The bone wings covered the sky, a nightmare descended, blocking the sunlight on the entire Great Cathedral, causing countless refugees below to start to panic.
Fearfully, with dread, they murmured the doctrines, hoping the divine would drive away the demon, to no avail.
And the Church Court's knights in an instant felt an indescribable evil assaulting their minds, along with an irresistible fear creeping in.
"Form ranks, prepare to engage the enemy!" the Knight Commander shouted loudly in an instant.
He immediately pulled out his giant shield, positioning it in front of the crowd, while the warhammer in his hand radiated a torrential light.
They were all high-ranking members of the Church Court, aware that General Barak's undead was sealed beneath the Great Cathedral, but they could not believe that the General, who was about to be purified, had gone berserk and broken the seal.
Without the slightest warning, without giving them a moment of preparation, like the undead scourge that swept across the continent.
The Holy Knights drew their giant shields, their hammers gleaming brilliantly, every divine art ready to be unleashed.
But all the knights who had experienced the battle twenty years ago only felt a chill from head to toe.
They knew General Barak's true power, during his life, this Grand General of the Empire was considered one of the strongest on the continent, and even in death as an undead, his strength had not waned significantly.
The same Legendary Level former Pope gave his all, along with support from countless members of the Holy Knight Order, to only seal him away.
He was someone who could withstand a cataclysm of billions of undead and perish together with the Witch Demon King, and now with the Church Court weakened, only two quasi-legendary figures remained, how could they handle this Undead General?
Between quasi-legendary and true Legendary Level, there was at least a several-times power gap.
Can they win?
Impossible to win!
If they had the ability to face the Undead General head-on, they would completely have the strength to confront the Witch Demon King directly, but how was that possible?
But there was no choice, their duty was to expel and purify the undead.
Fear turned into anger, as the Knight Commander roared, countless Holy Light Spears formed from divine arts hurled towards the skeleton demon in the sky, transforming into a rain of light swords.
"You are seeking your own death!" The massive skeleton demon dived down.
In the original plan, there was no intention to oppose the Church Court, but since they attacked first, they were not the kind to not retaliate!
The ensuing gale nearly blew people below away, the ground's dust whipped up like a sandstorm.
The clash between knights and demons, the collision of giant shields and demon swords.
Thus the slaughter between the two sides began.
"Holy Shield Technique!"
The knights were enveloped in Holy Light, the skeleton demon looked at the rear where the Pope was.
The idea to strike the back instantly flashed through his mind, the skeleton demon ignored the Holy Light Spears embedded in him, no longer tangled with the armored knights, flying straight to the back line where the Female Pope stood on the throne.
A giant sword cut through the air, as Xue Dili disregarded the armored knights, they could do nothing but watch as the skeleton demon charged towards their Pope.
The massive demon sword sliced through the golden iron throne from above like a hot knife through butter, slashing towards Female Pope Alola.
"Grandpa Barak!"
The cry echoed through the cathedral.
The giant sword paused centimeters above Alola's head.
The ferocious skeleton demon looked down, the Holy Light sprinkled on the demon's body, its shadow enveloping the panting, heaving chest of the Female Pope.
"A... Alola..." the skeleton demon's hoarse voice rang out.
"Protect the Pope!" The Holy Knights finally rushed in, the heavy armor granting them the defense to withstand some Legendary Level attacks but greatly limiting their agility.
The bone wings rose vertically, crashing through the cathedral ceiling before calmly departing.
Leaving behind only a crowd of Holy Knights in the aftershock of fear and a Female Pope who was breathing heavily.
...
"This wasn't part of our plan, we should have left directly."
In an abandoned courtyard in the Imperial Capital, the old undead spoke to Xue Dili.
"I actually wanted to test the power I felt just now..." Xue Dili said awkwardly.
The original plan did not include battling the Church Court, but the Church Court had struck first.
Yet Xue Dili admitted his mistake obediently, mainly because using the power of the old grandfather possessing him for the first time gave him the illusion that he could smash a planet with one punch.
Commonly known as getting carried away.
But they didn't go all out, in the transformed state earlier, Xue Dili was dominant, with the old undead assisting and coordinating, able to rein him in from making a mistake before he could strike a deadly blow.
No, maintain a steady mindset, cannot let power sway the mind.
Xue Dili promptly dragged himself from the thrill brought by that power, after all, that wasn't his power, essentially it was the old undead's, he was just a pilot operating a giant mech.
And just then, he felt something strange from his body.
A drop of dark red liquid dripped to the ground, Xue Dili immediately touched his nose, and a hand full of blood stunned him.
"There's a problem, quickly stop the bleeding, then use the divine art I taught you to stabilize your body," the old undead's voice echoed in his mind.
"Okay!"
It took several hours, the sky gradually darkened, and only then did Xue Dili finally stop the bleeding. He didn't know why, even though it was just a simple nosebleed, no method worked to stop it.
Throughout the dilapidated courtyard, blood had dripped in many places, staining much of his clothing red.
The old undead remained silent like he was examining his body.
"Kid, I have bad news for you." The old undead's tone was very serious, even his raspy voice carried solemnity.
"What is it?" Xue Dili asked weakly, leaning against a grass heap.
He was baffled as to why he felt so too hot, and how his body, even as he began entering the ranks of the extraordinary, was now even more fragile than when he was in high school.
"The living cannot harness the power of the dead," the old undead's words carried a stern warning,
"Just now, I sensed that some of your organs started showing signs of dead aura. Fortunately, you gradually recovered, but if you use it again, your life will be progressively tainted by the undead until you irreversibly turn into an undead yourself..."
The tone of the old man was like a parent scolding a child, his voice packed with unparalleled seriousness.
"At this rate, you can only use my power four times at most."
"Each time you use it, a quarter of your life will diminish, after the fourth time, you will completely die..."
"And what rises from your body will just be a pitiful undead carrying your memories."
"Right now, you only have three-quarters of your life remaining."
The old undead's words struck Xue Dili's heart like a heavy bell, he silently stared at his blood-stained hands, seemingly at a loss.