The Descent of the Gods

Divine Descent was the only way the gods could come to the mortal world and exert their influence. However, this method of descent was severely limited. First of all, only the Divine Chosen were eligible to receive a Divine Descent, and only their bodies could withstand a god's boundless power without falling apart. Anyone else, even a devout believer, could not withstand such divine power. Even if they managed to hold out for a time, their body would turn to dust after the god departed, leaving nothing behind.

Divine Chosen were exceedingly rare, because the gods could leave only a handful of them in the mortal world, and even fewer lived safely to die of old age. Their status as Divine Chosen made people more likely to regard them as reinforcements from the gods. When conflicts broke out between gods, they rarely chose the barbaric method of fighting each other directly in the Divine Realm. For one thing, the cost outweighed the gain; for another, clashes between two gods in their true forms always caused considerable harm, and it would be a terrible bargain if another god took advantage of their weakness. Thus, whenever two gods had a personal grudge to settle with their fists, they would possess their Divine Chosen and have it out. Whatever the outcome, the two poor substitutes were naturally finished, while even if neither god won, they would at least have vented their resentment and avoided fighting to the bitter end.

During the Magic Empire's era, many gods sent their Divine Chosen into its capital to serve as assistants or guards to the Arcane Mages, in order to preserve their own strength. Of course, some also had ideas they could not conveniently make public. Take the Goddess of Love, for example. She was fond of the pleasures of the bed by nature, something inseparable from her personality and divine office. But she could hardly bring herself to possess someone and simply find a man to do the things lovers did. After all, her image among her believers was still pure and virtuous. If they learned that the goddess they invoked to witness their vows of love beneath the flowers and moon went around looking for men like a streetwalker, she would have no place left as a goddess. So she had once sent her Divine Chosen to an Arcane Mage of the Magic Empire, and whenever the mood struck her, she would possess her and ask the mage to help take care of it. Arcane Mages had always been without principles or allegiances anyway, and would raise no objection to the Goddess of Love's behavior. What was more, the Goddess of Love had to be a symbol of chastity, so her true body had to remain a virgin at all times—but fortunately, whether the Divine Chosen she descended upon was a virgin did not matter in the slightest.

Nevertheless, Divine Chosen remained extremely scarce. It was somewhat better for humans, whose lives were relatively short; sometimes two or three Divine Chosen would appear within a few years. But among the long-lived elves, there might be only one in several hundred years. This also made Divine Chosen exceptionally precious. The gods sent their Divine Chosen to the Arcane Mages partly for reasons of their own, and partly as payment. Most importantly, however, they hoped the Arcane Mages would protect these Divine Chosen from unexpected natural or man-made disasters before they were truly needed—that would have been a terrible loss.

However, with the defeat of the Capital of the Magic Empire, most of the Divine Chosen had died as well, which could be said to have dealt the gods a tremendous blow. There were certainly very few Divine Chosen left in the world now, yet this time the gods had gone so far as to order their Divine Chosen to seek him out, and had even taken the trouble to possess them and meet him. This surprised Li Lin greatly.

"We don't have much time, Arcane Mage."

The female knight stepped forward. Looking at the group trapped inside the cage, she frowned and tightened her grip on the longsword at her waist. In the end, however, the Goddess of Dawn made no major move and continued speaking to Li Lin.

"I think you should understand what I mean."

"I do have an idea."

Li Lin's gaze moved slowly past the Elf Goddess, the Goddess of Dawn, the Goddess of Light, the King of Hell, the God of Dwarves, and the Beast God before returning to the Goddess of Dawn.

"But I think that seems far too impossible."

"It's just as you think, Arcane Mage."

The angel, whose spear was pointed at Duncan from a distance, spoke. Though pleasant to the ear, her voice carried an unyielding fury.

"The traitor destroyed the other gods. We've been driven out of the Divine Realm completely!"

"The God of Justice couldn't possibly possess such tremendous power."

Hearing this, Li Lin raised an eyebrow.

"How did he..."

A sudden burst of laughter and screams interrupted Li Lin's question. Everyone looked over in surprise and saw Duncan pulling his longsword back out, while the paladin whose chest he had pierced stared wide-eyed and fell to the ground, becoming a corpse. Another paladin had likewise failed to escape death's grim fate. He had been killed by Duncan's second-in-command, his blood splattering across the scene.

"I never expected to meet an Arcane Mage and fallen evil gods here at the same time...!"

Duncan clenched his teeth, his face bearing an inviolable sacred solemnity and excitement. He raised the longsword in both hands and walked step by step toward the two sisters beside him.

"Sir Duncan, what are you doing?!"

Mina could scarcely believe what Duncan had done. He had actually murdered two innocent knights. Was this how a servant of the God of Justice should act? And what alarmed her even more was that, though she knew perfectly well Duncan would put her to death, her heart was instead filled with anticipation. How could that be? What on earth was happening?!

"This is your mission, Divine Chosen Mina! Surrender your body and mind! Open yourself to the god!"

"She's a Divine Chosen!!"

The King of Hell was the first to spread her pitch-black wings, her gaze growing ever darker.

"Arcane Mage, remove the Thunder Net and let us kill her!!"

Li Lin said no more and quickly made a gesture. Though he did not know the details of what had happened, it now seemed clear that Duncan intended to use the paladins' souls to summon the God of Justice through Divine Descent, which was precisely why he needed Mina, a Divine Chosen. From this, it was clear that Duncan had certainly done the same thing on the previous occasions, allowing the God of Justice to descend into the Capital of the Magic Empire through a Divine Chosen, certainly in search of something. But right now, it was obvious that the God of Justice's appearance would not be a good thing.

The cage of thunder vanished at Li Lin's gesture, and at the same time, the hellfire controlled by the succubus came sweeping toward the group. The angel shouted angrily and swung her spear, becoming a streak of light along with her weapon as she hurtled toward Mina.

They could hardly be called slow, but it was too late. By now, Duncan had already swung down the longsword still dripping with blood and plunged it into Mina's heart.

"Big sister!!"

As Fina cried out in anguish, a dazzling light burst forth, sweeping over everything around it like a surging tide. The hellfire was utterly extinguished before that radiance, and the charging angel failed to fulfill her mission. An invisible force pushed her away and hurled her hard against the wall.

The light faded.

Mina was still the same Mina, but now she radiated incomparable majesty. Her once icy eyes now bore a sacred flame.

"...You broke the rules, God of Justice."

Li Lin rose from his chair and stared coldly at the one being possessed. At her feet, Duncan and his second-in-command had already turned to ash after the God of Justice completely drained their power. Only Fina had escaped that fate, but she too now lay on the ground, unconscious.

"Within the Capital of the Magic Empire, no forced Divine Descent at the cost of a life is permitted... Perhaps so much time has passed that you've forgotten?"

"The Magic Empire has fallen, Arcane Mage..."

A clear, aged male voice came from Mina's mouth.

"But I still grant you sufficient respect. I did not come for you this time..."

"Traitor!"

The Elf Goddess took a step back, her expression uncertain and apprehensive.

"Be careful, his power has grown stronger again!!"

The Goddess of Dawn drew her longsword, but even she could not immediately step forward to confront Mina.

And Li Lin clearly had no intention of letting the matter rest. But Angela plainly gave better expression to the anger in her master's heart.

"Stop right there, you foolish, ignorant, barbaric glowing light bulb."

Angela's voice swept through the entire hall like a dark wind. Her scarlet eyes fixed on Mina, revealing unmistakable disgust and killing intent.

"Though I don't know what sort of thing you are or where you came from, you dared to try to snatch my toy. For that, you deserve death!"

A red light flashed.

In the next instant, Angela appeared beside Mina. The velvet folding fan that had appeared in her hand at some unknown point snapped open and stabbed toward Mina's fair neck. Almost at the same time, Li Lin gently waved both hands, and a surging aura of death spread in an instant. It coiled around his hands as though all the poisonous fog in the Capital of the Magic Empire had gathered there. Then he stretched his hands forward, unleashing a raging tide that roared toward his enemy.

Facing Angela's attack, Mina showed no intention of dodging. She no longer resembled a simple, frail priestess in the least. She reached out and grasped, and the bloodstained longsword lying beside Duncan's ashes immediately flew up into her hand. With a movement almost too fast to see, a crisp clash rang out, and bright sparks flew between the folding fan and the longsword burning with sacred flames. Angela used the recoil to leap backward, her petite, lovely body escaping Mina's attack range. Before the God of Justice could give chase, Li Lin's deathly mist swallowed him whole.

"Hmph!"

Angela snapped open her folding fan and gazed contemptuously at the place enveloped in thick mist.

"I wondered what you were, but you're nothing more than trash of this caliber. And you have the nerve to call yourself a god. How ridiculous."

"During Divine Descent, a god can only display a tenth of their power. Even so, he is absolutely not an opponent an Arcane Mage can deal with easily. It's best to be careful."

Rather than calling it advice, it would be more accurate to say the Goddess of Dawn was trying to save face for herself and the others. This little girl of unknown origins could not only take a blow from the God of Justice, but even fight his incarnation to a standstill. Yet her hurtful words showed far too little regard for gods like them.

"If you have time for nonsense, you'd be better off attacking."

The energy for a second spell had already begun gathering in Li Lin's hands. He understood perfectly well that even with his power, he could not destroy a Divine Chosen so easily. So, as he prepared the spell, a thought occurred to him and he gave Angela a meaningful look.

"Evil creature, you are not worthy to be my enemy!!"

The dense mist, filled with the chill of death, abruptly contracted, then burst apart and dissipated. Mina shot out of it, sacred light enveloping her body as the flames on her longsword aimed straight at Angela.

"Die, evil undead creature!!"

"Heh heh heh..."

Unexpectedly, however, Angela showed no intention of evading the longsword thrusting toward her, filled with the power of justice and holiness. On the contrary, her eyes revealed unmistakable excitement and delight, as though she were a child looking forward to a performance of her favorite play.

"Although it's a little different from the performance I arranged... it seems rather interesting this way too."

With a sweet, expectant smile, Angela took a step back.

Blood spattered.

Warm blood flowed down the blade. Mina's eyes widened as she stared at the scene before her in disbelief. At the very instant Mina was about to succeed, Fina, who had been unconscious nearby, suddenly slipped between them and used her body to block the immensely powerful attack.