Chapter 127: The Chains of Faith
Meanwhile, in the Elven Kingdom.
The Elven King felt the spiritual signal from the west. He opened his eyes, and though he was confused, an elf would not break a promise. He took a deep breath, and his voice, amplified by magic, echoed through every corner of the kingdom.
"My people, pray to the Goddess of Life!"
Every elf, no matter where they were or what they were doing, stopped. They had been told this would happen, and though they were as confused as their king, they began to pray. Even those who did not believe fell silent.
It was the highest form of worship, and the power of faith it generated was immense.
From every kneeling elf, an invisible stream of pure, holy light rose up, a torrent of faith that gathered in the sky and flowed towards the heavens. But just as it was about to cross the dimensional barrier and reach the imprisoned goddess...
VMM!
VMM!
VMM!
Thirty-seven hidden magical nodes lit up at once, forming a massive, complex magic circle that covered the entire Elven Kingdom.
Just as he had planned, the magic circle did not block the flow of faith, but rather... redirected it. Like a dam, it channeled the rushing river, twisting and turning the vast and pure torrent of faith, pulling it from its usual path, away from the goddess, away from the waste and inefficiency of a direct transmission, and instead... compressed it, concentrated it, and forged it into a single, golden stream that ignored the boundaries of space and time and, guided by his pact with the 'Light of Ersten', tore through the veil of reality and surged towards the Godfall Land.
After the ceremony was over, the Elven King looked to the west. He, with his great power, could see it, the golden torrent of faith, disappearing over the horizon. A wave of shock washed over him. Could it be? he thought. Is that Lord Rhodes stealing the power of a god? But he did not act. He just stared in the direction of the Godfall Land and whispered, "May you succeed, Rhodes."
In the Godfall Land.
After a few more pointless questions, the Goddess of Procreation had finally had enough. She unleashed her divine power, and the space around her began to transform, to twist and bend to her will. She was remaking it into a place that could withstand her divine power, a place where her true form could descend.
And he, of course, had seen it coming. He acted at the same moment.
BOOM—!!!
The entire core of the Godfall Land, no, the entire Godfall Land, and even the world beyond, was hit by an invisible hammer. The violent spatial tremor made them all stagger. And then, a pillar of golden light, a pillar of such brilliance that it seemed to have come from the very end of the universe, appeared.
It tore through the black veil of the Godfall Land, a primordial light that had come to remake the world, and with an unstoppable force, it descended upon the battlefield.
It was the vast and pure power of faith, hijacked from the Elven Kingdom by his spell.
And its target was not the projected form of the Goddess of Procreation before him, but something beyond this world. The true body of the goddess, hidden in the rifts of space.
"This!? Impossible!"
The Goddess of Procreation felt the immense power and let out a piercing shriek. She could feel it, a power so great that it made even her true body recoil, a purity so intense that it made the tainted divinity within her churn and boil.
"Such a dense power of faith! How did you do it!?"
She couldn't imagine how this ant, this... god-slayer, could have summoned such a vast power. It should have taken thousands of years of accumulation.
"There's something you've been overlooking," Rhodes said, holding up Athos, which was now also glowing brightly. "Did you really think its only power was a barrier?"
"You're using my own weapon against me!?"
She recognized it at once. Athos was the holy sword she had given to the elves so long ago, the sword she had blessed herself.
The fundamental conflict between her and the Goddess of Life had always been about faith. The faith of the elves was not enough to sustain them both. And so, the Goddess of Life had used her authority to create a new race, a race that would worship only her. And her creation had been a success. The Sky-Winged had been born. But she had forgotten one thing: the authority over life had been theirs to share. And her unilateral act had greatly diminished her sister's own portion of that power. That had been the beginning of their rift.
"But Athos does not have this power! What have you done!?"
The faith of the elves, which should have been her source of strength, was now a blade at her throat.
Not that she needed it anymore. She had already made a pact with the demons. Their faith was far stronger than the elves'. It was with their power that she had been able to consume the will of the Goddess of Life and take her body for herself. But that power had come at a price. Her own divinity was now tainted with the dark aura of the demons. And she knew that one day, she would fall completely to the darkness. But she had had no choice. To get her revenge, to take back what was hers, she had had to do it.
But he didn't answer her. He just looked up at the golden torrent that was tearing through the darkness and smiled.
The barrier of Athos was not just a shield. It could also gather the power of those within it. A holy sword of the elves, and all it could do was create a barrier? That would be a joke.
Thousands of years of elven faith had been stored within Athos, waiting for the Saint to discover and wield it. And he was the first.
(End of chapter)
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