“These are words of an evil spirit. Everyone, with all our hearts, let us pray to the Goddess to free this corrupt evil spirit from it’s suffering here.” Opal said and she herself bent her knees in prayer.
The knights had their own form and kneeled like knights lowering their heads and prayed, this included Nil.
As they did that, the knight screamed like a crazed animal trying to diminish their faith but it only gathered it, slowly the little Cherub’s body began to shine. A holy yellow light began to come from it’s body as they prayed and soon one by one they looked up as it’s body high like a small holy child being born.
In the sky, dark storm clouds had long covered the sky while the light of the Cherub grew brighter until finally, he opened his eye and raised his hands causing a pillar of light to shoot up to the clouds. The clouds circled like a hurricane forming but the center opened. Holy Light descended from this opening and from this, the delicate sounds of heaven was heard.
The light spread further and further until suddenly a holy unprecedented pressure dropped from the heaven upon the people.
An immense dark aura that filled the land began to release cracks as if bones were being broken until a sound of glass shattering was heard. The light spread while this fog dispersed completely.
Then from the circle of light, two figures could be seen descending.
The light coming from the Cherub faded and his figure slowly dropped down into Opal’s hands as she had sat up to see as well.
The two figures grew closer until everyone saw the pair of wings on their backs and in their hands were farm tools. One held upon a hoe and another a scythe. One looked like a well kept farmer while the other looked like a rancher and both were dressed, unexpectedly, like farmers but they were clean, handsome and fit causing the young girls to blush.
They flew and stopped not 20 meters in the air. Everyone bowed to them because they knew, true celestial beings that were not like the simple familiars they had seen had truly descended. Not only that, although they had clothing like commoners, their power was unfathomable. Nil’s heart clenched as he thought, “These beings… they are both stronger than Archmagus Valmor!” He thought as sweat gathered on his forehead.
“Greetings great celestial beings.” Opal said.
They both looked at her and smiled warmly, “Young human child, this whole time our Goddess has been watching this…” The one holding a hoe looked around and gestured around, “Until today, her Holy Goddess has tolerated her follower’s misdeeds and corruption that slowly led them down the wrong path but only because they have never dared to do an incident such as this. Her final strand of patience has gone and she was prepared to fill the land with her anger spreading to the four corners of the world but thanks to your gesture of asking for forgiveness, she has chosen to forgive and instead, she has sent us, one of her Dominions of the Earthly Harvest and Dominion of Saintly Spirit Harvest, to put her followers onto the right path once more.” he said.
Opal bowed deeply, “I thank her holiness for being benevolent to us mortals allowing us to be graced by her presence and that of her trusted ones.” Opal said.
The two of them smiled but suddenly the one with the scythe scowled and glared at the knight, “You, filthy heretic of my holiness’s faith! By decree of her holiness, your soul shall spend one hundred years in holy flame, being purified before it is rebirthed into the world once more.” He said and waved his scythe.
Suddenly a wave of immense power slammed into the crucified Knight. Then the Dominion stretched his hand and gripped the air and pulled causing a bright white ball to be pulled out of his body.
Chains that wrapped around the soul soon pulled until it reached the hand and pulled out the soul of the scarecrow monster. “You, innocent soul guided by the wrong, shall be reborn as a Knight of Straw, to live and die protecting this faithful young woman who embodies what the Goddess wishes for her true followers to be like.” The Dominion said holding the soul of the knight and with its scythe, cutting the chains of servitude and pushing the soul into the ground. Soon from the ground, a scarecrow rose from the ground, wielding a scythe but this time, it wore bright armor and released a holy aura. No one thought of it as a cold demon but felt a warm light from him.
The Dominion closed his hand around the soul making it vanish as he sent it on it’s journey to suffer it’s punishment.
“We shall take our leave, the Harvest Goddesses Order shall be lead and commanded by us from this day forth, all you spies sent with ill intent shall come with us and we shall meet your pope whom shall be punished for his corruption as shall all those in power and abuse it!” The Dominion of Saintly Spirit Harvest announced.
With a simple wave of his hand, arms of light grabbed several dozen men and wrapped them in light chains before they stepped through the void pulling these men vanishing from them. Even so, the holy aura in the air did not fade and instead, slowly spread throughout the land filling the earth, the trees, the plants, the animals and spread far and wide filling the land with vitality causing the land to turn vibrant and beautiful under the Holy Blessing of The Goddess of Harvest.
Opal watched with a smile as she thinks about the words spoken in silence by the Dominions in sync, “Come to the home of our Goddesses order once your small familiar splits upon evolving further for you require careful guidance as the power of our Goddess is not simple nor is that of any of us who follow her.” She smiled turning to her husband and pulling him close and giving him a kiss. “Our lives are so blessed.” She said.
Nil was surprised but he smiled and hugged her with a warm smile, “They are.”
The crucifix was left for two days as a warning all those with evil intents as well as one to the Harvest Church who still possess grudges that the holy commandments are not something to be easily broken. Then the knight was taken by the Knight of Straw and buried following the churches costumes of burial as the final grace to let the body rest in the ground and dispelling the evil grudges the corpse had accumulated.
Chapter 23
“Muu~!” Univa lets out a groan of anger while stomping her feet.
Xero was blushing while having beside him Ashley hugged his arm while Meldie walked beside him with a large bag to carry food.
“Stop pouting already.” Ashley said.
“This was supposed to be just me and Xero!” Univa said.
Ashley snorted, “You were never alone from the get go since I and your dragon are right here.” Ashley said.
Her clothing were her common swordswoman dress, Meldie was wearing a one piece dress while Univa was wearing a casual fluttery shirt and skirt and her hair was made up and she looked ready to date.
“I-I just need to buy food ingredients…” Meldie said blushing greatly while fidgeting.
Univa was extremely furious, “You two are obstructions.” She out right said.
“Grahh~!” a growl came from the Blue white creature that didn’t remove itself from hugging Xero.
“YOU AS WELL!” She said pointing at the little creature.
“Grah!” It shouted at her.
This creature, that was formed of flames starting from a small blue pointed stone at the end of the ‘tail’ was formed of flames and had a round face like a wooden mask with large eyes, two small nose holes and a large grinning mouth for the head while flames gush out as ‘hair’. The body was held together by two ‘ribs’. It also had two hands that were separate from the body and formed by a similar stone at its wrist and its hands are formed by flames except the fingers that were similar to head.
This creature was none other than the Sentient Holy Sword Devil Flame. Previously, when it had been truly formed, it was simply a sentient wisp of flame that was violent towards Ashley but after being tempered along with Ashley for dozens of times its body had already been prepared and the breakthrough refined its soul. In fact, if the Flame had not evolved Ashley wouldn’t as well.
After she appeared yesterday, shocking them all, Ni
ght was called since he knew some about it but he couldn’t help out here since he never met a young Sword Devil.
That said, one thing that was noticed was that the flame hated Ashley but was almost madly in love with Xero and was almost always attached to him. It was like a newborn towards its father or parent, though Ashley wasn’t considered the mother.
“Grah! Grah!” She shouted.
“Hmph, a baby doesn’t have the right to be around Xero.” She said.
“GRAH! GRAH!” the little flame spirit shouted.
“Alright alright, stop you both. You go back to sleep.” Ashley said and pointed at the spirit.
“Grah!” it shouted.
“Don’t get cheeky with me.” Ashley pointed at her and suddenly the little spirit bit her finger. “Ouch!” She said and pulled but the little flame had a hard bite and was stuck to her finger while Ashley waved her hand around until the flame spirit finally released and flew right at Xero’s face and hugged him like a cat on her favorite owner.
“Damn little!” Ashley cursed as her finger was burned white, an effect the Holy Sword Devil Fire has on her. It was truly a power that has many downsides if not for the fact that towards devils it would be the most destructive force.
The only difference, from what Xero and the others know, is that this little spirit wasn’t as violent towards Ashley as she ‘should’ since she only burns Ashley if she insults or does something that it doesn’t like, one thing is being used by Ashley which is why all attacks would burn her if the spirit wanted.
The white finger returns to a light blue as before but she glared at the little spirit that looked at her and from its mouth a small tongue of flame extended before she rubbed Xero’s cheek with her head.
Xero sighed, “Alright Ignia, it’s hard to walk with you blocking half my face.” He said to the little Flame Spirit, having named her Ignia mainly because Ashley was female so as a result, her flame ‘should’ be the same but he was prepared for it to be male, as unnerving as that sounded.
The little flame, turning smaller, made Xero feel bad and with one finger, caressed the head, “Go rest for now.” He said.
“Grah!” She happily said and turned, glaring at Ashley, before turning into a ball of flame that separated into two before jumping into the two flames on Ashley’s horns.
“Good, one of the obstacles are gone.” Ashley opening said only for the two flames to suddenly burst and cover her head making her yelp and ‘try to slap it off’ only to burn her hand as well as slap herself.
“Gagagagaga!” The laugh echoed from the flame as it lowered, showing Ashley with a white skin face, releasing smoke.
“THIS LITTLE! ARG!” She shouted wanting to grab the two flames on her horns and snuff them.
Meldie looked the other way while covering her mouth while trembling, something that wasn’t missed by Ashley making her glare. “What is so funny half pint?” She asked coldly.
“N-n-nothing!” She flinched and looked at Ashley with a poker face but there was some sweat on her face.
“We should go.” Xero said trying to push them on because they were in the middle of the streets and there were people looking at them, especially women who giggled, and some men who did catcalls towards him and shouted jokes.
His ears were red as he heard some of them so he could only wish for them to move quicker to the food market to help Meldie first, but she didn’t leave after that, so he took all three to a diner, that was quite expensive since they bring goods from outside into the dungeon and make many sweet goods that women and girls like. Ashley prefered hard liquor though.
Although Univa wasn’t completely satisfied, she was, at least, able to push Ashley to the side and, after much inner conflict, asked him to walk holding hands. She wasn’t brazen like Ashley who hugged him while stuffing her boobs on him.
Like that, the three spend the day on a date that was very normal.
***
At the same time that Xero was enjoying the town, Zip was at an extremely constricting place after waking up on the same day as Xero but just later than him.
In a room with some of the greatest powers of each nation, institute or religious order, he was at the center of it because of his power to do breakthroughs.
Of course, unlike what he expected, Morgan Lurian, the king of his own nation, was standing in for him while the Domina Firm was putting pressure on the other nobles to not pass their bounds.
“What!?” The nobles roared after something the King said. “You expect us to pay 100 gold each tempering, 500 gold each forging and 5,000 gold for breakthroughs!” the noble shouted.
“No, I expect anyone below level 30 to pay that. It was clearly stated that he cannot make a breakthrough for anyone above his own rank. In other words, he cannot make anyone break through who is level 40 or above. Only after he grows above that. I clearly said that. The price of breakthroughs will go up each level because it is another powerhouse for a nation.” The king said.
“And what about your people!?” the noble shouted.
Morgan grinned, “I already have my own personal contract with Sir Null, as for ‘what’ the contract is, it has nothing to do with you all.” He laughed proudly.
The nobles ground their teeth when they heard the shamelessness but they obviously knew that Zip was someone from the Lurian empire. With such a man, no one could doubt that the village they live in now will become a centerpiece of the nation as long as he existed. The power of the nation will also surely rise.
“You are taking advantage of a resource that could help everyone!” Another king said.
“Of fucking course I am!” Morgan roared, “He is one of my citizens and Knights! Not only that but I already have my own contract with him so why the hell would I not take advantage of my own men!?” He said snorting. “If any of you had something similar, you would have hidden him away and made him work non stop so you could have tons of powerful subordinates, and at the end it would probably even been a burden to him and his family.” Morgan said.
“Aren’t you doing the exact same thing to him!?” Another noble asked.
“Of course not, if all of you read the contract, besides just paying the price, Sir Null can also reject, either momentarily or completely. This being a job contract but of course, just because you pay doesn’t mean he has to accept. The same can be said for myself and the nation. If he does not want to temper any specific noble, that person will never feel the forge hammer.” Morgan said.
The words cause the nobles to burn in rage but when they saw Morgan wave for a maid over before writing some names, another maid came and as for the contract.
“What is this!?” the nobles shouted.
“It seems none of you seem to want to agree to the terms so I will remove you all from the contract. Just so you know, any nation that does not sign will have to pay triple. What is more, we are prepared to set up a high level protection spell around the city he lives in if any one of you do not sign because I do not even hold a hint of trust that those who do not sign won’t do something to him. As such, you can leave but this will cost three times more and we will have every person coming for a breakthrough be tested by special identifiers in the city before they even get to his.” Morgan said.
They all paled to his words and looked at Morgan resentfully for pulling their arms so hard that they couldn’t even contest it. Of course, because of this, a large number of the nobles sat down and after a minute, everyone was sitting again but not giving up this resource.
“Good, now, since the deal for those with familiars is complete, now for the deal regarding soldiers.” Morgan said.
The kings nodded solemnly.
Zip stood up, “In regards to common Knights and guards, besides the actual training, I can only temper them in groups. The mana potency is higher than their body can handle as such they need to be tempered in groups. The weaker they are, the higher the number of people per group.” Zip explained and sat down.
“As y
ou all heard, it’s many times simpler, common recruits either knight or guard is 1 gold coin, 5 gold for anyone above level 10, 20 gold for anyone above level 15.” Morgan said.
The Kings nodded, the prices actually being much more reasonable compared to the 100 gold per tempering for those with familiars.
“I must warn your highnesses, a common person without a familiar can’t be constantly tempering. Their body is more fragile and don’t have a familiar supporting their growth. Those below level 10 can do this only once a week, if they are supported by healing treatments, above level 10 can do this every two or three days, above level 15 is once a day or two.” Zip said.
The nobles didn’t say much towards this as it was also within reason. Those with familiars were obviously much more powerful, have higher healing factors so the time period common people can do this brutal power raising task as many times.
“From the looks, there are no real problems in this section.” Morgan said.
“I’ve a question.” Suddenly a king, wearing a white robe with luxurious adornments.
“What?” Morgan asked.
“I have been wondering why the Holy Light church is not present?” the man asked.
This was a representative of the Radiance Empire.
Morgan shrugged. “Isn’t it their choice? Oh wait, not even their students are allowed in this city so it's not like they can even participate. That said, I doubt they would even if they could come. Their incredible prejudice towards Demon familiar owners is quite well known so I doubt they would even consider once my invitation.” Morgan said.
The face of the noble said, growing cold. Morgan snorted when he saw that. He was faithful to the Light and Dark Fire Gods. They are the patron gods of smiths who are the ‘creators’ of Dwarves along with the gods of Earth as story says that their body was made of earth and metal and their blood made from fire.
He does not care for the Holy Light Church who see themselves above all life.
To the side Everson Crost, Univa’s father, stood with his eyes closed, without a contract due to the fact that him, the Domina Firm and the Lurian Empire each having a unique contract made because of the connection through marriage into the Null family. Unlike the other nobles, the Tempering was free, forging was 10 gold each person while breakthrough was 500 gold or material of equal value, accepting high quality common metals or magic metals. Obviously, this was a huge benefit that Zip didn’t mind giving since two were heavy weights and the other was his own nation's king. Raising the armies strength increase the security of the land.
The Sword Devil Page 31