Part 1

Help came.

It came in the form a banner portraying a beautiful woman. The Order of Freya, which had been allied to now eradicated church had come to search for survivors.

Having heard of the might of the Order of Beelzebub, the High Priest of the Order of Freya had even given permission for their own Divine Saint to mobilise and help in the proceedings in the case of an emergency.

In the end, they had only found one survivor. It was a young dark haired boy. To have been able to survive a battlefield in which all of his order had fallen in showed that the boy was not ordinary.

They suspected his power.

There were talks of what to do with the boy. Some suggested that they absorb the boy into their own religion. But others argued against it.

They feared his power.

They feared the might of the Divine Saint Knight of Beelzebub who would come looking for the boy once he learnt news of a survivor.

They feared what would happen if the boy were to turn against them for they had no-one else but their own Divine Saint who could stand up against him.

In the end, the conflict was resolved by the decision of Divine Saint of Freya:

“I will take him with me and go to somewhere where they would least expect it.”

To which the High Priest replied:

“Fine, but don’t think that you can use this as an excuse escape work. Come to think of it, I know the perfect place to send you. You can go there to try to spread our religion and scout for other talented recruits. Oh and try to think up of a plausible training method to speed train them while you’re at it…”

***

“Will Naidiriv be alright if so many of us leave?”

That thought had occurred to Godou as he left town and had been bugging him ever since so he decided to ask current companions about it was they walked.

“Don’t worry. The two largest settlements in this area, Naidiriv and Tellap, will have about 10 000 inhabitants in total, including both NPCs and players. Considering that they are military towns, about a third of this population will have been properly trained to fight monsters. This means that they have a combined regular garrison of about 3000 fighters. The quest notification popped up in Tellap as well so some of the soldiers from here came from there as well.”

“But isn’t that the about the same amount of people who just left Naidiriv?”

“I think you’re forgetting the fact that 1000 more defenders joined Naidiriv in the last few days.”

“Yup! That’s exactly right Ferrex. Because of the recruits from remnants of the other defence army, Naidiriv will still have about 500 defenders left if something goes wrong. Remember, when sieging a stronghold you need many times more attackers than defenders to succeed so 500 people should be enough to stall for a while.”

“While these towns aren’t exactly fortresses, they were constructed during the last Kallamore-Haven war as one of the middle lines of defence so they much should be enough to hold out until help arrives with that much. Remember the walls in Tellap Godou? Those were constructed to be strong enough to withstand various attacks from tunnelling, catapults and magic. (Though, they’re still incomplete…)”

His queries were answered by the experienced combination of Reta and Ferrex. After a few hours of traveling, Ferrex had come out of his shell and was now able to converse normally with all the other party members.

The defence army had left Naidiriv approximately 5 hours ago and had been following Seirph’s lead ever since. Reta had forced a conversation between all the party members during this time allowing them to learn about each other’s tendencies and favourite attacks. Due to the lack of a tank in the party this process was especially important for their team, or so Reta said.

Earlier on Godou had asked about why Quick Shot was so insistent about them all being in parties. Reta had readily given him a long explanation on it which when something along the lines of:

“Fighting in parties with experienced players increases the survival rate of new players. Since we’re only about to fight a minor skirmish instead of a major battle so were are not likely to that many strong monsters, also, the rewards for high level players aren’t that great so letting the newbies grow has priority. Normally many high level players wouldn’t participant but stay back in town in case something happens. This case is an exception since the monster army was discovered so late.”

From there conversations, Godou learn about the main weapons used by his unfamiliar party mates. Instead of blades, Reta used grey fist protectors as weapons which she claimed to have gotten by completing beginner training centre and were, apparently, bound to her. Flay was using a staff that gave bonuses to ice magic.

Godou found Flay easy to get along with and so added him on his friends list as well. After all, there was no harm in broadening his social networks.

Speaking of which, the concept of magic seemed fairly detailed considering that this was supposed to be a game. Godou had come across the concept of magic in Royal Road during the basic education. Spells were constructed in the form of circles or layers to produce attacks and other effects.

These layers were constructed during the time a spellcaster chants the spell incantation, though apparently if your skill proficiency was high enough or if the spell was simple enough, the construction process would take place when you say the spell name instead of the incantation. Complex spells have multiple magic circles and activate in multiple stages.

Spells also interfered with each other when they collide. Supposedly, spells of the same or similar elements would power each other up whilst spells of opposing elements would cancel each other out. There were also books that further explained this concept but Godou couldn’t make heads or tails of it so he had given up on reading them.

Flay apparently didn’t know the finer points either so Godou guessed that it wasn’t necessary to knowledge to become a mage.

Mages were the name of spellcasters who used magic spells in combat. Magic scholars where spellcasters who researched in the development of new magics and experimented in the construction of new magic circles.

Magic could be learnt if one has a magic-related class or an intelligence stat of over 300.

Godou hoped that they were close to their destination by now. His hunger saturation level was starting to drop to dangerous levels. The path they were going was very convoluted and so he had lost track of how to get back to Naidiriv. The sun had set quite a while ago so they were walking in the dark. At some point they had started hiking up a mountain which wore down his stamina as well.

“I can sense strong holy presence up ahead. We might be close to our destination now…”

Ferrex left the statement hang as if he had read Godou’s mind.

After 20 more minutes of walking they were nearing the peak of the mountain when–

Ding!

You have entered the vicinity of The Lost Temple of Lou. Due to being in close proximity of one of the Ancient Wonders of Versailles the following bonuses have been gained.

The Lost Temple of Lou is one of the most sacred treasures of the Church of Lou. It was constructed in ancient times as a holy place of worship for the God of light, Lou. Its location was thought to be lost over 500 years ago. If the location of this temple is told to the Church of Lou a large reward will be given.

+ 50% Health

+ 50% Mana

+ 50% Stamina

+ 30 in all stats

The following information is available due to the completion of the Basic Education:

Due to the presence of a Divine Gem, the effects of holy magic have been doubled and the costs of casting holy magic have been halved. The path to this Temple randomly changes over time.

A large white temple came into sight further up the mountain. It was a magnificent piece of architecture. Tall pillars of marble supported a carefully crafted roof giving the temple an aura of majesty. It stood near the peak of the mountain in near peak condition. It was an irreplaceable relic of the past. A survivor of the changing tides of time. It emitted a slight glow, like a beacon of light in the dark.

The fighters in the army who had arrived were waiting in plateau a bit below the building. The party moved to join them.

“I still don’t see any paladins.”

“So is this where we are supposed to meet? It feels too quiet.”

“I can smell the stench of the battlefield. Did the monster army reach here already?”

“Wow such huge buffs, but wait, if the church of Freya had information on such a place then why didn’t they tell us about this sooner?”

“Why is the Church of Freya waiting at a place belonging to the Church of Lou?”

The murmuring of the people around him reflected Godou’s feelings. Although they were supposed to be safe now, why was the unshakeable feeling of “calm before the storm” so heavy in the atmosphere?

Even Ferrex was muttering “Hmm…what’s this? Why is there Sacred Energy here?” as he looked around.

It took about another 10 minutes for the rest of the army to catch up to them. Eventually, the whole 3000 man army was assembled, the NPCs in an ordered and ready formation while the players stayed in a jumbled mess of parties. They waited for someone from the Church of Freya, which was supposedly leading the army to show up, dissent spreading across their ranks the whole time.

“Hey what’s going on?”

“Where’s the Church of Freya?”

Finally, a priest, the one who had named himself as Seirph appeared he was bombarded by various.

“QUIET!!! IF YOU LOT DON’T SHUT UP HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET ANY ANSWERS???”

The Captain of the Kallamore Knights silenced them. For saying:

“Now you have some explaining to do! Some of my friends are paladins stationed in this area. If the Church of Freya really was here then they would have met up with me by now. Thus I find it unbelievable that you really are part of the Church of Freya. Identify yourself and state your intentions!”

“Ha ha ha ha to be exposed by such shoddy reasoning, I really am getting lax. I didn’t lie though, the Church of Freya really is waiting for you here. Dispel!”

The ground suddenly rippled as a powerful illusion was dispelled. The ground was suddenly covered in bloodstains and corpses. Godou noticed the all of the corpses bore a certain emblem. The symbol of the Church of Freya.

The army was suddenly thrown into a state of confusion. Many of the soldiers were starting to point their weapons at Seirph. However, their sense of discipline was strong. They would not attack unless attacked first or commanded to.

“As for my name and intentions, well, I guess these no need to hide it any longer… I am named Seirph, the Divine Saint of Embinyu! And my intentions are… to sacrifice you all for the sake of my holy order!”

Part 2

“From your actions and words it is clear that you are an enemy of Kallamore! As such we, the peerless soldiers of this fierce kingdom will answer your challenge with the appropriate force!!!!!!!!”

“You misunderstand... This will not be a war. This will be a one-sided massacre! Sacred Barrier Field Activate!”

“ALL SOLDIERS CHAAAARRGGEEE!”

A huge transparent dome shaped barrier was erected around the army. It enclosed a circle of a radius of 1 km in which nothing could get in or out. Additionally, a dim green light shone form the barrier, providing some light to the area within it.

Seirph watched with amusement as the army charged at him in an wedge formation with the horse riding Kallamore Knights in the lead. No doubt the famed knights of Kallamore would give a heft amount of resurrection energy when offered as sacrifices.

This sort of formation used the Kallamore Knights as an emotional cushion for the uncertainties of the army. The advantages of this type of charge were that the soldiers would keep fighting as long as they saw the Kallamore Knights leading the way. However if the knights were to fall then the momentum of the army would crumble.

“Holy Lance!”

Upon reaching this conclusion, Seirph cast an advanced level holy spell. The was a very common belief that holy magic had no offense power unless used against the forces of darkness. This of course, was not true. Holy magic had just as much potential in dealing damage as all the other elements. It just also happened to have the ability to heal as well.

Seirph’s mastery in such offense spells, had of course long past the stage where he needed to chant incantations.

A wide magic circle formed vertically in front of him and multiple golden lances erupted from it, hurtling at the knights like lasers.

At the signal of their leader, the knights scattered in all directions and avoided the spell. It flew past them and smashed into the soldiers behind them.

PIERCE. PIERCE. PIERCE. PIERCE. PIERCE.

The lances easily impaled the unlucky front line defenders in their path and continued piercing through to hit the defenders behind them as well.

Many of the soldiers died instantly to this attack. Some fell, dissolving to grey flames whilst others died leaving behind mangled corpses.

You killed a soldier. Resurrection Energy has increased by 123You killed a player. Resurrection Energy has increased by 38You killed a soldier. Resurrection Energy has increased by 84You killed a player. Resurrection Energy has increased by 45You killed a player. Resurrection Energy has increased by 25You killed…

Now, time to take advantage of the fact that the Knights have been separated from the army. Seirph ignored the rapidly incoming Kallamore Knights and directed his attention to the corpses lain across the battlefield.

“Resurrect!”

A mass of dark shadows surged out of the ground and was absorbed into the bodies. The corpses of the Order of Freya twitched and moved. Groaning, they crawled to their feet, their bodies elongating and growing larger until they became something barely recognisable as humans.

Demonic spirits!

The demonic spirits rose up from behind the Kallamore Knights, separating them from the rest of the army.

“Attack!”

Following his orders, the demonic spirits started to attack the army.

“Y Y You… Don’t ignore us!”

The Kallamore Knights showed signs of hesitation for a split second before continued to charge at him.

Taking on this many Knights all at once would be very time consuming if at his current level so in this situation, that spell should be used.

“Barrier Wall”

Having come to that conclusion, Seirph cast a protective spell to buy some time for him to chant incantations. A bubble of green light formed around him just as the knights started their assault.

“O heavenly messenger come hither and deliver this plead to the almightly god…. O one who governs all life, thou faithful servant requests thou might.”

CRACK!

The barrier around him was already starting to collapse from the assault of the Knights but still, Seirph stayed calm. Proud Knights of Kallamore, be honoured, for I am about to show you the true might of one who directly serves the gods!

“I call upon thee, great one who rules over the cycle of death and resurrection, grant your servant the strength to prove the righteousness of thou faith.”

A shining magic circle manifested at his feet, bathing him with golden light.

“I beg of you, for I am thy vassal, eternally steadfast and eager.”

CRACK!

In a few seconds the Kallamore Knights would break through. But that was fine.

“I beg of you, for I am thy medium, a subject of thou might and power.”

CRACK!

The spell had already passed the stage of being stoppable.

“I beg of you, for I am the symbol of Embinyu, may you be revered by your followers and feared by your enemies.”

CRACK!

This was one of his few Divine Saint spells.

“Blasphemers! Fear me for my power! And cower as you experience the wrath of the gods!”

CRACK!

A thump card on par with the Divine Possession of the Divine Saint Knights.

“O powerful one who directs the flow of life and resurrection, grant me the power to dominate the pagans and liberate them from the shackles of life! Heaven’s Calling: Ascension of Embinyu!”

10 000 Resurrection Energy has been consumed.Heaven’s Calling: Ascension of Embinyu has successfully activated. You have gained a form ascending that of all mortals. 20 resurrection energy will be consumed per second while this spell is active. If there is no more resurrection energy then this form will deactivate.

The mastery of all other learnt skills and spells has been raised to the maximum possible level.

You have gained 10 angel wings. Flight is enabled.

Automatic magic defences have been enabled.

Other spells of the Heaven’s Calling series cannot be used in this form.

The power of Holy Magic is quadrupled. The power of all other magics is doubled.

+ 2500 to all stats

SHATTER!

The light shining on him solidified on his back in the form of multiple golden wings just as the Knights finally managed to destroy the barrier around him.

“You will be first sacrifices then huh…”

While presenting a benevolent smile, Seirph hovered over the heads of the Kallamore Knights, like a brilliant angel shining in the darkness of the night.

Part 3

Just as the defence army was about to follow the lead of the Kallamore Knights, they sudden found themselves surrounded by demonic spirits. Although the army vastly outnumbered the demons, for some reason, the players were the ones who felt like they were being pushed back. There were several reasons for this though.

Firstly, the army was worn out from about 6 hours of continuous marching and some of the weaker fighters were already suffering debuffs from low stamina and hunger saturation.

Secondly, because they suddenly found themselves surrounded by enemies, the morale of army took a big hit. The morale of the army had not been raised by any inspirational speeches at the beginning of the campaign either. If they tried to escape then they would run into a barrier which wouldn’t break no matter how many times they attacked it. All these factors resulted in another heavy debuff due to morale, preventing the army from fighting in their best condition.

And lastly, the demonic spirits were very tough to handle, some requiring multiple parties to hold back, let alone kill. The fact they gained a bonus in stats because it was night time didn’t either. Occasionally one of the demons would fall under the assault of the fighters in the army, only to rise up again as if completely unaffected.

Eventually, the defence army ended up being separated in the tide of the battle. Ferrex’s party had lost sight of everyone else as they battled with a demonic spirit of their own in the forest below the plateau.

They had been fighting with it for quite a while now and had yet to bring it down even once. On the other hand, the demon seemed groggy from its sudden revival but gradually its movements were starting to become sharper and sharper.

“Ice Cage!”

“Slow!”

Both Flay and Ferrex cast spells in order to hinder the movements of the demonic spirit. However, it charged through these spells as if completely unaffected by them.

The demon then slipped passed the vanguard of Reta and Godou with great speed, reaching the members of the party with weaker defences at the rear before they realised it.

The 2 metre tall demonic spirit swung its arm powerfully at its nearest target, which in this case happened to be Flay.

The ice mage died instantly, bursting into grey flames as he was struck. It seemed that the demonic spirit’s strength was also something to be reckoned with.

“Shield Com– Urgh!”

As the demonic spirit switched its sights onto him, Ferrex tried to cast a defensive spell but was stuck before he could finish.

A sharp jolt of pain ripped through his body as the demon stabbed him through the heart with a knife-hand thrust. It ripped its hand out of his chest roughly, letting out a howl out of challenge. Ferrex collapsed to the ground face first as blood spurted out of the irregular shaped hole in his chest, colouring the ground around him with blood.

You have suffered a fatal wound. You will slowly lose HP over time. All methods of healing are no longer effective.

“…Shit…”

He lay there powerless as a feeling of numbness spread across his body. His vision blurred and then finally, he blacked out.

…

It had been a long time since this had happened to him. If he remembered correctly the last time had been about 8 years ago during that time…

…

You have 0 HP. You have died.

…

By all rights he should be dead now. He should be joining his old friends and comrades in the realm of the dead. But why was he still conscious? Surely that spell was still unavailable for him to use…

…

4211 Resurrection Energy has been converted to Soul Power

…

But of course! That was why… Ferrex reprimanded himself forgetting such basic knowledge. Regardless of how hard he had tried to forget his past, such an important piece of information shouldn’t have been forgotten in the first place...

…

Heaven’s Calling: Return is activating.

4211 Soul Power has been consumed.

…

After all, no matter how he tried. He could not deny what he was…

…

Heaven’s Calling: Return has successfully activated, you have been completely revived.

Due to an excess of Soul Power, your health, mana, skill cooldowns, stamina and hunger saturation level have been completely reset to the maximum value.

Ferrex regained consciousness to find himself still lying face down. Heaven’s Calling: Return was a spell that automatically resurrected its caster by using Sacred Energy as a fuel source. Ferrex had heard about Blood Necromancers possessing a similar spell that could resurrect the caster as well.

However, Heaven’s Calling: Return was different from the Blood Necromancer spell “Power to Reject Death” in many ways.

First of all, in the case of Heaven’s Calling: Return, the caster did not lose any experience or skill proficiency upon death. The ones who killed them did not gain any experience either. The caster was not resurrected as an undead, but in the form they were in before death. In short, Heaven’s Calling: Return was a miracle that ignored the event of the caster dying in the first place.

Most importantly, it was different from the Power to Reject Death in that it could be activated multiple times in a row.

As long as there was Sacred Energy, then one could resurrect.

There was no greater terror than watching someone you used painstaking sacrifices to kill revive again and again after dying.

Thus, as long as there was Sacred Energy, Ferrex would never be able to reunite with his fallen comrades.

Shaking himself back to the present, Ferrex tried to order his thoughts to gain a better understanding of his current situation. It was slight delay in the time of his dead and revival so about 5 seconds should have passed since his death.

With no time to marvel at this miraculous revival, Ferrex scanned the battlefield and saw Reta engaging the demonic spirit in a high speed melee. Godou seemed to be watching from the sidelines, watching carefully for an opening to join in.

It didn’t seem like she need any assistance but in such a fierce fight help of any kind would be welcomed. Probably…

Deciding that Reta would be fine if he left her for her own devices for a few more seconds, Ferrex gathered up the Sacred Energy around him to cast the first specialised spell in a long time.

“O heavenly messenger come hither and deliver this plead to the great goddess…. O one who governs all knowledge, thou faithful servant seeks thou guidance.

I call upon thee, mighty one that rules over the souls of the fallen, grace your servant with the oracle of thou wisdom and allow me to see the truth of the world. Heaven’s Calling: True Sight!”

1000 Resurrection Energy has been converted to Soul Power1000 Soul Power has been consumed.Heaven’s Calling: True Sight has successfully activated. You can now see the hidden truths in the world.

Insight has increased by 2000

You can now see all hidden traps.

You can see the flow of energy in the world.

Detailed information on most things you see is now visible.

Increased chance of understanding the structure of most magics and magical objects on sight.

Ding!

Mana Structure Comprehension has activated.

A new spell has been learnt: Sacred Barrier Field (7 Circle Magic)

Unintentionally he seemed to have learnt a new spell.

The spell he had just cast, Heaven’s Calling: True Sight, was a spell that increased his perception and ability to understand things.

Ferrex directed his sight to the demonic spirit trying to find its weakness. Rather than rushing in blindly into the fray, it seemed more logical to watch from watch from an opening from afar. Ferrex deduced that with his current physical abilities he more hindrance than help in a melee battle.

If he joined in he would just end up attracting the demon’s attention and get killed again. Since his slowing curse had no effect on it, it was likely that the rest of his curses would have no effect on it. So should he cast buffs instead? That would probably work. If Reta was evenly matched with the demonic spirit right now then she should be able beat it if I with a simple war priest buff.

Ferrex turned his sight on to Reta and realised the problem with that line of thought... Casting holy magic on Reta would be detrimental… So I guess that leaves Godou...

***

Godou let out as sight of relief as he saw Ferrex get up after being struck. Although he could have sworn that the demonic spirit had struck a fatal wound, Ferrex seemed perfectly fine. Maybe game logic was just different.

Reta was fighting with the demonic spirit nearby. After it had attacked Flay and Ferrex, Reta had rushed at it and engaged it in hand to hand combat. At some point in time before this, she had re-equipped her battle armour. Additionally, she had equipped a creepy-looking grey skull shaped mask which covered her entire face. Two circles of red light shone out under the mask were her eyes should have been giving the impression that she was a monster rather than a player.

Even to an amateur like Godou, it was clear the Reta was proficient in real martial arts. She still had a long way to go when compared with a genius like Godou’s sworn elder sister who was called the Ruler of the Martial Realm or even her prodigal disciple, but from a normal person’s perspective, she was quite strong.

In terms of level, the demon was obviously stronger than her but gradually, Reta started getting used to the movements of the demonic spirit. She started dodge its attacks by a paper thin margin and launching counter punches in the same moment. However, just as Reta was adapting to the demon, the demon was also adapting to Reta’s movements. Thus the fight so far had been a stalemate with neither able to land a clean hit.

As he watched this, Godou could do nothing but curse at his own uselessness. No doubt he would be more hindrance than help if he tried to join Reta. After all, what could a low level player like him do in this situation?

Godou hear the sounds of leaves being crushed underfoot behind him and flinched, expecting to see another demonic spirit appearing. He relaxed when he realised that it was just Ferrex who had just made his way to join him.

Godou noticed that Ferrex hadn’t been casting any spells after he had been hit. Was he waiting for a opening to strike at as well? Or was his injury actually more serious than it seemed?

A sign of worry must have shown on his face because Ferrex gave him a wry smile and said:

“Don’t worry, it will take more than that to take me down.”

Then he used the party chat function to allow Reta to listen to the conversation and added:

“I have a plan.”

“…”

“Which is?”

Since Reta seemed too preoccupied with the fight to contribute to the conversation, Godou asked in her stead.

“Well it’s not really a plan but a corporative attack between all surviving party members. Looking at it now I have realised something about the demonic spirits and I think we can take it down. The keystone of this plan will be you, Reta. What I am about to say next may shock you but you can ask me all the questions you want after we defeat the demon.”

“…”

“As the demonic spirit gets damaged it automatically regenerates itself using the Sacred Energy around it. This creates the illusion that these demons are undefeatable. However this is not the case right now isn’t it? I can see the health of the demon. All of the wounds you have inflicted on it have not healed, Reta this is because of the class attributes of a Phantom Slayer right?”

“!!!?”

“However the troubling thing is that as you are now you are unable to defeat the demon yourself because all your active skills have been temporarily disabled due to some prior event. You also have negative magic resistance so that even holy magic will damage you. Furthermore, the demon also has more health and better defences than you so we will lose at this rate.”

“…H H How did- ??!”

“Questions come later! Concentrate one your fight! My plan comes in three simple steps. First, Godou will distract the demonic spirit so that Reta and back away from it. Then I will use powerful spell to weaken it. Afterwards it’s up to you Reta to finish off before it can completely regenerate.”

(Wait so Reta was fighting the demonic spirit evenly without using any skills this whole time?!)

Godou had thought that she had been activating them mentally, a trick he had discovered whilst fighting the kobold scouts. Then again, he also remembered Ferrex saying something about how mute people could activate skills.

Moreover, Godou saw a huge hole in that plan.

“Hang on a sec! How am I supposed to distract that thing? I don’t have any attacks that can scratch it, much less distract it.”

“That’s why I’m going to buff you with a specialised holy spell.”

Godou still wanted to ask more questions but stopped as Ferrex began chanting.

“O heavenly messenger come hither and deliver this plead to the great goddess…. O one who governs all knowledge, thou faithful servant seeks thou protection.

I call upon thee, mighty one that rules over the souls of the fallen, grace your servant with the blessing of thou might.

Bestow upon this righteous soul an indomitable spirit to fight as your champion. Heaven’s Calling: Divine Blessing!”

Heaven’s Calling: Divine Blessing has been applied.

Movement speed has increased by 150%. Your body feels lighter and footsteps make no sound.

You have been surrounded by a holy aura. Damage from holy and dark attributed attacks has been halved.

+ 70 to all stats.

Health regeneration has increased by a further 150%

Mana regeneration has increased by a further 150%

Stamina regeneration has increased by a further 150%

Duration: 2 hours

“There, that should more or less make up for a difference of 100 or so levels. Combined with the buff from the Temple of Lou you should be able handle it now right?”

“Y Yeah.”

“So are we going to go with my plan?”

“This is a do or die situation! I’ll in!”

“I’m fine with it.”

“Okay I’m going to start now. When I say the word “straight” initiate the plan!”

““Roger!””

Godou thought for a second on what Ferrex wanted him to do. He had called Reta to move away so this spell would probably have a large area of effect. Therefore to distract the demon, Godou needed to use a ranged attack. And the only ranged attack he would perform was that!

“Arms Commandment! I call upon all the mana here…”

Without further ado, Ferrex started chanting. A blazing red aura cloaked around him as the wind began to stir.

“Let this bright light burn straight… towards the enemy…”

Now! With no time to verbally activate his skill Godou created a mana spear to throw that the demon.

BUZZ!

You have successfully created a mana weapon.Your mana weapon has absorbed the holy aura around you.Mana weapon has been converted to Holy Magic Weapon.

The following information is available due to the completion of the basic education:

Holy Magic Weapons are elemental weapons sustained through magic and inflict both physical and magical damage.

Holy Magic Weapons are able to bypass physical and magical defences.

Holy Magic Weapons will deal critical damage on the forces of darkness.

Barely registering the discovery of a new application for his skill, Godou threw the spear with all his might at the demonic spirit. When he had still played baseball he had been reputed as catcher with a strong throw. Thus, Godou had confidence with the speed and accuracy of his pickoffs!

“…and become the strike of fury… “

The demonic spirit sensed danger incoming from the spear and flinched. In that moment, Reta swiftly backed away.

“Mana Burn!”

A beam of light erupted from Ferrex and hurtled towards the demon in this split second.

There was an explosion from where the demonic spirit was standing. A dust cloud covered the area as a result of it and Godou lost sight of the others.

“Be careful! That still wasn’t enough!”

“Ionising powers! Please grant me the power to make things right and defeat the enemy. Grant thy servant the strength to reclaim the light for I fear neither the sacrifice nor the counsel against me! Noble Sacrifice!”

A second beam of light flashed, clearing away the dust in the air. Godou heard the demonic sprit howl in pain. He saw Reta charging at it, a blur of grey. It noticed her and raised its hand to strike. On impulse, Godou created another spear and threw it at the demon.

The spear didn’t make it in time due to the extreme speed of the two combatants and the demon managed to strike a glancing blow on Reta’s side. However, it managed distract the demon when it hit, allowing Reta to land a clean blow.

A stream of darkness burst from the demon, bursting into the depths of forest leaving behind the corpse of a slain paladin of Freya which collapsed with a puppet that had its strings cut.

“So all that still wasn’t enough to kill it… well, no matter, it’s too damaged to be able to fight again.”

Godou turned around to see Ferrex standing behind him. They regrouped with Reta and the trio sat down to rest in a secluded location to recover from their fight and restore their hunger saturation levels. Compared to other parties, they only had one casualty, Flay, which seemed pretty good. However, in exchange, Reta was down to about 40% of her health while Ferrex and Godou were relatively fine.

As they sat and rested, Godou and Reta started to interrogate Ferrex.

“You seem pretty calm. Ferrex can you make sense of what’s going on here?”

“How is it possible that you are still here? Noble sacrifice is a holy spell that turns all of the caster’s Health and Mana into damage and is only available to priests past their class second advancement! But if you’re a priest then why can you use Mana Burn? Who are you? What are you?”

“Woah Woah Woah slow down… I can’t answer you all at once”

“Okay I think the most important question right now is this: What’s going on?”

“I’m not sure of the details myself but I think we are in the process of being slaughtered by a Divine Saint to gather Sacred Energy. This place is flooded with Resurrection energy so it’s probably the Church of Embinyu.”

Godou noted that Ferrex’s tone was surprisingly calm despite the weight of what he had just said.

“Sorry… Divine what?”

“A Divine Saint. Divine Saints and Divine Saint knights are the most powerful members of churches. They are the only members of the church that can directly channel power out of their respective Gods. It wouldn’t be farfetched to say that they are the proxies of the gods themselves.

Divine Saints are given the additional ability to learn any type of magic and are one of the few who can utilise Sacred Energy of faith.

On the other hand, Divine Saint knights have the additional ability of Divine Possession which bestows upon them the additional abilities often based on powerful creatures worshiped by their church.”

“What do you mean by Sacred Energy?”

“It’s a special type of energy that can be consumed to cast spells and do other things like mana. However, its different from mana in that it has no upper limit. Resurrection Energy, Soul Power, Spiritual Flow, Blessings of Life… these are all categories of Sacred Energy. Each Church has their own type of Sacred Energy and their own way of obtaining it. Resurrection Energy, which is obtained by taking another’s life, is what Seirph is currently using.

Most likely he intends to kill us all and use us as sacrifices to gather more resurrection energy. The amount of Resurrection Energy he currently has is… overwhelming and yet he is still trying to get more. I shudder to think of what he intends to do with it all.”

“If these Divine Saints and Saint Knights are so powerful how come this is the first time I’m hearing about it? Surely news of such a strong class should have spread by now?”

“I don’t remember reading about them in the church either.”

“While the knowledge on the Divine Saint variants are not a secret, their existence and identities of them are kept well hidden inside the church, often only told to the current Pope and their most inner council by the preceding Pope. Also, there can only one Divine Saint and Divine Saint Knight for each religion at any one time.

More often than not they will not be a member of the church but some farmer on the other side of the continent. They could even be someone on the enemy’s side. It’s not a power you can earn through hard work you see. It’s something you are born with.

To most other members, they are nothing other than a myth and their active roles in battles passed off as miracles from the gods. Such is the power of the Divine class that their very existence on the battlefield changes the outcome of the battle.

You see, there is a race going on involving all the churches of all religions. A race to discover and awaken their Divine Saints and Divine Saint Knights. When a church manages to find and awaken both their Divine Saint and Divine Saint Knight, it is said to be a sign of the coming of a new era. The churches order squadrons of paladins and priests to search villages, towns and even kingdoms to look for people with potential. But most of them believe that their just searching for new talented recruits but what their actually doing is searching for potential Divine Saint Variants.”

“But why are they hidden?”

“If the existence of them were made public then they would gain public support. Of course they act as a special unit in the church and follow only the orders of the Pope but some ignorant members of the church may be it as an excuse to start rumours of a power struggle between the Divine Saint and the Pope. This would sow the seeds of confusion and disorganisation inside the church ultimately destroying it. Divine Saints and Divine Saint Knights are well aware of this and have to agree to staying out of the spotlight to awaken their powers. Usually, they are given a place in the middle or low rankings of the church to avoid suspicion.

Also, if by some freak accident occurs and a Divine Saint or Divine Saint Knight is killed then their church will suffer a great loss in strength and morale. Just having one of them awakened increases the effectiveness of the specialised spells of the church you see. This leads them vulnerable to being destroyed or absorbed by the worshippers of other gods. This is to protect the potential assassins from being destroyed by their would-be targets as well.

The only thing that could defeat or restrain a Divine Saint is other Divine Saint or a Divine Saint Knight. This is the one rule must be obeyed in this world. Well according to legends there are some other abnormal existences like the Dragon Kings, Spirit Kings, Magic Kings, Abyssal Lord, Overlords and Elemental lords who are said to be able to rival them but who’s to say that they actually exist? Short of that you would need a massive army of elites and even then you might not win.”

“Okay but who are you Ferrex? Why do you know all this? Ordinarily I wouldn’t have asked but in this situation I think I have a right to know.”

Ferrex appeared hesitant but making a determined expression he said:

“I am a member of a lost religion that was destroyed by the Divine Saint Knight of Beelzebub…”

“Ah…”

“And I was… I am their Divine Saint.”

-------------

And so the climax begins.

Well, I did warn you about the info dumping…

... I regret using so many tables...

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