[Vol. 8] Chapter 247: Clash of the Blessed
But the priestess fighting against him was no ordinary opponent. With just a wave of her staff, pure holy power instantly restored the barrier to its original state. Golden light rapidly gathered around her, forming a spear that forced him to retreat. At the same time, her words were sharp and full of scorn.
"You still have the face to bring up my father here? Egil, for more than twenty years, ever since before I was even born, my father promoted you, guided you, trained you. In his eyes, you were like half a personal disciple, his most trusted aide and friend. And how did you repay that kindness?"
"For the sake of more power, for so-called eternal life, for that illusory new world, you'd betray and assassinate the Archbishop on behalf of the Evil Gods, and now you'd even willingly sacrifice the lives of this whole city?”
"Do you think you deserve my father’s trust and guidance? Do you deserve the Goddess’s teachings and the holy offerings you have enjoyed? All these years of wearing sacred armor and reading the holy scripture, was it all for nothing?"
The middle-aged clergyman called Egil lightly drifted back and landed steadily on the ground. His expression was complicated, it was clear her words struck some chord in him. But that momentary hesitation quickly vanished, replaced by firm resolve and greater determination.
As the vice-archbishop of Saint Laos City, and with Archbishop Heimdall gone, Egil and the priestess before him, Heimdall’s daughter, Melanie, were now the actual leaders of the church and the two strongest clergymen in the city.
Their duel was both a reflection of the current turmoil and a battle that would directly decide what happened next. Egil had no way back. Just like when he struck at his friend Heimdall, the price of failure was something he could not afford.
The clergymen on both sides were locked in fierce battle around them, but no one dared interfere in the fight between these two. As leaders who had each experienced extraordinary opportunities, Egil and Melanie’s strength was far beyond that of normal elites. Everyone instinctively kept their distance, leaving a vast open space for their clash.
"Melanie, I’ve already shown Heimdall more than enough tolerance. He was the one too stubborn to let go of his ridiculous faith and so-called moral bottom line, forcing me to use force."
"Everything I’ve done was to complete my mission. I never intended to kill everyone. I’ve even ignored your little schemes these past days. Even when you secretly joined hands with the Hero and destroyed the Red Mastiff Society that I built with my own hands, I chose to turn a blind eye, all because of our past friendship. But today… this one matter is something I will not back down from."
The Holy Knight stared across the distance at the priestess, his eyes no longer holding holy light, but instead a faint, blood-red gleam of violence.
"Don’t think that just because you went to the Holy Capital and got a bit of power from the so-called Goddess that you’re invincible. My Lord’s greatness is beyond your imagination, and His blessings far surpass the tricks of that fake god. In my Lord’s realm, under His protection, I am invincible. You are no match for me, you cannot stop me. I’ll ask one last time, do you really want to take this to the end?"
Melanie only scoffed.
"How laughable. Since when did Saint Laos City become your traitor’s territory, under the command of that so-called evil god who doesn’t even dare to show His face? If He’s truly that powerful, why does He hide like a rat from the Goddess, covering His tracks in the shadows, not even daring to let the Holy Capital know you exist?"
She continued, "Save your disgusting fake kindness, Egil. If you want to fight, then fight. If you have the ability, step over my dead body. Not everyone is as greedy, treacherous, and shameless as you. Under the Primordial Light’s radiance, your schemes and plots will all end in failure!"
"Fool! Utter fool! I’ve said it long ago, there is no such thing as the Primordial Light! You, me, all of us have been deceived!"
"Nonsense! Blasphemers must die!!!"
It seemed that both sides had lost any interest in further words. Egil and Melanie, as if by mutual understanding, raised their hands at the same time. His longsword’s light slashed through the air once more, while she, without the slightest fear, raised her barrier to block it and called upon holy light to launch a barrage of counterattacks.
“Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!!!”
As their weapons clashed, the force of the blows spread like crashing waves. Though one was a priestess and the other a Holy Knight, and even though Melanie’s strength was slightly weaker than Egil’s, who also had some mysterious power strengthening him, her profession was naturally suited for defense and endurance. She might not be able to defeat him, but holding him off and buying time was not impossible.
That was exactly her goal.
Almost everyone present could see that, within the ruins of the church, directly below the giant flesh tree, the Heaven Hero, Elunie Light, was floating with closed eyes inside the golden pillar of light that pierced the sky. The other four members of the hero’s party were sitting cross-legged in different directions around her, channeling their own powers together to form a beautiful and complex golden magic circle.
Just a few feet in front of the blind girl, the divine artifact, the [Staff of Eternal Radiance], hovered high in the air, shining with an unprecedented brilliance. Countless sacred runes beyond mortal understanding flowed continuously from the staff, rising into the sky and transforming into golden chains that wrapped around the newly born flesh tree, limiting its growth and suppressing it.
It was clear now why Melanie was determined to stop Egil here at any cost. She had no intention of defeating him with her own strength alone. If she truly had that ability, she wouldn’t have needed to endure and wait until now.
As the vice-archbishop of Saint Laos City, Egil had, through secret dealings and threats, used the power granted to him by that unknown evil god to take control of over seventy percent of the local church’s forces. Taking advantage of the time when the Holy Capital was hosting the God-Chosen Hero trials, and with many key clergy from Saint Laos City away, he orchestrated the assassination of the archbishop who had stayed behind, seizing complete control of the city’s situation.
If not for Melanie’s earlier trip to the Holy Capital to witness the Goddess’s descent, where her devout faith earned her a divine blessing that transformed her, and if the clergy who went with her had not also returned with significant improvements in strength, they likely would have met disaster or fallen under the traitor’s control the moment they returned to Saint Laos City.
The so-called mercy and tolerance Egil had spoken of were nothing more than acts of caution, forced by circumstances.
Even so, despite surviving that crisis, when most of the clergy in Saint Laos City had already turned traitor or met misfortune, the forces Melanie commanded were still far too small to change the overall situation. That was why both sides had quietly maintained a fragile truce, avoiding direct conflict and focusing on their own secret plans.
But this fragile balance was completely shattered with the arrival of the Heaven Hero and her team, and with the sudden, inexplicable changes in the situation over the past few days.