“No! Why is the Pope hurting our sisters?!” Cherry cried out loud after seeing the battle that was happening in real time.
William had taken Celeste, Audrey, and Cherry, inside his Thousand Beast Domain, to prevent them from going anywhere. But, since he wanted them to see whatever was happening, he decided to let them watch the battle through his eyes.
Cherry had long been the Pope’s ally, but after seeing the state of her dear sisters, who pampered her a lot, her loyalty to the old hag was shaken to the core.
“Sister Audrey, why is the Pope doing this?!” Cherry asked. “She’s killing them!”
Audrey had a grim expression on her face because the little girl was right. The Pope was slowly killing her sisters by draining the Divinity from their bodies in order to activate the full power of the Palace of Light.
Naturally, there was a safe way to do this, but in order to make that happen, all seven of the Heavenly Virtues must be present and standing in their respective magic circles, just as they had done when Belle was summoned to Hestia.
If one of them was lost, the backlash would be great, but it would still not endanger their lives. However, if two or more weren’t present to activate the powers of the Altar of Life, what awaited them was a very slow, and painful death, after the power of their Divinity had been fully drained from their bodies.
“Celeste…” Audrey glanced in the direction of her sister, whose fingers were already digging on the palm of her hand, drawing blood.
“We must stop her,” Celeste stated with determination. “No matter what happens, we must save our sisters.”
Cherry and Audren nodded, but there was only one question.
How?
As if waiting for that moment, a hazy purple portal appeared in front of them. A second later, a smooth, and silky voice reached their ears.
The three Virtuous Ladies stared at the purple portal, and saw Shannon waving at them from the other side.
“Do you girls need a ride?” Shannon asked. “It will be a bit bumpy, but it is better than sitting there watching your sisters die, right?”
Celeste, Audrey, and Cherry exchanged a glance at each other before nodding their heads. All three of them stepped inside the purple portal, making an amused chuckle escape Shannon’s lips.
——-
After the earth-shaking explosion receded, the battle continued as if such a frightening thing hadn’t happened.
William understood that the longer the barrier stayed active, the more dangerous it would be to the four Virtuous Ladies who had already allied themselves with him.
Left with no choice, William charged at the Palace of Light with the intention of breaking the barrier. Only he had the ability to do that because of his Rulebreaker ability that bent the laws of the world in his favor.
‘So, you finally took the bait,’ the Pope smirked and pointed her scepter towards the Five Demigods that were now hovering in front of her.
“Gloria in Excelsis Deo!”
The five Pseudo-Gods were bathed in golden radiance, and their bodies glowed with the blessings of the God of Light.
However, the Pope was not finished. She once again raised her scepter toward the heavens, siphoning the divinity of Lira, Ephemera, Shana, and Melody, with the intention of fusing their abilities with those of the Five Pseudo-Gods, empowering them further.
Lira’s power was Extreme Speed. She had the ability to increase her speed, and decrease the speed of her enemy.
Ephemera’s power was the Power of Justice. As long as one believed that he was fighting for the side of justice, their power would rise exponentially.
Shana’s power was the power of Quick Thinking. It allowed people to think calmly in any kind of situation, and reach a solution that wouldn’t be achieved if one’s thoughts were in disarray.
Lastly, Melody’s power was that of Faith. Gathering the Faith of the believers of the Holy Order Of Light, it would allow those blessed by her powers to surpass their limits, and gain strength that matched the power of their Faith.
After gathering the powers of the Four Heavenly Virtues, the Pope aimed her scepter towards the Pseudo-Gods and roared.
“Deus Vult!”
Five beams of light erupted from the tip of the scepter and landed on the bodies of the Champions chosen by the Light in order to fight against the enemy that dared threaten its existence.
Lira, Ephemera, Shana, and Melody lost consciousness after their abilities were taken from their bodies.
They still had plenty of Divinity left, but the pain of having their powers stripped from them was like stripping away a part of their soul, which was similar to what happened to William when Elliot and Conan died.
Unfortunately, even though they lost consciousness, the four of them were still being used as batteries to supply magical energy to the Palace of Light, in its battle against William’s forces.
“You old hag!” William’s thunderous roar made the land tremble as storm clouds covered the surroundings.
Thunder and Lightning roared and snaked around the heavens like giant snakes that were waiting for a chance to strike.
“Go!” the Pope ordered as she pointed her scepter at the black-haired teenager, who was holding a giant golden staff in his hands, with the intention of smashing it towards the barrier of the Palace of Light.
“Let him experience the Power Of the Holy Order of Light!” the Pope’s dignified voice spread in the surroundings.
The Members of the Holy Order of Light cheered as they continued to cast their spells and fire their Holy Arrows from the protection of the barrier.
The Five Pseudo-Gods left the barrier that surrounded the Palace and headed towards the Half-Elf who was the greatest threat, and prize, of this war.
“Boy, remember my name,” one of the Pseudo-Gods said as he charged at William holding his treasured sword, Tizona. “My name is El Cid, and I will be the one to stop your rampage here in the Mortal Realm!”
“Godfrey is my name,” Godfrey stated. “I have no qualms with you, but this is war. I am left with no choice but to fight you.”
William didn’t give a hoot to the two Pseudo-Gods that had revealed their identities and smashed Ruyi Jingu Bang towards the barrier, aiming at the Pope who was standing near the Altar of Life.
El Cid and Godfrey stood defiantly in front of the barrier and successfully blocked the Half-Elf’s deadly attack together.
“Quick Shot War Arts… First Form,” William roared. “Destroy everything in your path!”
“Railgun!”
The tip of Ruyi Jingu Bang shone brightly as one of the black-haired teenager’s deadliest attacks was about to be unleashed.
“Not happening.”
One of the Pseudo-Gods wearing a white robe, and wearing a white mask, raised a bronze horn, which looked so ordinary that it seemed to have no special abilities whatsoever.
The moment William’s Railgun was unleashed, the white-robed person used the horn to block William’s attack in the blink of an eye and nullified it completely.
The Half-Elf immediately shifted his attention on the white-robed figure, who pressed their right fist—which was still holding the bronze horn—over their chest.
“You are…” William was about to say the robed figure’s name when he was attacked by another Pseudo-God who was holding an enormous trident, which forced William to block his blow, which sent him flying backwards.
El Cid, Godfrey, and Ajax, shot towards William like white beams of light that was moving too fast, making them look like a blur to the eyes of others.
The Half-Elf parried, blocked, and dodged the three-pronged attack of the Pseudo-Gods that was pushing him back due to the powerful boosts they received from the Divinities of the four unconscious ladies, who were still shackled to the Altar of Light.
“I thought you were strong, but I guess I expected too much from a mortal,” Ajax said in contempt as he gazed at the Half-Elf who had black blood streaming from the side of his lips due to their combined assault, which had left the black-haired teenager no room to maneuver.
“You overestimated him too much, Ajax,” El Cid stated. “But, I will have to give credit to those four unconscious girls in the altar. It is because their power is so great that we feel like we are invincible.”
“True,” Godfrey nodded. “Surrender now, and we will spare your life. No matter how many your army is, in our eyes, they are just ants that we can crush anytime.”
Before William could even reply, a bombardment of silver arrows, black flames, and lightning descended from the heavens, which broke the encirclement that the three Pseudo-Gods had created to trap the Half-Elf.
“Get away from Will!” Loxos shouted as she hurled the attacks of her allies towards the Pseudo-Gods who were ganging up on her lover.
“I almost forgot about you.” Ajax sneered as he looked in the direction of the young nymph who had caused a lot of trouble for them in the past.
However, due to his newfound powers, he no longer feared her because he could easily dodge the combined attacks of William’s Pseudo-Gods due to the powers he gained from the Heavenly Virtues.
“Godfrey, El Cid, I’ll leave him to you guys,” Ajax said. “I’ll deal with that foul b*tch first.”
“Okay.”
“Just go already.”
Ajax smirked and transformed into a beam of light headed towards Loxos, whose face instantly became pale due to how fast her target’s movement was.
“You’re mine, b*tch!” Ajax growled as he reached out his hand to grab Loxos’ neck, with the intention to crush it.
But, before he could even reach his target, a golden staff smashed against his face, and sent him flying towards the barrier of life.
“Don’t touch my woman,” William said as several runes appeared on his body.
The Runes of Temperance, Justice, Prudence, and Faith appeared on his legs, and arms.
Lira, Ephemera, Shana, and Melody had already become part of his Familia.
Before Shana had left him, she had left her mark on William’s body, which allowed him to use the power of her Divinity. All of this stemmed from a very bad premonition that she felt in the very depths of her soul.
Because of this, although she still hadn’t given William her maidenhood, the System had registered her as his Familia Member, allowing him to draw on the power of her Divinity as well.
“It seems that you still don’t understand who you are dealing with,” William stated as more runes appeared on his body.
These were the runes that he gained after making a contract with the Pseudo-Gods he had taken under his wing, allowing him to use their powers at will.
“Assal, come,” William ordered.
Stormcaller appeared beside William. Its entire body was shrouded in lightning, and the light was so intense that its body couldn’t be seen by anyone aside William.
“Soleil, burn for me,” William called another one of his treasures, which burned brightly like the sun.
The two spears circled around William as if they were his bodyguards that would attack anyone who dared to come near him.
The Half-Elf then returned Ruyi Jingu Bang to its original form and tossed it towards the sky.
Suddenly, a monkey’s laugh spread in the surroundings.
“Time to go all out, ain’t I right, Will?” Sun Wukong said while standing on top of a cloud. “Are you going to leave these small fries to me?”
William nodded. “I have bigger fish to fry.”
“Hahaha! Fine. I’ll deal with these three first and join you later.”
“Thank you.”
William then raised his right hand, in a gesture of holding something.
“Sharur, time to smash things,” William stated.
Without any warning, a mace the size of a bus appeared beside william.
“You’ve made me wait long enough, Boy!” Sharur growled. “Let’s smash them!”
William smirked as he held the weapon that belonged to his wife, Chiffon, in his hands.
The Smasher of Thousands, Sharur. One of the Mythical Weapons in existence, that would not lose to Ruyi Jingu Bang, was now in William’s hands.
“Okay, time for round two,” William took a step forward with the ever-eager mace in his hands.
Sharur laughed as its entire body became crimson red. “Time to clap some cheeks!”
William no longer had any intention of holding back. After seeing how the Pope was determined to sacrifice the lives of his women to achieve her goal, the Half-Elf was determined that killing her would not be enough to satisfy his anger.
‘There are things far worse than death,’ William thought as his eyes locked onto the old woman’s body as he prepared to unleash Sharur’s strongest attack, which hadn’t seen the light of day since it was wielded by the God that created it.
“Thousand Genocide Smash!”
