Chapter 169 Saint

Elam raised his hands as his aura started to push Godfried's back. He didn't let himself get pushed, though, raising his own aura to match. The strength released by them was so great that people in the city started to panic. 

"Dammit! They're going to fight! We have to get out of here!", the owner of a nearby bakery started to gather as much bread as he could while an older man nearby simply laughed at him.

"Hahaha, don't bother, can you run faster than their magic? Didn't think so, just enjoy the scenery while we still can, hug your family or something.", the response, while cynical, also made the man think twice. Even if he loaded up his carriage and got the horses ready, gathered his family and started running, if the mages used a single move in their direction, the town and the people in it would be dead. 

The baker sat down and handed a piece of bread to the old man. "Oh, thanks, if we're still alive after this, I'll pay you double for it.", the senior smiled while he started to take bites out of the bread. The old man clearly didn't expect to make it out alive.

"Trion, you scoundrel, leave the young man alone with your stupid responses.", an older woman joined the scene, taking the bread out of the Trion's hand, she offered it back to the baker, but he generously declined. 

"Are you not worried, madam?", the baker asked, as the older woman wasn't even that bothered by the shaking ground and ominous energy in the air. She tilted her head as if he asked something strange. 

"Why would I be worried? Father Micheal is here, he's the savior of this entire city. He's not here yet because the orphans are still playing with him, but he should be making his way here any minute."

The baker didn't understand why some priest would be capable of holding back two monsters powerful enough to wipe the city clean with a single swipe. But her strong belief did make the man feel to question his situation, perhaps there was still a way out. 

And like the lady predicted, a young, handsome man with blond hair joined the group. He was followed by a group of priests, all dressed in white clothing with golden outlines. 

"Brother Micheal, are you certain about this? We can't deal with such power, even if we were to sacrifice ourselves."

"Brother Leo, you need to learn to have more faith in our Goddess. If she deemed us worthy, would she not protect us from evil? Follow my example.", Micheal clasped his hands together and started to pray to their one and only Goddess.

"Oh Goddess, fair one, this city is being threatened by powers beyond our comprehension. Would you bless your loyal follower with the power to protect the believers? Please help me guide everyone to the right path.", as Micheal started to pray, his body started to give off a powerful light. 

The radiance blinded the onlookers, as the light gathered, it shot upwards and formed a perfect dome around the city. 

"Brother Micheal, your power is spread too thin! You should focus on the core of the city."

"Brother Leo, the houses on the edge of this city are all former slums. The people who live there have worked so hard to make it out of poverty and succeed in life. To let their homes be destroyed would be a travesty. Just have faith, Brother."

As the priests started to worry about how to most efficiently save as many people. Elam and Godfried were staring each other down.

"Do you truly believe you stand even the slightest chance of beating me?", Godfried felt insulted that someone below him tried to best him. 

"Well, I've had some time to prepare.", Elam spread his hands as the magic in the snowstorm started to slowly move. "Once, this everlasting snowstorm didn't exist. Only after a few years of hard work did it come into existence. You might be strong, but also a fool to walk into another mage's domain unprotected."

The snowstorm started to become stronger and stronger as all the snow on the ground and mountain started to join in the turbulent winds that cut so sharp, it could damage steel. The temperature plummeted as any living being froze to death.

Godfried gathered his breath and blew the cold away. A magic shield appeared, blocking the snow from entering. The snow that landed on his shield vaporized, yet quickly turned back into snow when it joined the blizzard. The storm started to focus on Godfried, a tornado of snow and small Ice Shards started to form. The shards were going so fast it was impossible to track any of them. 

"Hah! Is this all you amount to?", Godfried wasn't scared since the Ice Shards weren't sharp enough to damage his shield, although that's what he thought.

CRACK

An Ice Shard lodged itself in the shield. Godfried stared at the shard and couldn't believe his eyes. The shards weren't sharp, but they were going so fast, that it didn't even matter anymore. Other shards started to veer off course and flew into the shield, breaking it bit by bit. 

Hundreds of shards were chaotically swirling around him as they started to get closer and closer. His magic shield didn't last long before it was completely shattered into pieces. The moment the shards started to cut his skin did Godfried realize he didn't have the complete upper hand. Still, he scoffed, and instantly healed his wounds while raising his aura further.

Counterattacking, Godfried created a sphere of fire around him before pushing it outwards, the sphere mixing with the tornado, ice and fire were fighting for dominance. The chaos in the tornado was beautiful to look at from afar. 

While Godfried was focusing on dominating the cyclone, a massive fist punched through the wall of fire, wind and ice. Landing on Godfried, he flew outside the tempest and landed a few miles further, creating a crater. The earth shook as Godfried felt his life almost pass away, his emergency shield broke within a second. He needed to quickly heal his body before it would break down. 

The attack came out of nowhere, his defenses were strong, but not that strong. He had been taking it easy, as fighting against someone below your rank was a walk in the park. Yet, now, Godfried knew it was time to take things seriously.

"This mountain also didn't always exist.", the voice of Elam came out of a massive goliath made out the Sabertooth mountain. The tornado surrounding it started to split in two, covering the hands of the giant in both ice and fire.

Godfried wasn't a specialist in fire, but he could tell that what Elam was doing went beyond his understanding. Elam was not only controlling a massive stone colossus, but also a blizzard on the left hand and a firestorm on the right hand. To control so many elements so perfectly said a lot about him. Godfried felt a hint of respect flourish in his heart before it turned into anger.

"You bastard! You dare to hurt me? A Rank 3?! I'll make you suffer!", Godfried's aura exploded as he started to float in the air. Clouds started to gather above him as he turned the entire sky dark. 

"Your life means nothing! You think bigger is stronger? Let me show big you then!", Godfried anger turned the clouds above into a rainless thunderstorm. A ginormous upper body made out of thunderclouds appeared. Lifting one of its hands, a large thunderbolt appeared in his hands. It crackled loudly as the mirage sent it flying towards the giant. 

Moving at the speed of light, the giant had absolutely no way to dodge the attack, it could only use it's left hand to redirect the electricity into the ground by letting the ice shards melt. Elam didn't just sit there taking hits though, his titan quickly moved forward and despite its size, the speed wasn't anything to laugh at. 

Its fists swung in the air creating waves of fire and ice, colliding with the figure, it couldn't keep intact. Godfried started to throw thunderbolts himself while constantly reconstructing the massive god like figure. The bolts weren't aimed properly, since the giant was big enough that it always got hit. Godfried spared nothing from his energy pool, all his efforts were put into destroying the artificial mountain in front of him.

The giant didn't let up though, even if it lost its face, a moving rock doesn't need a head. The waves of elements never stopped, as the figure made out of thunderclouds broke apart again and again. The ground shook with every step and each thunderbolt made so much noise, the neighboring cities could hear them. 

Elam was inside his giant, but Godfried could move separately from his creation. Flying around the golem, he tried to attack any joint to make the golem collapse. Godfried felt like a genius to attack on both sides, leaving the backside of the giant unprotected. 

Swoosh

The sound of a small stone spear flew by him at an incredible pace. The blood, leaking down his cheek, made him realize he needed more shields. There were small holes on the titan's surface. Small stone spears were loaded in those holes, using the elements the giant had gathered, Elam used the combination of them to create a massive explosion of air, letting the spears go flying. Anything in their direction would be torn to shreds. 

Godfried added a few more layers to his protection and went back on the offensive. 

Explosions and thunder lit up the sky as the shaking earth brought more havoc and destruction. The inhabitants of Avesta wondered if this was going to be the end for them, yet they were standing strong. Because of a single man. Micheal was keeping the city protected with everything he had. 

Sadly, his powers were nowhere near Rank 3, making every blow between the two gigantic beings unbearable for him. His shield absorbed the impact, yet his body couldn't keep up. Blood was starting to drip out of his nose while it pooled up in his mouth. He kept it closed to not reveal his condition to his followers, but it was inevitable.

"Father Micheal, you're bleeding!", one of the women said with tears in her eyes. Seeing their savior suffer so, they all started to feel bad. 

"Brother Micheal, please, stop this, you're going to end up dead at this rate!", Leo couldn't hold his worry back any longer. He tried to grab Micheal, but the look he gave him was one of acceptance. He let the blood flow out of his mouth and tried to gather a breath. 

"Worry not, my children, while I might not be as strong as those experts there. My belief in the Goddess holds strong! If my body has to perish in order for all of you can be saved, then so be it! If this is how the Goddess ordained it to be, then I can only follow her in the path she made for me!"

His condition got worse, as his eyes started to bleed as well. This simply wasn't something that he could deal with. Micheal stood straight, his posture losing strength by the second. Leo knew of Micheal's true strength and felt despair creep up. If Micheal died, they would all be dead.

Trion had been watching it all play out from afar. His cynical perspective turned around after he saw his savior putting his life on the line. Trion was prepared to die, but letting someone he truly loved sacrifice himself to save his old, decrepit body wasn't something he could live with. The old man didn't have any powers, but if Micheal could pray to receive protection, something clicked in his mind.

"Oh! Goddess! Spare Father Micheal, I beg you! You can take my life instead, but leave the young man's life intact!", Trion kneeled on the ground and held his arms up high. Assuming a subservient posture, he kept preaching to try to attract the Goddess's attention. 

"Trion! What are you doing?!", Trion's wife, Agatha, approached her lover and didn't understand what he was doing. 

"Don't you get it, Agatha? We would long be dead if it wasn't for Father Micheal, now is the time to repay him for what he has done. This body of mine is already reaching its end, Micheal has barely started his journey, isn't it up to the elders to keep the young safe?", Trion wasn't always the most talkative, yet now his heart was burning with emotion he had long forgotten about.

Trion ignored his wife's pleas to stop as he started to pray again. 

"Goddess, Father Micheal has helped me out of the slums, it is thanks to his efforts that I have been a successful baker. Please give him strength to survive this! Please save Father Micheal.", the baker joined the cynical man. 

People started to join them as they all started to pray to the Goddess.

"Micheal has saved me from certain death by treating my illness! Goddess, please do not let him die!", a middle-aged woman who had been struck by an incurable sickness, now free from suffering and running a local clothing shop. 

"Father has given us a home when times were thought, thanks to his efforts I'm still here today!", people who escaped the slums and sheltered in the church for days on end without paying the owner even a single coin. 

"Big brother plays with us all the time, he lets us clean the church for a few coins. If he disappears, then me and my sister can't eat any more bread!", orphans who had nowhere to go joined the group as they simply outed their emotions. 

"During the protests, it was Father Micheal that lead us forward, his guidance is what pushed us forward!", a revolutionary who wanted to change the city for the better, alive thanks to Micheal's protection. 

Everyone around Micheal kneeled down and started to talk towards the Goddess about his good deeds. Even Leo and his group felt their hearts lighten up. Kneeling down, they joined the group and chanted genuine prayers to attract Her attention. 

"Divine Goddess, in your infinite wisdom, bless Brother Micheal with the power to withstand the chaos that surrounds us. May his devotion and selflessness be rewarded with your divine protection."

As Micheal stood in the center, he looked upon the masses kneeling in front of him. Each shouting a reason why he should keep living. An undescribable feeling nestled in his heart as their prayers got louder and louder. 

Micheal couldn't think straight as his adrenaline started to give him energy unfound before. He lifted his head to stare into the endless sky. While the sky was covered in black clouds, a small opening appeared, revealing the beautiful blue sky behind.

Each person who was praying could see a small light appear on their clasped hands. All these tiny lights started to float towards Micheal. Seeing that their prayers were working, they got even more emotional in their shouts. 

Light gathered as Micheal got showered in it. Surrounded by tiny sparks, Micheal could feel his damaged tendons being repaired, his broken bones reattached. Every wound, no matter how big or small, closed up and healed without leaving a single scar. Micheal's head stared at the small opening in the clouds as a small pillar of Light came down, enveloping Micheal.

A silky voice appeared in his mind.

'My courageous son, stand up.'

When the Goddess spoke, her voice echoed with the harmonious cadence of a thousand angelic choirs, each word carrying the weight of cosmic authority. 

An audible rumble coursed through his body as the voice of Goddess entered his mind, the pillar of light consumed all the tiny sparks that were floating around. They all flowed into his core, improving it at an outstanding rate. His core went through an entire evolution in mere seconds. 

His pure bright core gained a level of density as pure power coursed through his veins. All his doubts and worries vanished like snow in the bright sun. 'The Goddess was always watching me, She has paved the path, I only need to follow!'

"Goddess, this lowly lamb accepts your blessing, I will fulfill my destiny!", Micheal perfected his posture once more as a power a hundred times more powerful flowed out of his core. The shield around the city got repaired in an instant as the barrier gained in strength. No matter the attacks of the experts in the air, Micheal promised himself to protect this city. 

"Oh! The Goddess has blessed Father Micheal! The Goddess is here!", the citizens all started to feel relief in their hearts as tears piled up in their eyes. 

Leo stood up and stared at Micheal for a moment before formally kneeling in front of him. 

"I, Priest of the Order of Light, Leader of the expedition send to the Frigus Kingdom, Leo, greet the Saint of the Goddess.", with his head bowed low, his followers all cued in, kneeling similarly. 

"We greet the Saint of the Goddess!"