Become their wicked yet gentle lord.

Paruru held up a small ball of spirit: "'Spirits' may be of different kinds and governed by different rules, but they are the purest form of energy! They can even merge and transform with each other! And whether it's shamanism, magic, or battle aura, the different powers we acquire are actually related to 'spirits'! I derived this conclusion from them!"

"Your conclusion?"

Liu Xia blinked. So what she had just said was all her own academic reasoning?

"That's right~" You're busy, Lin is not available, Lin is not here...

Paruru laughed proudly, shaking her head as she said, "Anyway, it's not like what your church says, that only you were created by some goddess, while other races were either born of stone or created by demons from filth. That's just too ridiculous!"

Just as Ryuka was speechless, the Yu in his mind seemed to remember something and said to him:

"What she said isn't wrong. To some extent, not only living things, but everything in the world evolved from chaos. Logically speaking, different species shouldn't be able to mix, let alone living and inanimate objects. But it is precisely because of extraordinary power that this world has become so rich and colorful. At least, that's how it used to be..."

Ryuka silently asked herself, "Is this extraordinary power the 'spirit' that Paruru mentioned?"

Not entirely correct.

Yu floated within the main hall, darting like a fish towards the cracks in the ceiling, sensing the witch's power suppressed by Ryuka's will within, and silently said:

"To go even further, 'spirit' is also a manifestation of power..."

"You want to go even further? You're really confusing me."

Ryūka sighed, while Yū offered an explanation from the side:

"At its core, whether it's battle aura, magic, holy aura, or 'spirit,' including the power that sustains the rising and setting of the sun and moon, the existence of all things, and even the power of gods, it's all 'energy'... and the way different energies are controlled and manifested is the process of learning magic and battle aura, or becoming a god... and it's also the reason why this world has countless races and strange phenomena..."

Although it sounded somewhat vague, Ryuka couldn't help but recall the 'mass-energy conversion' he had heard about in his previous life. Although he hadn't studied it much, it made him think: if so-called physical entities can be converted into energy, what is impossible, especially since this is another world.

So Ryūka accepted it; good energy or bad energy, anything useful to him was good. Besides, he also had a unique perspective:

"So, you mean that because of this power, it's possible to have children with a beautiful woman who's actually a dragon, right? And if the source is strong enough, maybe even a god could?"

Yu's breath hitched. She didn't deny it, but her semi-transparent body flickered a few times: "You're hopeless..."

Then she sneered and said, "How about this, when you're strong enough, go find a rock by the roadside and bask in it for a day, see if you can give birth to a little stone man, then you'll know."

But this level of mockery didn't hurt Ryuka. He said slowly, "It's not that it's impossible, as long as it's carved to my liking, and the stone has to be placed after yours..."

"Pah! You'd better die soon! Let me wait for the next host!"

Yu blushed and spat, then disappeared from the Hall of Consciousness, no longer speaking to Liuxia.

"Hmph, her attack power is too weak, it's like she's just being coquettish." Ryuka couldn't help but sneer inwardly. She hadn't even complained to Yu Kei about the fact that the summoning method Yu Kei gave her couldn't be used yet. Although Yu Kei didn't have a physical body now, Ryuka didn't intend to let this sharp-tongued golden girl off the hook in the future.

In front of Ryūka, Paruru frowned as she looked at the silent Ryūka, unsure whether he was pondering carefully or disagreed with what she had said.

After all, even the shamanic elders in the clan felt that her idea was too bold, not to mention her own savage father. And even when she asked the 'ancestral spirits' about this issue, she never received an answer.

Just as Paruru was feeling a little uneasy, Ryuka suddenly looked up and smiled:

"You're right. Anyway, I don't believe in the Vatican or anything like that. This trip to Linhu Town is to deal with the Vatican. It's great to have your help. Let's go now. I won't scare you this time."

After saying that, Ryuka walked past Paruru, but the shaman girl didn't move. She just watched Ryuka's back and made a 'hoho~~' expression on her face.

"What's wrong? Is there anything else you want to say?"

Ryuka turned to look at Paruru, who smiled and shook her head: "Yes, there is, but there's no need to say it all at once~"

After saying that, she followed Liuxia to the side of the warhorse and once again reached out her hand to the boy who had already mounted the horse, asking him to help her.

Chapter 8 The Contest of Authority and Intimidation

"Lord Tavis, has there been any activity these past few days?"

In the forest east of Lake Forest, near a makeshift camp near the slumbering orb of light of Hinatil, Tavis Duke is enjoying his lunch over a campfire: a roasted pigeon and two pieces of white bread.

The former eldest son of an earl seemed to have adapted well to his new life at the Spa Resort—managing the farm and ski area behind the resort, though he had to avoid the frequent Sochi nobles. His father, Ronald Duke, had once said that Tavis's personality was not suited to be a noble lord. He was peaceful, steady, and had no interest in power or pleasure. He preferred taking care of his wife and children to giving orders to others, so when his son David asked his father, who had finally broken through to the rank of Grand Knight, to come and serve as a sentry, he readily agreed.

Ryuka was very polite to Tavis, and the two of them never had any conflicts. Although there was a big age difference, Tavis knew that this was his sister's lover and boss, so he always liked to treat Ryuka as an equal.

However, when he saw that Ryukatsu was accompanied by a girl he had never seen before, Tavis was still a little worried. Although his father had said that Ryukatsu was just like this and that Kira herself didn't care, Tavis, who was somewhat devout, still felt a little uncomfortable.

"There's been no movement, Liuxia. She's just been floating inside. However, the poison marks on her body have faded quite a bit. She'll probably wake up soon."

As Tavis spoke, he pulled Ryuka aside, glanced at Paruru who was observing her surroundings, and then asked Ryuka:

"How is my sister doing? And who is this barbarian girl?"

"Kira is doing quite well, except that she gets angry with me because I've been spending a lot on my territory lately."

Ryusha chatted amiably, understanding that Tavis was not only worried that having too many concubines would neglect Kira, but also that it would affect his relationship with their family and the dark elf half-bloods. In some ways, he was genuinely satisfied with his current life, rather than navigating the power struggles in Sochi.

"As for this young lady, she is Paruru, the daughter of the giant bear Weston, if you've heard of her. She's here to help me... about this matter."

Tavis had obviously heard about it; he nodded and asked, "Then may I leave?"

"No rush, you can finish your lunch first, and we'll see what happens." (Your plum blossoms are still there, my forest is empty...)

After saying this, Ryūka bid farewell to Tavis, taking the surveillance notes he had kept with him. In the past few days, the poison marks on Sinatiel's body had faded by half, but the power of the light sphere hadn't diminished; in fact, it had become even stronger. Most noticeably, there were some obvious anomalies near the light sphere…

The trees and flowers withered, but the goblin corpses on the ground remained as fresh as if they had died, without decay or insects, as if time had stood still.

The two arrived near Hinatil. Paruru, observing everything, said with a grave expression:

“I can sense that the ‘spirits’ here are very weak, even weaker than those in Sochi. And they fear Shinatiel’s domain. When two different domains collide, this is what happens. The spirits will move away from the boundary of the conflict, causing the order here to become unbalanced. The reason why the corpses don’t decompose is not because time has stopped, but because all the ‘spirits’ have fled from here, which is why the trees have withered... By the way, do you still need this notebook?”

Paruru pointed to the notebook in Ruka's hand, the one she had taken from Tavis. Although she didn't understand what she was going to do, Ruka handed it to her anyway.

"Thank you, I need to write this down. Hmm... If all the spirits are lost, then the environment will change. Let's call this environment the 'dead zone' for now..."

Paruru began writing in her notebook, muttering to herself, her scholarly demeanor somewhat incongruous with her shamanic image. This amused Ryūka, and after finishing, Paruru glanced at Ryūka.

"What? You still think we are a 'barbarian' race, so you find this behavior hard to accept? We just admire power and have different ways of doing things than you, we are not barbaric or backward."

“I didn’t say anything, I just wanted to remind you that we need to get down to business.”

Ryūka chuckled. It wasn't that he thought Paruru's serious attitude was unlike that of a shaman. Rather... it was the words she had just written in her notebook...

The script, which was completely different from the common language, felt somewhat familiar, and Ryuka quickly remembered where she had seen it before.

Similar inscriptions can be found in the Snow Spirit Cave, the abandoned city, and on the base of the blue Snow Spirit statue. Vitris lost her mother, the White Goddess, at a young age and therefore didn't recognize them. Although Vitris allowed Ryūsha to mine the blue magical crystals from the Snow Spirit Cave, she stipulated that the relics of her ancestors should not be damaged, thus the inscriptions were preserved intact.

Although there are some differences, the style reveals that it is a script, only the font has changed over a long period of time.

"Is this the script of your Vino people?"

“No, it’s a script used exclusively by shamans.” Paruru was somewhat wary of Ryusha’s question; it seemed that the script used by shamans was quite important to her.

Is that so? That makes things difficult. If it were the script of the Vino people of the North, I could easily find a way to learn it, but now…

Should he tell Paruru...? Ryuga pondered in his mind. He still didn't know what Paruru would do after searching for Vitris and Snow Spirit. Even though she seemed like a friendly and harmless exotic beauty, she had many powerful backers. Not only her savage father, but if it involved the faith of the entire Vino people, perhaps the entire Northern Snowfield would be affected.

At this moment, Ryuka could only pretend not to care and pull Paruru back to the important matter of summoning spirits.

This time, Paruru was much more serious than before. She not only took out some strange rune stones from her body and arranged them into a magic circle, but also chanted more complex incantations. However, instead of creating a large spiritual barrier like last time, she only summoned two or three weak spirit spheres.

"This place seems lush and verdant; there shouldn't be only so many young spirits here..."

Paruru seemed a little confused, but she still beckoned and began communicating with the spirit in an obscure language. She mumbled a bunch of things, then shook her head at Ryusha:

"It's strange. The earth spirits here are too weak; they probably can't help you much. Only this little guy vaguely told me that it's because something is amiss to the east, which is why the spirits here have been weak and lacking. And after this ball of light appeared, they became even more frightened..."

Paruru sighed: "I thought that such a lush forest would at least have powerful earth spirits. If I could persuade them to stand on your side, they would allow you to unleash extraordinary power here."

"How could that be? But before..."

Liuxia spoke with some doubt about how she had previously felt the earth, the wind, and the leaves helping her, even though it was clearly the local earth spirits helping her.

"Perhaps it's because you, as the governor and lord of this place, allowed forces that didn't belong to them to invade, causing them to lose faith? Never mind, I'll try summoning again to see if there are any more powerful earth spirits. Logically, there shouldn't be; with so many mountains and rivers, there should be at least a few strong ones..."

Paruru shook her head, returned to the side, and increased the range and intensity of her spell.

"Would it be that sensitive?" Ryuga frowned, looking at Hinatil's sphere of light. It seemed that he had indeed received help from the earth spirit before Hinatil deployed this sphere of light.

Ryuka approached the sphere of light, observing Shinatiel inside through the light barrier. The black-haired bishop floated curled up inside, harmless like a sleeping baby. A sexy body was tightly wrapped in a tight-fitting priest's robe; her previous wounds had completely healed, but faint silver veins could still be seen at the gaps in the clothing—the poison left by Atina.

"Atina... I wonder how she is now."

Then Ryuga looked at the scepter in her hand, which emanated an aura that he found repulsive and repulsive. The sphere of light it created was like an uninvited guest, brazenly occupying his territory and turning it into its domain.

But more uncomfortable than this territorial resistance was the witch power emanating from Kania. Thick, purplish-black demonic energy seemed about to burst from his body. Anger, resentment, mockery… a torrent of emotions overwhelmed him, almost compelling him to rush into the light barrier, tear Hinatil apart, awaken her from her slumber in terror, and leave her to grovel at his feet, weeping and pleading…

However, after merely condensing a single ice spike to test the waters, Liu Xia felt the powerful counterattack from the light barrier instantly obliterate the tip of the ice spike. This terrifying destructive power was far beyond what he could currently withstand.

"Don't worry, this isn't Hinatil's own power. She's not much stronger than you; she borrowed it from the scepter. The use of such power can't be done at will or without a price... As long as you show enough courage, the earth spirits here will be on your side again."

In his mind, Yu popped up again and started talking to him, even urging him to bring out her and Quan and try to get them to meet with Hinatil.

"Now? Paruru is behind us."

Yu comforted Liu Xia easily: "It's okay, that girl is busy. Although she knows the techniques, her strength is still too weak. Perhaps it's because she is too far away from her hometown and the god behind her, and she can't be distracted for a while."

"Besides..." her tone became ambiguous, "Although the authority of the Holy See is 'Star Power,' the one before you is merely a 'Star General.' Even though your current 'Territorial Power' is still very weak, this is still your territory. Getting a feel for the specific differences will be helpful in the future."

"And now it's not just the power of the Leader's Token that's fighting it; you have another ally~ You want to completely ravage this woman, don't you? I felt your emotions just now~ My good master~"

Yu's ambiguous joke made Ryuka roll her eyes. Although as the 'spirit' of the Leader's Proof, Yu was under the control of her host in every aspect and could not lie to her, she seemed to have too much of her own personality. Moreover, she was not a physical being, so Ryuka's greatest punishment for her was to become a scepter and restrict her freedom.

Only at times like this would Yu admit that he was her 'master', and his tone would be extremely irritating.

But what she said makes some sense. Trying to fight back and feel the difference in strength will give you confidence.

With a thought, Ryuuichi conjured a transparent, golden broken handle in his hand. This was the first time he had summoned 'Power' in reality. As if there was a natural resistance, holding 'Power' in his hand felt like forcibly conquering this land, as if it weighed a ton. Ryuuichi's hand trembled uncontrollably, not because his power as a great knight was insufficient, but because another rule was at work.

"That's amazing, you actually managed to get it. I was just mentioning it casually..."

Yu's somewhat surprised voice came from the broken handle, but it quickly turned serious.

“Approach the sphere of light carefully, and withdraw if it doesn’t work. If you lose in the confrontation with authority, the local spirits may lose faith in you.”

"You son of a bitch, why didn't you say so earlier!"

Ryūka felt as if he were lifting a mountain, a piercing pain shooting through his arm. He gritted his teeth, holding the broken handle close to the orb of light, when a strong resistance immediately surged through him. Like an arm wrestling match, Ryūka and Sinatiel were locked in a struggle of strength.

"Because if you win, the power of authority that the opponent can project remotely into your territory will weaken, which will also benefit you. It just so happens that the witch power within you also repels the Church, so now is the perfect time to take a gamble."

Ryūka felt this invisible pressure, just as it had when Sinatiel demanded his submission at the banquet. Only now, with the power in his hand, his resistance was stronger, and he was able to slowly raise the broken handle, pressing it towards the sphere of light.

One minute, two minutes… the closer Ryūka got to the light barrier, the stronger the power she felt became. Her knees began to tremble; the pressure far exceeded what Sinatiel had inflicted on her before. The bishop's scepter in her hand seemed to have its own will, roaring menacingly, its oppressive force surging like a tidal wave, instantly making it hard for Ryūka to breathe.

Fuck you! I refuse to admit defeat! You dare to swagger around on my territory!

Just a hair's breadth away! He was about to touch the light barrier! Although it was difficult, Ryūka felt he still had some strength left. At this moment, the witch's power within him was also roaring, seemingly wanting to lend a hand. But right now, Ryūka only wanted to rely on his own strength to compete with Hinatil's 'divine kingdom'. As the lord of this place, he absolutely could not lose to an outsider!

"Two times... no, more than three times the power..."

*Clang!* When the broken scepter touched the light barrier, it didn't dissolve or obliterate as before, but instead emitted a crisp sound. However, the scepter in Hinatil's hand immediately launched a fierce counterattack, its power exceeding that of Ryūsha by two or three times in an instant!

For a moment, time seemed to stand still; the leaves stopped rustling, and the mountains and rivers were frozen solid. A powerful aura emanated from Ryuu's body, shaking the land. Invisible, subtle forces gathered from the earth and converged on Ryuu, instantly granting him new power.

"Keep it up! It seems your persistence is really encouraging them!"

It seems that the spirits' thinking is also very simple. To them, they are locals, while Hinatil is an outsider. As long as they show their spirit, they can't help but help them.

Ryuka understood why Yu had urged her to participate in this contest. Even if she failed, as long as she showed the will to fight, she could gain the Spirit's approval.

From hunting through the forests of Linhu Territory to protecting this land, perhaps everything I've done has been seen by them, which is why they are helping me today.

"Thank you so much! I'll have to work even harder!"

Ryūka gave a forced smile, struggling to gather the power of the Leader's Token. Inside the hall, the statues of the followers emitted a soft glow, making Ryūka even stronger.

The statue of Hetia burst forth with light, and Hetia, far away in Sochi, seemed to sense something. She turned her gaze eastward and silently called out to Ryukatsu in her heart...

With a whoosh, a transparent hand appeared beside the broken handle, like a phantom of Hetia. She and Ryūka grasped the broken handle together. Golden light instantly lengthened the broken handle, and energy coalesced into patterns and veins, bringing the 'Power' closer to completeness, and forcefully resisting Hinatil's 'Divine Kingdom'!

But that's not all!

Ryuu grinned, sweat trickling into the corners of his eyes. At that moment, he unleashed the witch's power he had been suppressing for so long! The purplish-black demonic energy instantly coiled around the broken handle, transforming it into a short-handled scepter!

Chapter 9 Unexpected Events

"As expected, this witch's power is also some kind of divine or quasi-divine power. Now that we share a common hatred, it has become an asset to us! Hehehe~"

An excited voice emanated from the scepter. Although she was extremely wary of witch power, she couldn't help but feel excited at this moment, having been enhanced, except...

"Why has your voice become so... seductive?"

"what?"

Ryūka's question surprised Yu somewhat, but he couldn't worry about that now. Although he had Hetia's support and the power of the witch, the power of the Shinadiel Kingdom was still much stronger. Ryūka struggled to maintain his strength, and a hammer-like blade extended from the tip of his scepter, slicing into Shinadiel's domain with a hissing sound. Although it was difficult, Ryūka knew that if he could interrupt Shinadiel's self-healing process, it would definitely be to his advantage!

"Hang in there a little longer, little master! That shaman girl will be better soon! Your actions have attracted the attention of the nearby spirits! This makes it easier for her to communicate with them and persuade them to give you more help!"