51. Victory
The arrival of Xiling, the Silver King, seemed to bring about a shift on the battlefield.
The first to react was the God-Devouring Serpent, who didn't recognize Xiling, the King of the Silver Rule.
But even if it knew his identity, to the God-Devouring Serpent, who had just freshly devoured the demigod Miquella, and whose power surged like volcanic magma, everything was merely food!
The transformation brought about by devouring Miquella was earth-shattering—its scales gleamed with an ominous dark gold, its new flesh tentacles wriggled from the healed wounds, and the blasphemous aura lingered around it, so thick it practically materialized, distorting the air.
However, this wasn't even its peak! It greedily craved more. Given just a little more time, the troublesome demigod before it would be nothing more than a snack.
As for the remaining two demigods, it had already imagined crushing and devouring them one by one. The essences of the five demigods converged into one... By then, who could stop it in this shattered Lands Between?
Who else!!!
The God-Devouring Serpent suddenly raised its towering head, defying serpentine convention and unleashing an earth-shattering roar. The sound, like the shrieks of billions of wronged souls, instantly shattered the brief silence.
And this roar was the clarion call that reignited the battlefield.
"Morgott, I will leave that side to you!" Xiling's voice cut through the clamor of the battlefield, clear and unmistakable.
His gaze locked onto the roaring source of the catastrophe. "Radahn, let's attack!" With the last syllable, he transformed into a rip-roaring silver-white meteor, aiming directly at the God-Devouring Serpent!
The God-Devouring Serpent's reaction was lightning-fast! Its massive head swung back with a shrill roar that ripped the air apart, its bloody maw gaping open, its target the hurtling silver light! Blood and flames pooled in the blasphemous snake's mouth as it attempted to attack Xiling!
However, its head only turned halfway!
A terrifying, invisible, overwhelming force suddenly descended! It wasn't a physical impact, but a distortion and collapse caused by gravity.
"Ugh!" A deep roar echoed.
The rock beneath Radahn's feet cracked inch by inch! A brilliant purple light of gravity magic erupted and swirled around him.
Radahn clenched his palms, aiming at the God-Devouring Serpent's head, pouring all his strength and will into it. He could clearly feel the terrifying resistance emanating from the snake's body. After devouring the demigod Miquella, the blasphemous serpent had surpassed Radahn's in pure strength. The bones in his arms wailed, and his blood vessels threatened to burst, but Radahn's expression remained unchanged, only resolute determination— to buy time! Just this tiny fraction of time!
"Go, King!"
Radahn's roar ripped through the air, each syllable a blend of blood foam and iron will bursting from clenched teeth.
Xiling's lips curled up. "Perfect control, Radahn."
"Leave the rest—to me!"
The moment the words fell, the world's clamor seemed to be muted.
Xiling's gaze pierced through the bloody storm stirred up by the God-Devouring Serpent's struggle, the twisting gravity field, and the swirling black mist of blasphemy, locking onto the enormous vertical pupil filled with madness and destructive desire.
Xiling, without the slightest hesitation, twisted his sword wrist violently!
"Buzz—clang!!!"
A resounding sword cry, resounding with utmost clarity and yet imbued with destructive power, reverberated through the heavens! Xiling's immense, sea-like magical power surged unreservedly into the sword.
At that moment, the dark, scorching sky of the Broken Volcano, filled with sulfur and blood, was instantly replaced and purified by this pure silver-white light! Wherever the light reached, even the surging magma seemed to dim for a moment, and the twisted aura surrounding the God-Devouring Serpent melted away like boiling water poured over snow!
Xiling gripped the hilt tightly with both hands, raising it high.
The voice declaring fate pierced through the roars and struggles, resonating clearly throughout the air:
"O God-Devouring Serpent—"
The holy sword's radiance reached its zenith!
"—This sword will sever your immortality!"
As the silver-white light reflected the God-Devouring Serpent's vertical pupils, all its arrogance, all its greed, all the monstrous arrogance that had swelled to its peak after devouring Miquella...
Instantly!
Like ice melted away!
It was a terrifying omen that transcended the senses and reached the very essence of life! It was the primal scream of despair emanating from every component of its twisted life form!
Death!
Icy fear instantly froze its heart.
Absolutely death!!!
Every scale trembled, every bone wailed!
No escape!
Absolutely no escape!!!
It "saw" it clearly—with the mere touch of the silver blade, the twisted life force upon which it depended, the very essence of its "blasphemous immortality," would evaporate like dewdrops in the morning light!
Only eternal, utter death and annihilation awaited it!
Is the God-Devouring Serpent evil?
That didn't even require a second's thought.
Its very existence was a blasphemy against life and order.
Its ravenous maw was never satisfied, devouring gods, heroes, the earth, the sky, intent on transforming everything into chaotic sustenance for its belly. It is a walking blasphemy, the embodiment of world-destroying catastrophe, the embodiment of terror.
Therefore, it is precisely the enemy of Hero!
Its unholy essence, condensed with endless blasphemy, is the perfect fuel to ignite the Holy Sword!
It is an enemy capable of unleashing the Holy Sword's power to unimaginable heights!
When the silver sword of judgment appeared, a consensus was seared into the souls of all who witnessed it: The God-Devouring Serpent must die!
"Stop!" Malenia thought, her toes barely leaving the ground.
Clang!
A silver-white lightsaber pierced the rock at her feet, its glow illuminating her stunned face.
Malenia looked up sharply. Morgott, whom she had sent flying in the previous encounter, was now roaring furiously with the power of cursed blood! Morgott's gaze pierced the smoke and dust, locking onto Malenia.
"If you wish to advance..."
The cursed sword in Morgott's hand was stained crimson.
"Tread over my dead body first!"
Malenia stared directly at Morgott, who had wielded cursed blood, and finally sighed. It was too late.
She clearly sensed the holy sword's will of judgment had reached its peak, and any attempt to interfere was a futile struggle.
At the same time, the holy sword's radiance reached its zenith!
This was no simple slash, but the final chapter of a sacred ritual!
"Light" chanted! The solemn, ancient syllables were not human voices, but the roaring, resonating sound of the vast silver itself!
The shattered volcanic veins, the flowing lava, the desecrated void—all became invisible strings, plucked by the holy sword, composing this sacred melody that ended blasphemy!
The holy sword swung down—a torrent of light surged forth! The torrent of light instantly engulfed the blasphemous serpent. Enveloped in the radiance imbued with the essence of order, the blasphemous serpent's body began a strange and swift purification.
The blasphemous scales silently peeled away, its vast flesh disintegrating and dissipating, transforming into countless shimmering points of silvery-white light.
These points of light did not vanish. Instead, with a sense of fateful tranquility, they naturally merged with the relentless flow of light, becoming part of its vast veins, making its radiance even more brilliant and profound!
"No—!" The God-Devouring Serpent's final consciousness let out a silent, despairing cry. Its gravity cage was gone, yet it could not even stir a ripple of struggle!
There was no pain, only a strange tranquility, a return to its origin.
A cold realization was imprinted on the core of its fading consciousness—it was no longer the God-Devouring Serpent.
Its existence, will, and very essence… were all disintegrated and assimilated by the light stream! It, along with its ambition to devour all things, had become a single streak of pure light, imperceptible and indecipherable, within the surging torrent of order.
Finally, this single ray of light merged into the holy sword, becoming the fuel for Xiling's growth.
The torrent of light dissipated like a receding tide, leaving the shattered volcanic earth and shattered walls it had gently embraced intact. Only the blasphemous figure vanished from the world.
Xiling exhaled briefly, then smiled and gave Radahn a thumbs-up.
"Thanks so much to you this time, Radahn!"
Xiling had truly not expected the other party to be so brave. Without a word, he had simply restrained his opponent for a few seconds, giving him ample time to unleash his sword with reckless abandon.
Radahn, praised by Xiling, fell silent.
What had he done?
In Radahn's understanding, he had simply used all his might, his vaunted gravity magic, to pin the God-Devouring Serpent to its spot for a few brief breaths. He had envisioned this brief confinement as a window for his own Silver King to deliver a decisive blow.
But he had never imagined… that Xiling's so-called "decisive blow" wasn't a crushing blow, nor a suppression, but rather—an absolute, complete, utter purgation that annihilated the opponent's body and soul!
Regardless, if he were to do it, he certainly wouldn't be able to crush the opponent in such a short time. Even the Black Blade Maliketh wouldn't be able to pull it off so quickly and without a trace.
Xiling didn't care about Radahn's silence, for the battle wasn't over yet...
The confrontation between Malenia and Morgott had already ended abruptly the moment the holy sword swung down and the light surged. As the all-purifying silver torrent devoured the blasphemous serpent, Malenia understood that the core meaning of this battle had been lost.
Malenia watched Xiling approach her step by step, but she stood still, motionless.
Xiling took steps, each step carrying an invisible pressure. The silver holy sword pointed diagonally at the ground, the pure light lingering on it flickering like a breath.
Ten steps away. Xiling paused, raised his wrist slightly, and the tip of the holy sword pointed straight at Malenia.
Xiling's voice was low, but it pierced the silence clearly.
"Surrender."
"Or... be conquered."
"What is your choice?"
When Xiling finished speaking, the air fell silent.
Malenia, her eyes from beneath her helmet, stared at Xiling. Radahn and Morgott stood behind him, watching her.
One second...two seconds...three seconds...Just as the suffocating silence was about to reach its peak, Malenia moved, her hand slowly raised, stroking her uniquely shaped, cold helmet, symbolizing the Haligtree and the sharp blade. The slight sound of metal scraping was particularly piercing in the dead silence. The helmet was slowly removed.
When the helmet was completely removed from her head, those eyes were revealed!
Pure, icy silver radiance! That is one of the hallmarks of accepting the Silver Rule!
The Valkyrie of the Haligtree.
Miquella's sharp blade.
Malenia, one of the most powerful deities of the Broken Age, had actually accepted the Silver Rule's blessing.
None of the three present was surprised, especially Radahn. He had anticipated this outcome the moment he saw her.
Radahn's voice was deep, muffled. "You have indeed accepted the Silver Blessing."
Morgott stepped forward and sternly declared, "Rebel! Having accepted the Silver Blessing, you dare attempt to attack the King!"
Malenia ignored Morgott's wrath. Her newly born eyes, gleaming with pure, icy silver light, locked gazes with Xiling.
Malenia's voice was unusually calm, yet weighted with weight: "I never thought of... attacking you, Silver King."
The Silver King, the cause of everything that happened at the Lands Between, was also the man who changed her life. The Silver Rule—it tenderly embraces all existence, yet sternly rejects all that it rejects.
When a living being opens its soul to it and prays devoutly, the Rule responds, bestowing upon it the Silver Blessing. If within the possessor of this blessing remains any "taint" judged by the Rule, its cold and vast power instinctively suppresses it, slowly and irreversibly purifying it from its very essence until the foreign matter dissipates and becomes the cornerstone of order.
Malenia was born bearing a curse, born to harbor the Scarlet Rot, bearing the pain of its onslaught day after day.
This pain is unimaginable.
Even though her brother, Miquella, crafted a pure needle from pure gold to suppress the Scarlet Rot, Malenia's life remained entangled in the thick shadow of corruption.
But the advent of the Silver Rule was like the first ray of absolute light piercing the eternal night.
As she offered her prayer to the Silver Erdtree, a symbol of the new order. The rule responded.
The moment that cold, vast, unquestionable torrent of order surged into her soul—the Scarlet Rot, for the first time, was completely and absolutely suppressed! The tide of pain that had pierced her bones suddenly subsided, and all was silent.
It was a pure, life-like tranquility she had never known before.
And the source of it all: the Silver King.
Her heart was filled with the deepest gratitude.
And yet—"My brother's long-cherished wish must be fulfilled."
Things had been going smoothly. She couldn't understand how a king, far away in the magic academy, could instantly cross the distance and descend upon the volcano.
Much less could she have predicted that with a single sword strike, the blasphemous serpent would be annihilated.
She had failed.
A complete failure.
Malenia didn't look at the enraged Morgott or the silent Radahn. She slowly bent her right knee, her ornately armored knee heavily touching the warm dust purified by the holy sword's afterglow.
"Silver King..."
"Please bestow your punishment."