abcnovels
Book 3: Chapter 17: Why Did You Strike Me? Strike Her Instead…
Book 3: Chapter 17: Why Did You Strike Me? Strike Her Instead…
Book 3: Chapter 17: Why Did You Strike Me? Strike Her Instead…
The dark stormy clouds transformed into a gigantic hand that could cover the sky and came pressing down. The powerful wind pressure turned the entire sky dark, as it rolled up the dust and countless debris. The destructive aura that the gigantic hand was exuding made the tens of thousands of believers prostrate themselves as they trembled on the ground.
“Hmph.”
The Pope snorted coldly and didn’t let his anger blind him in the end. The gigantic hand that loomed over the entire square quickly shrank when it was about to reach the ground. Even so, the magic power contained in it didn’t weaken. When tremendous magic was compressed, its power increased even more!
Although the opponent looked like a helpless, frail, and adorable young girl of twelve or thirteen years old, those who dared to blaspheme against the Goddess must be exterminated. Not even her remains were allowed to exist!
Only in matters like this, the Pope would never show even a trace of mercy.
The gigantic hand fell quickly. Lilith couldn’t evade even if she wanted, because the space around her had been completely sealed at this time. She couldn’t even move an inch. This was a common trick that beings above the saint realm would use to completely crush their enemies’ hope of escaping.
Lilith had experienced this when she faced a being of the saint realm before. However, it was even more terrifying this time. The old man in front of her didn’t even unleash his domain yet, and he had immediately sealed off the space around her from afar. An ordinary saint realm would never be capable of this.
Lilith was really in a pinch this time.
“Defense.”
Accompanied by a familiar voice, a purple crystal appeared above Lilith and transformed into a semicircular shield that barely intercepted the nearly unstoppable attack from the Pope. It was only then that Lilith was finally reminded of the fact she still had Sae, a former Artifact Spirit of a Divine Artifact, by her side.
“Sae…!” Lilith felt hot tears welling up in her eyes. So it seemed like this useless Artifact Spirit wasn’t that useless at a critical moment like this.
“Lady Lilith… I think… we’d better withdraw first.” Sae’s complexion had never been paler before. Even a strand of her hair had turned white.
“S-Sae, what’s wrong with you? Are you alright? Please tell me you are! I’d be a goner if something were to happen to you!”
“That would have sounded better without the last sentence.” Sae forced a smile. “I’m really giving it my all here since it hasn’t been that long since I merged with Eleanor. This body is not mine, it’s not gonna hold much longer.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll use the spatial scroll now! It’s a demigod ranked scroll, this old guy won’t be able to seal it.”
When Lilith was about to take out the spatial scroll, she was interrupted by an angry howl.
“RUTH DEVIA!!!” The veins on the Pope’s temples bulged. The expression on his face turned sinister as an unprecedented murderous intent exploded from him.
Lilith was stunned for two seconds by the Pope’s sudden rage before she suddenly recalled that the body Sae was using right now seemed to be an international wanted criminal…
So it turned out that a useless Artifact Spirit was useless after all!! Not only that, she had just caused an enemy boss to go berserk!
Compared to having the Goddess statue destroyed by someone of an unknown origin, it was much more humiliating to have it destroyed by an internationally-known wanted criminal. At least, if it was someone of an unknown origin, they could still cover up the truth by saying that the unknown blonde loli was actually a demon from hell and that the church had spent tremendous efforts to capture her. Not only did the Pope sacrifice several decades of his life span, but the lives of countless knights had also been sacrificed to subdue her. At least this way, they could gloss over things.
However, with her known origins, there was no way they could cover up the story. Having the most precious Goddess statue of the Luminous Theocracy destroyed by a top wanted criminal and her accomplice was destined to turn them into the butt of the joke to other countries and be recorded in the books of history. The Luminous Theocracy had just welcomed the most humiliating history since its founding and as the Pope, he would definitely be crucified on the pillar of shame.
Therefore, the Pope had decided not to allow these two people to escape at all costs.
“Luminous… Realm.”
As soon as his voice fell, the entire place was bathed in light.
Lilith, who was just about to take out the spatial scroll and run, suddenly realized that she couldn’t feel anything.
She couldn’t feel any pain, hear anything, smell anything or sense anything. Golden light filled her vision and she was only aware of herself.
It was like there was nothing else around except for the light and ‘I’.
Since she couldn’t perceive anything, the thought of using the spatial scroll to escape was completely gone from her mind. Lilith was no different than a fish on a chopping board, just waiting for someone to chop her.
All of a sudden, she felt heat on her hand. Sae’s voice rang out in her mind. “Lady Lilith, art thou alright?”
“Sae? Where are you?” Lilith asked in her mind.
“I’m right next to you, Lady Lilith. Since thou can’t perceive my existence right now, I am communicating with thou through my real body.”
So they were able to communicate because of the broken sword in her grip? That meant Sae was also in the same situation as her right now.
“What’s going on! Why am I suddenly like this?”
“This is probably a… unique magic.”
The concept of unique magic appeared in Lilith’s mind.
It was a special magic that would only awaken within certain magicians with unusual talents or a small minority with deep understanding of magic. Each awakened unique magic differed from each other. Hence, it was extremely challenging to produce countermeasures against them. Not every unique magic was powerful, but all of them share a common characteristic.
They were extremely sickening.
According to Akarin, two magician brothers appeared a long time ago. They weren’t very powerful magicians, but they had awakened their extremely special unique magic.
One could instantly obliterate an existence with a specific title, regardless of their realm.
The other could forcibly change an existence’s name to a specific title.
The two brothers were invincible in that era.
“This magic… Is there a way to counter it…?”
“…No.” It was the answer that Lilith had expected.
‘Is that so? Seems like we’re really goners this time.’ Lilith silently thought to herself.
“Lady Lilith, do not give up!”
“Oh, did you think of a way already, Sae?”
“Not yet. But you see Lady Lilith, every time thou thought that thou art doomed, thou ended up just fine. Maybe it will be the same this time too. Perhaps the heavens like to oppose Lady Lilith.”
“…Then isn’t it better for me to just give up directly?”
“Oh… that makes more sense. But…”
Crack! Sae’s voice suddenly disappeared mid-sentence probably because the old man had amplified his magic.
Seems we are really, really, really, really goners this time.
Unless, I, Lilith is really, really, really, really the kind of person that the heavens always like to oppose.
But, how can I, Lilith, really, really, really, really make the heavens oppose me?
If the heavens will oppose me, then please really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really bring me a huge turnaround!
BOOM!
It was a familiar voice. So familiar that it could make one tremble.
The golden light gradually disappeared as their perception returned.
The one in front of them was…
It was the Pope, who looked burnt with smoke coming out of him after getting struck by lightning.
The Pope’s lips were squirming. It took Lilith a long time to figure out what he said.
“Goddess, I wasn’t the one who ruined your statue. Why did you strike me? Strike her instead…”
Every word was truly mournful.