Glenn rolled his sleeves back, strolling past corpses and confused cultists. The Pope furiously pushed back against Harriet's attacks, vines flying out of the ground and whipping at the King's Blade incessantly. The latter defended himself the best he could, summoning countless Aura blades from the ground, but he was losing out.
"I don't want to worry you, but that fanatic fucker looks like he's getting stronger with each second," warned Diamanes.
"Don't worry.”
A small ball of fire brimming with the might of the Sun appeared in Glenn’s palm. A sinister smile played on his lips. “I have no intention of letting him do as he wishes.”
Maybe Harriet heard him, or perhaps it was simply a coincidence, but the knight somehow knocked the Pope closer to Glenn.
Glenn pulled himself forward with Gravity Manipulation, appearing instantly before the Pope. The latter’s eyes widened helplessly.
“Why don’t you get a taste of the Sun, you fucker?” Glenn shoved the miniature sun in the Pope’s chest before quickly retreating to safety. Vines bulged out of the ground and wrapped around the Pope desperately to block the explosion.
Boom!
A massive dome of fire engulfed the battlefield, consuming everything in its path. The dead Ancient Beast went up in flames, black smoke rising into the sky. A strong smell of burnt flesh and Moon Grass entered Glenn’s nostrils. Even though Glenn wasn’t an Archmagi yet, he had strength beyond that level.
“I’ll need a shower or two once this is over,” grumbled Glenn.
Harriet the King’s Blade landed beside him, his armor dented and his rapiers covered in blood.
“I have never seen an Expert Magi fight with such power,” commented Harriet. “I have to admit, I’m impressed you can hold your own against a Newborn Ruler.”
Glenn moistened his lips as a spear of blue flames appeared in his right hand. “I appreciate the compliments, but why don’t we put the poorly hidden recruitment attempt to after we killed the fucker?”
Harriet grunted. “Well spoken. His regeneration can’t be infinite. We will wear him down.”
‘Hey, that guy looks cool! Why don’t you make him part of your harem, too?’
‘Diamanes, shut the fuck up.’
Glenn rushed forward, ignoring the rising flames. He activated his Mana Sight and searched for the Pope’s signature. A shadow moved at the edge of his vision.
“Lance of Prometheus!” A horizontal column of fire roared through the battlefield, carving a deep gash into the ground. A blackened ball of jumbled vines crumbled to dust. No trace of the Pope.
A shiver crawled down Glenn’s back, and he hurriedly raised his Saturn’s Rings, only for Harriet to appear behind him and deflect a massive thorn away.
Glenn couldn’t even thank his benefactor that a dozen similar large, spike-like thorns shot from the ground, aiming for both Harriet and him.
“Royal Punishment!” Harriet roared as he stabbed both his rapiers into the ground. Hundreds of Aura blades rose from the ground, all vibrating in the same sequence.
‘This is the same spell—no, technique that you stole from that statue. Only, uh, better.’
‘I’m really glad you can analyze our teammate’s ability, but could you maybe redirect your attention to the enemy—oh shit!’ Glenn crossed his arms in front of him, his Saturn Rings shattering as a whip lashed into his face.
The Pope hurled Glenn through the battlefield, heaving madly. “You Blasphemer! I must have misunderstood our Lord. You are no savior.” He clawed at his chest, his eyes bulging out. “You’re just one more obstacle toward grace!”
Glenn pushed himself up, coughing heavily. His forearms were hanging limply, the flesh mangled, and the bones crushed.
“Fuck, that’s—oh?” Glenn’s eyes widened in mixed horror and amazement as his wounds magically healed. It consumed a lot of Mana, a solid fourth of his total reserves, but it treated his shattered arms in a matter of seconds.
“Yeah, if it could get your heart going again, it’s certainly powerful enough to heal that type of wound,” said Diamanes matter-of-factly.
“...Alright, let’s go again.” Glenn slammed his hands together, a vein popping on his forehead. A Sun and Diamanes’ Nitrogen combined to create a powerful spell.
“As if I’d let you—YOU!” The Pope screamed in frustration as Harriet stopped him from going after Glenn. The King’s Blade silently took a defensive position, his armor creaking under the effort.
The Pope raised his arms to the sky, vines surging from the ground and lifting him.
“My Lord, I implore You, let them feel what they fear!”
The sky darkened even further, a black mark appearing in the clouds. Glenn gritted his teeth and continued preparing his spell. The damned Thorn’s Church symbol had appeared in the sky.
‘Oh, is he literally going to make it rain?’ The following flood of pain obliterated Diamanes' idiotic comment. Glenn gasped painfully and fell to his knees. The spell he had been preparing still flew out of his hands, crashing against the Pope.
A tsunami of ice engulfed the Pope, freezing his expression of hatred permanently. Unfortunately, Glenn couldn’t see the results of his Ice Age as pain submerged him.
“Submit yourself.” A command rang through Glenn’s mind, drowning out his thoughts for a second.
Only for a second.
“No, thanks.” Glenn shook the feeling off, the pain disappearing as easily as it first appeared. “If you want me to kneel, come and make me, you sadistic fucker.”
Glenn flipped his middle finger at the sky, wiping the sweat covering his forehead away with the other.
“Damn, why the hell are you so insensible? Did you lose all sense of fear?” Diamanes asked, incredulous.
“Well, compared to that one not-so-dead thing you saw before entering Limbo, it’s…” Glenn searched for his words. “...A little weak, I suppose?”
The mouth in his left palm hung wide open, speechless. “...You saw that too? But…how?”
“Later, Diamanes. This ‘Pope’ still is too rare for me. I need to cook him more.” Pebble appeared before him, already in a ball. Glenn chuckled and picked the one-eyed dragon up.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“You read my mind, Pebble.” Glenn threw the creature into the sky, using Gravity Manipulation on him and infusing him with the Sun’s power. Pebble quickly turned into an incandescent star shining in the sky with incredible strength.
Harriet’s helmet shattered, the symbol of the Thorn’s Church burned into the metal. The man gasped heavily, his hands trembling slightly. He pushed himself up with his rapiers, watching in awe as a star fell on the Pope.
“Meteor.” Glenn pointed down at the Pope, shooting Pebble down with all his strength. No use saving Mana—taking care of the cultist took priority over everything, after all.
Pebble increased his density as he fell, soon weighing more than a ton. Two tons, three tons, five… Pebble reached his full potential at ten tons, hurling down at the Pope. The air ripped through his passage, a whistling sound echoing through the battlefield.
The ice containing the Pope cracked and exploded. The cultist pulled himself out of the freezing prison. He could only look up before Pebble exploded in his face.
Glenn planted his feet on the ground and shielded his face while Harriet made his Aura cover his body. The shockwave blew past them, devastating everything in its path. The shockwave turned the few remaining cultists into bloody mists, similarly destroying half of the Ancient Beast.
“Yeah, my spells definitely became stronger.” Glenn nodded with appreciation.
Diamanes clicked his tongue. “No. They’re more efficient, not particularly more powerful. You use way less Mana, yet you get incredible results. That can only stem from a really good understanding of your Specialty.” He paused. “Hey, you said you saw my memories of back when I was strolling through space, right?”
“...Wait, so you’re saying that because I watched space live, my understanding immediately became better?” Glenn pinched the tip of his nose, unfazed at the destruction he caused. “Isn’t that a little too easy?”
Diamanes scoffed. “Do you know many people who have gone to space before? Aside from those astronauts back on Earth?”
Glenn grimaced. “Touché. It does give me a few ideas to upgrade everyone’s training, though…”
“Devil’s Hand!” Harriet appeared before him, his face revealed. He looked like Ned Stark but with blond hair and dark gray eyes, which was quite a surprising contrast. “Are you alright? This was an attack aiming at our souls!”
“Oh, just another Monday, you know?” Glenn waved dismissively. He pointed at the smoldering crater created by Pebble’s landing. “I’m almost certain the other dude is trying to regenerate right now. Why don’t we put an end to—”
"AAAAAAHHHGGGHHH—GHHHHHHHHH!" A scream ripped through the air, interrupting him. The Pope pulled himself out of the crater with difficulty, his face completely burnt off. The heat had molten away half his body, blackening his bones and reducing them to powder.
“Y- You Blasphemer! Cough, you also have that same vile power!” It was a wonder how the Pope was even alive at this point. Harriet took a step back and raised his rapiers, wary, but Glenn crossed his arms.
“Well, well, well. Seems like you can’t heal from that, hmm?”
The Pope’s jaw literally detached itself, the skin holding him together peeling away. He straightened himself with the one arm he had left, his eyes filled with hatred and cruelty.
“This…evil draconic magic! I- I will exert the will of the Gods! I will destroy the Blasphemers! I will execute you all—”
Stab!
Harriet pushed his rapiers through the Pope’s skull, pinning him to the ground. His Aura flared up, destroying the rest of the cultist’s body.
Silence fell on the battlefield as the Pope’s heart was finally erased from existence. Glenn sighed and wiped the sweat off his forehead.
“Well, that’s another thing checked out on the list.”
The King’s Blade looked at him, concerned. “The Thorn’s Church Pope was one of your targets, Devil’s Hand?”
Glenn shrugged. “Not him precisely. Just the Thorn’s Church in general. With him down, won’t they fall into ruins or something?”
Harriet sheathed his rapiers and scratched his chin. “That is an excellent question. The Thorn’s Church is an extremely old organization, but they kept on degrading and weakening with the years. Even the Pope was a little weaker than I would have expected.”
Glenn raised an eyebrow. “You were weaker than I expected.”
Harriet’s expression hardened, and he released his Newborn Ruler’s presence, crushing down on Glenn. “I respect you, Devil’s Hand. Mind your manners.”
“Was I wrong, though?”
Harriet’s eyebrows rose in surprise. Glenn dusted his shoulders off, unfazed. Compared to that dreadful, not-so-dead cosmic thing in space Diamanes met, Harriet was as scary as a puppy to him.
‘Shit, maybe you’re right, and my sense of fear is messed up. This isn’t normal,’ he realized.
Diamanes cackled. ‘Of course, I’m always right!’
The King’s Blade sighed and released the pressure. “You’re full of surprise, Devil’s Hand. I understand better why the Prince sees you in such a high esteem.”
He patted his chest, where a long cut had pierced through the metal. “I’ve suffered a wound after fighting two of the Newborn Rulers who came after you and your group in the Beyond.”
Harriet grunted and sat on a protruding rock. “I’ve been chasing them until the Prince called me to the rescue.”
Glenn chuckled in awe. “That’s impressive. I guess you deserve to be on the same level as Redan and Exan.”
Harriet smirked, slowly shaking his head. “Redan…That’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time. Even with both Aura and Mana, the Ice Wolf was still extremely weak, and Exan couldn’t hold a candle to me. The bastard is only good to hide in the Royal Library and send his inventions on the battlefield.”
“If you say so.” Glenn turned to the Ancient Beast’s corpse, his hands on his waist. “So, what do we do now?”
Harriet pushed himself up. “Now, we need to reunite with the Prince. I will escort you back to King’s Rise while an investigation team comes to take care of the mess here.”
Glenn whistled. “A Newborn Ruler as an escort guard? How luxurious.”
Harriet glared at him. “I am almost certain that the Prince wouldn’t have it any other way. Do not mistake yourself as worthy of the King’s Blade protection.”
“Sure, sure.” Glenn looked at the sky, watching it darken rapidly.
‘That’s strange. I would have thought whatever mess the Pope created would go away with his death.’
Diamanes suddenly chuckled.
‘...What’s so funny?’
‘Glenn. Do you remember your fight against that Abbot, Hank?’ The entity’s tone was incredibly mocking.
‘Yeah, what about it—no! Oh, fuck!’ The color drained from Glenn’s face as he tried to warn Harriet. His words vanished beneath the chorus of screams. Around him, the corpses littering the battlefield cried all in unison.
A death rattle of pain and suffering.
The corpse of the Ancient Beast suddenly bulged as half a hundred individuals came out of it the same way Nelg and Liara did earlier. They only enjoyed their freedom for half a second before they fell to their knees, their eyes and ears flooding out with blood.
The Ancient Beast’s body crumpled on itself like a dried-out flower, crumbling to dust. Glenn and Harriet instinctively took a step back, their eyes widening in horror.
‘Oh-ho. Finally, an opponent my size!’ Diamanes laughed maniacally.
‘Shit, no, what the fuck do you mean by that?’ Glenn couldn’t control his trembling fingers. Whatever this was, it was not far from the level of that not-so-dead cosmic thing.
It rose from the Ancient Beast’s ashes, a wilted vine that stretched out to the sky. It split into two, forming a vertical slit eerily similar to an eye.
‘What was it already? The Book of Doloratrox?’ Diamanes’ voice sounded like an echo in the distance.
A barely humanoid-shaped creature came out of the slit, covered in a strange goo. Glenn felt as if he was getting lobotomized watching this thing like someone was mixing his brain with a scalpel.
The creature’s head could barely be called this way. It was the symbol of the Thorn’s Church, carved out of dark-red blood.
‘Ah, never mind. Not my level, just below it. This thing looks like a cultist’s wet dream.’ Diamanes quirky remarks were the only reason Glenn wasn’t crawling on the floor.
The creature stretched out its unnaturally long limbs, reaching for the sky. With a loud, ancient sigh, it carved through reality and opened a slit into space.
He turned toward Glenn and Harriet and dropped something before them. Glenn felt a compulsion he couldn’t resist, a desire he couldn’t refuse.
‘Yeah, no, you don’t want to do that.’ Diamanes’ voice made him close his eyes before it was too late.
The creature turned away and passed through the portal it created.
Had Glenn succumbed to the temptation, he would have seen a Seed of Darkness glinting ominously in the bloody mud.
Fortunately, he had Diamanes to save him from that.
Unfortunately, Harriet did not have a Diamanes.
Switch 292 & 293?
