Published at 9th of October 2026 6:40 am

Chapter 259: Silver And Gold

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

Chapter 259: Silver And Gold

The pace of the fight had completely shifted. Ash leaned forward in his seat, grinning as another blast from Bigger Min forced Blight to pull back. Tomb's arrows kept coming from across the city, leaving the Warlord little room to recover. They had Blight on the defensive, and he wasn't about to let up.

Another giant arrow, this one engulfed in flames, slammed into Blight's shoulder and blew off one of his six arms. Ash was already charging in low, his sword sweeping upward as Blight moved to intercept him. Bigger Min fired, the cannon kicking against the knight's shoulder as the blast disrupted Blight's guard just long enough for Ash's blade to connect.

Another black arm went flying.

"Fuck him up!"

Ash's voice boomed from the robot's speakers as he pushed forward, but Blight was already swinging back. Before the counter could reach him, another arrow from Tomb slammed into the demon, knocking his attack wide.

For the first time in a long while, Ash felt like he had complete control.

With Bigger Min blasting away from his shoulder and Tomb raining arrows down from across the city, he finally found his rhythm. Blight's attacks were getting easier to read, and every time Ash saw an opening, he threw the knight forward to take advantage of it. Even Mr. Gates had stopped yelling at him quite so much.

"How's that feel, you ugly bastard?!"

"Right in the fucking teeth!"

Bigger Min howled, firing another shell.

The cannon kicked, and Ash followed the explosion with another swing of his sword. Blight caught the blade, but the impact drove his giant form backward, its feet tearing through the street. His smile had disappeared, and Ash could see the demon's jaw tightening every time another attack forced him to give ground.

"He's getting mad!"

"I believe you should concentrate on keeping him that way."

"Oh, I got something for that!"

Grinning, Ash spotted a familiar icon on his display.

[MISSILE BARRAGE READY]

"Eat this!"

Panels opened across the knight's shoulders and back, releasing a swarm of missiles that streaked toward Blight. Explosions swallowed the demon, throwing up clouds of dust and black smoke as Ash charged straight through the mess.

He could barely see anything.

Didn't matter.

Bigger Min fired again, and a split second later, he felt his sword connect with something solid. The impact rattled his arms through the controls, followed by a furious growl from somewhere inside the smoke.

Which suddenly parted, and Blight was right in front of him.

"Shit!"

One of the demon's swords came down, far too fast for Ash to get his own weapon up. He jerked against his restraints, desperately trying to move the knight aside

"MR. GATES!"

"Activate the emergency blade!"

"WHAT BLADE?!"

"YOUR LEFT WRIST!"

Ash slammed the glowing command.

A bright blue energy blade erupted from the knight's forearm, catching Blight's sword just before it reached the cockpit. The collision threw Ash against his seat, and for a moment, all he could see was blue light pouring across his screens.

Then the energy blade shattered.

Something heavy broke loose from the knight's wrist and fell toward the street below. Ash caught a glimpse of a smoking block of machinery tumbling away, its casing split open and its charge completely spent.

[EMERGENCY BLADE DEPLETED]

"That was AWESOME!"

"It was also our only one!"

"Then make another!"

"With what?!"

Before Ash could answer, Bigger Min's cannon fired directly into Blight's face.

"Four-armed prick!"

Blight staggered, and another enormous arrow slammed into his side before he could recover. Ash seized the opening, driving the knight forward with everything it had. His sword struck, forcing the demon back another step as the ground cracked beneath them.

Blight snarled.

Ash heard it through the cockpit speakers, a low, ugly sound that made his grin widen.

"What's wrong? Not having fun anymore?!"

Blight's giant form twisted, smoke lashing around its arms as it tried to regain control of the fight. Every time it moved, Bigger Min was there to interrupt. Whenever it managed to push Ash away, another arrow came screaming across the city, forcing the demon to defend.

"That's right! You shouldn't have messed with us!"

Bigger Min laughed.

"Should've stayed in Hell!"

Ash was laughing too.

He could feel the knight responding faster now, its movements becoming more natural as he pushed from one attack into the next. His head throbbed, and sweat had soaked the back of his shirt, but he barely noticed.

They were winning.

Another arrow struck Blight square in the chest.

The impact drove the demon back, its feet gouging deep trenches through the broken pavement before it finally stopped. The massive bone shaft remained lodged in its chest, jutting out between the shifting layers of black smoke.

Ash raised his sword, ready to charge again

Until he noticed something strange.

Blight's shadows were wavering.

The smoke making up his enormous body kept shifting, losing its shape before pulling itself back together. Ash could see the demon standing inside the giant's chest, his head lowered and his shoulders trembling.

"Hey, Bigger Min? What's he doin'?"

"Who gives a shit? Hit him again!"

He hesitated. Something about the way Blight was standing made his stomach tighten. It got worse when the demon lifted his head.

Two bright white eyes opened in his otherwise featureless face, and Ash's mouth went dry.

He couldn't explain what he was feeling. The moment those eyes settled on him, every bit of excitement he'd felt drained away, replaced by a fear so intense he could barely breathe.

"Mr. Gates..."

For once, the robot didn't answer.

Blight opened his mouth...and roared.

The sound hit like a physical blow, driving Ash back against his restraints as every screen in the cockpit flickered. Beneath the roar of some ancient beast came something else, hundreds of voices chanting together in a language he couldn't understand.

The noise filled his ears, pressing deeper until he could feel it vibrating through his teeth and bones.

Outside, the city seemed to change.

The air darkened, and the ruined buildings took on strange, twisted shapes through the knight's flickering screens. Shadows stretched across the streets, crawling over the rubble as the light itself seemed to retreat from Blight's voice.

For a moment, Ash could have sworn he was looking out over a world of the damned.

"Move, kid!"

Bigger Min's voice barely reached him. Frozen in his seat, his chest tight, Ash's hands trembled against the controls. He couldn't move, could barely draw a breath. He was too damn scared.

The smoke and shadows surrounding Blight went still. Raising a hand, the demon drew the darkness away from his giant form, reshaping it into countless black spears

And that horrid smile returned.

"You were amusing. For a human."

With a casual wave of his hand, half the spears shot toward Tomb while the rest surged forward, swallowing Ash's entire view.

Bigger Min opened fire as her frantic shouts were drowned out by the impacts. Spears hammered into the knight from every direction, filing the cockpit with the shriek of tearing metal as Ash was thrown violently against his restraints. He squeezed his eyes shut, threw his arms over his head, and screamed.

Every spear sent his way found its mark, punching through the knight's armor and ripping apart its machinery. Within seconds, the massive robot began to crumble, its ruined frame collapsing beneath the barrage as smoke and sparks poured from the wreckage.

The impact was brutal. Ash was thrown from his seat, his body slamming repeatedly against the inside of the cockpit before finally coming to rest.

Unconscious and bloody.

---

Floating above the ruined machine, Blight could still sense the human's life somewhere inside the wreckage. As he descended, he glanced toward the distant giant with the bow. The creature lay motionless among the ruins, its enormous body riddled with holes.

Blight had returned to his normal size, his smooth black skin completely unmarked. Only the smoke rising from his horns betrayed the damage he'd suffered. What had once poured steadily from them had thinned to little more than wisps, occasionally disappearing altogether.

Resting a foot against the knight's ruined chest, Blight drove his tail into the wreckage. Metal screeched as he tore through the damaged armor, widening the opening before reaching inside and dragging out Ash's unconscious body.

The human's tight red-and-silver suit hung in torn sections, and blood trickled from a cut along his brow.

"I really should have ended our little game sooner. Look at the trouble you've caused me. Even devouring your soul would scarcely compensate for the dam"

He stopped mid-sentence. Something about the human's scent caught his attention, and he leaned closer, drawing a long, deep breath.

His smile faltered. With a look of disgust, he dropped the child as though the human disgusted him.

"That stench... Baal, you wretched little thief. How unfortunate. It seems you've already been claimed, and I have no intention of dining on another's leftovers."

Using his tail, Blight rolled the boy onto his stomach and tugged down his collar, exposing a patch of golden skin on his back, but before he could examine it further, numerous black tendrils shot toward him. He drifted back, easily escaping their reach.

A purple and black striped tiger landed heavily over the child's body and let out a furious roar. The ghost stood protectively above him, teeth bared and claws digging into the ruined metal as the black stripes whipped angrily through the air.

"An Umbral Felis? Father used to speak so fondly of your kind. Particularly the taste. Earth truly is a remarkable world. Every corner seems to conceal another surprise."

Thick drops of black saliva spilled from Blight's mouth, dissolving into smoke before they reached the ground. The ghost couldn't have arrived at a better time. After being denied the human's soul, he was still terribly hungry.

With a flick of his wrist, he sent a mass of smoke rushing toward his new prey. The tiger roared and lashed out, her whipping stripes tearing through the approaching darkness, but more smoke immediately took its place. Within moments, it had wrapped around its entire body, tightening until its limbs were pinned. Blight watched the ghost struggle for a moment before lifting it off the ground and drawing it close.

"Pathetic."

Still examining his prize, Blight casually lashed his tail behind him, striking another ghost that attempted to approach unnoticed. He'd sensed the thing coming, but hadn't considered it worth his attention. With an Umbral Felis dangling before him, a common human ghost wasn't even an appetizer.

Blight reached through the smoke and caught one of the tiger's stripes between his fingers. Giving it a curious tug, he watched the black tendril stretch before tearing it free with a sharp pull.

The ghost screamed.

"Oh, that's wonderful..."

Tilting his head back, Blight lowered the struggling stripe into his mouth and slurped it down. The taste brought a shiver through his body, and he immediately reached for another.

Thrashing against its restraints, the tiger's claws scraped uselessly through the air as Blight tore another stripe from its back. Then another. Each one disappeared between his teeth, the demon barely bothering to chew before reaching for the next.

"Such flavor! Father, you really did have excellent taste."

He continued until every last stripe had been stripped. The screams had grown hoarse, its struggling reduced to weak jerks as Blight stuffed the final tendril into his mouth.

He was still savoring it when something caught his attention

He straightened, his head twisting upward.

A low growl escaped his throat as black smoke surged above him, spreading into a thick shield just as something enormous slammed into it.

The impact shook the air.

Another followed, then another, each blow driving against the smoke with enough force to send ripples through its surface.

Blight looked up through the shifting darkness and bared his teeth.

"Impressive! The tiny ghost has finally found his courage!"

High above, an enormous skeletal form twisted through the sky, its attacks hammering against the shield in rapid succession. The ghost's movements were frantic, its rage and sadness pouring into every strike.

Blight had noticed him the moment he'd arrived.

Something that large was difficult to overlook, especially when it carried such an overwhelming amount of fear. He'd felt the ghost trembling from across the city, watching the battle without daring to interfere.

Blight had been perfectly content to leave him alone. After all, there was nothing wrong with saving a little something for dessert.

"Impatient little creature. Can't you see I'm eating?"

Ignoring the continued bombardment, Blight pulled his meal closer. Its remaining limbs twitched as he opened his mouth and sank his teeth into one of the tiger's legs.

With a sharp jerk of his head, he tore it free.

The tiger ghost's scream cut through the noise overhead, its body convulsing inside the smoke as Blight chewed with obvious satisfaction.

"Mm. Absolutely marvelous."

Another heavy impact struck his shield, but he barely acknowledged it. His attention had already shifted to the long tail hanging from his captive. Catching it between his teeth, he bit down and pulled, tearing away a thick section before slowly chewing. His eyes rolled back as the taste spread across his tongue.

"LET GO OF HER!"

The human ghost had returned, his form wavering as he struggled to hold himself together. The old man's face was twisted with fury, his voice cracking as he shouted again.

"YOU HEAR ME?! LET HER GO!"

Blight gave him a dismissive look before returning his attention to his food.

"Really, must everyone insist on interrupting my meal?"

Above, the giant ghost continued hammering as the old man shouted himself hoarse. With so much noise, and Blight focused on his prey, none of them noticed the movement inside the ruined knight.

The boy had woken up.

---

Ash's eyes were open, staring through a gap in the wreckage toward the creature dangling from Blight's grasp.

He could hear Triss screaming.

His breath grew ragged as he tried to move, but his battered body barely responded. Every breath hurt, and something warm trickled down the side of his face.

Then another scream reached him.

His fingers curled against the broken metal as a burning sensation spread across his back, growing hotter with every passing second.

The patch of golden skin wasexpanding, creeping over his shoulders and down his arms.

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