Chương 77: Chapter 75: The Golden Light

The Saint of the Church of Liara stood amidst the wreckage, a vision of celestial fury carved from gold and grief. Tears, faint and glistening, traced paths down her cheeks, only to be burned away by the sheer intensity in her eyes. She had promised the old man a reunion with his daughter—a sacred vow now lying cold and broken in a pool of crimson, extinguished by the very people she had welcomed with such naive grace.

"Nill, you take care of her," Jain muttered, angling her head slightly toward him. She didn't wait for a response; her boots crunched over the pulverized stone as she began her relentless march toward Noa.

"As you wish," Nill replied, his gaze hardening as he locked onto his target: Vionette. As the two enforcers of the Church advanced, Noa stepped forward to meet them. Behind him, Vionette simply pivoted and strolled in the opposite direction, gracefully seating herself on the chair Rose had placed nearby, crossing her legs. Rose glanced back at her Queen with a thoroughly exhausted expression. Nill closed in, but a shadow fell across his path.

A man he had previously dismissed as a mere commoner now stood between him and the Queen, his blade already drawn.

"You again?" Nill spat, unsheathing his own sword.

"You truly believe you can stand against the man second only to Lady Jain?"

"Who knows?" Kaelen replied, halting a few paces away.

Noa and Jain's measured approach quickly shifted into a blinding sprint, their eyes locked in deadly mutual focus. [Holy Affinity (Rare)] The spear in Jain's hand began to glow with a radiant gold, celestial sigils materializing along its shaft as it was blessed by the divine energy of Liara. Meanwhile, with [Echo Reclamation] rendered useless by the city-wide barrier, Noa activated [Aura Blade], then used [Presence Override] to amplify the aura coating Acheron.

Both combatants gritted their teeth as they unleashed their opening strikes. Their weapons collided in a thunderous horizontal clash, sending a massive shockwave rippling through the city and blasting away the surrounding debris. The sheer force repelled both blades, but the fighters only tightened their grips, instantly launching into a blistering flurry of blows. Noa let out an amused laugh, a wide smile splitting his face.

"You're not using Aether? What is that power, a gift from your so-called God?" Refusing to answer, Jain pushed lightly off the ground, spinning her spear in a vicious vertical arc. The overhead strike descended toward him with terrifying momentum, forcing Noa to raise Acheron in a desperate block. The impact rattled his bones, and Noa spat a mouthful of blood. Fucking hell! She's too strong! Jain immediately followed with another crushing blow, which Noa barely managed to counter.

Using the haft of her planted spear as a pivot, she vaulted into the air and delivered a brutal kick to his torso, forcing him to skid backward, his boots carving trenches into the cobblestones to halt his momentum. She was undeniably stronger, yet the more Noa realized this disparity, the wider his smile grew. It was as if he was reveling in the overwhelming pressure.

The tip of Jain's spear brushed dangerously close to Noa's stomach, but as she completed the rotation, the counter-weight blade at the opposite end swung directly toward his throat. He stumbled backward, dodging the sharp edge by mere inches. Suddenly, Noa vanished from sight. Jain's eyes widened just as a sudden distortion rippled through the air behind her.

[Hallow Step (Rare)] Acheron descended toward the Saint's unprotected back, slicing through the air—but instead of cleaving flesh, the dark blade passed right through an afterimage. Shock flashed across Noa's face just as Jain spun on her heel, burying a devastating roundhouse kick into the side of his skull. Sent hurtling across the street, Noa crashed through the facade of a building, tearing through two interior partitions before a third load-bearing wall finally stopped him.

Buried in the rubble, his face and body were soaked in blood. He blinked his eyes open, only to find Jain standing over him, the golden tip of her spear leveled squarely between his eyes.

"Fucking bitch!" Noa barked. Pushing his lower body off the floor, Noa flooded his legs with aura. He coiled his knees to his chest and lashed out with an explosive double-kick straight into Jain's stomach. She coughed up blood, her eyes bulging as the kinetic force launched her upward until she slammed hard against the ceiling. Still on the floor, Noa gripped Acheron and channeled a dense surge of aura into its jagged edge.

With a powerful upward sweep, a crescent of dark, violet energy detached from the blade and shrieked toward the airborne Saint. Spotting the incoming strike, Jain channeled her energy into her spear and thrust downward. A beam of golden energy rushed to meet the violet crescent. The resulting explosion rocked the building to its foundations, rattling the remaining walls. By the time the dust began to settle, Noa and Jain were already locked in a relentless exchange of blows.

They tore through the structure, obliterating walls and spilling from one room to the next, the pitch-black interior illuminated solely by the strobing flashes of gold and purple. The jagged teeth of Noa's blade managed to bite into the Saint's flesh, while the sweeping arcs of her spear carved deep, bloody gashes across his body. Stepping back, Jain glanced down at the fresh wounds left by the aura-infused sword. Why is my regeneration so slow? Stolen story; please report.

Taking advantage of her momentary distraction, Noa sprinted toward her, a deranged smile plastered across his face.

"What's wrong? Already seeing the afterlife?" His bloody, aura-clad fist slammed brutally into her face. Shattering through a pane of glass, Jain was sent flying out of the building and back into the street. Crashing hard into an abandoned fruit stall, she looked up, meeting Noa's wickedly feral grin. I didn't imagine you had a side like this… Noa. Tearing a path of destruction across the city-state, their clashes continued to ring in the ears of the fleeing citizens.

Both fighters were painted in their own blood, riddled with slashes and bruises, their skin coated in the pale dust of shattered masonry. They leapt apart—two wounded predators gasping in the choked air of a dying city—before lunging at one another once again. As their weapons locked anew, a singular, synchronized thought surfaced in both of their minds: Something is wrong.... Something's wrong. What is this?

I'm certain he was weaker just moments ago, Jain thought, her boots hammering off a vertical wall to launch herself forward. Is this adaptation? No, it's something else. It has to do with that swordsmanship and his body. A possibility flickered through her mind, making her golden eyes widen. Is he adapting not to my attacks… but to his own power? Something's up with her, Noa thought, grinding his teeth as he narrowly parried a thrust that nearly skewered his eye. It feels like she's about to…

hell no, I have to end this quickly! Noa bounded backward just as Jain created her own distance, both glaring at one another with predatory intensity. [Judgment of Sanctity (Unique)] Orbs of golden light manifested and began to orbit her, moving with the slow majesty of celestial bodies. She extended a hand toward Noa, and instantly, three of the spheres elongated, transmuting into spears made entirely of the golden energy. The constructs launched toward him at blinding speed, seeking to impale him where he stood.

Noa deflected the first two with Acheron and evaded the third using [Blink]. But the manifested weapons did not dissipate; they pivoted mid-air, aggressively hunting him like sentient hounds. I have to end this before he grows any stronger! Jain thought, surging forward to join the fray. Sparks cascaded in a rhythmic crescendo as Noa struggled to fend off four angles at once—the three autonomous energy spears and Jain's physical strikes.

Yet, even more golden spheres continued to orbit the Saint, a silent promise of the devastation still to come.

"Seems you can only control three of those at a time," Noa panted, his chest heaving heavily as he deflected another golden lunge.

"Yes, you're right," Jain admitted, abruptly vaulting backward to leave Noa trapped within the shifting cage of the three spears.

"But I don't have to manually control them for every ability!" She aimed a single finger in his direction, and two of the spheres broke orbit, rocketing directly at him. As Noa tracked their approach with a flash of confusion, the orbs suddenly compressed, glowing with blinding intensity before detonating. The explosion bathed the city in a blinding wash of gold, forcing the fleeing citizens to shield their eyes as the force toppled a nearby building. Jain stared into the epicenter of the blast, breathing heavily.

That should have done the job, right? Answering her silent prayer came a deranged, echoing laughter from within the ruins. While Jain stared at the thick plume of dust in dawning horror, she saw Acheron launch high into the sky, its tip gathering a concentrated point of violet aura that pierced the lingering smoke. Down within the dust cloud, Noa glanced up at his ascending blade. Since [Blink] required a physical surface, Noa targeted the ascending Acheron, teleporting directly into the sky above it.

The instant his boots made contact, the sentient sword forcefully halted its upward momentum. With a swift tap of his ruined boot, Noa redirected the dark blade downward, aiming its lethal point directly at the Saint below while flashing a predatory smirk. Answering her silent command, Jain's golden spears shot upward to intercept him, spiraling around one another like a drill of holy light.

As they closed the distance, Noa tucked into a tight vertical roll, driving his heel brutally into Acheron's pommel to send the blade plummeting toward her. — Formless Sword: Trace (Lingering Afterimage) — Just before the falling blade could reach its target, Noa activated [Blink] once more, materializing directly behind Jain. Caught inside the effective guard of her spear, Jain abandoned her weapon without hesitation.

She spun to face him, her hands snapping up to intercept his assault in a blinding blur of close-quarters violence. The air popped like firecrackers as they traded a flurry of punches, elbows, and blocks in the span of a heartbeat. Willingly absorbing a blow to his ribs to forge an opening, Noa snaked his hands past her defenses, weaving his arms beneath hers to lock her waist in an inescapable embrace.

"Gotcha!" he whispered harshly against her ear. Parting his jaws, Noa sank his teeth viciously into her neck. He bit down hard enough that a spray of hot blood splashed across his collarbone. Ignoring her choked gasp, he wrenched her body upward, angling her chest toward the sky where Acheron was currently screaming down from the clouds like a falling star.

"You—!" Jain choked out, her golden pupils shrinking in sheer terror as she looked up. Acheron fell with catastrophic velocity, tearing straight through her golden spears as if they were spun glass, shattering the holy constructs into a million useless, scattering sparks.

"If you do this, it will impale you too!" Jain screamed, her voice fracturing in panic.

"Let go!"

"Well, even if your weapons don't listen to you," Noa murmured softly into her ear, his deranged smile gleaming in the dark reflection of the descending steel, "mine always listens to me." The puzzle pieces finally slammed into place within Jain's mind—the strange vibration she had felt from his sword days prior, the oppressive intent it radiated even when sheathed, and the way it had halted its own momentum.

"… A willed sword?" Jain breathed, her golden eyes mirroring the jagged point now mere inches from her. Punching straight through her pristine armor, Acheron plunged deep into the center of her chest. Yet, a fraction of an inch before the tip could pierce through her back and impale Noa, the blade came to a dead stop. Noa released his grip, and Jain's paralyzed body slumped limply to the shattered cobblestones. He staggered back, his chest heaving for air.

Roughly wiping the grit and blood from his eyes, he stared down at the broken Saint.

"Whoo… that was actually hard work. If we were even a little bit slower, she might have actually evolved her skills."

"Just remember what I told you to do, and continue being an idiot, okay?" No… I don't want to let that happen again…

"Don't worry. As long as I'm here, I'll somehow bring your daughter back." Not again. I have to keep my word. Jain was drowning. She felt herself sinking into a bottomless, abyssal sea, the weight of her broken promises shackled to her ankles like iron. The pain of the sword wound had already faded, replaced by a seductive relief. It felt so incredibly easy to just surrender—to let the cold waters claim her, washing away the memory of the blood smeared across Feil's walls. What are you doing, Jain? Get the hell up!

She gritted her teeth against the silence of her own soul. Are you really going to go against your sister's words? To let people die again? She fought the paralyzing waters. She rejected the false peace. Slowly, the downward pull reversed, and she began to rise through the lightless depths until she broke the surface, floating on the cold, still water of her astral world. From the very bottom of that dark sea, a spark appeared.

A golden circle erupted from beneath her, rejecting the darkness, pushing back the shadows until the entire sea turned to liquid sun. <Fortunately, you were able to reject the temptation, or else even I wouldn't be able reach you. > a divine voice bloomed within her consciousness. My Lady…? <I am sorry, Jain. Veyra is watching; I cannot interfere directly. If I do, I'm afraid everyone here will die. > No need, My Lady. This is my responsibility as your Saint. <Do you still wish to continue? >... Yes.

I made a solemn promise, and I intend to keep that promise to the end. <And what will you do with this power? > I will save everyone… somehow. Back in the physical world, Jain's golden hair began to glow with a brilliant light that rivaled the sun. Her broken body slowly rose from the cobblestones, levitating as a spear forged of crystalline golden energy manifested within her grip. The light shall make the darkness perish. And today, the Saint would be the bearer of that light.