NOVPUB
Chapter 350: The Battle of Karmic Nature
The pope was stunned, but then he finally realized the subtle meaning behind Aldrian’s words.
"Can you break the curse?" the pope asked, his voice trembling.
Angelica also looked at Aldrian with a hopeful gaze, causing his heart to soften. He felt strangely affected by her expression, unable to stop himself from thinking about her.
"There must be something about her that keeps affecting me." As he reflected on his experiences, a thought crossed his mind.
"Have we met in a past life?"
The idea seemed plausible, given how unusual his emotions had been since meeting the saintess. However, he pushed those thoughts aside for now and focused on the problem at hand.
"I will try my best, Your Holiness. Since I can see it, I will make sure to break it," Aldrian said reassuringly.
He then injected his golden energy into the pope’s body. As the energy began to spread, the pope felt an incredible sensation coursing through him. A warm, comforting feeling enveloped him, making him momentarily forget the pain and weakness that had been plaguing him.
The pope’s eyes trembled as he sensed the golden energy beginning to spread through his vital organs, especially his dantian. He could feel it attempting to heal the damage in his dantian and meridians, but he also noticed something unusual—something he had never felt before.
Each time the golden energy touched certain points in his vital organs, he sensed a subtle tugging sensation. He knew this was something invisible to the naked eye, reacting upon contact with the golden energy.
True to his guess, Aldrian, using his karmic laws, observed the threads of the curse binding Pope Claudius’s body as they were being attacked by his golden energy. However, unbeknownst to the pope and Angelica, Aldrian was inwardly shocked when the curse made contact with his golden energy.
"The curse is actually trying to bind me and corrupt my golden energy!"
This curse wasn’t just alive—it could spread to anyone who tried to destroy it. As Aldrian continued channeling his golden energy into the pope’s body, he glanced at Angelica. She didn’t seem to be affected by the curse, even though she had said she had already tried using her technique on the pope in case he was afflicted.
Yet now, the curse was actively attacking him, trying to ensnare him as well.
"Why is it attacking me? What makes me different from her?"
"Is it feeling threatened by my golden energy and deciding to strike back?" Aldrian wondered. But then, inwardly, he scoffed.
He increased the intensity of his golden energy, and the threads wrapping around the pope’s organs and body finally began to break apart little by little. The curse had no hope of resisting—his golden energy was a force that could subdue anything in its path.
The golden energy continued to destroy the curse at a considerable speed in Aldrian’s eyes, but he didn’t relax. Instead, he kept pushing his golden energy further, determined to eradicate it completely.
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At the same time, in the Devil Territory, the Devil Lord was in the middle of his cultivation. With his eyes closed, he sat on his cultivation mat, an altar-like structure surrounding him.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes and frowned, sensing a disturbance in his soul. But then, his expression shifted—his eyes widened slightly in astonishment, a rare sight from him.
"Someone is destroying the Anathema Laws in that old man!"
Closing his eyes once more, he began circulating his devil energy, channeling his power into the Anathema curse he had placed on the pope. Though it drained his energy—since such a high-level curse was beyond his natural ability—he still persisted, injecting more of his power to reinforce and strengthen the curse.
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Back to Aldrian—just as he was happily destroying the curse inside the pope’s body, the "purification" process suddenly began to slow down. The golden energy’s momentum was being hindered, as if something was trying to stop it.
Aldrian frowned at the unexpected resistance. But when he observed the threads of the curse connected to the void and saw foreign karmic energy empowering it, he immediately understood the cause.
"I see... So you noticed the curse being destroyed and decided to fight back. Do you want a battle? I’ll give you the battle."
With that thought, he intensified the flow of his golden energy. A radiant golden hue began emanating from his body, illuminating the surroundings. Angelica and Pope Claudius looked at Aldrian in amazement, awed by the divine brilliance enveloping him.
At this moment, what Angelica and the pope felt from Aldrian was the aura of a higher being—an overwhelming presence that demanded reverence. Their hearts trembled as they sensed the change in his golden energy. Unlike the earlier warmth and compassion, this energy now carried an undeniable sense of authority and divinity.
The golden energy radiated a message of absolute supremacy, as if declaring that Aldrian was someone to whom all should bow.
Pope Claudius, sensing this shift in both the energy and Aldrian himself, immediately realized that something happened in the process of dispelling the curse. However, seeing that Aldrian remained composed and had not shown any signs of distress, he chose to remain silent and observe rather than react hastily.
Aldrian himself, while battling the other side, was gaining new comprehension and experience. For the first time, he was engaging in a battle of karmic nature, and to him, this was an invaluable opportunity. He realized that someone was actually capable of resisting him in this regard.
His golden energy was overwhelmingly powerful—normally, any curse would be instantly obliterated without much resistance. But now, for the first time, he could feel a real counterattack from the other side.
At this moment, he was certain—the one opposing him was the Devil Lord. He had no doubt about it.
Many claimed that the Envy Devil was the strongest curse user among the devils, but Aldrian disagreed. This curse was far beyond anything the Envy Devil could conjure. No, comparing them was absurd—it was like comparing heaven and earth. The sheer malice and strength of this curse were on an entirely different level.
From the events of the Cerberus, Aldrian had already begun to doubt the Devil Lord’s origins—or his true identity. But after this encounter, he was certain: the Devil Lord was connected to something, or someone, beyond the realm of this world.
If the Devil Lord possessed an ability strong enough to slow down his golden energy, then he had to be more powerful than anyone on this continent had ever expected.
Yet, Aldrian was not discouraged. Instead, he smiled. He found this situation truly interesting. He felt an intense curiosity, eager to uncover the Devil Lord’s secrets.
All of the Devil Lord’s knowledge and abilities, which surpassed common understanding of this realm, only fueled Aldrian’s desire to face him as soon as possible.
However, he pushed down that kind of thinking as quickly as it came. Underestimating the Devil Lord was the same as inviting his own defeat. A being who had lived far longer than him, armed with all kinds of unknown tricks, was nothing short of dangerous. The last thing Aldrian wanted was to be caught off guard because he had underestimated the Devil Lord.
Aldrian continued injecting his golden energy, forcing the curse to retreat. Even with the Devil Lord’s empowerment, the curse still couldn’t overpower the relentless golden energy attacking it.
"Maybe I can give the Devil Lord a little shock therapy with this," Aldrian thought with a smirk.
He then channeled all of his domain power into his body. His aura and presence became even more overwhelming, and those closest to him—Angelica and Pope Claudius—were the ones most directly affected by the change.
Now, what they sensed was something beyond human. Standing near him, they felt as if they were unworthy, as though Aldrian was a being that should not exist in this world. The transformation was extreme, yet they steeled themselves, reminding themselves that this was the man of prophecy—the one who would decide the fate of the continent.
After fully connecting his domain across the continent—something he rarely did—he could feel that the sheer magnitude of his power was far greater than before. The last time he had done this was during his battle against the Greed Devil, but now, he had grown much stronger, and his domain already covered nearly half the continent.
If he were to unleash his full power upon someone, he could only imagine the sheer destruction it would cause. 𝓷ℴ𝓿𝓹𝓾𝒷.𝓬𝓸𝓂
At that moment, he decided to use it to strike the Devil Lord—launching a karmic attack empowered by the full force of his domain. He was eager to see what kind of reaction the Devil Lord would have.
"Break!"
He pushed his golden energy forward, merging it with his karmic attack. Instantly, the curse was obliterated, and the pope was freed. Aldrian watched as the black threads were completely destroyed, and when he saw his karmic attack creeping through the threads connected to the other side, a wicked smile formed on his lips.
"I hope you like my gift, Devil Lord."
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At that moment, the Devil Lord was still trying to empower the Anathema technique he had placed on the pope when he suddenly opened his eyes and shouted,
"BREAK!"
He suddenly felt something in his mouth—blood spilled from the corner of his lips. He wiped it away with his finger, his eyes glinting menacingly.
"What a terrifying karmic attack. If I hadn’t severed my connection with the Anathema in that old man, I would have died instantly. A direct attack on my soul with that much power would have been the end of me," he thought.
"It’s him. It has to be him. There’s no one else on this continent who could break the Anathema laws."
