156. Battle with Oneself
156. Battle with Oneself
The best approach was to defeat them one by one.
Even if they were Holy Knights directly under the Holy Nation, the rank-and-file members were at most upper-tier Expert level.
It was a realm only reachable with talent, but from my perspective, that was nothing.
But if they united, they would become extremely troublesome.
The Holy Knights gathered here were not some mercenaries but personnel dispatched from a single knight order.
If they banded together and formed a proper formation, synchronizing their movements like a single living organism, they could unleash several times their original power.
In my position, I should have pressed a quick decisive strike to prevent that, but it seemed my opponent had made the first move.
When I came up to the first floor, all the exits were already blocked.
"You are already surrounded. Surrender quietly!"
The chairs that had been tightly packed for worship had all vanished.
As if they had anticipated this situation from the very beginning, they had been stowed into the floor.
And there they stood, in the central nave.
Holy Knights draped in blood-red cloaks—the Red Flag Holy Knight Order.
They advanced toward me with their cloaks of Anti-Demon Cloth—a formidable defensive material—held out in front, and maces gripped in their other hands.
And behind them, the Knight Commander who led these Holy Knights had drawn his sword and was glaring at me.
"This is the final warning. It can still be overlooked. If you surrender quietly and submit to the investigation obediently..."
"Ha... seriously..."
"Do not be deceived by appearances!! Do not think of what stands before you as a mere student! This man has already felled our comrades!!"
The same words repeated again.
I knew they were thick-headed bastards, but I had thought they would at least be somewhat open to reason.
At least the Holy Knights I had met in the past weren't like this. Was it because I had been deemed a suspect?
I assessed the combat strength before me immediately.
Five in the vanguard, one commander in the rear, and one Heretic Inquisitor capable of mid-range attacks and buff support.
Just as I had estimated based on the forces that had entered the academy.
It was a force of less than ten, but the coordinated attacks of well-trained Holy Knights amplified their power several times over.
Normally, I would have crushed them head-on, but my physical condition was a complete disaster.
It seemed best to bury one quickly and break through the encirclement.
The moment I thought that, I singled out one Holy Knight on the flank as my target and bolted forward.
The Commander, spotting it instantly, issued a rapid command.
"Deploy the barrier!!"
"""""May the wicked evil fail to pass over us!!"""""
As the Holy Knights chanted the invocation, light of Divine Power erupted from their red cloaks.
The Divine Power—pure white like my Aura Blade but with a far warmer sensation—rose to a height of about two meters, using the Holy Knights as its medium.
The 'Barrier of Nehemiah,' the foundational and ultimate defensive holy art of the Holy Knights, had been activated.
Erected using the Anti-Demon Cloth as a medium, the barrier of Divine Power was an impenetrable fortress wall and, at the same time, a net to capture the enemy.
'Going around the side was too slow, and if I tried to leap over, the Heretic Inquisitor would fire a ranged attack from behind...
If I charged the front, they'd block with the barrier and cave my skull in with a mace. So leaping over was the only option.'
Before my body touched the barrier, I kicked off the floor and launched upward.
A Holy Knight's mace grazed past the tip of my nose.
If I had collided with the barrier like this, the five of them would have distributed the impact among themselves to somehow block my attack, then counterattacked with those maces.
But now, they were all left like dogs chasing a chicken, merely staring up at me as I soared into the air.
"Spear of Judgment!"
The moment I leapt, the Heretic Inquisitor unleashed the holy art he had prepared.
From his outstretched hand, the light of Divine Power flashed, and a pure white spear flew toward me.
Normally, in midair, there was nowhere to step, making it impossible to change direction.
Therefore, the moment one was airborne was more defenseless than any other.
Except for me, that is.
With a single step taken in empty air, my body completely shifted its trajectory, and the Heretic Inquisitor's holy art tore through empty space, failing to track me.
"?!!"
My body, having changed direction once, dropped right in front of the Heretic Inquisitor.
"What kind of trickery...!!"
I took one large stride forward and threw a punch.
Dealing with this bastard first was the most convenient way.
-Kung!!
A solid sensation met my fist.
It was neither the soft texture of the robes nor the force-field-like sensation of the barrier.
'You've got to be fucking kidding me!!'
My attack did not reach the Heretic Inquisitor.
The Commander, having grasped that split second, had rushed in and blocked my fist with his gauntlet.
In the meantime, the Heretic Inquisitor quickly retreated, and the other Holy Knights swarmed in to reform the encirclement.
'Ugh... I feel like I'm going to throw up...'
The moment my momentum faltered, the horrific chills and abdominal pain I had pushed into a corner came flooding back.
Noticing that my strength had waned and my body was staggering, the Knight Commander swung not his sword but the club he carried as his secondary weapon.
He must have judged that he could subdue me sufficiently with that.
Like a wounded beast, I struggled desperately to somehow break out of their encirclement.
But it was not easy.
The Barrier of Nehemiah, which I could have lightly torn apart with my bare hands in normal condition, felt today like an insurmountable wall.
'Just a little... yeah, if I use it just a little, it should be fine, right..?!'
Whether it was the secret swordsmanship or aura, using anything seemed like it could break this situation.
If I applied just a bit of the Titan's Secret Sword Technique, I could absorb the earth veins and instantly release them to smash through this barrier encirclement.
Or I could use aura to slice apart both that barrier and the clubs.
Right, using anything could end this situation.
If I finished it as quickly as possible, even if I used techniques as a Master, they wouldn't be able to comprehend what had happened.
'Then... ugh?!'
But the moment I tried to draw up internal energy from my dantian to use a technique, pain as if my entire body was being torn apart shot through me.
The injuries sustained from the Great Demon's Authority should have kept me bedridden, but since I had kept running around fighting, the full-blown side effects had begun.
It seemed I would have to abandon the plan to use any techniques.
Right now, in this state, if I tried to do anything, my body wouldn't hold out.
"I sense no Demonic Energy... To possess such skill at that age without borrowing the power of demons—surely the Lord's grace must have been with you."
And the Commander, knowing nothing of this, began leisurely preaching.
"That is precisely why I cannot forgive it even more. Why, having been born with such blessings, why do you do this."
My head throbbed as if it would split from the headache.
Had I been born blessed?
Memories of the past surfaced.
A body so pathetically frail it was absurd to call me the eldest son of a martial family, a height that refused to grow,
and the abuse inflicted upon me as a child to change those things.
The shadow of the giants who had always looked down on me from above my head came to mind.
Had all of that been a blessing?
Had it all been His plan?
"Yes, the fact that you wield such power at that young age is entirely because the Great Parent in heaven has taken pity on us and watched over you.
He embraced you with love, yet what have you done? You merely swing around the love received from Him, not even considering how to repay that grace."
My teeth ground together at the Commander's arrogant behavior—judging me arbitrarily based on what he saw in fragments, knowing nothing.
A blessing? When he knew nothing of how much I had suffered to obtain this power, how many times I had nearly died?
If they were going to give me something like a blessing, I wished they'd at least let me grow a bit taller first.
The Commander's club swung, aiming for my shoulder.
I poured my surging rage into my fist and swung it alongside the club.
"What a load... of bullshit..!!!!"
-Ppagak!!
The moment fist and club met, the club shattered.
As the club made of solid wood burst apart, scattering fragments in all directions, the Commander instinctively turned his head to avoid the debris.
And I seized that moment, grabbing the Commander by the collar and hurling him to the floor.
-Kung!!!
"Keuheok?!"
"Who gave a loose mouth like yours the right to lecture me!!"
I climbed atop the Commander, who was sprawled on the floor, and raised my foot.
Let's end this right here, I thought, as I drew up aura from my dantian.
I would absorb the earth veins through the foot in contact with the floor and release them through the raised foot.
He wore armor that looked quite sturdy, but a single blow would smash it all to pieces.
I wouldn't be able to control the force, so if I wasn't careful, a large hole might punch through his stomach—but Holy Knights were all over the place, so they'd heal him somehow.
"Gh... euk...?!!!"
In that instant, the sudden surge of pain froze my movements.
I had apparently forgotten that just moments ago, when I had tried to use aura, pain had wracked my entire body.
In terms of time, it was about one second of hesitation—but that amount of time was more than enough to turn the tide of battle.
"Grand Cross!"
The Commander, brought down on the floor, used a high-tier holy art.
'Grand Cross,' a holy art typically reserved for top-tier demons.
A flash so blinding I couldn't open my eyes engulfed me.
————————————
The Commander's holy art illuminated the nave brightly.
The student who had been under investigation for suspicion of heresy and then assaulted the investigators collapsed powerlessly to the floor, charred black.
Justice had triumphed.
"Hoo... it's over. Brothers, well done, everyone!"
"Haha, to think such a big fish had been hiding! Isn't this one at least Demon Archbishop-level?"
"Whew, Director, I was startled when he broke your club!"
"Haha, everyone did well."
The moment the task was done, the Holy Knight Order relaxed and laughed with one another.
When dealing with heretics, they were stiffer than anything, but normally they were ordinary people who joked around and always laughed.
"Director, so what shall we do with this heretic?"
"Put him in prison and... yes, let's transfer him to the Holy Nation as intended. I'll need to get permission from the Bishop-nim."
The Commander looked down at Atlas, charred black.
He must have been a promising youth, surely.
But he could not understand why he had fallen onto such a bad path.
He claimed to have been wronged, but if he had nothing to be ashamed of and stood with confidence, why couldn't he speak?
Wasn't it because he himself thought there was a problem that he couldn't speak?
"Aigo, he's so tiny... he's about the same as our ten-year-old son, no?"
"Indeed he is... The academy can only be entered from adulthood onward, correct? Did he falsify his age?"
The two Holy Knights chatted playfully as they pulled out binding rope to restrain him.
At that moment, one Holy Knight's eyes caught Atlas's body, which had been lying there like a dead mouse—it twitched.
"...Huh?"
"Brother, is something the matter?"
"No... I think I saw wrong. I thought that student moved for a moment..."
"Haha, you worry too much! It can twitch! Even bugs twitch when you step on them, you know!"
At those words, Atlas, who had been collapsed, suddenly jerked his upper body upright.
Immediately after, a thunderous roar erupted, and a massive explosion ripped through the church.