In a snowy mountain range, a Spatial Gate appeared out of thin air, and the figures of Zhang Ye and Hainowei emerged.
With lingering fear written across his face, Zhang Ye patted his chest and gasped, “Whew, that was way too intense!”
Two hundred kilometers—that was the maximum range a short-distance Spatial Gate could reach. As for long-distance Spatial Gates... he hadn't finished parsing them yet, so there was nothing he could do.
However, just as the two caught their breath for a brief moment, a golden light flashed in the distance as a terrifying aura rapidly approached.
Zhang Ye was shocked.
So fast?!
Zhang Ye hastily opened another Spatial Gate, pulled Hainowei inside, and fled into the distance once more.
The golden-armored knight, having just arrived, fumed with rage. He burst forth with even greater speed, swearing to strike Zhang Ye down beneath his sword and capture Hainowei!
However, Zhang Ye's instant casts and mana recovery were far too game-breaking. Anyone else would need time to open a Spatial Gate, and Spatial Gates were extremely mana-draining. A normal Tier Nine mage would be nearly drained after opening seven or eight maximum-range Spatial Gates. But what about Zhang Ye?
In just this short span, the kid had opened forty or fifty of them!
He had dragged Hainowei almost ten thousand kilometers away!
If this went on, the knight's own mana would be completely drained before he could catch them!
The golden-armored knight was utterly shaken. How could a mere Tier Nine compete with him, a Three-star Saint-tier, in mana reserves?!
This made the golden-armored knight even more convinced that Zhang Ye was not human, but a Demon!
Only the Demon Race possessed mana reserves and recovery speeds far surpassing those of humans!
No, Hainowei can never be allowed to fall into the hands of the Demon Race!
With absolute resolve in his heart, an unyielding determination flared in the golden-armored knight's eyes.
That was the resolve... to face death!
He stopped chasing, coming to a halt where he stood. Closing his eyes, he pulled his entire aura inward until it was completely trace-less. To perception, it was as if he had vanished from the world altogether.
In the next instant, he opened his eyes. At the same time, golden light as brilliant as the sun erupted from his body. Mana overflowed from his eyes, making him appear all the more sacred.
With a look of deep piety on his face, he gazed into the distance, toward the direction of the Holy See's temple.
He spoke slowly, his voice crossing tens of thousands of miles to echo inside the sanctuary almost simultaneously.
It was a communication... at the soul level.
“Your Holiness, Temple Knight Airmir Litt requests Divine Manifestation!”
Inside the temple, the Pope slowly opened her eyes, a dark golden glow shining within them.
“Granted.” She did not ask about the situation; she simply uttered a single word.
For she knew that every Temple Knight who made such a decision had given it thorough thought. They were already prepared.
Hearing this, Airmir said with a look of deep reverence, “Thank you, Your Holiness.”
With that, his body began to shatter, breaking into fragments of golden light.
He opened his arms as if embracing the world.
His voice was filled with serenity, yet he knew that after this moment, the person named Airmir Litt would cease to exist in this world.
The power of Divine Manifestation used the temple as a conduit to connect with the God Realm and receive an immense power blessing.
This could be called 【Deification】.
However, much like 【Demonization】, obtaining such power came at a terrible price.
The price of Demonization was having one's soul devoured, turning the body into a walking corpse—a beast of slaughter driven only by its lingering obsessions.
And the price of Deification was likewise... the soul.
“By the Lord's command, protect... this world.”
“This is our mission.”
“Though body and soul perish, we hesitate not.”
“I, Airmir Litt, am willing to become the Holy See's sword, forging a path through thorns for the passage of the Light!”
He spoke, and the Pope's ethereal voice drifted back to him, filled with sacred dignity.
“You shall be engraved. Though body and soul perish, you shall remain immortal!”
A terrifying force descended from the sky, accelerating the shattering of Airmir's body, yet a smile of glory rested upon his face.
“Thank you, Your Holiness. May...”
“...THE HOLY LIGHT ENDURE FOREVER!!!”
A thunderous wave of sound resounded in all directions!
Airmir's body finally dissolved into a sky full of light fragments. They rapidly converged within the pillar of light to form a sword of light, its point aiming directly at where Zhang Ye was!
In the next instant, the sword of light moved, shooting forward at the speed of light—straight toward Zhang Ye and Hainowei!
At the same time, Zhang Ye and Hainowei, who had just stepped out of a Spatial Gate, suddenly felt something. Looking back, they saw the sky in that direction dyed in gold. Faint waves of energy radiated outward, filling both of them with intense dread.
Suddenly, a sharp pain pricked the space between Zhang Ye's eyebrows, and a cold chill surged straight from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.
If danger warnings could be visualized, Zhang Ye's field of vision would have already been completely covered in flashing red exclamation marks.
“Oh no, fast...” The extreme sense of crisis turned Zhang Ye's hands and feet ice-cold. He hastily summoned another Spatial Gate and pushed Hainowei toward it.
Subconsciously, he positioned his own body between the golden light and Hainowei.
However, before the words could fully leave his mouth, a golden beam spanned the horizon, thrusting toward the back of Zhang Ye's heart with blinding speed.
Hummm!!! Before it even made contact, the protective power on Zhang Ye felt the fatal threat and flared to life instantly!
The two remaining protective magic circles on 【Parallel Guardian】 were passively triggered, transforming into two red lotus shields between Zhang Ye and the golden light.
However, as the golden light arrived, those two protective magic circles were pierced instantly, like a red-hot iron rod punching through tissue paper!
The first red lotus shield shattered without holding off the golden light for even a fraction of a second.
The second red lotus shield shattered right after, faring only slightly better by blocking it for a mere split second.
The golden light continued forward, touching Zhang Ye's clothes. In that moment, Parallel Guardian activated!
Behind Zhang Ye, an invisible barrier seemed to rise. For a fleeting moment, the golden light could not advance an inch past it.
Yet, that too lasted for only an instant.
The magic robe on Zhang Ye, worth tens of millions of gold coins, burned away completely.
Not even a single corner of the garment remained.
Parallel Guardian had shielded Zhang Ye for merely a hundredth of a second.
The golden light pressed on, piercing through Zhang Ye's school uniform and drawing dangerously close to his skin.
At that precise instant, a terrifying power erupted from within Zhang Ye's body.
A phantom image appeared above Zhang Ye's head.
It was the phantom image of Leona.
It was a thread of protective power Leona had left inside Zhang Ye beforehand, meant to prevent him from being eaten by some magical beast.
Now, it served its purpose.
Though that power was only at the Three-star Saint-tier, it condensed into a single force in an instant, standing firm before the golden light.
Yet in the end, it still was not enough.
In just a tenth of a second, that phantom image shattered into pieces.
Everything occurred in the blink of an eye. Those fleeting fractions of a second could collectively be called "a single instant."
Because it was simply too fast.
In a single instant, the four layers of defensive power on Zhang Ye shattered one after another, yet the golden light's momentum remained unabated.
However, it was precisely that "single instant" bought by the four protective layers that allowed Zhang Ye to react.
He did not dodge, because Hainowei was right in front of him. If he dodged, the golden light would inevitably strike her.
In that instant, time seemed to slow down.
Zhang Ye thought of many things.
The Hainowei before him was merely a clone.
Furthermore, as one of the Ten Great Elemental Spirits, she could not die. Even if the golden light struck her, she would not perish; the power of this world was not enough to erase her completely. It would only revert her to her primal form, turning her into an unconscious elemental body that would slowly recover over time.
Even if it was only for a fraction of a second, with Zhang Ye's reaction speed, it was more than enough time to cast Blink and dodge.
Yet he did not do so.
This little girl had lived for a million years.
She had been hurt by humans so many times.
She had long lost faith in humanity.
He had promised her that he would never disappoint her.
And Zhang Ye was a man of his word.
So at this moment...
...he would not let her get hurt either.
Because he had cast the Spatial Gate instantly, most of Hainowei's body was already inside it.
In that instant, Zhang Ye shoved with all his might, pushing the very tip of Hainowei's tail into the portal. He then released his control over the Spatial Gate, letting it snap shut as fast as possible under the laws of space.
Hainowei turned her head in shock.
In that instant, the Spatial Gate was nearly closed, but through the shrinking opening no bigger than a bowl, she could see Zhang Ye's smiling face.
In that instant, a golden beam had already pierced straight through his chest, yet a gentle smile rested upon his face.
That smile instantly shattered Hainowei's emotional defenses.
She wanted to turn back, to reach through the Spatial Gate and grab his hand, but the portal had already snapped shut. Moments later, a dazzling white light erupted in the distance, illuminating half the sky.
Shaking and supersonic shockwaves followed, shearing off the top of a mountain. Hainowei's petite body appeared so minuscule amidst the surging shockwaves.
Yet she did not budge. Although the shockwave was grand in scale, hundreds of miles of distance meant it could no longer move her.
She simply stared blankly into the distance as the golden light slowly vanished, tears streaming down her face.
“Ye... Ye...” she murmured mindlessly, again and again.
Her body moved, flying back toward the direction of the golden light, her speed growing faster and faster.
“Zhang Ye!!!”
...
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