“The intruder is over there!”
With a group of the Holy Soldiers, one of the Holy Knights rushed towards me. I jumped into the building right next to me and kept a sharp lookout. There’s no escape way. The building seemed like a sanctum for some kind of saint. The door I entered through was the only exit. The rest of the building was surrounded by white walls and stained glasses.
“Dammit.”
I stepped onto a tombstone of the nameless saint and launched myself into the air. The Holy Knight just arrived and drew his sword but it couldn’t reach me. I already broke a stained glass and got outside. After gently landing on the ground, I climbed over the wall again and ran to the entrance plaza.
“Capture him!”
The Holy Knights and the Holy Soldiers flocked from every direction. I could see some knights with black armors so the Holy Knights from the Church of Darkness must have joined as well.
They must have guarded the place last night as well. Their jobs seemed not easy at all.
“Why don’t they just take sleep? Why are they coming out and bothering me?”
I shook my head from side to side and entered inside the Steeple of Grace located in the center of the plaza. I went up the stairs to the top of the steeple.
The circular steeple was very high. From the top of the steeple, guarding troops, spread across the entire Great Temple of Divinum, looked so little like a black swarm of ants. It seemed that I could lock a number of those troops inside the steeple for a while.
I took some rest and waited for a little bit. As the Holy Knight ahead of other soldiers climbed up to the top first, I beat him down and stole another sword.
Soon after, other soldiers also climbed up to the top of the steeple and yelled at me as I was sitting at a window railing.
“Stop!”
“Are you kidding me? You stupid assholes.”
I launched myself down the steeple. Sticking two swords in my hands, I went down slowly.
The Holy Knight poked his head outside the window and he was flabbergasted. He saw the Aura Blade flowing around my swords.
“The intruder is a swordsman at the master level! Be on your guards!”
For some time, I kept going down and watched those soldiers flocking inside the plaza. From my place, I could see their eyes clearly. I jumped out, kicked the back of a Holy Knight, and tumbled to the ground. As if bouncing, I jumped high over the Holy Soldiers’ blades which looked like thorns of a hedgehog.
Watching me running far away from the behind, the group of soldiers who were chasing me got bewildered and made moony faces.
“What kind of bastard is he…?”
“He’s really swift for sure.”
Meanwhile, I kept running along the central avenue and headed towards the Hall of Divinity. I had to detour many times because guarding troops were coming out from everywhere. Anyways, I was getting closer to the Hall of Divinity.
Again, dozens of soldiers blocked my way. Immediately, I jumped lightly over a wall nearby and entered into the Archive of Grace.
And I went up to the third floor and jumped over to the roof of the Archive of Sin which was located next to the Archive of Grace. Now, I arrived safely at the opposite side.
“Where the hell did he go?”
Soldiers ran about in confusion. Since I darted in and out of places, they had no idea how to chase me after. I gave those chasers the slip and finally arrived in the vicinity of the Hall of Divinity.
‘What should I do now? The entrance of the Hall of Divinity must be guarded by Lord Izenberg.’
Lord Izenberg was the Holy Knight and also the high-rank swordsman at the master level. His swordsmanship was quite remarkable so many countries courted him but he devoted himself to the Church of Light for life since he was a believer of the religion of Light to the bone. Indeed he’s completely single-minded.
So, the fact that he’s guarding the entrance of the Hall of Divinity at this time was a big problem for me. Of course, I could subdue him in a one-on-one duel for sure but there might be other Holy Knights and Holy Soldiers as well. Their presence made things much more difficult for me. Obviously, it would be a very tough fight against them.
“Stop!”
The Holy Soldiers, blocking the access road to the Hall of Divinity, aimed the blades of their spears at me as I was running towards them. Instantly, I kept my balance low and slid underneath them. Once they lowered their spears too, I immediately jumped high and over their heads.
The Holy Knights guarding behind rushed towards me simultaneously. Then I moved in zigzags and dodged their attacks.
Thump! Bang!
Just at the moment when I passed through the wall of soldiers, a bunch of the Holy Explosive Bombs of Light were dropped in front of me. It was a 1-Term Holy Magic skill. However, bombs were pouring down endlessly without any casting. That meant the priest who’s attacking me was a 5-Term Holy Magician or higher.
I stepped backward and stayed outside the blast radius. Then I stared at the female High Elf who was at the roof of the building nearby, throwing the Holy Explosive Bombs on me.
“Please stop!”
A female elf with long silver hair was shouting at me. I could run away much faster but I stopped and stared at her with my trembling eyes.
Just like other elves, she was tall. Also, she had a beautiful and thin body. Her skin was white as snowy fields. Her deep and blue eyes were shining like sapphire. With her slender jawline and prominent nose, her whole face was like a work of art. Her thin neckline and waistline looked very delicate so I wanted to hug around them.
She’s really beautiful. However, I didn’t focus on her appearance. Actually, I had a crush on her before and she was my first love. Unfortunately, it was unanswered love.
‘Princess Ignes?’
I met her for the first time at the Sedaine Fortress.
At that time, I was fighting to the death against demons inside the Sedaine Fortress which was about to collapse. In fact, I didn’t know why the hell I was fighting like that. On normal days, it was the right thing for me to run away already. But somehow, I was so pissed off that day and I did those crazy things which I would’ve never done at a normal time.
Also, I already had a serious stab wound in my waist at that time. One of my shoulders got broken and was in tatters. Most of the five thousand soldiers under my command were already dead. Some soldiers and I were pushed back and surrounded at some kind of alley by demons. Only the aura of death was flowing from every direction.
Nobody seemed able to survive in that circumstance. There was no escape route at all. I could even keep myself steady since I had a serious injury. I knew by intuition that I would be dead. With a few soldiers, I rushed towards demons. It’s a final suicidal attack. However, at the moment I was about to give up my life, a miracle happened. A glittering light was coming from a far distance and it made all the demons, which were surrounding us, become like a handful of dust.
After that, I could hear a woman’s voice.
‘Thank you for all your trouble. Thanks to all you people, the Sedaine Fortress is now safe. From now on, we will defend the Sedaine Fortress so all you people can stand back and take rest.’
Her name was Ignes. She’s the commander of the Second Holy Calvary and the Princess of the Lumen Kingdom which was a kingdom of High Elf. Also, she was the Great Saintess. Moreover, she was my lifesaver and my first love. I started to love her when I was around thirty years old.
After that, she and I never met again. But her face that I saw on that day and a fond memory of her was still in the back of my mind until now even though I was actually reborn.
‘Why is Princess Ignes here…? Oh, that’s right. She also attends the ceremony of the Hall of Divinity this year.’
Just like Princess Sierra who was my fiance, Princess Ignes also got chosen by one of the Seven Sacred Weapons. She was chosen by Shia, ‘the Great Wand of Luminosity’.
Princess Ignes jumped out and blocked my way. She’s always been like this. She always treated weak people generously but stood up against unrighteous people with her iron will.
“What kind of evil man are you? How could you commit such an atrocious act in the Great Temple of Divinum?”
Her sharp eyes were fixed on me.
Although I was surrounded by the Holy Knights and the Holy Soldiers at that moment, I couldn’t leave that place. I just couldn’t run away while leaving her behind.
“Pr… Princess Ignes…?”
Once I recognized her, she paused a little bit because I didn’t look familiar to her at all right now.
“Do you know me?”
“Yeah, I know you ver… very well.”
At once, I launched myself and hugged her slender waist. She flinched when I hugged her. The first touch of my first love felt too delicate and weak.
Since I suddenly hugged her, Princess Ignes resisted by shoving away with her arm. But soon, she became as gentle as a lamb because the sword in my hand was pointing at her neck.
I took her as a hostage and shouted to everyone.
“Don’t move! If you move, she’s dead!”
Compassion for my first love? What a joke. To get Yojo back, I could sacrifice my first love if necessary. Now, I took the princess of the Lumen Kingdom as my hostage, nobody could stop me.
“Gr… Grand Prince, your highness?”
Just in time, Count Myer arrived on the spot. After he saw me taking a hostage, he could not try to approach me hastily. To Count Myer, I showed Princess Ignes who was in fear.
“Count Myer. Do you know who she is? She’s Princess Igness of the Lumen Kingdom. If she got murdered by my hand, the Yosrahim Empire and the Great Duke Carl’s family would be in serious trouble. Hehehe.”
Count Myer was very disconcerted so his whole body got stiff.
Princess Ignes was the heir of the Lumen Kingdom and she would become the next queen. If I killed her right here, the Yosrahim Empire and the Lumen Kingdom would end their relationship forever. In other words, the Power of Light would be torn apart.
A male High Elf Holy Knight went white as a sheet and blocked the Count Myer’s way.
“Never irritate that hostage-taker. If she got murdered because of your hastiness, you would certainly pay the price for it.”
After Count Myer found out that she was Princess Ignes, he waved his hand urgently.
“Grand Prince, your highness. Please don’t pl… play around with me.”
“Well, do you think I am playing around right now?”
I moved my sword slightly and a little bit of blood trickled down from her neck. It was not a big scar but it was enough to threaten Count Myer.
“Everyone, step back!”
Under Count Myer’s command, everyone stepped back.
Soon, my path was clear and I started to move. Then, Princess Ignes talked to me with her trembling little voice.
“You… will never be forgiven.”
“Stop your nonsense and just follow me. I will tell you some good news for you because I feel bad for taking you as my hostage.”
“You’re a liar. Do you think I would trust the words of a wicked man like you?”
“The news is about you becoming the Great Saintess. Still, you don’t wanna trust me?”
Her eyes shuddered. No one could ever get the title of the Great Saintess after Saint Prosia and the Seven Saintesses ascended to Heaven. The reason was that not a single one of the Seven Sacred Weapons had chosen a human as its owner until now.
“Don’t try to deceive me. Not a single one of the Seven Sacred Weapons chose its owner yet.”
Of course, that’s true until now. But not anymore from now on.
Soon, all the Seven Sacred Weapons would come out to the world. Before this year, three of them already came out and two of them would come out this year. The rest two of them would come out next year.
In my opinion, it was God’s generosity so that mankind, destined to face total destruction, could make their final resistance. Otherwise, such a thing could never happen.
By the way, only four of the Seven Sacred Weapons took active roles during the Era of Destruction. I had no idea why only four did. The rest three of them left their owners and returned to the Hall of Divinity before the Era of Destruction began.
“Three of them have already come out to the world. Actually, if you dig the hidden history deeper, you might be able to find more. Valkyries can own one of the Seven Sacred Weapons anytime if their attributes are matched.”
Princess Ignes glared in her eyes. Only very few people knew the facts that three of the Seven Sacred Weapons came out to the world and Valkyries could own one of the Seven Sacred Weapons anytime.
“What…? How did you find it out?”
I found this fact because I heard from others. At this time, only a few people knew about this secret. But when the Era of Destruction came, it became common knowledge for most people.
“Aha~ you already knew about this too? Actually I know Valkyries and Elves are close friends, right?”
“······.”
Anyways. Don’t say anything and just follow me. Nothing bad will happen to you.”
She just followed me without making any trouble. She still seemed not trusting me but she probably wanted to check whether it’s true or not just in case. Any religious person dreamed of owning one of the Seven Sacred Weapons. It’s such an honorable and sacred privilege.