novelHire Chapter 855: The Pope’s Demeanor, Bloody Purge
Chapter 855: The Pope’s Demeanor, Bloody Purge
…The one who stepped forward was none other than the Battle Soul Hall’s Pope — Bixixi!
The wrappings that had concealed her like a mummy were already gone, replaced by a magnificent papal robe.
The robe’s main color was a profound dark purple, the cuffs and hem embroidered with intricate golden patterns, within which flowed the sheen of Battle Power. A black diamond-shaped emblem hung on her chest, the emblem carved with a blurred silhouette of a fallen angel.
That was also the symbol of the Battle Soul Hall.
A pressure like a rising tide spread outward, and the entire arena went silent in an instant.
Bixixi scanned the surroundings with cold, expressionless eyes.
She strode from the spectator stands toward the arena step by step.
As her footsteps drew nearer,
the pressure of a level-95 Legendary Battle Master was released without reservation.
This pressure did not focus on the watching students; instead, it precisely suppressed the family heirs and the Battle Saint serving as the judge from the Xiahou Family.
“Ugh…” Xiao Shihao’s face swelled to the color of congealed liver, veins bulging on his forehead. His once straight back bent downward, then lifted in resistance, only to bend again, as if bearing an unbearable boulder on his shoulders.
In the end he still fell to his knees.
Even so, the ground continued to crack outward from the center where his knees pressed into it.
Bixixi had no intention of letting him off; that pressure grew ever heavier.
Even breathing became a luxury.
Xiahou Yuan didn’t have Xiao Shihao’s stubbornness. His legs had already gone half-soft the moment he recognized the Pope, so when the pressure descended he and Su Luyao both collapsed to their knees. Su Luyao was even more pathetic; her low-quality Battle Soul made it impossible for her to withstand the oppression, and she was pressed flat to the ground.
“Pope… Your Holiness, you… why have you come?”
On the arena, the Xiahou Family’s Battle Saint’s face was pale, his lips trembling as he looked helplessly at the approaching figure.
Bixixi was very beautiful, her figure sensually curvaceous, but she was a rose with thorns, and every thorn was deadly poison.
“Should I not have come?” Bixixi snorted coldly. “If I hadn’t come, would this arena competition truly have become a private garden for your Xiahou Family?”
With each step she took forward, the Battle Saint shrank further.
By the time she stood before him, the Battle Saint was already pressed to the ground by terrifying pressure, limbs splayed, gasping violently like a fish baking under the sun.
“Your Holiness, I was wrong… I was only following orders from my family… I cannot disobey family orders, I… I had no choice…”
“Who gave those orders?”
Hum—! A purple soul ring lit up beneath Bixixi’s feet.
Countless blood-red vines burst from the ground and coiled around the Xiahou Family’s Battle Saint, then slowly lifted him. The blood-vines bristled with thorns that tightened and pierced into his body one by one, while absorbing the Battle Power from his body.
Agonizing pain spread through every bone and limb, yet he dared not make a sound.
Any Battle Master who knew something of Bixixi understood that the Pope hated begging for mercy; to plead with her only invited harsher punishment, only a faster death.
The dwindling of his Battle Power and life force left this Xiahou Family Battle Saint no option but to answer Bixixi’s questions.
As his consciousness blurred, survival instinct made him incapable of lying.
“It— it was our Xiahou Family’s direct descendant, Xiahou Yuan… although he is younger, he is the clan leader’s son. I dared not disobey his orders…”
“And Feng Wuyu?” Bixixi glanced coldly at Xiahou Yuan, who was trembling on the ground, and continued her interrogation, “Where is Feng Wuyu?”
“Feng… Feng Wuyu is unharmed, just… we have him under house arrest…”
“What audacity!” Bixixi’s raised palm clenched violently, and the vines abruptly tightened.
This time the Xiahou Family’s Battle Saint could no longer bear it; the torturing pain of organs being pierced made him wail in agony.
His shrill screams echoed across the arena, chilling the hearts of the students and clan heirs.
Everyone had heard the rumors of the Pope’s ruthlessness, even brutality; now they finally understood with bone-deep clarity.
“Feng Wuyu was specifically appointed by me to preside over this academy competition. You dare act against my people — are you planning to move against the Battle Soul Hall in the future?
Rather than wait for you to strike at my Hall, I’ll just eliminate these hidden dangers right now!”
As she spoke, murderous intent rose, and Bixixi’s hand continued to lift.
The Battle Saint was hoisted higher by the vines; his blood streamed down along them like a creek, pooling and spreading on the arena floor.
“I’m sorry… Your Holiness… I… I didn’t know…”
Feng Wuyu had been Bixixi’s handpicked official to judge the match. He truly didn’t know.
Not only did this Battle Saint not know, but none of the families present were aware of the Pope’s backing of Feng Wuyu.
If they had known Feng Wuyu stood behind Bixixi, who would dare to lay a hand on him?
Even if Xiao Shihao and Xiahou Yuan wanted to do something, they would have to act right under Feng Wuyu’s nose.
“Realize your mistake now? Too late.” Bixixi snorted coldly, her palm forming into a fist. “Die!”
At her command, the slowly writhing blood-vines suddenly became frenzied and strangled savagely.
The Battle Saint’s body was devoured in an instant.
Splat—!
Only a head remained, thudding onto the ground.
The head rolled off the arena and finally came to rest at Xiahou Yuan’s feet.
Xiahou Yuan and the dead, unseeing eyes of that head met; he trembled in terror, a warm wetness spreading in his trousers.
A foul stench permeated the air.
Bixixi twitched her nose and her expression turned cold.
Her icy gaze slowly shifted from the corpse on the arena to the limp Xiahou Yuan on the ground.
“Xiahou Yuan.” Her voice was low, yet it made Xiahou Yuan flinch as if he had heard the summons of death. “Tell me, besides you, who else participated in this despicable act of breaking arena rules? Tell me, and I might consider letting your body remain whole.”
The terrifying pressure pressed on Xiahou Yuan’s heart like a tangible weight; the fear of death and the memory of the Battle Saint being instantly strangled shattered his mental defenses.
Tears streamed down his face; he no longer cared about family honor and clung to a sliver of hope, crying out in a shrill voice, “It was the Xiao Family! Xiao Shihao! He approached me, said Li Qingran was a threat and proposed we join forces to cripple her on the arena! It was all masterminded by him! Your Holiness, please see the truth!”
Xiao Shihao, who had been desperately resisting the pressure nearby, suddenly jerked his head up, his face draining of all color. He snapped back fiercely, “Xiahou Yuan! You lie with your blood! It was you who wanted to please that bitch Su Luyao, you flouted the rules to take revenge on Li Qingran — what has that got to do with me?!”
He had to clear his name, or the Xiao Family would suffer the consequences.
“You call that slander?” Xiahou Yuan, desperate to live, no longer cared about anything.
He fumbled in his clothes, producing a palm-sized metal disc that flickered with faint Battle Power, and shakily raised it overhead. “Your Holiness! I have proof!
This is a voice-recording soul conductor; it recorded his voice, Xiao Shihao, conspiring with me!
He promised that once it succeeded, the Xiao Family would give mine Xiahou Family a cut of the mining rights outside the city!”
Bixixi gestured, and the recording device flew into her hand.
She exhaled a wisp of Battle Power from her fingertips, and a clear dialogue immediately played — Xiao Shihao’s cold, calculating voice discussing how to exploit rule loopholes, how to wear Li Qingran down by attrition of her soul power, and finally how he, Xiao Shihao, would personally step onto the stage and “accidentally” inflict grievous harm — the full plan.
When the recording finished, the arena fell utterly silent.
Xiao Shihao froze in place, his face going from pale to blue to purple. He pointed at Xiahou Yuan, shaking with rage, and could not maintain his aristocratic composure any longer, exploding in curses, “Xiahou Yuan! You despicable bastard! How dare you frame me?! Damn you…”
“Enough!” Bixixi barked coldly.
She looked at the two disgraceful heirs in the audience; her eyes were filled only with disgust.
Two prominent families produce two such wastes?
Then those families’ futures are decided.
She slowly raised her hand; dark purple Battle Power condensed in her palm, emitting a heart-stopping vibration. “As heirs of prominent families, you shirk progress and instead conspire to break the rules set by the Battle Soul Hall and plot to harm the Hall’s gifted students. Their hearts deserve execution, their actions deserve ruin!”
Before she finished speaking, she flicked her finger.
Two condensed streaks of dark purple light, solid as poison snakes, shot into the lower abdomens of Xiahou Yuan and Xiao Shihao.
Pfft—!
Both sprayed a mouthful of fresh blood, body convulsing violently, faces draining of all color, eyes filled with utter despair.
They could feel clearly their long-cultivated Battle Power foundation rapidly collapsing and dissipating.
The root that sustained their strength and status was destroyed by Bixixi’s casual strike.
Their Battle Power was annihilated.
From now on, they would be worse than ordinary people, two living wrecks.
Under the overwhelming blow and excruciating pain, they didn’t even scream much before their eyes rolled back and they fainted.
Bixixi didn’t bother to spare them another glance. Her gaze swept to the pale attendants of the two families in the stands. Her voice was icy to the bone: “Take these two useless men away. Tell Xiahou Jie and Xiao Tianding to immediately release Feng Wuyu.
Also, have them personally come to the Battle Soul Hall tonight to report this matter to me!
If they’re late… they will bear the consequences!”
The attendants, as if granted clemency, scrambled forward on hands and knees, hoisted the unconscious Xiahou Yuan and Xiao Shihao, and fled the arena in a panic, not daring to make a sound.
Once that was handled, Bixixi casually cast a glance at the white-robed girl Li Qingran, who stood quietly on the arena.
Then she turned to face the whole crowd, restoring her lofty papal bearing. Her voice carried throughout the arena:
“The troublemakers have been removed. The arena competition will now continue!
In the name of the Battle Soul Hall, I will temporarily assume the role of judge to ensure fairness!”
Silence held for a moment, then exploded into deafening cheers and applause.
…
Switching lines, switching lines