He stood there, his body surrounded by a holy light that made everything dirty and ugly around him became radiant. The muddy water flowed quietly like a stream, and the stench was blown away by the breeze, filling the air with the scent of grass. Just by standing there, he could create an illusion for one's senses. Even the dirtiest sewage could turn into a heavenly garden.
His clean black-bordered red robe remained untouched by a speck of dust, and his silky, shiny golden hair filled the surroundings with radiance. With a solemn gaze as if he were a deity looking down on mortals, he gazed at the girl captain.
"Heretic!" Matilda's firm belief remained unshaken. This evil heretic had the audacity to pose as a deity. The divine flames burned brighter, like fiery snakes rolling, ready to devour the man into the abyss.
In the pale holy fire, the man raised one hand. The smooth skin was burnt with blisters, but in the blink of an eye, they disappeared without a trace, leaving no sign of injury.
"What a perfect body," the man exclaimed. "The damage caused by the holy flames that can even dissolve souls cannot match the speed of self-recovery."
He walked slowly, with a halo radiating and sprinkling countless milky white light spots. As he walked, the sewage and the holy flames automatically separated, creating a path that revealed neat stones. It was like the crowd that panicked and retreated respectfully when the emperor went on a tour, welcoming his arrival.
Matilda pulled out a small, exquisite single-handed firearm. This weapon, like a work of art, was no less powerful than the musket of the holy warrior. She repeatedly pressed the trigger, and the bullet infused with divine power whizzed out, hitting the man's vital points that were enough to be fatal.
Still, it had no effect. The bullets made a dull metallic impact sound against his body, then bounced off and embedded themselves deeply into the surrounding rocks. One even reflected back, slicing open the girl's beautiful cheek.
Blood flowed out, washing away the dirt at the wound and staining her fair skin red.
"I say, the world is too narrow to bear great will and authority," the man murmured to himself. Then, the waterway that could only fit three people side by side turned into a vast space with no visible end.
"I say, the clear should be above, and the murky should be below. Let there be radiant brightness." The dark space immediately lit up, revealing the land and sky.
Matilda and the arriving Holy Warriors were stunned. Nord thought of something and cried out in despair, "The Seal of Light! This is the Divine Invocation, the legendary divine spell that only the most devoted high priest can cast at the cost of their own life."
Even the current Pope would need to join forces with the four cardinal bishops, paying the price of burning their own lives, to summon such a miracle.
In the space covered by the Divine Invocation, the caster becomes the ruler for a short period of time. Their will becomes reality and cannot be violated.
"I say, the impure, the disrespectful, the irreverent shall be destroyed." The man said.
The world of the Divine Invocation turned black and white with a yellow tint. When the color returned, the bodies and souls of the Holy Warriors disappeared from this world. The barrier formed by the Holy Fire barely protected Matilda, but its flame had dwindled to mere sparks.
Leo Angertes was intoxicated with the feeling of playing the deity, and the inexhaustible power from the Eternal Reliquary made him immortal. Even as he continuously maintained the Divine Invocation, he was destined to continue his life forever without any loss.
"A useful ability," he said to Matilda, "I have just lost a loyal subordinate. If you can pledge allegiance to me, you will become my representative in the mortal world when I become the new god."
"Never! You, the fallen heretic, dare to call yourself a false god," the girl gasped for breath, and the defense from before had drained her last bit of strength, "You cannot escape the judgment of the end times."
"Blind lamb," Leo said with regret. "The blasphemous, the disrespectful, and the irreverent shall...".
Matilda prayed, closed her eyes, and waited for death to come.
Leo was unable to finish speaking, as a sudden surge of pain hit him, leaving his mind completely blank.
The unreal world disappeared, and Matilda found herself back in reality, back in the filthy sewer. If it weren't for the armor and weapons left behind by the Holy Warrior behind her and the man writhing in pain among the garbage in front of her, no longer the holy man he once was, she would have thought that everything that had just happened was nothing but a bewildering illusion.
"This is the protection of the Seal of Light," Matilda devoutly gave thanks. She gritted her teeth and tried to stand up, to pick up her sword and kill the heretic. But even after trying several times, she collapsed back to the ground.
"No, how could the energy of the Eternal Reliquary disappear?" Leo roared. He felt his body continuously breaking down and he crawled back, wondering what had happened to the holy relic in the hall?
Then he saw the researchers in white coats in the hall, either fainting or trembling in a corner. The doctor was twisted in the hand of a hideous monster two meters tall and thrown against the wall. Apart from intelligence, the doctor was no stronger than an ordinary person. With a scream, he lost consciousness.
The monster punched and kicked the Eternal Reliquary, the wooden chest harder than steel, and with every blow, shattered particles flew out. Not satisfied, the monster crouched down, tore off the shackles on its feet with force, and then slammed the large iron ball tied to the shackles onto the Eternal Reliquary.
In a moment, the holy relics that had once been a shabby chest had turned into a pile of unrecognizable debris, emitting a dim and flickering light. Dark red liquid continuously flowed out of the cracks and dissolved into faint points of light, dissipating into the air.
"What have you done? You have destroyed the most precious holy relics in the world!" Leo begged. Without the supplement of the Eternal Reliquary, the divine spell that had just been cast was enough to kill him ten times over. And the aftereffects of the spell had already begun to manifest. He was aging rapidly, his hair turning white, and his once youthful body withering away to nothing but skin and bones.
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The breath of aging and death drove the former Archbishop, who had dreamed of becoming a god, into a desperate madness.
Albert Freely finally got his chance.
He vented his frustration from the past few days, and his immensely strong body made him feel extremely refreshed.
At first, Albert quietly thanked the person who gave him new life, although the appearance was hideous, being alive was better than anything else.
What made Albert even more fortunate was that it was not a hundred years later, and he was still living in the era he was familiar with.
However, from their conversation, Albert realized that he was just an experiment of some big shot and would eventually be destroyed. And these people who were obsessed with research had no morals. The Midnight Butcher case a few years ago was what they did to obtain experimental materials.
Dozens of victims became sacrifices to the gluttonous desires of these madmen.
Life belongs to oneself, and no one, even the rulers of the mortal world and the gods in heaven, has the right to arbitrarily reap it.
"I declare you guilty," Albert thought.
The last trace of light from the Eternal Reliquary flickered a few times before it went out. The energy that every priest and wizard yearned for was wasted in vain, leaving only a pile of worthless waste.
The destruction of the holy artifact caused the power supporting the waterway's stone wall to disappear.
Supernatural battles had already made the structure of the stone become fragmented, and the entire waterway shook like an earthquake. Cracks spread like spider webs, and pieces of stone continued to fall from the cracks. This waterway could collapse at any moment.
Leo's skeleton-like hand grabbed Albert's foot. He crazily shouted irrationally, "After ten years of planning, and success in becoming a god is within reach, and it was ruined by you, an experimental lab rat who knows nothing."
Just by speaking these words made Leo age even more, his dry hair turned to powder, and large patches of age spots made his skin black and dull. Time was the most luxurious thing for him.
"Sir, or should I address you as Lord Angertes. I learned of your name in the conversation of others," Albert looked at the old man with pity, "I truly know nothing of these absurd things like holy artifacts and becoming a god, but in this world, there is a supreme iron rule: crime must be punished."
He broke free from the dying old man's hand and ran towards the waterway.
"I am a god, who in this world can judge a god?" Leo hoarsely laughed and turned into a pile of dust, like a rock that had been constantly eroded by the wind for hundreds of years.
Time had completely abandoned this madman.
Outside the hall, Albert saw Matilda. The fanatical girl was in a semi-conscious state, with slender fingers still trembling unconsciously as if trying to reach for the sword nearby. Her closed eyes and bloodless, pale face robbed her of her usual cold seriousness, making her look like a withered chrysanthemum struggling for life in the cold wind.
Despite her old-fashioned demeanor, the girl was not even sixteen years old.
Albert recognized from her religious garb that she was not an enemy, but rather a member of the knights stationed in the city.
Albert held her under his arm and ran towards the water outlet.
When the light shining through the sluice could be seen, Matilda was jolted awake by the vibration of running. She blinked in confusion, but immediately realized what was happening. Had the terrifying battle just ended? And who was it that was carrying her now? Was it the holy warrior who had come to her aid?
Matilda strained to turn her neck and what met her eyes was a large piece of ghastly white skin covered in needle holes and stitching marks, a strong arm, and something hidden in the gap between the loosely tied robes around the waist, swinging back and forth.
As if sensing her wakefulness, he looked down, revealing a twisted expression-- Matilda couldn't be sure if it was a smile or not.
"You're awake? Just hold on a bit longer, and we'll be out of here." The red-eyed monster said, his voice surprisingly pure and standard in the Byron accent.
The girl realized that the battle was not over yet, and she had fallen into an even more terrible situation. The monster gripped her waist tightly, its ugly, lifeless skin pressing uncomfortably against her face. And there was that disgusting thing between the monster's legs that only males had, which she couldn't ignore.
She was destined to offer her body to the kingdom of heaven, but her pure and immaculate body was being defiled by the evil heretic.
The young girl struggled desperately, but the monster was too strong and she couldn't break free.
"Don't be afraid. I know I look terrifying, but I'll explain everything once we escape from the sewer," the monster tightened its own arm again. "Don't make a fuss, or we will both die here. "
"I'd rather die!" Matilda yelled, finally touched the dagger hidden in her boot. She plunged it into the monster's waist with all her might, which caused it to scream in pain and drop her to the ground.
"You..." Albert held his wound, annoyed, but soon he discovered another wonder of this body. The wound caused by the dagger healed in no time.
" You should stay in hell, monster." Matilda sat on the ground, pointing the dagger at Albert. She knew the magical dagger was her secret weapon. No matter how powerful the creature was, once it was cut even a little, its body would start to rot from within.
But this monster, who could speak and seemed to possess human intelligence, seemed unaffected by it all.
Could it be a devil summoned from the endless abyss by a heretic?
Matilda made up her mind. If she couldn't resist, she would use the dagger to end her own life. Even if she died, it would be better than being violated by a demon.
As she thought this, the demon lunged at her.
The girl recited her prayer devoutly and turned her wrist, aiming the dagger at her chest. She was ready to face death calmly.
A huge shadow and a deafening roar, like the wings of death, swept over her. The tremor lasted for a long time before finally subsiding.
The dagger was pressed against her chest, unable to move forward even a millimeter. The monster's hand had grabbed the blade, and a large chunk of stone had fallen from above and smashed onto its spine.
"I won't harm you," Albert said in pain. He felt all his organs were groaning. "Remember, just being alive is a great blessing for some people. Please don't give up easily."
The waterway shook even more violently. Albert glanced at the water outlet. It was about 30 steps away. He snatched her dagger and grabbed the girl as if catching a little chicken, then sprinted toward the outlet.
Without the dagger, Matilda still had her teeth and nails. It took some effort to push the girl out of the water gate. When she fell into the water, the entire waterway finally collapsed.
Albert was buried in the rubble.
Matilda choked on the water, the blackish-grey sea making her nauseous and causing her to vomit. She struggled to swim a distance before clinging onto a reef.
" That demon... is dead?" Matilda wiped away the vomit from the corners of her mouth, She couldn't understand it. How could there be monsters willing to sacrifice themselves? Her firm faith and knowledge reminded her that this was a heretical conspiracy, trying to shake her devotion to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Suddenly, a terrifying grinding sound came from the stones blocking the water outlet. The remaining iron bars on the water gate bent and broke, and Matilda's eyes widened in surprise as a pile of stones weighing at least half a ton slowly moved forward, with debris hitting the surface of the sea like raindrops and stirring up waves. The demon used its own strength to push aside the obstacle of stones blocking the water outlet.
The monster was covered in wounds, its dull blood staining a large area of the sea. It was panting in the water, glanced towards Matilda before swimming away without looking back.
Matilda watched the monster leave, knowing she had no strength to chase after it anymore.
"I... won't give up," the girl thought weakly. The Kingdom of Heaven seemed to have shown her a path for her future life. She must catch it, send it to the stake, and repent for her shaken faith.