Chapter 686

【 HOLY WAR 】

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A golden arc of sword light crossed the void and descended in a single strike.

Amidst a blinding blaze of gold, the massive palm was severed outright, torn cleanly from the Titan’s arm. The detached limb lingered for a brief moment, suspended in the midair, before gradually disintegrating into countless motes of light.

Purple flames ignited around the Titan’s wrist as divine blood gushed out from the severed stump, spilling down from the heavens like a torrential rain of blood above Augsburg City.

Each drop carried overwhelming divine power, and yet, upon touching the air, the droplets rapidly crystallized, hardening in midfall before transforming into divine blood crystals that gleamed like amethysts.

In an instant, the entirety of Augsburg City was enveloped in a dreamlike hail of crystals, as countless amethyst-like shards descended from above.

The clouds in the sky were cleaved apart by the lingering aftershock of the sword strike, torn open as golden rays poured down upon the land. The sunlight refracted through each falling crystal, bathing the surroundings in a wondrous, prismatic radiance.

Witnessing this scene, the entire battlefield fell into stunned silence.

The players stared blankly at the sky, their eyes filled with shock, unsure whether it was due to the terrifying power of the golden sword light, the sight of the Evil God Titan grievously wounded, or the breathtaking spectacle of the crystal rain that filled the heavens.

With its palm severed, the Titan within the dark clouds let out a muffled howl of pain as it withdrew its arm.

Whilst basking under the sunlight, Augsburg City’s main temple shone resplendently, as radiant holy light descended above it.

Accompanied by ethereal and sacred hymns, the people kneeling on its vicinity seemed to vaguely glimpse a lofty female figure appearing in the sky.

A sacred crown rested upon her head, adorned with an intricate ornamental wreath. She was clad in a regal celestial armored gown that flowed like starlight, and she held a platinum-colored sword in her hand.

Her peerless beauty, and her violet pupils, as deep as a sea of stars, were enough to captivate any mortal.

It was without a doubt the Goddess of Life, manifesting above Augsburg City in the form of a true god’s incarnation.

Upon seeing the goddess, the players defending the city instantly erupted with excitement.

“Goddess! It’s the Goddess!” (Elvish)

“Holy crap! Damn it! The Goddess has a new attire! I’m in heaven!” (Elvish)

“So beautiful! My waifu is so beautiful!” (Elvish)

“Get lost! She’s obviously my wife!” (Elvish)

“What are you still standing around for? Hurry! Take pictures!” (Elvish)

Evé: “…”

While the players went about their usual antics, the humans around them, who had only moments ago been praying, widened their eyes, their expressions filled with exhilaration, joy, and awe.

“The Goddess…? The great and benevolent Goddess of Life!”

“The Goddess of Life has heard our prayers! The Goddess has manifested to protect us!”

“Praise be to nature! Praise be to life! Praise be to the great Goddess Evé!”

Their excitement quickly transformed into fervent devotion as they once again fell to their knees.

In that instant, faint radiance bloomed upon many of them, a phenomenon signifying a sudden and dramatic strengthening of their faith.

If a player were to observe at this moment using the Skill [Eye of Faith], they would see that nearly all the praying humans, who had until now been mere shallow believers, had become devout in an instant, while among the already devout, many even leapt beyond that level, becoming fanatical believers, which was a rarity even amongst their elven counterparts. ꞦáNòᛒÈ𝙎

Humans in this world were simply like this.

Because mortal lifespans were short, and because extraordinary power created an insurmountable chasm between extraordinary beings and ordinary people, the common folk required spiritual anchors far more than other intelligent races. And given the right catalyst, they could be converted almost instantly into devout believers.

This was precisely why, throughout history, although many races had successively risen to prominence and become the centerpiece of different eras, only humanity were capable of giving birth to dozens, or even hundreds, of faith-based deities from a single race alone.

Perhaps the power of faith provided by an individual human did not rival that of some other sentient races, yet their staggering numbers compensated for every shortcoming.

The dark clouds in the sky continued to churn, gradually covering the heavens once more.

At the same time, a ghostly purple light began to creep across the firmament, spreading slowly at first, then coalescing into an enormous, illusory curtain that shimmered with an eerie, unnatural energy.

The clouds themselves seemed to take on a life of their own, stained a deep, violet hue and morphing into one ferocious monster after another, galloping and roaring through the sky with terrifying ferocity.

The oppressive aura intensified abruptly, sending faint but palpable waves rippling across the land, tugging at hearts and stirring unease in every living being below.

On the battlefield, friend and foe alike felt an indescribable restlessness rise within their hearts, as though some unseen force reached into the deepest corners of their minds. Their expressions gradually twisted in pain as a raw, unknown fury surged from within, while long-forgotten, sorrowful memories resurfaced one after another.

These were memories of oppression, betrayal, and times when they had been treated as enemies by others. No matter how trivial the original incidents were, under the amplification of this mysterious power, each was magnified a thousandfold, stirring raw, unfiltered emotions.

Resentment, regret, indignation, hatred—all coalesced into a singular, overwhelming surge of malice.

An insatiable urge to retaliate, to take revenge, to slaughter all who had provoked their anger began to spread like wildfire through the hearts of everyone present.

Gazing at the ever-spreading illusory curtain, Evé’s expression grew solemn.

“A celestial domain…” she murmured inwardly.

Legend had it that the Titan King Anos possessed three divinities.

They were the Sun, Destruction and Twilight.

Yet of the three, the Divinity of the Sun had already been acquired by the Eternal Lord, and the Divinity of Destruction had long since been claimed by the God of War. That left only the Divinity of Twilight—but this celestial domain before her bore no trace of its signature essence.

Among the exterminated Titans, the only one capable of producing such an Divinity was King Anos’s daughter, the Mad Titan Princess Sehemmet, who possessed the Divinities of War, Vengeance, and Flame.

And seeing the effect of the domain, it became unmistakably clear that it was related to the Divinity of Vengeance.

A glint appeared in Evé’s eyes as divine power steadily gathered around her, coalescing into a brilliant light that swirled around her incarnate form.

She then raised her right hand high and brought it down in a decisive cleaving strike, wielding the Sword of Damocles with precision.

The platinum blade trembled slightly, and with a clear, resonant hum, a golden arc of sword light was unleashed.

The sword light shot directly toward the descending illusory curtain, piercing it instantly like a bolt of golden lightning.

A dazzling white flash erupted as the purple curtain quivered briefly before splitting cleanly into two, severed by the single strike.

The Sword of Damocles.

This true divine artifact, which was imbued with the power of Absolute Severance, was exerting its full might at this very moment.

Spider-web-like cracks spread rapidly across the illusory curtain, fanning outward with blinding speed until they covered the entire expanse of the sky, each fracture shimmering with golden light.

Finally, with a faint, echoing sound, the purple curtain that had shrouded the heavens shattered abruptly, scattering fragments of illusory energy into the air.

The Celestial Domain had been broken.

“The Sword of Damocles…!”

From the sky came a startled and furious shout, neither distinctly male nor female.

Within the Titan’s purple-gold single eye flickered traces of astonishment, indignation, and apprehension.

As the clouds churned violently above, the malevolent Titan God concealed within them wasted no time, immediately gathering the remnants of the rolling clouds and fleeing toward the distant horizon.

“Heh, you escaped so quickly…”

Evé let out a soft chuckle.

Her body trembled slightly, and faint cracks had already appeared on her right hand gripping the platinum sword.

She had roughly discerned that the strength of this so-called God of Twilight and Dusk was likely at the late stage of weak divine power.

It was evident that, using a true god incarnation whose divine power was inferior to that of her opponent, and wielding the Sword of Damocles to sever the enemy’s domain, was still somewhat taxing for her, whose true body had only reached the rank of intermediate divine power.

With just that single strike, she had directly expended more than a hundred points of divine power.

One must know that even a peak demigod possessed only around three hundred points of divine power in total.

A hundred points of divine power alone were already sufficient to shape the weakest possible demigod.

Nevertheless, without question, although Evé found the control difficult, the Titan evil god whose palm had been severed and whose domain had been shattered by the divine sword was likely in an even worse state.

The Sword of Damocles severed laws themselves, after all.

So the moment it destroyed the celestial domain, what was cut was not merely the Vengeance domain before her, but also the connection between the Titan evil god and that domain.

For a short period of time, unless the Titan evil god could dispel the residual law power left behind by the Sword of Damocles’ strike, it would be unable to use its divine domain again for awhile.

A celestial domain was a god’s most powerful asset in a holy war, and also the greatest safeguard for survival.

It was precisely for this reason that the opponent chose to retreat without hesitation.

Evé likewise did not hesitate. She transformed into a streak of golden light and pursued the rolling dark clouds as they stretched toward the distance.

Before leaving, however, she did not forget to cast one last, deep glance at the legendary-rank vampire, King Otto of the Red Maple Kingdom, who was still controlled by the Withering Heart, and to retrieve the artifact from within him.

While controlling Otto, she had faintly sensed a strange energy within his body, seemingly a form of divine law.

Of course, at this moment, the Titan evil god was still her top priority.

Thus, Eve quietly used some of her divine power to mark Otto, ensuring that he could not escape her grasp, and then departed in a flash of golden light.

The two mythical beings soon vanished from the players’ sight below.

They, together with the humans beside them, stared blankly at the sky, gazing at the sun that had reappeared, their eyes still carrying a trace of daze.

This was especially true of the city’s residents, and in particular those militiamen who had personally witnessed the horrifying scene of the Titan evil god slaughtering Judgment Angels and annihilating imperial troops as easily as livestock.

No one could have imagined that this terrifying evil god would last less than a minute before the Goddess of Life, and would be utterly driven back.

The Goddess of Life was truly that powerful.

Warm sunlight once again bathed their bodies, bringing with it a gentle heat.

The suffocating and dreadful pressure that had accompanied the descent of the evil god dissipated completely, while the life energy within their bodies, still radiating a wondrous power, continued to circulate.

The expressions of the people quickly shifted from shock to delight, from delight to reverence, and then from reverence transformed into fervor.

For a time, all across the city walls, in front of streets and behind houses, the residents of Augsburg City who had witnessed everything that transpired fell to their knees, bowing deeply toward the direction where the light had faded.

Prayers and praises rose one after another without end.

Like the local residents, the players were also invigorated.

They gradually withdrew their gazes from the sky and cast unfriendly looks toward the Red Maple Kingdom army, which had been stunned by the battle of the gods and now seemed to have fallen into a state of confusion.

However, this state did not last long, because soon, players excitedly picked up the purple crystals scattered on the ground.

“Holy crap! This… isn’t this divine blood crystal?”

Divine… blood crystals?

The surrounding players froze in unison.

As memories were gradually unlocked, the various descriptions from veteran players’ guides surfaced in their minds.

Under the residents’ astonished gazes, the elves let out strange cries and excitedly began gathering the purple crystals scattered throughout the city.

For a time, this actually threw the defense of Augsburg City into a peculiar kind of disorder.

However, although Augsburg City fell into a strange chaos, the Red Maple Kingdom army outside the city was in an even greater state of disarray than the players.

The newly awakened Otto stared blankly at the sky.

His memories had not been affected, and his expression still carried traces of fear and astonishment.

“What… what exactly did I just do?”

He murmured as he looked at his own hands.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty! We have lost control over those civilians! Their blood contracts have dissipated!”

Just as Otto was feeling confused, frightened, perplexed, and shaken by lingering fear, a messenger hurried to his side.

“What?!”

Otto was startled, and a flash of anger crossed his face.

Yet when he lifted his head and saw the city walls of Augsburg City, completely undamaged, and then looked at the surrounding soldiers whose morale had all but collapsed, his gaze quickly grew dark and vacant.

In the world of the extraordinary beings, what ultimately determined the balance of war was always the clash of those at the top.

So the moment the Titan evil god fled, the so called “rise” of the Red Maple Kingdom had already been cut short.

Even Otto himself had never imagined that the mighty Lord Anos would prove so helpless before the Goddess of Life.

His expression changed several times before he finally cast a deep look in the direction of Augsburg City and ground his teeth.

“Inform the entire army. Issue a retreat order.”

“Y… Your Majesty… where… where shall we retreat to?”

The tall, thin noble Karl asked cautiously.

Otto opened his mouth, then fell into silence.

However, at that very moment, loud dragon-like roars suddenly rang out from the south.

In the next instant, waves of cheers erupted from the direction of Augsburg City. The sound surged skyward, and even on this side of the battlefield, the Red Maple Kingdom army could faintly hear it.

“Y… Your Majesty! Quick… look at the sky!”

Karl’s frightened voice rang out beside Otto.

The king of the Red Maple Kingdom raised his head toward the source of the dragon roars and saw a massive oval shaped object appear in the sky.

Around it were countless figures, dragons, gryphons, and various other flying magical beasts.

Upon them, the silhouettes of elves could be faintly seen.

This was none other than the elven aerial force that had been spreading wildly through the Maple Leaf Territory in recent days, growing ever more exaggerated with each retelling.

And the moment they appeared, the vast aerial formation advanced in grand array, charging without hesitation toward the army of the Red Maple Kingdom.

The elven reinforcements had arrived.

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