Amidst the low growl, the pale golden Radiant Spear collided with the invisible Defense Field.

Then——

Crack!

The pale golden radiance shattered.

The secret technique 'Lion's Spear' of the Golden Lion Family also shattered.

Lord Baro's face froze, his fierce confidence turning into a daze.

"Impossible!

This is impossible!

Who are you?"

In questioning, the person across slowly removed the hood.

A young face entered everyone's view, with black hair and eye color, making it especially captivating and allowing many informed individuals to instantly guess the young person's identity.

'Spirit Medium' Arthur Kredos.

Baro certainly recognized Arthur.

Although he hadn't seen him before, he had seen Arthur's portrait more than once.

Instantly, that disbelief vanished.

What followed was surprise.

'Lion's Spear' had no effect on Arthur, considering Arthur's displayed strength in the past, Baro thought it was reasonable, perhaps some secret technique negated 'Lion's Spear'.

But all this was not important now.

The important thing is, Arthur has appeared in Inner Bay.

He appeared right in front of him.

As long as he captured Arthur...

He would stand invincible.

As long as he obtained the wealth and secret techniques of the Millennial Family legacy, even if he abandoned everything in Inner Bay, he could find a place to start anew.

Thinking of this, Baro directly took out a scroll.

The scroll was already yellowed.

Everyone could see the ancientness of this scroll.

"Be careful, it's a dueling scroll!"

With broad knowledge due to his family background, the young lion Pistri warned Arthur.

Facing Baro nodded.

"That's right.

It's a dueling scroll.

But, it's not entirely correct.

It—

Is only half a dueling scroll."

Saying this, Lord Baro opened the scroll.

It was then that Pistri discovered this dueling scroll was pieced together, about two-thirds of it was a dueling scroll, making the rolled-up scroll look like a dueling scroll, but once spread out, the remaining part inside revealed something different—half written on parchment, half written on a human skin book.

The former, most people are familiar with.

The latter, most people cannot discern.

But Arthur recognizes it.

Among the various Mystic Side books he collected, quite a few were human skin books—in the early and late empire, many believed human skin was the best writing material for effectively preserving [Spirituality], which is not entirely erroneous, so much so that this crafting method still exists today.

Of course, what truly caught Arthur's attention was the content on the human skin.

Similar to a curse.

Yet incredibly sacred.

Instantly, a thought stirred in Arthur's heart.

"That's right! That's right!

It's the 'God's Word' of the 'The Holy Court'.

The 'Golden Lion Cat' back then was cursed by 'God's Word', Kredos wouldn't want to face the same fate, would you?

I can offer you a dignified surrender.

Come, kneel to me.

Come, pledge allegiance to me."

Baro opened his arms, waiting for Arthur's submissive plea.

Then, he saw Arthur, with a smile, raised his middle finger at him.

'God's Word' is certainly frightening.

Even with the power of 'Golden Lion Cat', it was made to be in a pathetic state.

Arthur would not be so arrogant as to ignore such a curse.

However, the 'God's Word' before him was incomplete.

Moreover, Arthur had reason to doubt the ability of this 'God's Word'.

If it truly possessed the rumored power of 'God's Word', no, even if it had half the power of the rumored 'God's Word', Baro would not have waited this long.

With his ambition, he would have already made a move against the Old Lion.

The fact that he hasn't taken action means this scroll is ineffective and cannot achieve a true kill.

Arthur's gaze swept over the scroll's junction, upon seeing the words related to 'Distortion' written on the parchment, the young Spirit Medium smiled.

"Borrowing the residual power of 'God's Word' to trigger deprivation within the 'dueling scroll', then use 'Distortion' to transform it into power fully targeting the opponent, yet pardon oneself?

Not bad.

Just wondering how long the duration could last?"

Arthur gave a very honest evaluation.

However, such an evaluation made Baro's face look unpleasant.

The taste of having one's assumed trump card technique seen through at a glance by the opponent was not pleasant.

"Time enough for you to realize just how big a mistake you've made!"

Baro snorted coldly.

The scroll began to glow.

A deliberate power swept across the scene, enveloping both him and Arthur.

In the next moment, Baro discovered the secret of Arthur's defense field.

"You're actually using [physique] and [force field] for a mixed defense?

What kind of power drives this?

This power that makes people hungry?

Heh, hunger!

I will take it away!"

Confident once more, believing he had found Arthur's secret, Baro was full of confidence.

Arthur did not refute.

The principle behind his [Seventeenth Order. Meaty. Armor] was just that.

There was nothing worth refuting.

As for deprivation?

Arthur's [spirituality] was very stable, showing no unusual signs.

[Death intuition] didn't flicker at all.

And some subtle expressions of Baro further informed Arthur that the other party was bluffing, it was a form of intimidation, a means to coerce him into submission.

At this, the young spirit medium sighed and said slowly.

"You will never know my talent and bloodline, let alone talk about deprivation.

Don't even mention that you're merely holding a broken 'God's Word', even if the gods worshipped by The Holy Court came, they could not take away everything belonging to me.

Because—

They are not qualified."

Arthur didn't continue his words, but everyone present understood.

The gods themselves are not qualified.

So could Baro, holding 'God's Word', be qualified?

Certainly not.

Feeling the gazes around him, Baro was overwhelmed by a deep sense of humiliation, followed by anger, which resurfaced once again.

Immediately, Baro shouted heedlessly— Spоt аn еrrоr? Visit thе оriginаl pоst оn

"Strip his power from him for me!"

Buzz!

A blinding white light flashed from the scroll's power.

The power of [Seventeenth Order. Meaty. Armor] was not stripped away, nor even bound, but simply suppressed to a certain extent.

The part belonging to 'force field' disappeared.

Only the [physique] part remained.

'Weaker than imagined!

No wonder he doesn't dare attack the Old Lion!'

Arthur, feeling his actual situation, thought silently to himself.

Yet Baro was unaware of these thoughts.

This Lord Baro, looking at the silent Arthur, suddenly burst into loud laughter.

"Did you feel its might?

It is my trump card!

Now go die for me!"

Once again, anger led Baro to lose his rationality.

He recklessly threw a punch towards Arthur's chest.

He intended to pull out Arthur's heart.

He wanted Arthur to endure the most painful death.

Only Arthur's wailing could satisfy him.

The withered palm touched Arthur's chest in an instant.

And then—

Crack! Crack!

A series of crisp, shattering bone sounds were heard.

It wasn't Arthur's bones.

It was Baro's hand.

Under everyone's gaze, Baro's hand began to twist from the fingers, followed by the palm, wrist, and forearm, almost like a twisted doughnut.

"Impossible! This is impossible!

Your force field defense power was supposed to be suppressed!"

Baro clutched his right hand with his left, retreating repeatedly, uttering cries of disbelief.

Arthur simply nodded.

"Indeed, my force field defense power has been suppressed.

But even when suppressed, it's not something you could break through."

Arthur's words were gentle, yet extremely venomous.

Like a snake constantly spitting venom, it provoked the already unstable Baro.

Arthur's words, of course, were not lies.

He simply didn't tell the whole truth.

The part belonging to force field defense in [Seventeenth Order. Meaty. Armor] was weakened, indeed.

But the [physique] in [Seventeenth Order. Meaty. Armor] was still there.

Of course, this wasn't the main point.

The key was Arthur's bloodline.

After last night's 'Golden Midnight Snack'.

Arthur's bloodline [Serpent of Death] was no longer at level Ⅰ!

Instead, it was—

Level Ⅳ.