༺ Chaos (4) ༻
Vera swung the Holy Sword to deflect a fireball flying towards him. The idea of using a sword to deflect fire may have seemed ridiculous, but not in this situation.
He was using his divinity to repel that cluster of mana, the fireball that was launched by the Tower Master.
Vera dispersed the blazing fireball that was scattered over his armor using divinity, then turned his gaze towards the sky.
A red-haired woman was weaving magic as she floated in the air. It was Annalise, the Tower Master.
After some time of slaughtering the corpses, he saw the guards and knights come out into the streets. Once he was sure that the Crown Prince was safe, he started to search for the Tower Master, but it backfired, and he was attacked.
Their confrontation continued.
‘I can’t get close.’
And it wasn’t only because she was floating in the sky. He could use [Sky Step] in an aerial battle, but he was stuck on the ground because the Tower Master would fire magic towards the civilians if he tried to fly.
Once again, the Tower Master fired magic.
As a scorching heat fell from the sky to the ground, Vera wove his divinity and cast a golden blessing over the land.
Divine Arts [Guardian’s Blessing].
The heat wave and the golden blessing collided.
Kwaaang—!
A loud explosion rang out. Vera’s body shook from the impact as he absorbed the shock.
He clenched his jaw and began to weave more divinity.
However, despite his efforts, the golden blessing was starting to crack. It was because he did not have enough divinity. Vera, who had already laid [Guardian’s Blessing] in the other streets, did not have enough divinity left to stop all the fireballs.
Crack—.
The cracks grew bigger and his divinity was depleted. About three fireballs flew in and the streets were still littered with workers from the mansion.
Vera gathered the blessing and leaped to block the three fireballs using his body.
Kuuung—
His body shook from the impact, and blood spurted out of Vera’s mouth as he groaned.
***
Renee somehow managed to stagger out of the slums, leaning on Rohan and Marie.
She still could not properly manage her emotions.
Along with the tears streaming down her face, her trembling chin and reddened face evoked a sense of pity.
She couldn’t make sense of what she had just witnessed. Nonetheless, those emotions were etched into her heart, and the repulsive scene she had to confront was engraved in her memory.
Renee, who was unable to calm herself even as she thought ‘I shouldn’t be like this’, trembled at what was being heard on the street where they had just escaped to.
Screaming, heat, and the smell of blood.
These were the first three sensations that she felt. What followed was the pungent smell of something burning and the vibrations that rattled the ground.
The streets were in chaos.
“What happened?”
She asked in a shaky voice and Rohan answered.
“It looks like there was an attack. There are pink-haired corpses rolling in the streets, and wounded people are everywhere.”
Rohan’s expression was grim. The situation here was already being cleared up, but the injuries were too severe.
There was a golden divinity on the ground. It was the Wide Area Recovery Spell [Cradle]. It seemed like Vera had cast it, but it wasn’t enough.
“Marie! Treat them quickly!”
“Coming!”
Marie wasted no time in releasing her divinity as soon as she entered the street. A green light reminiscent of a lush green forest, the Power of Abundance flooded the street. It was much larger and thicker than Vera’s [Cradle].
The wounds of the injured were healing quickly, but Marie’s expression was grim.
Beyond the next street that she could see, there wasn’t much divinity left from the [Cradle] that was spread out.
Even though she was an Apostle, there was still a limit to the extent she could handle.
Marie’s own divinity was too limited to encompass the entire Imperial Capital, which was the size of a few kingdom’s capital put together.
Watching the vitality of the green light weaken, Rohan gritted his teeth and released divinity. It was an indigo divinity.
“Marie, I will open up a path. Steer your divinity there.”
They could not spread [Cradle] in such an ignorant method. They had to make a guideline to ensure that the right level of treatment was given to each injured person.
Indigo divinity materialized into a sphere, then a band wrapped around it. Rohan carved a skill over the sphere.
Tracking Spell [Twilight].
When Rohan released the finished Twilight into the sky, it glowed and created an indigo path in all directions. Marie added [Cradle] into Twilight as a shade of green rushed over the path made by Twilight.
The divinity spread a little wider, and the situation was getting better, but…
“Shit.”
Rohan spat out a curse.
‘How bad is this chaos?’
The strain on his body was enormous. The reason was because the branches that were forming as Twilight stretched out continued to grow. Twilight was a spell that doubled the load whenever the spell was split. Naturally, in this situation, when there were dozens and hundreds of branches, the load became unmanageable.
Rohan’s body staggered.
‘This can’t be happening.’
This number of branches couldn’t possibly be enough to cover the entire Capital.
Rohan exhaled deeply, his face contorted into a grimace as he spoke to Marie.
“Marie, if I collapse, you have to take care of me.”
“Huh? What? You’ll do what?”
“You should. Ahh, I’m going to be sick for a while.”
Rohan dropped to his knees as he mumbled and closed his eyes. Storing his indigo divinity inside his body, he continued to pray.
His divinity was not enough. It was too much for Marie and Renee to take care of the injured across the Capital.
‘Then, I’ll just have to pull it.’
Rohan pulled his right sleeve up and revealed his stigma. All his divinity was driven into the stigma.
“What are you trying to do?”
Renee’s voice rang out. Rohan responded with a stern face to Renee, who was already looking pale.
“I’m going to draw divine power from the Heavenly Realm.”
“What?”
“It’s that kind of power.”
Rohan continued to concentrate on infusing his stigma with divinity.
The Power of Guidance was to communicate with the Heavenly Realm. Of course, such use was also possible.
The downside was that the divine power of the Heavenly Realm was too strong for a human body to receive, and once used, he would be sick for days.
‘…It’s not the time to be picky.’
Rohan took a deep breath. Marie imbued Rohan’s body with her green light to care for him as his divinity was being divided.
In that situation, Renee felt a sinking feeling in her stomach.
‘I…’
Her expression crumpled terribly.
What am I doing? What am I hesitating for? Why am I not being helpful?
Those thoughts came to her mind and were followed by intense self-loathing.
She gritted her teeth with a ‘crack’ sound. Her trembling hands clenched around her staff.
Renee then imbued her cane with divinity and hit the ground.
Bam—!
This was the third and final wave for today.
The wave that had been generated by infusing even more divinity than the previous two times extended to its limit, and delivered information directly into Renee’s mind.
The Imperial Capital that had been engulfed in the flames of chaos was now revealed to Renee.
There was tragedy.
There was someone holding a child in their arms among a pile of rubble. Another was crying as they wrapped their arms around someone who had fallen. Soldiers were all around, running and shouting. And in the distance, there was someone brandishing a dagger to protect the people huddled behind.
Many tragedies were being woven into a single despair.
…And yet, there were people who continued to stand strong amidst the chaos.
The spreading wave had reached its full extent, and at the end was….
‘…Vera.’
There was Vera. He was there, running, weaving his way through the crowd as if to fend off something. He was swinging his sword as he guarded the path.
What am I doing in this situation?
She couldn’t breathe at that thought.
The only one running away right now was her.
A stupid fool who had only been spoiled all this time.
Everyone was rising up and fighting against this tragedy, but she was the only one standing still.
‘This…’
Isn’t it.
Renee punched her trembling leg with her fist and after a ‘thud’ sounded, she took a step forward with her cane and spoke.
“Rohan.”
“Yes, what?”
“Hold on for a moment.”
She couldn’t just stand still.
“Let me try.”
Renee said, and took another step forward with her cane, evoking a pure white divinity.
Her face was still streaked with tears. Her insides were burning. The shaking wouldn’t stop, no matter how hard she tried.
No matter how much she thought about it… she could not figure out what Orgus showed her.
However, she felt something.
As Vera spoke of loss, there certainly was despair in his screams.
It was the same despair in the screams coming from the chaos right now.
But they still stood up. Vera stood up. They hadn’t given up yet, even as they faced despair.
In the midst of it all, they were chasing their own light.
They didn’t stand because it wasn’t tragic, but because they didn’t give up.
Renee reprimanded herself.
She scolded the stupid kid who thought she was the most unfortunate.
Her expression turned fierce. Anger rose over her reddened face.
The past hour flashed through her mind.
She said that she didn’t know faith. That she resented the Gods.
‘Because it’s easier to hate.’
She said she didn’t know what to do.
‘Because I didn’t want to find out.’
She said she had to help because it was her natural duty.
‘Because I was caught up in myself.’
Clack—
Renee took another step with her cane.
She still could not see. Her world was still dark.
But it was not a reason to give up. It was not a reason to hide.
Even though she had not faced it, she already had the strength to navigate through the darkness.
A pure white divinity radiated a brilliant glow and coiled around Renee’s body.
Renee’s thoughts started to expand.
‘Why?’
That question came to her mind.
She was faced again with the question she had been turning away from.
Why did this power come to me? Why did my own light disappear?
What do the Gods want from me?
Renee didn’t know the answer. But she knew how to find the answer.
Vargo said…
‘…Seek the answer on your own.’
I have to find the answer on my own. My own goals and my own path.
Only I can decide what to do with this power.
Renee already knew what she desperately wanted.
‘Vera.’
The love that had become her light was already engraved in her heart, and her goal laid there.
Renee twisted the handle of her cane.
The ‘clack’ was followed by a ‘twist’.
Vera said that he was chasing the light. She said that she was his light, so Renee wanted to be the light that Vera was chasing.
There were no grand ideals or goals. There was only love. She wanted to pursue it.
Renee gripped the sword with both hands and raised it high.
The light that was swirling around Renee’s body was absorbed into the sword. Above the pure white sword forged from Froden, shone a light that was even brighter.
She carved out her resolve and looked at her ideals.
Naturally, she knew what she had to do.
It was as natural as the day she received her stigma, like she knew it all along.
Renee clenched her jaw tightly, and swung her sword downward.
She slashed through the empty air, but that didn’t matter.
Only the thought of a single slash.
That was all she needed.
Her goal was love. It was the driving force that made her rise up from this tragedy.
Renee cut through the hesitation. She cut off her unsightly self. She cut her own tragedy.
…And just like that, she cut the sky.
Whoosh—!
A white dot moved across the blue sky, leaving behind a white line. The line glimmered and extended. A pure white sky emerged.
Immediately after, a pure white miracle descended.
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