The holy light surged over the battlefield like a tidal wave, and wherever it passed, the scorched earth sprouted tender green shoots.
Raine felt a gentle warmth spreading across his skin, while the sharp clusters on his right arm strangely fell silent. He looked down at the infant in his arms—the tiny body radiated a pure light, and deep emerald eyes swirled with ancient runes, as if some long-forgotten power was awakening.
"Child of the Holy Light..."
A hoarse voice came from behind.
Raine spun around abruptly to see an elderly knight kneeling on one knee, tears glistening in his eyes. The emblem of the Holy Alliance on his chest was dimmed and worn, and his armor was scarred from countless battles. Yet in this moment, his devout posture harkened back to an age of pure faith.
"The prophecy of the 'Revelation of Light'..." The old knight trembled as he reached out a hand, rough and calloused, but recoiled before touching the child. "'When darkness shrouds the earth, the Child of the Holy Light shall be born from decay, to purify all filth...'"
"Hand over the Holy Child!"
A sharp command tore through the stillness of the battlefield.
Raine turned toward the sound and saw a squad of silver-armored knights marching in unison, their metal boots crushing the tender new shoots beneath them. Leading them was a blonde priestess, the sun emblem on her forehead reflecting a blinding light. In her hand, a staff embedded with a radiant crystal emitted an unnatural, searing white glow.
"I am Liana van Crest, Priestess of the Light," her voice was like an ice-covered lake, cold and unyielding. Her staff pointed directly at Raine's heart. "By the Archbishop's command, I am here to receive the Holy Child's rightful place."
Raine's fingers quietly slid toward the surgical tool kit at his waist as he retreated without showing fear. His boot heel sank into the soft, rotting soil at the edge of the swamp. The blazing sword insignia etched on their breastplates was not the traditional thorn emblem of the Holy Alliance, setting alarm bells ringing in his mind.
"What if I refuse?" Raine asked, feigning casualness while secretly summoning his energy.
A dark gleam flashed in Liana's eyes, and the sun emblem on her forehead suddenly flared dazzlingly. "Then don't blame me for being ruthless." She swung her staff suddenly, unleashing a blinding beam of holy light aimed straight at Raine's face.
At the very moment Raine dodged sideways, the old knight suddenly lunged forward, blocking the blast with his shield.
"Stop! You are being utterly disrespectful!" the old knight stood firmly in front of Raine.
Liana's staff hesitated briefly, then she sneered coldly, "Old Gavin, you truly are as stubborn as the rumors say." She suddenly raised her voice, "This elf has stolen the Holy Child through dark sorcery!"
Raine's cloak was swept aside by the gust as he evaded, fully exposing his pointed ears under the sunlight. The knights behind Liana immediately erupted in uproar, their hands gripping sword hilts.
"Elf!"
"Filthy long ears!"
"Heretics don't deserve to touch the Holy Child!"
A twisted smile curled on Liana's lips as she suddenly raised her staff high. "Capture the elf alive and reclaim the Holy Child! This is the Archbishop's order!"
Raine's heart jolted — it was the first time he heard the Holy Alliance explicitly demand capturing an elf alive. He noticed Liana's fingers trembling slightly on the staff, not from fear, but some sick excitement. Even stranger, a sharp sting pulsed beneath the bandage over his left eye, as if he could see the sun emblem on her forehead seeping wisps of black smoke — a stark contrast to the radiant crystal on her staff.
"Capture alive?" Raine sneered coldly, his voice carrying the distinct chill of an elf. "Still as disgusting as ever."
The light at the tip of Liana's staff began to condense into a second beam. "Enough nonsense! The Holy Child must be returned to the Holy Alliance!"
At that critical moment, the infant in Raine's arms suddenly opened wide eyes, the ancient runes in his deep green pupils swirling rapidly. A surge of radiant holy light burst forth—stronger than before—but it was not an attack. The glow flowed like water over the battlefield, causing the knights' weapons to clatter to the ground. The violent rage in their faces faded, replaced by a dazed calm.
Only Liana remained unaffected; the black smoke seeping from her sun emblem grew darker. "Cursed heretic has taken control of the Holy Child!" she screamed. Suddenly, the crystal on her staff shattered, sending shards raining toward Raine.
Old Gavin's expression hardened as the crystal fragments flew like arrows. He planted his feet firmly and raised his heavy shield.
"Holy Shield, protect us, my Lord!"
His deep voice intoned a command, and runes on the shield glowed brightly. A semicircular barrier of radiant light flared up, enveloping both him and Raine.
The crystal shards struck the shield, producing sharp cracking sounds, but not a single piece broke through.
Just then, the baby suddenly stirred, grasping Raine's collar with a tiny hand. Raine narrowed his eyes and suddenly smiled. "Fine, take him away," he said, stepping forward as if to hand over the infant—
In the next moment, the baby's pupils sharply contracted, unleashing a blinding burst of holy light that shattered the weapons of the nearest temple knights! Within the radiant glow, the binding runes cracked like fragile glass.
Seizing the chaos, Raine swiftly retreated, waving his right hand as vines on the ground sprang to life, tearing a gap through the crowd.
"Stop him!" Liana screamed, her holy light coalescing into a whip that lashed fiercely toward Raine.
He dodged to the side, the whip scorching the ground and leaving a blackened trail. Using the vines as cover, Raine vanished quickly into the chaotic battlefield.
"Search! Scour the entire Withered Wood!" Liana's furious command echoed behind them. "The Holy Child must never fall into heretic hands!"
Raine sprinted through the darkened woods, the baby unusually calm in his arms. The forest's light grew dimmer, and the stench of decay thickened once more—they had returned to the Rotbone Marsh.
"I've got you now, little elf."
A hoarse voice echoed from above. Raine looked up and saw a twisted figure crouching on a dead tree — a "man" wearing a tattered Holy Alliance uniform, if he could still be called a man. His limbs were unnaturally long, his skin covered with writhing black veins, and his mouth stretched unnervingly to his ears, revealing jagged, uneven teeth.
"Cultist…" Raine gasped. This abomination, forcibly fused from human and abyssal creature, was one of the Abyss Council's most nauseating "creations."
The monster chuckled, scuttling down the trunk like a spider. "Give me the Holy Child, and maybe the Council Elders will spare what's left of you."
Raine's right hand traced a magical sigil, green arcane light flickering at his fingertips. "Want him? Come and get him yourself."
The creature lunged with blinding speed. Raine barely dodged, but its claws still slashed across his shoulder. The scent of blood seemed to excite the monster—it eagerly licked the crimson streaks on its claws, ready to strike again.
Suddenly, a shadow plunged from the sky, crashing into the monster with precision. Raine squinted to see a feathered, tattered Ashwing Crow; its left wing badly injured, flight wobbly but fiercely aggressive. Its sharp beak pecked repeatedly at the monster's eyes.
Raine held his breath, the crystal clusters on his right arm faintly glowing as vines silently crept around him, masking his presence.
"This way! Quick!"
A familiar female voice called out from the mist.
Raine turned toward the sound and saw a dark crimson figure flicker like a phantom among jagged rocky shadows.
She crouched on a protruding basalt boulder, her dark red leather armor gleaming blood-like under the moonlight. Twelve uniquely shaped throwing knives fanned out at her waist, but the most striking was her bright orange dreadlocks woven with silver threads—like flickering flames in the night.
"Ravenna?!" Raine's pupils suddenly contracted as he recognized the most mysterious 'Crimson Shadow' of the Thieves' Guild.
Before he could finish speaking, three silver lights shot out from the rocky summit. Flying knives traced strange arcs, precisely striking three joints of the monster. The orange-haired rogue leapt down while swiftly pulling out a delicate folding crossbow from her side. The arrow tore through the air, crackling with purple electricity, and struck the monster's right eye, exploding in a burst of corrosive liquid.
The monster let out a piercing howl and temporarily ceased its pursuit. Ravenna had already jumped onto another oddly shaped Emberwing Crow and reached out her hand to Raine: "Get on! 'Limp' won't hold up much longer!"
"Hold tight." Ravenna bent down to grab Raine's wrist. Her nails were painted a dark crimson, and her wrist was wrapped with magical ribbons that changed color with temperature. The moment Raine touched her, the ribbons shifted instantly from deep blue to a warning scarlet.
As Raine jumped onto the crow's back, he noticed Ravenna wore three distinct earrings on her left ear: a feather-shaped silver stud at the top, a tiny rotating gear in the middle, and at the bottom, a deeply out-of-place dark blue crystal — unmistakably the Phantom Shadow Crystal he had painstakingly extracted from a magical ore four years ago.
"You! That's mine—"
"Booty," Ravenna said with a sly wink, her heterochromatic eyes strikingly vivid under the moonlight — the left amber, the right a dark crimson like an Emberwing Crow. "Want to get out of here? First, deal with that enthusiastic friend down below."
She pointed to the ground, where the monster was leaping through the treetops at an astonishing speed in pursuit. Ravenna whistled sharply, and two other Emberwing Crows circling above immediately dove toward the creature.
Raine noticed all three Emberwing Crows bore signs of mechanical modifications: the largest had its right claw replaced by a spinning blade, the slightly smaller one carried a glowing container on its belly, and the one carrying them now was the most unique — its tail feathers were entwined with hair-thin metal wires, nearly invisible in the moonlight.
"Knife really likes your right hand," Ravenna suddenly said, patting the neck of the Emberwing Crow beneath her. "It says you smell like the magic mushroom stew old Sanna makes."
Raine then noticed that whenever the crystal cluster on his right arm glowed faintly, the crow named "Knife" would excitedly twitch its tail feathers, and those fine metal wires emitted a high-frequency vibration.
"It can sense magical fluctuations?"
"Not only sense, but store them too," Ravenna said as she suddenly unbuckled the leather strap around Knife's neck, revealing a purple crystal implanted under its skin. "In your mage terms, that's a magical crystal chamber."
An explosion shook the ground. The monster broke through the interception of two Emberwing Crows and lunged from the side. Ravenna's reflexes were astonishing — her left hand flicked out three throwing knives while her right hand pressed a mechanism on her waist. The metal wires between Knife's tail feathers instantly stood on end, weaving a crackling electric death net along the monster's path.
The moment the monster slammed into the net, Ravenna yanked the reins hard. "Hold tight!"
Knife let out a piercing cry as its mechanical tail feathers fanned out fully, each metal wire tip glowing with blue light. With a deafening roar, they instantly accelerated to a speed too fast for the naked eye to track.
Raine had to hold tightly onto Ravenna's waist to avoid being thrown off. The girl's body heat was unusually high—he could feel the warmth even through her leather armor. Her dreadlocks whipped wildly in the fierce wind, silver threads woven through them trailing behind like streaks of shooting stars.
"Pretty, huh?" Ravenna shouted over the wind. "Dyed with fire lizard glands! Every single strand soaked in anti-magic serum—ah, looks like Knife's at its limit."
The mechanical tail feathers began to smoke, and their speed dropped sharply. Ravenna swiftly unfastened a leather pouch at her waist and scattered some glowing powder onto the tail feathers. The moment the powder touched the metal, a burst of purple flame erupted, restoring some of the tail's function.
"We gotta—" Ravenna's words cut off abruptly as Knife gave a sudden warning cry. Ravenna's face went pale. "Shadow Guard and the Holy Alliance?! How the hell—"
Before she could finish, a black arrow pierced her shoulder. Ravenna groaned softly as blood quickly stained her dark red armor. Without hesitation, she pulled out the arrow and pressed the bloodied tip against Knife's mechanical tail feathers.
"Hold tight!" she shouted, twisting the gear-shaped earring on her ear. Knife's tail feathers suddenly detached completely, swirling in the air to form a spinning metal ring. As the black arrow flew into the center of the ring, the entire space warped and twisted.