Chapter 28
Chapter 28
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 028
Chapter Title: The Last Saintess
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Rumble!
Antara's sanctuary, which had endured even after the empire's fall.
But at this very moment, that sanctuary was crumbling.
The being that had maintained the peace in place of the long-vanished gods—Beregus—had scattered.
Rustle.
Amid the thick smoke blooming from the collapse.
Step.
Sein revealed himself.
Covered head to toe in dirt and dust.
"Cough. If you're gonna go, at least go cleanly. What the hell is this?"
He grumbled, as if expecting at least a parting word.
But a smile crept across Sein's lips nonetheless.
A reunion with Beregus, who might have been an old foe in the past.
And in his other hand.
Hum.
The holy sword Bastion.
However, Sein's smile soon faded.
"As expected."
He had known already.
"You moved."
With the saint's holy power within him, Sein was more sensitive to Anhel's aura than anyone.
That's how he had recognized old Gallo, who had aged and lost his former vigor.
There was no way he wouldn't notice.
"Iron Cross."
That Iron Cross had entered the city.
If Otolmeo hadn't helped, he would have sought them out himself.
But the reason Iron Cross had approached Otolmeo first was because they were such tricky foes.
"Enemies, after all."
He had wondered if they shared Tarrian's goals.
But the movement of holy power.
Boom.
A shockwave that shook the ground.
And the clash with Gallo that Sein's senses picked up.
Tarrian and Iron Cross clearly did not share the same aims—they were enemies.
"The captain-class is fighting Archbishop Gallo."
Crack, drip.
Sein cracked his neck as he spoke.
"That Barus guy..."
Was not fighting alongside Gallo.
He was madly dashing toward somewhere.
The flow of holy power mapped the city's layout in Sein's mind.
'Where's he going?'
Fleeing and abandoning Gallo?
He didn't seem like the type to abandon Gallo, who was like a father to him, even if he wasn't a proper priest.
Which meant.
'Something more important than Gallo.'
Something worth abandoning one of the few remaining true archbishops on the continent to protect.
Hum.
Bastion in Sein's hand hummed, amplifying his holy power.
His holy power had grown more slowly than magic or mana.
Whoosh!
But now, empowered by Bastion, it surged more fiercely than any other force.
And.
"Found you."
Finally, with Bastion's aid, Sein located what Barus was heading toward.
"Ha. These lunatics."
He let out a hollow laugh.
"I thought their goal was just raising priests and building holy power."
Tarrian, the slave caravan.
They healed suffering slaves, boasting higher quality than any other traders.
He had assumed their aim was to heal those wounds, ceaselessly wield holy power, and revive Anhel's church in this dying world.
"But there's something bigger."
Step.
The reason Gallo had served as Tarrian's gatekeeper.
The inadequacy in Gallo's holy power.
All the secrets unraveled in that moment.
"As slave traders, they'd encounter the most runaways."
And so.
"Did they find her?"
They had located the last remaining saintess in this world.
His destination was set.
Gallo, that old man, wouldn't die easily.
So, rather than what they wanted to hide.
Flash.
Better to find the saintess.
Sein's form vanished in an instant.
*
*
*
"Huff! Heave!"
Barus ran, gasping for breath.
Boom!
A massive explosion erupted behind him as he passed.
"Urk!"
Barus bit his lip.
Tarrian was burning and crumbling under the Iron Cross knights.
But there was no choice.
"Huff! Heave!"
Something more important than Tarrian right now.
-Do you have a name?
Barus, once a slave.
Gallo had taken him in.
-From today, your name is Barus. It means blessed son.
The one treasure he had devoted his life to finding was there.
And also.
-With no pope, I cannot formally recognize you.
Though an unrecognized priest.
-But I recognize you. You have what it takes to be Anhel's priest.
Gallo, who had acknowledged him.
He had said, and said again.
-Anhel's church will rise again.
The church's revival.
For that, they needed a symbol.
A being to unite the fractured priests scattered by the gods' absence.
"Huff!"
The saintess.
At that moment, Barus halted.
Boom!
An explosion from behind burst right in front of his nose.
If he hadn't hastily formed a holy shield, it might have been fatal.
"Where do you think you're going, master of slaves?"
From the swirling dust emerged a knight with crimson aura.
"Absurd. A slave trader like you wielding this much holy power."
Just one.
But Barus swallowed hard at the sight.
'Strong.'
With holy power, he could sense holy power.
The knight's was lesser in quantity but incomparably sharper.
"So the heretic Gallo truly serves a wicked god."
"Shut up!"
Barus shouted, thrusting out his hand.
A holy arrow flew toward the crimson-aura knight.
Clang!
The knight effortlessly swatted it away with his sword.
This was Tarrian's weakness.
No holy knights; even with Archbishop Gallo, they were ignorant of combat with holy power.
All they had was healing and miracles.
"Pathetic. With that much holy power, and this is all you manage?"
No different from ordinary priests in battle.
"By the way..."
Shake.
"Your presence here means I'm on the right track."
The knight shook with laughter.
In that instant.
Slash!
A chilling cut rang out near Barus's chest.
Spurt!
Blood sprayed in a fountain.
Barus belatedly enveloped his body in holy power, healing the wound.
The recovery was astonishingly swift.
Boom!
But the knight's attack showed no intention of waiting.
"Tch."
The knight pinned the fallen Barus, sword to his throat, and clicked his tongue.
Scraaape!
A strike aimed at the neck.
But it didn't pierce.
The knight couldn't breach the massive wall of holy power Barus wielded.
Nor would he in the future.
Piercing bishop-level holy power was arduous, and as Gallo's vicar, Barus excelled beyond others in defense and recovery.
But that was it.
Swoosh.
The knight turned away.
"Judging heretics can wait."
Just avoid engaging him.
The knight was faster than Barus, who could protect himself but not stop the knight.
Barus was here.
Smirk.
"So the saintess is here too."
The saintess must be as well.
"No!"
Barus cried out desperately, rising.
Flash.
The knight's form vanished like dust.
But only for a moment.
Boom!
With an explosive roar.
"Urk!"
The knight was suddenly at Barus's side, groaning.
"...What?"
What had happened?
"Who are you?"
The knight spat, biting his lip.
Only then did Barus see.
Where the knight had headed.
The place Barus had aimed for.
"Me?"
A swordsman stood there, cradling a sleeping girl in one arm.
White hair.
Eyes filled with ineradicable madness.
Bared fangs.
"Sein Demorus."
It was Sein.
*
*
*
The place where he sensed the aura was deep in Tarrian's heart.
Where a vault might be expected was a small, simply yet neatly furnished room.
Multiple locks, all made of holy power with complex formulas.
-Easy.
To Sein, mere child's play.
The saint's power and holy sword were master keys to anything holy.
And there, Sein found her.
The girl.
"And here's Iron Cross."
Tremble.
His wrist shook.
In Sein's hand now was not Bastion, but a steel sword.
The strike he had launched before the enemy noticed had dealt significant damage.
Crack.
But the destructive force had damaged his own sword and body.
"Who are you?"
The knight demanded, facing him.
"Me?"
Sein answered.
"Sein Demorus."
"...Demorus!"
The first name meant nothing.
The surname.
And.
Clang clang!
The knight's strikes came flying in an instant.
"Even wiped out, you're still Iron Cross, huh?"
The knight, hearing the name Demorus, charged without hesitation.
With them rampaging in Demorus territory, encountering a Demorus meant.
Clang!
No room for talk.
Moreover, the knight knew.
"Die—! Demorus!"
The knight realized his earlier strike that sent him flying was insufficient against a Demorus.
Grip.
Sein's twisted face.
Exactly.
The knight.
Clang!
Believed he had a chance against Sein.
A barrage of crimson strikes.
Holy knights recognized as such had auras whose colors shifted with blessings and holy power quantity.
Proof the foe was a true holy knight.
But that was all.
"Where."
Sein's other hand moved.
There.
"A holy knight with mere color dares challenge me."
Boom!
Explosion.
Colored holy knights.
They were the newly blessed.
True holy knights, the perilous paladins among them.
"Come at me with holy flame."
Holy flame.
White sword aura.
Roar!
Bastion.
Flames swirled around it.
Devouring Sein's mana, it bore blue aura, then deep violet.
And finally.
"...!"
It bloomed with white sword aura.
Seeing it, the holy knight's eyes widened in shock.
Forgetting even the incoming strike.
Of course.
"Holy... flame aura!"
The aura on Sein's sword was precisely the holy flame aura, symbol of paladins.
Slash!