Chapter 390: Lightning Didn’t Fall From the Sky (9)

The most dangerous moment for a person does not come when everything is shrouded in darkness, when one is tormented by countless choices, or even when doubt fills the heart.

Rather, it is when everything feels clear, when one is certain that only a single path remains, and when the heart is filled with unwavering faith. That is when a person becomes more dangerous than ever—both to themselves and to the world.

At the end of her deliberation, the Thunderarch chose her faith.

Since lightning alone wasn’t enough to kill him, she retrieved the sword she rarely used.

Taking advantage of the thick fog, she launched a surprise attack from behind him.

Filled with divine conviction, she acted as an agent of the heavens.

The King of Humans had no time to resist—he was incapacitated before he could even react.

Lightning coursed through the blade and shook his entire body.

But only for a moment.

The lightning soon disappeared into nothingness.

That annoying ability to dissipate lightning was still active.

Now, only the blade remained.

The Thunderarch gripped her sword tighter, preparing to finish him off.

But before she could deliver the finishing blow, the blade snapped like a brittle twig.

The steel, once sharp, crumbled and disappeared.

Not only that, a sinister energy seeped into the space around them, even consuming the air itself.

It was dangerous to anyone, but especially to the Thunderarch whose perfect body was made of alchemy.

The power of Wither.

A force that corroded and disrupted form itself, starting with the sword and crept ever closer towards the Thunderarch.

She immediately drew upon the power of thunder to shield herself.

Since being in direct contact with him meant her lightning would be drained, she had no choice but to distance herself.

As the sword that had pierced his stomach disintegrated, his body collapsed forward, thrown off balance.

The attack had been fatal, yet he was still alive.

Breath filled his lungs and life flowed in his veins.

She had to act quickly.

To make sure he was dead.

The Thunderarch turned to Peru and spoke.

[Withdraw your power, Witherarch.]

Peru stared in disbelief at the unmistakably changed Thunderarch.

“…Why? Thunderarch, why would you do this to him?”

[He is dangerous. For the future of this city, he must be eliminated.]

“…That can’t be right. How… how does killing him protect the future?”

She was clearly wary.

It was natural—she had just watched the Thunderarch stab a man right before her eyes.

The Thunderarch exercised patience, attempting to persuade her.

[As a ruler, you should understand. Some secrets have the power to shatter the world. Think about the Golden Lord’s bell in your possession. If you were to reveal everything about it, would this nation truly become safer? No, it would only be thrown into greater peril.]

“…And that is enough reason to kill someone innocent?”

[He is the King of Humans. The representative of all mankind. Any secret he learns will one day belong to all of humanity. Just as a king represents his people, people will follow the example of their king.]

The Thunderarch reached out her hand.

A spark of lightning extended from her palm, tracing the ground while sifting through rock and soil and retrieving the forgotten fragments of metal buried beneath them.

Claudia was the largest city in the Fallen Dominion.

Scraps of discarded Alchemic Steel were scattered beneath the earth.

The Thunderarch gathered them into her grasp.

She was a Primarch of the Fallen Dominion as well.

With lightning-infused alchemy, she purged the rust and filth off of the scraps of metal, reforging them into a sharp blade.

The angel of thunder once more pointed her lightning-imbued sword at the fallen King of Humans, bleeding upon the ground.

[I may have overlooked the Golden Lord as it was already too late to hide his secrets, but the secret of the Lightning Thief—he must never learn it. If he does, it will plant doubt in the hearts of every human. It will lead them into an abyss of despair.]

Peru was stunned.

The King of Humans?

She had heard of vampires, Saintesses, and the King of Beasts—

But never the King of Humans.

Perhaps such a being did exist.

But it was not something Peru had ever considered, not while she was still occupied with solving the problems directly in front of her.

Yet…

Perhaps that was why he traveled with the Progenitor.

Peru, having reached a quiet understanding, nodded.

The Thunderarch took that as agreement and smiled.

[You understand. Good, then—]

But before she could finish, her sword, radiating a sharp aura, suddenly lost its brilliance.

Lightning coursed through the reforged blade—

Yet, rather than empowering it, the energy became a burden.

With a brittle snap, the blade fractured in the middle.

Peru, who had shattered the sword in an instant, let out a deep sigh.

“…I am an alchemist. I only follow the law of value and killing him… has no value.”

[Even if his death means securing the Fallen Dominion… even ensuring the future?]

“…Death is the loss of value. No matter how it happens, no matter what the reason.”

[His death is merely one step back, so that we may all move forward.]

“…No. It’s different. It’s not a step back. Once value is lost, it does not transform into something else. It never… comes back.”

Such words were spoken by the Witherarch, whose power was to erase value itself.

Her words themselves carried a weight unlike anyone else’s.

Realizing Peru would not step aside, the Thunderarch shook her head in regret.

[Then there is no choice. I had hoped to make you the Goldenarch and entrust this nation to you to establish order.]

She discarded her broken sword.

Already rusted and crumbling, it fell to the ground without a sound.

Now empty-handed, the Thunderarch extended her palm toward the sky.

In Claudia, she was unmatched.

As long as her lightning wasn’t being drained, all the city’s power belonged to her.

With her outstretched hand serving as a lightning rod, the latent thunder trapped within the clouds responded to her call.

[I will not kill you, but still, try to survive if you can. Though, I wonder how long you’ll last with that broken body.]

Thunder Grasp.

She seized the lightning and brought it down with her hands. The clouds above rumbled, flashing ominously.

And then—

A pillar of lightning connected the sky and earth.

The force tore apart the ground, quaking the sky and land alike.

The deafening roar spread far and wide as the upturned earth was swept away by the mist.

As the dust settled, the aftermath of the lightning strike revealed itself.

The Thunderarch narrowed her eyes.

Sharp, steel spikes had risen from the ground, forming a protective barrier.

Alchemy.

Peru had countered the lightning.

It was a well-executed defense.

But no alchemic lightning rod should have stopped the force of that strike.

Yet—

Something else had.

“Ahaha! Father, after all that running around, you finally let a woman stab you? I knew this day would come!”

Out of nowhere, Hilde appeared.

Her hand shone with radiant lights.

She had blocked the lightning effortlessly.

Hilde glanced down at the fallen Hughes, examining him.

His abdomen had been pierced and blood pooled beneath him.

He seemed unconscious.

It was a fatal wound, sure, but for it to be enough to knock him out…

Then, Hilde saw it.

His outstretched hand was gripping the kite attached to the Thunder God’s back.

Hilde chuckled, sighing as she placed her hand over his wound.

“Really~? You’re no fun when you don’t talk back, Father! You’re more entertaining as a whole meal, huh? Looking at you like this, you’re just pitiful and miserable.”

A white light engulfed his wound.

As if time itself was reversing, the wound vanished.

The Thunderarch knew what it was.

She had never seen it before in her life.

Yet, she understood it instinctively.

[Holy Power?]

Healing took time, whether naturally, spiritually, or magically.

Hilde, needing to stall, cheerfully explained.

“Yup! Believe it or not, ‘I’m’ a devoted believer! I can even recite the scriptures by heart!”

And the Saintess of Origin anointed her hands and laid them upon the sick. Thus, their wounds healed, and their afflictions vanished.“See? If you pray with sincerity—voilà! Even the universe itself will grant you miracles!”

[I know what this is! But why… why are you healing him? Surely, you understand this is the will of the Sky God…]

Just then, she realized something.

Something that made her expression twist in shock.

[The Blank-Faced One! The heretic!]

Hilde grinned.

“Heretic? Don’t be silly. If I were a heretic… how could I still wield Holy Power~?”

It is common sense—only those with devout faith can wield Holy Power.

Since Holy Power is a gift bestowed by the Sky God, it is an undeniable truth that those who lacked faith and did not follow the Sky God could not use it…

And that was why Hilde became a taboo within the Sanctum.

Before she became a Crusader, Hilde was an actress.

Her deep immersion in her roles allowed her to portray anything as if it were real.

Even faith itself.

Even the act of wielding Holy Power as a Crusader.

That was why, despite once being the most promising among them, she was exiled to a place where no one could find her.

To prevent even the slightest room for doubt in their faith.

[A heretic dares to steal the power of the Sky God…!]

Hilde, having finished her emergency treatment, smiled as she looked up at the Thunderarch.

“Fufu, isn’t it fascinating? A heretic? An apostate? How exactly does one steal the power of a god? Can power even be stolen? If a god is omnipotent, does it make sense that their power can be taken from them?”

Without replying, the Thunderarch’s lightning rained down once again.

Having realized Hilde’s true nature, she unleashed her full might without hesitation.

But—

“Neither rain nor storm, neither thunder nor lightning—nothing could disturb the prayer of the Saintess.”

As Hilde placed a hand over her chest and recited a prayer, the lightning missed.

It wasn’t just a simple misfire.

The lightning itself seemed to avoid her—veering sharply away and striking the ground instead.

A miracle once performed by the very Saintess of Origin—parting storms and lightning to cross the continent.

Now, transcending time, that miracle was manifesting right now through Hilde’s faith.

[The Blessing of the Sky…!]

“See~? ‘I’ can wield Holy Power, more skillfully than you, even! So wouldn’t that mean everything ‘I’ do is also sanctioned by the gods?”

[You heretic!]

Even without the Blessing of the Sky, a master of martial arts at Hilde’s level wouldn’t be threatened by lightning.

Those who have achieved Geon, Gon and Gam can direct the flow of energy, channeling lightning through their feet to discharge it harmlessly into the ground.

The only viable means of fighting her was close combat.

Abandoning ranged attacks, the Thunderarch infused herself with lightning once more.

She would personally execute this heretic and cleanse this land of savagery.

Facing the quickly approaching Angel of Thunder, Hilde grinned.

“Oh, by the way, ‘I’ can do this too~.”

Hilde crossed her arms, lightly caressing her shoulders as if playing the part of a lonely, vulnerable woman.

Then, with a solemn and pious expression, she whispered.

“My faith is a single blade of steel. With light, I shall sever evil and illuminate the path. O Saintess of Origin, look upon ‘me’ with favor.”

With that, Hilde drew forth blades of light from both of her shoulders.

She exhaled deeply and spun the twin swords in her hands.

“Holy Sword, unsheathed.”

The reason the Crusaders were called so—they were people who had refined their faith into a blade and were bestowed with divine power.

Swords imbued with the unwavering conviction of an ideal.

There was no room for doubt—

Hilde was a devout believer.

The blades she forged with her unwavering faith proved as much.

“Cool, right~? What do you think? Even with ‘my’ faith, the Holy Sword manifests itself!”

[You wretched—!]

The Thunderarch’s fist fell like a thunderbolt.

Her hand, cloaked in lightning, possessed greater destructive power than the lightning itself.

But Hilde merely redirected it.

As the Thunderarch’s strike descended, Hilde angled her twin swords in a soft, fluid motion—guiding the force away.

Exploiting the opening, Hilde channeled her Qi and struck the Thunderarch in the ribs.

Her stance collapsed slightly.

She couldn’t counterattack immediately.

Instead, the Thunderarch shifted her body to absorb the blow, using the force of the impact to rebound backward.

As their auras clashed and repelled one another, they both skidded apart.

Dusting off her feet, Hilde smirked.

“So you’re just throwing your body around? What, is that your strategy? If your body’s tough enough, you don’t even need Qi Arts?”

[This too is the will of the heavens. I will eradicate all threats here and now. You, and the barbarian alike.]

“Think you can do it? ‘I’ unsheathed my Holy Sword, you know? Right next to a vampire, no less.”

Throughout their travels, Hilde rarely displayed her Holy Power.

Not when the Progenitor of Vampires—the dedicated executioner of the Sanctum—was right beside her.

The Relentless Butcher of Saintesses was sleepless, merciless, and absurdly strong.

Not to mention, she had a keen instinct for detecting Holy Power.

Even for a Crusader, using her abilities in front of Tyrkanzyaka had been unthinkable.

And yet, here she was.

Using it freely.

Hoping to draw the Progenitor’s attention.

Hilde was burning through her Holy Power without hesitation.

If she kept it up, the Progenitor would soon come to erase all traces of the Sanctum.

But—

The Thunderarch simply responded as if she had anticipated it all.

[If you’re referring to the Progenitor—she will not come.]