Chapter 768

Chapter 768

My World Is… (3)

Tagmah watched with eyes full of rage as Rahmod’s head fell.

Tagmah’s breath caught in his throat. He struggled to move his body somehow. But caught in the storm of Divine Power, every ounce of his strength had already been drained, making it impossible.

“Ghhh… How could this happen…”

What escaped his lips was less a word than a scream mixed with resentment and despair.

Victory had been right in front of him. Just one more step and everything would have ended.

But in that fleeting instant, the Saintess had appeared!

No one could have predicted such a turn.

With the arrival of the Saintess, all momentum turned into utter hopelessness. The other priests and Black Mages who had come with him were also collapsing one by one.

Tagmah clenched his teeth and squeezed out the last of his strength.

“Grondal!”

He roared like a beast and reached out his hand.

He intended to kill the King of the Dwarves somehow.

But there was no way that the weakened attack of Tagmah could possibly affect Grondal, who had already recovered.

Thud.

Grondal effortlessly blocked Tagmah’s attack.

Now Tagmah was no different from an ordinary man. All of his dreadful energy had long since burned away to nothing.

“…Miracles always descend in situations no one expects.”

Grondal’s words rang heavily across the battlefield.

Everyone here today had witnessed a miracle. And it meant that Valskrum had won this war.

“Now that the true Saintess has appeared, you lot will fail yet again.”

Grondal spoke as if prophesying, raising his halberd high.

Tagmah glared at Grondal and let out his final breath.

“…On the day the noblest light falls, our King shall appear.”

“A king.”

Grondal let out a short snort as he asked.

“You think that one will be stronger than the Saintess, who wields the Goddess’s power?”

“If the Saintess is the Goddess’s representative, then the King is the representative of the god we serve. No matter how much you struggle, in the end you will kneel before him. After all, it was our god who cast down your Goddess.”

“Fine, then… if that’s the case, I’ll just cut off that bastard’s head too.”

Crack!

Grondal swung his halberd, and Tagmah’s neck was instantly torn apart.

Another priest of the Salvation Church writhed in agony within the storm of Divine Power and was killed by Ereneth.

Munaref, too, crawled along the ground, trying to escape. His eyes were completely consumed by terror, and his breathing was ragged like a beast’s.

Before he knew it, Ghislain had approached and was looking down at him.

“I told you, didn’t I? I’d spare you once, but if we met again, you’d die.”

“U… Uuuuuu…”

Munaref kept crawling along the ground, his face twisted in fear. He was desperately trying to flee.

But Ghislain raised his sword and brought it straight down upon Munaref’s neck.

Slice!

Munaref, who had lost even the will to resist, had his head severed so pitifully and without ceremony.

Ghislain slowly brushed back his hair as he spoke.

“So why did you have to provoke someone who was just quietly taking a stroll?”

He never forgot what had happened in the Elven Forest. Ghislain Ferdium was a man who was quietly tenacious and kept many things locked in his heart.

Waaaaaaa!

A roar erupted in the distance. Even without looking, it was obvious. It was the cheer of an overwhelming victory.

Against all odds, they had achieved a miraculous triumph. And at the center of this victory stood one person without question.

Deneb.

The noble being who would now be called the Saintess.

Everyone turned their eyes toward her.

Deneb still had her eyes closed, holding the collapsed Julien in her arms. She neither spoke nor moved.

She simply embraced Julien quietly and serenely.

Yet everyone knew Julien was safe.

Because Deneb was wearing a gentle smile.

Ghislain let out a faint chuckle as he watched them.

“Well, if you died even after receiving that much Divine Power, that would be the real fraud.”

The storm of Divine Power that had erupted here was of an unprecedented magnitude.

As long as the breath hadn’t fully stopped, she could bring someone back without fail. If an arm had been severed, she probably could have recreated it too.

Paaaa…

The light that had poured down upon Deneb began to thin and fade away. At the same time, the Sacred Stone also lost its glow.

Everyone except Ghislain continued to stare blankly at Deneb.

Especially Lionel, who was clearly in shock.

“The Saintess… Is that truly the real Saintess…”

Even the Pope, said to possess the strongest Divine Power in this world, was not on this level.

The power Deneb had just shown was so great that anyone could believe the Goddess herself had descended.

‘How could such a miracle be bestowed upon a mere low-ranking priestess?’

“I-I must inform His Holiness the Pope of this immediately…”

The Sacred Stone had reacted. The Sacred Stone that, according to history, had never once responded, had resonated with a mere priestess.

This was an event that would shake the entire history of the continent. All kings, all the representatives of every race, would show great interest in this.

Grondal finally collapsed to the ground, letting out a booming laugh.

“Astounding! Incredible! Who would have thought that the Guardian Stone, which I believed to be just a symbolic relic, truly contained the Goddess’s power!”

Like Ilaniel, Grondal had thought the Sacred Stone was nothing more than a symbolic object with historical value.

Of course, it was treated preciously since it granted powerful legitimacy and authority to its possessor, but that was all.

But now, it was clear they had all been gravely mistaken. That truly was an artifact imbued with the Goddess’s power.

It was simply that no one had known the truth because there had never been anyone capable of wielding that power.

Now, the true owner of the Sacred Stone had appeared. In that case, they could no longer keep pretending as before.

Grondal looked at Ghislain and spoke.

“Hey, mage.”

“Yes?”

“That woman… no, the Saintess. Was that Guardian Stone she was given by those pointy-eared fellows?”

“That’s correct. The Great Chieftain of the Elves herself fastened it to her necklace.”

“Hmph, for folk who never leave their forest, it seems they have a discerning eye.”

Grondal grumbled to himself, then soon declared in a hearty voice.

“Alright! I’ve decided!”

“Decided what?”

“You came here to obtain our Guardian Stone, didn’t you? I’ll give it to the Saintess myself.”

At those words, Ghislain smiled brightly.

In any case, if they had asked for it directly, Grondal would not have been able to refuse.

But since Ilaniel had given hers first, he was simply trying to preserve his pride by offering it of his own accord.

Ghislain inclined my head slightly and spoke.

“Thank you. It seems our journey here was not in vain.”

“Thanks to you people, we were able to win this battle. Wahahaha!”

As he listened to the two of them speak, Lionel was sweating cold bullets.

“Th-this is a problem.”

Ilaniel had already declared that Deneb was the rightful owner of the Sacred Stone. And now Grondal was proclaiming the same.

If the Pope tried to seize it by force, the representatives of both races would revolt. In the end, Deneb herself would have to offer it to the Pope willingly.

But…

“Is that really the right thing to do?”

Lionel swallowed hard and looked at Deneb.

The Sacred Stone already seemed to have chosen its master. Even if Deneb decided to present it to the Pope, those around her would have to stop her.

She was the first to awaken the Goddess’s power and even to arouse the Sacred Stone’s might. That meant she was a symbol of faith that realized the Goddess’s will and an emblem of salvation.

Therefore, it was only natural that all the priests of every order would kneel before Deneb and worship her.

The problem was whether the Pope would accept that situation.

“N-no… That can’t be…”

The Pope was a terrifying man. Because Lionel had served by his side more than anyone, he knew the Pope’s true nature well.

A man who believed himself to be the sole representative of God, who thought only he could bring salvation to the world.

A man who was convinced that he alone would fulfill the will of the divine.

Such a Pope would never quietly acknowledge the Saintess.

‘If that happens…’

Lionel glanced briefly at Ghislain.

The Ghislain he had watched all this time was an unpredictable chaos. He was a being that could not be measured by any common sense.

Lionel instinctively realized.

That madman won’t stand idly by.

Even if Deneb obediently tried to hand over the Sacred Stone, Ghislain would never sit still. If that happened, it was obvious that a conflict with the Pope would erupt.

The problem was that that lunatic really was the sort who would fight against the entire Holy Empire without hesitation.

“Ugh… Uuuu… What am I supposed to do…”

Lionel was a knight of deep faith. Having witnessed the miracle before his very eyes, he could not deny the power of the Saintess.

But even so, he could not blindly side with Deneb.

He belonged to the Papacy and had pledged loyalty to the Pope. Besides, it was the Pope himself who had entrusted him with this mission.

Lionel clutched his head in anguish. His greatest fear now was that the Pope and the Saintess would come into conflict.

While Lionel groaned beside her, Ereneth looked at someone else.

Julien.

The miracle that Deneb had shown was certainly astonishing, but what had moved Ereneth even more was what Julien had demonstrated.

He had thrown himself forward and sacrificed himself to protect someone precious.

That desperate emotion had shattered the walls before him and lifted him to the realm of a Transcendent.

It was a world Ereneth, in her long years of life, had never once felt or even imagined.

That was only natural. Elves typically attained enlightenment and transcendence in harmony with nature.

It would not be an exaggeration to say there had never been an elf who reached that state through an emotional world like Julien’s.

Suddenly, she remembered something Ghislain had once said.

—There’s a friend of mine named Julien. He’s a more splendid man than most princes.

When she had heard those words, she had been curious to meet Julien. But the truth was, when she finally saw him for herself, she felt a bit disappointed.

His handsome looks were certainly worthy of being called princely, but elves were a race that placed no value on the appearance of others.

His skills were respectable. His affinity with spirits was also rather impressive.

But it was not enough to inspire Ereneth deeply.

His personality wasn’t bad. He was calm, gentle, and courteous. But that alone hadn’t been enough to make her understand Ghislain’s praise.

“And yet…”

To think he had carried such a powerful feeling in his heart.

“…You were quite splendid.”

Ereneth corrected her assessment of Julien. Just as Ghislain had said, he truly was a remarkable man.

Deneb was the same. For Julien’s sake, she had wrought a miracle no one in this world could have imagined.

That was something that only happened when a powerful heart had reached its absolute limit.

A pure and fierce feeling for one another.

It was that feeling that had moved even the divine.

But seeing the two of them like that only fanned the desires smoldering within her.

“I also…”

Without realizing it, Ereneth gently bit her lower lip.

That was exactly it.

A desire so strong it could burn everything away.

Elves were, by their nature, a race that kept their distance from such feelings.

But now… she coveted that feeling.

Whether it was conviction, ambition, or love.

She wanted to feel that emotion that elves could never know.

Everyone remained immersed in their own thoughts as they watched Deneb and Julien.

Deneb simply held the unconscious Julien tightly in her arms.

It was as if her whole body was declaring that she would never let him be hurt like this again, that she would never let go.

The light in the sky had faded, but the storm of Divine Power still lingered in its wake.

It spread slowly and far, as though to announce the birth of the Saintess.

There were still so many enemies that the battle was not yet completely over, but those gathered here no longer needed to participate.

That was how overwhelming the situation was. The enemies were weakening and collapsing endlessly, unable to withstand even the aftereffects of the spreading Divine Power.

“Phew… is it finally over.”

Ghislain, too, finally relaxed. The strongest enemies he’d worried about all this time had at last been taken down.

But suddenly, he felt as if he had forgotten something important.

And as if to point out exactly what he’d overlooked, Dark sprang out on his own and shouted loudly.

“Are you done over here?! Then move your ass already!”

“What?”

“Kyle’s in danger! He’s about to die! No, he’s already dying!”

At Dark’s urgent words, Ghislain’s expression hardened.

They had spent too much time here. There had surely been at least one high-ranking priest of the Salvation Church in the direction where Kyle was fighting.

And with Kyle’s current skill, there was no way he could handle an enemy of Transcendent caliber.

“Damn it…”

A dreadful premonition passed through Ghislain.

Julien reaching the realm of the Transcendent and Deneb awakening her power, those were fated outcomes. Even in the past, before he ever intervened, it had been so.

But now there was something different about the past.

Two Apostles had died.

They were the ones who, in the future, would have fought against the Hero’s companions.

Their deaths here were never part of the original timeline.

“No way…”

If the Apostles were dead, it meant the Hero’s companions could also die here.

“Perhaps… this was the law of the world.”

As the price of altering the past, it might be trying to restore balance by taking Kyle’s life.

But to Ghislain, that was something he could never allow.

If Kyle died here, then killing the Apostles would be meaningless.

Kyle had to survive and save the world alongside the Hero.

And…

He was a friend and comrade Ghislain could never bear to lose.

Ghislain drew out every last drop of mana left within him. Exhaustion crushed his whole body, but there was no time to rest.

Kwoooooom!

Ghislain’s body shot up explosively toward the direction where Kyle had been.