Chapter 1452: Chapter 1450: Divine Gifted State
"Slash!"
The dagger’s tip extended a blade of purple energy, slicing through the air and carving a thin black line as if cutting open the fabric of space.
The rift continued to extend, drawing closer to Richard, until it finally descended with a howl.
"Bang!"
Suddenly, there was a muffled sound.
The descending black line abruptly halted, and the dagger piercing through the air suddenly stopped. Richard reached out with a hand wrapped in golden light and directly grabbed the dagger’s body. Under immense force, Richard forcibly reversed the dagger’s blade direction, aiming it at Red Moon.
Red Moon’s eyes widened as he gripped the dagger with both hands, trying to pull back, but it was futile, completely futile. In that moment, Richard’s strength felt just as infinite as when he had grabbed Red Moon’s shoulder earlier—unstoppable, entirely resistant, with Red Moon only able to watch helplessly as the dagger’s energy blade drew close to his armor.
"You said earlier, you hope I won’t regret this? I also hope you won’t regret this," Richard said as he glanced at Red Moon.
"I..." Red Moon.
"Puff!"
Red Moon said just one word before Richard thrust the dagger into Red Moon’s armor. As the dagger penetrated, Richard slashed swiftly, making the seemingly indestructible armor as fragile as thin paper, creating a long and narrow slit.
Then Richard pushed the dagger inward, easily piercing through Red Moon’s protective energy, stabbing into Red Moon’s chest.
"Splurgh—shiat—"
Blood splattered, gushing from the gap in the sliced-open armor.
Red Moon stared at Richard with eyes as large as brass bells for several seconds. Then his body trembled and heavily fell to the ground without a sound.
One-strike kill... once again a one-strike kill... alas... Richard gazed at Red Moon’s corpse, lightly sighing inwardly... It seems Red Moon hadn’t learned any lessons after being resurrected, even though he tried close-range combat, the threat wasn’t much greater... It seemed easier than dealing with Gray Mist previously... Could it be because Red Moon is relatively old?
It shouldn’t be like this, he would be disappointed—he has progressed for more than three years, not to deal with opponents weaker than three years ago.
Richard stared at the fallen Red Moon, pondering, waiting for a dozen seconds, seeing that the opponent did not move for a long time, he slightly frowned: Could it be that Red Moon was so weak he could only be resurrected once? So, after being killed by him this second time, he’s unable to resurrect again?
Fortunately, he wasn’t truly disappointed. The next moment, Red Moon’s body on the ground trembled, and strands of blood-red energy came forth, condensing into a human form beside—turning into a pure energy form of Red Moon.
In energy form, Red Moon was entirely different from his ordinary state. He appeared significantly younger, his facial features altered, his contours smoother, more neutral, some parts flat and blurring gender distinctions.
On Red Moon’s skin surface, thousands of strange characters hovered densely, covering nearly ninety percent of his body. It looked mysterious, as if a high-level life from an otherworldly realm had descended. Watching closely, one couldn’t help but feel the urge to kneel, as if facing a god.
Deep crimson eyes condensed from energy gazed at Richard, and energy-state Red Moon spoke, somewhat ruefully: "You’ve forced me to this extent; I really don’t know whether you should be delighted or in despair."
"Despair? You look quite formidable right now?" Richard asked.
"You can try," Red Moon replied, extending a hand, flicking his fingers gently, a distorted ’Not’ shaped character flew out from his skin surface, hurtling towards Richard.
Richard was alert, twisting quickly, as the character swept past, crashing into a palace wall.
With a thunderous crash, the palace wall was directly blasted with a terrifying hole over three meters in diameter. And it wasn’t finished, the character’s additional power left a deep half-meter, ten-plus-meter-long trench outside the palace.
Richard glanced around, his gaze somewhat solemn, intending to turn back, Blood Moon seized the opportunity to release another distorted ’Kan’ shaped character.
Richard sensed it just in time to dodge, but this time the character was several times faster than the first, brushing past Richard’s face dangerously, and crashing into another palace wall.
Richard frowned, then touched his face, discovering even without being directly hit by the character, it had still slit open a wound, with blood continuously oozing out. Despite using spells to attempt healing, it took quite a while before the bleeding stopped.
One can imagine the effect of being completely hit by the character.
Richard’s gaze turned genuinely solemn.
This was, in a way, his first meaningful injury.
"It seems, this time you weren’t lying—it’s really formidable now," Richard looked at Red Moon, "I’m somewhat pleased about that."
"Are you pleased?" Red Moon sneered, "Then don’t be overjoyed because there are even more formidable things you haven’t seen yet!"
"Bang!"
As the words fell, Red Moon suddenly stepped on the ground, charging rapidly towards Richard, left hand in a fist, numerous characters surging, striking fiercely.
Richard’s widened eyes showed no fear, merely purse his lips, taking a breath, extending his fist wrapped in golden light to meet it.
"Bang," the two fists collided heavily.\p>
Powerful destructive force erupted from the contact point, most of it flooding into Richard’s body, causing Richard’s entire arm to go numb momentarily. The remaining small portion leaked outward, shaking the palace, the ground tiles shattering completely like struck by a giant hammer.
Witnessing the scene, court officials in the corners trembled, wishing to escape, but dared not, fearing becoming conspicuous and killed by a casual blow.
On the throne, the Alliance Emperor didn’t intend to flee but grasped the throne’s armrest firmly, staring fixedly at Richard and Red Moon, his knuckles somewhat tinged blue.
"Huff—"
After the clash, Richard exhaled deeply, forcefully shaking his arm, attempting to alleviate the numbing abnormal state.
Gazing at Red Moon retreating after the clash, he sighed, wanting to say something, but Red Moon didn’t give him the chance, stomping his foot, advancing again, striking with his right fist, more characters surging.
Richard immediately shut his mouth, his gaze sharpened, another intact arm swung out, clenched into a fist, dense golden light emerged on the surface, meeting it.
"Bang!"\p>
Once again, a sound echoed.
The palace shook again, the tiles on the floor weren’t just cracked but pulverized. The surrounding walls were affected, revealing arm-thick cracks, rocking precariously.
Court officials in the corners were filled with panic, while the Alliance Emperor on the throne pursed his lips tightly.\p>
At the battle’s center, Richard who bore the most intense impact was bleeding from the corner of his mouth. His entire fist connected to the arm appeared as if brushed by an iron brush, flesh and blood turned messy, some areas exposed bare white bone.\p>
He seemed severely injured.\p>
In contrast, the energy-state Red Moon remained normal, retreating a distance, stepping on the ground full of crushed tiles, glancing at Richard while speaking slowly: "I was right, don’t be overjoyed—since you’ve forced me into this ’Divine Gifted State,’ then you won’t have any chance to live. Well then... now you can cry."
