NOVEL NEXT Chapter 297: Lying is An Infernal Sin
The three lions lunged in unison—white wings flaring, claws glowing with divine energy.
The sky cracked open with divine pressure.
And Lux vanished.
Not blinked.
Not teleported.
Just—gone.
A whisper in the wind.
By the time Elio's lion struck the space where Lux had stood, it was biting nothing but smoke and afterimage.
Lux reappeared mid-air behind him, daggers reversed in both hands, eyes glowing infernal red. He spun once, blades arcing outward like dark moons— and carved straight through Elio's lion's flank and holy armor.
Golden blood sprayed mid-air like shattered sunlight.
"HRAAAGH!"
Elio shouted as the beast twisted under him, but Lux didn't pause.
He kicked off the lion's side, flipping backward through the air and summoning a ring of floating obsidian orbs.
[Demonic Orbs Activated.]
"Playtime," Lux whispered.
The orbs snapped into motion like angry, bouncing curses—some ricocheting between trees, others slamming directly into Kaelin's lion with seismic booms, and a full cluster dive-bombing Vahl's mount.
-Boom! Boom! BOOM!
The clearing exploded with shadows and flame.
Kaelin screamed, "Purify—!"
Too late.
Lux dropped behind her lion like a falling guillotine. Both daggers ripped across the beast's hind legs. It reared with a howl like a cathedral collapsing.
Lux moved with fluid contempt—
Spun under Kaelin's wild arc—
And kicked her chest with a sharp heel strike that sent her flying backward off her collapsing mount.
The lion hit the ground. Charred. Bleeding. Dead.
"Two down," Lux hissed.
Then came Vahl. Straightforward. Predictable. Furious.
Perfect.
Lux didn't dodge. He invited him in.
The last lion charged. Vahl's war spear aimed straight for Lux's throat.
Lux darted forward, met the charge head-on, and drove one dagger into the lion's open jaw.
He stabbed upward.
Deep.
The lion shrieked. Its divine jaw locked—then shattered.
Lux ripped the blade out sideways.
Holy blood exploded like molten light. The lion collapsed, twitching violently before finally going still.
Vahl leapt from the corpse in a spray of feathers and fury, screaming, "BLASPHEMER—!"
"Now we're talking."
Lux spun into him, catching his first spear swipe with a dagger—then the second with his forearm plate. Pain bloomed, hot and white—but he welcomed it.
"Hit me harder," Lux grinned, voice low and thrilled.
Vahl swung again. Mistake.
Lux slipped under. Twisted his ankle. Pulled.
The spear whiffed air.
His dagger didn't.
He drove it into Vahl's ribs—deep and brutal. Right under the divine chestplate. He twisted.
Blood spurted gold—then blackened. Contract sigils lit up along the blade.
[Status Effect: BLEEDING]
[Status Effect: DEBT CURSE ]
[Every divine spell cast will now cost 5% HP.]
Vahl gasped.
Lux kneed him in the face, spun, then slammed him shoulder-first into the dirt.
And then—
All three angels were airborne.
Swords drawn. Faces bloody. But not retreating.
Elio was clutching his ribs mid-air, his lion dead behind him.
Kaelin's halo was cracked.
Vahl's shoulder was bent wrong.
Lux floated up after them, wings flared wide.
His breath steamed from his mouth. Not from exhaustion. From raw overflow.
His daggers hummed with power. His eyes glowed like dying suns.
"You wanted a threat?" he said, voice clear and slow. "Then let me show you what the son of Greed looks like when you burn his damn bike."
And he surged.
[Agility Boost]
He moved like a devil-shaped bullet—appearing mid-air between them. Daggers flashed.
He slashed upward into Kaelin's shoulder, carving open her wing with a clean diagonal cut. Her scream was like a violin string snapping.
Elio went for a counter-strike. Lux dropped below him, caught his leg—spun him in mid-air and smashed him into Vahl.
Feathers and blood flew like divine confetti.
[Hellfire Rain Activated.]
The sky turned black.
And then it rained.
Spots of red and orange light dripped like molten tears—falling fast, burning holes through armor, igniting the air.
Kaelin raised a shield—too slow. Her barrier cracked. Flames punched through.
Elio dropped, half-conscious.
Vahl screamed, covered in smoke.
Lux hovered above them like a devil king surveying discounted souls.
Then—
"Abyssal Grasp."
[Skill Activated Abyssal Grasp.]
The sky cracked.
The earth split.
And from it…
Hell.
Dark tendrils erupted upward from below, jagged and fast like starving serpents. They pierced the sky.
One wrapped around Elio's ankle, yanked him down mid-flight. Another slammed into Kaelin's back, crushing her wing joint.
The tendrils didn't stop. They chased. They ripped. They dragged.
Elio's sword flared with divine light. He tried to cut through them. Failed.
They regenerated.
Then they hissed.
[Terror Status Applied.]
[Shaking. Attack Speed -25%. Divine Focus disrupted.]
Lux darted down like a meteor of shadow and gold.
He slammed into Elio—dagger first. Drove it straight through his eye.
The scream was silent. The body dropped.
Kaelin tried to fly.
Lux reappeared beside her in a blink—dagger sliding along her cheek like a whisper.
Blood blossomed.
"Tell me who sent you," he purred.
Kaelin snarled, "You're a monster."
"Thanks," Lux said, stabbing her in the thigh. "It's literally in the family tree."
She screamed—light bursting from her wound—he kicked her into the sky and followed her spin with a downward strike that sent her crashing into the dirt.
Vahl tried to catch her. Mistake.
Lux was behind him before he even blinked.
Caught his arm. Snapped the wrist backward like breaking a twig.
"Left side's your weak point," Lux said casually. "You lead too much with your chest," he added.
Then he dragged his dagger across Vahl's back. A perfect, bleeding line.
Not fatal. Just humiliating.
All three angels—on the ground now. Wounded. Groaning. On knees or face-down. Their lions were corpses. The battlefield stank of blood and shattered dignity.
Lux hovered over them, orbs circling, wings still out, armor steaming with infernal glow.
"You're going to answer two things for me," he said. "First—who sent you?"
Kaelin tried to rise. Lux didn't let her. He backhanded her hard enough to bounce her off the broken ground.
"Lying is an infernal sin," Lux said calmly. "I am, unfortunately, fluent in it."