'Father and Grandpa Maximilian, protect us!' Lux said through the guild chat, which immediately notified the three Saints to take action.
Immediately, Alexander created a dome of water that enveloped Lux and his Guild Headquarters.
He didn't know why the Half-Elf called them back, but he was sure that the latter had his reasons. Maximilian, who was currently in his boar form, stood behind the barrier that Alexander had made, protecting those that were behind him.
Perhaps thinking that Valerie was a frail young lady, Lux subconsciously wrapped his arms around her before using his body to shield her from whatever was going to happen next.
"Corpse God, come!"
"Come!"
Lux and Eiko both activated their primary defensive guardian, which summoned an eight-meter-tall Skeleton with twelve arms.
The Corpse God immediately used the two shields in its hands to defend the Half-Elf from anything that might get past the defenses of the two Saints.
Ali and Ari, who felt that Lux was genuinely trying to protect their Princess, also hid behind the Skeleton Monster and braced themselves for what was about to come.
Meanwhile, the Saints of the Divine Army of Light, as well as the other Saints who had decided to help them, looked at the incoming projectile without any worries.
Seeing that a Saint that belonged to the Divine Army had made the first move to intercept it, the Six Saints that came from the Reika Kingdom, Jumon Dynasty, and Spada Empire simply watched with smiles on their faces.
At the exact moment that the Saint from the Divine Army used his sword to slice the Bone Missile in half, an earth-shaking explosion detonated right in front of his face.
The Floating Island also shook as the Sky Turtle groaned in pain after being pushed back by the explosion. However, it still managed to keep the entire island afloat and endured the brunt of the destructive force behind its back.
Piccoro, as well as the Six other Saints from the Crystal Palace, who had retreated from the front lines, were still blown away by the explosion that took them all by surprise.
The black-scaled Dragon Born cried out in pain as he and his comrades crashed into Alexander's water dome, which now had giant cracks in its surface.
The water dome held for several seconds before shattering completely, causing the shockwaves to descend upon them in full.
Fortunately, the monstrous Black Boar, Maximilian, was there to shield everyone, but the force was so strong that his hooves shattered the ground beneath his feet.
He knew that he should hold firm, or else, the people behind him would be blown away by the powerful force that threatened to even blow him away.
Valerie wanted to scream so badly, but due to Lux holding her firmly in his embrace, she was able to control her emotions, burying her head in his chest.
Ali and Ari, who feared for the Princess' safety, also hugged Valerie from behind, making them hug Lux as well.
After what seemed like an eternity, the strong winds and shock waves that were blowing in their direction stopped.
What followed next was an eerie silence.
It was as if all the sounds in the world vanished, replaced by a silence that made everyone's ears start ringing.
Lux, then unsummoned the Corpse God so that he could see the result of the secret weapon that Eiko and Glee had made in preparation for this day.
However, he saw nothing.
The Saints who were confidently hovering in the distance just a while ago were nowhere to be seen.
Because of this, Lux summoned his Soul Book to check their whereabouts.
The moment he opened his Soul Book, he saw several blinking red dots scattered all over the place.
'They must have been blown away by the explosion,' Lux thought as he endured the ringing in his ears, which prevented him from hearing anything.
The Half-Elf then glanced around his surroundings and saw that most of the allies on his side were safe.
Although Piccoro and the other Saints of the Crystal Palace were lying face first in the middle of craters that were a few meters wide, the Half-Elf was sure that the injuries they received were nothing compared to what the Divine Army of Light had suffered after being exposed to Eiko's tactical nuke at nearly point-blank range.
Vera, Alexander, Maximilian, Gaap, Lady Faustina, and the Saint who was protecting Aur looked at the Half-Elf with dumbfounded looks on their faces.
They didn't expect the red-headed teenager to have such a trump card in his hands, which made even the courageous Maximilian shudder.
He was confident in his ability to receive powerful attacks from Saints, but he wasn't too certain about his chances of not getting seriously injured after getting hit by Eiko's tactical nuke.
"Are they dead?" Alexander asked Lux.
However, the Half-Elf didn't respond due to the fact that he was unable to hear anything at the moment.
In fact, everyone was unable to hear properly due to the lingering effects of the explosion. Fortunately, Alexander remembered the Guild Chat, which made the Half-Elf look in his direction.
'Out of the 28 Saints, I can only see 19 of them in the surrounding area,' Lux replied in the Guild Chat. 'Maybe some of them got blown farther away since they are at the center of the explosion.'
Alexander nodded his head in understanding before taking out a potion from his storage ring and drinking it.
A few seconds later, he was finally able to hear properly again due to the effects of the healing potion he consumed.
Lux did the same and gave Eiko, Valerie, Ali, and Ari some healing potions as well.
Soon, all of them regained their hearing and began to discuss what their next course of action would be.
"What are we going to do about the Saints of the Divine Army?" Gaap asked. "Should we kill them all?"
Gaap was someone who had a vendetta against the Divine Army of Light, so he wouldn't bat an eye if he were to kill a few Saints that belonged to the powerful organization.
They were already at odds with each other, so killing them wouldn't make them any less angry than they already were.
Lux's only concern was that, if he gave the order to kill the surviving Saints, Vera, Alexander, and Maximilian would be dragged into the conflict as well.
If it were only Gaap and him, he wouldn't mind going for the kill because he and his Master had no love for the Divine Army of Light.
Perhaps, seeing his hesitation, Gaap smiled and nodded his head in understanding.
"I'll go on my own," Gaap said before shifting his gaze to Vera, Alexander, and Maximilian. "Protect Lux for the time being."
The three Saints nodded in understanding. Although they seemed to have won the battle, it was still too early to think that their enemies had been soundly defeated.
"Master, please take this with you," Lux stated as he presented his Soul Book to Gaap, showing him the location of the Saints that were within the range of his map.
"What a very convenient thing you have here," Gaap commented. "I'll be off then. I'll catch up later."
Without another word, Gaap summoned his thirteen Named Creatures, who flew alongside him to deal with the weakened Saints of the Divine Army of Light.
'It's a shame that I don't know which of these 19 blinking dots is the High King of Lunaria,' Gaap thought as he eyed the closest blinking red dot around the floating island. 'I guess I'll have to check them one by one.'
The High King of Lunaria was the one responsible for hunting Hereswith down and had even used Gaap as a hostage to make her unable to run away.
If there was someone within the Divine Army of Light that he wanted to torture to death, it would definitely be the arrogant High King, whose advances his Master had rejected.
As Lux gazed at Gaap's fleeting figure, Piccoro and the other Saints of the Crystal Palace had finally regained their senses.
The first thing that the black-scaled Dragon Born did was grab Lux's clothes and raise him high up in the air.
"You bastard! Why didn't you tell us to retreat sooner?!" Piccoro roared in anger as he shook the red-headed teenager with a vengeance. "Do you want to kill us, huh?!"
"C-Calm down, Your Excellency," Lux replied. "Y-You are choking me!"
Blood flowed down from Piccoro's ears, making him unable to hear anything. He had seen Lux's lips move in order to reply to him, but it took him a while to understand that he was unable to hear any sound in his surroundings.
With an angry huff, the Dragon Born tossed Lux to the side before drinking a potion to recover his injury.
However, before he could even put the contents of the potion inside his lips, a puppet appeared in front of him and smacked his face, sending him flying.
"You bastard dared to hurt my grandson in front of me?" Vera said in a cold tone filled with killing intent. "You court death, Dragon Born."
Piccoro, who had just been smacked, roared in anger and flew in Vera's direction in order to fight her to the death.
The anger he felt towards the Divine Army of Light was rekindled after getting hit by the silver-haired lady, who had raised Lux since he was a baby.
However, before the two could come to blows with each other, Aur ordered the Saint protecting him to stop Piccoro's advance.
The other Saints of the Crystal Palace had also recovered from their injuries after drinking some potions, so they helped their comrade restrain the fuming Dragon Born, who was struggling with all of his might.
Lady Faustina watched all of this from the side with a calm expression on her face.
Even so, deep inside her heart, she was completely shaken by the things that she had seen during the battle.
Although the Half-Elf was only a Ranker, he had plenty of strong allies who were willing to protect him during his time of need.
Not only that, but he also had a very deadly weapon that could destroy entire cities if he used it without caring about the consequences of his action.
'Princess, looks like you developed a crush on a very dangerous individual,' Lady Faustina sighed in her heart.
When the Divine Army called Lux a Heretic, she didn't think much about it.
However, now that she had witnessed what the Half-Elf was capable of, she was starting to understand why one of the biggest organizations in the world of Elysium wanted to kill the Half-Elf so badly.
If Lux was given enough time to grow, and maybe acquire more weapons of such magnitude, the Half-Elf would probably stop running away, and instead, run after those who tried to hunt him in the past… and blow them and their organization to oblivion.
