Book 5 - Chapter 8.1 - Face of Darkness

Book 5 Chapter 8.1 - Face of Darkness

The ball of plasma flame turned into a fiery cloud several hundred times its size, covering the entire village, only turning into a dark black mushroom cloud and slowly rising into the air after most of the heat energy disappeared. 

Su stood at a hilltop several dozen kilometers out, watching as the mushroom cloud that was no different from a small scale nuclear explosion rose into the sky. Su, who had personally experienced the power of the plasma flames, was confident that not a single life remained inside of that village, not even the lowest level insect able to survive under such high temperatures. Su didn’t conceal his own traces, standing there just like that. The past few days already proved that the current state, or perhaps this part of the apostle didn’t possess sight ability. 

After destroying the village, the apostle roared over like a dark cloud, while Su stood in his original location without moving. After being chased repeatedly for the past few days, this wasn’t the first time he saw the apostle use violence, but previously, it took its anger out on some animals. This time, it was a large scale massacre of the human race. 

While watching the burning village, Su felt a heaviness that was impossible to get rid of. 

Madeline saw through Su’s silence, saying, “Don’t let it get to you. I believe that it precisely wants you to feel a guilty conscience, and from there on restrict your range of movement. The one that murdered was the apostle, not you.” 

Su nodded, releasing the suffocating breath of air that filled his chest. 

His many years of dealing with powerful enemies and harsh environments already taught him not to undertake burdens that he couldn’t do away with. Dejectedness and fretfulness were luxuries only those living peaceful lives could enjoy. What Su had was only an ice-cold cool-headedness and reasoning, because he couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. 

The apostle gradually proceeded, but Su seemed to have sensed a slight difference. This time, the apostle seemed to be in a bit of a hurry, and it moved much faster, not like the usual aimless search, but rather seemed to have discovered something and currently in pursuit. 

Su decided to enter the village to see exactly what the apostle discovered. This was an extremely dangerous course of action, and when Su was in a state of absolute reasoning, he would often make these types of decisions. Cirvanas’ face turned a bit pale again, because he who had the Elemental Affinity ability was extremely sensitive to the surrounding environment. This was also precisely the reason why the intimidation and attacks of the apostle’s consciousness were much more powerful against him. As long as he approached ten kilometers of the apostle’s consciousness, Cirvanas would start trembling from instinctive fear. However, Su and Madeline were well aware of his situation, and so they had their way of dealing with it. For the sake of maintaining speed during these situations, the two would take turns carrying the young man, and all he needed to do was maintain the anti-gravity force field. 

Under the apostle’s pressure, sometimes, Cirvanas couldn’t even display that anti-gravity force field. However, Madeline would use a conditioned reflex method to solve this problem. This actually proved that the pain of forced drinking could even counteract the apostle’s pressure, so as long as Madeline made a gesture, Cirvanas would instinctively display the anti-gravity force field, moreover maintain it with all of his strength, to the extent where while running, he already went unconscious due to an exhaustion of stamina, yet the anti-gravity force field was still maintained. On this matter, Madeline accidentally revealed a demon like pair of little horns. She, who had ruled over the Trials Division for several years, had a profound understanding of torture and inhuman matters. What she did to Cirvanas’ body was merely a small trick. 

For example, when training him to constantly maintain the anti-gravity force field, Madeline would place a burning hot dagger right beneath his feet, and then tie him to a rope that wasn’t too firm. Only when the anti-gravity force field was in place would the young man’s body not break this rope. Meanwhile, before this, Madeline, through a few small methods, already turned the young man’s soles into untouchable achilles’ heels. Even if it was touched a bit by the tip of the dagger, Cirvanas would feel as if all of his nerves were removed. Meanwhile, the moment of greatest fear, was this type of time when it was about to make contact, but didn't yet. 

As long as Madeline wished, she could turn any point on the young man’s body into vulnerable spots. For her, this was nothing more than a little mental game, as well as a negligible bit of surgery. 

Just like that, the young man’s fear towards the apostle was subdued in a single afternoon’s time. To be more precise, another type of deep fear replaced the fear he felt towards the apostle. 

Towards this matter, Su never said anything. Only, when he looked at Madeline, his gaze still became a bit different. A hint of gloominess flashed past Madeline’s expression at that instant, but it immediately disappeared, recovering the appearance of a carefree and worriless young lady. 

The three figures crossed the hilltop with a speed even greater than the apostle’s, several dozen kilometers covered in a matter of mere minutes. A moment later, Su already entered the village that was still burning alone, completely scanning with his perception abilities that could already be considered terrifying over every single structure. After sweeping over this entire village, Su returned completely empty-handed. However, he already deduced that if the village’s facilities were used to their greatest potential, they could completely provide for a thousand people. However, it was now completely burned down in one go by the apostle’s flames.