People were confused by the sudden appearance of the pillar of light, until they heard a familiar voice.
"See, this is the power of God! This blasphemous knight is nothing before divine grace!" The priest exclaimed to the people gathered in the baron's mansion, in a magnanimous tone. He appeared on the second floor porch of the mansion with two nuns on either side and the baron following close behind.
Unbeknownst to anyone in the city, the baron and the priest had struck a deal to eliminate the city's gangs. Eishin's church had been neglecting the city for a long time, but in the past few years, the amount received from donations from the faithful has decreased, causing dissatisfaction at church headquarters.
This was caused by the great poverty of the population and the embezzlement of the priest's money. The priest had received a notice from the church to collaborate with the baron in the extermination of criminal gangs or he would be removed from his position.
Desperate at the news, the priest secretly contacted the baron and together they hatched a plan to exterminate the gangs the moment the wizard Ricley left town. Ricley learned of the plan and also collaborated, insulting and mocking the Baron as he said goodbye, increasing the gangs' confidence.
Unfortunately for them, Athos destroyed all of their plans, forcing the priest to reveal himself, to avoid the complete annihilation of the personal guard. He collaborated with the two nuns who worked for him and cast a spell together to eliminate the knight in a single attack, just in case.
Despite his arrogant tone, he was actually terrified inside of the knight's strength. He realized that the knight was not only a powerful warrior, but also a skilled mage.
'This man was dangerous. If I hadn't killed him with a preemptive strike, there's no way of knowing what would have happened-' The priest gasped in terror as the pillar of light began to disappear.
When the magic ended, the pillar of light began to dim until it disappeared completely, revealing the knight kneeling on his right knee and the shield raised above his head. A second shield made of mana floated above the knight, completely broken. Pieces of the energy shield fell away, before disappearing.
The knight rose, completely unharmed. He lifted his helmet, looking straight into the priest's eyes. The helmet completely hid his face, but the priest could have sworn he saw mockery and disdain coming from him.
He was furious and his pride hurt, but he didn't dare confront him, silently casting the next spell.
Meanwhile, Athos was breathing deeply under his black helmet. So far everything had gone according to plan. The chaos in the city kept the guard and the gangs too busy dealing with the crazed to care what happened to the prime area. He used explosive powder to break down the barricade and put fear into the minds of anyone who saw him. He also used magic to make his entrance more dramatic.
But the priest's attack took him by surprise and he barely managed to react in time. He made a magic barrier at the last second, but he couldn't visualize it properly and wasted a lot of mana.
'The remaining mana is... about 60%. I should be able to block this attack 3 more times before I run out of mana, if I can detect it beforehand.' Athos thought, coming up with a plan to kill the priest. He began to gather a large amount of world energy, while casting one of his strongest spells.
"He's a mage too! Stop him from casting a spell!" The priest shouted, thanks to the mana vision he noticed the knight accumulating world energy.
"Quick stab!" The captain of the guard was the first to recover from the shock, as he tried to stab Athos in the head from behind. When he saw Athos charging at him, his years of combat experience warned him that his subordinate would be unable to stop him and he would be killed, so he rolled to the left at the last second, saving his own life.
The skin on his right arm was slightly burned, but nothing that could diminish his combat prowess.
Athos sensed the attack and sidestepped half a step, the point of the spear brushing his helmet. Athos used mana vision and saw where the mana was weakest on the spear, before activating the sword enchantment and cutting the spear into two pieces.
"Which?" the captain asked confused, looking stupidly at the spearhead. Athos took advantage of his moment of confusion and punched him in the face with the shield, before he could react. The blow hit him hard, the bladed edge going through the helmet and leaving a deep gash on his face, sending his head back.
He was about to finish the captain but was forced to jump to the side. Arrows slammed into the ground before exploding, cracking the stone floor. The guards had recovered from their stupor and were slowly trying to surround him. They kept their distance from each other, afraid of being run over again by another onslaught.
"Constant healing! Holy arrows!" The priest and the nuns with him had also completed their spells. The first cast a white light on all guards that were still alive around Athos, slowly healing their wounds. The second spell cast white arrows around the priest. He didn't fire them right away, but waited for a moment of distraction.
Thanks to the sensory field, Athos could feel his entire surroundings and realized that he was slowly being cornered. The guards attacked him with different skills, but Athos unleashed flames in all directions and the sudden heat kept the guards at bay.
He activated the sword's second enchantment, causing it to release a black aura and made a circular slash, taking advantage of the siege to inflict a curse on everyone around him.
"Ack!" The guards were panicked, hit by blinding curses. The archers fired arrows at him, but Athos seized the opportunity and charged where the siege was thinnest.
He swung his sword twice as he passed, cutting two guards deep. Athos was about to cut a third, when he detected the arrows of light approaching and was forced to defend himself. The archers' arrows came soon after, preventing him from killing the guards while they were blinded.
"Disperse curse!" The priest shouted, making a light shine on all the guards and restoring everyone's sight. 'He should have already finished casting that spell, what is he waiting for?' That's what the priest thought when he saw the great amount of energy that Athos had gathered.
"Tsk!" Athos clicked his tongue, being forced to fight hand to hand. He needed to preserve mana for a big attack. The guards' attacks rained down on him, but Athos activated the bronze body skill and defended almost everyone, confident in his own defense.
Athos managed to attack from time to time, but with each attack he made, he received twice as much. Cuts and scrapes quickly accumulated all over the armor, as his vision slowly turned red, blood dripping from his forehead from a spear wound that nearly went through his skull.
Athos was faster, stronger and better equipped than everyone here, but the numbers outweighed him. To make matters worse, the priest stopped saving mana, casting spell after spell at him. Suddenly, one of the guards jumped up and tried to crush him with a heavy attack, forcing Athos to raise his shield to defend himself.
An arrow he didn't notice in time hit his left calf, knocking him off balance. The heavy blow came soon after, forcing Athos to his knees. He gritted his teeth as he felt the bones in his left arm crack from the impact, but he raised the sword in his right hand and stabbed the guard in the stomach, causing him to vomit blood.
A spear pierced the guard's back and throughed him, hitting Athos in the right shoulder. He was unable to detect the attack because of the guard and could not react in time. The guard captain had recovered from the blow and borrowed a spear from a subordinate and waited for an opportunity to exact revenge.
The captain kept pushing the spear, until the point hit a wall, trapping Athos and the guard's body together.
"HAHAHAHAHA! You're late!" Despite his horrible situation, Athos began to laugh maniacally.
"Stop him!" The priest hurriedly shouted, realizing the spell Athos had been casting so far was about to explode everything around him. The priest threw a shield of light hastily, when all the energy that Athos had accumulated suddenly disappeared.
Kaa!
A beehive Hawk appeared in the sky above the mansion, along with a 10-meter spear of fire that pierced through the mansion before exploding, destroying everything.