Chapter 258: Eliminating the Holy Vanguard

Inside the suffocating, blood-red dome, the five Holy Paladins were trapped like insects sealed in amber.

“Break it! Channel your aura into a concentrated point!” Captain Gerald screamed, his fanatical composure cracking under the absolute weight of the spatial seal.

The four paladins aligned themselves in a tight combat formation behind him.

Their silver-and-gold armor flared with radiant, blinding light as they drew upon every ounce of their Martial General cultivation.

Mana pressure surged through their blades, crackling with sharp, high-frequency kinetic energy designed to slice through high-grade defensive arrays.

“Holy Light Cleaver!”

“Sky God’s Judgement!”

“Divine Vanguard Strike!”

In perfect, unison precision, all five paladins unleashed their absolute strongest martial techniques.

Five massive, emerald sword-beams—each over fifty meters long and capable of pulverizing a mountain peak—shattered the crimson twilight as they detonated against the interior wall of the barrier.

BOOOOOOM!

A blinding explosion of emerald light and thunderous shockwaves reverberated within the dome.

Smoke and displaced air billowed violently, shaking the spatial pocket.

Yet, as the emerald light died down and the smoke cleared, the paladins’ eyes widened in sheer, unadulterated horror.

The crimson barrier remained completely unblemished.

Not a single crack had formed; not a single rune had flickered.

The translucent walls absorbed the kinetic impact effortlessly, sending out smooth, ripple-like waves across its surface before returning to a calm, terrifying glow.

“It… it didn’t even scratch it?!” one of the paladins stammered, dropping his sword an inch as cold sweat poured down his neck.

“What kind of array is this?! Is it a Martial Saint tier grand formation?!”

They could not fathom what held them captive. This was no earthly array carved from spirit stones or martial runes.

What trapped them was Divine Essence—the pure, unadulterated fundamental law of a True God’s personal domain.

Against the absolute, conceptual fabric of divine reality, the worldly martial qi of mere mortals was nothing more than dust blowing against a mountain.

Before their panic could spiral into madness, a soft, fluttering sound echoed from the high ceiling of the dome.

A single, coal-black raven glided down through the thick, crimson atmosphere.

Its feathers gleamed with an iridescent sheen, its jet-black eyes fixed entirely upon the five paladins below.

It hovered gently in mid-air ten paces away from them, before its body dissolved into a swirling vortex of shadow and golden light.

The shadows expanded, reshaping in a heartbeat.

When the light faded, a tall, impeccably built man stepped out of the rift.

He possessed a majestic mane of sleek, golden hair that fluttered gently in the windless dome, cascading over the collar of a high-grade, pitch-black trench coat that draped down to his boots.

But what rooted the paladins to the spot in absolute terror were his eyes—a pair of haunting, dual-colored golden-crimson orbs that glowed like twin dying stars in the dim light.

The five paladins froze, their hearts skipping a beat as an unbearable, crushing pressure slammed down upon their shoulders.

“Who… who are you?!” Captain Gerald demanded, raising his broadsword with trembling hands as he forced his voice to sound steady.

“We are the Vanguard of the Holy See! You are interfering with official business of the overseas empire! Open this barrier this instant, or you and your entire sect will face the absolute, unyielding wrath of the God of the Sky!”

Roy, who had descended personally to orchestrate this execution, simply stood there.

A faint, razor-sharp smile curled across his lips as he took a casual, unhurried step forward.

“The wrath of your god?” Roy spoke smoothly, his deep, resonant voice carrying a melodic, terrifying weight that vibrated straight through their soul sea.

“You speak of Makane as if his name carries weight in my presence. I did not construct this domain to negotiate, mortal. I came here personally to kill you.”

The paladins gasped at the blatant, blasphemous casualness with which he uttered their deity’s name.

“Heretic!” Gerald bellowed, his fanatical indoctrination instantly overriding his primal fear.

“He is alone! Attack in unison! Slay the heretic!”

The four paladins needed no second command.

Driven by panic and religious fervor, they exploded forward in a four-pronged pincer movement.

Their silver boots shattered the air as they moved at supersonic speeds, leaving afterimages in the red twilight.

Two paladins thrust their heavy broadswords directly toward Roy’s throat and heart from the front, while the remaining two flanked his left and right, unleashing a cross-directional barrage of lethal qi blades.

They were veteran Martial Generals, trained in joint-slaughter formations, leaving no path of evasion.

Yet, to Roy, their movements were so laughably slow they appeared entirely frozen in time.

Roy didn’t even bother drawing a weapon. He didn’t raise a barrier; he didn’t even shift his stance.

SWISH!

The four broadswords slashed through the space where Roy stood—only to cut through empty air and fading golden afterimages.

“What?!”

Before the paladin on the left could even turn his head, Roy materialized directly beside him.

With a casual, almost lazy flick of his index finger, Roy tapped the paladin’s broadsword.

CRACK!

The high-grade steel weapon shattered into a thousand tiny shrapnel pieces.

Before the warrior could register the destruction of his weapon, Roy’s hand blurred forward, striking the center of his chest plate.

BOOM!

The paladin’s silver armor imploded inward like a crushed tin can.

The sheer force of the impact pulverized his ribs, sending him flying backward across the dome like a cannonball until he slammed against the crimson wall, collapsing into a lifeless heap of flesh and broken metal.

“Kael!” another paladin screamed in horror.

“Look at me,” a voice whispered directly into his ear.

The second paladin spun around in sheer terror, swinging his fist coated in emerald mana.

Roy casually caught the paladin’s fist in his open palm, stopping the earth-shattering blow with absolute zero effort.

With a gentle twist of his wrist, Roy snapped the warrior’s arm at the elbow, followed by a swift, blinding kick straight into the man’s sternum.

BANG!

The second paladin’s body folded completely in half, blasting through the air and crashing onto the stone floor below, dead before he even touched the ground.

In less than three seconds, two Middle-stage Martial Generals had been reduced to broken corpses without Roy even breaking a sweat or taking his left hand out of his trench coat pocket.

“Monster! He’s a monster!” the third paladin shrieked, losing his sanity as he swung his blade wildly in an erratic, desperate frenzy.

Roy effortlessly stepped around the clumsy strikes, his golden hair fluttering casually with every dodge.

It was not a battle; it was a humiliating, tragic dance.

Roy sidestepped a downward chop, grabbed the third paladin by his silver shoulder plate, and slammed him headfirst into the skull of the fourth paladin who was rushing in to assist.

CRACK-THUD!

A sickening crunch of bone resonated through the dome.

Both paladins dropped to the stone floor like lead weights, their skulls fractured and their blood pooling across the dark ground.

Silence returned to the red dome, heavy and absolute.

Dozens of broken armor pieces, shattered steel blades, and four ruined corpses lay scattered across the blood-soaked ground.

The entire confrontation had lasted less than ten seconds.

Captain Gerald stood alone amidst the bloody wreckage, his breath coming in ragged, terrified gasps.

His heavy broadsword slipped from his numb fingers, clattering loudly against the stone floor.

His legs shook so violently he could barely keep his balance.

“What… what are you…?” Gerald whispered, his eyes wide with pure, instinctual horror as he stared at the golden-haired figure stepping over the corpses.

“You aren’t a human cultivator… No mortal could do this…”

Roy didn’t answer.

He closed the distance between them in a single, silent stride.

Before Gerald could even raise his arms to protect himself, Roy’s right hand shot forward like an iron vise, his long fingers wrapping tightly around the Paladin Captain’s throat.

CHOKE!

Roy effortlessly lifted the eight-foot-tall, heavily armored warrior into the air with a single hand, holding him suspended against the dim, crimson twilight.

Gerald thrashed violently, his iron gauntlets clawing desperately at Roy’s hand, but Roy’s arm remained as solid as a mountain, unyielding and cold.

Roy leaned in close, his dual golden-crimson eyes glowing with an ancient, terrifying divinity that stared directly into Gerald’s trembling soul.

“Your little plan to commit suicide and frame my church ends here, Captain,” Roy purred softly, his dark smile widening as he felt the man’s pulse fluttering weakly against his palm.

“You wanted a martyr’s death for your Sky God… but I am going to write a very different script for your Holy See.”

“I was going to kill you along with your colleagues but it seems there’s something I need you to do for me”