Rain hammered the mountainside like a continuous barrage of arrows.
Kai stood on the elevated rock overlooking the path, black-and-gold energy still swirling violently around his body.
The Dual Resonance with Elara and Seraphine burned brightly inside him, flooding every muscle and nerve with power far beyond what any single saintess should have been able to provide.
Every drop of rain that touched the energy field hissed into steam before it could reach his skin.
The storm itself seemed to part slightly around his presence.
Below him, High Inquisitor Caldran rose unsteadily to his feet.
His once-pristine white armor was scorched black in multiple places and cracked along the left shoulder.
Blood mixed with rainwater ran down the side of his face and dripped from his chin.
The remaining knights and inquisitors hurriedly regrouped behind him, their earlier confidence completely shattered by the reversed purification attack.
Caldran’s eyes burned with pure, undiluted hatred as he glared up at Kai.
“All of you—formation Theta!
Do not let him breathe for even a second!” The surviving men moved with desperate, almost frantic discipline.
Shields locked together with loud metallic clangs.
Spears extended in a bristling wall.
Several of the higher-ranked inquisitors began chanting in unison, their voices rising against the howling wind as they drew complex golden runes in the air with glowing staffs.
A wide barrier of overlapping holy light formed in front of the group, while concentrated beams of purification energy gathered at the tips of their weapons, ready to fire.
Kai watched them calmly from above, rain steaming off the energy surrounding him.
[Dual Resonance Remaining: 1 minute 47 seconds] He still had time.
Kai raised his right hand slowly.
The Claim Marks belonging to both Elara and Seraphine pulsed in perfect synchronization on the back of his neck and within his soul.
Holy energy that had once been pure, gentle, and meant for healing now twisted under his will, turning sharp, heavy, and predatory.
He spoke a single cold word.
“Fall.” The dual-powered energy exploded outward in a wide, crushing arc.
The overlapping holy barrier the inquisitors had painstakingly created lasted less than two full seconds before it cracked like thin ice under a hammer.
The reverse-flow of corrupted purification slammed into the front line with brutal force.
Men screamed as their own sacred energy was turned against them.
Several enchanted shields melted and warped.
Two knights in the front rank were thrown completely off the narrow path, their bodies disappearing into the storm-filled darkness below the cliffs with fading screams.
Caldran roared in fury and thrust his ornate staff forward with both hands.
A massive golden spear of concentrated purification energy formed above his head, spinning rapidly as it gathered more and more power from the remaining inquisitors.
With a sharp shout he launched it toward Kai at terrifying speed, the spear leaving a burning trail of pure golden light through the rain.
Kai did not move from his elevated position.
He simply extended one finger.
The golden spear struck the tip of his finger—and stopped dead.
For a brief moment the two opposing forces struggled violently against each other.
Sparks of gold and black-gold sprayed in every direction.
Then the black-and-gold energy of the Claim ability began crawling up the length of the spear like living vines, rewriting the sacred construct from the inside out.
The pure gold color turned murky, then black-veined and sickly.
With a casual flick of his finger, Kai sent the fully corrupted spear flying back the way it came.
Caldran was forced to leap aside at the last possible instant.
The reversed attack slammed into the rock face behind him with a deafening explosion, carving a deep, glowing scar several meters long into the mountain itself.
Debris and superheated steam filled the air.
The High Inquisitor’s breathing had become ragged and uneven.
Rain mixed with blood continued to stream down his face.
“What kind of abomination are you…?” he snarled, voice shaking with rage and something close to fear.
“That power belongs to the Goddess!
You have no right to wield it!” Kai’s cold voice carried clearly through the pouring rain and howling wind.
“The Goddess is not here.
I am.” He stepped off the elevated rock without hesitation and dropped several meters, landing lightly on the main path directly in front of the remaining forces.
The impact of his landing cracked the wet stone beneath his feet in a spiderweb pattern.
The Dual Resonance still flooded his body completely, making every movement feel weightless, precise, and absolute.
Inside the ruined monastery, Elara supported the still-weak Seraphine as the two of them reached the broken main doorway.
Both women stared down at the chaotic battlefield below.
Through their Claim bonds they could clearly feel the overwhelming, almost intoxicating power Kai was currently using—power that originated directly from them.
Seraphine’s voice was hoarse and unsteady.
“He’s… using us.” Elara’s expression was complicated and unreadable, but she did not look away from the fight.
“He claimed us,” she answered quietly.
“This is what that means.” On the rain-lashed path, Caldran made a desperate final decision.
He slammed the butt of his staff hard into the ground and began a high-level ritual chant, his voice rising above the storm.
Golden light erupted from his body in successive waves, far denser and more violent than before.
The remaining inquisitors, understanding what he intended, poured every last drop of their own power into him without hesitation, some of them collapsing to their knees from the sudden drain.
A gigantic projection of a winged holy figure began to form in the air above the High Inquisitor—an incomplete but still terrifying manifestation of the Church’s highest purification art, a technique that was only supposed to be used against the most dangerous heretics and demon kings.
[Warning: High-level Holy Manifestation detected] [Dual Resonance Remaining: 58 seconds] Kai’s eyes narrowed slightly as he observed the forming construct.
He did not wait for the manifestation to fully stabilize.
Black-and-gold energy exploded from both of his hands as he charged straight into the gathering light without any hesitation.
The incomplete holy figure swung a massive flaming sword downward with enough force to split the mountain path, but Kai met the attack head-on.
The moment the two forces collided, the dual resonance twisted and corrupted the sacred energy once again from within.
The giant flaming sword cracked loudly.
Then it shattered completely into countless fragments of fading golden light.
The violent backlash tore through the remaining inquisitors like a storm.
Several men were blasted off their feet, their armor smoking and partially melted.
Caldran himself was thrown backward with tremendous force, slamming hard into a large boulder at the edge of the path.
Blood sprayed from his mouth as the incomplete manifestation collapsed entirely above him, the residual energy scorching the ground in a wide circle.
Kai landed lightly in front of the fallen High Inquisitor, looking down at him without any visible emotion.
“You relied too much on borrowed power,” Kai said quietly, his voice almost drowned by the rain.
“That is why you lost.” Caldran glared up at him through bloodied, half-swollen eyes, still trying weakly to push himself up with one arm.
“The Church… will never forgive this… The entire kingdom will hunt you down… You will have nowhere to run…” Kai crouched slightly so that their faces were closer, his voice dropping even lower.
“Let them come.” He reached out and placed two fingers against Caldran’s forehead.
The Claim ability stirred immediately, sensing a powerful but now heavily damaged fate thread still lingering inside the High Inquisitor’s soul.
[Potential Claim Target Detected] Target: High Inquisitor Caldran Original Role: Executor of Holy Will Current State: Severely weakened Claim Difficulty: B+ (due to heavy injuries) Kai paused for a brief moment, feeling the thread, then slowly withdrew his hand.
“Not yet.” He stood up straight and turned away just as the Dual Resonance finally reached its natural end.
The overwhelming borrowed power faded from his body in a rush, leaving only his base strength and the two permanent Claim bonds with the sisters.
The sudden drop in power made the cold rain feel heavier against his coat.
Behind him, Caldran collapsed fully onto the wet stone, unconscious and no longer a threat.
The remaining Church forces, seeing their leader completely defeated and the holy manifestation destroyed, broke into a panicked retreat down the mountain path.
They dragged the wounded with them as best they could, many of them glancing back in terror at the lone figure standing in the rain.
Kai watched them go without chasing.
There was no need.
From the monastery entrance, Elara and Seraphine stared at him in heavy silence.
Rain continued to pour without mercy, washing blood, mud, and scorched debris down the stone path in small dirty streams.
Kai walked back toward the two sisters at a steady pace, his black coat now heavy and dark with rainwater.
“We leave before reinforcements arrive,” he said simply, his voice calm.
“The kingdom will not stay quiet after tonight.
They will send far more than one High Inquisitor next time.” Seraphine leaned weakly against her older sister, still struggling to process everything that had happened in such a short time.
Through the newly formed bond, Kai could clearly feel the storm of emotions inside her—fear, deep resentment, confusion, and the first unwilling acceptance that her old life as a saintess candidate was already gone forever.
Elara met his eyes for a long moment and then gave a small, tired nod.
Without another word, the three of them turned and disappeared into the storm-filled night, leaving only the defeated High Inquisitor, the scattered remnants of the hunting party, and the ruined monastery behind them on the cliff.
[Quest Progress Updated] Survive the Kingdom’s Counterattack – Major Victory Achieved High Inquisitor Caldran – Defeated (Claim opportunity postponed) Reward Pending: Destiny Fragment + System Function Unlock (Reward will be issued after safe extraction from the area) Far away in the royal capital, inside a brightly lit war room, Crown Prince Lucien received the emergency communication crystal report with a face as dark as the storm raging outside the palace windows.
The heretic who had stolen both Saintesses in succession was no longer just a dangerous problem to be eliminated.
He had become a full-scale disaster for the entire kingdom of Luminara.
And the night was still far from over.