Chapter 25: I am the Monarch, you are the Knight

Everyone was stunned for half a second. Two voices, overlapping, gave their orders simultaneously:

“Get him!”

“Get to the platform. Make the masked guy drop his sword!”

Without time to think, “Shadow Walker’s” body reacted faster than his brain. He circled around the heretics closing in on him, then ducked low and charged forward. The hundred-meter distance was covered in the blink of an eye. Before the heretics could react, he was already on the platform, his dagger, carrying the accumulated momentum of his run, slashing towards the priest’s right wrist, aiming for his sword hand.

The priest immediately raised his sword to block, slashing down with the sword in his hand.

Clang—

A chilling clang of metal on metal echoed out. Sharpness against sharpness, the two sharp weapons clashed in the hands of their wielders. “Shadow Walker’s” right hand went numb. The dagger couldn’t withstand even a single blow and was shattered!

But he didn’t lose his ability to act because of this powerful blow. Using the remaining third of his strength, he drew power from above and from right to left, and with an agile turn, he moved from beneath the priest’s left side to behind him, his dagger slashing a long gash across his left abdomen—

In an instant, the battle became incredibly intense.

On the platform, the two engaged in an extremely dangerous close-quarters battle. Below, the heretics also noticed Selene, who had just shouted. Some of them charged towards the platform to help the priest, while others rushed towards Selene, their fists, daggers, swords, and even fireballs flying towards her—

Even though they were only conduits, some of them were mages who could cast low-level spells like Fireball!

From a superhuman perspective, these attacks were all weak and pitiful. The attackers themselves weren’t particularly difficult to deal with. But there were dozens of heretics targeting Selene! The combined strength of the powerful and resilient “Fury” and “Gluttony” conduits, and the ranged “Pride” and “Envy” conduits, along with the physically strong “Lust” conduits, could even match a small team of superhumans for a short period!

“Ah… Discovered. But I wasn’t planning on hiding, anyway.” Selene continued to casually touch her bleeding chin, staining it crimson. Combined with the wounds on her cheeks, she looked like a bloodthirsty demon.

She lightly wiped her hand, her voice cheerful.

“An ordinary first-tier mage would probably be beaten to death by this flurry of attacks, but unfortunately for you, you’re up against me.”

A “Ritual Magician” who had planned carefully.

She casually glanced at the “Fury” conduit who had rushed to within three steps of her and then she spoke a word that wasn’t one of the three main languages currently used in the Divine Construct:

“【Kneel.】”

The lost language seemed to communicate with the world. In an instant, an invisible weight pressed down on those in front of her. The “Fury” conduits, charging forward, couldn’t resist. Their bodies bent, their knees cracked, and they fell to their knees. The force of their momentum caused their knees to slide across the ground, leaving bloody trails behind them.

Lightly tilting her body to dodge a few flying fireballs, then using the kneeling “Fury” conduits as cover to block the incoming swords and daggers, Selene slowly walked towards them. She raised her right index and middle fingers, which were covered in fresh blood, and placed them on the forehead of the “Fury” conduit.

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Selene’s voice was drawn out and hazy, as if she were chanting an ancient poem:

“【I raise my staff, I grant you light. That light is my life. You will bow and kneel. You will obey my power. I am the monarch, and you shall be my knight.】

“This is the investiture ritual from the Fourth Era, my knight.”

Selene winked at him. Her voice was gentle.

“Come now, protect your queen.”

Her blood flowed from her skin and into the “Fury” conduit’s eyes. His body suddenly trembled, as if he had truly seen some non-existent light. A series of shattering sounds came from his body. His muscular right arm suddenly struck out at Selene, knocking a nearby “Lust” conduit flying backward. His body stretched out unnaturally, his spine broken.

Selene smiled softly and touched the head of this recently-met man. Then she moved on to the next “Fury” conduit, repeating the process under their furious and fearful gazes.

Soon, three more “Fury” conduits who were still able to stand became her “knights,” charging into the heretics alongside their fellows, their strong limbs swinging as they protected their “queen.”

【Remember, the initial ritual comes from imitation, and the essence of a ritual is to offer and receive. The “Ritual Magician” profession itself is a ritual. Offering the choice to receive insurmountable power in the realm of the mind…】

【Our method of combat isn’t about wielding swords and spears. It’s about performing one ritual after another, offering and receiving, again and again. We use rituals, we simplify rituals, we create rituals, we are rituals… The following is a simplified version of the investiture ritual from the coronation ceremony of the Fourth Era’s Magic Emperor, Annea. It’s simplified so that it can be used in combat and applied to others. This is the final step in becoming a “Ritual Magician.”】

Recalling the text from the 《Ascension Tantra》, Selene curled her lips into a smile.

The original Investiture Ritual was an extremely elaborate and complex ceremony. It required about forty-nine days of preparation, using one’s own blood to create the ritualistic object, the “Blood Mist.” Only then, and only under the condition that the person understood the situation and was willing, could one “invest” that person as one’s knight. It also involved a long and formal ancient investiture process. The result was that the person who received the investiture would be willing to give their life for the person who had invested them… It was simply impractical, and completely lacking in utility.

But she had simplified it, transforming the ritual into one that needed only a simple condition—chanting the final words of the investiture, and dropping blood willingly into the eyes of someone who understood and was willing to kneel.

The essence of a ritual is to offer and exchange. The Investiture Ritual offers one's blood and trust in exchange for the invested person's loyalty. The most important part is the blood and trust of the person conducting the ritual. While the will of the person being invested is also important, there are always flaws and loopholes in the judgment of a ritual.

—I use my spirit energy to control his willingness, so that’s still voluntary. He only understands the situation halfway through the ritual, so that still counts as understanding the situation.

After she removed all the unnecessary and elaborate processes, the effectiveness of the ritual was reduced, and the duration changed from permanent to thirty minutes. It could even be dispelled by some spells… But in battle, that’s perfectly sufficient, isn’t it?

Combined with the lost language that could invoke natural power, “Atinewen,” she could perform a simple, practical combo—making wounds on her body beforehand, using her overwhelming spirit power at her level to command “Kneel,” then smearing her blood into the other person’s eyes.

This combo was especially useful against ordinary people and primary-stage superhumans. Once someone has a superhuman profession, even at the first level, and undergoes a change in their life form, she would no longer be able to use language to control them.

In short, this is a powerful, simple technique for dealing with novices.

Perfect for the current situation.

She smiled lightly and walked towards the next heretic, whose knees had been smashed by her “knight,” forcing him to kneel. There weren’t many of these heretics left on the battlefield, because most of them were entangled with one of her “knights,” and a few unlucky ones had simply died.

“Shadow Walker,” on the platform, dodged the priest’s sword, and, using his remaining eye, caught sight of the bizarre scene below—the heretics fighting each other. He felt that the bloody figure moving among them was even more terrifying and bizarre than the heretics themselves.