Free Web NovelChapter 365: Chapter 362: Joseph and Joseph
The Airship carrying the Forbidden Magic Device had been heavily protected, but all those defenses failed when the Forbidden Magic Domain was deployed. Even as Magic Power began to return to the environment, the Mages aboard the Airship still needed time to restore their full protective measures.
This window of vulnerability after firing was when the Legendary Airship was at its weakest.
The golden light was Joseph—not Joseph Rorschach, but his old acquaintance, Gray-robed Bishop Joseph.
From the very beginning, he had disapproved of the all-or-nothing gambit of massing the Holy Kingdom’s northern Holy Knights. However, many Bishops within the Church had supported it. Without Dipresy to manage the overall situation, Joseph had no choice but to yield to the other high-ranking bishops.
He had questioned the operation’s commander—the War Bishop—who told Joseph not to worry. The War Bishop claimed he had discussed it with the Grand Master of the Holy Knight Order, and the Grand Master had sworn an oath upon his banner and Holy Emblem.
A large batch of Holy Oil Relics had been rushed into production, and who knew how many would find their way into the Royal Capital’s black market. Fortunately, the Bishops’ worst fears did not come to pass. Despite a mass exodus of Nobility, many wealthy merchants, worried about the state of affairs, still generously opened their purses. The "Holy Knight-issue" Blessed Weapons did not languish on the shelves.
With Dipresy having gone south, all affairs in Valuva were now under the Gray-robed Bishop’s purview. Thus, after holding mass for the Knights departing for the campaign, the old man returned to the great cathedral in Valuva. But the more he mulled it over, the more something felt wrong, and he began a frantic, non-stop journey toward the battlefield.
In one sense, he was too late, for cannonballs had already rained down upon positions stripped of the protection of Divine Arts.
In another, he arrived at the perfect moment—just in time for Joseph to witness the annihilation of the better part of the Holy Kingdom Church’s armed forces on a desolate wasteland.
’Ever since the Silent Generation, we lost the Empire, and now we’re losing the Kingdom. If the Order Church keeps suffering defeats like this, we’ll lose the Eternal City next!’
From the surviving Priests, Joseph learned that a strange Airship had appeared, after which all the Holy Knights and other Clergy lost the protection and Blessings of their Divine Spirit.
Filled with grief and indignation, he prayed to the Divine Spirit. His rough hands clenched the spine of his Scripture. As the ambient Magic Power surged back, his whole body became dazzling and scorching hot. Then he soared into the air, brandishing a Scripture Flail, vowing to find out the truth.
This led to the scene Rorschach was now witnessing. The young man immediately broke free from the soldier Ahim’s supporting grasp and shoved a handful of identification documents into his arms. "Brother Ahim, please, you have to help me turn in these dog tags. Make sure our comrades’ sacrifices are remembered, will you?"
After he finished speaking, he took off running in the direction of the crashing Airship, leaving a bewildered Ahim to shout, "You forgot your own tags! Hey!" Ahim couldn’t understand how Joseph, who had just been thrown clear of an explosion, could suddenly run so fast. He even leaped clean over the massive crater the blast had left behind.
’Wait, since when were the Empire’s cannonballs this powerful?’
...
If an airship’s secondary explosion could claim the life of a Great Mage, then the very title of Chief Military Mage would be a joke. He hadn’t managed to protect everyone, but a dark green Force Field Barrier had still shielded his student, Richard, and the key technical officer, the Eight-character Moustache Mage.
In fact, the Chief Mage had been the first on the battlefield to regain his Casting Ability. In the split second that the golden light tore through the airship’s outer skin and detonated the Lightweight Flammable Element gasbags, he had unleashed a life-saving Shield.
However, he hadn’t fully recovered his strength at that precise moment. Richard had watched with his own eyes as his master was struck by several pieces of shrapnel. In the wake of the Magic Tsunami, his master’s skin began to lose its moisture, revealing ashen, rotting patches.
Now, the Chief Mage and Joseph stood in a standoff. Though the Chief Mage was a Mage well-versed in Killing Techniques, the Gray-robed Bishop was far from an easy opponent.
It wasn’t just Joseph’s abilities as a Divine Benefactor that he had to consider; the "Light" attribute itself was exceptionally troublesome for the Chief Mage. Not only were many of his nefarious techniques ineffective against such a foe, but Joseph’s attacks could also inflict grievous harm upon him.
Richard prepared for battle as well, pulling several Scrolls from his Spellcasting Materials Bag. The Healing Scrolls were useless on his master, so he used them on the other Mages who had been stunned or injured, hoping to bolster their forces.
Joseph rose to his feet again from the wreckage of the cabin that had crashed to the ground. Above him, the enormous steel frame of the airship groaned in the flames. Despite the violent impact and heatwave, the golden glow around him did not diminish. Shrouded in the raging inferno, he looked like a Blazing Angel fallen from the sun.
The Chief Mage was still recovering his strength. The loss of Magic Power and his injuries had taken a heavy toll on the old man. He didn’t make a rash move, instead stalling for time while secretly preparing a spell. "Villard von Sorren, Chief Mage of the Empire Army."
"Joseph Le Tranblay, Priest of Song Rank of the Order Church." The Gray-robed Bishop’s hands were not idle as he announced his name. The muscles in his right arm bulged as he swung out his Scripture Flail. Simultaneously, his other hand pulled a Short-handled Staff from his wide sleeve, raising it high until it exploded with dazzling light.
The light was so blinding Richard couldn’t open his eyes, but the brightly lit space soon dimmed. Chief Villard had made his move. Tattoos resembling Runes and sigils surfaced on his skin as his Magic Power converted into an energy naturally loathed and rejected by life itself, flaring out to contend with the Holy Light.
Richard fired three summoned Acid Arrows. Two shot toward Joseph’s Radiant Staff, while the third targeted the Scripture Flail swinging toward them at high speed.
Even as the dangerous flail whistled toward him, Soron remained unmoved, his own power restrained by the Bishop’s Light. He even had the leisure to critique his student. "You underestimate the Priest. A few Acid Arrows won’t be enough."
Just as he said, before the arrows of corrosive liquid could even approach their targets, they were bathed in the radiant light and evaporated into nothing.
Soron spoke to Richard in a hoarse voice, "Ordinarily, out of respect for your father, I’ve had to hold back. But today, I have no choice but to show you my true power!"
With that, he unleashed the energy antithetical to life. Soron actually took Joseph’s attack and the searing Light with his physical body. He grunted, trading injury for an opening. With a point of his finger, cracks spread across Joseph’s staff, and its light began to dim.
Though it hadn’t inflicted any real harm on the Priest of Song Rank, the Chief Mage had achieved his objective.
The sinister energy poured into the dead passengers of the airship, not even sparing the dying. The energy multiplied within their bodies, and they began to move, climbing over one another to form a ring behind Soron.
Joseph realized that not only was the Evil Mage using the bodies on the airship, but the ring was also siphoning and gathering the lingering Breath of Death from the battlefield’s fallen, which hovered in the Symbolic Realm.
He decisively tossed aside the staff and produced a Holy Emblem from within his robes. This was no common ceremonial object, but one of the twelve most ancient sigils. The moment this battered wooden emblem appeared, the golden light flowing around Joseph became almost tangible. From the heart of the surrounding inferno, the phantom of a faceless ancient figure seemed to emerge, clutching thorns in its hand.
Seeing the Priest pull out his trump card so quickly, Soron maintained an air of nonchalance, but he secretly drew a portion of the Breath of Death to form a barrier between himself and the Gray-robed Bishop.
The Chief Mage said calmly, "Heh. That Holy Emblem is a rare sight indeed. A pity, then, that I am merely a projection here. Why waste a precious antique that depletes with every use?"
Joseph remained silent. He halted his advance but intensified his power output, attempting to suppress the Breath of Death with the power of the Holy Artifact.
During the stalemate, the deathly aura on the Mages’ side grew ever thicker. Standing beside his master, Richard had never felt so awful; it was as if his internal organs were beginning to decay, and a deep drowsiness clouded his mind.
Suddenly, a hand rested on his shoulder from behind. A pure, gentle energy—the very antithesis of death—poured into him, and his mind was instantly cleared and refreshed.
It was a young Mage in a military uniform, someone Richard didn’t recognize. Richard tensed at first, but he could sense the newcomer’s good intentions and whispered, "Thank you." freēwēbnovel.com
The Mage, however, sounded puzzled. "A projection? But it should have been dispelled after being washed by the Forbidden Magic Domain."
"Whose side are you on? Wait, who are you?" The Chief Mage was enraged. Under normal circumstances, he could have ended the life of this reckless fool with a single glare, or gained a new puppet with a flick of his finger.
But now, all Soron could do was divert another stream of the Breath of Death from his ritual. He channeled it into the newcomer’s body, attempting to kill and dominate the troublesome youth.
But the infusion had no effect. Rorschach scratched his head, completely unfazed. "My name’s Joseph, too. I didn’t expect to find an Evil Mage here!"
