CHAPTER 193
Three figures shot forward toward the Artificial Transcendent Vessel.
Lieutenant General Inferno.
Lieutenant General Meiran.
The Divine Lord, Aigis.
Gripping their respective weapons and fists, they rushed in like starved beasts to destroy the Vessel.

So many lives had been sacrificed to get here.
Even with resurrection magic, not many are willing to actually lay down their lives.
Everyone here had bet absolutely everything just to reach this moment.

Flames erupted from the Artificial Transcendent Vessel.
Realizing its own crisis, the bastard resorted to any means necessary.
The flames each took the shape of a human.

[You son of a bitch, I'll definitely eat you. I'll tear you apart and eat every last scrap!]

A flame screaming at me.
It was a familiar shape.
The Sin of Gluttony, Ganibal.
Pouring thick killing intent toward me, he blocked Aigis's path.

[These inferior beings don't know their place.]

Soon after, another flame opened its lips, and grotesque plants shot up from the ground.
The Sin of Pride, Arborex.
He blocked Meiran's ice.

[Good grief. Just when I thought I could finally rest, you work me to the bone right to the end.]

A voice dripping with lethargy and annoyance.
The one who had instilled an unmatched terror in me when I faced him long ago.
The Sin of Sloth, Cosmic Jac.
His grasp intercepted Inferno's fist.

The materialized sinners.
I had faced all of them personally and defeated them through various ordeals.
These disgusting freaks.
Even after killing them like that, they had somehow clung to their lifelines and were still alive here.

Explosions roared.
Ice and plants tangled together.
Holy light and gluttony clashed and howled.

Even though they were in the form of flames, the Sinners utilized their Abilities and original powers to the fullest.
In fact, because they had no physical bodies, they were even more troublesome than before.
They were notorious as the Deadly Sins for a reason.
Their combat prowess was more than enough to make it difficult for even our three heavy hitters to break through.

What's more, the Artificial Transcendent Vessel didn't just summon the Sinners.
Following behind them, soldiers made from the black wall began to spring up like a fountain.
The grotesque stone soldiers looked like beings where the boundary between artificial and living had collapsed.
Fully armed, they immediately joined the fray to attack us.

Unless we destroyed the Artificial Transcendent Vessel itself, this fight didn't look like it would end anytime soon.
So, who was in a position to target the Artificial Transcendent Vessel right now?
It wasn't the Lieutenant Generals, Inferno and Meiran, nor the Lord, Aigis.

"Lululio."

Beside me stood Lululio, covered in wounds.
I had healed her to some extent with holy magic, but her fatigue was undoubtedly still there.

"Can you clear a path for me right to the front of the Artificial Transcendent?"

I made a difficult request to her.
The Artificial Transcendent Vessel was frantically spewing out every trick it had to survive.
The closer you got, the exponentially higher the danger.
But instead of refusing, Lululio formed a spear of light and gripped it in her hand.

"Isn't that exactly why we came all the way here, sir?"

Hearing Lululio's words, I gave a short smile.
Just as she said, that was why we came here.

Lululio's entire body began to be dyed in light.
It was proof that she was pouring out the entirety of her Ability.
Textures of light surfaced over her skin.
Not fire, not lightning, but pure radiance flowed along the lines of her body, redrawing her form.
The light transformed Lululio into the shape of a warrior.

The radiance stormed outward.
At the same time, Lululio, now a being of light, zig-zagged forward, unleashing flashes of light at anyone blocking the path.
A sprint at absolute maximum output.
Every time she shot forward, the soldiers spawned by the Artificial Transcendent were blown to pieces.

Meanwhile, I quietly lowered myself while gripping my right arm.
I forcibly awakened the massive holy power settling inside my body.
Holy power is a strength bestowed by the Transcendents.
Inherently, this power wasn't mine; it was the Transcendents' power.
Therefore, no matter how hard I tried, there was no such thing as holy power just welling up on its own.
Holy power was a finite resource.

But being a finite resource meant...
It would refill if I just received more of it.

High up in the sky.
I could feel the presence of the Transcendents.
From ancient Transcendents whose existence I hadn't even known of, to the Transcendents who had continuously interfered in this world up until now.
The presence of countless Transcendents was vividly clear.
Just feeling their presence was enough to make my body feel like it was twisting apart, but it was fine.
Because among them were those who had already carved their presence into me a long time ago.

Various crests began to reveal themselves on my right arm.
Fiercely burning the stigmata of holy power engraved on my body, I roared out toward the Transcendents.
Declaring exactly who the target they needed to bestow their power upon in this very moment was.

I don't know what intentions the Transcendents have.
I also don't know why they interfere in this world.
But one thing was certain: they always viewed this world with amusement.
And that meant they would gladly lend their power to an amusing subject at any time.

Not an ant that lives its whole life looking only at the ground, but an ant that raises its hand to the sky and shouts.
Just like a human walking by who absentmindedly takes an interest in that ant.
The Transcendents bestow power upon beings who desperately desire it.
Just as the Holy Church and the Radiant Faith had endlessly prayed.

But the way I saw it, desperate prayers didn't really mean much to the Transcendents.
They didn't need prayers; they just needed a single sentence.

"Give me some."

I'm borrowing a bit of your power.

High in the sky.
It felt as if I could hear the laughter of the Transcendents.
The moment that laughter seized my mind and spread, an overwhelmingly massive amount of something began to force its way through the holy crests on my right arm.

Light plummeted endlessly above my head.
As if telling me to see how much I could handle, the Transcendents relentlessly hurled their power at me.
My arm felt like it was on fire.
My body was being altered on a cellular level as an immense force violently shoved its way in.
It was closer to a catastrophic flood than a blessing.

My knees buckled.
A scream tried to escape, but even my voice was drowned out and scattered by the light.
The unrefined holy power tried to violently expand my body.
My muscles swelled, my bones vibrated as if they would snap, and crests of light sparked like lightning beneath my skin.

But the moment I endured it and accepted it, the holy power began to take shape.
The violent current found its pulse, and my tearing flesh was reconstructed into a sturdier vessel.

The tips of my fingers.
That massive power began to concentrate there.
The flow of light reversed directions as if flowing backward, traveling down my arm and gathering at my fingertips.
The light, moving not through my blood vessels but along my nerves and soul, left a burning agony in its wake.
But thanks to that, I could physically feel the sheer magnitude of that power.

It would probably only be one shot.
Just like that day when I self-destructed with Bloody due to the holy power I couldn't handle.
It was a payload that would only allow me to fire exactly one shot.
But that was fine.
Because right now, in this moment, one shot was all I needed.

The light could no longer spread and began to contract, as if devouring itself.
The blinding radiance actually vanished, replaced by a core of silence that was close to pure white.
Around it, microscopic fragments of light trembled and rotated.

I slowly raised my fingertips.
I aimed that thing—heavier than anything I had ever held—at the Artificial Transcendent Vessel.

Belatedly, the Artificial Transcendent Vessel grasped the situation.
Living up to its name, the bastard also recognized the power bestowed by the Transcendents.

Ganibal tried to lunge at me.
But Aigis charged in like a mad beast and blocked his path.
Arborex manipulated his plants to impale me. But Meiran's extending ice froze and shattered the flora.
Cosmic Jac collapsed the floor, trying to crush me.
Inferno responded with an equal explosion, tumbling away with Cosmic Jac.

Lululio's light accelerated one more time.
Having long since surpassed her limits, she carved out a thread-thin path.
A path opened by everyone pouring out everything they had.

At the tip of the fingers aimed down that path, my command wrapped around the light.
The pure white wings of my command unfurled.

"I'm so damn sick of this."

My breath returned.
The pain didn't disappear, but it no longer controlled me.
The moment I pointed my finger, the holy power was no longer just light.
It was the sheer willpower of the man named Harua.

The compression of a split second ended, and the world followed a beat too late.
There was no sound.
There was no explosion.
The bullet of light simply shot out, as if vanishing.
Its trajectory did not tear through the air.
Instead, the darkness and distortion in its wake were cleanly erased.

The Artificial Transcendent Vessel screamed.
A scream born from realizing that everything it had tenaciously built for its goal was now meaningless.
But screams do not stop bullets.

The light swallowed the Artificial Transcendent Vessel.
Within it, the Artificial Transcendent Vessel repeated its regeneration over and over, but the light did not go out.
It destroyed, and destroyed, and destroyed again.
No matter how the Artificial Transcendent Vessel thrashed, the light neutralized it and destroyed it again.

The walls protecting the Artificial Transcendent Vessel crumbled, and the black roots beyond it were entirely erased.
That light finally reached the sky, circled it once, and slowly faded away.

By the time the light vanished...
Before me was the Artificial Transcendent Vessel, burned pitch-black with not a single trace left behind.
Consequently, the flames forming the Sinners extinguished, and they vanished into nothingness.

Beyond the wall, I saw the deep blue sky for the first time in a long while.
Staring at that sky, I let out a ragged breath.
If I had a physical heart, would I have felt it slowly coming to a stop?

Pssss—

The arm that had fired the bullet of divinity crumbled into white ash.
Following that, the rest of my body slowly turned to ash and collapsed.
Was it because I had poured out every last drop of my holy power until the very end?
Well, at least I shouldn't have to worry about not being able to revive since I underwent the Apostle Transformation.

The four of them looked at me.
Various emotions were pooled in each of their eyes.
Hoping they would make it out of here safely, I squeezed out my last bit of strength and opened my mouth.

"I'll be going first. High-speed return."