Chapter 401: Oh! My Goddess (5)

The Saintess of Twilight was the figure at the center of rumors that had spread rapidly across the Seven Kingdoms Alliance over the past few months.

The Twilight Order had originally assisted the various kingdoms and the Seven Goddesses Church in fighting the Black God's Cult. However, their forces had never been particularly large, so they had remained in supporting roles rather than taking the lead on the front lines.

But everything changed after a certain woman made her appearance. They said she had leapt alone into the heart of enemy lines and turned a thousand undead to ash in a single breath. They said that when she drew her sword and slashed the air, the light of a great goddess descended and burned away the darkness. They said that with each step she took, the earth itself rose to lift and support the saintess.

Honestly, at that point, it sounded like complete nonsense. Regardless, it was clear she was no ordinary figure. This was supposedly the incarnation of the eighth goddess, Serakal of Twilight—a guardian of harmony who stood between life and death and governed the balance of the world.

She brought with her miracles wherever she went, leading the forces of Twilight and fighting against the Black God's army across the lands of the Seven Kingdoms Alliance.

Naturally, Alius had heard of the Saintess of Twilight. Various rumors surrounding her had made it far and wide. He had even seriously contemplated, on several occasions, how he should act if he ever encountered her.

Followers of the twilight goddess were certainly heretics, as was their saintess. As a priest of the seven goddesses church, he could never tolerate such people. But as the war grew increasingly dire, even the general consensus within the church had begun to change.

—There is no need to determine immediately whether the Twilight Order is heretical or not.

—Let us overcome the crisis before us first, and afterward convene a religious council to decide the matter formally.

Such opinions grew louder, and Alius could not simply ignore them. Moreover, it was undeniable that the Twilight Order would be a tremendous asset in battle.

There were far too many exaggerated tales among her legends to believe them entirely, but even if half of the rumors about the Saintess of Twilight were true, she would become a ray of hope in this world that had turned into hell.

So, deep down, he had not been entirely free of anticipation at the thought of meeting her someday.

"The Saintess of Twilight has arrived!"

"The incarnation of Serakal has descended!"

Ignoring the cheers echoing from all directions, the crimson-haired beauty charged into the battlefield. Staring blankly at her figure, Alius muttered, "No, why are you the one showing up here?"

***

The sight of the female swordsman cutting across the battlefield was clearly visible even to the soldiers of the allied forces.

Crimson hair draped over her shoulders like flames, sparkling like jewels. Her pale skin was delicate and pale, akin to porcelain, with facial features both refined and gentle. Her nose was small and well-shaped, her eyelashes were long and full, and her mysterious reddish-brown eyes shone with unwavering strength.

It felt as though her mere presence brightened the battlefield. The soldiers murmured in awed tones.

"So that is the Saintess of Twilight..."

"What divine beauty..."

"She truly looks like a goddess..."

Though they were only soft mutterings to themselves, Serati's heightened senses made their words reach her ears from time to time.

She clicked her tongue inwardly while passing by the soldiers. Ah... I still can't get used to this.

She wasn't particularly burdened by the praise for her beauty. To be honest, she had received countless compliments on her looks over the years. After all, those who were beautiful usually knew it themselves. They simply chose not to flaunt it out of modesty. But sacred beauty...?

From what I can tell, I haven't really changed that much.

It was baffling how drastically the reactions of others had shifted. Still, it didn't matter whether their praises felt awkward or not. There was work to be done.

With a spirited shout, Serati kicked off the ground and soared into the air like a bird. She landed squarely in the midst of the countless undead. The undead turned toward her and began to approach with deathly groans.

Serati drew her sword. The blade flared with a vivid blue aura, but she knew it wasn't enough. As she was now, she was merely a blue knight. So she gently ran her left hand along the blade of her aura sword.

Twilight Swordsmanship: Prelude of Night.

Crimson flames, like the glow of sunset, surged along the blade and engulfed the blue aura. Then, the blazing aura sword carved through the approaching undead one after another.

The undead emitted crude cries. Everything the flaming blade struck immediately turned to ash. Even a mere graze caused flames to spread, burning nearby undead as well.

Thrusting, slashing, kicking, and sweeping the blade in wide arcs, Serati continued her relentless assault of fire. Every undead within a radius of more than ten meters turned into ash and scattered into the wind. The power she displayed was truly overwhelming.

But even this was not enough to shift the tide of battle. At best, she was only clearing the undead that lay within her reach. If she wanted to burn more undead, her blade would need to reach farther. With a cold smile, Serati thrust her aura sword into the air.

Twilight Swordsmanship: Evening Shadow.

Like the lengthening shadows of dusk, the crimson aura blade extended nearly a dozen meters and illuminated the battlefield. The sight resembled a towering pillar of fire, leaving both allies and enemies alike voicing stunned confusion. They let out startled comments, wondering whether she was using magic or aura.

The enlarged flaming sword began cutting through the undead ranks once more. The spectacle of a towering column of fire over a dozen meter long tearing through the battlefield was truly terrifying. Explosions erupted in succession across a radius of dozens of meters, shaking the earth itself.

It was nothing less than divine might. Aura users across the battlefield gasped in awe.

So that is the Twilight Swordsmanship...

Is that truly the goddess's blade bestowed by Serakal herself?

But a few aura users felt a strange sense of familiarity. Most of said individuals were from northern Eustil. Though they did not voice it aloud, they could not help but wonder. Is it just my imagination? That sword technique resembles Tascal Swordsmanship...

Of course, they immediately dismissed the absurd thought.

That can't be right.

How could one compare a third-rate technique like Tascal Swordsmanship to something so divine?

It must be my own lack of learning.

In truth, their suspicion was rightly founded. It really had been created based on Tascal Swordsmanship. After all, a nonexistent Twilight Goddess could hardly have descended to grant Serati a sword technique.

Continuing to incinerate the undead, Serati clicked her tongue inwardly. As expected, martial kings aren't called martial kings for nothing. They really just whip up things like this.

***

If one was to be called the Saintess of Twilight, then naturally she had to use swordsmanship befitting twilight. For that very reason, Karnak had gathered the aura users among their group and handed them a task.

"Come up with an efficient sword technique that a blue-grade aura user with ridiculous physical strength and huge aura reserves can use!"

Under normal circumstances, hearing something that absurd would have sparked protest. Was he joking? After all, sword techniques couldn't be conjured out of thin air. Honestly, such an absurd request was something one would expect from whose entire profession was running their mouth.

That was probably the kind of reaction one would expect. But the future martial kings were different.

"I've actually been thinking about something like that already."

"Oh? Sir Leven, you too?"

"Then Sir Drel as well?"

Both of them had already been entertaining similar thoughts.

That physical strength is going to waste.

That power shouldn't be used like that.

There has to be a better way.

Even Lapicel had felt the same, though she had hidden it. After all, it wasn't something one dared to say to someone who was practically like an elder sister and teacher to her.

Lapicel managed to find the courage in her to speak up. "C-could I dare to contribute as well?"

The moment permission was granted, the three of them immediately put their heads together and began devising the new sword technique.

"It would be best to base it on Tascal Swordsmanship: wouldn't it, Sir Drel?"

"Tascal Swordsmanship has quite solid fundamentals. It might actually be better than overly advanced techniques."

"And with Sir Serati's capabilities, it would be difficult for her to suddenly learn an entirely new style."

"Are you making fun of my sis right now, Leven?"

"Then do you think Sir Serati could immediately learn and use a completely new sword technique?"

"Th-that's not what I meant..."

"You're surprisingly honest when it comes to swordsmanship, Lapicel."

Leven dismantled Tascal Swordsmanship piece by piece, while Drel worked with its essence and reassembled it. Lapicel worked alongside them, diligently assisting by refining the more intuitive aspects.

And so, a sword technique was created, one that allowed someone with brute physical strength and overwhelming aura reserves to fully unleash her abilities. But the swordsmanship was not yet complete.

Leven Strauss, Lapicel Crotium, and Dreltein Thelix were three martial kings of the future. In other words, they were geniuses blessed by the heavens.

They had tried their best to account for Serati's talent and capabilities while designing the technique, but even so, geniuses still had a long way to go before they could truly understand the average person.

In fact, the very first thing Serati said when she saw the technique was this, "How am I supposed to do something like this?"

That was when Varos stepped in. "I knew this would happen. This is what happens when you assign work to geniuses."

He had experience from his days as a death knight lord, driving martial kings to produce sword techniques. While he wasn't capable of creating something entirely new himself, he had a remarkable talent for modifying what others made to suit the level of ordinary people. After all, he himself was very close to average when it came to talent.

Under Varos's guidance, the advanced techniques crafted by the three geniuses were simplified and clarified. The methods were streamlined to the point that any reasonably capable aura user could follow them.

At the same time, the techniques were designed so that without foundational abilities like Serati's, they would be useless. It made it difficult for enemies to decipher the technique. Thus was born the Twilight Swordsmanship: a sword technique that belonged solely to Serati. It was something she insisted had been bestowed upon her by the Twilight Goddess.

***

A pillar of fire stretching over ten meters tore across the battlefield. Everything it brushed against burned to ash. Serati wasn't doing anything complicated. She merely swept horizontally once, then struck vertically, again and again. But when combined with Serati's monstrous aura, it produced terrifying results.

Watching her rampage freely across the battlefield, the necromancers of the Black God ground their teeth. They couldn't believe such a monstrous enemy had joined the fray.

Five necromancers began casting their spells simultaneously. Five streams of darkness formed a pentagram and began dragging corpses from all directions. Countless bones, flesh, and rotting blood gathered together and merged into a single colossal form.

They had summoned a Giant Corpse, a creature among the highest-tier abominations created through necromancy. The necromancers shouted triumphantly after unleashing the undead giant. Regardless of who she was, she wouldn't be able to defeat their powerful creation.

A giant standing five meters tall blocked Serati's path. Its massive body cast a shadow that filled her entire field of vision. But Serati remained calm. "I've seen a dragon five hundred meters long. Why would something five meters tall impress me?"

She lightly kicked off the ground and leapt upward. At the same time, she withdrew the elongated aura blade back to its original length.

The Giant Corpse swung its arms repeatedly, trying to seize her, but it was useless. Compared to the giant's massive frame, Serati was far too fast.

She stepped onto the creature's arm as if climbing a ladder and surged up to its shoulder in a single bound. She then gave a faint, bitter smile as she stared into the giant's clouded, milky eyes. "I'll make this quick for you."

A sharp horizontal slash split the air. Black light erupted from her blade.

Twilight Swordsmanship: Dusk!

Darkness engulfed the giant entirely. A pitch-black veil crushed the five-meter body, compressing it with overwhelming force. Bones and flesh shattered apart like a collapsing building, and the giant's remains burst outward in all directions.

The necromancers gaped in disbelief. They muttered in shock, for they couldn't believe the giant corpse had been destroyed so easily.

After shattering the undead giant in a single strike, Serati landed back on the ground. Her expression turned slightly awkward. I've definitely grown even stronger...

Even this technique itself wasn't particularly complicated. It simply involved unleashing an overwhelming amount of aura and crushing the enemy with brute force. However, her immense aura reserves had transformed a simple technique into such a terrifying killing move.

It feels like I'm drifting further and further away from the path of a true warrior...