Chapter 589: The Last Stand Beneath the Golden Tree (1)

Frey Starlight had lost.

He had done everything—poured out his entire strength in a desperate attempt to achieve the impossible and defeat an SSS-class fighter.

But in the end, even he was destined for failure. Though he came close—so close that Blattier himself felt death brush against him at the very end of their battle—it wasn’t enough.

He was that close, yet history only remembers the victors. What he achieved meant nothing if death was to be his end.

One could say that all of Frey’s struggle, all he had offered, had been for nothing.

Snow Lionheart intervened at the last moment, trying to salvage what he could. But he lacked the strength to stand against someone like Blattier in his current state.

The high priest had taken damage—he was far from unscathed—but what power he retained was still more than enough to crush Snow.

“You fool… you should’ve run when you had the chance!” Frey forced the words out, blood continuing to gush from his wounds.

His body had shriveled, seizing violently, drained of all color. He looked like a man afflicted by some terrible disease that had ravaged him completely.

The sight was so pitiful that Snow could hardly bear to look at him.

“Shut up and focus on staying alive. I’ll figure out some way out of this mess,” Snow snapped, gripping Vermithor tight, eyes fixed on Blattier, racking his mind for a way out.

But the high priest gave him no time. Spear thrust forward, he unleashed a colossal beam of light that threatened to consume them both.

The sheer weight of aura behind that attack was staggering, and for the first time Snow felt true dread as the target of such force.

Before, he had only watched the battle from afar and felt the scale of Blattier’s power.

But now that he was on the receiving end, it was far worse.

Summoning everything the War King’s Form could offer, he unleashed the strongest one-sword strike he possessed, splitting the radiant beam in two.

Snow barely withstood it, scorched by the searing light as it tore across his body.

Even a mere brush left his flesh and skin burning.

And when it finally ended, when the light faded at last, Snow staggered, gasping for air.

“All that… from just one attack?” he cursed, realizing the vast gulf between himself and his foe.

The idea of fighting Blattier at all felt meaningless. This wasn’t even a battle.

The gap was far too great. Even Frey, with his overwhelming power, had been toyed with for most of the fight. Had it not been for that strange state he reached at the end, Blattier would have simply played with him from start to finish.

“What does it take to reach that level of power? What path must I follow? What price must be paid?”

Snow had been pondering that for some time. The issue of Paths gnawed at him.

SSS-class power wasn’t something that could be attained by ordinary means. To reach it, one had to walk extreme roads that demanded unthinkable sacrifices.

Blattier had chosen the Path of Sacrifice, offering millions of souls. Frey had followed the Path of Blood, killing thousands to grow stronger.

Even the Path of Demons demanded abominations—Snow himself had been forced to eat his own kind.

It seemed every path demanded some form of bitter sacrifice, in exchange for the power one desired.

And so Snow Lionheart couldn’t help but wonder: what kind of sacrifice would he himself one day have to make, if he wished to reach that level?

That was—if he even survived today.

The imperial hero’s mind raced, searching for a way before Blattier struck again.

Fighting wasn’t an option. Death was all that awaited them if he tried. Words were his only hope.

“Blattier! Do you realize the catastrophe you’re about to cause?!” Snow roared, loud enough to make the high priest pause for a moment.

If combat failed, persuasion was the only card left.

“I am the messenger of the Lord of Light you worship above all else! The bearer of Vermithor! To kill me now would mean defying the very teachings of the Church you represent!”

Snow leveraged the Lord of Light’s name as a bargaining chip, using his position as Vermithor’s wielder to try and sway him. Surely Blattier, a man of the Church, would care.

But the high priest didn’t falter, not even for a heartbeat.

“We have no need of you, Snow Lionheart. Nor of the Lord of Light you represent,” Blattier said, his tone heavy, leaving both Snow and Frey stunned.

“We have no need of a god who abandoned his followers, who ignored them for centuries. The Church will move forward regardless. I will become the new Lord of Light, replacing the old.”

With a sweep of his spear, he cast them back on a tide of light.

“Unlike him, I am here, and I will lead this Church until my final day. With this overwhelming power, I will destroy all our enemies—demons, and even the Lord of Light himself should he dare intervene!” Blattier declared arrogantly, crowning himself the supreme force upon the earth.

“You’ve gone completely mad!” Snow shouted, forcing himself to stand and shield Frey.

The latter spat blood, showing his disdain.

“Joseph Blattier… you think that just by breaking into SSS, you can do whatever you want? You barely broke through. It’s no exaggeration to say you’re the weakest fighter of this class in the world right now.”

“You nearly lost to me—and I haven’t even reached SSS. How do you expect to stand against the real monsters you’re so eager to challenge?”

No matter how he looked at it, Frey knew Blattier was deluded—blinded by his own power.

Yes, what he had was incredible. But compared to the horrors this world still hid, it was little. And Blattier wasn’t listening.

“You don’t understand, Frey Starlight. Even if someone stronger than me appears… I’ll simply surpass them. Through the power of sacrifice.”

BOOOOM!!!

The entire battlefield shook as Blattier unleashed his might, shattering both Snow and Frey—Snow most of all, for he stood at the front, shielding his friend.

“I will rebuild the Church anew! I will create followers far more faithful than those before them! Followers who will believe in no one but me—willing to sacrifice themselves at any moment, without hesitation!”

“With such devotion, my power will know no limits.”

At his command, countless spears rained down mercilessly. Snow could do nothing but clutch Frey tightly, flashing through the void again and again with Void Step, barely evading annihilation.

But after mere minutes of running, battered by blow after blow, Snow stumbled, crashing down with Frey falling to the ground beside him.

Frey still could not move. Snow, in just a few minutes, had taken so much punishment that his face was drenched in blood.

And Blattier… showed no intention of letting them go.

“Damn it… At this rate, we’re really going to die,” Snow muttered bitterly. Every path, every possibility he thought of, all ended in death.

Frey, lying broken on the ground in the worst state imaginable, let out a strange laugh at Snow’s words.

“You shouldn’t have come back for me, my friend. You should have lived.”

“If you’ve got enough strength left to spout that nonsense, you’d better use it to heal instead,” Snow retorted coldly.

But before he could say more, a searing radiance engulfed them from behind. Another devastating beam swallowed them whole in an instant.

Even with Void Step carrying them farther and farther, Blattier was still on their heels.

The light consumed them, and in the next moment both men lay amidst a path of destruction.

Frey collapsed helplessly. Snow stood over him, shielding him with his body, taking the brunt of the blast.

His back was a bloody ruin. His face twisted with pain. It was as though a bomb had exploded directly behind him.