Chapter 59: The line you do not cross

The golden pillar began to thin.

At first, it was barely noticeable.

The massive column that had pierced the sky started to lose its width. The edges softened. The blinding brightness dimmed slightly, so slightly that the change was almost indistinguishable to the untrained eye.

Richard was the first to sense it.

“It’s fading,” he said quietly.

Without saying a word, he stepped forward.

The others immediately followed.

All four of them rushed toward the pillar together.

The moment they got closer—

Something changed.

The air around them felt different—warmer, and gentler.

The oppressive weight that had pressed against their instincts since the pillar erupted… disappeared.

A strange calm washed over them.

A sense of peace filled their minds.

Their tense shoulders eased.

The anger, the resentment, the dark thoughts that had once crossed their minds slowly eased.

They didn’t fade. Not exactly.

It felt like their minds had been gently rinsed, like someone had reached into their thoughts and wiped away something ugly.

The pillar began to shrink further.

The blinding beam of light compressed inward.

It became thinner and thinner until it looked like a single golden rod of light floating in the air.

Then—

It flickered once, twice…

And vanished.

Silence fell over the broken road.

The sky above was clear again, if not for the once-split clouds that had parted completely, forming a blue opening overhead.

No one spoke. No one said anything to break the stillness.

They stood there, waiting before the pillar vanished, finally revealing the one they had been waiting for.

And then—

They saw her.

Just above the cracked road, a woman floated in the air. She was suspended gently, as though cradled by unseen hands that were holding her in the air, lowering her carefully.

Slowly, softly, her bare feet touched the ground first.

Then, the rest of her body descended.

She looked different.

Not completely different, but the change was undeniably visible.

Her golden hair had grown longer, reaching past her waist now.

The colour had deepened, becoming brighter, richer.𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Each strand seemed to glow faintly under the afternoon light, like thin threads of sunlight woven together.

Her face—

It had always been beautiful, but now…

Now, it looked sharper, more refined.

Her features were calm, making her look almost untouchable

Her previous clothes were gone.

Her current clothes were entirely different from what she had been wearing before.

The previous ones had been burnt under the divine pillar, replaced by new, exquisite ones.

A beautiful white priestess’ robe wrapped around her body.

The fabric looked soft, but not fragile, with golden and silver patterns flowing across it in elegant designs, as they glowed faintly under the sunlight.

The robe fit her perfectly, flowing around her like it had been made for her alone.

The gentle fall of the cloth traced her silhouette without revealing too much—accentuating the natural curves of her figure while maintaining modesty and dignity.

Her skin appeared almost luminous beneath the white fabric.

She was untouched, unblemished.

She looked—

“Beautiful.”

The word slipped from one of the men before he could stop himself.

His eyes were wide as he stared at the unconscious Stella.

The others leaned forward slightly, wanting a closer look.

Even they couldn’t deny it.

She didn’t look human anymore.

She looked like some God himself had painted her into existence.

Richard narrowed his eyes as he looked at the man.

He watched the way the man’s gaze lingered.

The man’s eyes weren’t looking at her with awe, with admiration, or with reverence.

Richard saw it clearly, the faint glimmer, the mild lust in his eyes.

“Don’t.”

His words cut through the silence, startling the others.

They turned to him, along with the man whose gaze still lingered on the unconscious Stella, before he turned to Richard, who was directly looking at him with cold eyes.

“She’s the Saintess. Don’t even think about it.” Richard said directly, making the man flinch.

He wondered if Richard could read his mind for a second, but he still decided to feign ignorance.

“What do you mean by that, Sir?” he asked with a forced smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, but his voice trembled against that boring gaze.

The other two men exchanged confused glances, since they didn’t understand what was happening.

Richard didn’t look away. He continued staring at the man.

“Don’t look at her like that,” he said again.

“She’s the Saintess. Someone above you. Above all of us. So remove those foolish thoughts from your head.”

The man’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“She’s a woman too, right?” he blurted.

“What’s stopping her from liking someone like us? Or me? I’m just saying… she’ll have needs too, won’t she?”

The silence that followed was heavy.

Richard’s eyes turned colder than ice.

The other two men stared at him like he had lost his mind, like he was some sort of clown.

What the fuck was he talking about?

Was he stupid to put those thoughts inside his head?

The only woman in their team clicked her tongue loudly.

“Young horny bastard,” she muttered.

She almost wanted to kill him right now, but didn’t take a step.

Richard exhaled slowly.

There was no anger in his face.

He didn’t shout. He just sighed loudly.

He felt like talking to the man was pointless.

He closed his eyes for a brief second before opening them again.

“Rest in peace.”

He said as he took one step forward, and the air suddenly changed—

It grew heavy. Oppressive.

The other three stiffened.

The man froze.

His instincts screamed at him to move, to run, to defend himself.

Just as he was about to take a step back, he saw it.

Richard’s hand blurred for a second, just for a second, before they were in their original place.

The man blinked.

He didn’t understand.

Richard was still standing in front of him.

Nothing seemed different.

But then—

His world tilted.

Richard, who was standing before him, turned upside down.

The sky rotated.

‘No wait.’

It wasn’t Richard who was upside down.

It was his vision.

His eyes dulled slowly as his severed head fell to the cracked road with a heavy thud.

A second later—

His headless body collapsed beside it. Blood spread across the broken ground.

The other three stared in shock.

They hadn’t even clearly seen the strike.

They were barely able to see his movement before the man died before their eyes.

They all stared at the lifeless and headless body of the foolish man.

Richard lowered his broad sword slowly. Dark blood slid down its edge before evaporating under the faint glow of holy energy.

He pointed the blade at the man’s corpse.

“This—” he said calmly, as he looked at the other two men.

Even though they hadn’t done anything, he felt like it was better to keep a boundary beforehand.

“This will be the result for anyone who thinks anything wrong about our Saintess.” He warned, his tone commanding and final.

His voice wasn’t loud, but it carried weight.

“Remember that.”

The remaining three flinched, and they nodded their heads rapidly like frightened children.

None of them dared to speak about the corpse.

It was his fault, not theirs.

Richard hummed quietly.

Then he turned away from the corpse and walked toward Stella.

He stopped a few steps in front of her.

Richard stared at her for a moment, studying her more carefully.

That was when he noticed something new.

Stella’s eyes…

Her eyes were covered by a black blindfold wrapped around them.

It wasn’t a plain cloth. It had ancient golden engravings carved into it, glowing faintly like thin lines of light moving across the surface.

Richard frowned.

He considered removing it, but immediately stopped himself.

The blindfold didn’t look ordinary.

It felt like an artifact, and not a weak one.

‘So many artifacts,’ he thought.

The robe.

The blindfold.

Even the faint aura around her body.

All of it felt divine.

Even he—a high-ranking member of the Church—could not completely suppress the flicker of jealousy rising in his chest.

She had just awakened.

And had already gained more than many of them would in a lifetime.

Still, he didn’t let that thought grow.

He stepped forward and carefully lifted Stella into his arms.

His eyes then shifted to the side.

To Julia’s corpse.

Now that the dust had settled, he looked at her face properly.

There was a big, gaping hole in her stomach, and he didn’t need much evidence to know what had happened.

They had come too late.

‘We should’ve come earlier.’

He recognised her.

Not personally, but because he had seen her pictures, her reports, along with the other people Stella was close to.

Julia had been the closest to her.

He stood in silence for a moment, thinking.

Then he turned his head slightly.

“Take her body too,” he ordered.

The others hesitated for a second.

They didn’t understand why.

Why would the corpse be needed?

But they didn’t dare question him.

The woman stepped forward and carefully picked up Julia’s corpse.

She grimaced at the sight of the organs and intestines that were visible from the gaping hole in her body.

Golden light flowed from her hands, covering Julia’s corpse.

The bleeding stopped.

The blood, along with the dirt and dust, vanished from her skin

The wound did not heal.

No, the gaping hole in her stomach didn’t disappear, didn’t reknit.

Death could not be reversed.

But her dignity could be preserved.

Julia was dead, so her powers were only able to stop the bleeding, and nothing more.

“Let’s go,” Richard said.

Without another word, he dashed forward, while the others followed behind him.

They moved quickly through the destroyed road, leaving behind broken cars, the dead ants, and the headless body of their former teammate.

The sky was calm again.

They headed toward the Church.

Not knowing that someone else, someone who had just awakened, someone they had almost forgotten, would also arrive there.

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