Chapter 91: Hero
Cassian moved before either of them could recover, the darkness covering half his face spread across his neck and shoulders as he crossed the ruined street, his fist reaching Zhao Tianhan before the commander could raise his spear.
Zhao Tianhan turned the shaft between them, but the impact bent the weapon and threw him through the remains of a stone building.
Wuxia attacked from the side and the Death Scythe cut toward Cassian’s exposed neck, while Monarch Threads tightened around both his arms and dragged them backwards.
Cassian stopped the blade with one hand as the pale edge entered his palm, but the darkness beneath his skin closed around it and prevented Wuxia from cutting deeper.
Cassian pulled Varkhiel closer and drove his forehead into the Soul Sentinel’s helmet, black armour cracked across Wuxia’s face as he was thrown backwards.
Before he could scatter, Cassian appeared beside him and struck again. The dark substance passed through the armour and entered Varkhiel’s soul, forcing his body to remain solid while the second blow drove him into the street.
Zhao Tianhan returned from the ruins and thrust his spear toward Cassian’s back. The Beast Commander turned without looking and caught the weapon beneath one arm.
Zhao Tianhan released a burst of pale force through the shaft, opening a wound across Cassian’s side, but the darkness inside his body immediately pulled the damaged flesh together.
Cassian tightened his arm and snapped the spearhead away from the shaft, he kicked Zhao Tianhan across the chest and sent him sliding through the broken street.
Wuxia rose beside him, the cracks across Varkhiel’s armour repairing slowly as he summoned the scythe back into his hand.
Cassian stood between them without breathing heavily, the wounds they had inflicted were already disappearing, while the pressure surrounding him continued increasing.
Zhao Tianhan wiped the blood from his mouth and looked toward the broken remains of his spear.
"He was not this strong before."
"He is still evolving," Wuxia said.
Cassian heard them and a quiet laugh escaped him as the darkness spread farther across his body. "You understood that much, yet you still chose to remain."
He disappeared again and Wuxia raised the scythe, but Cassian struck Zhao Tianhan first. His fist entered the commander’s guard and drove him into the ground, then one of the living axes formed across his opposite arm and cut toward his neck.
Wuxia pulled Cassian’s arm sideways while Zhao Tianhan rolled free, but the Beast Commander tore through the threads and struck Varkhiel across the chest.
Both of them were thrown apart and Cassian looked between them before stepping toward Zhao Tianhan. "You defended this place for so long," he said. "Now watch it disappear with you."
Far beneath the remaining defensive walls, the surviving injured had been gathered inside an underground hall.
Priests moved between rows of wounded soldiers and contestants, using the last of their mana to close wounds and slow the spread of poison.
Most of the sanctuary’s healing formations had stopped working after the cathedral collapsed, leaving them with little more than potions and exhausted spells.
The Saintess lay near the centre of the chamber, her own staff had been removed from her stomach, but the wound refused to close. Every attempt to heal her caused pale light to escape from the damaged flesh before disappearing into the air.
One priest kept both hands pressed above the injury, his arms trembling as he forced mana into her body. "It is not working," another whispered.
The Saintess heard him, her breathing remained faint, but her eyes slowly opened and moved toward the ceiling.
She could no longer see the cathedral or the sky above the fortress, yet she felt the Authority awakening inside the Fate Star Token.
The sphere beneath the throne had chosen Xingluo, a fragment of the sanctuary still remained.
The Saintess lifted one hand.
The priest beside her tried to stop her. "Do not move saintess wee may still be able to stabilise you."
She looked toward him and gave a weak smile. "No."
"You cannot."
The priests fell silent and the Saintess turned her palm upward as a small white flame appeared above it. The light flickered weakly, formed from the final piece of her soul that had not already been consumed by her wounds.
She watched it for several breaths. "It seems this is the least I can still do."
The priest saw the white flame rising from her palm and immediately reached for her wrist. "Saintess, stop, you are already too weak to sustain another prayer."
She gently pulled her hand free. "I know."
"You have done enough, whatever you are trying to invoke will kill you."
The Saintess closed her eyes without answering, death was not the true price.
The prayer would consume her name, memories and every remaining fragment of her soul. Nothing would be left to enter the cycle of reincarnation, and no trace of her existence would remain within the laws governing the dead.
Even the priests beside her did not know that part.
Only her final will would remain behind, stripped of everything except the duty she had carried as the Saintess of the Nameless God.
The white flame rose above her palm and she began to chant.
The language had not been spoken inside the sanctuary for generations, but every priest within the chamber understood the prayer as it entered their souls.
Pale symbols appeared beneath the Saintess and spread across the stone floor, the priests stepped backwards as the light passed through them and entered the walls.
Her body began fading from her feet upward her flesh became light, while the remaining pieces of her soul entered the prayer surrounding her.
She continued chanting even after her lips disappeared.
The final words rang throughout the sanctuary "Oh! Nameless One who abandoned throne and title, witness not your servant, but the people who remained."
The white flame separated, one part entered the earth beneath the fortress, while the other crossed the distance between the underground chamber and Xingluo.
The Saintess’s body disappeared completely.
Upon the western wall, Xingluo stopped in the middle of cutting through a winged beast, the Fate Star Token beneath her armour released a clear ringing sound.
Pale light passed through the cracks covering her equipment and forced the surrounding monsters away.
A notification appeared before her.
[A final prayer has been offered to the Nameless Sanctuary.]
[The soul of the final Saintess has been sacrificed.]
Xingluo’s expression changed. "The Saintess..."
The token emerged from beneath her armour and floated before her chest. The pale sphere absorbed inside it awakened, releasing a pressure that spread through every remaining formation within the fortress.
Broken lines beneath the streets brightened, the defensive barriers surrounding the walls stopped flickering, while the shattered remains of the cathedral released columns of white light.
Another notification appeared.
[Hidden Authority recognised.]
[Legacy fragment: Authority of the Last Sanctuary.]
[Fate-Bound Challenger confirmed.]
[The sanctuary requires a living Guardian.]
Xingluo reached toward the token, but the system acted before her fingers touched it.
The Authority passed through every defender within the fortress, examining their injuries, actions and connection to the sanctuary.
It crossed Han Zhen, Miao Tianhe and the surviving contestants before continuing toward the ruined inner district.
The light found Zhao Tianhan.
[Candidate selected.]
[Zhao Tianhan has defended the Last Sanctuary through twelve major sieges.]
[Zhao Tianhan has fulfilled the final command of the sanctuary.]
[Title granted: Hero of the Last Sanctuary.]
The token released a brilliant pulse and a white light crossed the fortress and descended upon Zhao Tianhan.
The commander remained inside the crater where he had fallen, one hand pressed against the ground while blood ran between his fingers.
The light entered his damaged armour and every wound across his body stopped bleeding.
The broken spear shaft beside him rose from the ground as pale material gathered around its missing head and rebuilt the weapon.
Zhao Tianhan looked at his hands while the pressure surrounding him increased.
[Final Benediction of the Nameless Saintess activated.]
[Authority of the Last Sanctuary transferred temporarily.]
[All surviving defensive formations acknowledge their Hero.]
[Strength, endurance and Authority resistance increased.]
[The remaining will of every defender who died protecting the sanctuary has been entrusted to Zhao Tianhan.]
Pale figures appeared throughout the ruined streets, soldiers who had died upon the walls stood beside the living, their forms indistinct but their weapons still held toward the beast army.
More gathered behind Zhao Tianhan and Cassian’s expression changed for the first time.
The darkness beneath his skin moved rapidly as though reacting to the Authority entering the commander.
He disappeared and Wuxia saw his target immediately, Cassian was no longer trying to defeat him, he just wanted to kill Zhao Tianhan before the blessing finished gathering.
Wuxia moved between them and the scythe struck the living axe forming around Cassian’s arm, but the collision drove Varkhiel backwards through the street.
Cassian did not follow him, he passed around Wuxia and continued toward Zhao Tianhan.
The Demon Dragon descended from above and its claws struck Cassian and carried him through three buildings before throwing him toward the outer district.
Cassian tore through the dragon’s leg before landing, the Soul Soldier roared as one limb separated and dissolved into dark mist, but thousands of smaller soul forms were already moving.
Wuxia had summoned the entire army, ten thousand Soul Soldiers filled the streets, rooftops and broken towers between Cassian and Zhao Tianhan.
Cassian stared at them and then entered the army the first ranks disappeared beneath a sweep of black force.
Hundreds of soldiers were split apart before they could reach him, while the living axes changed shape continuously and tore through every opening.
Wolves attacked his legs and were crushed beneath his feet, winged soldiers descended from above, but black tendrils pierced their bodies and ripped out their soul cores before they reached him.
The Demon Dragon attacked again, releasing dark fire across the street but Cassian walked through it unharmed.
The flames opened wounds across his skin, but the darkness repaired them while he continued advancing.
Wuxia directed more soldiers toward him, thousands surrounded Cassian from every direction, covering the street beneath condensed claws, weapons and soul power.
A black pulse erupted from his body and the surrounding soldiers shattered.
Their soul fragments returned to Wuxia in a violent wave, sending pain through Varkhiel as the army count fell rapidly.
[Soul Army: 8,741/10,000.]
[Soul Army: 6,928/10,000.]
[Soul Army: 4,306/10,000.]
Cassian continued walking toward Zhao Tianhan, Wuxia landed before him and swung the scythe toward his neck.
Cassian caught the shaft. "You cannot stop me."
"I do not need to."
Threads erupted from every shattered Soul Soldier and thousands of dark lines wrapped around Cassian’s arms, legs, neck and soul, pulling in opposite directions as Wuxia forced his Authority through them.
Cassian tore through the first layers, but more replaced them, Wuxia placed both hands around the scythe and activated Soul Severance.
The pale blade released a thin black light and Instead of cutting toward Cassian’s body, it passed through him
His body stopped and the darkness moving beneath his skin twisted violently as threads passed through the wound and wrapped around the foreign substance fused with him.
Wuxia pulled adn Cassian’s soul bent backwards, the corruption absorbed from Qin Haoran remained connected to his flesh, but a narrow gap appeared between them.
Cassian released a roar and tried to move toward Zhao Tianhan, yet the black substance inside his wounds no longer responded.
The cut across his shoulder remained open and blood continued flowing from his side. For the first time since the battle began, his regeneration had stopped.
Wuxia tightened every thread and held the separation open.
Behind Cassian, Zhao Tianhan raised the restored spear as the entire Authority of the Last Sanctuary gathered around its point.