Turning her head to see how Orion had managed to make it past the hundreds of men and women, all in strange attire, Fifi was instantly stunned.
The ground was utterly scorched and littered with countless bottomless pits and large sword marks that had formed a gash within the earth, stretching for about tens of meters.
As for the hundreds of impenetrable men and women in strange tulga—
They had disappeared! It was as though they hadn't been there in the first place, and if not for the landscape now riddled with the aftermath of the battle, it would have been hard to guess what had really happened.
Fortunately, she quickly understood that Orion clearly had a way to take care of the White Flame before them.
Withdrawing her eyes away from the scene, Fifi caught hold of Seth's dumbfounded expression as he beheld the sight behind him. She then shifted her attention to Orion, who was charging straight towards the caged White Flame.
Unfortunately, the sphere of water she had used to imprison White Flame had broken off once more and fallen back into the earth.
White Flame, of course, wasn't planning to avoid the attack as he saw Orion charging at him with a strangely familiar crimson greatsword that stirred something within him. He stood up, stretched his hand to grab the sword, and met the attack head-on.
At this moment, Orion gleamed with intensity as he focused his gift on the four-meter-long crimson greatsword. Even more, lightning generated out of his body as he surged towards White Flame like a bluish crimson flash of lightning.
In an instant, Orion arrived in front of White Flame.
His eyes gleamed. He leaned forward highly close to the ground and swung the four-meter-long crimson, lightning-coated greatsword upwards from under White Flame's arm.
White Flame's arm was severed.
Lightning erupted from the blade and shot towards the sky.
And for the first time since the beginning of this battle —
"AHH!!!"
White Flame screamed out in pain.
But Orion was not done. He halted his body and repositioned himself by the left side of White Flame's body. With his arms angled right above his hips, Orion swung his blade downwards without hesitation.
SLICE!
BANG!!
A scorched sword gnash, about eighteen meters in length, was formed behind White Flame as his upper body severed from his hips.
With a nonexistent dazed expression that could have been filled with disbelief and shock at what had just happened, White Flame could only part his lips with a deep exhale from having his body wholly severed into two.
"AHHHH!!!"
For the second time since this battle had begun, the man-made god screamed out in pain.
From a distance, at the cave entrance, even through the dust that had erupted from the ground, partly covering their view, the Crystalforge warriors felt as if they had been plunged into an absurd dream.
Even though they had anticipated it, the sight before them was something none could entirely grasp or comprehend—
But at this moment, anyone with eyes could witness that White Flame, the god who had tormented them for countless unknown generations, the god who stood as the primary obstacle to breaking the curse, the god who had crushed their hopes repeatedly, was now being subdued by the foreigner, Orion.
Bang! Bang! The echoes of countless knees hitting the rocky cavern floor reverberated through the air. Each remaining Crystalforge warrior collapsed, fists clenched, turbulent emotions surging from the depths of their hearts and spreading through their entire beings.
One thing was sure after today—
The curse that had shackled them for generations was finally on the verge of being shattered... Freedom was within their grasp!
Meanwhile, on the other side, Orion poised the four-meter crimson lightning-coated greatsword for another attack.
Unlike the previous slashes, this one aimed to be a piercing stab, intending to impale White Flame's head and obliterate the rest of his body.
The crimson blade crackled with intensified lightning at its tip as Orion turned his head, asking, "Before I end this, do you have anything you'd like to say to him?" He addressed the question to Aerialia, who had been standing by him since the summoning of the crimson greatsword.
Gazing at the defeated White Flame, Aerialia nodded at Orion before redirecting her gaze toward the fallen god with a menacing intent.
"Oh, god, that dwelleth on earth, dost thou remember me?" She asked. Already aware that White Flame could see her, she chose not to reveal herself.
White Flame directed his gaze toward the tall, winged woman beside Orion, emanating a familiar divine energy. Despite sensing a gap in his memory, he struggled to fill it, only encountering obscure shadows that refused to make sense.
Even as his face glowed with burning white flames, his lips parted in a hoarse question, "Who... are you?" The question left Aerialia visibly frustrated, her expression shifting from annoyance to anger.
Angry shivers coursed through Aerialia's body as she retorted, "Art thou telling me thou dost not remember me or what thou hast done to me and mine offspring?" Her wings folded as her feet gently touched the ground.
Shaking his head, White Flame replied, "Didn't he tell you? There are many things I can't remember now, including a significant part of who I was before being trapped in this mountain."
He redirected his focus back to Orion.
Orion furrowed his brow.
The sudden transformation of White Flame into a humanoid form had led him to believe that the completion of the trial might trigger the recovery of some memories.
However, it appeared that this wasn't the case.
"But…" White Flame's voice echoed once more, "I think I remember this sword." White Flame weakly extended his hand to touch the crimson greatsword. His hand pressed against the blade, seemingly unaffected by the bluish lightning, before retracting due to the extreme sharpness.
"Covenant!... I remember... This blade, I called it Covenant..." White Flame suddenly uttered before swiftly shifting attention to the side, "Then you... You are the first god that I killed."
...
A/n: It's only been several minutes since the battle began, so there's no need to update the status sheet, in case you think I forgot.
