. This injury became the most severe one she had suffered since transmigrating.
'I didn't expect... I was suddenly hit by reflected damage. How was I brought under that guy's discipline? Right... When I found him, there was a very abnormal light in that guy's eyes. After I was injured, all the'Shadow' in my ring of concealment was also gone. It seems he used some method to find me hidden here. It seems the mechanism of this reflected damage discipline only works after he has perceived me.'
'Now I am under the coverage of the reflected damage discipline, I cannot act rashly anymore. I must subdue Mukhtar through other means.'
After enduring this extremely severe reflected damage, Dorothy immediately refocused her attention on the distant battlefield. At this moment, the operation targeting Mukhtar had reached its most critical point.
Borrowing the extended range of the city defense system's abilities, Dorothy manipulated all the metal objects in the entire hall with magnetic force, causing them to collectively stick to the heavily scarred Mukhtar, restricting and suppressing him in a corner. Mukhtar, who had never seen such a formation before, was momentarily at a loss upon seeing the countless metal objects and vessels surrounding him. Just then, under Dorothy's cover, Vanya, with an orange-yellow halo emanating from her hands, approached Mukhtar and successfully stroked his heavily wounded body with her hand.
At first, Mukhtar thought Vanya intended to capture him with her empty hands, so he assumed a corresponding dodging posture. However, what he didn't expect was that Vanya had no intention of grabbing him at all. She merely used her hand, emanating an orange-yellow halo, to brush over Mukhtar's body, without any attacking or restricting movements. Mukhtar only felt a warmth in the body that had been touched. He had experienced this feeling before; it was the feeling of being healed by a Healing Priest, who was also on the path of """Lamp""!"
This otherworld Sister, is healing me!?
Looking at the healing halo on the opponent's hand, Mukhtar thought with considerable surprise. Just as he was perplexed as to why the enemy would suddenly heal him, Mukhtar began to feel an abnormality in his body.
Mukhtar felt that the pain in the area of his body that Vanya had just healed had not only not lessened but seemed to have deepened. Furthermore, in addition to the pain, he also felt an itchiness, and its intensity was constantly spreading. This combination of pain and itchiness made Mukhtar extremely uncomfortable.
Lowering his head, Mukhtar looked at the parts of his body where the abnormality appeared, and then saw a horrifying scene. On his skin, the numerous original wounds had disappeared, replaced by large patches of festering flesh and lumps, looking like an extremely ill patient in the advanced stages of a terminal illness. Just one look was enough to make one feel extremely nauseous, wanting to vomit.
"This is..."
His eyes wide, Mukhtar stared in horror at the continuous large patches of festering flesh and lumps on his body. He clearly had not expected Vanya's healing to produce such an effect.
Large areas of mutated flesh were rapidly eroding Mukhtar's bodily functions. Intense stinging and itching tormented Mukhtar's nerves. The adverse effects of the mutated tissue on his entire body were quickly spreading throughout Mukhtar. His movements became sluggish, and his vision began to blur. If not for his discipline forcibly maintaining his consciousness, and if not for him being in the state of assisting the soul Lord, he would have already lost the ability to move.
Malicious Healing. This was the result of Vanya's refined manipulation of her healing ability after acquiring advanced medical knowledge through Aka. Although this Malicious Healing could turn the enemy's wounds into mutated lesions, continuously worsening the entire body, it was still a form of healing, not any type of damage, so it would not trigger the reflected damage mechanism to reflect damage back to herself. And even if it could be triggered, it wouldn't matter, as the reflected effect would still be a healing effect. As long as Vanya ensured she had no injuries on her body, even if the Malicious Healing was reflected back, it would have no effect on her.
Mukhtar's physical condition worsened due to the Malicious Healing, making him extremely immobile. While feeling nauseated and horrified, he turned his head and glared at Vanya in front of him, discovering that she was still in a completely unharmed state, with yellow light appearing in her hand, intending to continue 'healing' him. Mukhtar thought that if his entire body were to be turned into this state, it would be worse than death and he would be unable to move. So, he immediately resorted to his old trick, took out a Symbol that was identical to the one he used against Shadi's freezing before, activated it, and threw it at close range.
Seeing the radiance appearing on the Symbol in Mukhtar's hand, Vanya couldn't help but be startled. She immediately retreated two steps, and the two floating metal armors around her automatically shielded her. Then, the Symbol thrown by Mukhtar emitted dazzling light, and a violent explosion roared out.
"Boom!"
Immediately, flames burst forth in the palace hall. The violent explosion blew away all the floating metal around Mukhtar. Vanya, protected by the metal armor in front of her, was not significantly affected by the explosion. After the explosion, Vanya peered out from behind the metal armor and saw the figure trembling and slowly standing up in the firelight after the explosion.
In the thick smoke, the emaciated, completely charred figure of Mukhtar, whose clothes were almost entirely burned away, slowly stood up. After enduring several lightning strikes and two explosions, he had now completely become a carbonized man. His entire body, from head to toe, was completely blackened, with no intact areas. He looked like a terrifying, pitch-black skeleton. But even so, he was still not dead. Supported by a powerful soul, he was still alive and possessed the ability to move.
"Ah... ah..."
Opening his cracked mouth, Mukhtar let out a desperate and hoarse, strange sound. In Vanya's eyes, he raised his arm and tore off and peeled away all the mutated tissue on his body that had turned into charcoal, while simultaneously taking out a Stone box, opening it, and trying to take something out of it.
Seeing that the opponent could still move at this moment, Vanya immediately prepared to run over and continue the Malicious Healing treatment. Just then, from another direction, a chilling white mist sprayed directly towards the charred Mukhtar. Mukhtar failed to dodge and was instantly enveloped by the cold mist. Vanya looked in the direction from which the cold mist was emitted, and then she saw Shadi, crystal clear all over, like an ice sculpture, walking into the hall. As he walked, he was using cold mist to freeze Mukhtar. After dealing with some of the Savior Sect reinforcements, he tracked the movement in the palace to this location.
As soon as Shadi saw Mukhtar, he immediately released cold mist without a word, attempting to freeze the opponent and completely trap him. Frost quickly began to form on Mukhtar, who was covered by the cold mist, and his body's movements became sluggish again. It wouldn't be long before he would be completely frozen.
To escape this predicament, Mukhtar's best method was to use the Symbol for another self-detonation, unfreeze, and then escape again. However, Mukhtar, who had already suffered countless injuries and endured several heavenly lightning strikes and two explosions, had a very weak soul at this moment. After fighting for so long and resisting so much damage, even a tank would only have a sliver of health left. If he self-detonated again, it was hard to guarantee that he wouldn't be directly blown to death by himself. If he did nothing, being completely frozen by Shadi would also mean his end.
'There's no other way... It has come to this... This is the only way...'
After seeing the desperate scene before him, Mukhtar moved his frost-covered body. His hand, which had already reached into the Stone box, took out a new item. Upon closer inspection, it was an ancient scroll tied up.
Taking out the scroll, Mukhtar unfolded it without hesitation. Then, on the originally blank offering, the Symbol of Light and Silence entwined with thorns appeared. Next, Mukhtar began to murmur in the language of the soul.
"Soul Contract... I use my soul as the code... in exchange for power..."
Amidst the murmuring, the strange light on the scroll in Mukhtar's hand became even more dazzling. Seeing this, Shadi felt a sense of unease. He continued to run forward, trying to accelerate the freezing. However, it was too late. His Chalk level freezing efficiency was clearly insufficient. Mukhtar had already used his last trump card. He spoke again in the language of the soul.
"Discipline, whoever intends to harm my body, before acting to cause harm, shall first suffer the retribution of the Soul Whip!"
As soon as Mukhtar finished speaking his discipline, Shadi, who could understand the language of the soul, immediately felt that something was wrong and wanted to stop immediately. But it was too late. He suddenly felt an unparalleled intense stinging pain erupt in his mind, as if something had burrowed into his brain. His head throbbed with pain, and after letting out a cry, he fell directly to the ground.
As a """Silent""" Extraordinary, Shadi could feel his soul receiving an inexplicable heavy blow at that moment. Both his soul and Setuot's soul within him were attacked and became unstable. The soul synchronization was disrupted, Shadi's elemental body was directly dispelled, and he instantly returned to his normal state and fell to the ground.
"Hmm... that guy... used something to strengthen his reflected damage discipline, changing the discipline's feedback method to directly target the soul..."
"The intensity of that discipline he just got has almost reached a level that surpasses the Creation Rank, approaching the Prototype Rank..."
Inside Shadi's body, Setuot also seemed unstable as he spoke to the fallen, head-splitting Shadi. Meanwhile, Vanya, seeing Shadi's sudden change, was filled with confusion. She didn't understand why Shadi had suddenly become like this.
However, putting aside her confusion, upon seeing Mukhtar floating up from the ground again, intending to float away and escape, she immediately wanted to step forward to perform Malicious Healing and stop the opponent. Just then, the head-splitting Shadi, in a state of blurred consciousness, hurriedly reminded her.
"Stop! You can't think about hurting him!"
Shadi's warning came out, but it was too late. When Vanya harbored the desire to attack Mukhtar in her heart, wanting to use Malicious Healing as a weapon to attack Mukhtar, an intense stinging pain erupted in her mind. Vanya, whose soul was directly attacked, cried out, covered her head, and collapsed to the ground beside her, falling heavily.
Vanya was not an """enlightenment""" or """Silent""" Extraordinary, and her mental and soul strength was far inferior to Shadi, a Chalk level """Silent""" Extraordinary. Therefore, after receiving a blow from Mukhtar's Soul Whip, she immediately fainted and completely lost the ability to move.
The final discipline that Mukhtar proclaimed after paying a heavy price was an enhanced version of his reflected damage discipline. Under this discipline, anyone perceived by Mukhtar who attempts to attack and harm him will suffer a severe soul-level whipping before the attack is carried out. The whipping's power is enough to whip a Chalk level """Silent""" Extraordinary to the point of nearly losing combat capability.
The so-called attacking behavior here is determined by the attacker's own intention. That is to say, as long as the attacker believes they are harming Mukhtar, no matter what kind of action the attacker intends to perform, they will trigger the discipline and be punished before the action is carried out.
For example, Vanya's Malicious Healing. Although objectively it is a healing action and would not trigger the previous reflected damage discipline, things are different under this current reflected damage discipline. Because in Vanya's own subjective determination, her Malicious Healing is a means of harm, a means of attack, an attempt to harm Mukhtar with healing, so before she performs the Malicious Healing, she will be punished for triggering the discipline.
And this time, the method of punishment was directly limited to a powerful soul whipping, no longer appearing as any kind of damage or retribution. Therefore, Shadi's method of relying on his elemental body to be immune to the reflected ice also failed. After taking a soul whipping, Shadi couldn't even maintain his original soul synchronization state with Setuot, and his entire elemental body directly failed.
At this moment in the palace hall, the situation of the battle took a sharp turn for the worse. Vanya and Shadi each took a soul whipping. Vanya immediately lost consciousness, while Shadi struggled to hold on, having almost lost his combat capability. Looking at the two enemies lying before him, the completely charred Mukhtar, terrifying like an undead, couldn't help but reveal a horrifying smile. He picked up his scimitar, slowly floated up, raised the scimitar in his hand, and floated towards the unconscious Vanya in front.
Just as Mukhtar was about to deliver a fatal blow to the enemies before him, the scattered broken metal objects in the hall quickly gathered, converging around Vanya and Shadi, directly lifting them up and making them float, then drifting away from Mukhtar.