"What... just happened?"
Cold sweat soaked the back of his clothes. Carlisle endured the intense pain, his remaining right hand trembling as he pressed it against the gushing wound on his left shoulder, where healing magic light swirled. As his mana surged, the gruesome wound gradually stopped bleeding and scabbed over, but the arm that should have been there was gone from this world forever.
He slowly turned his head. Where he had just been standing, a bottomless crack stretched straight to the horizon. The ground on both sides of the crack was an eerie mirror-like surface, as if space itself had been neatly sliced open by some supreme power.
Thankfully... Carlisle's gaze swept into the distance. Crusch had already led the surviving soldiers to retreat far away. There were no more casualties besides himself. This realization allowed his taut nerves to relax slightly.
He subconsciously tried to move the fingers of his non-existent left hand. As a knight, he knew better than anyone what losing his dominant hand meant... No, this wasn't the time to think about such things.
Carlisle shook his head forcefully, suppressing the distracting thoughts. He took a deep breath and used his right hand to pick up his fallen longsword. The tip of the sword still pointed steadily at the white demon.
"I say."
Regulus spoke again.
"Are you still going to obstruct my right to eliminate the convoy? Who do you think you are? Just a crippled knight with one arm missing!" Her voice suddenly rose. "I was merciful enough to let you go, and you still dare to point your sword at me? Do you know who I am? I am the most perfect, kindest, and noblest existence in the world!"
She became more agitated as she spoke.
"Those lowly soldiers dared to ram me with a dragon carriage! They violated my 'right not to be offended'! According to the laws of the world, I have every right to erase all of them! And you! You ungrateful knight! Not only do you not thank me for my leniency, but you also try to stop me from exercising my legitimate rights!"
Regulus's twisted rhetoric made Carlisle feel a wave of nausea. The being in front of him, who claimed to be "perfect," had a thought process more foul than the dirtiest sewer. But what shocked him even more was that after the slash capable of tearing space, the other party's breathing frequency hadn't even changed, as if that world-destroying attack was merely brushing away a speck of dust.
All attacks are ineffective... He gazed at the gradually dimming magical light on his sword blade, recalling every moment an attack was nullified. Attacks would strangely halt a foot before reaching Regulus, as if an invisible, absolute wall protected her entire body.
One more time.
Carlisle's right hand longsword erupted with dazzling white light. A torrent of mana surged along the blade, ionizing the air along its path with a burnt smell.
"Snap."
It shattered into motes of light a foot in front of Regulus again.
Regulus's face darkened.
"I say, you should know when to stop! In which slum's dirty gutter did you receive your upbringing? Didn't your parents teach you that interrupting others is the lowest form of behavior? Could it be that you don't even have parents?"
"Look at this world." She pointed at the corpses on the ground. "Everywhere there are rude and uncivilized barbarians like you! Even though I am so perfect! So kind! So tolerant! Yet I have to endure your repeated offenses, you low-class people!"
"I merely wanted to quietly exercise my small right to 'eliminate offenders,' it's so simple, so reasonable, but you, you rude man! Taking advantage of my slight liking for you to do as you please, do you know how hard it is to be coveted by you low-level creatures every day?"
Carlisle's sword tip still pointed directly at Regulus. "No, your very existence defiles the word 'humanity'."
The air seemed to freeze at that instant.
"...What did you say?"
Regulus's voice suddenly became unusually calm, but her golden pupils dangerously constricted.
"Say it again?" A twisted smile appeared on her lips. "I don't think I heard you clearly."
Carlisle repeated without flinching. "I said, your very existence is a blasphemy against humanity."
Regulus's delicate face instantly twisted.
"Do you know what you're saying?!" Her voice suddenly rose, filled with hysterical rage. "From what corner of your brain did such illogical slander emerge?!"
She suddenly spread her arms.
"Look at this world! Open your pathetic eyes and truly see! Who else but the perfect me can represent the radiance of humanity?!"
"Can't you even make such a simple judgment?! Go to hell!!"
Her voice was filled with unbelievable fury.
As the last syllable fell, she violently swung her arm.
"Boom!!!"
The entire earth surged like an enraged giant beast. The ground cracked into bottomless ravines, and rocks twisted and deformed under an invisible force. Carlisle suddenly flew out of the attack range, then heard a deafening explosion behind him.
He looked back in a panic, only to see a mountain several kilometers away collapse with a loud bang! The massive mountain was crushed into dust by some invisible force, forming a sky-obscuring cloud of dust.
"Why aren't you dead yet!" Regulus's voice suddenly became tearful. "To make a good person like me so angry! Don't you understand how lowly you are?!"
"This is no longer a simple infringement of rights!" Her voice became increasingly shrill. "You actually! You actually made me lose my composure like this!" Regulus's finger pointed at Carlisle.
"If you still have the last shred of conscience as a sentient being... then hurry up and die!"
Carlisle gazed at the enraged Regulus. Twisted killing intent surged in her golden pupils, her fury had turned the entire earth into her toy. He knew that fleeing was useless.
Even if Crusch had retreated several kilometers away, with Greed Archbishop's space-tearing ability, catching up and crushing them would be a snap of her fingers. Moreover, there was also Ley of gluttony lurking nearby.
He had to stall them here... But how should he fight?
...
Re@d adv@nce ch@pters on p@t
guilt_free_daoist
Jo!n d!sc0rd I!nk in synops!s.
GIVE ME YOU POWER STONES.