170 Collapsing World (1/2)

Just like he said, Adelar was now unscrupulous, convinced that for whatever purpose he served, Olrich didn't dare severely harm him, yet. Even if he could retrace Konrad's death to him afterward, Adelar was convinced that ”loving father” would swallow his anger.

However, before they could lead their fellow assailants to take Konrad's neck, the masked Semi-Saints felt a gush of wind graze their cheeks. At first, they thought nothing of it, but when Konrad vanished from their sight, and a warm fluid splattered them from behind, their faces contorted into frowns. They turned heels, fast enough to witness the scene of their eleven comrades' heads soaring into the air, their necks torn by bare hands.

Still, there was no sight of Konrad, only another breeze. Again, they turned, and he was back where he stood. The only difference being his hands painted with their comrades' blood.

The five Semi-Holy Knights were startled.

Initially, they believed Konrad overestimated his abilities. But now, they realized they were the careless ones.

Still, since things had reached this point, they could only fight.

Each brandished their energy weapons and shot toward Konrad. His Miraculous Transcendence swirled around him in the form of rainbow-colored light. Before the quintet could reach him, the rainbow-colored transcendence spread toward them, enfeebling them at breakneck speed.

”What kind of transcendent force is this?”

Although they each possessed more than one-thousand years of cultivation, they'd never heard of Miraculous Transcendence.

To them, even Absolute Transcendence was a legend, impossible to achieve. Quickly, they realized their Semi-Holy Force had been thoroughly suppressed by Konrad's transcendence, leaving them unable to exert even ten percent of their power.

*BAM* *BAM* *BAM* *BAM* *BAM*

Konrad's arm jerked forward in a casual palm strike, and simultaneously, the five fifth step Semi-Holy Knights flew back, their chests caving under clear palm imprints.

Blood gushed from their mouths as they crashed onto the floor. The Semi-Holy force field they used to nullify noise vanished. Therefore, Konrad replaced it with a force field of his own.

The group leader was flabbergasted, unable to believe his eyes.

”The gap of an entire rank, the gap of the Transcendent and Semi-Holy Rank stands between us. How…how can you be this strong?”

This was not only horrifying but made no sense. With just the power of transcendence and meridians, that boy could effortlessly cross an entire rank to butcher his foes. Then didn't that mean that as long as he went all-out, even high-level Semi-Saints would be forced into retreat?

How did such a monster suddenly appear within the palace?

What was the source of his strength?

Konrad ignored them, black fog swirling around him and spreading to the invisible souls of the eleven deceased Transcendent Knights.

In a flash, he refined them all, causing his soul power to expend at wild speed.

”If you can't back up your words, it is arrogance. If you can, it is merely confidence. I've yet to meet anyone that makes me feel arrogant.

Your pathetic lot, will certainly not be the first.”

Konrad sneered and raised his hands, causing massive telekinetic power to trap and lift the bodies of the five Semi-Holy Knights.

With a grasping motion, they flew toward him. The same black fog extended from his fingers to infiltrate their souls and refine it as they breathed.

”As for why I'm this strong? Blame it on fate.”

”AAAAAARGH!”

The five men's ghastly roars hammered Nils' ears. The situation had already evolved into something she couldn't comprehend.

As the refinement ended, Konrad's soul power reached shocking levels. Although those were knights and not priests, the intensity of their soul was magnified by their high cultivation base, allowing Konrad to successively complete three transformations and reach the eighth step of the Transcendent Priest Rank.

He then let their lifeless bodies drop onto the ground and turned toward the two imperial eunuchs whose lives hanged by a thread.

Two Phantasm Orchids appeared within his hands then dived into the two men's mouths. Mouths Konrad forced open through telekinetic power.

The orchids were pushed down their throats, and as they reached their stomachs, purple light burst from within to heal their wounds.

Witnessing this scene, Nils was baffled. What was the need to first maim, then heal the same people?

Of course, she didn't realize that as soon as the orchids lodged themselves within them, those eunuchs became Konrad's slaves.

He then turned toward the sixteen corpses covering the ground, gathering them all before Nils.

”Remove their masks and tell me who they are.”

Konrad's voice and Nils' own curiosity drove her toward the corpses whose masks she removed one after the other.

Each face shocked her to the core of her soul.

And by the time she reached the last one, she couldn't stand on her feet and dropped onto the ground.

”The imperial guard…high-ranking members of the imperial guard…every single one of them…how could this be?”

She clearly remembered the words ”his highness.” Not ”his majesty,” ”his highness.” What highness could possibly command the imperial guard's high-ranking officials?

Even Elmar at his peak didn't have that clout.

”Others can't, but your second brother can.”

Konrad replied to Nils' unspoken question as if reading her mind.