Chapter ss1: [END] Side Story 1 - Divine Power (1)
Side Story: Divine Power (1)
Hell reeked of blood.
That was the impression of the knight commander, Rebels Etherland, as he gazed at the scene before his eyes.
Countless clergy were bleeding and dying in front of him.
Innumerable heretics were trampling on their holy land with swords in their hands.
The holy land, Crossbridge, was being destroyed by the war between the six temples and the heretics.
It was a displeasing and turbulent sight that should never be tolerated, and it filled his vision.
“Order Temple is requesting salvation!”
“Where is the Hero of Hunting?”
“Commander! The Holy Palace is on fire!”
Urgent voices echoed from all directions.
Those who were attacked by the cult of the evil god were sending their pleas for salvation.
The Holy Palace, located in the center, was engulfed by a huge flame that could be seen from the bridge.
Rebels, who held a black holy sword, was also swinging his sword continuously.
The fanatics were rushing at him with the intent to kill him, even at the cost of their lives.
It was a very difficult task to face the fanatics who disregarded their own lives.
“Goddess…”
Chwak!
Rebels cut down a heretic with his sword and uttered the name of the goddess.
Even as he recited a short prayer, he could hear the desperate voices of the clergy from all sides.
But Rebels had no power to save them all.
Even though all the clergy of Crossbridge were in crisis, there was only one Rebels Etherland.
All he could do was to hold his sword and move forward, and that was a trivial thing for him.
“Guide me, please!”
As soon as the short prayer ended, Rebels’ body was wrapped in a brilliant light.
The countless wounds that were bleeding also hid their appearance in the holy radiance.
—Miracle.
The great goddess bestowed a miracle upon him.
Just by praying, his body was healed, and just by regaining his mind, his fatigue faded away.
He would never fall unless he faced a complete death.
That was the power of the paladins, who were called the indomitable.
“Goddess!”
In the isolated battlefield, where he was swinging his sword alone, the memory of the first time he awakened his divine power flashed through Rebels’ mind.
What was divine power?
It was their will to pursue the god.
It was the product of their faith in the god, and their will to move forward.
—You must deliver the brightest light to the future.
That was what the paladin who taught him the sword for the first time said to him.
That’s why they fought countless heretics with the resolve to die, until now.
“Guide me!”
He cut down countless heretics.
He knocked down countless monsters.
He slashed the ones who claimed to be evil, and gave faith to the ones who longed for the light.
The path he had walked until now was pride itself for Rebels Etherland.
It was a pride that he could not exchange for anything.
He believed that he would fall with his brilliant pride until the last moment.
“Please, guide me!”
Chwak!
Every time he swung his sword, the light flashed.
The sword that he had swung for his whole life drew countless sword lights in the air.
The black holy sword that did not allow even a ray of light, shed light along the path he swung his sword.
This was the once-in-a-lifetime light that he emitted.
It was a flame that would never have come out if it were not for the holy land that was stuck in the bottom of the abyss.
“Kill him! Show him the will of the great one!”
“Let’s move forward! Destroy the temples of the false gods!”
The heretics who blocked Rebels shouted angrily and glared at him.
They were nothing but fanatics.
They ran at Rebels to inflict wounds on him, even ignoring their own lives.
Even the wounds that were made healed in an instant by the divine power, but the fanatics did not stop running.
“The goddess… is watching over you.”
Kwaduduk!
The sword that absorbed the light swung roughly and crushed the enemies that blocked him.
As Rebels, who blocked the bridge alone, became isolated, the radiance that wrapped the holy sword became brighter.
Even if his body was broken and died, the holy land would not collapse.
That was the oath he made when he became the commander.
That was what it meant to be the commander of the paladin order.
He had to protect the holy land by giving his all, no matter what.
“Commander! There is a suspicious movement from the direction of the Harmony Temple!”
“Apostle! The enemy’s apostle has appeared!”
Rebels’ eyes turned to the direction of the Harmony Temple, where the enemy’s apostle appeared.
There was a considerable distance from the bridge where he stood to the Harmony Temple.
Moreover, the number of heretics who filled the gap between them was not small.
Rebels looked back and forth between the bridge where he stood and the bridge that led to the Harmony Temple with a worried gaze.
‘An apostle of the evil god…’
He had to deal with the apostles of the evil god first, or the fight would not end.
But the moment Rebels left his place, the balance of the bridge he was on would collapse in an instant.
He was seriously considering whether he should move to the direction where the apostle appeared.
At that moment, he saw a group of soldiers running toward him from the Holy Palace.
“Rebels Commander! We will stop them here! The direction of the Harmony Temple is in danger right now!”
“Chris!”
The soldiers who ran toward Rebels were a few paladins, including the heretic inquisitor Chris.
Rebels smiled faintly at the sight of the paladins who ran toward him.
He thought they could trust and entrust the heretics who crossed the bridge.
If Chris and the knights stopped the heretics, Rebels could break through and head to the Harmony Temple.
“The Hero of Abundance also headed to the direction of the Harmony Temple! While we hold this place, please go and stop the apostle, Commander!”
Chris also seemed to aim for that situation, and urged Rebels to go and stop the apostle.
The heretics who rushed to the Holy Palace were also a problem, but the bigger problem was the apostles who descended on the holy land.
Every time they joined the battle, one front line was pushed back.
Besides, they could not leave the apostles alone, who might have some tricks up their sleeves.
Rebels nodded and accepted Chris’s encouragement.
“That sounds good. I’ll leave the defense of this place to you.”
“Don’t worry! We will stake our lives and stop them!”
“Just… survive somehow.”
“Of course. We will also show you that we can protect this place.”
Chris smiled confidently and began to push back the heretics.
Rebels looked at Chris’s firm determination and turned his body to the direction of the Harmony Temple with his sword.
The Harmony Temple had been showing suspicious movements from the beginning.
It was not hard to guess that something had gone wrong with the intervention of the apostles.
Kwak!
Rebels Etherland, the knight commander who held a holy sword, put more strength into his hand.
He had to stop the apostles and the cult’s plan somehow.
“Hold on as much as you can. I’ll come back when this is over.”
“Don’t worry about us and go quickly!”
Rebels started to move toward the Harmony Temple, raising his divine power explosively.
He poured out his divine power as efficiently as possible, within the limit of what he had left, excluding the power to fight the apostles.
At the end of his sight, where he swung his holy sword toward the Harmony Temple, he could see the temple with a faint pillar of light connected to it.
The Harmony Saintess, who had been imprisoned, seemed to have used her divine power.
He didn’t know what was going on, but if the saintesses and the heroes were still there, there was still some leeway.
If Rebels joined them, the situation would likely tilt to the holy land’s side in an instant.
He decided that and tried to move his steps faster at that moment.
“!”
Paat!
He witnessed a fierce darkness bursting out from the direction of the Harmony Temple.
The thing that scattered the blackness as dark as pitch was a blasphemous figure with a radiance like light.
Rebels, who was running with his holy sword, stopped his steps urgently at the strange sight.
“That is, no way…”
Rebels’ voice sank as he witnessed the darkness that came out of the temple.
A black pillar that stretched out from the sky was connected to the Harmony Temple.
He could feel the huge pressure that came with the trembling atmosphere.
He felt suffocated as if his whole body was being crushed.
Even though he knew something had happened, he couldn’t shake off the immense fear that pierced his chest.
“Co, Commander! The Harmony Temple is…!”
“Is there a problem with the Harmony Temple…!”
Rebels’ anxious eyes looked at the black pillar that pierced the Harmony Temple for a moment.
The pillar of light that was stained black stretched out to swallow everything, and then converged and disappeared completely.
But even after the light disappeared, the huge anxiety that settled in Rebels’ chest continued to grow.
It was not a situation to be relieved just because the pillar of darkness was gone.
As Rebels now, he couldn’t accurately grasp what had happened.
He had to check what had happened.
As Rebels’ voice echoed in the battlefield with horror, shortly after.
As if to respond to his fear, a strange voice resonated throughout the battlefield.
-“—Lograshion.”
The world lost its color and collapsed.
The evil god’s domain began to spread, and Crossbridge lost its hue.
In the world that was dyed gray, Rebels raised his black holy sword.
Something went wrong.
The temple was going in a completely different direction from their expectations.
The apostles of the evil god had definitely done something.
“What the hell is…”
“…”
Thud.
Someone made a sound of footsteps and came out of the darkness that covered the Harmony Temple.
The one who came out of the temple’s darkness was a boy who still had a young appearance.
Despite his immature appearance, an overwhelming density of divine power was rising from around the boy.
Rebels understood the relationship between him and the boy just by looking at him.
The intimidation of the predator that could manifest the legendary dragon or the beast was flowing from him.
The boy’s aura overwhelmed the countless people of Crossbridge.
-“Ah—.”
A syllable that flowed out as if clearing his throat.
With that alone, all the clergy shivered and looked at him.
The heretics who seemed to have sensed something early knelt down and looked up at him.
There was no need to wonder who he was.
The only one that the evil heretics followed.
The ruler of the countless darkness on the continent.
And, the loser of the earth that all humanity feared.
“Ah, it’s the evil god…!”
“The evil god… the evil god has descended!”
“Did no one… stop the evil god’s descent in the end?”
Evil God (惡神).
A god had descended on the earth.
All the clergy screamed with a cry like a scream as they realized that.
In an instant, all the forces of the holy land fell into chaos and lost control.
As if to answer him, the boy raised a finger.
Leisurely. With a relaxed look.
He spoke as if he was sentencing everyone here.
-“The light has fallen.”
A single word that flowed out faintly from the boy’s mouth.
Right after that, the sun collapsed.