"The holy relic of Saint Anak shall guide the stars!"
In the Paradise of the Gods, Leon received three gifts from the Sage of the Forest, Gunnar, aside from the "seedling."
The first was the bridle of Argent Majesty the Lionheart, the ultimate treasure for a horseman blossoming into his full potential.
Second, a training manual on hunting giants as a serf of Lord Gratas.
And finally, the Necklace of Saint Anak, a servant of a great god, chosen from among countless priests and priestesses.
There was only one in a generation and the necklace's power was a simple yet devastating miracle: Guiding Stars.
Sensing the time and the hour, they alter the orbits of the stars.
They sense the celestial bodies of the universe by reading the voyages of the stars and guide them with the power of the Sisters' necklaces.
The falling star is heading straight for the Hanbit Palace. But only a few people know that.
Leon, who summoned the star, Beatrice, Yappy, and Kim Jae-hyuk, who were told about it beforehand.
The rest…the poor space employees who are still observing the celestial bodies, reading the rapid drift of the stars, and calling for the destruction of humanity.
"Ha, what are you saying?"
"I think the devil's out of his mind!"
Two minutes had passed since Leon shouted. The others were intimidated by Leon's enthusiasm, but they soon turned on him and mocked him.
"Lord Yappy get ready."
-Giggles.
Beatrice and Yappy reacted differently. Beatrice stretched out her hand, and a bolt of frenzied magic blew the ceiling of the cathedral off in an instant.
"Mu, what did you do!"
The worshippers of the Hanbit Palace tried to stop Beatrice, but the silver threads centered around her blocked their path.
Yappy protected Beatrice with a tactical maneuver.
"I'll pull the star's orbit this way."
A circle of magic spreads out around Beatrice. The transcendent magic she's been preparing for since entering the cathedral connects with Leon's sheath and necklace.
If the scabbard reads the course of the heavens and the necklace corrects their orbits, Beatrice's role is to fine-tune them.
As she summons the stars, the sacred code that specifies the coordinates for destroying the enemies of the kingdom is passed down to Beatrice to be practiced.
And they saw, even if they didn't want to.
"There, there…!"
"Shooting stars?"
It was a giant star falling from above their heads and as it approached in real time, they couldn't ignore it, even if they wanted to.
"Ah, ah, ah…!"
"Shi, divine punishment! God's punishment is coming!"
They're not wrong. Leon is an agent of the gods, and his punishment is divine.
"Don't flounder, you lowly things!"
All eyes are on Leon as he yells. The believers thought this was a punishment from their god, but Park Yong-shin thought otherwise.
'Suddenly? No! He can't be punishing us!'
Park Yong-shin raised his sword. He was one of Korea's top S-class hunters. Not a desk-biter who lacks combat power.
"What did you do?"
"I summoned a star."
"That's a lie…!"
"We'll see if it's a lie or not."
It sounded too good to be true. Summoning the stars, Meteor? Is such a thing possible with human power?
"You're going to kill us all, and you won't be safe either!"
They didn't know how big the star that was heading towards them was.
Their brief celestial knowledge tells them that most stars burn up as they enter the atmosphere… but would a massive star, visible to the naked eye, burn up and disappear?
"Fear God's punishment, foolish heretics, you will pay dearly."
"You're crazy…!"
When the comet strikes, it won't be just one or two people who die. Cities… no, countries… maybe even all life on Earth would be wiped out!
"Issue an evacuation order...."
The worshippers of the Hanbit Palace, the citizens of the neighboring cities… Where do I start and where do I end?
Even if we evacuate, isn't it too late? How can we run away from that comet that looks like it has less than a minute to go before it hits?
"God...."
Park Yong-shin has found God. The God who saved him from the gate, the God whose voice he had heard until now──
[....]
And now, at this moment, the divinity of the Hanbit Palace spoke softly.
"God?"
[...crazy]
"God???"
In the next moment, a light emanated from Leon, a light so intense that it was almost blinding to look at, a blast that rippled and spread menacingly....
"Beatrice."
"I'm ready."
Similarly, a dark purplish aura radiated from Beatrice as a massive mist billows from her, the priestess of dreams and death, rising toward the shattered ceiling.
At the same time, a comet falls overhead and the sky turns black as the sunny weather fades.
The sky flashes golden with thunderclouds.
-Boom!
Thunder crashes from above and darkness surges from below.
The two forces collide with the falling comet…and the comet's nature is imbued with power but in the next moment, Yappy pulls a railgun from his carapace and points it at the comet.
-Fires a transmutation power shot.
In the next moment, the comet, which hadn't slowed down a bit, slammed into the Hanbit Palace.
* * * *
As a general rule of thumb, if a 6-kilometer comet collides with Earth, the area around it is bound to be devastated.
Apophis, a 340-meter-diameter asteroid on the Turin scale, one of the biggest threats of the 21st century, is expected to be completely wiped out within 4 kilometers.
Considering that the damage of a celestial impact increases exponentially with size, the destructive force of a 6-kilometer comet on impact with Earth could wipe out the entire Korean Peninsula, as well as wipe out continents and archipelagos.
At that size, it's not unreasonable to talk about human extinction.
But....
At the moment of impact, all light and sound disappeared. Instead of screaming, the devotees of the Hanbit Palace opened their eyes in disbelief.
"What the…!"
The comet from outer space, straight out of a failed cartoon, had not even burned up a little bit on its way through the atmosphere.
""?????""
-What is this?
-I don't know.
The sight of the comet towering over the Hanbit Palace was so unreal that they couldn't open my mouth for several minutes.
"It's definitely something."
Beatrice admires in a low voice and behind her, Yappy collects samples from the meteorite with his mechanical arm.
-Component anomaly in action. Does not match any metal in the database.
This is the "metal of the gods" promised by Heto, the god of iron and blacksmiths. Indeed, this is what the Holy Knights used to forge their holy swords and armor.
With this, it would be possible to create a fuselage as strong as their own… or even stronger.
"Hmm… This should be enough."
Leon looked at the star he had summoned and smiled with moderate satisfaction.
"What is this....?"
Park Yong-shin was speechless at the meteorite in front of him. But then he saw something else.
'No one died?'
A meteorite several kilometers long hit directly, and the only thing that collapsed was the building, but no one was killed by the shockwave.
And that's not all, there are worshippers emerging unharmed from the rubble.
Leon stepped in front of him.
"Foolish one," he said, "but only foolish, for you know your sin."
"What, what....?"
A man summoned a meteorite and no one was killed by the meteorite. Park Yong-shin could only cower in front of Leon, who had performed a miracle in his human form.
Leon's gaze pierced through Park as his clenched fists trembled and his grinding teeth chattered.
It's clear that this man is feeling an uncontrollable rage.
The animal instinct to flee in the face of an overwhelming opponent is stirred.
"Come out."
His finger points at Park Yong-shin but his gaze is beyond Park Yong-shin.
"Kim Jae-hyuk!"
"Yes? Yes!"
The pouty-haired boy rushed over as Leon grabbed him by the shoulders and pointed to Park Yong-shin.
"You can see it now. A malignant species attached to him."
"Is that… Huh!"
Kim Jae-hyuk looked and saw that a grotesque creature, like a parasitic growth of cells, had taken up residence on Park Yong-shin's back.
The star that sailed under divine guidance, and the energy it spread at the moment of collision, have transformed the area into something otherworldly.
That's why Jae-hyuk was able to awaken the Divine Vision. In front of the Thunder God's gaze that penetrates every detail, he saw a vicious beast laid bare.
"What the hell is that....?"
It's a vicious creature that has been waiting for an opportunity to prey on its host for a long time."
"Jae-hyuk!"
A woman appeared behind Jae-hyuk's and Jae-hyuk looked at her.
"Uh, Mom?"
Something similar clung to her.
"You will be the one to punish the evil species that Thunder wishes to punish."
"Ha, but your majesty… then my mom will...."
"Trust in him, and let his great power be yours, be assured that it will be as you wish."
Leon said as Jae-hyuk swallowed hard and closed his eyes.
Faith. Just believing.
Jae-hyuk reached out toward where his mother was.
It was only a suggestive gesture, a self-suggestion that blossoms from anxiety.
May the miracle I perform pierce only the evil species.
"Lord Ultima...."
May your wrath forgive the innocent.
Holy Law
In the next moment, a bolt of lightning struck his mother. It was a powerful lightning bolt that struck from the crown of his head, destroying the ground.
"Kaaaahhhh…!"
When Kim Jae-hyuk opened his eyes, Shin Sung-soo was gasping for breath and looked at her son with tears in her eyes.
"Uh, Mom!"
Jae-hyuk rushed over and hugged her and she woke up to her son clutching her back.
"Jae, Jae-hyuk. My son...."
Mom is sorry. She must have been out of her mind.
She couldn't understand all the things she had done and was ashamed of herself for the evil deeds she had done, as if possessed by a ghost.
"Well done."
Leon smiled with rare satisfaction as he watched at the boy that had been chosen by Ultima.
"Master of Thunder, who sits upon the throne of heaven."
Leon chanted and at that moment, the Master of the Heavens answered.
The clouds gathered, and a giant in human form and crowned with thunder raised a massive arm. In his hand he held a massive bolt of lightning that seemed capable of destroying the world.
"Punishment for the wicked, relief for the lamb."
The giant's lightning bolt struck the ground.
* * * *
In the wreckage of the Hanbit Palace, where the thunderbolts rained down most of the worshippers tore off the evil being that had clung to them but there was a single survivor.
"Heeeeeeee...!"
Park Yong-shin…the host of all evil species.
At the moment of divine punishment, it had retrieved the evil spirits planted in the believers and inflated its own body, but it had barely withstood the thunderbolt with Park Yong-shin's protection and recovery skills.
No, to say it withstood it would be an understatement.
It had only postponed its demise for a short time, and its decayed and charred flesh was falling off one by one, emitting an unbearable stench.
"Gluttony, the Archdemon of gluttony and stinginess…."
Among the demons, disordered inquiry – the vice of wisdom and inquiry – and ugly lust – the vice of pleasure and corruption – are the ones that love to creep into society.
They infiltrate the spiritual souls of humans, germinate their seeds, and then sweep in at harvest time with their sinfulness.
Surprisingly, the followers of the Hanbit Palace were lucky. Unlike the other malignancies, it wasn't a direct contract, but rather the soul itself.
The body attached to Park Yong-shin didn't even have time to be consumed by Leon's swift star summoning and divine punishment.
"Hic…!"
The only thing he could do was to force himself to appear and make a vicious threat.
"I am the first knight chosen by Arianna, goddess of light and justice, master of the Lionheart!"
The sticky air around Leon's thundercloud cleared and as the air cleared, the attention of the panicked congregation was suddenly focused.
There was light, a brilliant radiance like threads of gold glistened.
"Fear not in this place of burden! Do not flee! Do not falter, for the Guardian of the Grail is before you!"
The embodiment of light and justice.
The Goddess' knight on earth.
Savior and protector of the true faith.
They realized and admitted that their faith was misdirected.
If that warm-tempered, dazzling luminary was not a spokesperson for the divine…then what the hell could be?
That horrible being that terrorizes the faithful?
A doctrine of salvation that demands unconditional obedience and faith?
It isn't.
It never was.
You can't trade with the divine.
Doctrine is not made up.
Faith is not something you prove.
It simply exists.
Something that forms spontaneously.
Something that stands on its own.
"Goddess, Goddess...."
"Help me. Help me. Please… please...."
"Help me, I don't want to die, I've done wrong!"
The members of the false faith now realized who and what they should believe.
They had seen the divine in front of them, not an insubstantial salvation.
There was only one thing for Leon to do, then, as the Goddess's knight.
"It shall be done."
"Keeeeeeeeee…!"
The Demon of Gluttony screams in rage but Leon knew it was only a rage.
The demon's flesh exploded as it consumed its surroundings. It sought to obscure his vision, to create a gap, a way to escape.
The thick haze of blood threatened to extinguish Leon's radiance, to rust his brilliant gold, but how could malice transgress the divine?
"Holy sword."
Leon summoned the holy sword from thin air.
"Know that this worm is not worthy to be slayed by you."
"Keeeeeeeeee...!"
The malevolence tore at Leon's flesh, cowering in fear but it turned away, unable to reach the demigod guarded by the holy sword.
The chunk of meat refused to touch the holy sword and crashed down on itself.
"Do you believe that such malice as yours can surpass the divinity of this king?"
"Keye…!"
It was a warm tone to a human, but to a demon, it was an unleashed violence.
The pain of the voice alone seemed to tear at his flesh.
Even with all the malice, all the false faith, all the amplified power… the prey is no match for the predator.
It is the wrong kind of being.
"Rotten strength, filthy filth, you lack the intellect to claim honor, and the speculation to be a vicious beast."
Despite this unprecedented insult, the demon could not face Leon.
He couldn't even glare in anger as the divinity in front of him burned away his viciousness just by looking at him.
"All you can do is wriggle, and your cunning mouth cannot save yourself."
The voice, a mixture of scorn and anger, gradually approached.
The living demigod tore and burned the demon at its mere approach.
Sly tongues melted away and decaying skin burned before it could even fester.
The thick haze of blood that filled the room had long since washed away like a lie.
"Divinity of Light and Justice. In the name of Arianna."
All evil, you are doomed.
The holy sword sliced through the air, its amplified holy power burning away the evil.
The moment was fleeting but the divinity wielded in the form of the holy sword extinguished the evil that had gathered the faith of 1.8 million people.