Out of the many job classes, divine jobs such as Holy Knights and priests would always progress the quickest in power level. However, these jobs also had the fewest individuals at the highest ranks.
The reason for this was simple. People in divine job classes would need to establish connections to their God and obtain the God’s assistance and divine favor… in other words, they would need to be spoiled by the God. Such people would be able to rapidly grow. From a certain standpoint, divine job classes depended on your personality. The more your personality agreed with the particular God’s teachings and the more your personal talent was compatible with the God’s divine power, the faster you would grow.
As long as you had sufficient divine favor, it was even possible to surpass another person’s lifetime’s worth of effort in a single night. This was why I was called the Child of Light back in the day. I had such divine favor it seemed as if the God of Holy Light was spoiling an illegitimate child. Nobody could understand why a human who wasn’t even fourteen years old could become a Legendary Holy Knight and possess such Holy Light radiance he seemed like the very sun.
Holy Knight was probably the easiest job class of all to obtain Gold. However, compared to other job classes, obtaining the next rank of Legend would be the most difficult. To this, Holy Knights would always say that they weren’t pious or experienced enough, but reality was always crueler than belief.
Their inability to progress in power level had nothing to do with their piousness. The God of Holy Light’s automated divine power server would never look at that to begin with. The server would only look at efficiency and benefits obtained.
“The same amount of divine power can help ten thousand Bronze individuals enter Silver or help one hundred Silvers enter Gold. Moreover, so much divine power might not even help a single person at the peak of Gold find their own path to Legend. So the server will naturally choose to help promote as many low-level people as it can for the sake of efficiency. As for why it’s so hard for Holy Knights to reach Legend on their own… that’s because all Gold-ranked individuals who depended on outside divine assistance to reach their power level will have unstable foundations. Without divine power, they’re nothing more than false Gold ranks. How could they possibly enter Legend?”
Still, it was much easier to enter lower power level ranks. This was appropriate for the average strongest humans who typically reached Silver or Gold and was the foundational reason why the Holy Church’s combat strength was sufficient to rule all of human society. Only under the protection of military might would a belief be able to spread.
Although it was difficult to level up beyond Gold, this world would never lack geniuses and abnormal talents. Those who tempered themselves sufficiently would still be able to break through to Legend or higher. As long as there were enough people, Legend and higher-ranked individuals would naturally appear. Since Holy Knights had some of the lowest, almost non-existent requirements for entering, it became one of the most common job classes throughout all of Eich.
The Holy Knight job class was a direct inheritance from the God of Holy Light. Every Holy Light job class member would start their cultivation from directly communicating with the God of Holy Light. They would receive Holy Light powers in response to their prayers. Without discussing the religious philosophies behind this, this was what the automated divine power server determined to be the best course of action. The God of Holy Light would help any new Holy Light job class member learn and understand the Holy Light and provide divine power to assist outstanding individuals in walking even further down this path.
However, there was an unsolvable Gordian knot here. Since the God of Holy Light was an automated divine server, what if someone one day had a different or even completely contradictory way of thinking from him? Would they be banned from using the Holy Light, just like a game developer banning a gamer’s account?
“The answer is a definite yes. Don’t all fallen angels and fallen Holy Knights lose their powers of Holy Light? Since all Holy Knights obtained their powers of Holy Light through the God of Holy Light, it’s just as easy for the God of Holy Light to make his Holy Knights lose their power to sense the Holy Light.”
But was it really true that it would be impossible to access Holy Light without the God of Holy Light…?
“I give my gratitude to the God of Holy Light. At the very least, he helped me experience how magnificent the Holy Light was.”
As Estrada lost his strength and youth, his memories and energy started disappearing as well. Estrada’s life flashed before his eyes as countless memories appeared in his mind.
Nobody else knew just how old he was. Even the Holy Church had no records of his real age. Only Estrada himself knew that he was 1442 years old. Such a long period of time would create far too many memories for short-lived humans to recall.
Unlike the stories told about him in legends, Estrada didn’t join this path of Holy Light because the God of Holy Light summoned him. Nor was it because he wanted to seek some path of glory. Estrada chose to become the disciple of the elderly Holy Light priest in his hometown for one reason only: because he was poor. The elderly priest in his hometown was quite sickly and needed a disciple to take care of him, and the priest was also the only one in Estrada’s hometown who could afford to take him in.
“Ha! I just wanted to fill my belly. I never expected that I would walk so far down this path… is this fate?”
As Estrada’s lifeforce diminished, pillars of light shot out of him. As they soared into the air, they transformed into meteors of light as everyone below him shouted in astonishment and disbelief. However, the elderly Holy Knight’s memories had never been clearer than this moment.
In the end, the old Holy Light priest who took Estrada in didn’t live for much longer. However, the old priest gave his job over to the young Estrada who simply wanted to make a living.
However, being a priest in a small town back in that generation was difficult. It could be said that the Holy Church had started out as one of the most ascetic organizations where people were developing the frontiers and wildlands…
Although at that time the Holy War had ended for almost two centuries with Eich entering a peaceful era, very few species expected such a weak and short-lived species like humans to successfully become the rulers of the mortal plane. This status that came too easily wasn’t a stable one. There was the Sea Tribe forced to the deep sea, the beastmen that lost their empire and plains and even the elves that were on the winning side of the Holy War but became so weakened. Not a single one of these species were willing to bow down so easily.
The humans obtained the Gods’ favor, large swathes of new territory and explosive growth in their population. This helped create innumerable new flourishing cities, but soon these cities started disappearing for various strange reasons. Some cities disappeared due to a certain plague which was secretly caused by an Evil God, some cities were slaughtered by the beastmen who displayed human heads on the city walls in a gory fashion and some cities were demolished by something as simple as a rampaging hoard of starving beasts. Even now, the number of people that died in the middle of the night remained a nightmare for the living.
At this point in time, Holy Light priests and Holy Knights were all one family. No—it should be said that warriors and commoners were all one family. They would all have to work hard to survive, and all of them would have to pick up their farming implements and enter battle when there was danger.
“What? Old man Martin broke his foot again? He needs my help to set his bone injury? Wait a moment, I haven’t learned such a high-level Divine Art yet.”
“…A new child was just born in the Aiven Family? That’s wonderful news. Wait, you want me to bless and name the new child? I don’t even know how to write. Is it okay if I just come up with a random name?”
“Are you all priests as well? Why are you wearing armor? Holy Knights? What’s that? Wait, are you here to eliminate the undead mage hiding in this area? Wait for me to make a few preparations, I’ll guide the way for all of you.”
Estrada, who only joined the path of Holy Light to have something to do, discovered more and more that he loved his job. In order to be able to protect his own people in this cruel world and harsh environment, Estrada joined the new Holy Knight job class which was born in his time. In fact, Estrada had personally created many of the Holy Knight moral guidelines and standard Divine Arts, although he never told anyone about it. It was known by incredibly few that this Strongest Holy Knight was also from the very first generation of Holy Knights.
“A new job class? Aren’t we just armored priests? Well, I suppose we need a new name. How about Holy Knights? We are pious, humble, strong, courageous and pure. We are the knights for our God of Holy Light. We shall take on the roles of protectors in the darkness. We are knights that will protect our church and people.”
When the first Holy Knight, Yintkachi, lifted his holy hammer and created the name of this new job class, a young Estrada was there under the podium, listening to his idol Yintkachi speak.
The first Holy Knights weren’t that special. They were just warriors slightly stronger than other warriors—to put it simply, they were armored priests. They were but a group first to feel that the path of Holy Light alone was insufficient to protect their people. They carried out their own oath.
They roamed the darkness and the wilderness hunting the most dangerous of evil demons and magical beasts. They hunted down the Blood Tribe and undead mages hidden among the humans. In all sorts of despairing situations, they fought against demons and devils, all the while protecting their homes from other species’ invasions.
The glorious first Holy Knight Yintkachi didn’t even survive very long. He died not long after establishing the Holy Knights to an unexpected ambush. Yintkachi’s younger brother, Winstka, carried on that glorious battle hammer. However, Winstka was slightly weaker than his older brother and lasted only three months. This silver battle hammer was passed down to yet another brother in arms.
“Aincaso. You died during the end of the war against the Wolfmen. You shouldn’t have died. You wouldn’t have died if you didn’t rescue those farmers that begged you to save them. You’re a true hero.”
“Sati. You were a half beastman from the Samoya district. Although people wouldn’t accept you at first, you persisted down this path of protecting others. You’re one of our most trustworthy companions. You’re a true hero.”
“Findicaid. You took down the Evil God Albert together with you in order to eliminate the plague he caused in the Brighton district. You were an unrivalled genius that should have reached the realm of the undying. However, the Evil Gods tempted you into walking a path of darkness, but you finally overcame your own temptations. You… you’re a true hero as well.”
“Atonlaiven. My slyest adopted son. I thought you would have been able to succeed this battle hammer from me. But why did you return it to me so quickly? Don’t you know that the most painful thing in the world is an elder watching his young ones around him die before him? Still, considering that a little brat like you carried out your responsibilities, even an idiot like you who challenged a Demon Earl by yourself… you’re also a true hero.”
Estrada muttered the names of the long line of previous owners of this battle hammer. Back in that year, when resources were incredibly scarce, every single weapon was a priceless treasure. Unless this weapon was utterly destroyed, it would be continuously passed down among the Holy Knights. Imperceptibly, it became a Holy Knight tradition.
“Roland, you stinky brat, I thought that you could have taken over this battle hammer from me. You’re just as sly as Atonlaiven. In a fuc*ed-up generation like this one, only the slyest ones will be able to lead a good life and continue upholding this overly traditional path of protection…”
Precisely because of such a tradition, the originally ordinary weapons that Holy Knights used became infused with Holy Knight souls, becoming the Holy Knights’ specialty: holy swords and holy hammers.
Naturally, this silver-crafted battle hammer, which had countless Holy Knights’ heroic spirits within it, ended up becoming the personal divine weapon of the Strongest Holy Knight in all of history. Perhaps this was the strongest Holy Light infused weapon of all time, so it naturally kept returning to the still living Strongest Holy Knight from the first generation of Holy Knights…
“Light Which Illuminates Despair From The Brink, the Guardian Battle Hammer of Dawn Envoys!”
This ancient and tattered battle hammer once again let out a blinding golden blow. Although the God of Holy Light had abandoned his loyal knight, how could this divine guardian hammer, which possessed countless heroic spirits, possibly abandon a brother?
The elderly Estrada had lost the powers of Holy Light, which caused him to rapidly age to the point where his hair was snow white. Yet he stood still in the air as numerous silver souls walked out of the battle hammer and transformed into soul shields. These heroic spirits used their remaining soul shards to protect their brother.
“Brother Aincaso… Little brat Atonlaiven… Brother Sati… Teacher Yintkachi…”
Numerous familiar faces appeared before Estrada. Although he wasn’t shaken even the slightest when the God of Holy Light abandoned and betrayed him, tears coursed unstoppably down his cheeks.
“I… I know what I should do… What path we should continue down…”
Estrada once again lifted his battle hammer, transforming the blinding soul light within it into fiercely raging holy flames. The entire sky was ignited as the overly “pure” angels once again burned in an inferno of holy flames, wailing in pain and disbelief.
The elderly Holy Knight stood unmoving as the already disappeared Holy Light reappeared on his body. But this time, his Holy Light didn’t come from the God of Holy Light. Instead, his Holy Light came from this holy hammer that had been passed down through countless generations. Estrada’s Holy Light came from deep within himself.
“…So it turns out that from ancient times to now, the Gods high up above weren’t at all protecting us. We, our brothers and sisters, were the ones protecting us. We believed in the Holy Light simply because Holy Light gave us the power to protect our families and people. I fervently believed in and sought the Holy Light, which was actually my companions’ path of sacrifice and protection. Humans never needed to remember the Gods to begin with. The only ones we need to remember are all our brothers and sisters that died for us.”
This realization in Estrada’s soul ignited his very soulfire. His raging flames of Holy Light astonished every member of the Holy Light vanguard army and caused the Gods up above to tremble in fear. Everything had gone out of the Gods’ control.
Indeed, because this was just like what Roland and his Southern Sect had done. Estrada had proved in front of everyone that Holy Light and the God of Holy Light were two completely separate entities. One only needed to recognize this Holy Light, the light which represented protection and sacrifice in one’s soul. So what if he abandoned the God of Holy Light?
Estrada’s powers of Holy Light were stolen from him? Ha! He would simply have to take them back.
And now, in front of countless people, the Strongest Holy Knight from the first generation of Holy Knights once again set a precedent for other Holy Knights. He became the first Holy Knight who didn’t worship the God of Holy Light and instead worshiped the Pure Holy Light.
Under his gaze, the many angels ignited in flames. This Strongest Holy Knight had achieved a power level enough for him to become a God more than a millennium ago, yet he chose to remain a mortal SemiGod. Once Estrada finally cast off that heavy stone pressuring his heart, nothing remained which could stop him from displaying his powers that had far exceeded mortal standards. Just the anger he was releasing from his heart was more than enough to destroy these low-ranked angels.
What the “bystanders” below him saw was that the Strongest Holy Knight managed to steal back the powers of Holy Light that the God of Holy Light had reclaimed. Not only that, Estrada even succeeded in slaying every single angel present. This completely destroyed the Holy Light vanguard army’s worldview along with seriously shaking their faith.
“It’s true that it’s still possible to use Holy Light even after being abandoned by the God of Holy Light. The Southern Sect’s teachings were real. The God of Holy Light is only a False God…”
But currently Estrada couldn’t be happy about finally learning this. As he looked at how very few companions he still had standing, his heart hurt. If only he could have taken this step earlier, perhaps…
“Nothing will be changed. Order is the highest form of perfection. All mistakes shall be corrected.”
A young-appearing white-robed priest descended before Estrada. His long hair was braided with the image of the stars themselves, and his handsome face was expressionless.
“Mortal, your fate will not be changed.”
The other person who descended appeared to be quite elderly. Thorns could be seen within his eyes, and this ascetic elder had quite a sad expression.
“The Order True Gods of Cleansing and Prophecy?”
Many humans were able to recognize these two True Gods’ incarnations. The True Gods of Cleansing and Prophecy were both Follower Gods under the God of Holy Light. They both could be considered slightly strong Middle Gods.
“Lamar? Pete? I never expected to see the two of you in such a circumstance…”
The elderly Holy Knight felt rather nostalgic as well as sorrowful. Both Lamar and Pete had formerly been his companions in the past. But now their icy cold eyes and tone were no different from any other Follower God belonging to the God of Holy Light. Estrada knew that perhaps this was the foundational reason why he had always refused to ascend to Godhood.
“Order is the highest—”
“Mortal—”
The two True Gods’ incarnations started muttering their extravagant sounding introduction lines again, but…
*Smack!* *Smack!*
Estrada evidently wasn’t interested in hearing them finish. In front of this inherited battle hammer which represented dawn and protection, even the True Gods’ incarnations were no different from the angels. As the Strongest Holy Knight swung his battle hammer, two headless divine incarnations’ corpses directly fell to the ground.
A normal third-rate Follower God’s incarnation was nothing in front of the current Estrada. His power level of SemiGod was a special rank which had no upper limits to begin with. Now that Estrada had stopped holding back, extremely few existences out there would be capable of stopping him.
However, Estrada could only smile bitterly.
“I don’t have much time left…”
That right, because a sudden beam of Holy Light descended from the sky and transformed the entire world with brightness, as if it was midday. This was a familiar light and even a divine miracle for the pious. This phenomenon made people want to kneel at the very sight. No—in fact, some were already kneeling.
“The God of Holy Light!”
That’s right. Once the God of Holy Light’s plans met an obstacle, once this ancient knight became his obstacle rather than helper—to the extent where his foundational source of belief power was shaken—on top of his Follower Gods’ incarnations failing to deal with the problem, the God of Holy Light naturally descended with his own incarnation.
He was a pure amalgamation of light. It was impossible to see what he looked like. However, just seeing his appearance made Estrada feel despair from the bottom of his heart.
After the God of Holy Light appeared, the sun in the sky disappeared. The entire world fell quiet. The God of Holy Light’s incarnation was powerful enough to rewrite the natural laws of the world.
The elderly Holy Knight closed his eyes as he felt the suffocating divine pressure that the strongest Main God emanated. Estrada could only smile bitterly. There was far too much of a difference between the strongest human and the strongest God. The difference was extreme to the point of despairing. The difference was such that nobody could change his fate.
“Hey, all of you. Why aren’t you hurrying and running? Do you all want to die here?”
After experiencing so many things, there were only incredibly few pious believers that kneeled to greet the descent of the God of Holy Light’s incarnation. If this incident, where Estrada desecrated the Holy Light and was still able to keep the powers of Holy Light, started spreading to others, then the God of Holy Light would naturally see his authority and faith greatly decline. In that case, it was only natural for the God of Holy Light to kill everyone present to keep all this a secret. He had done plenty such things in the past before.
There were plenty of smart people among the Holy Light army’s vanguard. Some of the smarter ones had already begun secretly retreating, having arrived at such a conclusion beforehand. However, the great majority of the Holy Light army vanguard still possessed hope. They believed that the God they worshiped wouldn’t be so merciless.
But unfortunately their God of Holy Light was just like an “automated divine server” which only calculated his personal benefits coldly like a machine. The Meteors of Holy Light which rained down from the sky was his answer to his believers.
The God of Holy Light who resided high above in the heavens had long since stopped being the legendary human hero who had established the path of Holy Light. The current him even felt that talking to mortals was a complete waste of his time.
At the Main God’s command, the very stars were summoned as they crashed downwards. Everyone saw nothing but golden light before them, underneath which not a single life would possibly be able to survive.
However…
“STOP!”
Perhaps the God of Fate was an incredibly skilled jokester. Why else would Fate always result in so many scenarios that seemed incredibly ironic? The person who suddenly put up a wall of Holy Light which blocked the Meteors of Holy Light, which were Holy Light’s physical personification, was the person who had just been their enemy: Estrada.
Currently, Estrada wasn’t in a very good condition. His hair had gone snow-white, and each meteor hit he blocked caused him to spit up blood. And it could be seen from the raging soulfire in his eyes that he had already begun using Soul Immolation in order to obtain more power.
“Teacher Estrada! You’re still capable of escaping! No need to care about us!”
Finally, the familiar voices coming from below him served to both assuage and pain his heart.
Estrada knew that it was impossible for him to retreat…
“‘Estrada absolutely has to die because the Holy Light requires your death for its salvation.’ Ha! You’ve seen through everything already, little Roland. As your teacher, I’m quite proud of you for everything you’ve learned and accomplished.”
Estrada could only let out another bitter smile and shake his head sadly as he continued muttering part of Roland’s letter to him out loud.
But suddenly a mysterious and powerful divine will sent a message that echoed through this entire area. Every person present heard and understood this message.
“Estrada, if you are willing to become my Follower God, I shall forgive you for all your sins.”
Estrada laughed out loud at this.
“Become your puppet and tool? Sure, I will agree as long as you let all these young children under me go free and also promise to never again interfere with mortal affairs.”
“…”
Estrada didn’t receive a response to this. Instead, more pillars of light appeared behind the God of Holy Light’s incarnation, more than doubling the number of Meteors of Holy Light that were sent hurtling towards everyone. This was the God of Holy Light’s answer.
“Estrada has to die because the Holy Light requires salvation.”
Once again, the elderly Holy Knight muttered something that nobody understood as he then silently raised his battle hammer.
“We Holy Knights are proud of smiting evil and protecting the kind and just. We’ve even branched into the path of judgement and the path of holy healing. But in the bottom of my heart, the strongest path for Holy Knights has forever been…”
Estrada suddenly dropped his battle hammer, which whirled in midair before landing on the ground. At the moment of impact, a semicircular wall of light expanded from the battle hammer and enveloped everyone.
“…We Holy Knights are a job class that were born for the sake of defensive battles. We were born for the sake of defending. Our strongest path has forever been the path of protection!”
The elderly Holy Knight’s roar echoed throughout the entire skies. He used Soul Immolation on himself to the extreme limits in order to cast the strongest barrier spell in all of history. At this moment, the aura of light expanding from his battle hammer blocked everything. Even the angels—no—even the God of Holy Light himself found it impossible to penetrate this barrier of light.
Meteors of Holy Light and pillars of Holy Light crashed into this barrier, but nothing was able to break through the barrier Estrada had created at the cost of his very life.
It stood still, not even flickering from the attacks landing against it. It seemed as if even the God of Holy Light’s attacks were nothing more than meaningless mosquito bites.
Meanwhile, Estrada himself carried out his oath…
“Estrada has to die because the Holy Light requires salvation.”
This protective barrier had been created at the cost of the elderly Holy Knight’s full amount of life essence. Estrada’s physical body landed on the ground but remained standing despite the fact that he was no longer living. It seemed as if he was now a statue roaring at the skies, yet his soul was no longer present in his physical body.
“Teacher Estrada!”
“…No, this is impossible…”
“Wahhhhhhh! Teacher Estrada!”
Countless cries arose from the individuals who had encircled the elderly Holy Knight’s body. Meanwhile, when the God of Holy Light’s incarnation discovered that it would be impossible for him to pierce through this powerful barrier unless he was willing to sacrifice and self-destruct his incarnation, he unhesitatingly calculated the potential costs and benefits and then made the decision to stop wasting his time here and leave.
At the exact same moment, two divine messages from the God of Holy Light were delivered directly to the Church of Holy Light’s headquarters. The first divine message ordered that all of Estrada’s glory and honor be stripped from him, while the other divine message ordered that the entire Holy Light army vanguard be declared as heretics so that none of them would be able to ever return home. The God of Holy Light was still the most powerful God in existence, and he would forcefully twist everything back to the starting point.
One week later, a white ice crystal which exuded Holy Light and a tattered battle hammer that was fading in color were placed in front of me.
I could only fall silent for a very long period of time as I gazed at this ice crystal and read Estrada’s dying message.
After an almost unending amount of silence on that dark night, Roland, face pale, carefully picked up the ice crystal and set it within a black box. He then shut it and placed it within his Frigidwinter Earth.
Before he did, Harloys caught a glimpse of what was within the box.
There were four grooves on top. Three top-level elemental items had been placed within these grooves, making the empty fourth groove apparent.
There were also another four grooves on the bottom half of the box for Roland’s ice crystals. Again, there were three crystals placed within the grooves, with one more remaining empty.
The first crystal possessed the blue light of water. The second crystal was Estrada’s crystal of Holy Light that Roland just received. The third crystal was missing, as someone had just recently arrived to take it. Meanwhile, the fourth groove had a crystal inserted which didn’t have any glimmer to it at all. This ice crystal was identical to the first two before they had been delivered to Aylos and Estrada.
Currently, I was looking at the tattered battle hammer and lightly touching it. I felt incredibly fatigued and uneasy…
“‘Estrada has to die because the Holy Light requires salvation…’ It’s all my fault… If I didn’t write that letter to him—”
“Roland! This isn’t your fault! Your teacher made his own choice! And he would have made the exact same choice even without your letter. He’s Estrada!”
I could only helplessly nod my head and then shake my head. Harloys wasn’t at all trying to console me. She was telling me the truth. Still, it was undeniable that I had given Estrada a final push at the end.
“Roland…”
The black cat—many cultures considered it a symbol of misfortune, I must say—hopped off my shoulder to the ground. She transformed into a golden-haired young elf and came up to me, apparently intent on continuing to console me. However, I shook my head again and stood up straight.
“…Relax, I’m not that weak. We don’t have much time left so let’s prepare for the next step. At the very least—at the very least…”
Imperceptibly, my eyes started filling with tears, my plan crafted out of cold logic suddenly thrown aside by a violent outburst of emotions. Before I could even react, I was kneeling on the ground, crying.
“Teacher… Estrada…”
At this moment, the sly 20th ranked member of the Calamity Rankings was nowhere to be found. There was only a pained person hugging his knees and weeping, a youth who had just lost his teacher, his teacher who had been like a father to him.
It had started to rain outside, the massive downpour swiftly passing with the time.
******
After temporarily losing control of my emotions, I felt much better.
When I proceeded to touch that tattered battle hammer again, it suddenly became ignited with Holy Light. It would seem that the heroic spirits within this battle hammer had recognized me as worthy of succeeding it.
I believed that as long as Holy Knights remained—no—as long as humans remained, this path of protection passed down through the generations would never be broken. My goal would never change.
“…I swear that every sacrifice will be meaningful! All evil villains will receive the just desserts they deserve! I will absolutely end this damned Holy War, forever!”
I stroked the battle hammer as I gazed out the window. The dawn sun had just peeked over the horizon, its rays breaking through the clouds.
And then, looking down, I added another person dear to me in my notebook for whom I must carry yet another responsibility on my shoulder.
At the same time, I wrote down yet another mortal enemy.
“Teacher Estrada, and the damned God of Holy Light…”