Yama Rising

With that furious roar, a burst of silver light erupted upward from his shadow, then adhered itself to his body as if it were a substantial object. In the next instant, Udyr abruptly raised his head and let loose an inhuman roar as beams of pure white light radiated out of every pore all over his entire body. They were like vines of light that erupted out his body, then formed a suit of armor that completely enveloped him.

A burst of vast and desolate holy light swept through the entire battlefield like a tsunami. The pure white specks of light were like living beings that were rapidly revolving around Udyr, forming a dazzling sea of light. Udyr had undergone such a significant change that everyone's attention was drawn to him, and an instant of complete silence settled over the entire scene.

At the center of the battlefield, a nun turned around with a stunned expression, casting her gaze toward the vast sea of holy light. In the darkness of the night, it was like a beacon of holiness. Her hands were trembling as she brought her palms together, and a devout look of worship appeared on her face as she said in a trembling, "May you forever be blessed by the lord..."

At this moment, countless witch hunters, paladins, and followers of the church had also turned their attention toward Udyr with astonished expressions, watching a scene that they would most likely only ever witness once in a lifetime. The shock on their faces quickly turned to worship and reverence as well, and in the end, all of them brought their palms together to pray for Udyr.

Udyr begna to slowly hover up into mid-air amid the sea of light, and in the next instant, a majestic holy song abruptly rang out around him, having the same effect as long horns being blown on a battlefield. Streaks of white light pierced through the night, and it was as if a deity had descended into the mortal realm!

A pair of wings formed by gentle light extended out of Udyr's back, encompassing an area with a radius of around 50 meters.

At the same time, his broken giant sword was being rapidly repaired by the resplendent radiance, and light in the shape of a cross was glowing directly in front of his chest.

He was like a pristine and holy deity, yet at the same time, he was looking down on all those around him.

Brando faltered slightly upon seeing this, then let loose a panicked howl before turning around and frantically rushing away.

"That's a stigmata!!"

His sharp voice rang out across the entire battlefield, yet he hadn't even rushed 20 meters away when pillars of light abruptly erupted out of the ground, forming a cage of light with Udyr at the center that trapped Brando within and prevented him from escaping.

Brando gnashed his fangs together as he turned around. It had to be said that all of the devout followers of the catholic church were insane!

Stigmatas were things that could only come from saints, and to be specific, they were the remains of those saints. There weren't many stigmatas left across the entire world, and the catholic church only had 20 at the very most. Using a stigmata would instantly create an angel of the Yama-King level, but the beare of the stigmata would rapidly age and perish within five minutes, and even their soul would be completely eradicated.

The body of a mortal was simply incapable of containing godly power.

Even at the exchange of his life and soul, he could earn himself five minutes of godly power.

This was an isolated arena for gods. Brando withdrew his gaze from the cage of light, then closed his eyes and heaved a faint sigh.

I may not be able to get away, but do you really think you can compare with a true Duke in your current form?!

"Who gave you the confidence to trap yourself in here with me?!" Yin energy erupted violently from his entire body, releasing a sea of darkness. Right at this moment, the silver light in the sky cascaded down like a waterfall, forming a resplendent shockwave. At the center of the shockwave was an angel with a pair of wings on his back. It was a slender angel wearing a white cloak, and his face was completely concealed under the hood of the cloak. The angel was wielding a pair of swords, one in each hand, and he was rising up into the air amid the holy light.

Dead silence.

All of a sudden, a witch hunter fell to one knee and pressed his palms against his own chest. He was quickly followed by a second witch hunter, then a third, and shortly thereafter, all of the witch hunters had fallen to one knee while chanting in gentle voices.

"... Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the cornerstone thereof; when the morning stars sang together..."

The voices of over 1,000 witch hunters combined to form a melodious choir, and amid their reverent prayers, the angel slowly raised his swords, sending ripples surging through the air as he directed his swords at Brando from afar.

One of them was an angel while the other was a demon, and the two of them were situated no more than 200 meters apart, watching each other from afar. The holy light transformed into flower petals falling from the holy tree, drifting down onto this bloodstained earth.

Immediately thereafter, both of them vanished in unison!

It was impossible to track them with the naked eye!

Everyone was watching intently to try and see what was happening, but their speed far exceeded the limits of what their eyes could follow. They could only see the air trembling incessantly while metallic clangs rang out in rapid succession like a torrential downpour falling upon a tin roof. There were also countless shockwaves of light that were proliferating outward one after another, and it was both an extremely beautiful scene yet also a hellish one.

At the top of the Masonic Temple, Qin Ye abruptly opened his eyes.

He could sense what was happening all the way over at Saint Peter's Church, and his instincts told him that the opportunity that he had been waiting for this entire time was about to arrive!

Brando was going all-out to face the angel of the catholic church, and this was going to be the key battle that decided the outcome of this skirmish at Saint Peter's Church. In this situation, Brando definitely didn't have the spare capacity to continue watching Saint Peter's Church. Even if he did, there was no way he could escape from the cage of holy light anyway.

I have to remain calm...

Qin Ye was feeling so on-edge that he felt as if layers of goosebumps were being raised on top of one another on his skin, and his heart was thumping like a jackhammer. His mind was racing rapidly as he analyzed the scene of the battle as quickly as he could.

This still wasn't the best time to strike yet. The battle had only just begun, and Brando's consciousness was still enveloping Saint Peter's Church. If he were to strike now, Brando would still be able to intervene.

"These types of abilities that can instantly grant one significant boost in power must have extremely severe repercussions on the user. It looks like Brando is also well aware of that and is planning to stall for time until that paladin's transformation runs out. However, that paladin isn't going to allow that to happen, he has to ensure that he can gain sufficient compensation before the repercussions strike, which means that as his transformation gets closer and closer to running out, his attacks are going to become more and more frantic. Once that happens, even Brando will no longer have the spare capacity to pay attention to Saint Peter's Church."

Qin Ye took several deep breaths in succession, and he was feeling slightly weary from excessive tension. Sweat was beginning to bead up on his forehead, but he didn't dare to relax in the slightest as he continued to release his consciousness while slowly pulling on his Yin energy threads to adjust the position of his Dusk Legionnaire.

The battlefield was in a state of complete chaos, and no one noticed a cloud of Yin energy forming on one side of the church's rooftop. In the air above the church, a vampire in his moonlight form was inspecting the church intently.

Storms that arrived abruptly often faded just as quickly.

After two minutes, all of the light radiating from the angel's entire body had turned golden in color, and his speed had already surpassed the limit of what a normal person... no, the limit of what even a Count could observe. Initially, everyone could still see the warping air, but at this point, there were only fierce gusts of wind that resembled sharp blades sweeping in all directions. All of the surrounding witch hunters' cloaks were quickly reduced to tattered rags while countless wounds and gashes were inflicted on their bodies as if an invisible death god had just passed them by.

Amid the oppressive silence and the clash between superhuman monsters, no one dared to even breathe audibly, as if as soon as they made a sound, the blades of wind sweeping through the area would notice them and send them to the afterlife.

Every passing second felt like an eternity, yet slowly but surely, three minutes passed by.

Normal humans were unable to see this, but as a Yama-King, Qin Ye could see wisps of white energy seeping out from under the angel's cloak. Perhaps it was the angel's dying breaths or something else. In any case, Qin Ye could clearly see that the pair of hands holding the swords had become extremely wrinkled and wizened, and they were even trembling slightly.

He's not going to last much longer... Qin Ye felt as if his own throat were constricting as he prepared to act.

A countdown timer seemed to be ticking down audibly beside his ears, and in the instant it struck three minutes and 30 seconds, a silver shockwave exploded violently. Immediately thereafter, a burst of light rose straight up toward the sky, accompanied by a thunderous roar, "For the lord!!"

At the same time, Brando finally reappeared. His entire body was riddled with wounds and stained by blood, but none of the injuries were life-threatening.

Brando's powers are still superior to those of the angel, so instead of taking a risk to land a killing blow, he's merely worn the angel down over time, waiting for his transformation to run out. It looks like the angel is about to unleash his final trump card now!

Standing atop the roof of the Masonic Temple, Qin Ye's lips were tightly pursed as his mind raced faster than ever before, and in the instant the angel rose up toward the heavens, his fingers had already completely tensed up.

There was only going to be a single opportunity!

As this burst of light erupted into the heavens, countless beams of light surged out of the angel's body, and he completely dissipated into countless specks of light amid one final howl of vindictive fury. At the same time, a burst of rumbling suddenly rang out in the sky above.

All of the black fur on Brando's back immediately stood up on end. Even as powerful as he was, an extremely potent sense of peril had welled up in his heart.

However, before he could react, the sky suddenly turned dark.

Golden lightning arced through the air while a violent vortex of clouds took shape amid rumbling thunderclaps. The cloud vortex was over 100 meters in radius and consisted of countless layers of tumultuous clouds stacked on top of one another. Not only were all of the witch hunters, paladins, church followers, and werewolves staring up at the sky with stunned expressions, even Brando himself drew a sharp breath.

"This is divine retribution..." he murmured to himself with a grim expression.

Udyr had condensed his final two minutes of godly power together to unleash the most powerful attack he was capable of, and this attack was devastating enough to raze half of Philadelphia to the ground!

"Damn it!" In this instant, both he and Qin Ye made the exact same move even though they were situated far away from one another.

Both of them crouched down onto the ground like hunting leopards about to pounce.

This was the final attack. At the very least, that was the case for Brando, whereas for Qin Ye, it was the future path to light.

The black fur all over Brando's entire body undulated erratically as his vast Yin energy erupted forth like a sea of darkness, surging directly toward the divine retribution overhead. Meanwhile, Qin Ye's clothes were flapping around him as veins began to bulge on his forehead, and even his eyes had turned slightly bloodshot.

The cloud vortex was howling violently, and the golden light at its center was becoming brighter and brighter while the sense of holiness in the air was becoming more and more pronounced. 10 seconds later, a dazzling shockwave swept through the entire city, and night had transitioned into daylight!

BOOM!!!

The first thing that everyone heard was an earth-shattering boom, but immediately thereafter, all sound was drowned out, presenting a muted scene depicting a sea of pure golden light, as if heaven itself had descended into this world.

Right at this instant, Qin Ye immediately tugged on the two Yin energy threads that he was holding while rushing forward like a speeding arrow.

It was also at the exact same moment that all three of Brando's heads let loose thunderous roars as he stood in front of Saint Peter's Church. His seven eyes lit up in unison, and his Yin energy surged up toward the heavens like an almighty reverse waterfall!