The Saintess with the Wings of the Goddess
Kim Jae-hyun stood inside the Demon King’s Castle, smiling as he watched the fierce battle unfold in the distance.
At this moment, the Saintess Lucrecia’s power had surpassed even his wildest imagination. Far stronger than the Hero’s Holy Sword energy that had once driven her, her true abilities now dwarfed those of the woman who had once betrayed him—level after level beyond anything he had expected.
Moreover, the might she wielded was one even Jae-hyun could not dismiss.
*Please, fight hard and come here. That way it will be truly entertaining.*
* * *
From the body of a radiant bird hovering in the sky, the Saintess Lucrecia began to unleash an endless torrent of divine energy.
Swishhh!!!
Translucent wings materialized on her back, sprouting like the very image of divinity.
“W-what is that!”
“The Wings of the Goddess!”
Among the archangels, Michael and Uriel shouted in shock. Gabriel and Raphael’s mouths moved but no sound escaped them; both wore identical expressions of utter awe.
“The Wings of the Goddess?”
Jae-hyun already knew what they were.
The legendary wings granted to the Saintess of the Intermediate World—the goddess’s proxy—when she drew infinitely close to the deity herself. Legend claimed that such a Saintess would wield power equal to the goddess, capable of rewriting the laws of the world. Yet no one had ever witnessed one, so the tale remained mere myth.
The archangels had long believed that, in this era, the mere possibility of a Saintess with those wings appearing was laughably remote; at least two thousand years would have to pass before such a miracle became feasible.
Now their enemy stood before them, Wings of the Goddess unfurled.
“Very well. Shall we begin?”
Lucrecia, the Saintess of the Goddess’s Wings, soared upward from the radiant bird’s form and spoke with divine authority.
Though she rose into the heavens, her wings remained perfectly still. She did not fly with them; she simply wished it.
Like a true goddess, she wielded her will as raw reality.
“I never imagined I would have to fight such a battle while facing the Demon King. Fighting the strongest Saintess armed with the Wings of the Goddess…”
Jae-hyun tightened his grip, ready for anything, and swung his Archangel’s sword.
Kwaaaaah!
An aura-blade wave, fueled by overwhelming will, rocketed toward Lucrecia. She did not erect any barrier.
There was no need.
The instant her eyes blinked once, the laws of the world itself twisted.
Shuuu—
The aura-blade wave lost all momentum and dissolved into ordinary mana, scattering harmlessly across the natural world.
“Hmm!”
Jae-hyun’s face hardened. He had expected something similar from the Wings, but seeing it with his own eyes still sent a chill through him.
*It’s almost like the nullification of the Holy Ring—Andvari’s power.*
Among his own holy artifacts, the Holy Ring Andvari possessed a similar ability to nullify and weaken incoming attacks. The ring was only a minor holy item, yet it could render any defensive spell useless. It could also nullify barriers that enemies tried to raise against it.
And right now, Lucrecia was wielding something far beyond even that.
“Everyone! Even if you are attacked, do not use any barrier! Her divine energy will simply dispel it!”
Jae-hyun shouted at his allies to buy them a moment. Barrier spells or aura barriers would vanish in an instant.
“The opponent is a Saintess with the Wings of the Goddess. There is no room for complacency. Jae-hyun, whatever you say, I will fight alongside you as well.”
Gabriel raised her archangel’s bow and declared she would join the fray.
“As will I.”
“As will I.”
“As will I.”
Michael, now helmeted, Raphael wielding a lance, and Uriel with gauntlets on her hands, all voiced their intent. Four archangels had united to face the enemy.
“Before we clash with the Demon King, we should pool our strength and quickly defeat this foe. It would be far wiser.”
“I agree completely.”
Griffith and Jason also volunteered to aid Lucrecia.
“We will fight as well.”
“How wonderful to be able to help my husband for once!”
“Husband, please allow me to fight beside you!”
“Jae-hyun, give me a chance too!”
Rachel, Ruina, Silvia, and Kim Da-gyeom—Jae-hyun’s wives—asked the same.
“I shall lend my strength as well.”
Dragon Lord Eocaris made his declaration as well.
“Hah! We must face the Demon King, so we cannot afford to waste strength here!”
When Jae-hyun accepted their help, Lucrecia, hovering above them, laughed.
“Charging like a swarm to take down a single frail woman… How pathetic. Giving every possible excuse, are we? …Hehe. You all are dirty, cowardly people who cling to dirty, cowardly allies and hide behind excuses. You love them, don’t you?”
Even after revealing the Wings of the Goddess, Lucrecia continued to taunt them without pause. Gabriel immediately loosed an arrow straight at her.
Though skilled in swordsmanship, Gabriel possessed even deeper mastery of archery. Her level of skill far exceeded what Jae-hyun remembered from twelve thousand years ago.
And her archangel’s bow required no arrows; it could endlessly summon light arrows from pure energy.
The very fact that it needed no ammunition proved its terrifying utility.
In a single breath, dozens of arrows streaked out from every direction, locking onto Lucrecia with perfect accuracy. Again and again the barrage came.
Lucrecia tried to redirect the incoming light arrows by twisting the laws of the world.
“Nullify—invalidity!”
But Jason, Griffith, and the Dragon Lord unleashed simultaneous 10th-circle nullification magic, hammering her with overwhelming force.
10th-circle magic belonged to the realm of the gods themselves!
Even at a lower-deity level, three simultaneous activations would change everything.
If her godlike power of law manipulation was trying to toy with them, then they would toy with hers.
“Hmph!”
Her attempt to control the laws was blocked, but Lucrecia simply sneered and released her divine energy. White light flared from her entire body and even the surrounding air.
An ocean of divine energy poured forth—more than twenty times Gabriel’s own output. The sheer volume itself was enough to become a devastating weapon.
Defensive and healing aspects of the divine energy activated on their own. Every attack coming her way was blocked. The hundreds of light arrows Gabriel had loosed never touched her body; the moment they struck the surrounding divine aura, they vanished without a trace.
“Everyone, move upward and escape!”
Jae-hyun instantly ordered them to climb higher. Before his words even finished, his allies and the angels and dragons who had come to help surged upward at maximum speed.
Kwaaaang!
Yet from the ground below, a geyser of molten lava erupted. The torrent rose, slowly shaping itself into the form of a colossal giant and charging straight at Jae-hyun.
“You treat the world as your plaything!”
Jae-hyun spoke and activated the power of the Holy Boots—Tararia.
Their positions instantly swapped. Jae-hyun, now standing high above in the sky, dropped like a meteor straight toward Lucrecia.
Before her stood the fist of the lava giant she had created, aimed precisely at her.
But Lucrecia altered the law of time for a moment, turning the scene into slow motion. She cooled the giant’s lava into simple stone and, from above, concentrated countless layers of defensive power against Jae-hyun’s descending assault.
Space itself began to block his path.
Jae-hyun, however, pierced the very space with his archangel’s sword and struck at her.
“Stop.”
The Saintess with the Wings of the Goddess, who could manipulate the laws of the world, commanded Jae-hyun—who had reached the point of attacking her—to halt.
The command itself carried overwhelming force, and Jae-hyun felt tremendous pressure.
“Ugh!”
As Jae-hyun staggered, Lucrecia gave new orders to Rachel, Ruina, Silvia, Kim Da-gyeom, and the other wives and allies rushing toward her.
“Fight each other.”
Rachel and Ruina’s swords suddenly turned on one another. Silvia and Kim Da-gyeom did the same.
Even though it was only once, they attacked their own allies.
“Gah!”
Michael winced as Gabriel’s arrow pierced his arm. Raphael’s spear impaled Uriel’s left leg; both archangels grimaced in pain.
“Kyaaah!”
They had been preparing powerful destructive magic and had been constantly shielding themselves with defensive spells, but when the spells suddenly locked onto one another at the center of their bodies, the explosions blasted Griffith and Jason backward with agony.
Fortunately, the Dragon Lord had not yet entered combat; he was merely observing calmly, so he avoided any harm.
All of them were powerful, so they felt the effects of Lucrecia’s command only momentarily. The influence did not last, and the only result was a single exchange of blows among allies.
Yet Lucrecia had already expected exactly this.
Her beautiful Saintess attire fluttered as her slender arms moved. Countless divine-energy lines streaked out at speeds that left Jae-hyun’s eyes barely able to follow. Every line struck indiscriminately—his allies, the dragons, and the angel tribes alike.
“Kyaaah!”
“Uwaaah!”
The single line sent the dragons and angels flying hundreds of meters away, screaming in agony. Jae-hyun’s group tried to defend but it was a reflex born of habit.
The moment Lucrecia’s eyes flashed, every defensive power she commanded vanished. They were left completely defenseless, striking her lines bare-handed.
“Aaaah!”
“Ugh!”
“Kyaaah!”
Everyone except Jae-hyun, who had blocked the attack directly above him, fell screaming as they tumbled from the sky.