Chapter 212: Chapter 212 – Is this the End of Divinity? (1)

The morning sun was warm on the courtyard stones, but my mood was anything but. My silver eyes lingered on the group standing before me—Luca, Selena, Eric, and that massive ox of a boy everyone simply called Big Bull.

How in the Goddess’s name did he manage this?

I forced my expression to remain serene, yet inside my thoughts stirred. Excluding that Eric fellow, this was no ordinary team. Selena alone was enough to rival most second-years, and Luca… his presence was deceptively calm, yet it carried a weight that made even me hesitate. With Big Bull’s raw power added into the mix, this was a lineup that could crush nearly any second-year team without breaking stride.

Too perfect. Too deliberate. He didn’t stumble into this arrangement—he planned it.

When Seraphina raised her hand and announced the start of the exam, I almost smirked. What will the Academy throw at us this time? Her words carried no hint of the real trial. My mind sifted through possibilities even as I stole another glance at Luca.

Everyone around us shifted, their nerves obvious, but not him. Even as dozens of students grew restless, even as uncertainty tightened the air, Luca remained calm—utterly still, his crimson eyes steady.

A faint, reluctant admiration stirred within me. Even if he is bluffing, that composure alone…

Before I could think further, he surprised us again. Rings gleamed in his hands as he passed one to each of us.

I stared at mine, disbelief flickering across my face despite my discipline. “Where did you even get things like this?”

A spatial storage artifact—crafted into a ring. That such an item could even exist…

He smirked faintly. “Did you forget my elemental affinity?”

The realization hit me like a sudden sunbeam through clouds. My lips pressed together, hiding the way my curiosity sharpened. To think he could create this… just how far ahead is he planning?

But the surprises did not end there. When Eric summoned his Dream Butterfly to cloak us in illusion, my brows lifted, though I did not comment aloud. So he isn’t just strong… he’s careful. He has considered visibility, mobility, storage, and concealment.

My unease about the exam’s sudden change returned, heavier now. Why the change? Was it truly sudden? Or orchestrated? The Academy rarely acted without reason, and yet… this had the scent of something else.

The Kunpeng’s shadow loomed before me, its wings stretching wider than the courtyard itself. Luca turned, his crimson gaze flicking toward me with silent expectation.

“Get on,” he said simply.

I froze. My composure cracked for the briefest of moments as I stared at the beast’s towering back. The distance between the ground and its feathers seemed impossibly vast. My lips parted, betraying me with a whisper I hadn’t meant to utter aloud.

“It’s… too big. For me to jump.”

A Saintess, balking like a child before a mount. The thought alone should have mortified me. And yet before I could gather my poise—

He stepped forward, sighing as though the matter were trivial. His hand found mine without the slightest hesitation. Warm. Firm. Certain.

“Hold on.”

My silver eyes widened. No one had ever touched me so directly, so unceremoniously. The faithful bowed, the devout kissed the hem of my robe, but none dared grasp my hand as though I were… ordinary.

A startled cry escaped me before I could suppress it.

“Kyaaaah!”

The world lurched as he pulled me forward, his strength undeniable. In one motion we were airborne, and then my feet found the feathered back of the Kunpeng. The landing was smooth, but my composure was not. My cheeks burned, the warmth spreading like fire beneath my skin.

My free hand clung to his arm, clutching tighter than dignity should allow. I told myself it was for balance. A lie. I could not let go.

Nobody would dare grab me like that… Nobody but him.

And worst of all—I had not truly hated it.

We flew together on his Kunpeng, Eric’s illusion wrapping us like a veil. I felt the air shift strangely as Selena asked about the dungeon, and Luca answered with grim clarity:

“There is only one dungeon near this parameter. But… it’s a Hellsand Dungeon.”

The words chilled me. A hell-difficulty dungeon. Even my confidence wavered at that thought.

Yet Luca’s reasoning soon unfolded, sharp and steady, his calm voice cutting through the tension. “What if the Academy tricked us from the very start, and the real exam is something completely different?”

My eyes lingered on him then, silver gaze narrowing slightly. Always thinking beyond the surface. Always one step further. He isn’t merely reacting… he’s deciphering the very heart of the test.

When Kunpeng landed, he offered me his hand. I had almost refused—until I realized the drop was higher than expected and….he had already helped me before. And Before I could even protest, he had already pulled me along, his grip warm, steady. My cheeks burned faintly at the indignity, but his eyes were already forward, crimson focus fixed on the horizon.

He doesn’t even notice, does he? Or… perhaps he doesn’t care to show it.

The dunes whispered as we walked, the sand swallowing sound. That was when the feeling struck me. My chest tightened, and an instinctive revulsion shivered through me. I halted, pressing a hand against my robe.

“I… I am getting this unpleasant feeling,” I whispered. My own voice startled me—thin, uncertain. That was rare.

He turned sharply toward me, his gaze keen. “Are you still feeling that unpleasant feeling?”

“Yes…” I admitted softly, “it’s even more unpleasant now.”

His eyes flickered, thoughts spinning too quickly for me to follow. He believes me. Not a moment of doubt. That silent trust—it soothed my unease, if only a little.

Then, without hesitation, his saber cut through the air—through something I hadn’t even sensed. The corrupted beast fell, black vapor seeping out. I stared, my lips parting in shock. So sharp. His instincts… no, his awareness. He saw through it before even I did.

The smell of corruption clung to the air. I despised it. My divinity recoiled, urging me to push it away.

He spoke then, his voice grave. “It all points towards only one thing…”

I met his gaze, silver against crimson. Horror mirrored in both our eyes.

The cultists. They’ve already spread their corruption here. They’ve already taken the dungeon.

The battle that followed was swift and brutal. I did not move, for Luca had insisted—”Protect the healer.”

So I watched.

Watched as he carved through cultists with ruthless grace, his sabers flashing like moonlight. Watched as Selena unleashed frost and lightning, her power staggering. Watched as Big Bull rampaged, his every strike shaking the dunes.

Their coordination was precise—fluid. Luca guided it all with the subtle shifts of his eyes, the curve of his lips, the steadiness of his stance. He was not merely fighting—he was leading.

When it ended, silence pressed over the dunes. Bodies fell to dust around us, the stench of corruption lingering. Luca stood in the center, his blades dripping, his eyes narrowed on the empty horizon.

He exhaled, his words sharp. “Hmph. Looks like this node of the dungeon is cleared.”

I despised the warmth stirring in my chest. Admiration was dangerous—it loosened the chains of faith. And yet, I could not deny it.

The desert wind carried laughter at first. Eric’s wild cackling, so unrestrained and crude, grated against my ears. Even Selena allowed the faintest exhale of relief. They had fought hard, I knew that much, but the sound of it—so carelessly joyous—felt misplaced. Children. They think victory is found in a single skirmish. That blood spilled is the measure of progress.

And yet… one did not laugh.

My eyes turned instinctively to him. Luca. His sabers were still drawn, their crimson edges catching the sun. He stood apart, shoulders tight, gaze fixed on the endless dunes as if he could see what none of us could. His silence unsettled me more than Eric’s noise ever could.

I stepped closer, the hem of my robes tugged by the restless breeze. “What is it? Are you… not happy?”

His grip tightened. His words came low, heavy, and the air itself shifted. Not happy? No. This boy does not allow himself such luxuries.

When he spoke of nodes and numbers, of the cult multiplying like vermin, I felt my chest tighten. Hundreds here… how many more across the sands? His words pressed the truth into us like a dagger twisting deeper with every syllable. Even Selena, cold and unyielding, was rattled.

He sees further. Beyond the battle. Beyond this moment.

As the desert winds carried his vow, I studied him with sharpened eyes. His conviction did not waver. His mind was already leagues ahead of us, calculating, shaping the board like a strategist before a war. And when he revealed the hidden function of the bracelets—the chain message, the signal that could sweep across the dungeon like a beacon—my lips parted before I could stop myself.

So far ahead… He leaves nothing unprepared. Even I did not consider this. Who is this boy, to think of such measures?

I should have been displeased. He invoked my name when he spoke through the bracelet, placing me beside him in the eyes of the others. He could have easily lifted his own image alone. But strangely… I found no resentment.

Although he uses my name to bolster his weight, I do not mind. If it allows them to move toward my light, if it ensures their survival… then let him borrow it. Let him carry it.

When the first silhouettes appeared across the dunes, I thought it a mirage. But then came another. And another. Dozens. Hundreds. Students battered, bloodied, yet moving still—toward him. Not toward me, though I bore the Goddess’s blessing. Not toward Aiden, though his radiance rivaled the dawn. But toward Luca.

I pressed my hands together, but it was not prayer. It was… reverence. At the tide flowing endlessly, at the unity his words had summoned. The desert itself seemed to tremble beneath their march.

Even if I had called them, would they have come?

The golden-haired Aiden stood at the front, blade blazing like morning light. But it was Luca who held the horizon, Luca whom the tide gravitated toward. My eyes lingered on him as silence swept through the assembled.

“SHUTTTT UP!!!!”

And then he silenced them. Not with reason, not with pleas, but with sheer presence—an aura so absolute it pressed every voice into dust. When his command fell upon them, they obeyed. The crowd that had been seconds away from fracturing bent beneath his will as though the desert itself had crowned him king.

I watched, my heart trembling in a way I had not known in years.

This boy… who can be considered to be an anomaly…

For the briefest, most dangerous of moments, I faltered. The thought clawed at me, wrapping thorns around my faith.

Is he… the answer instead? The light that will guide us through the undeniable end? Not the Goddess. Not Her eternal radiance. But him.

I drew a breath, steadying myself, masking the shiver that threatened my divine composure. Yet no matter how I tried to bury it, the doubt remained—smoldering, sharp, undeniable.

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