Chapter 562: The Silver Butterflies
Lumina barely managed to wake up after she had gone unconscious due to the sheer shock of seeing Sophia’s head ripped off with her own eyes, as she had been present in the Human Camp from the very start of this final clash.
Since she herself possessed the Restoration Magic, even if she wanted to delude herself into sleep to avoid the grim reality, she could not do so.
As she woke up with terror present in her heart. She saw many people, as usual, looking at her with worried gazes, taking care of her, as she had gone unconscious.
But there was no real worry in their hearts that Lumina knew. Uncaring of those people, she moved, steeling her mind, as she gazed upon the screen of light that mirrored what was happening within the bloody battlefield.
The Sunflower Princess clenched her jaw in disbelief as she saw that Sophia was fine; she... was still alive.
She heaved an immense sigh of relief, and her body relaxed; she laughed self-deprecatingly, "So, I just saw it wrong, didn’t I?"
However, her personal maid stepped closer and stated the truth, "I’m sorry, Princess, but what happened before was indeed the truth; Miss Valkyrie’s head was indeed ripped off...."
Lumina turned to the maid almost mechanically; stunned by the words, she said in a reprimanding tone, "What are you talking about??"
The maid shivered; it was the first time she had seen the innocent princess wearing a cold look like that. She swallowed and explained the situation.
Lumina nodded briefly, her beautiful face drained of color as she watched Sophia get overwhelmed by the rain of endless undead falling from the heavens.
Eventually, the Valkyrie fell to the ground, bloodied, again on the verge of death.
She scowled, "Why? Why aren’t they helping her and watching all of this? HOW CAN THEY LET THIS BE?"
"DO THEY TRULY WANT HER TO DIE...." shouted Lumina as she got up and was about to leave the tent, and was ready to enter the battlefield, even if she would be of no help, even if it meant she would die.
She could not simply sit and watch her die with her own eyes once more.
Yet, her feet stopped in the next second, as she watched a figure enshrouded in divine thunder descend upon the battlefield, completely overwhelming the mighty High-Lich.
And the moment she saw the person’s face, she was shocked beyond reason. Her heart stirred once more as she looked at his divine visage and the majestic Runic Eyes that seemed to entrap her very being through the projection screen.
Lumina stammered, "He? He actually has the Runic Eyes and is so absurdly strong??"
However, she felt bitter about how gently Axel treated Sophia.
Lumina was a victim of her kindness; she did not know how to resent, nor how to be selfish. Despite feeling immensely attracted to the blue-haired runecaster, she could not step up due to seeing how Axel Nomrad had feelings for the Valkyrie.
And in the dreaded situation of a war-torn battlefield, she had no time to indulge in the complex spiral of her own feelings.
In the end, she could only be thankful that the handsome runecaster had saved Sophia in time. Thus burying her surfacing feeling once more.
She watched on with rapt attention as things unfolded, from Heinz joining in and fighting alongside Axel, to Sophia taking on the vicious demon who caused so many deaths.
Despite the three of them fending off the two strongest enemies in their own ways, for the rest of the soldiers the battles weren’t going so well, even with the stat boost from Heinz.
For her, the straw that finally broke the camel’s back was that her brother Lucien was reduced to a state of near death by the thralls of the demon, who seemed to have the power to encroach on other people’s minds.
So, Lumina did not hesitate a single more second, diving onto the battlefield.
She saved Lucien in time and restored the morale and health of humanity’s crumbling soldiers to their former levels.
However, her expression was pale because it was one thing to witness the war on a macro scale, projected on a screen of light. And another matter to be personally standing in the vicious hellhole of slaughter; Lumina felt nauseated and disgusted.
She almost had the urge to vomit, as the overwhelming stench of blood was flowing through the entire battlefield.
The harrowing sight of 10-20 kilometers of area filled with endless blood and mutilated flesh made her heart tremble. Due to her innate kindness and the blood of the Luminaries, she could feel the sheer resentment and sorrow gathered throughout the battlefield.
In fact, the most dreadful thing was that she could feel it all flowing; all negative emotions were being pulled in a certain direction, almost as if they were converging.
She gritted her teeth, boundless pain visible on her face, and amid that pain, her resolve to save more lives became stronger.
She used more of her mana to manifest storms of stardust to heal even more of the soldiers, to heal them even faster, as they fought with their troubling adversaries with more grit.
Yet, at this very moment, the entire battlefield went through a profound change, something that was hard to understand as the thousands upon thousands of mighty Ghost race combatants of this war turned all of their gazes exactly upon Lumina, as if a hive mind was controlling them.
The harrowing gazes of so many undead entities pressed down on Lumina’s radiant soul with a crushing weight that the Sunflower princess rarely ever experienced in her life.
Before Lumina could even have a chance to react, one of the strongest undead, a peak 4th phase Lich, exploded their soul, which sent a mighty shockwave unlike any other to rock the entire battlefield, throwing the human army into complete chaos, as the suppressive Runic Barrier imposed by Axel Nomrad was destroyed.
Lumina, who was hovering in the air, was shot back, her body hitting the ground with incomparable force enough to shatter many of her bones. Though she quickly healed in no time, due to her restoration magic.
Lumina saw from the corner of her eyes the thousands of mighty third-phase undead, using this chaos, were rushing at her with mad frenzy, oozing with a combined killing intent that made her paralyzed for a moment.
Lumina saw death looming over her, closer than ever as her heart was drumming chaotically in fear.
Badump....
Baddump....
Baddummppp....
The Suncrest princess gritted her teeth. She looked around for a second, but there was no one to help. She was sure her brother was not in a position to save her, and maybe not Sophia either.
She remembered the warning Lucien had given her: she was not to use that power in anyone’s presence. Let alone in an open battlefield like this. But if she did not do anything, she would die.
In the end, she whispered in a defeated tone, "Prime Nexus, switch aspect and activate Starlight Necklace..."
[Switching from Arcane to Runecaster aspect....]
[Activating personalized Rune Artifact, Starlight Necklace]
[Core ability of Starlight Necklace has been activated.]
[Bloodline ability Luminaries Transformation is now accessible....]
[Activating Partial Luminaries Transformation....]
[In this form, your mana is imbued with the attribute of ’Peace’]
In an instant, the last notification flashed in Lumina’s eyes; a profound power spread from her heart through all her veins, the sensation akin to a divine elixir being poured into her blood.
Her yellowish dress, which was stained with blood, turned whitish. Every part of her body glowed in a brilliant shade.
Like glittering starlight, her hair became longer and silverish in color. Her pupils also turned a beautiful silver, which could even calm a mad demon.
From her figure, the silver halo spread all around, bringing peace to everything it touched. The wounded Mother Nature seemed to be soothed by Lumina’s silver aura.
The harrowing swarm of the undead rushing at her witnessed this majestic transformation, and they howled madly. Infuriated, they were disgusted by the silver light that signified peace.
Lumina chanted, her voice like the softest whisper from the kindest angel, "Swirl of Divine Luminescence...."
From her figure, a burst of silver stardust exploded, spreading to almost a kilometer radius.
From the silver stardust, tiny animated silver butterflies began to be born. The butterflies waved their wings, spreading a small halo of silver aura through a wider range.
For a moment, the entire battlefield was transformed into a haven of peace with majestic butterflies flowing all around instead of a bloody ground filled with mutilated human flesh.
But the Suncrest Princess’s attack was not only majestically beautiful in its appearance, but it was just as deadly for any Dreadborn aspect holders. For the undead, it was like the deadliest of poisons.
The Ghost race combatants howled in maddening pain they had never experienced. Their hatred knew no bounds, and from experiencing that silver poison named peace, something within their bloodline stirred—a power to use against the Luminary.
Greenish nether flames pulsed in their cores, and from their cores, that flame lit up their skulls, filling the mighty army of undead with newfound strength and a counter against the silver butterflies.