Chapter 151: The Light of Purification

Thousands of iron chains fell from the sky, carrying with them the scent of dampness and rust from the deep sea. The light of the Dark Moon faded, replaced by a murky, colorless sky, dominated by the demon's will. The true form of a higher being cast a glance towards this distant dusty island. When doom revealed its true form, even the shadow of the Dark Moon temporarily retreated!

Regardless of cost, regardless of gain or loss, the rain of chains carried only murderous intent. Each chain towered like a pillar of heaven, its mass alone enough to trigger an avalanche upon impact. So many chains crashed down simultaneously, like thousands of divine weapons suspended from the heavens, piercing down with murderous intent. Ji Huaisu was forced to divert his strength to consolidate the snowfields, otherwise the aftermath of the battle alone would destroy the city.

Ji Huaisu clashed her fists, and the light of the three elements flickered on her arm armor, not energizing but contracting and merging, flowing into the snowy plains along with her armor. She glided through the hail of chains, dodging wide-area attacks with incredible agility. At this moment, she was as light as dust in the sun, and the clumsy chains, no matter how hard they tried, could not reach her, leaving her to drift and dance in the light.

Discipline Knight Sephiroth 3, Steel Armor. Specializes in creating formations with the earth element and is known for his extreme speed in battle.

Above the battlefield, the countless wronged souls beneath Olek's umbrella-shaped body cried out in unison, a formless curse lingering on the iron chains. The fallen chains resonated with them, the curse amplified dozens of times in the resonance, shaped by the ice and snow in the field, transforming into thousands of poisonous purple thorns that attacked the knight. It was a pure spectral attack, condensed from deep resentment, a single strike rivaling the siege of all the previous corpse hands. Its presence also blocked vertical movement, leaving Ji Huaisu with nowhere to go.

A drop of golden light fell into the ice, forming a simple and mysterious talisman. Ji Huaisu bit his fingertip to imprint a drop of blood, then held the talisman with two fingers and slapped it forward.

"Talisman opens, burning blood is true."

The ice talisman dissipated, revealing a golden glow. A formless and intangible aura of righteousness emanated from it, simultaneously repelling the numerous curses and poisonous thorns. This talisman was the prototype of Wu He's "Blood Transformation and Mysterious Sealing Talisman," a righteous method that resonated the energy of the ethereal body with life force, specifically designed to defeat the grievous spirits of the dead.

The cursed thorns were caught in the talisman, momentarily slowing their movements. This momentary break was the opportunity Ji Huaisu had long awaited. She spread her hands and gazed up at the sky. The power that had been driven into the ice and snow, after years of accumulation, was summoned, resonating excitedly from the earth. Countless golden ripples emerged, intertwining and merging, dyeing the entire ice field golden.

"Holy Judgment of Discipline: Meteor Dust Break!"

Brilliant golden dust burst forth from the earth, a magnificent spectacle, a golden meteor shower shooting skyward. The forces of dust, light, and shadow blended perfectly, each mote a compressed fragment of dust. Such a power, gathered in one place, was enough to raze the city to the ground in an instant. And the attack lasted far longer than a moment. The golden rain continued incessantly, shattering the iron chains piercing the icy plains and the poisonous thorns condensed from the curse. Riding on its unstoppable momentum, it charged forward, clashing fiercely with the raging torrent of chains high in the sky!

The onlookers could no longer discern the details of the battle, could no longer fathom the unfolding events. They could only see the countless collisions of chains and gold, and sense the wrath of malice and justice clashing in fury. Knights and demons roared alike, the meteor shower advancing slowly under the pressure of the raging current, relying on willpower... backbone... an unwavering resolve to forge ahead. They in turn suppressed the raging current, in turn crushed the chains, until, ultimately, they and the demonic force each occupied half of the sky! A match of equal strength!

"A mere knight!" Orlek growled, "How dare you harbor delusions of victory!!"

The wronged souls within the umbrella roared with it, their hatred for the living, their anger at those who had escaped death—all these negative thoughts transformed into pure malicious intelligence, transformed by the demon's curse into thoughts that strengthened their chains. The frenzy's impact instantly intensified, and the meteor shower was suppressed again! The demon's domain was reduced to two-thirds, but the knight's eyes gleamed with an unyielding light!

“I’m not alone…!”

Parents’ blessings before being sent into the ocean.

After being sent to the city-state, they were raised by their parents.

The friends I made along the way, the relationships I built, the people who came to my aid in the most dangerous moments... He who personally stepped into desperate situations and brought light...

Can feel their gaze.

Can hear their calls.

From beginning to end, she has never been alone!

"Carrying everyone's strength, I will not lose!"

The power of the elements grew with the voice of the heart, emotions pushed to their limit... friendship, trust, and perseverance... pushing the power of the heart to its limit. The meteor shower flickered and became more dazzling, and the endless dust shattered the iron chains. The power ratio between the two sides returned to parity, then one-third, then one-quarter, and the meteor dust continued to rise. The instantaneous surge of power defeated the demonic torrent.

The path to supreme godhood is to control the world through emotion. Driven by extreme emotion, even a mortal can defeat a god!

A rain of dust rose in a blazing golden hail, piercing the demon's massive form. Orlek's cries of pain threatened to crack the earth. Black blood dripped from his wounds, transforming into an unholy rain that tainted everything. He urgently interrupted his spell, swirling his scythe to protect himself. A violet wind forced the approaching dust shatters to explode prematurely, creating a vacuum around the demon's body.

All of its tentacles converged in front of its body. Magical energy was generated within the entanglement of these chain-like tentacles, compressed, and distorted into a deep purple, transparent sphere. It was the "sediment" of the deep sea, a spectral poison generated from pure spiritual energy. As Orlek's many tentacles dispersed simultaneously, the sediment instantly vanished, crossing the vast distance to reach Ji Huaisu. At the same time, its massive form began to fade, as it was about to resort to its old tactic of becoming invisible once again, resuming the battle with its signature behind-the-scenes manipulation.

Ji Huaisu raised her hand, raising seven layers of ice shields one after another, forming a shield wall to block the sediment. The sound of ice shattering was incessant, and her shield was repeatedly penetrated. In just a moment, the sediment penetrated her defense and hit the knight's left shoulder, and the deep sea poison penetrated deep into her body.

Emotional instability, slow thinking, and severe brain pain—all these adverse conditions struck the knight simultaneously, nearly causing her to lose consciousness. Ji Huaisu gritted her teeth and withstood the damage, not using her speed advantage to dodge. Her full attention was focused on the next spell. A khaki light condensed on her left fist, and it was punched into the ground.

"Discipline Seal: Divine Mountain Lock."

Steel shattered ice and snow, and rock piled into a mountain. A majestic divine peak rose from the ground, unleashing a vicious "gravity" into the air. The demon's invisibility was broken, and the overwhelming force pulled Orlec down, crashing him onto the peak's summit.

The peaks of the Iron Mountain pierced the jellyfish's trunk like spikes, and blood flowed continuously, forming a black river flowing through the mountain. Both sides were scarred, and each had reasons not to give in. The giant body was temporarily unable to move, and Orlek once again appeared in the form of a child. He clapped his hands and created a torrent of water. The turbulent water was extremely turbid, and countless faces surged within it.

They were vivid faces, those of people in the city, those living in the mountains, those hiding in the forest, those ensconced beneath ancient castles. Unlike the souls accumulated by the demons, those faces were vivid, belonging to those still alive in the present. Olek slowly pulled his hands apart, squandering the power he had used to maintain this fragmented spirit. The faces suddenly multiplied in the turbulent flow.

"Let me tell you the true nature of this current." Olek's features gradually faded, but his eyes grew increasingly sinister. "This is the biological information surging through the waters, the souls of all beings connected by this current. You call it fate, destiny, but this is the current of destiny that guides all beings!"

Ji Huaisu was about to draw his sword when his movements paused. Orlek laughed maniacally, "Yes, you've realized it! I control the power of the dark side of the trend! This is just a low-quality spirit. Even if overdrawn to the limit, it can only directly affect the fate of 35,428 lives. But this is enough. This is the final choice I give you!"

"Think carefully, Knight of Discipline! If you can't block this blow, your most cherished companion will die. And if you dare to attack me... your justice will endanger the lives of thirty-five thousand people!"

Bad luck will not lose.

Misfortune never fails.

Because the living must always have something they value, the source of their strength is also their weakness. Olek has been able to survive from eternity to the present because it cares nothing for anything but itself. It could abandon this spirit without hesitation, abandoning the 35,000 lives it had involved, but Ji Huaisu could not fail, and certainly could not escape!

Amidst unbridled laughter, the dark tide erupted into a raging vortex. Just as at the beginning of this battle, the demon unleashed a vortex of doom, within which countless lives experienced joy and sorrow, unaware that their very lives now rested in the hands of others. Life and death hung in the balance of a single thought, and the outcome depended solely on the knight's deliberation... and on her sword.

Ji Huaisu quietly looked at the whirlpool, imagining the joys and sorrows of the people far away, imagining their helplessness, sadness, or madness when they knew the truth... imagining how many people's lives the devil of doom had toyed with in ancient times, and how much sorrow that should not have existed had been caused.

She felt angry.

Indignant rage.

From this arises responsibility and obligation, the name of justice exists for this very moment. Amidst the whistling wind, she slowly drew her sword, the tip slanting toward the sky, its gleam like a stream of fire. The bright yellow armor automatically disintegrated, drifting behind her, coalescing into a circular earth. The sphere glowed from within, burning fiercely at the knight's will.

"It is the light that purifies evil and illuminates everything!"

The Burning Star rushed towards the knight, disintegrating in the intense heat, reforged into heavy armor radiating a crimson-gold glow. Ji Huaisu's longsword transformed into a veritable stream of fire, and she slashed it diagonally, shattering the vortex of doom with a single blow!

Olek laughed crazily, embracing the tide that was shattering in the flames. "You lost, Ji Huaisu! After all, you broke your oath!"

But his smile suddenly stopped. He saw the water that made up the tide evaporate in the flames, but the faces within were not burned. Those mortal faces still smiled carefreely, and the warm firelight blew people's smiles up and cast them into the distant sky.

The tide of malice shattered, yet the souls trapped within remained unharmed. Such a technique had never existed before; healing and destruction could never coexist. He stared blankly at Ji Huaisu. The knight's expression was noble and solemn, tinged with a pride that even a demon could never touch.

"You are a devil after all, so you will never understand..." Ji Huaisu raised his sword high, "What binds justice is love and courage!"

It is because of love that we fight for others. It is because of courage that we stand up for others. The precious qualities born from the heart are forged into a fiery armor, so that the flames will not become a knife that kills the innocent, but a warm fire that protects the weak.

She is the third Sephiroth, "Pure Fire," the path to supreme godhood. Enemies on the battlefield call her divine punishment, while those rescued by the suffering praise her as an angel. The fiery army, priding itself on destruction and healing, is known as the Blazing Armor!

"Holy Judgment of Discipline: Soul-Purifying Divine Fire!"

The sacred flames surged, transforming into a blazing giant sword. She raised the blade with both hands, slashing at the vortex of doom with unprecedented resolve. The massive tide was instantly severed, the scorching heat vaporizing the seawater. That single strike severed the shackles that controlled the innocent, utterly annihilating the twisted demon!

(End of this chapter)