Chapter 49: 49. Glimple of the sun – 2

“MOM!! Look, is that a shooting star?”

“No, darling, stars are sacred; they never fall. That must be a blessing from the heavens for His Highness Pope Winston.”

Inside the imperial capital of the Holy Sun Empire, countless people had paused in their daily routines and turned their gazes skyward.

Merchants halted their carts, guards rested their spears against stone walls, and families gathered along balconies and streets as fragments of scattered light streaked across the sky.

To the common folk, the falling lights were nothing more than a rare celestial phenomenon, interpreted instinctively through faith rather than logic.

The Holy Sun Empire was a place where coincidence rarely existed without divine explanation. Any unexplained event was immediately framed as a sign of approval, favor, or warning from the heavens.

For this incident the explanation had been chosen quickly and without doubt. Blessings for Pope Winston, blessings for the Church. Blessings for the empire itself.

None of them realized how wrong they were.

A few minutes ago…

[fuck!! This bitch teleported you so high above the ground.

“Calm down, System, I can handle this,” Will said.

His voice remained steady despite the violent wind tearing past his ears and the ground rushing toward him at an alarming speed.

His body was already reacting, instincts sharpened by decades of training inside the Domain of Infinity. Panic had long since stopped being useful to him.

[I know this but she didn’t]

“Maybe she was testing me; now if you just shut up and let me do my work.”

Will adjusted his posture mid-fall with practiced ease, twisting his body to reduce drag and shifting into a controlled glide rather than a straight descent.

The air pressure screamed against his skin, but his muscles remained relaxed and responsive.

In an instant, the Crimson Aeon Blade materialized in his hand.

The blade shimmered briefly before its invisibility trait, acquired from nether dweller blood, activated completely.

Will’s figure vanished from sight, swallowed by the empty air as if he had never existed. Even the distortion caused by his movement faded, leaving nothing.

Sovereign sword intent surged outward.

Golden energy flared around him, forming a radiant streak that cut through the darkness of the evening sky.

For reasons, he did not fully understand, the surging sword intent was not masked at all.

Instead of worrying about it, Will adjusted his trajectory so that the golden flakes scattered and fragmented, blending into the atmosphere rather than forming a solid trail.

The sword intent reacted instantly to his will.

It propelled his body upward, canceling his fall and launching him forward at extreme speed.

The violent downward momentum reversed into controlled flight as he blasted toward the imperial capital, following the mental map he had memorized while preparing for his journey to the abyssal node.

[hahaha!! Don’t you feel like Iron Man!! ヾ(≧▽≦)o]

“Yeah, it’s amazing.”

Will’s response was casual, but his focus never wavered. The exhilaration of flight was present, but less intense.

Nearly a century spent inside the Domain of Infinity had reshaped him profoundly. Training, isolation, pain, and repetition had carved away much of his impulsiveness. The sharp emotional spikes of youth still surfaced occasionally, but they no longer dictated his actions.

He deliberately limited his speed.

Breaking the sound barrier would have created a sonic disturbance that no amount of stealth could hide.

Instead, he maintained a controlled velocity, fast enough to reach his destination quickly but restrained enough to remain unnoticed.

Soon, the outskirts of the imperial capital came into view.

Massive walls bathed in golden light stretched across the horizon. Towers rose at regular intervals, each crowned with glowing sigils and patrolled by armored figures.

Will reduced the output of his sword intent further, allowing only faint golden motes to drift from his path.

From the city below, those motes looked like scattered reflections of moonlight or fragments of divine radiance.

[Where do you intend to land?]

“I will land in the imperial palace itself; it would save time.”

[sigh!!!! another risk (´.＿.｀) ]

[But!!, hehehe!!]

“What?? What is so funny?”

[i have a crazy idea !!]

“Oh!! Do tell me.”

So!! if you can…..]

***

A few minutes later…

Imperial Palace, Holy Sun Empire

Will stood atop a watchtower overlooking the palace grounds.

The height offered a clear view of the inner courtyards, barracks, and ceremonial halls below. Lanterns illuminated stone pathways, and holy sigils embedded into the walls pulsed softly, maintaining layered defensive formations.

The palace was alive with divine energy, thick enough to irritate Will’s senses.

He remained invisible and waited for the right time.

Midnight approached, and with it came the shift change.

Guards rotated positions with efficiency. Will had chosen this moment carefully. It was the time the lights would be turned dim and most of the people would drift into sleep.

Soon, the sound of boots echoed up the stairs.

A paladin ascended the tower, clad in armor that shimmered gold with veins of silver etched along its edges.

His posture was confident, his movements relaxed. This was not a novice guard. The aura surrounding him suggested B-rank strength, possibly a captain.

The moment the paladin stepped onto the platform, Will moved.

He pounced from behind, clamping a hand over the man’s mouth and dragging him backward before any sound could escape. His strength pinned the paladin instantly, and before resistance could escalate, Will released wisps of demonic energy directly toward the man’s brain.

The reaction was immediate.

The paladin’s body twitched violently. His limbs spasmed, and his pupils rolled upward before draining of all color. His armor clattered softly against stone as his muscles seized.

Will did not kill him.

He did something far worse.

With meticulous control, Will guided the demonic energy through the paladin’s body, reshaping flesh and mind while simultaneously branding him with the Mark of Slavery.

This was not a crude corruption. It was a precise, surgical process that required flawless energy control; thanks to him cultivating a god-rank scripture, he had that level of control.

It was a method demonic cults would only rediscover much later in the timeline with the help of a certain villain.

When the process ended, Will released the body.

The paladin collapsed to the floor, already beginning to disfigure. Within an hour, the transformation would be complete.

Will did not wait.

He moved through the palace like a shadow, repeating the process at several posts.

Each engagement was swift and silent. Targets were chosen carefully, spaced strategically throughout the palace.

Once satisfied, Will descended toward the base floor.

The sword remained strapped to his back to maintain invisibility. Every step was measured, every breath controlled.

He reached a heavily guarded cellar.

Paladins of multiple ranks stood watch, including several S-rankers. Their presence confirmed his suspicions. This was not a storage vault. This was a prison.

From his mind, Will issued the command.

The abominations awakened.

Across the palace, bodies twisted violently. Flesh melted and reformed. Bones cracked and reshaped as grotesque figures rose from where paladins had fallen moments earlier.

Boom

Explosions tore through the palace as demonic energy erupted.

Will directed them with cold precision. Some were sent toward the living quarters, where knights slept unaware.

Others were ordered to converge on the underground cellar.

Several were instructed to destroy holy god statues scattered throughout the palace.

That last command was deliberate.

Will knew the psychology of the Church well; after all, Earth also had these types of groups.

Desecrated statues would provoke chaos far more effectively than slaughter alone.

As the knights engaged the abominations, Will slipped behind a knight whose waist belt was holding a key. He snatched it cleanly and unlocked the cellar door before slipping inside.

A shadow-borne manifested briefly, taking the key and locking the gate from outside before returning it to the knight’s belt.

As the shadow vanished, the knight turned instinctively.

It was a fatal mistake.

The abomination he was engaged with ripped his head away in the next moment.

Deep underground, Will stood silently as destruction unfolded above; he observed everything through shared senses granted by the mark of slavery.

Then he felt it.

A surge of overwhelming holy energy.

The cardinals of the church had arrived.

Will severed the connection instantly and issued a final command.

Self-destruction.

After he gave the command, his figure started to walk inside the deep tunnel.

His and the system’s plan succeeded, and with that, the Church’s hatred for demonic cults crossed a line and turned into a personal vendetta.

The war between the Church and demonic cults had officially begun, and it will shake the entire continent.

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