Battle

“Because Holy Relic armaments are essentially stealing the authority of God.”

“Then, is it possible to achieve the same effect in reverse?”

“For instance, could the remains of demons... or even former powerhouses be modified into some kind of armament?”

Mekal spoke with a smile, her voice sounding like a demon's whisper.

For some reason, an image popped into Lu Li's mind: moonlight shining on a vast land, and countless skeletons bursting from the soil, forming a surging river that rushed toward a city.

It was too terrifying! He shuddered violently, and his gaze toward Mekal shifted completely.

What the hell kind of professor was she? She was a straight-up necromancer!

“You... you are desecrating corpses!” Anthelia's voice trembled.

Heavens! What had she just heard? How could such filthy words be spoken so brazenly in front of the Holy See!

How could her pure, beautiful, and flawless Holy See tolerate such defilement by a filthy rodent!

However, a single, simple sentence from Mekal completely shattered her defenses.

“Are Holy Relic armaments not the exact same thing?”

She had thought that she was the only one using this taboo technology, but she never expected that after joining the Logos Foundry, it would be exactly the same here.

Should one say that geniuses always think alike in their own bizarre ways, or were they simply born sinners, born blasphemers?

Anthelia was rendered speechless. As a genius knight once-in-a-century, she naturally possessed the talent to wield a Holy Relic armament and understood them inside out. She had first-hand experience with the taboo horrors contained within them.

“But that's different!”

The girl argued, “To protect the Holy See...”

“So, what you're saying is it's all the Holy See's fault?” Mekal put down her instruments, stuffed her hands into her lab coat pockets, and shot a meaningful look at the girl.

“I did not! You—you—you!” Anthelia never expected this person to be so shameless. Her face flushed red with anger, but for a moment, she couldn't think of any retort.

“Alright, Anthelia. Power itself is neither good nor bad. The only difference lies in the person wielding it.”

Lu Li reached out with a smile to ruffle the girl's hair, comforting her as he asked, “If you were the one piloting the Resurrection Armor, would you ever hurt me?”

His Holiness's hand is so warm, just like... a father's.

Anthelia's emotions instantly settled, and she even squinted her eyes in comfort, looking like an obedient, big dog.

“Never! No matter what, I would never harm Your Holiness!” Her answer was just like her devout faith—unhesitating and resolute.

Hearing this, Mekal didn't say anything, only chuckling to herself. After all, nobody understood the Resurrection Armor better than she did.

...

The Northland border defense line.

For the first time, Amore's greatsword was blocked. She could tell that her opponent's strength was inferior to hers, yet despite this disparity, the enemy managed to parry her every attack flawlessly.

“Are you kidding me!”

Amore grit her teeth, her silvery-white hair whipping wildly in the wind.

She was destined to become one of the Twelve Sacred Knights! How could she be easily stopped by some cheap, counterfeit trash?

She swung her greatsword once more. The blade tore through the air with a thunderous boom, hacking violently at the pitch-black figure.

“Boom—!!!”

Accompanied by a deafening roar, the very ground seemed to tremble. Uncountable specks of dust and shattered stones flew everywhere, instantly shrouding the center of the battlefield.

It was obvious that Amore had met her match, and she wasn't alone. The other two Holy Relic Knights had also been intercepted by Resurrection Armors—and in even greater numbers than Amore was facing!

However, in terms of sheer power, those Resurrection Armors were far weaker than the one Amore confronted. Even with a three-on-one advantage, they could only delay the Holy Relic Knights and prevent them from reinforcing her.

But that was already enough for Madi.

She had noticed Amore a long time ago—that white-haired girl with ferocious combat power and a violent fighting style.

They had to deal with Amore first; otherwise, they would have a hard time defeating the Templar Knights.

Thus, she had deployed her side's strongest Resurrection Armor, its core harvested from the strongest Sword Saint in history five hundred years ago—Sigurd!

The longsword grasped in its hands was none other than the legendary weapon of myth—the Sword of Victory, Gram!

An ordinary Resurrection Armor could never hope to defeat a Holy Relic armament. However, Sigurd was the strongest Sword Saint. Even in death, the Resurrection Armor forged from her somewhat divine remains still inherited her lingering, terrifying combat instincts.

Therefore, even though it was slightly inferior in strength, Madi still maintained absolute confidence in it.

First, slay Amore, and then wipe out the other two Holy Relic Knights.

It was a beautiful plan. If she could bring three Holy Relic armaments back to the royal capital, it might just compensate for her mistake of losing the "kingdom's asset."

Even before the smoke on the battlefield cleared, Amore sensed that something was wrong. The tactile sensation of her greatsword tearing into her opponent was absent. This feeling clearly meant she had missed!

“Behind me!”

In a fraction of a second, Amore reacted. She spun around in an eerie posture; without lifting her feet from the ground, she twisted her upper body a full hundred and eighty degrees, simultaneously slashing her greatsword sideways without a moment's hesitation.

Her momentum spun her like a top for half a turn, the edge of her greatsword slamming heavily against the blade of Gram. Instantly, the impact threw both the pitch-black armor and its sword flying backward.

“Got you!”

Sparks of rage flared in Amore's eyes. Since becoming a Holy Relic Knight, she had never known defeat. Whether it was demons or gods, anyone who dared to stand in the way of her becoming one of the Twelve Sacred Knights would fall before her blade!

This time would be no different. She believed this implicitly.

The girl surged forward, her wings unfurling slightly as she propelled herself like a cannonball toward the pitch-black figure soaring backward through the air.

“Just die already!!!”

Grasping the greatsword with both hands, she concentrated all her power into the blade, vowing to utterly obliterate this pest in a single blow.

But as her blade was about to fall, an inexplicable sense of crisis abruptly surged in her heart.

No, wait! Where was the sword in its hands?

Had it slipped from its grasp when it was sent flying earlier?

It was a very logical deduction, but Amore trusted her instincts more.

She beat her wings with all her might. At the same exact moment, the sound of tearing wind came from behind her, and the Sword of Victory, Gram, pierced straight through her chest.

In her daze, Amore seemed to hear the echoes of Heaven.

“Dun... dun... dun... dun... dun... dun... dun... dun-dun... dun...”

The youth's face flashed across her vision frame by frame, like a revolving lantern—his joy, anger, sorrow, and delight; his gentleness and kindness; everything from the past surfaced one by one.

Finally, she saw him reach out his hand to her, and then his fist landed heavily on her head...

“Idiot! What are you doing! Have you forgotten the vow you made?” The youth's voice seemed to ring beside her ear, instantly jolting her awake.

The youth's figure was nowhere to be seen; there was only the enemy blocking her path!

Just a fraction more...

She had come incredibly close to death. Had she not shifted her body at the very last moment, that longsword would have pierced her heart.

As Amore realized she had almost lost that youth forever, an uncontrollable rage welled up from the depths of her heart.

“Sariel—!!!”

She bellowed the true name of the Holy Relic. As if responding to her call, a majestic torrent of terrifying power—holy, yet laced with an ominous dread—descended upon her with immense grandeur!