[Vol. 8] Chapter 122: Radiance and Reincarnation
Changing the past had a huge effect on the Holy Empire and the entire world. The faith-based magic created by [Vast Dream] had completely disappeared from history, and everything related to it changed as well.
People who should have died were given a second chance at life, the future of many living people was rewritten, and even the Angel City itself began to change like a butterfly causing a storm with a flap of its wings.
It was clear now that the magic barrier covering the Angel City was different from the one Violet had seen before during her travels through the Holy Empire. The old barrier was based on “faith magic”, but the new one was something completely different. While both were large-scale ritual magics powered by many magical nodes, the new system was entirely new.
The young priestess had tested and studied this light-based formation before. It was extremely powerful but also very complex and costly to maintain. It needed hundreds of energy points and even tapped into the natural flow of power running through the earth. But if its full strength were ever released…
Unless a true god appeared in full form, not even a powerful being like the Goddess of Withering could easily break through it in a short time. This formation was already one of the greatest works that humans could create, just like Sainz’s [Eternal Day] barrier. In fact, it couldn’t even be judged by simple power levels anymore.
Because of this, once Violet heard the basic details about this formation from Edwina, she started thinking about using it to carry out something very difficult, something that normally would require a lot of preparation.
That “something” was the physical projection of the Spirit Fox Shrine Maiden’s divine power of [Reincarnation], called the [Six-Line Array Palace].
As a god’s understanding of their own divinity and laws deepens, their divine realm can take on new and strange forms. Just like how the Demon God Olivia once gave a piece of her realm to her followers to control, the [Six-Line Array Palace] is one of the ways [Reincarnation] can show itself, a small part of a divine realm made real.
The Spirit Fox Shrine Maiden had studied her divinity for tens of thousands of years. Even though Violet had inherited that fox’s power and memories, she couldn’t fully become one with it. So, right now, Violet still couldn’t do what Dawn had once done, create the [Six-Line Array Palace] directly in the real world, have it run smoothly on its own, and act as a fully independent domain without needing her constant attention.
Still, she could settle for the next best thing: using the already-existing massive magic formation in the Angel City as a container. With it, she could still bring out the mysterious space and changes held within the [Reincarnation] power.
However, because Violet had been busy showing up at the trial grounds just to have fun, she didn’t have time to personally manage the formation. So, treating it a bit like an experiment, she temporarily gave a small portion of the [Reincarnation] power to the one of the people she trusted most, Edwina, who was also strong enough to handle it.
After Edwina finished setting up and preparing most of the formation, Violet had her act as the core of the magic array and tried to summon the Six Gates using this method.
From the results so far, Edwina had succeeded, but…
“She can’t handle the power of a god’s divinity... huh.”
Clearly, this outcome was not what the priestess had expected.
Back in the [River of Time], this same holy knight princess had once served as the vessel that allowed Violet to descend. At that time, she had held far more divine power, nearly half the strength of Violet’s true self, and even wielded the [Sword of Origin] to cut through history.
As someone born with holy light in her blood, and who had also merged with Violet’s blood, Edwina’s body was a perfect match for the priestess’s powers. She was the ideal vessel for Violet’s divine descent, more suitable than even the slime, Little Blue, who had evolved using Violet’s bodily fluids back in the Ten Thousand Demons Mountains.
Now that she had fully absorbed the divine blood in her body, and even turned all the traces left behind by the [Radiance] divine power into her own strength, Edwina had reached a level close to that of a demigod. So why was it that, after becoming stronger, she was now less able to handle divine power?
As she took back the small amount of divine power temporarily placed in Edwina’s body, the priestess silently looked at her for a moment and quickly realized the reason.
Of course...
Rejection.
Because there had been no unusual signs before, she had almost forgotten a very important detail. [Radiance] and [Reincarnation] were two completely different kinds of divine powers.
In theory, they couldn’t exist in the same person at all. Edwina’s natural attribute was [Light], and her amazing affinity only applied to [Radiance] laws. As for [Reincarnation], which came from the Spirit Fox Shrine Maiden, her compatibility with it probably wasn’t very high.
What a hassle… So if she wanted to use a similar method to cast [Reincarnation] powers through someone else, she would have to find another, more suitable candidate...
While thinking about this, the priestess had already finished adjusting Miss Holy Knight’s magic flow and physical condition. This kind of minor conflict wasn’t much of a problem for her. Edwina quickly stood up on her own, and Violet sat down where she had been, smoothly taking over the duties of the Holy Pope.
Honestly, even if Edwina were truly suited for the power of [Reincarnation], it still wouldn’t be realistic for her to manage the entire [Six-Line Array Palace] for a long time. After all, no matter how close a mortal came to demigod level, they still couldn’t generate SP or possess the huge divine mind needed to fully control a divine realm. They also couldn’t respond quickly to all the possible emergencies that might happen inside it.
The priestess never planned to have “Her Holiness the Pope” actually handle this task in the long run. Now that she had identified the important candidates and completed all preparations, it was finally time to test their abilities for real, the main event was about to begin.
“Whew… What terrifying power…”
“There’s nothing terrifying about it. You’re just a weakling. What Master gave you was only beginner-level stuff. Be a good girl and keep working hard~”
Miss Holy Knight stepped back a few steps and exchanged a glance with the dragon girl, who had started releasing her aura to protect their master and casually teased Edwina's comment. Edwina could only give a wry smile and shake her head.
Since becoming the Pope of the Goddess Church and a knight of the god, it had been a long time since she’d felt so helpless and drained. That lighthearted comment, which sounded like a senior knight mentoring a rookie, felt strangely fresh to her.
But… the truth was, the dragon girl had every right to say that. Edwina knew this clearly. Compared to these two figures in front of her, beings who truly stood at the top of the world, she still had a very long way to go.
Yes, she needed to keep improving. She must not slack off or get proud because of a small success. As expected of Her Divineness the Goddess, she had just taught her another valuable lesson.
Feeling deeply convinced, she quietly made up her mind. After sharing a look of understanding with the dragon girl, she took one more glance at the black-haired girl who had already closed her eyes and was now fully taking control of the [Six-Line Array Palace], yet still looked completely relaxed.
Edwina gave a slight bow and left the room.
As the Pope and as a knight of the god, her real duties were just beginning. The trial for the chosen heroes was only the start of it all.