Imperial Prince? What business did he have with this place?
Eithne was curious, but she remained quiet and followed other people’s action.
“Greeting His Highness, the Prince of the great Lumovas Empire.”
The priests bowed their heads toward the young boy who barely reached his teenage. The Imperial Prince smiled brightly, he raised his hand and naturally accepted the respect from the adults around him.
“No need to be so formal. Please raise your heads.”
As the Imperial Prince permitted them to stand up, Eithne finally had a chance to closely observe him.
The direct bloodline of the imperial family had a distinct eye color that resembled the clear blue sky and their hair looked like million rays of sunshine woven together. The wealthy royal family dressed their child in the most lavish attire and had the most elite knight brigade accompany him.
The young prince standing in front of Eithne Noceur right now was only twelve this year, yet he was so confident and well versed in communication.
What an amazing person he was. Eithne thought.
It was no doubt that he would soon grow into a handsome man who would be the main topic of young ladies’ gossip in the future.
A romance comic having medieval setting would always reserve a special role for children from the royal family. In other words, a prince normally had a role of potential male lead in a love story, where many young girls would find themselves captured by his attractiveness, but he only paid attention to the female lead.
“I am Azriel Daneva. It is a pleasure to meet such talent priests in this temple.”
The Imperial Prince introduced himself to Eithne and Hesata. He even offered his small hand to shake with them.
Azriel? Eithne flinched. This name felt so familiar…
She suddenly remembered one of most crucial characters from the comic, who was the emperor of Lumovas and best friend with the male lead, his name was also Azriel. It was obvious that she could not remember Azriel’s face in the comic, or else she might recognize the younger version of that character from the start.
Eithne finally grasped the current timeline of the story. The average age of main characters in the comic was twenty, so she was transported into this world about ten years before the plot of the comic started!
If “the emperor” was still a prince, then where should the male lead and female lead be? Eithne wondered. And there was also a villain who want to destroy this empire would appear later in the comic too…
Hesata Ragnar looked at the spacing-out priestess, whose eyes were no longer dull when she dropped her guard. She was so preoccupied with her own thoughts to notice the waving hand in front of her face. Hesata lightly hit her shoulder.
“Hey, are you sleeping?”
“Ah what?”
Eithne shook her body. She turned her head to look at Hesata, who had a disbelieving expression on his face.
“Did you really fall asleep while we’re talking?” – He said.
Eithne had a seriously dumb look on her face as if she had not been here for a while. Hesata could not stand this. It seemed like he had to explain everything back. The priest sighed.
“The Imperial Prince asked for a demonstration of the War’s temple power.”
“What demonstration?” – Eithne tilted her head. Stupidity was clearly presented on her face.
“Since this is not a big event, the temple will have a friendly sparring between priests to show-off our strength.” – Hesata said.
Eithne nodded. She knew from the memory of the previous priestess that the royalty often checked on the power of the War temple. They would send a representative annually to witness the match between priests, in particular, it was the Imperial Prince this year.
Hesata seemed annoyed. Was he not the type that liked fighting?
“I don’t like this because we have to go easy on each other. It’s like we are only dancing, not really fighting.”
She knew it. Eithne was not surprised.
“And it’s you and me, who will do that demonstration.”
“What? Us??”
Eithne’s eyes opened wide in surprise. Why did they have to do this?
“The High Priest commanded us.”
Hesata crossed his arms. He was also wondering why it had to be them doing this.
High-grade priests were prestigious people that even a prince had to respect them, so they never had to participate in such demonstration. Middle-grade or low-grade priests usually took this job, but the High Priest decided to let Eithne and Hesata do the sparring today instead.
Maybe it was because the Imperial Prince already saw them fighting, and Demir Noceur thought it would be convenient that they could do the sparring too?
But Eithne could not use her holy power… What would she do…?
Eithne was flustered, but she would not dare to disclose this secret to another person. She got the feeling that the High Priest would execute her if he knew she was not the original priestess.
“Ah… I can’t think of any excuse…” – Eithne mumbled. Her head was a mess.
__
“Hey… is your shoulder ok?”
Eithne asked Hesata while following him to the larger stadium for their match. The priest snorted at her; he easily spun his arm to show that her worry was unnecessary.
“You think just a punch can defeat me?”
“Ah… alright.”
Eithne did not say anymore.
Tsk… Hesata clicked his tongue. Honestly, it was still slightly aching, but his pride would never let him say that.
They arrived at the large coliseum on the left side of the temple of War. The coliseum was mainly built for important events and demonstration purpose, so it had many seats for visitors and special equipment to ensure the audiences’ safety. The massive shock-absorption devices installed here were ten times larger than the type that Hesata used for his temporary stadium, and the ground had much higher endurance than normal training ground.
The Imperial Prince was safely seated behind three layers of magic barriers. Next to him, the High Priest leisurely drank his tea. The prince only kept two bodyguards by his side, since the strongest person in the country was sitting next to him, so he did not worry much about potential dangers during the match.
Eithne and Hesata stepped on the stadium once the shock-absorption devices were activated. A transparent hemisphere barrier enclosed the stadium from outer area, locked the two priests inside.
“…”
The people of this world used mana from the nature to perform magic or enhance their physical ability, such as mages and other weapon wielders like knights. Priests were also mages and weapon users, but they possessed an extra power beside mana, which was the divine power bestowed by the gods.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
There were many ways to use the holy power, and priests tended to mix it with their mana. However, the grade of a priest was decided based on their ability to wield as much pure holy power as they could. To compete against another priest, one must use their holy power. It was a rule of their religion to respect the god and show how much god loved them, by the amount of granted holy power.
Eithne did not like the god of War and the god probably hated her too. Her Chaos power was hard to control. Furthermore, it was fading after each day. She wanted to file a complaint to the god of War, as Eithne Noceur had been fulfilling her duty as a priestess, yet her god provided inadequate holy power to his dedicated believer. What an unfair deity!
A priest gave a start signal.
Hesata took a deep breath and activated the holy power inside his body.
A crimson power started flowing around his arm then formed into a long spear in his hand, but it did not stop there. The crimson flow continued to swirl violently inside the shape of the spear, just like monsters trying to break free from a tiny cage and release their destruction.
The young priest with a bright red hair pointed the crimson spear to his opponent. The spear was made of pure divine power without a single thread of mana mixed in. This was the ability of a high-grade priest.
Eithne wiped her cold sweats.
The crimson spear absolutely looked much more dangerous than the previous fire spear. Although it did not seem as bright as the fire spear, she could sense the density of holy power within that spear - which surely could create a lake on the ground with a single touch. Hesata with a crimson spear just had an extra violent aura.
Fuck. Where was the exit from this madness? Was this really a “friendly” match?
“Please go easy on me...”- The priestess murmured.
Huh? Hesata raised his eyebrows. What was she talking about?
Hesata Ragnar never once in his life took his opponent lightly, especially the priestess who wielded the mysterious Chaos power. Without a second to spare, he rushed toward Eithne Noceur and plunged his spear to her chest.
Was he trying to kill her? Eithne panicked. This was nowhere near the “friendly” term that he said.
She rolled to one side to dodge. The spear oddly brushed past her arm without a single scratch, but the priestess felt her flesh was fiercely burnt inside.
Damn that was hurt!
Eithne ran away to keep a distance from Hesata.
The Imperial Prince curiously looked at the sparring, he had never witnessed the pure power of high-grade priests before. Although it seemed like they fought using normal weapon, those massive shock-absorption devices were intensely shaking. Without these devices, the little prince might be blown away at any moment.
Azriel Daneva took a peek at the person sitting next to him. The young prince wondered how strong a High Priest would be. Two high-grade priests already gave him goosebumps, then the old man should be ten times scarier. The Imperial Prince was young, but he was not naïve. He promised himself to never provoke the High Priest.
Demir Noceur did not know what was going on inside the prince’s head and he would not care. His eyes were fixed on two figures on the stadium while his hand was holding a boiling hot teacup. He seemed to contemplate something that only the God would know. The High Priest had been an unpredictable person for almost fifty years in his life.
The old man lifted his cup to sip the hot tea.
‘What a peaceful morning.’ - He thought.
Contrary to the relaxing atmosphere in the audience’s room, the battle on the stadium was extremely tense.
Eithne wanted to cry so hard.
She had been dodging for fifteen minutes already and burnt several times because of Hesata’s spear. This guy was merciless. She wanted to surrender immediately, but since she had not used her holy power once, surrender was not allowed.
Hesata pushed her to the edge of the stadium. Eithne’s back touched the transparent barrier. Her body felt seriously hurt and her mind was exhausted.
“This is the end.”
The priest raised his crimson spear. His eyes showed no waving emotion, he did not stop even if Eithne could not fight back. His divine power roared to victory, like a thousand warriors roared toward their enemy. The air around the spear had to tremble in this immense aura. Even the sun felt so small compared to the destructive crimson light.
“…”
All of a sudden, desperation swept in Eithne’s mind.
Shouldn’t she be happy because it was finally end? Why did she feel… so cold in her heart?
Eithne grasped her chest then collapsed on the ground. All the heat from the burnt marks suddenly disappeared. Her body felt so cold as if she had fallen into an icy cave and Eithne’s eyes became blurry in an instant. An unknow dark power escaped from her heart and drowned everything around her in pitch black.
The last thing she saw was the crimson spear being swallowed by the darkness…
Clang!
The teacup was crushed in the High Priest’s hand.
“This… this is….” – The Imperial Prince mumbled.
The people outside the fighting area could see the hemisphere barrier was filled with ominous darkness. This was the first time such phenomenon ever happened. No one could confirm the two priests’ current situation inside.
Although Azriel did not know much about holy power, he could recognize the seriousness of the situation. The prince quickly turned to look at the High Priest, but the old man already took action. Azriel saw the High Priest’s eyes were shining with bizarre purple light.
The divine power of Chaos circled around in the irises of Demir Noceur. His vision drilled through the darkness in front of his eyes. Only one priest from the Warrior faction was spotted, while Eithne Noceur was no where to be seen. However, the priest was still fighting against an invisible opponent.
Hesata Ragnar was swallowed in the darkness. He could not see, but he still sensed the other existence within the barrier. The experience of a high-grade priest never faltered in any circumstance.
His crimson fire was put out like a tiny flame on the candle grasped by human’s fingers. It was hard to defend himself until the rescue could arrive, but Hesata did not struggle. The dark power and his fire canceled each other, so he managed to hold on. This darkness was different from nighttime, since Hesata sensed neither sound nor living energy from the enemy. He solely relied on his prediction to counter the attack from the dark.
A crimson spear appeared in Hesata’s hand. He threw the spear to his left side.
BANG!
The spear clashed against an invisible blade and exploded. Exploiting the flash of light coming from the explosion, Hesata saw a human figure. Her eyes were as dull as clay, reflecting no light or color. The priestess swiftly withdrew to the darkness.
“Eithne…”
Hesata furrowed his eyebrows. The power came from Eithne was strange, she had never been like this before. Even priests controlling water found the crimson fire hard to deal with, but this darkness gobbled up his power in an eyeblink. Hesata suppressed his suspicion since he needed to focus on defending himself first.
And Eithne did not seem to be in her right mind. This was the second time the priestess of Chaos becoming the menace of Hesata’s life.
Her hand swiped the darkness. After her command, many invisible blades were born from nothing, they slid through the air to Hesata.
A dozen of crimson spears was created instantly from the young man’s hand. He swiftly threw all of them toward the blades.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
A chain of explosions lighted up the dark in mere two seconds. Hesata saw nobody. A sudden pain came from his stomach reached his brain.
The priestess’s face appeared so close before his eyes, and her left hand had pieced through his body. A stench of blood quickly spread in the air.
The hand of Eithne was as cold as a piece of metal, it clashed with the crimson power running in Hesata’s blood. The priest gave out a little groan, but soon he smiled brightly. Eithne tried to retreat her hand, but Hesata had firmly grabbed onto her left shoulder.
“Not so fast!”
One sharp crimson spear formed in Hesata’s hand. He stabbed it right on Eithne’s shoulder and nailed her body on the ground. However, the priestess did not slow down. She was like a monster that lost her mind and knew no pain. Eithne punched directly into Hesata’s chest using her remaining free hand.
Hesata’s crimson power gathered in front of his chest to protect his heart, but the impact was quite huge. He could not hold back the blood dripping out from his lips. His chest bones were probably broken.
“Goddamnit High Priest! Do something!” – The priest blurted out god-insulting words.
Hesata did not want to kill Eithne, so he used his own body to trap her down. He could have stabbed the spear through her neck to end this easily, but he did not want to lose a friend like this. Hesata knew that Demir Noceur already found his way into the darkness, since he had sensed a faint familiar Chaos power. The High Priest should be able stop this crazy priestess.
As soon as Hesata started shouting, Eithne raised her head. She saw a gaze that penetrated through her soul. An alienated power bypassed all her physical defense to aggressively stir her mind into chaos.
“Urgh…” – Eithne groaned.
She felt an immense pain in her soul. It was far worse than the moment she received the memory of the previous Eithne Nocure. Her mind was trampled by the vehement holy power from that gaze.
Soon, the priestess slowly closed her eyes and plopped down. The pitch-black power withdrew into her body like water rushing into the drain, just right after the darkness disappeared, the transparent barrier covering the stadium cracked and shattered into pieces.
CRACK! KLAANG!
Tens of shock-absorption devices were overheated and malfunctioned, some of them were even broken apart. They had lasted for many years through countless battles of the priests. This was the first time the temple received such huge loss.
The Imperial Prince was shaking his body tremulously while he hid behind the High Priest’s back. The moment that the barrier shattered, Demir Noceur had to step up to cover the prince. His aura diminished the remaining pressure escaped from the battle ground, so the prince was completely protected. Other priests and knights were blown ten meters away from the stadium.
As the darkness withdrew, the bloody battleground was revealed under afternoon light.
The red-haired man sat on the ground with a horrendous injury on his abdoment. He was drenched with his own blood and sweat. Hesata looked at the unconscious priestess next to him. He smiled bitterly.
“Ah… I want to faint too. This hurts so bad.”
His lunch had probably escaped from the hole on his stomach. What a shame, the sandwich today was quite good.