Chapter 296
✠ Mu Ellinas reflexively stopped breathing. A divine baptism was taking place before her eyes.
The apostle of another god changes form. Her pink hair turned silver like a low moon, and her eyes, holding the green of new growth, turned golden like the sun.
Aillet Rodelain, manifesting with both sun and moon, gazed at Mu Ellinas.
That emotionless gaze, perfectly suited for a transcendent being, pressed down on Mu Ellinas’s breath.
And indeed, she was physically being strangled by the neck.
Aillet, rising, refusing to stand on the same ground as earthly creations.
Because Mu Ellinas’s body was also being dragged upwards, gripped by her collar.
‘No!’
Just before being swept away by an inherent sense of awe, Mu Ellinas barely managed to break free from Aillet.
Mu Ellinas, having put distance between them, gathered her hands and, without time to catch her breath, offered an incantation to the heavens.
“O God, move your guardian soldiers and destroy the audacious intruder!”
The entire hall trembled.
It was a tremor caused by the separation of the angel statues, which had until now stood as part of the space, from the walls and floor.
The angel statues charged at Aillet with a speed unbefitting their bulky forms.
Swords and spears rained down from all directions. But Aillet had no intention of avoiding them.
Because this much was enough for her escorting legion to handle.
Shwa-ra-rak.
Dozens of aura blades unfurled like blossoming flowers. The flying blades, which had orbited Aillet once, radiated outwards.
And they moved crisscrossing, piercing, slicing, and bursting the angel statues.
As a faint cloud of plaster dust dispersed, Aillet gracefully walked out from the wreckage.
Her appearance, approaching with Holy Scythe Librilly held in one hand, was truly that of a white reaper.
“Now it’s your turn, Mu Ellinas.”
Librilly’s scythe blade emitted a chilling light, as if to harvest the enemy’s neck.
Mu Ellinas still had cards left.
“You are mistaken, heretical Holy Saint.”
“What nonsense is that mummy of a cult spouting now?”
“Divine Descent is not something only you can use.”
It was the moment Mu Ellinas’s sapphire-gold eyes, glaring at Aillet, gleamed.
“Divine Descent!”
Powerful divinity also imbued Mu Ellinas’s body.
Transcending the stage of transcendence, the level of her divine power increased by one tier.
The Holy Saint of the Order God proudly declared.
“How about it? Now I am of the same 9th Divine Power Tier as you.”
“The same?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I don’t think so.”
Mu Ellinas’s appearance was quite different from Aillet’s.
Her eyes still held a coexistence of gold and blue, and her hair was a mix of silver and black.
Her two feet remained on the ground, keeping her eye level with earthly creatures.
Even Agnes spewed a scathing comment.
<Why did she stop halfway? Is it because the god she believes in is lacking power?>
Unfortunately, Mu Ellinas did not have the ability to hear Agnes’s voice.
She shouted with great momentum.
“Punish the heretics! Divine Retribution!”
The lightning bolt summoned by Mu Ellinas did not descend from the heavens.
A firing port opened in the air, and sacred electricity extended horizontally towards the enemy on a horizontal trajectory.
Aillet immediately responded.
“Divine Retribution.”
A voice so indifferent it was almost bored drew out a very small part of her power.
A skill tailored for Mu Ellinas. The unnecessary activation phrase was spoken precisely to let her hear it.
‘The same Divine Retribution?!’
Of course, only the name was the same; the power could not possibly be.
The punishments of different gods clashed in the very center of the chamber.
At that moment.
Kwarururung!
Mu Ellinas’s lightning split into four and discharged in all directions.
And from its center, Aillet’s lightning pierced through on a straight trajectory and flew towards Mu Ellinas.
“B-Bulwark of Mercury!”
Mu Ellinas urgently deployed her barrier. A shield adorned with a holy cross protected her body.
She barely managed to block it, but impact accumulated as the holy lightning hammered away.
Mu Ellinas gasped for breath amidst pain as if her whole body had been thoroughly beaten.
Meanwhile, Aillet Rodelain, who had pushed Mu Ellinas so hard, showed not the slightest sign of having exerted power.
“Is that all? Your Holy Saint dignity is a mess. Convert, seriously.”
The contempt, veiled in divine authority from head to toe, seemed boundless.
As Mu Ellinas bit her lip, Aillet’s voice continued.
“Since you’re slow on the news, I’ll tell you. This world has already been taken over by the ‘Voice-Spirit that Constructs the World.’ Meaning it’s no longer under the jurisdiction of ‘Strict Order and Goodness.’ So now, convert.”
“Nonsense. ‘Strict Order and Goodness’ is the only God who should be worshipped in this land.”
“This is why fanatics are like this. Convert.”
“Do you think you’re not a fanatic?”
“Am I? Thanks for the compliment, and convert.”
At this point, Mu Ellinas burst out in frustration.
“Stop telling me to convert! Let’s see how well you can block this. Divine Retribution!”
Another lightning bolt flew towards Aillet.
She raised her hand without the slightest hurry and spoke with boredom.
“Do you know why my knight order is called the Silver Citadel?”
By her leisurely gesture, sacred silver light grew from the floor.
The light soon materialized, forming a specific shape.
What was finally born was a perfect, impregnable fortress.
Its strong and beautiful mistress spoke.
“A defensive battle should be fought with a fortress, not a shield.”
“……!”
At the moment Mu Ellinas’s eyes widened in overwhelming disparity, her Divine Retribution struck the Silver Citadel.
Despite being lightning borrowed from a god’s name, the lightning shattered like shards of glass and discharged.
It was only then that horror dawned on Mu Ellinas’s face.
“W-What have you done…!”
She had summoned the symbol of her knight order.
Aillet had no intention of merely resorting to a defensive response.
Her Silver Citadel gradually inflated its diameter.
Eventually, it encroached upon Mu Ellinas’s position, declaring this as Aillet’s territory.
Mu Ellinas had no time to feel the humiliation of being pushed back in a territorial dispute once again.
“Do you know? The Bulwark of Mercury is useless at zero distance.”
“Gah…!”
A startled gasp escaped Mu Ellinas’s lips.
Because Aillet’s voice had whispered in her ear.
‘Dangerous!’
She knew she had to evade with her mind. But her opponent was a Holy Saint and an Aura Master who had extremely trained her body.
Thwack!
A ruthless kick landed on her abdomen.
Mu Ellinas’s body was sent flying far away. The loud thud as her back slammed into the wall replaced her scream.
A shower of stone fragments rained down on her as she slid down.
“Looks like you can’t use Divine Inviolability? Pathetic.”
“Ugh.”
Mu Ellinas treated her shaken insides and stood up on two feet. Then she shouted.
“Blue Holy Flame!”
Aillet’s golden eyes, looking down at her desperate struggle, were utterly cold.
“Yeah, Blue Holy Flame.”
Blue flames poured from both sides in a fan shape and clashed.
Of course, Aillet’s skill not only negated Mu Ellinas’s but lightly surpassed and devoured it.
Aillet found no interest in unilaterally overwhelming a worthless opponent.
“Let’s end this. My time is too precious to dally with you.”
Aillet’s eyes changed.
The shimmering unique light in her pupils transformed into a sharp, blade-like gleam.
At this moment, she herself seemed to become a Holy Sword bestowed by a god, emitting sharpness from her entire body.
Aillet’s passive skill reacted to the powerful divinity. A pattern of light resembling Art Nouveau began to grow behind her.
[
That hidden ‘special effect’ was now unlocked.
[
[
The beautiful and holy halo rippled.
Kwoooong.
The ground vibrated. The oppressive aura emanating from Aillet crushed everything in the sanctuary, bringing it under her dominion.
The space vibrated, and even the shattered remnants of the angel statues trembled in fear.
Mu Ellinas was convulsing all over, her face pale.
Powerless, she struggled just to keep her knees from buckling and forcing her to stand.
But even that last resistance didn’t last long.
Because Aillet commanded her to act like a sinner.
“Kneel.”
“……!”
[
The sinner’s knees sought their rightful place.
As Aillet drew closer, the color drained from Mu Ellinas’s face.
“I, I have, a god, within me.”
“So what?”
“If, if a human, commits deicide, do you think, you can, bear the karma!”
Her words came out fragmented due to the pressure crushing her chest. It must have been her last desperate effort to squeeze out those words. But Aillet’s reaction was indifferent.
“Oh. That’s why I’m not doing it.”
“What?”
“Gate of the Pantheon. Open.”
The god responded to the promised activation phrase.
[
The damp sanctuary, akin to an underground cavern, was filled with divine light. Something else was constructed using that abundant light as material.
This time, it wasn’t a fortress, but a gigantic gate.
A pure white triumphal arch embossed with angels. That which was more beautiful than any sacred art relief slowly opened the gate to heaven.
Swaaaaa…
Terror appeared in her sapphire-gold eyes just before they were consumed by light.
Mu Ellinas wanted to flee from this place, even on all fours. Of course, it was impossible.
“Mu Ellinas. Go and beg well.”
“Gah…!”
Aillet grabbed Mu Ellinas by the collar and ruthlessly threw her beyond the Gate of the Pantheon.
Thud!
The divine gate, which had swallowed the sinner’s body, closed.
“Ugh, ah, aah…!”
An enormous amount of light, impossible to adapt to, surrounded Mu Ellinas.
Just before her retinas were completely burned out, her eyes saw something for the last time in the light.
Privilege for Possessors