Chapter 23: The Priest After the Light
Everything happened faster than lightning. From the blooming of light to the meteor’s radiance tearing through the sky, the burning Holy Spear pierced Saliye’s chest. It was but an instant. Verafia’s pupils twitched, and even Saliye, at the center of the light sea, could not react!
“Swish!”
The next moment, the surrounding laws violently shook. The Holy Spear’s edge pierced the fallen angel’s chest. Born from the same light, the spear blade, ignited by the fire of the heavens, shredded his heart into pieces.
An irrepressible pain appeared on the fallen angel’s face, then a deathly stillness and gloom spread across it.
He was indeed an immortal powerhouse. However, in the battle against Verafia, facing the life goddess’s laws and magnificent divine power, his divine body was already tattered. What little demonic power remained was also consumed by the fire of light. How could he possibly block the blazing Holy Spear of light!
Ig’s pupils also moved. The trace of the Holy Spear, tearing through the light and piercing Saliye’s heart, was reflected in his eyes.
This was not Saliye’s foolishness.
Ig could feel that before, Saliye was indeed shrouded in intense light. That was the authority of the God of Light. Even Verafia, as a goddess, could not break through it in one go. This was Saliye’s confidence in allowing the light to burn away his remaining demonic power.
Ig thought of a possibility, and his pupils constricted: “But the radiant Holy Spear tore through the light in one go… No, its power also originates from the authority of the God of Light. Young Lady, could it be—” V
Verafia’s slender eyelashes flickered gently, as if confirming Ig’s words. Light surged before her eyes. In a mere instant, the eternal life force of an immortal powerhouse was completely destroyed.
The deathly gloom in the fallen angel’s eyes intensified, a trace of despair rising.
Ignoring the annihilation from the light, Saliye’s broken hand fiercely pressed the Holy Spear that pierced his chest. He struggled to raise his face, glimpsing that ethereal figure within the light, so close yet so immeasurably distant.
“My God, Ivy, Li…”
Indistinct words echoed in the wake of the light’s annihilation. The fallen angel’s body blazed within the sacred flames, unleashing a despair that almost eclipsed the entire light.
Having traversed endless time, and having witnessed the rise and fall of the demon race, the fallen angel actually perished in the burning light!
Anlijeu, who was also once a demon monarch, held her skirt with her little hand. In her lake-like beautiful and crystal-clear big eyes, a deeply complex expression appeared.
“So that’s how it is.”
Verafia gazed at the golden radiance shattered before her eyes. Her skirt swayed slightly. She gently brushed aside a strand of flowing golden hair, her lips curving into a gentle crescent. Her gorgeous golden eyes beneath long lashes showed an expression of interest:
“So, what you wanted was the despair of an immortal powerhouse?”
Soft words flowed through the light. The girl’s slender, jade-like fingertips pulled gently, and the divine power of life stirred. The curtains of intense light were then drawn back.
Behind the Holy Spear piercing the fallen angel, Verafia saw the vast Yannolcon, and a young, golden-haired priest.
“Huh! How could it be you, Klement!” Ophi exclaimed, covering her red lips with her hand, her surprised voice reaching their ears.
Ig’s pupils also constricted. After the light cleared, what appeared before him was the priest Klement, whom they had met in the plague-ridden village and had accompanied to Yannolcon!
The white-robed priest was still at the platinum realm they had seen before. Now, however, he stood unhindered in the sky filled with the laws of light. Walking past the spot where the Holy Spear had pierced the angel, Klement waved his hand, and the Holy Spear, imbued with dense light, transformed into a wisp of light and merged into the vast divine domain of light.
He turned back and saw the source of all light, painstakingly crafted by Saliye. In the divine phantom within the origin of light, he reached out and stroked a strand of pure hair. The light falling on his face surprisingly lent him a touch of sacredness.
Gazing from afar at the figure of the priest in the light, Andes frowned deeply, his palm instinctively clenching the Sword of Dawn in his embrace. He was all too familiar with such a scene; it had appeared in his nightmares countless times.
“Is it you—Pope Moon?”
“Andes, my child.”
The priest turned to the blue-haired youth. The light shone behind him, and the smile on his young face appeared exceptionally kind.
“You have indeed returned… And, you have returned with the Goddess of Life to the kingdom of light.”
Klement turned back to the figure of the Life Goddess opposite the light, his smile growing more intense. He bowed with great solemnity. “Goddess Princess, this should be our first reunion since our parting that year.”
“It’s not exactly a reunion.”
Verafia lightly tilted her head. A few strands of pure light touched her, rendering her cheeks as flawless as jade. Gazing at the priest in the distance, her lips also curved into a gentle, crescent-like arc. “Moon, this body is not your true form, is it?”
“As you see.”
The priest bowed. “Previously, the person you met was indeed a priest named Klement. However, what you see now is merely him, blessed by my light.”
“Blessed by yours? Pfft…”
Verafia covered her red lips and let out a silver bell-like laugh. Only then did she raise her golden eyes. “However, this is only to be expected. After all, even if it’s just a wisp of your spirit, how could Saliye not have noticed, allowing you to steal the light and launch a surprise attack?”
The priest before her eyes was indeed imbued with Moon’s light, and contained none of his spirit or demonic power. Therefore, even though Saliye was an immortal deity from an ancient era, he had no inkling, and was pierced through the heart by the Holy Spear condensed from light by Klement.
Her big eyes shifted slightly, and she showed an interested expression again: “So, Moon, you deliberately brought this young lady to this city, wanting me to eliminate this fallen angel for you?”
Combining Saliye’s previous account and the demon monarch’s dismissive words towards Moon, it wasn’t difficult to piece together the events.
After the demon realm collapsed, Saliye and the Dark Giant King, leading the remnants of the demon realm, arrived on the Agrand continent through the seal from a hundred years ago and reached a certain level of cooperation with Pope Moon.
Saliye also traded with Moon, promising to collect despair for him through plague, in exchange for fragments of the origin of light. With Moon’s help, he seized Yannolcon through the controlled Duke Yann, and used this city, where the Three Saint Kings’ Sacred Hall was located, to nurture and shape the God of Light.
However, Saliye was, after all, a Judgment Angel, who had also fallen due to his desire to possess the light. How could he tolerate Moon, who desecrated the sacred light?
And how could Moon tolerate an immortal powerhouse being beyond his control in his territory?
“Indeed. If not for you, I would not have been able to defeat this angel.”
Klement did not conceal anything. He raised his face and smiled, replying, “Miss Verafia, you should have sensed my presence before. However, why did you agree to come to Yannolcon?”
“This?”
Verafia tilted her head slightly, a trace of playfulness in her gorgeous golden eyes. “Moon, it wasn’t to help you specifically. It’s just that this Saliye is a demon monarch allied with you… and, from him, this young lady also has something she wants.”
