Book 19 Chapter 39
Foe and Predecessor of Destiny, Shincheon Cadetsfall Knights (4)
“Watch out, an attack is coming!”
What is praise (讚揚)?
While generally accepted praise is singing the beauty of creation with just one's voice, art using the body can also very much fall within the category of praise.
Meian, the Moon of Creation known as the Sword Princess of Moonlight, manifests her power precisely from such dance movements.
“That miracle… is Meian's divine miracle, said to appear only once every 100 years, if at all!”
The records of the world's people who witnessed Meian's battles have many similarities.
That Meian, when she danced, looked exactly like a spirit of creation.
“Yes! Lord Shimian told me! Meian's divine miracle draws its respective power from ten dance movements!”
Within the dance movements of the Divine Punisher, Hejmana… the full moon, the core (核) and center (中心) of this mental space, brilliantly flickered.
- According to records, the Divine Punisher was able to perform the 'Moon Dance' from dusk until dawn.
In each interval of that flickering, pillars of moonlight plunged down onto the wilderness as if shot haphazardly, their deadly power so immense that the horizon itself quaked.
“You know nothing. At the end of the path you now believe to be justice, there exists only… despair!”
When the tip of the Seven-Branched Sword pointed to the sky, even the movements of the elegantly swaying veil and clothes became a work of art.
What that art creates is destruction (滅).
The moonlight responds and resonates with a hymn wishing for the destruction of all sorrow, despair, and darkness.
“You’ll realize that most of what the scripture talks about is false. The scripture says!”
Third Dance Movement: Fierce Wind and Clear Moon.
This moonlight is somehow peculiar!
The moonlight, instead of exploding upon impact with the ground, bounces off like diffuse reflections and rushes towards its target!
“Those who serve the light will have wealth, abundance, and glory, and no tribulation shall befall them!”
However, Hejmana wasn't the only one capable of acrobatic movements…!
Continent's Best Archer, Kies!
Dodging the pouring moonlight by a hair's breadth, she fired three consecutive maximum-output Heavenly Cherry Blasts!
“But what about in reality?”
Fourth Dance Movement: Sun and Moon Eclipse.
The moonlight, plunging down on Hejmana, ‘erodes’ all incoming attacks, along with the very concept of their power!
“There’s no such thing! I tell you, there’s not! Then isn’t the scripture speaking lies?”
Seeing that Kies’s single attack failed, Friede clutched his head with both hands.
“Ugh, this is driving me crazy! We can’t get close, and Kies’s ranged attacks aren’t working either! What do we do?”
Of course, during that time, moonlight continued to pour down relentlessly on the hero party.
“No! Look closely at the Punisher’s Seven-Branched Sword! Moonlight and the abyss are intertwined. Because it’s a being of the abyss, there’s severe repulsion when dealing with miracles!”
At Rista’s words, Friede’s eyes widened.
“Huh? Really! So she’s blatantly overexerting herself, is that it! Well, she’s a centuries-old hag, so it’s only natural for her back to break if she overworks herself!”
Friede threw his pipe above his head, and before it finished falling, he rapidly completed the incantation for the highest-tier flame spell.
“Spirit of Fire (火) symbolizing flame, tremor of Wind (風) leading the breeze, become one with the power to sever (斬) darkness and unleash (發) the divine wave (波)! Belsickiar!”
Since five runes were used, it was clear that this was a 5-star spell, the highest tier among all spells.
And what an ultra-high-speed incantation!
Belsickiar meant 'Vel'dakidun's Roar (怒號),' a power where flames spread vastly, forming an impregnable curtain.
“No matter what barrier you deploy, it’s meaningless before the power of this miracle! Fifth Dance Movement: Summer Moon Flying Frost (夏月飛霜).”
As the Divine Punisher shouted that and unfurled her attacking dance movements, Friede chuckled.
“Not even in your wildest dreams! The ultimate application of Belsickiar!”
Friede snatched his pipe, put it in his mouth, took a long drag, and then immediately exhaled the smoke as a breath of fire…!
The flames of Belsickiar, instead of spreading wide and becoming fixed, surged forward at high speed.
“…?!”
The cause of that abnormal power phenomenon lay with the Sun Parrot, Pipi.
It was Pipi, charging towards the Divine Punisher, carrying those magnificent flames on both its wings like a moving torch!
The Divine Punisher immediately caught sight of it, but in battles between apex beings, a momentary gap is often what decides victory or defeat.
[V(■-■)V]
Ten arrows, sliding into the smoke screen of flames, cleverly navigating only the blind spots (死角), failed to pierce Hejmana’s weak point…!
“What, insane…!”
Again, due to the dazzling pillar of moonlight enveloping Hejmana.
“She can change her dance movements in the middle…?”
If each and every movement of the moonlight dance were interpreted as a rune, then the miracle (異蹟) Hejmana achieved, coughing up blood, would truly be comparable to rune etching alteration.
Chwa-reureureureureuk…!
However, Hejmana didn't even have time to steady her breathing. Because of the microcosm (小宇宙) of power unfolding in the hands of the young archmage!
“Moonlight and thunder, let’s see which is the [strongest].”
As the golden spirit field emitted a brilliant light, the first hand seal reverently formed by the boy was subtly different from his usual movements.
That hand seal was precisely Thunder (雷).
The primordial rune of thunder-attribute magic.
As a primordial rune is the very foundation of that rune itself, if it could be used in the right place at the right time, it was capable of imbuing magic with incomparable power compared to other runes.
“Osarius-style hand seal.”
That is, if it *could* be used.
“5-star.”
In the case of magic involving primordial runes, the mathematical formula quickly became closer to a madman’s delusion than actual mathematics, to the extent that even Lin had compromised with the rune of Lightning (電) instead of Thunder (雷).
But now! At this very moment, having grown into a full-fledged archmage over four years!
He was finally able to elevate the [strongest thunder and lightning magic] he had imagined and dreamed of since childhood to the ranks of completion!
“Secret Art, Thunder Field Defense (奧義 : 雷場防穴).”
A single streak, dividing the world into black and white… only two colors, was the blade of lightning.
“First Thunder.”
That saturation of light, stealing even color from providence, spread cracks across the pillar of moonlight. The blade of thunder that ripped apart and swallowed everything.
“Second Thunder.”
Just as they were about to feel relieved, thinking it was blocked… at that very moment, when the sonic barrier finally tore with a roar, a second bolt of lightning surged up.
“Third Thunder.”
Hejmana moved her body with difficulty, reproducing the movements of 'Fourth Dance Movement: Sun and Moon Eclipse' once again.
Both were equally coughing up blood from movements pushed to their limits.
Lin’s Thunder Field Defense had a maximum limit of three lightning strikes so far, and the mathematical formula was also set for three lightning strikes.
“Rune Engraving Alteration.”
He breaks that limit himself.
This, which involved newly supplementing and reinforcing only the foundation of a structure precisely built with ultra-high technology, was truly a divine technique (神技).
“Fourth Thunder.”
That fourth lightning strike shattered it.
‘What in the world, what is it?’
The moonlight wall of the 'Fourth Dance Movement: Sun and Moon Eclipse,' which was not yet fully completed!
‘This power?’
By shattering it, he opened a path.
“Haaaaaaah────!”
Hero (勇士).
To Rista Alter Syrpheim!
“─────Aaaaaaaah!”
As if completely disregarding the concept of speed, death surged forth in an instant, right before his eyes, leaving no time for any defense.
‘I… I… cannot fall like this… my dream was so close to being realized…!’
The very moment the holy sword’s blade was about to cleave the fallen Punisher’s body from the shoulder and extract the [King’s Flesh] from her heart, which had deeply decayed into the abyss beyond!
Jjeo-eooooong──────!
With a resounding boom that made eardrums tingle, the holy sword was repelled.
Bu-reureureuk…!
At the site of the collision, scarlet lava scattered and began to melt everything with a deadly sound.
“Bikhisa…!”
Friede, who had been healing Lin’s body as he knelt, already coughing up blood, bit his lip and shouted.
“Argh! Victory was within reach, but because Lin’s power pushed her into a corner, the miracle world also started to collapse!”
“Huk.”
“Kneel, kneel, kneel, it’s Lin’s fault. Lin messed up.”
“That’s a bit much.”
Rista also had to retreat to regenerate his wrist bones, fractured by Bikhisa’s counterattack.
The miracle world began to crumble into tens of thousands of light particles, and once again, the scenery of the high priest’s stone structure, built with the technology of the ancient <Ones>, filled their vision.
Bikhisa threw a fist-sized light source to Hejmana. It was not a material of this world, looking exactly like a miniaturized sun.
“Old hag, I succeeded in destroying the Ark of the Covenant and pulling out its core. Take it and get out now.”
“Bikhisa, you…!”
“If taking that was your dream, then it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say my dream is right here, in this spot. Just go. I’m so happy at the thought of not hearing your nagging anymore, I could dance.”
Hejmana looked at Bikhisa with eyes full of many thoughts.
However, he merely turned his head towards the hero party with his usual mocking gaze.
Hejmana muttered sadly.
“That rest you so wished for… I pray it now comes to you.”
And as she began to perform the ‘Seventh Dance Movement: Water Moon, Mirror Flower,’ melting into the moonlight and traversing space-time, the hero party immediately moved to subdue her.
“You destroyed the Ark of the Covenant? Do you think we’ll just let you go after hearing that!”
However… their movements were instantly restricted by the sudden surge of a yellow calamity.
The worst Tuaki in history, Pwlladon!
Pwlladon’s breath soon stirred up a sandstorm in this underground chamber, making even breathing difficult, let alone moving.
‘Ah, no…!’
‘The Divine Punisher…!’
‘Disappearing into the moonlight…!’
Kies precisely launched a Verdant Apex through the sandstorm, but it was deflected by a lava spear and sent sprawling across the high priest's floor.
“Please move!”
Seizing that opening, Rista’s slash, which charged towards Hejmana, was also blocked by turning a spear shaft—truly an unrivaled feat worthy of being called the strongest Paladin in history!
“Where are you going in such a hurry? It seems rather impolite to someone who has been waiting day and night just to fight you!”
Rista's mind, as he backflipped to avoid Bikhisa's kick, was pure confusion.
‘The seal… the seal of the <Forgotten Kings>… it’s broken.’
If the Divine Punisher reaches the depths of <Shuriganaquyus>, everything will be over.
‘Can I do it?’
Can I subdue Bikhisa before that residual magical glow disappears, and accomplish the same thing as before?
‘For that, even 10 seconds is too long. I have to finish it within that time.’
Bikhisa genuinely admired.
“Your focus, which blurred in the chaos of being pushed to your limit, instantly sharpened again. So your situational awareness is also top-notch, huh? Good, very good! Come! You’ll have to kill me even a second sooner if you want to stop that old hag!”
Just as Rista was about to split time into fragments, the moment Bikhisa gripped his spear in reverse, plunged it into his own heart, and then pulled it out again!
The ground violently shook!
Sounds failed to form, and amidst violent vibrations and immense pressure, both sides, with expressions of confusion, stared at each other, pressed to the ground.
‘Bikhisa looks flustered too.’
Rista thought.
‘That wasn’t his doing?’
Lin also blinked.
Bikhisa was also frantically looking around.
‘Hejmana, that old hag? No, it couldn’t be that old hag. Then what is it? These hero party bastards look utterly clueless too, what is it?’
They soon identified an uninvited guest who had, at some point, arrived here unnoticed by anyone.
Hair imbued with the colors of dawn.
Were not the fresh, youthful eyes unique to one on the border between youth and boyhood skillfully manipulating the wreckage (殘骸) of the Ark of the Covenant?
“Shu, Shuaaaaaan…?!”
Friede dropped his pipe and shouted. Rista’s level of bewilderment was equally extreme!
“No, what are you doing here?! When, how, and why did you even come in the first place?”
Only Lin calmly pointed to the illusory image (虛像) hovering before Shuan.
“That… isn’t that the electronic keyboard that appears when Nils adjusts artifacts? They say even the Ain find it hard to use, so how is he manipulating it so skillfully?”
Shuan smiled brightly and placed an index finger over his lips.
“You can infer the reason and full story of what I’m doing now by reading Chapters 8:33 to 39 of the Scripture of Shurigan.”
“Don’t go making up dog-like settings again, you bastard! Even a passing grandmother would know this isn’t the time for that, you lowlife! Learn to tell time and place!”
“Ah~ Is that the situation? That’s regrettable. But I have circumstances that prevent me from speaking directly.”
It was a point where everyone knew what was happening without even needing to look up the scripture.
The high priest’s ruins were rising, bedrock and all…!
As crumbling debris scattered across the rapidly receding ground, the ruins began to move at high speed, following a trajectory of light created in the sky.
“Rista, this direction is southwest, where <Shuriganaquyus> is! And the speed is insanely fast!”
“…!”
“We can get to <Shuriganaquyus> in one go! Kahaha! We can chase down that senile hag, the Divine Punisher, in an instant!”
Bikhisa felt a distinct and dizzying throb in his heart, which, no matter how much it was torn and ripped, continued to beat relentlessly without stopping…
200 years ago from now…
The same pain, the same century-long throb he felt on that day he lost everything…
- When you found the <Shuriganaquyus> key, was there no way to operate that artifact?
- The Ark of the Covenant will only react to the genetic information of the <Ones>. Most of the facilities they left behind are like that.
- So there's no way to get the key other than by destroying it.
This was before the current mission began.
Ryukael, the head of the Black Church, answered Kadin Vete (02)’s question that way.
Saying that only the <Ones> could operate the Ark of the Covenant.
‘Then that fellow, could it be… one of the <Ones>?’