Fighting Safelia

The fight started instantly.

Neither Safelia nor I hesitated. Both of us knew that there was not a peaceful way out of it.

And even if there was, we were not going to accept it.

A magic circle appeared behind Safelia. The magic circle carried a holy feeling and arcs of lightning circled it.

"Don't worry, prince. I won't kill you! I'm not so reckless as to kill a prince! However, I think nobody will mind if I left you half-dead, right?"

Before she finished speaking, her spell was cast.

Seventh-Layer Divine Spell, [Spears of Order and Punishment]!

Seven holy spears surrounded by lightning sparks left the magic circle. The spears flew towards me at lightning speed!

Despite Safelia just saying that she was not going to kill me, the spell she used was a lethal one! It was more than enough to kill any fifth-layer practitioner!

But well, I'm not a normal fifth-layer practitioner.

Without even looking at the spears, I moved. My body bypassed the spears and appeared right in front of Safelia!

At some point, a sword had appeared on my hand. The sword shone with sharp killing intent that slashed towards the saintess.

Safelia furrowed her brows. With a wave of her hand, the spears turned around to attack me. At the same time, a barrier appeared around her to defend her from my slash.

*BOOM!!!*

The sword and the barrier clashed. A powerful shockwave hit the room, destroying everything inside from the chairs to the tables.

Fortunately, I had put a barrier with defensive and soundproof properties around the room beforehand. Otherwise, just this clash would have blown half of the building.

The first clash was just the start of our fight. As soon as her barrier stopped my sword, I took a step back and evaded a spear of light. Then, I zigzagged around the room, evading the other spears.

Each spear pierced the ground, missing me completely. I looked at Safelia coldly and disappeared from my position, appearing behind her.

*Clang!*

Once more, my sword clashed with her barrier.

This time, though–

*Crack!*

The barrier cracked.

"!!!"

Safelia paled. She hurriedly cast another barrier, barely stopping my sword. Then, a teleportation spell appeared below her feet and moved her to the other side of the room.

When she reappeared, she looked at me with a grave expression.

"You… You are not a fifth-layer practitioner!"

I shrugged. "Shocked? Why do you think I dared to confront you, saintess?"

Safelia's expression darkened. "I see. To think you have been hiding your strength all this time. Heh, with this level of strength, it's not strange you are so proud and stubborn. However, you underestimate the power of a saintess!"

As soon as her words finished, an enormous power descended in her body!

That power was incredibly strong and carried a pressure that forced people to bow towards it. Yes, it was the power of a god!

"Do you think I'm a normal tenth-layer practitioner? Haha, Prince Claus, I'm a divine arts use, a saintess! Even if you were a twelfth-layer practitioner, I would not fear you!"

Divine arts practitioners were a bit different than mages and warriors. In a certain way, they could be considered stronger.

It's because using divine arts did not exclude using magic or martial arts. Quite the opposite, it enhances them. A mage can use divine arts to enhance the power of his magic and a martial artist can use divine power to strengthen his attacks.

The problem is that to use divine arts, you must have faith.

In other words, you must get the recognition of a god and receive feedback in the way of divine arts.

But earning the recognition of a god is not an easy thing. Unless you are a devout believer that dedicates a good amount of its time to pray or convert new believers, you can't get it.

Thus, the only ones able to use divine arts are people of the church. Well, there are some exceptions, but they are few and far between.

As for Safelia, she is not a normal divine arts practitioners.

She is the church's saintess.

And being a saintess has a few perks.

One of them being the fact that she can use divine power to forcibly enhance her cultivation, just like now.

Safelia's strength climbed crazily. In less than one second, her aura was almost as strong as Headmistress Evelyn's.

Blinding white light and lightning snakes crazed around of her. It was a manifestation of the two laws the Goddess of Order had earned the recognition of, order, and lightning.

Moreover, as the main god of the empire and humanity, the amount of faith the Goddess of Order could use was frightening. It meant that the power of her lightning and order laws was incredibly powerful, and the support she could draw from the world was enormous.

But when the Goddess's laws were about to drown me, I snorted coldly.

"Stop."

It was as though my words were the law. Almost instantly, the power of lightning and order in the room froze!

Safelia was stunned. She hurriedly tried to regain control of the power, but I waved my sword.

A powerful sword intent erupted from my sword. The sword intent quickly covered the entire room, attacking the lightning and order laws and destroying them completely!

"Even if you use the goddess's power you are not my match, saintess. Perhaps it could be possible if you were the Goddess herself. Although to be honest, I don't fear her either." I said with a smirk.

"Heresy!" Saintess Safelia screamed. Suddenly, a pure white burning spear appeared on her hands. The pure white fire on the spear seemed to burn each sin, and nothing impure could go against it.

Safelia kicked the ground and rushed towards me!

"Die!"

I chuckled. With a twist of my wrist, my sword was infused with my space laws.

[Reality Render]!

It was just the weakened version of the technique, but it was enough on this occasion. When my sword met the spear, the burning white fire was extinguished completely.

Then, I extended my hand and–

*Slap!*

"This was for Lina."

The sound of my hand hitting her cheek reverberated in the room.

Safelia was stunned. But when her mind processed what happened, her eyes turned red.

"Bastard!"

Once more, she called upon the power of the goddess. Unfortunately for her, I was already getting bored with her repetitive tricks.

"It's useless."

With a wave of my hand, my sword intent erased the divine power.

When Safelia saw the ease with which I eliminated the divine power, her face was filled with disbelief.

"Impossible!"

Meanwhile, I–

*Slap!*

"This was for Clara."

Safelia held her reddened cheek with fear in her eyes. Finally, she had understood that things were not looking good.

"Bastard!" Safelia was even angrier, but she knew she was at a disadvantage. So, she cast a teleportation spell to escape the room.

But to surprise, the spell failed to activate.

At the same time, another slap was coming for her cheek.

*Slap!*

"This one is because I don't like you."

"You…!!! Mother goddess, help me!"

Her scream seemed to cause a call upon a higher power. Suddenly, an enormous hand of mana descended from the skies towards the room where we were fighting!

But how could I allow her to intervene?

Opening my mouth, I spoke only two words.

"Get lost!"

And in the depths of my mind, something awakened.

A set of complicated runes appeared. The set of runes lit up with a bright glow, taking the shape of a sword that appeared on my hand.

But this was not a normal sword. In fact, you could only see a vague shape of something sword-like that seemed to exist and not to exist at the same time. It was as though a piece of space itself would have been cut and used to forge this sword.

It was my strongest attack technique and at the same time the weapon that accompanied me through many lifetimes.

Holding the sword on my hand, I slashed down!

[Reality Render]!

The attack severed reality into two. The will of the goddess was completely erased, and the space in the path of my sword ceased to exist.

[AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!]

A cry of pain resounded in the capital, but I ignored it. Instead, I gestured with my hand to cast a spell.

A magic circle appeared below my feet, quickly extending to cover the entire room. Then, a flimsy-looking transparent barrier appeared.

As soon as the barrier appeared, this room's connection to the outside world disappeared.

From now onwards, not even a god can interfere with what happens here.

The only way to interfere is having higher space attainments than mine.

Once I was done, I turned towards the stupefied saintess.

"Well, saintess, I think we have some things to talk about."

...

Long chapter...

P4TRE0N: patr-eon.com/aidnovels