The Sword and The Shadow

The sword he summoned came crashing down at supersonic speed as it whooshed through the side of the volcano.

Wayerliss applied impetus to his feet to increase his grip to the ground. Otherwise, he'd be sent flying by the strong winds. He slashed at an incoming rock and shuddered.

Was this Marolyt's true power? The shockwaves alone was enough to give him so much trouble.

Even Wayerliss had to admit that even though they were both in the saint realm, the galestorm swordsaint's power seemed far above and beyond his own.

"Roooooaaaar!"

The silent idol of Pyro suddenly let out an earth-shaking cry like a withering dragon. But no matter how hard Kevin tried to pray and channel his impetus into it, the divine miracle formation of the idol could no longer function properly.

A soft crack sounded like an announcement for what was to come. Similar sounds rang out all around Kevin and in a short few seconds, his beautiful armor began to shatter. It had lost its glow and looked like cracked, barren land in a drought.

Much to his shock, the divine armor Pyro had gifted him, Blazing Golden Sun, fell off him like paint peeling from the wall. All that was left was the fist-sized, hexagonal, golden divine shard in the middle of his chest.

"Ugh… Cough, cough…" Marolyt paled from overexerting himself and spat out another mouthful of blood.

Though he managed to break Kevin's defenses and was heavily wounded himself, he still smiled snidely. Wiping the blood off his mouth, he said, "I've always wanted to puke since the first time you put that on."

He raised his right hand and opened it wide before looking at Kevin teasingly. "What's with this shiny golden thing on your chest? Is that your power source or something?"

He closed his right hand into a fist and applied his will to the divine shard.

Snap! The shard that stored Pyro's power began to crack apart.

"Now that you don't have the protection of the sun god, you won't be able to stop me any longer." He spat out another mouthful of blood after saying that.

The battle had sapped most of his power and he could pass out from blood loss at any moment. However, he remained standing like a sharp sword. He had a reason he couldn't fall no matter what. he still had something he had to deal with.

Wayerliss!

He turned back and saw the haggard, one-armed elf, and slowly walked to him.

Azureflash once more took its physical form in his right hand. He had pushed himself too far during the fight and could no longer maintain the Domain of Sword.

He approached Wayerliss with a sway in his step. Despite losing one arm, Wayerliss was still at half combat efficiency at least. But Marolyt found it difficult even to walk. He shouldn't have been a match for him.

But, so what? he thought, he's nothing but a sneaky fellow who only acts in the shadows. He's no different from a sewer rat. Once a sewer rat, always a sewer rat. He would never have the guts to fight me head on.

He was right; there was a look of terror on Wayerliss's face. He finally felt fear. While the old madman had always been pushed around like his puppet, the puppet had gone insane and pulled its strings away. It was moving of its own accord.

The one who helped pull the strings away from Wayerliss's hands was another puppet called Annelotte.

"My Lord, I've let you down," Kevin prayed, "I wasn't Marolyt's match and couldn't fulfill your request. I even lost Blazing Golden Sun…"

[Then, are you going to give up?] said an authoritative voice in Kevin's mind. Pyro hadn't given up on his failed paladin and still answered him.

As Kevin didn't respond, Pyro repeated, [Are you going to give up, warrior of light and justice?]

"I will always be just and willing to fight for the light, but I noticed that I did something shameful in the name of justice and light. I taught my disciple to be a kind and just person, yet I planted the seed of hatred for his own kin and let it foster. I earned my friend's trust with my sincerity but stabbed him in the back when he was all alone. I have done truly despicable things for the sake of my faith, yet why does only failure await?"

[You haven't failed. Your despicable acts are necessary sacrifices for the greater good.]

"Sacrifice… Haven't I done enough of that?"

[The path to light and justice is fraught with obstacles. Only by trying harder can you achieve the world of your ideals.] His intentions were clear.

"Very well then--" He clutched the stone in front of his chest. "--!$!%"

It wasn't the human tongue, nor was it the language of the dark elves or orcs. Strictly speaking, it wasn't even a word. It was pure power, Pyro's power.

It was a divine miracle Pyro had granted Kevin in the form of a word of power. Powerful deities could transfer their power to their devotees through certain chants. That was the core principle behind the priests' usage of divine miracles. That phrase meant the same thing as the incantations his devotees said. It was the basis for all Pyro's devotees' actions.

It translated to: 'In the name of the Sacred Light'.

Kevin could well be the only person alive to know the true pronunciation of the word of power, but it was his first time using it. When Pyro first taught that to him, he already told him the price using it would entail.

Once he used it and Pyro answered, an unbreakable contract between deity and devotee would be formed. The devotee would give his all, body and soul included, to the deity. After that, he would lose all agency and freedom and be an eternal warrior of the deity. In exchange, he would be granted a brand new power: the forbidden power of the divine realm.

That didn't mean Kevin would lose his ego and mind. He would still have his own thoughts, but he would never be able to go against Pyro's orders. All he could do was make suggestions to his deity. If Pyro didn't accept it, Kevin would have to follow the order down to the last word, even if he was ordered to kill himself.

A golden light flashed from behind Marolyt. He turned around and couldn't imagine what kind of tricks Kevin would have, now that his strongest defense had been broken.

The shards of the broken armor floated in the air by way of some unknown power. Golden tendrils then stretched out from them before they linked together. They reordered themselves and some ten seconds later, the shards and lines formed a small magic formation around four meters in diameter.

If Annelotte had been there, she wouldn't call it a magic formation. It seemed to be fundamentally different according to standard formation conventions. While it could no doubt function, a magus would need an unimaginable amount of mana to get the formation running. even the gigantic formation Saron used during his conquest of Fort Kesta only cost a tenth of the kind of mana required.

In fact, it didn't need mana at all. The divine formation could be powered by divine power.

Once it formed, a pillar of light shot downwards into the Dusk Zone. Pyro was fueling the formation with his power. When it began to move, a pure white unicorn with wings stepped out of it. It was clad in beautiful armor and was so handsome that all knights would go crazy to have such a mount.

However, there was only one such unicorn and it belonged to the strongest human knight -- Sacred Wandering Lance Kevin Eino.

Blazing Golden Sun reformed on Kevin's body. A few seconds later, it seemed to be in pristine condition.

He held his weapon out, Godsolar, and pointed it at his enemy. In a voice void of emotion, he said, "He who crosses My Lord shall be named enemy. In the name of the Sacred Light, I shall mete out judgment!"