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Arcane Cycle
Sile, True Paladin of the Holy Empire of Ivalice. (XVIII)

Sile, True Paladin of the Holy Empire of Ivalice. (XVIII)

In the legacies left by Titor, there's a certain technique that even in a place full of geniuses like the Order of Exalted Paladins, few of the elite members are able to learn it, and even fewer are capable of achieve complete mastery. This technique is called Heaven's Slash. Said skill has a terrific power capable of overturning the land, and obviously requires a high amount of light aura in order to be cast just once, so much that upon being used, the one who casted it would have to rest for about a week in order to recover its light aura no matter how many miraculous medicines he tries to use.

The idea behind Heaven's Slash is to call upon a certain celestial entity for a brief period of time, borrowing a fraction of its power and unleashing it in a single strike. The Heaven's Slash preserves the intent of the celestial entity whose power is being borrowed, boosting the power of the strike when unleashed with the intent of punishing an evil spirit or someone with a wicked heart.

That celestial entity is known as a Heavenly Slayer, the same celestial entity that Sile just summoned.

The four Celestial Guardians summoned by the group of paladins and clerics corresponds to the mid ranks of Heaven's Soldiers, while a Heavenly Slayer makes part of the low ranks of Heaven's Judges. Nevertheless, the difference in power between a Heaven Soldier and a Heaven Judge is simply too vast, even if it's a low ranked one. A full powered Heavenly Slayer could stand his ground against one thousand Celestial Guardians without being defeated.

However, even if a Heavenly Slayer is many times more powerful than a Celestial Guardian, there's a fundamental flaw in trying to summon one for combat. Unlike any summon of the soldier rank that would obey its summoner if their motive is pure, those of the judge rank has their own mindset, and will act according to their own will, not the summoner's.

Heaven's Judges are haughty and extremely prideful, if they consider that they were summoned in a conflict which isn't worth of their time, they will not move a single finger. In some extreme cases, they can even raise their weapons against the one who summoned them, judging them to have dark hearts. There were numerous records of armies losing a war because they tried to take the easy route by summoning a Heaven's or Hell's Judge and then the summoned creature would turn against themselves.

Although Sile's idea was not original because there were already records of people who extrapolated the Heaven's Slash towards a summon of a Heavenly Slayer, the number people and the number of times a Heavenly Slayer has being summoned since the calamity war could be counted with one hand. Even if it's a low ranked judge, is a fairly powerful one with high requirements for its summon, so much that with the help of the jewel that Sile was holding, she could only manifest about a fifth of its power.

Sile knew of the implications of summoning something as powerful as the Heavenly Slayer, it was undoubtedly a double-edged move, she was even being a little too naive. The whole army was being constantly pressed by the demonkins and by sheer numbers she knew that it was only a matter of time before the formations started to collapse and the whole army was wiped away, if the Heavenly Slayer caused even the tiniest of struggles from the inside of the formations, they would undoubtedly die.

However, she was confident in the choice she made in summoning the Heavenly Slayer. The basis for her confidence is that judge ranked Celestials are natural demon hunters... and just in front of her there's a whole army of half demons!

The Heavenly Slayer made a grasping motion in front of him and a bright pillar of light materialized out of nowhere. The pillar of light started to rotate and condense in the form of a gigantic twin bladed sword, each blade possessing a menacing length of six meters.

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The moment the Heavenly Slayer finally gripped its weapon, a strand of its aura was released enveloping the whole battlefield. Upon sensing its aura, humans, demonkins, and even the brainless shadow devourer felt a opressive aura that instilled fear in their hearts, this was an aura of a being that was about to bring his judgement upon them!

The faces of the demonkin army couldn't help but turning grave. Although that tiny human army was proving to be as resilient as a cockroach, they were just delaying their own deaths, they were far from being a real threat. With enough time and the aid of the shadow devourers they could wipe them easily without much effort, even if they were being backed up by four Celestial Guardians. However, the aura emanating from the Heavenly Slayer clearly told them that a calamity was about to fall upon them.

"Maintain the ranks! Assume defensive formations!"

"Fifth to the eleventh regimen, focus your fire on the new summon!"

The demonkin generals were no fools. They could feel the power emanating from the Heavenly Slayer, but they knew that a summon of that caliber could not be maintained for a prolonged period of time, and the fact that it was summoned only until now meant that it was probably a delaying tactic. If they retreated now, not only the demonkin army would suffer heavy casualties, they would need a lot of time to launch a second wave of attacks, time they didn't have right now.

"Vengeance..."

The Heavenly Slayer spoke again and then took three steps forward. This time his tone was full of killing intent, it clearly identified the demonkins as its enemy, and it was eager to slaughter them. One moment ago, it was behind Sile, near the center of the human army. One moment later, he was in the middle of the demonkin army. With a few steps it traversed a thousand meters!

No one could follow such speed with the naked eyes, let alone take defensive measures!

The Heavenly Slayer raised its twin bladed sword and executed three sword attacks in the midst of all the unprepared demonkins and shadow devourers. The swing of those blades seemed to be completely ordinary attacks, there wasn't any fancy light beams or explosions that accompanied the attacks. However, how could the attack of such a powerful entity be ordinary?

*Thud, thud, thud.*

The sound of hundreds of stones hitting the floor filled the area around the Heavenly Slayer. By the time everybody finally reacted and looked at the new position that the Heavenly Slayer was occupying, the fear they felt previously because its aura intensified by tenfold. In a ten meter radius, all the shadow devourers were sliced in half and all the demonkins were... beheaded! No exception! Those weren't stones hitting the floor, it was the sounds of at least three hundred demonkin heads falling from their shoulders!

Everyone was looking dumbfounded at the scene. Each second seemed to be an eterniy, but it only took about five of those eternities for someone in the demokin side to yell "RUN!", followed by hundreds and then thousands of the same cries. The demonkins were fierce by nature, but even if they were several times more fierce, they knew that staying in the same battlefield with the Heavenly Slayer was a suicidal act! Even if they will be punished or even executed later for fleeing from the battlefield, they still had a tiny chance to preserve their lives, while staying here meant certain death!