Basilio was prepared. He now had in his hands the highest-grade catalyst that would amplify his power. It was none other than the sacred relic that was the left arm of a cardinal of the Eternal Church.
Of course, compared to that being's main body, this left arm contained only an extremely small portion of that deity's power. But that didn't mean it was just an empty shell. Whatever the case, it was Zaxilos' incarnation that had appeared with the intention of capturing or killing this side.
Since considerable power was contained even in that incarnation, the left arm torn from that incarnation could also produce significant effects.
A blood-colored sphere the size of a fist trembled as if vibrating finely on its surface. Then it soon stopped with a thud and transformed into an octahedral figure.
It had such a smooth and neat shape that it was hard to believe it was made of flesh and blood. It also looked like a craftsman had carved red stone sharply and smoothly.
But Zaxilos knew that it was not an ordinary stone. The material that went into that was his own arm. Moreover, it was a body filled with tremendous life force.
Basilio added all sorts of magical processing to the arm made of blood, then subordinated it to himself.
So Basilio had now created an artifact suitable for himself in real-time. And that, using a living person's arm.
"How dare you commit such an act with my arm?"
He spoke nonsense matter-of-factly. He was even openly classifying Zaxilos as a monster. It wasn't wrong. Cardinal Zaxilos would rank among the highest grade if considered a monster. An artifact made with that as material would inevitably be extraordinary.
'But that can't be as easy as it sounds.'
Delford looked at Basilio with newly amazed eyes.
Simply processing hide, bones, or teeth to make weapons wasn't surprising. With current technological capabilities, even a decent workshop craftsman could make plausible items.
But stealing the life force of an existence like that and then shaping it into a weapon suitable for oneself was clearly abnormal.
It required processing stages that took at least several days, along with the corresponding workshop and materials. Basilio had skipped all those troublesome and expensive preparation processes and accomplished it on the spot.
Even considering that he handled the same power of Red Eternity, it didn't make sense. It was clear that his self-proclaimed title of mage was not a lie.
Basilio, who had come to handle the power of Red Eternity through some incident, was a mage. And as he himself said, a very excellent mage.
"......"
The expression disappeared from Cardinal Zaxilos face. He too now realized how outrageous what Basilio had done was. At the same time, he realized that Basilio was more threatening than he had thought.
"Your expression has changed. Now you've become completely serious without any playfulness. Actually, I don't like that kind of thing. To fight an enemy who has become serious, this side has no choice but to become serious too."
-Sssss.
The octahedral red figure changed soundlessly and split into countless fragments.
The size of the fragments were thinner than toothpicks and smaller than finger joints, but the power contained in each one was at a terrifying level.
Red figures with designs as clean as if drawn with a ruler rose around Basilio.
"That's somewhat, very tiresome work."
-Piiing!
Some of the figures became pointed and flew toward Zaxilos. Zaxilos used the surrounding flesh to create a large wall of flesh.
-Kududeuk!
The wall that rose with writhing motions revealed countless eyeballs and sharp teeth. In addition to that, countless masses of tentacles, their tips hardened to be close to blades, were swung to intercept the red figures.
Peo-peo-peo-peong!
A sound like air bursting came, perhaps exceeding the speed of sound. In that instant that was hard to perceive with the eyes, blood splattered with a thunderous roar.
It was a phenomenon caused by tentacles bursting when they touched the figures.
The tentacles had an overwhelming advantage in size and mass, but the power contained within was not the same. The figures did not stop and burrowed into the wall of flesh. As soon as those nail-joint-sized things touched the large wall of flesh, large holes big enough for a person to enter were punched through the wall of flesh.
The figures did not stop and aimed for Zaxilos, but Zaxilos, as if he had intuited something, was already moving his body back to avoid them.
Basilio regretfully recalled the figures. He did not consume power by using it once. He intended to use these massive energy masses until they wore down to the atomic level.
"Very persistent indeed."
Zaxilos said so because he had seen how Basilio handled power. He had taken this side's body, mixed it with his own power, and made it his own.
"Moreover, there's not a single waste in ability and power. It's amazing."
It was like seeing the skill of running at full speed with a large washbasin filled to the brim with water without spilling a single drop. If anything, what Basilio was doing was much more difficult and nonsensical.
The power Basilio handled originated from Red Eternity, so it was identical to Zaxilos.
Yet the reason their clash showed such a difference was because how they used that power was clearly different.
Even with the same power of Red Eternity, Zaxilos used irregular and bizarre tentacles or masses of flesh. There was no standard in that appearance, making it free-spirited but making it difficult to concentrate power or ability.
On the other hand, Basilio compressed it to the limit and refined it into the form he desired. Where and how, in what manner that power and energy would act. How to strike effectively to produce results. He kept all of these things in mind and controlled them perfectly.
They used the same power but in opposite ways.
And it was Basilio who achieved the first victory in this small-scale engagement.
‘This is quite troublesome.’
Just as he was thinking that, Zaxilos felt a sharp pain at his waist and looked down. A red thorn had pierced through his religious robe and was embedded in his waist.
"When on earth?"
He thought he had avoided it. Could it be that he had launched an additional attack from a blind spot not visible to the eyes, even taking into account that this side would evade?
Zaxilos tried to pull out the thorn with his hand, but it wasn't easy. Rather, the thorn began to gradually grow larger, feeding on his body as nourishment.
The pierced wound opened and the load on his body increased. Zaxilos frowned and tore off a chunk of flesh from around his waist with his own hand.
Since the thorn wouldn't come out, he had cut out a part of his body along with the thorn.
Originally, cutting out parts of his body like this was no big deal for him. For ordinary people, this would lead to major wounds or loss of flesh, but for Zaxilos it was no different from changing his 'form.'
But Zaxilos had to change that thought due to the emptiness he felt from the torn waist area. Basilio's attack didn't just affect form. It also stole his essential power.
The thorn that had fused with part of his flesh returned to Basilio as if time was reversing. Basilio, who recovered the thorn along with the flesh, melted it again and made it into a handful of blood.
"How is it? Regeneration isn't easy either, is it?"
"Impudent. To dare try to absorb my power in reverse."
Zaxilos' pride was considerably hurt. Of all things, he who had received divine authority was being pushed back in such a fight.
"What? I'm just doing what I can do well. Isn't that the basics of fighting?"
"......"
"Judging by that reaction, it seems you've never properly fought before."
Basilio seemed pleased to have found another weakness, shrugging his shoulders.
"Right. That's inevitable. You're an immortal monster that doesn't die and regenerates any wound. No matter who you fight, a proper fight couldn't be established. You would have just crushed them with overwhelming power."
It was as Basilio said. In the past that he could no longer even remember when, what Zaxilos had in terms of fighting experience was nothing more than crushing beings weaker than himself.
Even that had become a thing of the too-distant past. After becoming the master of the church and operating it secretly, he had never experienced actual combat at all.
Still, he thought it didn't matter. As time passed, his power had become even stronger. Since the power itself had become stronger, wouldn't that be enough?
"Foolish thinking."
Basilio spoke as if he had read such inner thoughts of Zaxilos.
"What good does it do for the size of power to increase? The method of using what's contained within remains the same as before or has regressed even further."
Even if a dam is full of water, if its outlet is just one faucet, the size of power becomes irrelevant.
"Fighting is not simply determined by the strength of power. Being strong would be advantageous, but that doesn't lead to absolute results."
"How dare......"
"How is it? Did my advice sink in a little? Your Excellency the distinguished Cardinal."
Zaxilos let out a snort of laughter. It was a mistake to think he could easily subdue him just because they handled the same power.
"Right. I was too rash. Also arrogant. This is a trial given by Him, so it couldn't be this easy, could it?"
Zaxilos gazed at Basilio with eyes that had become much more serious.
"So I too will do my best and face the given trial."
"I told you it's not a trial. Well, no matter what I try to persuade you, it won't work. I had no intention of doing so from the beginning anyway."
Basilio moved the figures again. Those stone-like things drew red lines in the air and shot toward Zaxilos from various angles. They were so fast that the moment he confirmed they had been fired, they would reach close range.
However, there was no law saying Zaxilos couldn't be this quick either. As if he had already prepared, he drew blood onto his palm and generated a blood-colored monster from it.
The giant monster with only a mouth and no eyes or nose had a muscular body with four arms. It blocked the red figures with its bare body, showing rough skin like the surface of a tree.
Unlike before when he thought they would easily burst like the wall of flesh or tentacles, the monster maintained its form and withstood Basilio's attack.
Naturally, Basilio tried to use the figures embedded in its body to absorb power in reverse. But he had to give up quickly due to some unknown solidity.
"Tch. As expected, it doesn't work multiple times."
When Zaxilos got serious and raised his concentration, the process of absorbing that power became difficult for this side. Right. There was a difference in the size and scale of power from the beginning. This side had made up for it with technique and tricks, but when the opponent came out seriously, such luck wouldn't work.
But this side wasn't alone from the beginning.
-Auuuu!
Delford let out a rough wolf's roar. That sound was coming from behind Zaxilos.
Zaxilos' eyes turned backward. Delford had moved like the wind the moment Basilio attacked and took position behind this side.
Delford's long-grown claws aimed for Zaxilos. Fast. This couldn't be avoided.
Zaxilos naturally gave up on evasion. In the first place, even if he was hit by such merely sharp claws, there was no way they could deal damage to this side.
-Chwaak!
Five streaks of light cut through Zaxilos body.
Zaxilos eyes widened as he coughed blood.
"This...!"
When Delford's claws dug into his body, Zaxilos could feel it. Over those long claws, the red figures that Basilio handled were wrapped around them.
The figures that had dug into his body again tried to steal this side's power. Zaxilos tried to resist it, but Delford didn't leave that alone.
He gathered his left fingers to one point. And then came a piercing thrust that penetrated space.
The figure attached to its end dug into Zaxilos heart.
Although it was an incarnation, Delford thought it was done since he had embedded this in a vital area, but feeling something strange, he quickly retreated backward.
That instinctive judgment was correct. Countless red tentacles burst out from Zaxilos' body and swept the surroundings like a storm.
"Hmm. It seems we dealt some damage, but I wonder if we didn't stimulate him more."
The appearance of Zaxilos with red tentacles swaying like sea anemones was quite different from before when he had tried to maintain human form. Before long, the tentacles gathered at one point as if being sucked into a drain, then took human form again.
Of course, it wasn't the appearance of a cardinal in religious robes. Only a human-like shape remained, transformed into a bizarre patterned mannequin with facial features disappeared. Those massive tentacles had been compressed into the form of one human. It obviously couldn't be ordinary.
Indeed, as expected.
Zaxilos extended his hand. Then red figures fell pattering through his palm. He had removed all the things that had dug into his body.
Of course, there was considerable power loss in the process, but what was important was that he had endured this. And that future attacks would be even less effective than now.
"Close call."
The fight that was unfavorable from the beginning was made equal through tricks, but when Zaxilos got serious, it was overturned in an instant.
As soon as Basilio's muttering ended, Zaxilos' abdomen split open with a crack. Inside the abdomen that split like a beast's maw, only pitch-black darkness was visible. It was as if an abyss had been contained there.
A moment later, Zaxilos spewed a massive red torrent from his split abdomen.