Chapter 294: An Eye for an Eye, Double the Repayment
Just as Cheng Tian and Cain Factar completed their respective fusions and transformations, entering their Avenging Angel and Demon King Dam forms, the sky was completely torn apart.
On the White Tower's side, led by Cheng Tian, sunlight shone brightly, bathing all allied units in a warmth that permeated their bodies and souls.
Conversely, on the Black Tower's side, led by Demon King Dam, the overcast, perpetual night state persisted.
But interestingly, the sunlight and darkness seemed to be attached to Cheng Tian and the Demon King respectively; as Cheng Tian charged forward, grazing projectiles, the sun-drenched area invaded and covered the darkness corresponding to the Demon King.
Visually, this scene was spectacular, as if the sunlight was purifying the Demon King's darkness, following Cheng Tian's charge!
Being in the sunlight, Cheng Tian's Blazing Sun Mask's bonus shifted from night mode to day mode, and his Blazing Sun Blessing also activated, granting him a 5-point bonus to Strength, Agility, and Spirit.
Normally, Cheng Tian's Ghost Rider form would be restricted by sunlight, but now in his Avenging Angel form, his power attribute had transformed from Hellfire to Heavenly Fire, so his power was no longer limited. Even the countdown for his transformation, which required consuming a Silver Knight Statue, was paused.
The unpredictable Cheng Tian was now in an extremely exhilarated state. Demon King Dam had already intensified the density of its elemental barrage, yet Cheng Tian still managed to weave through it by "grazing" the projectiles.
The entire sky seemed like sunlight overwhelming darkness, leaving the players and NPCs below wide-eyed.
While charging forward, Cheng Tian's mind stirred. The Twin Goddesses, who were watching Cheng Tian's performance from behind him, simultaneously raised their hands towards the Demon King. Subsequently, a mark entirely constructed of holy fire appeared above Demon King Dam's head—
Avenging Holy Fire derivative effect: Vengeance Mark.
With the emergence of two Crystal Demon Eyes, golden Judgment Feathers were rapidly forming behind Cheng Tian at a rate of 3 per 0.5 seconds. Compared to their previous appearance, these golden feathers were now enveloped in a noticeable layer of holy fire.
Cheng Tian himself was grazing projectiles, while a string of golden feathers trailing behind him swayed like a phoenix's tail. When occasional collisions occurred, they would directly destroy the Demon King's missiles due to the effect of "being less likely to be offset by other flying projectiles."
Facing the approaching Cheng Tian, Demon King Dam's two smaller central arms simultaneously gripped the long handle of an enlarged Asura Battle Axe, raising it high and aiming it at Cheng Tian, who had already entered melee attack range.
Empowered by the absorbed Asura Berserker Kishugar, Demon King Dam's timing and opportunity for melee attacks were incredibly precise. It seemed to have surpassed the agility cap of the dungeon, allowing it to successfully catch the exact moment Cheng Tian paused his charge.
Slash!
The axe blade sliced through the air, a powerful blow that could shatter anything it grazed and annihilate anything it touched.
However, a flash of light in Cheng Tian's hand revealed a jade green chain-scythe. Simultaneously, a jade green circular shield, enveloped in holy fire, completely covered Cheng Tian's body.
When the massive axe blade struck the shield, it noticeably paused. Only then did the entire shield shatter. But this momentary pause allowed Cheng Tian to seize the opportunity to sidestep, successfully evading Demon King Dam's powerful slash with both his body and wings.
At the same time, a "-300" damage number popped up on Demon King Dam's 15,000-plus HP bar, and it simultaneously let out a short sound, an instinctive reaction as if it had been burned.
And this was still an effect of the Avenging Holy Fire—
When the target Cheng Tian faces has previously engaged in combat, the target qualifies for the "Vengeance" mark, allowing a Vengeance Mark to be applied. Subsequently, Cheng Tian gains the "An Eye for an Eye" effect, meaning he will return an equivalent amount of holy fire vengeance for any damage received; if it's a melee strike, it will immediately burn the opponent, and if it's a ranged strike, it will reflect a similar ranged attack back, which the opponent can evade or defend against.
This is similar to a permanent Flame Cloak, with the damage type being holy fire burning.
And if the target also has keywords such as "Darkness," "Evil," or "Chaos" that are antithetical to "Holy" power, then in addition to the "An Eye for an Eye" effect, an additional effect called "Double the Repayment" will be added—
That is, all skills and items augmented with holy fire will deal an additional double holy fire damage to the target.
Demon King Dam had broken through the Whirlwind Shield that Cheng Tian created using Gale Blade Lv3. The shield, strengthened to Lv3 by Soul Fragments, had its HP increased from 50 to 150, and was then shattered by a single blow from the Demon King.
But at this moment, Cheng Tian's Avenging Holy Fire had been applied to the Whirlwind Shield. The base stats were almost unchanged, but the attribute had changed from Wind to Holy Fire. This resulted in the Demon King taking 300 points of reflected damage from the holy fire due to its melee attack after breaking through the 150 HP Holy Fire Shield, while the excess damage had no effect as it couldn't continue to hit Cheng Tian himself.
Having completed his evasion, Cheng Tian executed a dragon's tail whip, flinging all 27 Judgment Feathers he had generated during his previous charge towards the Demon King!
If one were truly curious, they could try buying a brand-new, unopened box of toothpicks, opening the lid, and vigorously flicking them downwards in one direction; it would achieve a similar effect.
Being large has one drawback: many times, there's no avoiding things.
All 27 golden feathers, not a single one remaining, embedded themselves in Demon King Dam's body.
The original damage of the golden feathers remained unchanged, a paltry 9 points, but the Avenging Holy Fire applied to them added an extra 18 points of holy fire!
The single-target damage was indeed not high, but the sheer number made up for it. A series of "-27" damage numbers directly popped out from Dam's head, totaling 729 points.
However, even though the numbers appeared, Dam's 15,000+ HP bar remained motionless, including the initial 300, as if hitting a false HP bar.
But Cheng Tian was mentally prepared for this, as this Demon King Dam was likely the same as in the original work, where its true core weakness was the Black Pearl, a replica artifact that fused an incomplete source of demonic power.
All attacks against him were meant to force the weakness to appear.
But at this moment, Dam, still adorned with a string of golden feathers, spoke.
"I've got you."
In an instant, a purple circular barrier enveloped Cheng Tian. This was a variant of Factar's Barrier, a binding enchantment.
Simultaneously, the mouths of the six familiars were all emitting large, high-damage spell arrays.
Factar's Eye had granted them the ability to cast multiple spells in conjunction with Demon King Dam.
Under the Demon King's form, the barrier magic received an epic enhancement. Even with the Cleria Ore weapons, it would be impossible to break free immediately, and it even had an interference transfer effect, sufficient to trap him until the spell casting was complete.
But at this seemingly inescapable moment, where he could only endure seven simultaneous spells (including the main body), Cheng Tian's two left wings suddenly turned red, and Fina's phantom solidified. A mysterious fluctuation, surpassing conventional magic, emanated from the red wings—
Goddess's Grace: Rite of the Red Moon!