For the first time, Malin failed to achieve complete victory in terms of strength. He struggled to fend off the Bone Blade and at the same time noticed the bloody holes on the Spiritual Body’s shoulders, seemingly caused by nails.
The Bone Blade whistled through the air again, and Malin blocked the strike with the World Tree Sapling in his hand. He noticed the Spiritual Body silently weeping, with corrupted blood gushing from her empty eye sockets, and the mad whispers echoed around him.
"You are not him, you are just a traitor, a coward who betrayed us!"
The Bone Blade and the sapling clashed once more, and Malin looked at the Spiritual Body before him, who was shouting, but her mouth was empty.
"I curse you, curse this world, curse everything!"
Malin stepped back and drank a potion made from the fruit of the World Tree Sapling. For the next three minutes, Malin would be a monster with power approaching 30.
The Bone Blade was deflected, and the Longsword of the World Tree Sapling sliced through the Spiritual Body’s arm. She wailed and cursed even more.
"There are no deities in this world, just pitiful creatures that even believers cannot save! I curse it all!"
Stepping back from the slashing Bone Blade, Malin thrust forward with the sapling, and the Spiritual Body shifted back several meters in an instant.
"I curse this world..." The whispers of Lingxiu echoed in Malin’s mind.
For the first time, Malin found himself unable to block out the whispers and was puzzled, but that didn’t mean he would stop his assault. The World Tree Sapling transformed into a Magic Wand in a flash, and a beam pierced through the chest of the thought-created Spiritual Body. It screeched and vanished into the air, while the whispers continued, this time replacing the earlier hysteria with mournful words.
"Why, why, am I going to fail..."
The Spiritual Body appeared before Malin; she kneeled on one leg, using the Bone Blade to support herself as the different kind raised her head to look at Malin.
"It’s the sapling... this world... there are still pure ones in it..."
Malin ceased his pursuit.
"Where do you come from, different kind?," Malin asked.
"I, I am... No..." The Spiritual Body began wailing, her form fully materializing into reality, the cost of genuine flesh and blood being that she finally and completely breached the dimensions, transforming from a Spiritual Body into a solid entity.
She started to burn, the divine Positive Energy of the World Tree Sapling harming her so effectively that it ignited her shell.
Only then did Malin finally see clearly the Spiritual Body; the bloody holes in her shoulders were likely caused by nails piercing through; her body had no skin anywhere, and her eyes were nowhere to be seen.
Although he didn’t recognize her, he recognized her horns.
They were twisted but truly beautiful, the patterns on them resembling those of a lamb that always liked to confront him.
The monster eventually turned to ash, and a small metal object fell amidst the ashes.
Malin picked it out with a small twig.
It was a copper buckle.
At first glance, it was a very ordinary copper buckle, Malin didn’t know of it, and he didn’t use copper buckles on his clothes.
With that knowledge, Malin felt a bit better— in a world rife with supernatural chaos, at this moment, Malin was truly frightened.
He feared that the Spiritual Body was a Lillim from another world... If it really was her, it meant they had failed in that world.
Everyone could not escape death—whether it was death by blade or being transformed into a Chaos different kind, death had various manifestations.
With that thought, Malin subtly picked up the copper buckle and pocketed it, then turned to Shelton, "It’s over."
"My goodness, it’s finally over. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone of such high stature; it almost scared me witless," the half-giant youth wiped his forehead with his hand.
"Unexpectedly simple? Or should I say, Mr. Malin, you are unexpectedly strong?" Mr. Assistant Priest extended his hand, "Anyway, thank you, Mr. Malin. You’ve given a kid who was about to flunk Array classes a chance at redemption."
"That’s what I’m here for, to do the...," before he could finish, Malin shook hands with Mr. Assistant Priest, followed by a crisp sound of bones cracking, as though what he had just grasped was not flesh and bone but a piece of paper.
Malin looked at his twisted palm, suddenly realizing that the potion’s effects had not yet worn off.
"My potion is still effective," Malin said, quite embarrassed, to Mr. Assistant Priest.
"I know." Mr. Assistant Priest nodded, sweating profusely, and withdrew his hand after Malin let go, "Thirty points of strength?"
"Don’t know, haven’t tested it," Malin said, feeling a bit embarrassed.
And so, Mr. Assistant Priest was put on a carriage, thanks to his prior handling of those Wraiths that wanted to join the melee. Logan finally got on the carriage roof and drove ahead to take the priest for medical treatment.
Shelton brought over his horse and insisted that Clovis and Lillim take it for a ride.
Thus Malin had no choice but to let the two girls mount the horse, which was initially a bit wild and seemed unhappy about the youngsters on its back. Malin had to call on Blood Roar; facing an axe larger than the horse’s forehead, Mr. Horse had no choice but to concede, to avoid violence from occurring uninvited.
"Lillim, that Spiritual Body just now really looked a lot like you, you both have such big horns."
"And that rabbit in the cage particularly resembles you."
The two girls riding the horse were experts at pointing out the elephant in the room, but listening to their conversation, Malin felt somewhat reassured—clearly the girls did not take the Spiritual Body seriously, and it was fortunate that it was Lillim and Clovis; had it been the clever Faye, the girl would probably be unable to restrain her wild imaginings by now.