Chapter 322: The Holy Light That Should Be

“Come! Let me utterly destroy you!”

Barton’s laughter was ear-piercing. He stretched out five fingers toward Liya and suddenly clenched.

Screee—

The air itself tore with a sound like fabric being ripped apart.

Sensing something, Liya’s expression changed. The misty holy light around her instantly condensed, golden radiance dazzling as it solidified into a barrier.

【Divine Protection】

Her strongest defensive technique. Back in that spatial magic, it was this very move that allowed her and Muen to survive the terrifying turbulence unharmed.

But under Barton’s casual grab, the circular wall began to twist visibly. Several neat dents appeared upon the golden glow, as if top-grade alchemical blades had struck it all at once.

Yet Liya saw nothing.

“Martial skill...?”

She murmured, her wide eyes flickering.

There was not a trace of magic—so it could only be martial technique.

“But that was too fast.”

True, martial skills required no incantation, but they were usually accompanied by clear movements. After all, they were the coordination of battle aura and martial forms. Yet Barton had merely twitched his fingers.

Liya recalled when Muen briefly clashed with him earlier—his moves had also been this concealed.

So this was what it meant to be a top outlaw even on the Empire’s most wanted list?

“Hey, little girl—daring to daydream in a fight with me?”

That beastlike sneer rang out. In an instant, Liya’s heart jolted. A chill laced with death rushed at her.

The space before her warped, as if some unseen thing lay crosswise there.

A black line stretched from one edge of her vision to the other, like the chalk line masons used in construction.

But it was nothing so harmless.

Because the moment that line appeared, she saw it carve into her holy light barrier.

A slash mark.

Clearer than before—by countless times!

“Heh, starting off with something this intense may be a little rude, but I’m a villain who spares no evil.”

Barton grinned.

“So forgive me, darling little beauty. I’m not this gentle with just anyone!”

He swung his palm toward her.

Zheng—

Like a taut steel wire snapping, the shrill note stabbed the ears.

Liya’s pupils contracted. In that lightning instant, there was no time to unleash another technique. She had already used her strongest defense.

All she could do was hurl herself aside.

So the same black line appeared behind her—across colossal trees that needed a dozen men to encircle, across jagged stones of the forest floor, across her holy light barrier.

Then—

All was severed.

Trees, rocks, barrier—all split clean in two in an instant.

From the sky, one could clearly see a fan-shaped swath cut into the dense forest, as if Death’s scythe had swept across it.

“Cough, cough... what is this...”

Amid the thunderous crash of falling giants and roiling dust, Liya pushed herself up from where she’d thrown herself down.

“Hss...”

Pain stabbed her belly. Slowly she raised the small hand pressed there.

Her sight turned red.

Blood.

Her eyes trembled.

She had dodged so quickly just now—yet she was still wounded.

“Uu... it hurts... so scary...”

“Am I really still... this useless?”

By Muen’s side—even facing foes more dreadful than this—she had never been hurt at all.

But against mere Barton, she had nearly been split in two on the first exchange.

So this... was the gap?

“Hey, hey, you done already?”

Barton twisted his fingers, disappointed. “I’m not satisfied yet.”

“...That’s not true.”

Suddenly Liya clenched that bloody hand.

Sacred light spilled from her palm, evaporating the blood.

Under its healing, the wound in her abdomen closed visibly.

“As you wish—this is only the beginning.”

She slowly lifted her head, driving fear out of her mind, then locked eyes with Barton.

Think, Liya—now is the time to think.

The enemy is strong, far above your realm.

But not without a chance.

These ten years of harsh study must hold a path to victory.

Before, it was always he who believed in you.

Now—

It’s your turn to believe in yourself.

Her gaze shone.

Barton’s techniques were bizarre: they held the terrifying force and mysterious nature of magic, yet the speed of martial skills—and with that nearly indestructible invisible sharpness, to block or dodge endlessly was hopeless.

Even falling into his rhythm was fatal.

So in this case, the only choice was...

At once, unlike the gentle healing light in her left hand, the glow gripped in her right grew ever brighter—ever sharper!

Like the blade of divine judgment!

【Divine Benediction】

Sacred aura spread out.

Clutching the holy light blade, under its protection Liya... charged straight at Barton!

Strength enhanced.

Speed enhanced.

Reflexes enhanced.

And—countless filaments of holy light spread outward, senses sharpened!

In that moment, under the radiance, Liya’s whole bearing changed—hair flying, skin white as jade. She looked like a valkyrie striding step by step toward victory.

She swung the blade of holy light, slashing toward the weak point her senses found—

Clang!

Steel clashed.

It was like cutting into a keen edge that had been waiting for her. Both her hands quivered. Fortunately the holy blade was not physical, or it would have been knocked from her grasp.

Yet before her—nothing was there.

“Oh? Interesting.”

With a mere crook of his finger, Barton held the piercing holy light just short of him. Sneering, he studied the girl.

“I admit your courage, but you’re no warrior. Not a shred of battle aura on you.”

“...So what?”

“If you’re no warrior, yet dare fight a true one—one who has mastered powerful martial skills—at close range, don’t you think you’re... an utter fool?”

The finger he’d curled twitched down.

Instantly—

An invisible blade, wrapped in icy wind, slashed at the girl at point-blank range.

Barton’s grin widened with delight.

He could already see her beautiful blood spray.

Heh—even with a strengthened body, without a warrior’s instincts, this sudden attack at this range—

“Hm?”

His smirk froze.

Because the girl before him, with nimble movement, as if foreseeing it, slipped past the strike—then with a twist of her slim waist, her holy blade shot in from another angle.

An angle that was precisely the blind spot his layers of invisible blades had left undefended.

Damn—how did she react?!

Barton’s heart nearly skipped. His aura surged automatically, sheathing his body in defense.

The gulf from Third Rank to Fourth—a fortress of battle aura solidified. Not even that duke’s son with his fine weapons could easily breach it.

But the next instant made Barton’s soul quake.

The holy blade pierced in as if his aura wasn’t even there.

Stabbing straight toward—his vital point!

...

Silence.

Perhaps because this was the forest edge, a cold wind drifted through.

The chill breeze swept Barton’s cold sweat, making him shiver. He snapped out of it, shaken, glancing aside.

Right next to his neck.

So close.

Just one inch more and that dreadful blade would have pierced his artery.

Holy light—ignoring even aura defense—if it entered his body... Barton didn’t dare imagine.

Damn!

Was holy light always this terrifying?

Should’ve converted to the goddess’s faith myself!

He cursed inwardly.

Still, his Fourth-Rank reflexes had saved him, letting him narrowly escape.

But why...

How could a little girl without battle aura pull off such moves?

Even with strengthened physique—close combat skill and instinct belonged only to warriors.

“I... like to read.”

Suddenly, the girl before him spoke softly, as if seeing his doubt.

“So, while reading, I studied a little... warrior’s technique.”

“...”

Barton’s eyes bulged.

Reading?

Studied a little?

Warrior’s technique?

What kind of sick joke was that!

His martial skills, honed with blood and sweat—you surpassed them by casually flipping through books?

He roared, abandoning his usual special technique, swinging a heavy fist instead at the girl right before him.

But it was as if fate mocked him—the girl’s movements flowed like a fish in water. Every strike she slipped, her holy blade probing his defensive gaps, forcing him to retreat in clumsy haste.

Though she hadn’t landed a blow yet, fury roared in him—he felt like ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ the prey being toyed with.

“As I thought.”

Amidst that elegant assault like a butterfly dance, her voice came again:

“Barton, what makes you strong is only that one strange move. In every other respect—strength, speed, techniques—at the level of Fourth Rank you are... utterly ordinary.

At least... far inferior to Muen.”

“What...”

Barton’s breath halted.

Ordinary?

Him?

Barton?

Impossible!

Her words touched some buried nerve. His eyes flamed red, his face twisted like a beast.

“Lies! I am Barton! Barton the Dismemberer, feared by all! Ordinary? No! No one has ever dared say that! Never!”

...

“Barton! You’re too stupid!”

“Barton! Too lazy! Feil your classmate already learned a new technique!”

“Barton! All you do is waste time on useless tricks—keep this up and you’ll be trash forever!”

Unpleasant memories flashed through his mind.

“Those who dare say that... all died!”

His ten fingers curved like claws, sketching unseen threads toward Liya.

Sensing it, her face paled.

No matter how she dodged, a thin, faint line, like a harmless chalk mark, still fell across her fragile body.

“Damn.”

She whispered, her dress billowing like petals falling.

But that frail sight only made Barton’s laugh grow more twisted with pleasure.

“Die for me!”

He flung his hands wide and snapped them.

In that instant, just as with the trees, rocks, and barrier before—those chalk-like lines across her body turned into razor slash marks.

Death’s dividing stroke.

Pssht.

The sound of flesh parting.

And in Barton’s fevered gaze, the delicate girl was—without exception—sliced in two by invisible blades.

Like the last petals of a wilting flower, her two halves toppled lifelessly to the ground, without even time for a struggle or a scream.