A pillar of light descended from the sky like a divine scepter piercing heaven and earth, striking the center of Howling Canyon.
Roderick and his companions stood beneath its pure white radiance.
It was warm, solemn, and filled with an absolute order that brooked no desecration.
The cold, uncanny wind in the canyon vanished in the light.
The crimson eyes stirring in the shadows of the surrounding cliffs froze, betraying a fear born of instinct.
For the first time, the silent Shadow Lurkers made a sound.
It was no hunting screech, but a piercing howl of pain and terror.
Space warped faintly at the center of the light, and Holy Spirit Leon stepped out.
White-gold flames of light enveloped him, obscuring his face. Only his eyes were visible, like twin burning suns gazing down indifferently upon this land tainted by Sin Karma.
Leon did not spare Roderick and the others a glance.
His gaze fell on the Shadow Lurkers trembling around him.
He did not look at them as enemies, but as filth that needed to be cleared away.
He slowly raised the sword of light in his hand. A faint glow appeared at its tip.
The next moment, light bloomed.
It was not an explosion, but a gentle expansion.
A soft white-gold ring of light spread silently from Leon through the entire canyon.
Where it passed, time seemed to slow.
The ring caught a Shadow Lurker in midair just as it leaped from the cliffside shadows.
The instant it touched the ring, its body of Shadow Energy melted away like snow beneath a blazing sun, dissolving into particles of pure light.
And it was not alone.
Every Shadow Lurker hidden in the darkness, whether on the cliffs or in cracks in the ground, met the same judgment.
They were