Chapter 184: It

This surprise attack on Beckland was accomplished completely, the Empire's airship fleet destroying numerous landmark buildings in Beckland and delivering a military deterrent to the Kingdom of Ruen.

Angels never directly participate in wars between human kingdoms; this is an established convention among the Positive Churches, otherwise, without divine intervention, human kingdoms would be leveled by angels.

But unexpectedly, the Ruen royal family did not launch significant counterattacks, only making minimal defensive moves during the bombing, which left Hodgson Einhorn, commander of the airship fleet, surprised.

By convention, transcendent beings should not reveal themselves directly before ordinary people; the Hunter Path's group combat tactics could serve as camouflage without violating the unwritten rules, yet the enemy didn't even make any covert countermeasures.

In the combat command room of the lead airship's gondola, Hodgson Einhorn stared out the window at the thick fog, analyzing possible scenarios.

"Ruen's defenses are truly lax," a staff officer smirked, openly displaying his contempt for Ruen's defenses, his voice sharp:

"Even our sealed artifacts weren't needed—our strike force suffered zero losses."

Click-clack

The telegraph operator picked up a message and read aloud:

"Report! General Yegor Einhorn's Sunya Sea Fleet has broken through the line and reached the waters off Prizel Port in Ruen; they've successfully launched their first artillery barrage on Prizel Port!"

"The army is advancing along the Honaichis Mountains toward Westivlas County."

His report plunged the command room into brief silence, then erupted into clamor.

"Has all this peace over the past few years turned those Lunn nobles' brains into mush?"

"Mush would be fine—worst case is if they turned to mush and got tossed out, maybe not even 'ha ha.'"

"Ruen's military probably still lives on the laps of beauties."

It was clear this was a command center very much in Hunter style.

"Something's off."

"After we return, debrief the entire operation and submit a report to me—this mission was too easy," Hodgson Einhorn said gravely.

No one objected; though they mocked Ruen's military and royalty, none truly believed Ruen had deteriorated so badly in just a few years.

Denying a long-standing adversary was tantamount to denying themselves.

Even if George III and Ruen's military had half their brains eaten by a baboon, they couldn't be this incompetent.

"Rotate meals; maintain vigilance until we enter the Sea of Intermission."

Though currently under the protection of the Great Ahomatova Einhorn, strict military discipline remains one reason the Fasak Empire's army is renowned worldwide.

Great? Hmph, after this war ends, I might try becoming great too.

Hodgson Einhorn held little respect for that angel—well, some, but not much.

Undermining superiors is a Hunter Path tradition, let alone someone like him, a Sequence 3 soon to become a War Bishop.

"Let's see what the logistics guys prepared for lunch," a lieutenant colonel opened a box:

"Damn it, these Bai Chi! I've said it a hundred times—I hate tomato-braised beef tail!"

As they spoke, the fog ahead gradually thinned; below stretched an endless sea. Aside from the technicians handling navigation, everyone stood by the windows, gazing down at the scenery.

The sun shone brightly, the ocean's rippling waves refreshing the spirit—during departure, concealment had prevented them from seeing this beauty.

"What a clear day."

"Yes."

As they marveled, the sky gradually darkened, as if a cloud had blocked the sun.

Hodgson Einhorn frowned, immediately attempting to disperse the clouds above—his perception reached outside the airship, only to shockingly discover a red moon hanging high in the sky.

When he snapped back, the cabin was dim; a staff officer hastily lit a lamp. Outside the window, beneath the night sky, stretched an endless plain—not the sunlit blue sea.

Nighttime!?

Did the angel act!?

Impossible! Didn't the Great Ahomatova Einhorn protect us!?

——————————

Above the airships, within the thick fog.

"Arianna, after centuries apart, you still can't afford a pair of shoes."

"You're not planning to rob the Fasak boys' military boots, are you? If you're desperate, you could consider switching sides."

"At least you'd earn enough monthly to buy a pair of shoes," Ahomatova Einhorn chattered on, his gaze instantly fixed on Arianna's bare ankles—she wore a simple linen robe, a bark belt, long black hair, no shoes or socks—and scanned her with unhidden, predatory intent:

"What a pity those legs are bare—black silk stockings would suit them perfectly."

"You really don't know how to dress up, Arianna. Though you're plain-looking, a little effort could still win hearts."

"Didn't anyone tell you during your preaching that you don't understand human nature?"

Arianna's expression remained unchanged, gazing calmly at Ahomatova Einhorn like a still lake, saying:

"You, as a former woman, were far better at adornment—but I'm surprised you, after all these years as a man, still know so well."

Ahomatova Einhorn sneered:

"So, will you return to Fasak with me? I'll Shoubashou Sect teach you how to dress."

His power spread over the entire airship fleet, ready to transform it into limbs and weapons, integrating the strength of one Sequence 3, seventeen Sequences, and hundreds of soldiers—any damage sustained could be distributed among all soldiers and airships.

Arianna shook her head and said:

"Now is not the time for angels to join this conflict."

"Then hurry back to your Night Mother's arms," Ahomatova Einhorn began setting traps, including within spaces capable of entry and exit, "or shall I send you back?"

Arianna smiled and said:

"I've come only to provide secret information to a great being."

The moment Arianna spoke, Ahomatova Einhorn, upon receiving this information, had no time to reason whether it was deception—his spirituality erupted in frantic warning.

He tried to flee, when a pale hand rested on his shoulder from behind.

"Shh!" Su Lin whispered softly into Ahomatova Einhorn's ear:

"Buy one, get one free—kill a Sequence 3 and get a fresh Sequence? How interesting."

Strands of pure light coiled around Ahomatova Ainhorn, binding her into a tangled bundle.

"You, this transgender young lady, stop struggling. Oh, by the way, are you vegetarian? Are you attracted to women?"

"Do weather mages care about air pollution? You seem like natural environmentalists. Too bad your skin isn't black—otherwise I wouldn't dare lay a hand on you."

As an old hunter, Ahomatova Ainhorn sensed thick mockery in these incomprehensible high-level terms; though each phrase and word alone was harmless, together they conveyed the other's taunting tone.

Her spiritual energy was at its limit, unusable—she had stepped into the other's trap. The hunter had become the prey?!

This young man, glowing faintly, with white-gold eyes and six wings behind him, his features sharply defined, radiated an unsettling danger; the chasm of rank between them was an insurmountable abyss.

White clouds dispersed, revealing the sea below. Ariana smiled and concealed the entire area—including herself.

Fifth Era, Year 130, October 13th: The Fasack airship fleet launched a surprise attack on Beckland.

Lost contact.

"Eternal. Sol?!" "Why are you here?!"

Infinite light lay mere inches away; even within the pitch-black hidden space, Ahomatova Ainhorn felt the blinding radiance.

In an instant, countless thoughts surged through Ahomatova Ainhorn's mind.

"A vessel? No—not a vessel!"

"Why would an angel be worth the Eternal Sol personally intervening?"

"No—why didn't the God of War give any warning if a deity had descended from His realm?"

"If a deity is personally joining this war, is a Divine War about to begin?! Is the Storm Lord, alongside the Eternal Sol, siding with the Night Goddess?!"

"This is betrayal! Andes' alliance was a lie!"

"I am not the Eternal Sol," Su Lin lifted Ahomatova Ainhorn by the neck, holding her high.

"Killing you under the God of War's protection is troublesome. Perhaps once he becomes aware of my presence, Bardhail will slink away, heh."

"The Great God of War never shuns battle!" Ahomatova Ainhorn roared in defiance; divine power began to erode her body—this light, utterly unlike the Sun Path, was so pure and holy it made her nauseous:

"Has the Night Goddess allied with a heretical god?! You vile creatures!"

The heretical god was called the Fool. Su Lin silently mocked inside—he knew the Fasack imperial family weren't die-hard followers of the God of War either.

"There's no deity in this world more compassionate than I am," Su Lin's divine power had not yet entered Ahomatova Ainhorn's body; an angel under divine protection was slightly more troublesome—he needed to perform a "minimally invasive surgery":

"You don't want me to descend in Fasack and wipe out your family and descendants, do you?"

"Say: I am eternally loyal to the Light God."

In this regard, he owed gratitude to the Fallen Mother God—she had given him an idea.

You heretical gods can corrupt others—why can't I, the God of Light, pollute you with light? In fact, as the first test subject to walk into my hands, Ahomatova Ainhorn's rank is sufficient.

Massive doses of sacred musical notes flooded into Ahomatova Ainhorn's mind; her flesh cracked open, and holy light spread across her body like a spiderweb.

"I am eternally loyal to the glory of Ainhorn!"

This angel had never imagined that, in an age when true gods sat enthroned in their realms and heretics were sealed away, only able to interfere indirectly, a deity would walk the earth.

"Does this make me look like a heretical god?" Su Lin turned to Ariana and asked.

Ariana fell silent, then shook her head, offering no opinion.

"Why have you come?" Her reason was crumbling; her spiritual energy flickered wildly, her spirit form being reshaped continuously.

The light above grew fiercer; because of Madame Ariana's ability, even as Su Lin "polluted" an angel above the airship, Hockson Ainhorn below could not sense a thing.

"I came to vent some emotions—I've held back from acting against you for too long."

"But why, when you retreated, did you bomb a civilian street in the suburbs?"

"Some people had just begun to hope for life—and you shattered it with a single shell."

"I'm unhappy. So no one else gets to be happy."

"Ah, by the way, speaking of happiness."

Su Lin's lips curled into a faint smile as he looked at Ahomatova Ainhorn's face—half devout, half writhing—and said:

"I permit you to reinforce this fleet. Defeat the opponent I've assigned you."

Like discarding trash, Su Lin hurled Ahomatova Ainhorn downward.

Meanwhile, Su Lin's true body opened the extradimensional vault in a dark corner of the Hidden Realm. Moments later, a massive black curtain drew back, revealing a golden glow on the alchemically driven Gundam Unicorn.

Hockson Ainhorn was searching for the Night Church angel who had concealed them in this domain.

Bang! Something slammed against the glass window.

He turned—and saw the familiar family angel, Ahomatova Ainhorn, pressed flat against the airship's window.

Crack—crack—

The glass, coated with his power, spiderwebbed with countless cracks.

Splash—

Glass shattered to the floor. Ahomatova Ainhorn stumbled into the command room, clutching her left eye—only to find the invasive force gone?

"Great Ahomatova Ainhorn, you're here—perfect!" Hockson Ainhorn rushed forward with a smile, as if swallowing a calming pill.

"Perfect my ass!" Ahomatova Ainhorn backhanded Hockson across the face and roared: "Why the hell did you bomb civilian suburbs during your retreat?!"

Hockson, stunned, clutched his cheek but answered:

"It was standard firepower against the enemy nation. What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?!" Ahomatova Ainhorn roared, eyes blazing with murder. "You idiot—you've caused a disaster!"

If that heretical god spoke truth, he must have had some ritual—or a follower—destroyed in that area.

That wasn't even an Angel-King—it was a true deity! The Night Church had concealed a god walking the earth from all other true gods!

"Get out of the way. Command is mine now."

She shoved Hockson aside and took the central command position, squinting ahead—then suddenly, her spiritual sense alerted her: to the right, a glowing orb streaked across the dark plain, leaving a long arc of light in the sky.

Is that a steel golem?!

A glow, like mingled blood and rust, flared instantly, enveloping all hovercraft and linking them one by one.

All soldiers and Ahomatova Ainhorn shared a single mind; Ahomatova Ainhorn gained the strength of all our legions.

This interactive transfer of power gathered every bullet, every soldier, every hovercraft into a single weapon — the "Angel's Sword," whose aura dared to bare its blade before the gods!

Fire!

No orders needed to be passed — every soldier, bound by shared thought, was already ready for battle.

Cannon volleys!

Ammunition poured down upon the steel golem with a long, sharp horn atop its head; the dense barrage symbolized the wrath of the God of War.

Inside the Unicorn's cockpit, Su Lin, clad in the Tianhe Battle Robe, stepped forth from a rift in history and exhaled slowly. Within the controlled nuclear fusion core, tiny particles of light gathered, forming the shape of Su Lin's Divine Light Form.

Through the reverse flow of divine light, buffs manifested upon this mechanical and alchemical construct.

Photonic particles coalesced behind the Unicorn into six colossal wings of light; in its steel palms appeared a blade of pure light.

The light blade swung, and the dense barrage of bullets exploded midair — fireballs bloomed across the sky, illuminating the black wasteland.

The steel golem, its size defying physics, vanished from its position and struck the lead command vessel; the light blade descended, sending concentric shockwaves rippling through the air.

But all damage was distributed evenly among every unit.

"Didn't you eat?!" Ahomatova Ainhorn taunted. "A pretty shell with no substance!"

He did not understand what this mechanical golem was, nor whether it had any connection to the Steam Church — probably not. If he survived this, he would find a member of the Artisan Sequence and acquire one for himself.

But now was not the time to think of that. His goal was for this golem to unleash power beyond Sequence Two — the stronger, the better.

This hidden realm belonged to Arianna. If he could summon conventional power exceeding Sequence, he might yet escape.

Ahomatova Ainhorn leapt out through the shattered window, preparing to strike in his Mythic Beast form — unleashing his full Mythic Beast form.

A fire giant, a hundred meters tall, appeared upon the earth; even the six-winged Unicorn seemed small by comparison.

Winter storms, volcanic eruptions, meteor strikes, tsunamis, lightning storms — all manner of natural disasters erupted within this hidden realm. Hail and meteors, like guided missiles, chased after the towering Unicorn.

Along its path, countless pillars of magma erupted without warning from the ground, attempting to block the agile steel machine.

Su Lin spun the Unicorn at high speed, dodging the dense lightning, flying through gaps in the thunderstorm, and summoning a hundred-meter tsunami from nowhere.

'Almost there.'

'Let's play a little longer.'

Su Lin calculated the time in his mind, ignoring the maximum energy capacity the alchemical construct was originally designed to withstand, and poured divine power into it.

As energy flooded in and Su Lin's will connected, the armor across the entire body unfolded, nearly doubling its size; the horn-like antennas split into two, forming a golden V-shape; the facial shield flipped open, revealing the dual eyes of the Gundam-style face hidden within the head.

The Unicorn accelerated toward the hovercraft fleet behind the fire giant, its light blade clashing against the giant's flaming palm — the entire hidden realm began to tremble.

'That's it!' Ahomatova Ainhorn roared inwardly, expanding his influence over a radius of several kilometers. The ground rose slightly, then countless rivers of magma, laced with sharp rocks, erupted upward.

He included even his own side within the attack range; crimson light flared across the earth — and in the instant before the lava burst forth, white light replaced it.

A white column, like a waterfall flowing upward, poured into the black night sky, where only a single blood moon hung.

Only now did Ahomatova Ainhorn understand the enemy's intent — he realized all the irrational actions he had permitted after being spared — but it was too late. The fire giant's physical form transformed; he became a mythic being composed of holy light, radiating pure, sacred radiance.

The power of holy light spread through the shared mind, reaching Ahomatova Ainhorn's own hovercraft fleet.

"To the commander and all personnel who deployed the final bombs."

"Commit suicide!"

A unified voice rose: "Your will is our will! Praise the Light!"

All things returned to the Light.

End of Chapter.