Apart from the five individuals standing on the playersâ side, two more figures could be seen off in the distance.
Behind him stood an elderly man with a hunched back.
He looked unusually old, seemingly like the boyâs great-grandfather. The old man looked so old that he seemingly had one foot in the grave⊠as if he couldnât get up again if he fell. It wouldnât seem strange if he passed away at any moment.
What they had in common was that they were both wearing long gloves, and their pupils were the same bright red.
âIt was the red similar to Jiu Erâs eyes.
âYour Excellence Barney, and Your Excellency Jacob.â The saintâs tone was gentle, and he nodded politely, âItâs a pleasure to meet you for the first time.â
Are they the rumored Bloodhand âBrothersâ?
Lin Yiyi was stunned for a moment.
Are you sure they are brothers?
Such a large age gap seems odd, even if they claimed to be grandfather and grandson.
The age difference is too unreal, even if they are a grandparent-and-grandchild pair.
As soon as âthe Man Against Himselfâ finished his words, the same loud thunderous heartbeat sounded from Jiu Er again.
The first heartbeat summoned the[Mouth of the Blood Grail].
The second heartbeat sent them to this crimson world.
At the third heartbeat, the dark red sun in the sky began to drip with blood.
It started as a trickle but quickly grew heavier. The dark red âsunâ seemed like a tilted bottleâs mouth, continuously pouring its content down.
After that, Jiu Er stopped emitting the thunderous heartbeat.
She raised her head and stared intently at the black sun in the sky. Her eyes were empty with only dark red as if the [Mouth of the Grail] was reflected in the bottom of her pupils.
Upon a closer look, the players realized the crimson prairie wasnât as huge as they had imagined.
The place was roughly the size of two football fields.
The viscous, citrus-scented blood plasma quickly soaked the ground.
The saint appeared to be rooted to the spot. He stood unmoving, drenched in the torrential downpour of blood.
â[Taboo ritual: Heaven in the Grail]âŠIt is indeed you, Miss Worden.â
It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread dot com".
[TN: Henry Worden is originally a female before becoming a saint.]
Despite the situation, the young boy in the distance didnât panic. He merely chuckled, âSuch a familiar tactic. Iâm scared.â
âBut, didnât you come to me willingly?â Henry Worden didnât immediately attack. Instead, he spoke amicably across a river of blood with the odd pair of âbrothersâ: one too old and one too young.
However, his tone quickly became less than friendly, âIf youâre scared, shouldnât you be wetting your pants and calling for your mommy, scampering off like scared rats?â
âItâs meaningless to run away. After all, you are a monster who can steal all a personâs desires by eating them.â The boy calmly looked at the battered saint, his tone turning vicious, âI wonder⊠how much of you is still actually you?â
âIâm still myself.â The saint replied without any hesitation.
As the blood soaked the ground, the saint no longer hesitated.
He didnât even bother raising his hand.
The whole world came alive in an instant.
From the blood beneath the saintâs feet, countless thorny vines burst forth, spreading out toward the two opponents on the other side.
When those vines neared the opponents, half morphed into sharp spears while the remainder came at them from different directions, aiming to trap their limbs.
Meanwhile, the blood beneath the Bloodhand Brothers acted like water ghouls, gripping their legs and feet, holding them tightly in place.
Boom~
Though they seemed like soft vines, they created a thunderous bang when hurled like spears.
Despite the distance of several hundred meters, the ground was still rumbling and shaking.
Only then did Lin Yiyi understand why the saint threw the enemy so far away.
Otherwise, the AoE attack might harm the players.
âGive me your life, Barney!â The boy let out a sound that was both youthful and incredibly sharp.
Meanwhile, the old man obediently nodded, not finding any issue with the boyâs words. âNo problem, brother.â
Then, the downpour of red spears bombarded them.
The ground was bombarded until it collapsed. Cracks visible to the naked eye emerged from all directions. The ground undulated like a floating island, and blood gushed from the cracks.
As for the Bloodhand Brothers, they were overwhelmed by the continuous bombardment.
âSo the younger one is the older brother.
While huddled on the ground, covering her head, this thought occurred to Lin Yiyi.
She originally thought she might be able to help⊠but after seeing the saintâs opening move, she realized â she might not be up to it.
It was as if the crimson world came alive.
Fountains of blood gushed from the depths of the ground.
A river of blood fell like a waterfall from the sky.
These blood were all under the control of Henry Worden, turning into any shape at will.
The spectacular scene of the downpour of spears was merely a prologue.
This attack, which could have blasted the players to smithereens, was merely a probing move for the Bloodhand Brothers.
An unknown and invisible power tore through the rain of red spears. Only then did the players get a glimpse of the Bloodhand Brothersâ situation.
Then, the players understood what âgive me your lifeâ meant.
The brothers were the Fallens in Gold Rank, which implied total demonization.
As the boy pointed his right hand to the saint, invisible hands spawned mid-air.
Some appeared youthful as a childâs, others aged like an elderly personâs; some hands seemed masculine, rough, and strong, and others were as delicate and fair as a womanâs. Precisely because they were amidst the surging river of blood, these hands made of air became more clearly visible.
With just one glance, Citalopram could discern the curses and resentment brimming within those âhandsâ.
The mutated body parts of the brothers were not âbloodâ but âhandsâ.
The Bloodhand Brothers could seize the âhandsâ of those they had killed besides manifesting and controlling them through a medium.
Without warning, the ground beneath the saintâs feet cracked.
Hands formed from the soil firmly gripped the saintâs legs â just as the saint had done to them. Meanwhile, hands forged from the air, as hard as steel, snapped the saintâs neck in the blink of an eye.
However, the saint didnât care about his injuries at all.
He didnât even care about having his neck snapped off and his calf crushed.
Instead⊠the world became furious when the saint was harmed.
The movements of the blood entities accelerated several folds with the speed tripled. The unexpected acceleration allowed them to break through the invisible barrier of the restraining hands after turning back into liquid.
Immediately, the blood entities surged up, gathering together to form a tide.
The tides came crashing down from above. On the other side, the invisible hands had clasped together and positioned in front of the tide, attempting to split the tide apart.
Then, the tide made of blood was sliced in half.
As the blood got closer to the Bloodhand Brothers, it merged like a closing mouth and bit down on the brothers in the middle!
In the blink of an eye, the saint firmly grasped the victory with one against two.
This was a battle completely beyond the playersâ imagination.
The players slowly understood why the saint was called a âmonsterâ.
A saint was more than an arsenal of weapons.
The entities could be transformed into anything based on the situation. As its volume increased, it would eventually become an indestructible âphenomenonâ like a hurricane or a tsunami.
That was the mighty power of the sacred bone [the Flesh of Sacrifice].
It was not so much a divine power but a curse power.
Lin Yiyi finally knew why the saint asked Jiu Er to use the taboo ritual to summon them to the realm of âthe Heaven in the Grailâ.
If the river of blood were in the real world, cities would be destroyed, becoming one with the river of blood.
If the desert came alive, the destruction would be on this scale too.