A Peacock Husband of Five Princesses by day, a Noble Assassin by Night

Back at the Clowns of Ark HQ, Kael was still in the battle against the priest.

As the Wheel of Light returned to his hands, Kael went on the full offensive. However, the Priest, still a demigod, was strong enough to block every attack.

"You can't defeat me," the priest growled, his voice no longer echoing with confidence as before, and he seemed quite stressed as he conjured an energy barrier against the concentrated beam of energy launched by the Fragmented Wheel of Light.

However, the barrier couldn't hold against the beam and shattered like glass, leaving him vulnerable for a moment, enough for Kael to instantly close the distance between them with short teleportation, motioning his daggers.

A quick strike—a dagger slipped past the priest's guard, slicing across his cheek. The Priest's eyes widened, and the rage in his eyes only grew more intense. "You think a scratch like that will stop me?"

Kael sneered in response. "I don't have to defeat you or even destroy the demon's heart. I just have to hold you for a few more minutes."

The Priest couldn't help but glance above him, his vision went past the ceiling and fell onto the open sky, where the Blood Moon's color was reduced and in the process of turning to amber. His face hardened as Kael's smile grew wider.

Kael's energy then flared, the primordial dark attribute pouring into the Wheel of Light, preparing for the next attack while he continued to launch attacks with the dagger from left and right.

The Priest was on full defensive, blocking Kael's attack with the energy barrier all around him, constantly pouring his mana into it, repairing it every time the barrier gets slashed by the primordial dark energy erupted from the daggers.

Just as the Wheel of Light is loaded and prepared to shoot the next energy beam, the Priest raises the staff and slams its tail to the floor. "Argh…"

The collision generated ripples of waves of energy, pushing Kael away from him. Sliding across the floor, Kael crashed into the wall. "Ugh…"

Just as he was about to get up, The Priest's voice barely rose above a whisper. "Time is leaving," he mumbled, a sense of urgency creeping into his tone.

Kael got onto his feet and raised his hand to take control of the Wheel of Light, but the Priest didn't give him time and raised his hand, unleashing a powerful gust of wind, blasting away Kael once again with enough force that the wall inscribed with runes was destroyed and Kael fell out of the room.

Once he was out of sight, the Priest no longer pushed forward to attack Kael again. Instead, he began chanting in an ancient tongue, the words vibrating with dark power.

"Heart of fire, soul of night, Bound by the whispering sands, He who sleeps beneath the blackened tomb, Rise anew by my hand.

Blood of chaos, breath of death, From abyss, hear my call, By the pact of the eternal dusk, Your heart and soul unite as one.

Oh, shadow unbroken, rise from dust, By the will of the forgotten gods, Take form once more, walk the realms, For the veil of death has torn."

By the time Kael returned to the room, he saw that a dark mist enveloped the Priest.

"Wheel of Light. Heed my command."

Kael called out the celestial weapon lying on the floor, the weapon responded by summoning to his side.

With his hands on its back, pouring more mana into it in order to filled the leaked out mana when it was on the floor earlier, Kael launched the energy beam once again.

The concentrated energy beam struck the mist, only to be bounced off to the side and destroy the side wall.

"What!" Kael's eyes widened in surprise, watching the new turn of events.

Soon, the entire mist was dispersed, leaving behind a cocoon, in the shape of an egg, in place of the Priest. Naturally, the Priest was inside it.

"What the hell is going on here?" Kael didn't understand the process, but when he pondered it, a sudden revelation came to his head. "He didn't offer himself as the host, right?"

Taking a deep breath, he tightened his grip on the daggers. "Either way, I need to destroy this thing."

Taking a deep breath, Kael charged forward at the cocoon and then diverged away and started running around it, as fast as he could, and eventually created ten clones of himself, all charging at the cocoon from different sides and striking it at the same time.

*Ting*

A deep sound resonated from the cocoon at the collision and generated waves of sound on all sides. The clones destroyed one after another, while the real one crashed to the floor.

Kael stood to his feet once again. "Dammit." Taking a deep breath, he raised the dagger upward and attached them to one another through the bottom of their handles, suddenly expanding into a bow with an energy string attached from the tip of the blades.

He motioned his leg back and went into a battle stance, pouring his entire remaining mana reserves into conjuring an arrow made of primordial dark energy between his fingertips.

Pulling the string as far back as he could, he released it with a cry. "Raaaa…"

The arrow cut through the distance like lightning and pierced the cocoon. The primordial aura started escaping the arrow and enveloping the cocoon.

Kael then hurriedly took out a scarlet mana potion from his storage ring, the highest of its kind, worth ten thousand gold coins, and the only one he had of such kind. He didn't hesitate to open it and gulp it down at once.

As the stream of scarlet mana potion goes down his throat, veins pop up over his neck, his muscles, and all over his body. His eyes turned red, his entire body feeling the sensation of burning as his mana rapidly recovered, using his blood as the medium.

With his skin turned pale due to the loss of blood, his mana was replenished fully in just a matter of a couple of seconds, and Kael was already prepared with his next move.

Desperation surged through Kael's veins as he gathered every last bit of his mana once again, the primordial dark energy surging through him. He could feel the power of the Wheel of Light coursing through his fingertips, and without a second thought, he focused it all into one devastating blast through the celestial weapon this time.

The energy erupted from him like a tidal wave, slamming into the cocoon with explosive force at the spot where the arrow was still embedded inside. The air crackled with energy as Kael's attack collided with the barrier.

For a moment, it seemed like nothing had happened. But then, with a violent flash of light, cracks appeared on the cocoon, and those cracks appeared all over it.

The cocoon shattered, revealing a thin and frail-looking man, his body unnaturally pale, two curved horns resting on his head. His crimson eyes fell upon Kael before they were shifted to his hands.

As he slowly lifted his bony hand, an expression of disappointment appeared on his face before mumbling under his breath. "Hmph… My resurrection is incomplete."

His frown deepened, and then his gaze shifted back to Kael.