Chapter 91: The Magic to Sever the Connection
In the elven village, after several months of rest, Rhodes and his party's injuries had mostly healed and their mana had recovered. Rhodes had been the most seriously wounded, followed by Norne and Somme. Serie, as before, had just been in a state of mana exhaustion. Only Eirik had escaped relatively unscathed. With the help of Olivia's healing magic, the others had quickly returned to their full strength, but Rhodes still carried some hidden injuries, the lingering aftereffects of having pushed his mana and his very life force to their absolute limits.
Over time, Serie's attitude towards Olivia had also softened considerably. She was no longer like a territorial kitten, ready to hiss at her every approach. Instead, she treated her with the same cool, indifferent "partnership" she showed to Eirik and Norne.
It was strange. Rhodes didn't quite understand, or perhaps he didn't dare to admit it. They were all companions, but Serie treated him differently from the others. Was he just her most important partner? Or was there something else, some other feeling, mixed in? He didn't dare to dwell on it, for fear that it was all just his own delusion. Until he had found a way to achieve eternal life, he would keep his own feelings locked away in the deepest corner of his heart, never to be seen.
In a clearing not far from the village, Rhodes stood, holding an ordinary longsword. Its blade was inscribed with complex, holy runes. It was an experiment, an experiment with the new spell he had just created. Olivia and Serie stood beside him, their expressions focused.
"Ready?" he asked in a low voice.
Olivia nodded and crossed her hands over her chest, closing her eyes.
Serie used her magic to release the demonic wolf that had been bound in a mass of vines. It wasn't completely free; its limbs were still entangled, and it couldn't move.
Olivia began to pray. Her silver wings glowed, and a faint thread of faith flowed from her, through her connection with Rhodes, and into the longsword in his hand.
It was just as he had said: the body of a normal living being, whether human or not, could not withstand the power of faith. So he had tried a different approach. He had used an inanimate object.
The initial experiment was a success. The longsword, imbued with the special runes, had managed to contain Olivia's faith. But there was a clear side effect. Cracks were already spreading across the blade, as if it was about to shatter.
He didn't hesitate. He took a deep breath and focused on the flow of power within the sword. Unlike the chaotic surge of mana, the power of faith was gentler, yet deeper, a depth that no ordinary being could comprehend or contain.
He raised the sword. The runes on the cracked blade lit up one by one and condensed into a single, silver-white edge of light.
He swung, and a blade of pure energy shot forward, cleaving the bound monster in two. The beast let out a piercing shriek, and it was clear that it was dead.
Normally, when a magical beast died, its blood would taint the land, and its corpse would be filled with a deadly poison, which could only be purified by fire. But the dead wolf before them was not bleeding. Instead, a black mana was pouring from the wound.
And then, something incredible happened.
The beast's body began to disintegrate. It slowly vaporized, until it was nothing more than a pile of grayish-white dust, which was then scattered by the wind. No stench, no corpse, not even a trace of residual mana. It was as if it had never existed.
"It worked!" Eirik cheered, and accidentally punched Norne, who promptly punched him back.
Serie walked over and squatted down, carefully examining the spot where the monster had disappeared. "Incredible. Even its soul has been completely erased. Your magic didn't just kill the monster; it severed its connection to the false god."
The true goddess had created the Sky-Winged and, through them, had drawn on their faith to sustain herself. The power of faith was not her only source of strength, but no one, not even a god, would ever complain about having too much power. After the false god had taken over, the Sky-Winged's faith had become a kind of poison to her. She couldn't absorb it, and it even helped the true goddess's soul to resist her control. And so, she had used her own power to forge a new connection with the demons.
The demons were not her creation. They, and the magical beasts, had existed since the beginning of the world. They still didn't know how she had done it, how she had managed to cross the barrier of faith and establish a pact with a pre-existing race. Or perhaps it had been a mutual agreement between her and the demons. They had no way of knowing.
With the release of the attack, the longsword in Rhodes's hand completely shattered. "It seems only a legendary holy sword can fully contain the power of faith," he said, his voice a mixture of emotions.
He had a plan. He would have the 'Light of Ersten' reforged, and it, too, would become a holy sword capable of containing the power of faith. And then, he would place it in a temple in the first human kingdom, where it would receive the faith of all humanity. It would be his legacy for Norne, for the ideal nation of Ersten.
But from this experiment, he now knew that it was uncertain if the 'Light of Ersten' could even handle such power. Did he have to use Org, or the elven Holy Right Sword, Athos? That was a future he did not want to see. The holy sword of the human race should be the Sword of Human Rights.
"That's a steep price," Somme said, his arms crossed. "I doubt there are many swords in this world that could handle that kind of power."
If the faith of just one person was so powerful, what would the faith of the entire Sky-Winged race be like? Combined with the power of Org, they could surely slay the god. But it was impossible. The Sky-Winged were gone. And Olivia was just an exception.
"Should we use the Divine Right Sword, Org, to contain this power?" Norne asked tentatively.
"No," Rhodes shook his head. "Org's power is like that of a god. It's a completely different type from the power of faith. If we were to try to force them together, there's no telling what would happen." The primary condition for a holy sword to be able to contain the power of faith was that it did not already possess the power of a god. An inanimate object like a sword could not regulate such conflicting energies.
His words were met with a brief silence.
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