WKOC Chapter 28

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In the [Divine Descent] state, for the first time, I could see the health bar above the demon lord. That seemingly endless bar was being slowly chipped away by countless warriors’ attacks. Entwined with it was the Dark God’s health bar, which was only a tenth of the demon lord’s. Every time the Dark God was torn apart and reformed, his health would decrease.

“Xide is very weak. He can’t hold on much longer.” the Light God said.

A countdown timer appeared at the top of my vision: fifty minutes.

Me: “…”

Fifty minutes? That doesn’t sound like “can’t hold on much longer.”

“Because he will run away.” the Light God explained.

As if to confirm this, the Dark God let out a screech, and I could even hear the retreat in his tone: “This isn’t what we agreed on, you idiot, waaaah!”

The countdown timer instantly dropped to five minutes.

Me: “…”

The red divinity within the demon lord’s body flickered in and out of sight, protected in the center by a thick mist that no attack could penetrate. I scanned the battlefield, quickly thinking of a way to reach the divinity within five minutes, when suddenly, I felt my left foot step forward on its own. Then, my right hand extended, and my right knee bent, causing my head to lift in an awkward position. I lost my balance in a way I never imagined possible, tripping over my own feet and landing flat on the ground with a smack.

“…” I lay there, bewildered. “…Uh, Lord?”

“Your limbs are longer than my previous vessel’s.” the Light God said.

I could somewhat understand what He meant. “Yes, adult men’s limbs are indeed longer than a young boy’s.”

The Light God didn’t respond, but I could sense His frustration.

A faint vibration pulsed through the ground beneath me, like someone riding a horse toward me. I turned my head and saw a red dot rushing through the vast world toward me. When the two different visions alternated, I realized it was Selina. Her cheeks and exposed skin were marked with several long, thin cuts, and her armor was covered in chaotic elemental energy, torn to shreds—if I guessed correctly, she had forcefully charged through the chaotic elemental passage.

“Alvin, how dare you lie to me!!!” Her roar, along with the sound of hooves, drew nearer. She pointed her lance at me, piercing my collar to lift me off the ground, and then threw a mangled piece of metal at my face. “You gave me a fake Light Amulet?!”

Without the blessing of the Light God’s power, ordinary people couldn’t pass through the passage. Selina had already left the Light Church, and with me here, it was enough. From the beginning, I hadn’t planned on sacrificing the Free Alliance leader’s soul, so I gave her a fake Light Amulet, thinking it would keep her outside the canyon…

I felt my right hand lift, and the back of my hand smacked against the lance. After holding this strange position for a second, a sharp pain shot through my spine, as if it were being corroded. A soft, glowing white tendril emerged from my skin, replacing my hand to free me from the lance.

Selina’s expression froze, her gaze locked on the tendril.

Each movement of the ribbon-like tendril brought searing pain, though it was bearable. But after only a few movements, the tendril quickly retracted. The Light God’s voice echoed in my mind: “No, this will damage you.”

I didn’t focus on His words, because in Selina’s wide eyes, I saw my reflection—it looked eerily similar to Luke’s final state in his previous vessel, with my hair and eyes melting into a bright white light, though no cracks had appeared on my skin.

So, it really is [Divine Descent]…

It seems the time left for me is short as well.

Given my current condition, I couldn’t possibly reach the demon lord. Unless…

I glanced at the countdown timer, which had already ticked down by thirty seconds, and made a request in my heart: “Lord, please allow me to clear the way for You.”

“Mm.”

The plan flashed through my mind in an instant. I looked at Selina. “I need to get close to the demon lord within four minutes…”

Selina looked at me quietly, her violet eyes like two stones that reflected no light. My words faltered, and before I could think of anything else to say, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and calmly asked, “Alvin… No, what do You need me to do?”

“I will order Cooper to lead the troops and clear all obstacles along the signal’s path. The rest of the forces will be under your command.” I said, skipping the pleasantries due to time constraints. I pulled out a signal flare and gave her the command directly. “Lead the entire army. Hold back all the tendrils at any cost.”

She nodded once without saying another word.

Elemental energy infused into the signal flare, transforming it into a white fire-winged bird. It let out a sharp cry and flew straight toward the demon lord, leaving a bright trail in its wake. This was the signal we had agreed on before the battle. Soon, I saw another bird, carrying Cooper’s elemental energy, light up from somewhere on the battlefield, rapidly following the first flare’s path.

Just as I was about to set off, Selina suddenly called out to me: “Al.”

I turned to her.

Flames flowed from her lance to her arm, covering her back and hooves. She raised her lance, her energy bar maxing out, and let out a hoarse roar—flames erupted from the tip of her lance, sweeping across the path ahead and carving a direct route through the sea of demons toward the demon lord!

This attack drained Selina of all her strength. She was left panting heavily, turning her head to look at me. “Teacher is giving you one last push…” She seemed to have more to say but didn’t voice it. Instead, she turned her head to the side, her voice hoarse as she added, “…Go.”

“…”

I took a step forward onto the still-warm, scorched ground.

The demon corpses dissolved in the flames as I dashed across the path Selina had cleared. Horns blared from behind me as the white-armored army surged forward like a tide, overwhelming every crimson tendril that tried to block my charge. But there were too many of them—some tendrils still managed to break through and lashed down at me.

Suddenly, a bolt of black lightning shot through the sky from a great distance, striking the tendril—it was just a signal flare, not enough to do any real damage.

But what followed was a storm of thunderous strikes. Black arrows pierced the air with sharp, piercing whistles, like a swarm of black crows. They tore through the tendrils, ripping them apart and leaving nothing but sprays of crimson mist, splitting the tendril in two!

I dashed through the storm of lightning, with the broken tendrils crashing down behind me. The ground shook with each heavy thud, like the beating of a drum. The clashing of weapons and battle cries formed a chaotic chorus, with the roar of cannon fire serving as the main melody.

In the sky, Les floated, with magical threads radiating from him, connecting to mages who linked the magic cannons in place, forming a web-like structure for hunting. When I looked up at him, those green eyes, hidden behind layers of runes, seemed to meet mine briefly before he blinked.

The cliffs echoed with cannon fire as waves of arrows rained down. Under his precise control, there were no overlaps, no gaps—every shot followed the trajectory marked by the signal flare, clearing everything in my path with precision, leaving nothing to block my way!

Through the rising dust, I could see several figures locked in combat. They were fighting with all their might, their white armor stained with splashes of crimson that could no longer be distinguished between demon blood, comrades’ blood, or their own. By the time I passed through the aftershocks of the cannon barrage, the knights had already cleared the final path.

The massive form of the demon lord loomed over the land, bones and fallen warriors’ corpses intertwined. Two different visions alternated in my mind, one showing the battlefield and the other revealing countless soul fragments hovering above the bones, silently watching me, their faces still marked by the agony of their deaths.

“Do not be afraid.” the Light God’s voice echoed in my mind. “I have received their wishes.”

My hand, guided by Him, lifted, and all the white soul fragments converged in my palm, forming a long sword. As more souls gathered, the blade solidified, and I heard countless voices echoing around me, including one that was cheerful, startled, and a bit youthful.

“Commander, you weren’t lying! I really get to fight alongside you again!”

“…Yes.” I replied softly. “I told you, we knights don’t lie.”

I tightened my grip on the sword in my hand, looking up at the demon lord looming above me. My eyes burned as the red mist turned transparent, revealing the red divinity hidden within, floating as if suspended in the sky.

“Alvin—!” Cooper’s shout came from behind me.

A burning white lance whizzed past overhead, embedding itself deep into the demon lord’s body.

I leaped, using the solid lance as a foothold.

More lances flew up from below, forming a staircase beneath my feet. I climbed higher and higher, hearing the demon lord’s furious roars as the red divinity drew closer and closer—

Suddenly, the ground beneath me vanished.

—Not good, this height is beyond the lances’ reach!

In mid-air, I twisted my body, intending to drive the sword into the demon lord’s body to stop my fall, but a torn piece of black mist suddenly solidified beneath me—Dark God’s limp tendrils flailed, giving me one final boost, allowing me to reach the divinity!

The Light God’s power boiled within me, burning like magma. Legs, waist, right arm, wrist—Will, Belief, Faith, Protection—every bit of strength in my body and soul was layered into my grip, and the sword exploded with a light as bright as the sun, carrying all my power as I swung it down toward my only target!

The demon lord’s tough body was pierced by the blade, but the resistance from all directions was immense, as if I had plunged into the depths of the ocean. Gritting my teeth, I squeezed out every ounce of strength, but the blade’s advance slowed to a crawl—three meters, two meters, one meter, half a meter—

Finally, the sword stopped, just a finger’s width away from the divinity, drained of all momentum, and I was stuck in a world of crimson.

Just a little more, just a tiny bit more…

The countdown at the top of my vision ticked down to its final moment, reaching zero.

“It’s okay.” the Light God said to me. “You’ve all done your best.”

The Light God’s power, which had been stuck in place, began to flow again. The searing heat faded from my limbs, gathering into a single point. There, a dim white divinity slowly began to glow, like embers reignited.

“…What are You doing?!”

The Light God didn’t respond.

The red divinity before me blurred as the Light God’s power withdrew from my body. Desperately, I tried to move my wrist, but no matter how hard I tried, it wouldn’t budge. Just a little more, just a little…

A tiny white light suddenly appeared in my hopeless vision.

It was a faint spark, emerging from somewhere within the demon lord’s body, gently, weakly merging into the sword.

That was…

“That is a remnant of a soul.”

The flow of the Light God’s power stopped, and the white divinity slowly sank, as if afraid of disturbing it.

“No matter how weak a human soul may be, there is always something hard that cannot be digested.”

In the crimson world, one by one, more lights began to appear. They resembled dim grains of sand, lifted by the wind, drifting upwards and gently merging with the sword. In the blink of an eye, I was surrounded by a sea of stars, the dim lights circling around me. These fragments of souls, though weak, were indigestible remnants left behind after being consumed, swirling faster and faster around the sword, growing brighter and brighter, until, in a flash, they outshone the surrounding crimson.

At that moment, my wrist loosened.

All the light surged toward the sword’s tip. The blade trembled, as if it had gained its own will. At that moment, it wasn’t me driving the blade—it was the blade, carrying the last remnants of countless souls, charging forward, unyielding, toward the red core that represented the source of all evil!

Crack.

The demon lord’s divinity shattered before me, crumbling into countless fragments in the light of those souls!

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