Sparring with Alfred / Pandora's Box

Two more weeks passed since Xie Qing's breakthrough and he was finally able to stabilize the Soul Star.

He was now in Heaven, in the Palace of Light, which was the headquarters of the highest ranks of the angel race.

There were many angels looks at him, and not all of them were benevolent. Some even looked at Xie Qing with hatred.

Most of the officials already knew about Xie Qing and Arya's marriage contract, and many of them naturally did not particularly approve of it.

But did Xie Qing care? Naturally, no. For him, the opinion of a few winged men didn't matter.

He was busy with more important things. And now he was having tea with Alfred. Xie Qing looked at the old man and smiled.

"Sir Alfred, I have recently broken through and want to test my strength. Would you agree to spar?"

The surrounding angels, upon hearing him, were stunned. A mere mortal summoned a supreme angel to spar? He's obviously courting of death! (I couldn't resist, sorry.)

Alfred was known as the Angel of Death, who during the Holy War against the demons he was able to seriously wound Velial, who was even stronger than Lucifer!

But, Alfred is said to have sacrificed his longevity and part of his soul for the sake of it.

However! Even so, he remained one of the strongest angels. And Xie Qing wanted to fight him?

That's ridiculous!

However, Alfred did not be rude to Xie Qing or humiliate him in any way, after all he was an angel. The old man just smiled and nodded.

"I am very interested to see your improvements." Alfred stood up from the table and beckoned Xie Qing after him.

He followed him and soon they reached the ring. However, this ring was made of strong steel, and was also equipped with many protective magic circles.

Alfred jumped into the ring and landed on it, and Xie Qing followed him. Alfred smiled good-naturedly.

"I'll limit myself to level B, so you don't have to worry." While this would have sounded humiliating to someone proud, Xie Qing knew Alfred was worried about him and simply nodded.

They got into a stance, and a few seconds later they began to move.

Alfred took a step forward, as did Xie Qing. They appeared and disappeared into thin air. However, the surge of magical energy and explosions proved that their fight was intense.

Xie Qing's eyes widened in exasperation, but then he lit up with fighting spirit. Even holding back, Alfred could easily block his blows.

And the reason for that was experience!

Compared to Alfred, Xie Qing was a sucker. Eighteen years old in the Supernatural world was considered very low. You might not even have been allowed to pass the bar when you found out you were only eighteen.

Xie Qing kissed the floor when Alfred kicked him. He quickly stood up and dodged a lunge at his shoulder and swung back.

Whoo!

"Not bad." Alfred smiled. A second later, however, his smile turned into a smirk.

"But it's not enough."

He squeezed Xie Qing's arm and ripped it off completely! There was now a void at Xie Qing's left shoulder.

Red blood dripped onto the floo , and Xie Qing he squeezed eyes shut at the intense pain, but he gritted his teeth to keep from screaming.

The lower-ranking angels were watching the fight, and he could not allow them to look down on him.

Xie Qing channeled his magical power to heal the arm and soon black smoke appeared near the left shoulder, which took the form of the arm.

In a few seconds, the smoke disappeared and a graceful and muscular arm appeared in its place.

Seeing this, Alfred nodded contentedly. He smiled and patted Xie Qing on the shoulder.

"The ability to heal yourself is an important part of the battle. However, you are too slow to do so, so it will be useless in active combat."

"Yes, but I only recently learned this trick. Aria also said it needs improvement."

"Hehe, I see you two close." Alfred laughed out loud and patted Xie Qing on the shoulder several times.

Xie Qing smiled.

In fact, the feeling of healing was not as pleasant as it might seem. Because you literally regenerated from scratch!

And that means...

Creating a nervous system, bone, muscle, and so on.

Each of these actions was accompanied by a hell of a lot of pain, so even for Xie Qing it was terrible.

"And yet vampires also have to deal with this..." He thought and shook his head.

His musings were interrupted by Alfred's voice, which sounded slightly interested.

"I just remembered that the Angels of the Middle Ranks were going to clean out the miasma places. Would you like to go with them?"

"Miasmas?" Xie Qing remembered that he had a resistance to miasmas.

"Okay, I don't mind. But what should I do there?"

"Places with miasmas usually have a lot of lower-ranking demons. They're not strong, but there are a lot of them, so your help would be helpful."

Come to think of it, Alfred was right. Though the Inferior demons are weak individually, but in groups they posed a danger even to the Middle-ranked angels.

After thinking briefly, Xie Qing promised that he would definitely go with them. After that, they returned to the headquarters and began to drink tea.

Xie Qing changed into his new clothes. It was an all-white tuxedo. Together with the cross-shaped earring, he rather looked like a light creature.

Alfred placed a black box on the table and pushed it toward Xie Qing.

"What is it?"

"A copy of Pandora's Box. Weakened by about a hundred times."

"A copy of what?!"

Xie Qing jumped up and looked dazedly at Alfred, who was quietly sipping his tea.

Xie Qing jumped up and looked dazedly at Alfred, who was quietly sipping his tea.

It was the legendary Pandora's Box! Even if it is a copy, it still contains negative energy and various impure intentions.

Even a slight surge of such intentions can turn the most pious person into a vicious maniac!

Xie Qing wasn't sure he could absorb the contents without damage. He might even become insane!

Alfred, seeing Xie Qing's excitement, only smiled.

"Do you think we would give you an object that could ruin your mind?" He shook his head and sighed.

Xie Qing calmed down and sat back in his seat. He looked at Alfred with a look that demanded an explanation.

Alfred smiled and began to explain.

"Though you are not capable of absorbing the contents of the box now, but at S level it won't be difficult."

"Besides, we wouldn't give this item away without first checking it. We have removed the ancient intentions, leaving only the weak ones."

"I can assure you: when you reach level S, you will be able to absorb the contents without damage."

Alfred picked up the cup of tea and twirled it in the air, making the cup's contents ripple.

The reflection in the tea changed and a seraphim appeared, his face invisible because of the bright light.

"Long time no see, Child of the Abyss. How are you?"

Xie Qing did not correct the seraphim's mistake, but merely smiled good-naturedly and nodded.

"All is well. It is rather unusual for you're to contact me."

"Our gift caused a bit of a stir, so I had to show up myself." Seraphim nodded and waved his hand.

A golden book appeared behind him, radiating a bright light. Even through the reflection, Xie Qing could feel the holy aura.

"The Book of Light bears witness to my promise." Seraphim waved and the book flashed with golden light.

"I, the First Seraphim, promise that I will not harm Xie Qing. If I break this promise, my soul will be erased."

The book opened and the pages began to turn, and after five pages it stopped.

On the page that opened, ancient texts began to appear that glowed with golden light.

The book trembled and then closed. It glowed for a few more minutes and then became illusory and disappeared.

"Do you believe me now?" Seraphim asked Xie Qing.

He replied with a stunned nod.

"We decided to give you this item since Hell has recently begun to move." Seraphim replied in a monotone voice. It was unclear what he was thinking about it.

"Right. We hope you can reach S-level in a short time so you can absorb the contents of the box." Alfred nodded and confirmed Seraphim's words.

Xie Qing looked at them puzzled and asked: "Can I reach S-level so quickly?"

"It's quite possible, given your devouring ability. You just need to absorb strong enemies and mimic their abilities." Seraphim nodded.

Xie Qing pondered.

Ability imitation is his racial ability, but he has not used it yet.

The reason was simple - he hadn't come across any good skills. Why not?

Simple. He hasn't met any strong enemies with good skills. And imitating Aria's abilities is not an option.

After all, imitation requires a fragment of the soul, and that is very dangerous. Xie Qing didn't want to harm Aria's soul, so that was out of the question.

Xie Qing suddenly thought about something and his eyes lit up.

"How about I always accompany angels to battles against demons?"

Alfred and Seraphim were a little surprised, but nodded nonetheless. Now the demons were active and their numbers had increased, so it was a gold mine for Xie Qing.

Besides, he had a way to make the profit even bigger. All he had to do was torture them!

Xie Qing smiled broadly when he thought about it.

And Alfred and Seraphim just pretended not to see anything.