Fwoosh, fwoosh!

I generated ionized gas and burned Piaget’s body completely.

Among mutant demonic beasts, some survived even after their heads were cut off, and some were fusion bodies from the beginning.

I had no interest in letting a bastard I had killed like this resurrect through some method I could not even imagine.

Only after finishing the cremation did a deep sigh escape me.

He had not been an easy opponent.

Had I not used Sacheol Armor to deceive him, I did not know what would have happened.

A contest of swordsmanship had far more variables than a contest of authority.

Still, I felt proud that my control had reached this level.

Well, by now my Thunderbolt Body had exceeded 2,500%, so I could truly hold my own against direct-line purebloods.

I had long since surpassed them in the spectrum of authority.

Crack, crack.

Next, I grasped the broken crystalline holy sword.

It was a sword that had raced upward with me for years, ever since I first obtained it in Spiramentaon.

“I apologize.”

【“For what?”】

“I broke a holy relic, didn’t I?”

【“By that standard, aren’t you a saint? I have no intention of scolding you over using up that much. Especially on a day like today, after a military exploit like this.”】

Thankfully, the thunderous star did not blame me.

【“If anything, I am sorry I have nothing more to give you. Don’t apologize for every little thing like this. It makes you look petty.”】

So I extracted only the fragments of the thunderous star from the crystalline blade of the holy sword.

Pzzzt, pzzzt!

Crystals glowing with mixed blue and gold light.

For now, I put them all into my pocket.

“I don’t know what this is.”

【“……”】

Next was the crystal tablet Piaget had been carrying.

White lines had engraved text and a map onto the translucent blue-green crystal tablet, but the text was strangely different from the letters we used, so I could not read it.

The map, however, I could read.

The Empire of Stars was drawn upon it, and over that map, circles large and small had been marked.

Blink, blink.

Along those circles, castles shaped like acorns floated, repeatedly blinking as they changed positions from moment to moment.

Suddenly, I remembered a tradition of the Myriad Star Church.

The Dragon Emperor of the Ancient Empire of Evil had built flying cities to reach the Myriad Stars.

That arrogance had been the first cause that led the Myriad Stars to decide upon the Ancient Empire’s destruction.

Could those cities still be flying through the Empire’s sky even now?

【“We’ll have to reflect it in the next stage of Hero’s Journey. If not this time, then soon.”】

The thunderous star’s voice became my answer.

I blankly looked up at the night sky.

As both the meteor shower of authority and the real meteor shower fell, dyeing the entire night sky in countless colors, the light of the Myriad Stars shone down on me with indifference.

It almost looked as though several pillars of light were truly aimed this way.

【“Well, a duplicate oath isn’t bad either. Just wait a little. With a military exploit like yours and a reputation like mine, what couldn’t we do?”】

The thunderous star said something else I could not understand.

Blink.

At that moment, another movement entered my Bio-radar.

It was Saint Deneb.

He paused for a moment, then wrote on the ground with the lower end of his war hammer.

[You expected this, didn’t you?]

Yes.

I had expected it.

I had never once thought the Church would not try to kill me.

A relationship created by necessity becomes worth less than a pebble the moment that necessity disappears.

Since we had now destroyed the Hall of Purity’s headquarters and taken countless heads, Imperator Kyrie was no longer needed.

If they succeeded only in killing me, then neither Andromeda nor Erica would be able to push too hard.

Because the entire Myriad Star Church would hang mourning banners, and the Pope would sob in front of my grave while posthumously canonizing me as a saint.

One can be infinitely merciful to the dead.

That was why, no matter how damned annoying it was, I had decided to live.

Woom!

I expanded my Bio-radar as far as I could.

Thanks to my Thunderbolt Body rising by nearly another 250% during the day, even that brief rest had restored quite a bit of my breath.

Behind me was a cliff, and the path up to this place was fairly rough.

Even for cathedral knights, their approach route was obvious.

“Found you.”

With my Bio-radar added to that, identifying their positions was easy.

Dozens of cathedral knights and over ten battle priests were marching toward me.

There were also nearly one thousand Church soldiers who looked like elites.

They had probably stepped forward under the pretext of clearing out remnants.

Wooooom, woom!

At the cathedral knights’ waists, I detected at least two longswords each.

One appeared as a normal white outline, but the other absorbed my electromagnetic waves and appeared as a pitch-black void.

I had a good idea what that sword was.

The Falling-Star Meteoric Iron Demon Sword.

The sword that had forced my father into retirement.

A bitter smile rose on its own.

To think I was recognized as that much of a heavyweight.

I did not know whether to be happy or sad.

Regretting slightly that I had used up all my Telephone Conversation, I called down Lightning Strike.

They were wary of me as though I were my father, His Highness Peleus.

Unlike him, however, I had no intention of fighting them hand-to-hand.

Especially not when I could look over several kilometers with Bio-radar and drop Lightning Strikes on them.

By now, Lightning Strike was something I could call down without any real burden.

Snap!

Looking through my Bio-radar at the nearest cathedral knight, I snapped my fingers.

Flash!

A white bolt of lightning descended from the night sky.

“Come.”

In my Bio-radar vision, one cathedral knight evaporated cleanly.

Tat-tat-tat-tat!

“It’s Kyrie!”

“Where is he?”

“Bio-radar! He must be up there! Spread out and charge!”

“Charge!”

Faint screams echoed up, and the cathedral knights and Church soldiers began charging all at once.

Snap, snap, snap!

I called lightning in succession.

Boom! Boom! Kaboom!

Spears of pure white light fell one after another.

【“This brings back memories.”】

The thunderous star burst into bright laughter.

Once again, it said something I could not understand.

Snap, snap, snap!

So I simply did what I could do.

When a single Lightning Strike fell, everything within a fifty-meter radius was electrocuted.

“Aaaagh!”

“Guuuh!”

“Aaaargh!”

No matter how widely they spread out, I could still drop dozens at a time.

And if any of them endured without falling after one strike, those were the cathedral knights and battle priests.

In that case, I picked them out and dropped two or three more strikes only on them.

Flash!

“You’re still standing?”

Even amid that, there were some who endured.

I realized it from the shapes floating in my Bio-radar and the voices that echoed faintly to me.

“Blessings alone won’t hold! Block with the Falling-Star Meteoric Iron Demon Sword!”

“Spread out! Spread out!”

As expected, they were using that cursed blade.

【“I would like you to stop thinking about that. I cannot understand why my damn wastrel younger brother left behind something like that to torment the contractor I chose!”】

That was not the end of it.

I saw the battle priests lining up at regular intervals.

With instinctive unease, I focused my Bio-radar vision below the cliff as well.

“Damn it.”

A line of battle priests was forming a great circle around the mountain peak.

It was the prelude to a formation.

“How many have fallen?”

“Eight cathedral knights and three battle priests are down. More than three hundred Church soldiers have also died.”

“The Myriad Stars will gather them all.”

In the forest beneath the darkness, Saint Deneb spat out the customary phrase in a tone close to a curse.

He is strong.

Every suit of armor worn by the cathedral knights was a masterpiece engraved with all manner of markings.

Protection against heat and cold, insulation, hardness, impact absorption, impact dispersion, and countless others.

The armor of the battle priests surpassed even that of the cathedral knights.

Kyrie’s Lightning Strike had pierced through that armor, pierced through the cathedral knight’s sword aura reinforcement, and killed the cathedral knight.

That was difficult even for a direct-line pureblood.

No. He has become even stronger.

And since that had happened not once or twice, but more than ten times, even the Church’s elite troops saw their morale plunge.

“We can’t even see him!”

“Another one fell!”

“How far do we have to go?”

We could not even see Kyrie’s shadow, yet Kyrie saw where we were as clearly as the palm of his hand and struck us dead with Lightning Strike.

It was truly a situation that made one not want to fight.

“I will cut down anyone who retreats!”

“All who die in this battle will go to heaven!”

“The Myriad Stars of the night sky are watching you.”

“Fight without faltering! Until you are embraced by the night sky!”

However, the Myriad Star Church had also come thoroughly prepared for this battle.

“Brother.”

“Yes. It is about time we moved.”

Saint Deneb, Saint Albireo, Saint Sadr, Saint Fawaris, Saint Aljanah—the powerful inquisitors who bore the names of Cygnus.

“Father and son are exactly alike in their vicious defiance.”

“A pity. Had he obeyed doctrine, he could have become a more faithful servant than anyone.”

“He always seeks to reign above all people. How could that be the will of the Myriad Stars, who shine upon all? From the moment he raged that he would appoint the archbishop himself, he was already an enemy of the faith.”

“Indeed, the words of Apostle Saint Altair are correct.”

They had even mobilized one of the apostles, among the twelve most powerful cardinals.

In quality, this force was not inferior even when compared to the forces deployed in the capture of Soletaraon.

“Deploy it.”

“Yes.”

Saint Deneb obeyed the apostle’s order.

[“Unfold the Star-Soul Confusion Formation! Slay that lackey of the Hall of Purity who murdered His Highness Kyrie, Protector of the Church!”]

A shout filled with sacred power spread through the night sky.

The battle priests stepped back and recited the Lord’s Prayer.

[“Unfold the Nebula Myriad-House Formation! Prevent that evildoer from escaping anywhere!”]

The apostle stepped back and recited the Lord’s Prayer.

[“Cathedral knights, prepare the Comet-Revolving-Heaven Formation! Cut the evildoer a thousand times and show your righteous wrath!”]

Saint Deneb, Saint Albireo, Saint Sadr, Saint Fawaris, and Saint Aljanah raised hammers large and small.

The other cathedral knights also drew their Falling-Star Meteoric Iron Demon Swords and followed behind the inquisitors.

Ah, ah, aaaaaah!

A solemn hymn resounded.

Woo, woo, woooooo!

Each time it did, translucent force fields rose in layers through the air, the ground turned translucent, and the nature of space changed.

Tzzzzzz!

Before they knew it, they no longer stood in the vast rear garden of the imperial palace of Soletaraon, but in the middle of the night sky.

The darkness of the Star-Soul Confusion Formation embraced everything around them, and the stars of the Nebula Myriad-House Formation circled above and below.

Step. Step. Step. Step. Step.

Saint Deneb advanced toward Kyrie with magnificent dignity, leading the four inquisitors and dozens of cathedral knights.

“Blessing of starlight.”

Wooooom!

Now that they had unfolded the Prayer of Halo, brilliant ivory halos rotated above all their heads.

Their muscles and bones had become several times stronger, and their reflexes had risen greatly as well.

“Vision of starlight.”

When they raised the Prayer of Clear Sight as well, light shone from their eyes.

Their dynamic vision was amplified several times over, and their mana sensitivity soared with it.

Far away, they could clearly see Kyrie raising sharp, white-blue mana.

“Soul of a dead star.”

Finally, a heavy black-purple aura wound around Saint Deneb’s arms and legs.

It was preparation for Gravity Collapse, a martial art of authority that fought by strengthening and weakening gravity.

Shaaaaa!

Some deployed “orbital force fields” made of translucent light like shields, while others wrapped their weapons in “star flame,” each preparing for close combat in their own way.

And then Kyrie entered their naked vision.

“I knew you would come.”

The Lightning Blade stood alone beyond the physical darkness of the Star-Soul Confusion Formation.

He was crushing fragments of the broken crystalline holy sword beneath his steel military boot.

Perhaps his eyepatch had been cut once; the knotted ends trailed down his face like tear tracks.

“There are things in this world you know are coming and still cannot avoid.”

“There are?”

“For the crime of disguising the dreadful potion created by the Hall of Purity, the elixir of eternity, as the elixir of sacred radiance and spreading it, you are stripped of your position as Protector of the Church and your position as Imperator of the Elector Prince army.”

Saint Deneb spoke informally again.

“So if I die here, that’s what you’ll tell Andromeda and Erica? Publicly, you’ll treat me like a saint, so let’s end this here?”

A hollow emotion ran across Kyrie’s face.

“You made the elixir of sacred radiance long ago too, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t expect you to say that out loud.”

“I can’t have been the first to find out this much.”

“You won’t be the last either.”

Saint Deneb showed a bright smile on his handsome face.

“No. I will be the last.”

Kyrie shook his head.

“Hm?”

“Because after I completely destroy the Hall of Purity, you won’t be able to tie me to them anymore either.”

For a moment, Saint Deneb could not follow that logic.

Because Kyrie had omitted the part where he would destroy the Hall of Purity and then bring even the Church to its knees.

But there was no time to question it.

Wooooooooom!

Because the explosive balsam grenade Kyrie had floated into the air was heating to a distant blue-green and vermilion.

“Railgun?”

In that light, Saint Deneb’s face turned blue-green, then vermilion, then finally white.

“What did you think I was relying on when I chased the Department Dean alone?”

Kyrie fired the Railgun.

Kwakakakakakaka!

【Railgun (23 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds)】

Looking at the words floating on my stigma, I pulled the next explosive balsam grenade from my harness.

Of course I had expected the Church to use formations.

To capture a Blue Knight on my level, they would obviously cause an uproar, and there was no way to prevent every single person in my army, Nereus’s army, Erica’s army, and Andromeda’s army from seeing it.

If I could destroy the formation with a major authority, I was already halfway to escaping.

That was why I had saved Railgun until now, and why I had restrained myself from using major authorities until now.

Today, until the Church bastards came, I had not used even a single Lightning Strike.

I had to conserve my nerves.

For this very moment.

“It would have been better if you had just died quietly.”

“I agree.”

I raised my middle finger toward Saint Deneb’s face, floating far away in the pitch-black fog of the Star-Soul Confusion Formation.

For a moment, the normal night sky appeared above, then slowly returned once more to a violet night sky.

It seemed they had a fairly powerful battle priest on that side.

A bishop or higher—perhaps even a cardinal or apostle-class.

Of course, since I had confirmed that Railgun worked even against a formation laid by a battle priest of that level, that was actually good news.

“Come at me with your swords. Let’s see if you can block this too.”

“Swords?”

Saint Deneb smiled thinly.

“Yes. Swords are good. But before I swing mine, the Myriad Stars will swing first.”

Far away in the violet night sky, a meteor drew closer.

Rumble-rumble-rumble!

I could feel its heat and vibration even from this distance.

“No way.”

It was not an illusion created by the formation, nor a fake meteor created by remotely manifesting an authority such as “star flame” or “star-fragment baptism” inside the formation.

“Sirius!”

The Church bastards who had come here were not the only ones aiming for me.

Saint Sirius’s Meteor Shower was flying toward me.

Without hesitation, I aimed the Railgun.

Holding the explosive balsam grenade in my left hand, I pointed my thumb toward the sky, my index finger forward, and my middle finger sideways.

Wooooooooom!

The magnetic field rotated upward and sideways, creating forward force, and the heat ignited ionized gas that wrapped around the explosive balsam grenade.

Fwoosh!

When I felt as though something had ignited at my fingertip—

I fired.

Kwakakakakakaka!

The now-familiar backblast shook my body.

The Railgun I had fired collided head-on with the meteor dropped by the Myriad Star Church.

KABOOOOOM!

Red, yellow, blue, white.

Fragments of countless colors and masses of superheated light scattered like colored paper.

I stood alone beneath them and gathered the Sacheol Blade.

Tzzzzzz!

I raised a greatsword as large as my own body over my shoulder and aimed it forward.

Chapter 249

Comments