Demon Bible

Chapter 227: Peak Condition, Max Loadout

"Dalos?" The captain of the fourth squad stepped back, recognizing Dalos's current appearance.

"What is your Dartmenerly family trying to achieve?"

"Do you want your bloodline completely severed and your entire family wiped out?!"

Assaulting Church institutions in droves carried a far heavier penalty than Westbin's previous crimes.

Westbin had smuggled Whale Products to a cult, maintaining a cooperative relationship with them.

The crux of the matter lay in his collaboration with a cult. This fact had already been confirmed, and it was also established that the majority of his family members were completely unaware of it.

Therefore, Zoven and the others had not been implicated.

However, assaulting the Church was entirely different. Once such a crime was confirmed, anyone belonging to the Dartmenerly family would be thoroughly implicated.

Even Nemus, a Great Knight who had long since publicly severed ties with the family, would be subjected to another investigation.

Under such circumstances, simply possessing the family's bloodline was an original sin.Dalos remained completely unresponsive. He merely stared at Zoven, his entire aura bearing down menacingly upon him.

"The Patriarch knows that your blood alone is useless." After initiating the attack, Dalos spoke for the first time.

"It is also necessary to truly awaken the Fey power hidden within."

"Give me a portion of blood with awakened Fey power, and I will leave immediately!" Dalos declared.

He still placed full trust in the Patriarch's words.

Dartmenerly had lived for over two hundred years and was the most highly regarded son of a Golden Rank being. Furthermore, he had even studied some Alchemy on the side.

Other Minor Nobles might not be privy to such secrets, but Dartmenerly most likely was.

After all, their ancestors had enjoyed a period of great prosperity.

When it came to the Historical Number and the Fey, Dartmenerly had scoured the family's collection of books and even secretly contacted an old family friend in Sky Spring City. Only after exhausting their last remaining favor in exchange for accurate intelligence had he finalized this plan.

"No, I absolutely will not accept exchanging my blood for anything ever again!" Zoven refused without a second thought.

In Zoven's eyes, his father had made a terrible mistake for the sake of the Historical Number, causing countless tragedies.

Later, even though he had only made a deal with Nemus out of consideration for his family.

That decision had still caused everything to turn out the way it was now.

He would not deny that his own foolishness and selfishness were among the main reasons his family had been killed.

But equally, he would never forgive Nemus for coveting his blood and subsequently slaughtering his family without the slightest hesitation.

Everything stemmed from that single deal.

Perhaps without that deal, his family would have been killed by those coveting their remaining wealth due to a lack of protection, or they might have been hunted down by past enemies.

But that would have been the rightful retribution for their sins.

The power of history could not be abused. Things that one ought to do themselves should be done by their own hands.

Rather than selling one's own blood and using transactions to accomplish tasks they should have rightfully shouldered themselves.

"The duty of history is just the same."

"If one lacks the courage to take responsibility, only wanting to escape and play tricks, then history will equally abandon them."

This mindset was the conviction Zoven held at this very moment.

He would bear the destiny of his bloodline himself, resolutely doing what he believed was right. That way, even if he met his end one day, he would have no regrets!

He could no longer change his father's actions, nor did he have the right to blame him.

But from this moment onward, he would absolutely never trade his own blood again!

"Is that so?" Dalos was already fully prepared to die. His conviction was as firm as steel, and he naturally sensed that Zoven was equally steadfast in his beliefs. Against such an individual, words were useless and speech was powerless. The sword in his hand was the only way to communicate!

The victor could unilaterally declare that they were right, while for the loser, no matter how resolute their beliefs, it would be completely useless.

"Regardless, I must obtain the ticket to the Historical Number from you," Dalos muttered. He suddenly surged with power, launching himself toward Zoven like an artillery shell.

Zoven furrowed his brows slightly and raised his sword.

Escaping Radiance!

The Sword Light danced and vanished mid-flight. In the next instant, the Blade Edge materialized right at Dalos's neck.

However, unlike Dong He, a layer of white light flickered tightly against Dalos's skin, completely blocking the strike.

Spell Scroll — Shaping Spells: White Light Wall!

It could condense light onto the surface of the body, forming an invisible layer of protection.

And this kind of omnidirectional protective spell was precisely one of the early-stage counters to the Sword of Polaris.

The techniques of the Sword of Polaris could only be considered a top-tier Sword Art, but there was absolutely no shortage of top-tier Sword Arts in this world; they merely had different areas of focus.

Before achieving the Golden Rank and reaching true mastery in the Sword Art, its strongest move was actually just the Escaping Radiance strike.

The blade edge's sudden spatial leap launched an unexpected close-quarters ambush.

Most people had absolutely no way to defend against or dodge it, left only with the sheer bewilderment of having their lives abruptly ended by a sudden thrust.

Yet at this moment, Dalos had several layers of spell protections activated via scrolls. Furthermore, the armor he wore was a mastercrafted piece.

This kind of armor could fully serve as an integral part of his combat strength, providing incredibly robust defense.

Essentially, if Zoven's sword struck a spot protected by the armor, Dalos wouldn't need to pay it any mind whatsoever.

The armor alone was enough to withstand the vast majority of attacks.

The resulting advantage was that his defensive pressure was minimized to the absolute limit.

Why was a Holy Knight called a knight? Only when fully armored, fully equipped, and mounted on a half-dragon steed were they truly in their strongest form.

A Holy Knight at peak condition and with max loadout could see their strength increase by more than double.

However, encountering a Holy Knight in such a state was extremely rare.

Because it consumed far too many resources.

The Dartmenerly family had emptied their entire foundation this time, pouring everything into building Dalos up to his current state.

This was a loadout that would only ever appear in a War of Annihilation.

Dalos had not even activated the Path of the Saint yet as he rapidly charged toward Zoven.

Facing such an opponent, Zoven took a deep breath and gripped his sword with both hands.

He felt a tremendous wave of pressure.

This was different from his previous battles.

During his previous fight with Opper, he hadn't actually won. It was merely that Opper himself was unsuited for combat and lacked the will to fight, which allowed Zoven to stall until Isabella's arrival.

His victory over Dong He was due to the special effect of the Sword of Polaris. Without preparation, anyone with insufficient strength could be killed on the very first encounter.

Although Dalos was no super genius, he had advanced to the Iron Rank many years ago, and at this moment, his full-body loadout had reached its absolute pinnacle.

Naturally, the pressure surged toward him like a tidal wave.

This would absolutely be a bitter and grueling battle.

But Zoven was already prepared.