Chapter 134: High-Ranking Angel Summoning Ritual
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 134: High-Ranking Angel Summoning Ritual
"Phew..."
Cecilia retracted her short blades, her breathing slightly ragged.
"This damn thing is a real pain to kill."
What on earth was the Holy Pope up to?
The thought had barely formed when a synchronized, skin-crawling rustling sound echoed from the surrounding shadows.
One pair, two pairs, three pairs... countless golden eyeballs snapped open one after another in the darkness.
Over thirty aberrant angels slowly emerged from the gloom.
"You’ve got to be kidding me... there are still this many?!"
Cecilia gripped her daggers tight. Faced with so many troublesome enemies, she was clearly outmatched.
Under normal circumstances, the wisest choice would be to retreat.
But she didn't move.
To be precise, she was waiting for someone.
In the next second, a crimson arc of light flashed through the air, instantly disintegrating the bodies of eight aberrant angels.
Cecilia turned her head.
Atoris stood there, holding a crimson greatsword that was wildly disproportionate to her petite frame. At some point, she had changed into her signature white-gold battle skirt.
Her brilliant golden hair fluttered in the wind, creating a stark, almost cruel contrast against the hideous, twisted aberrations behind her.
"Lady Sword Princess! You finally showed up! Look at these monsters—it’s bad enough they look like freaks, but they’re so hard to kill!"
Atoris didn't respond to Cecilia’s rambling.
She stepped back to Cecilia’s side, sword in hand, her azure eyes calmly scanning the hesitant aberrant angels.
"They are true angels," Atoris explained. "They are simply in an... immature stage."
Atoris paused, glancing at Cecilia’s shocked expression before adding, "The Angel Race is not physical by nature. To descend into the material world, they must have a suitable vessel. In the early stages of this process, it often manifests as a... parasitic state."
A cold shiver ran down Cecilia’s spine.
"Are you saying... the Holy Pope intends to turn every believer in the Church into a vessel for these things?"
"More or less."
Atoris leveled her crimson greatsword in front of her.
"I will deal with you later regarding how you lost track of those two blue-haired girls. For now, a much more troublesome target has appeared."
"Who?"
Cecilia followed Atoris’s gaze.
The swarm of aberrant angels parted like a tide, respectfully lowering their malformed wings and rotating golden eyes.
A figure slowly stepped out from the deepest shadows.
He wore a broad white-gold robe that trailed on the ground, yet remained pristine and untouched by dust.
His dazzling golden hair was so bright it made Cecilia squint. Combined with his pure golden pupils, he appeared exceptionally holy.
He stood there quietly, bathed in a soft radiance, creating a harmony with the twisted aberrant angels behind him that was so eerie it was suffocating.
Atoris’s eyes narrowed slightly, her fingers tightening half an inch around the hilt of her sword.
"Holy Pope, Virgilis."
Hearing Atoris call his name, Virgilis frowned slightly, his pure golden eyes calmly sweeping over her.
"Are you... the newly appointed Sword of the Empire from the Aodu Empire?"
It wasn't a question, but a confirmation.
Atoris’s grip on the crimson greatsword relaxed slightly.
He hadn't recognized her true identity.
That saved a lot of trouble.
However, even without seeing through her, Virgilis had no intention of letting them go.
"Elania... ever since she fled to your Aodu Empire, I have been unable to find any trace of her."
He paused, a complex and unreadable emotion flickering in his golden eyes.
"I haven't gone looking for trouble with you yet, and yet you've delivered yourselves right to my door."
Atoris was momentarily stunned.
Elania...
Wasn't that the Child of Fate she had personally recruited into the Wheel of Fate back in Carlos Lilanka?
Hearing Virgilis mention her in such a tone made Atoris suddenly realize certain details she had overlooked.
Elania, Virgilis...
The same hair like molten gold, the same pale golden eyes so clear they were almost transparent.
It was just that Elania was quiet and introverted, the complete opposite of the Holy Pope’s temperament.
Father and daughter?
The thought flashed through Atoris’s mind, leaving her momentarily dazed.
She had never heard of Virgilis having any offspring.
Atoris’s few interactions with him had occurred over a century ago, when the Aodu Empire’s armies were pointed directly at the Heavenly Mountain. She had briefly clashed with the Pope in her capacity as the Emperor.
But that was over a hundred years ago.
Back then, Virgilis looked exactly as he did now—a peaceful, middle-aged saint. A century had left almost no mark on him.
She had never imagined that such a being would have a daughter, let alone one who had ended up being recruited by her into the Wheel of Fate...
Seeing Atoris remain silent, Virgilis didn't press further—though he did spare a glance at Cecilia, who practically had "guilty conscience" written all over her face.
"Since you are here, there is no need to leave."
With that, Virgilis turned and walked away.
Once he was gone, Cecilia finally dared to breathe.
"Phew... scared the life out of me. I thought I was a goner for sure..."
But she quickly realized something and stiffly turned her head to look around.
The aberrant angels hadn't followed Virgilis.
However, Atoris moved faster than Cecilia’s panic.
The crimson sword-light plunged into the swarm of aberrant angels like flowing fire.
There were no flashy techniques, only simple, brutal, and precise slashes.
With every strike, a thin, violet-black crack spread from the edge of the wound.
Since her resurrection, Atoris’s new body contained a remnant of Void power from Xie Bai.
Over the years, as her mastery over her Demigod power grew, this dormant strength had gradually awakened.
Though it wasn't much, it was enough for Atoris to enchant her weapon, giving her attacks the corrosive effect of the Void.
To these aberrant angels, who were essentially divinely created beings, the erosion of Void power was an annihilation more thorough than death.
The wounds opened by the crimson sword could not heal; in an instant, they turned to ash and crumbled.
In less than three minutes, the thirty-odd aberrant angels were reduced to piles of residue on the ground.
Sheathing her sword, Atoris spoke to Cecilia.
"The number of angel vessels lurking here is unknown. Our priority is to find those two blue-haired girls as quickly as possible."
"Oh, oh! Yes! Understood!"
Cecilia snapped out of her daze and straightened up immediately.
However, in the next second—
BOOM...!!!
The entire Heavenly Mountain began to vibrate violently.
Cecilia nearly lost her footing and instinctively grabbed the stone wall beside her.
Atoris looked up, her azure eyes reflecting the rising golden glow in the distance.
"It’s the summoning ritual..."
Using the entire Heavenly Mountain as an altar and the countless descending aberrant angels as sacrifices, it was a ritual to forcibly tear the barrier between the material world and the Heavenly Domain...
A High-Ranking Angel Summoning Ritual.
Cecilia understood, and her face went pale.
"Those aberrant angels... they weren't the final product? They were just... raw materials?"
Atoris didn't answer.
The Angel Race was a favored race that had received supreme blessings during the Age of Gods.
Unlike all other races, the Angel Race possessed a privilege that was almost like cheating.
When their true bodies descended from the Heavenly Domain to the material world, they were not suppressed by world-level limits. They could retain their full combat power from their peak period.
This meant that once the summoning ritual succeeded, what descended would not be immature aberrant larvae.
They would be true High-Ranking Angels with complete divinity and combat prowess.
Perhaps even beings at the Archangel level.
Cecilia’s throat felt dry.
She wanted to say something, but after thinking it over, she simply added a new entry to her little book of grudges against Brandon.
Just as the two were wondering how to respond, their vision was suddenly obscured by a shadow that blotted out the sky.
It wasn't a cloud.
Nor was it the wings of some giant angel.
It was a ship.
To be precise, it was a mobile continent forged of steel and alchemy.
The Sword of Expedition.