‘Is this... a dream?’
Patricio Romelo felt as though he were dreaming.
Otherwise, there was no way what was unfolding before his eyes could be real.
There was no way a human could wield the power of gods.
No—granting him a hundred concessions—even if, as the Holy Grail, he could handle divine power, it was still impossible to wield the powers of so many gods at once.
A miracle?
Could that even be called a miracle?
What Ludger was showing before them felt more like blasphemy against true miracles themselves.
The purple mage Coilwat and the red mage Alon Pavlo were both killed in a single blow.
The purple mage was burned to death by lightning, while the red mage melted away in fire.
Each of them perished by the very element they commanded—under the absolute dominance of their own attribute’s superior.
Humans serving gods? No—gods serving a single human.
What a wretched irony.
‘Where did it all go wrong?’
As the laws of the world were overturned and mocked before his eyes, Patricio’s mind failed to keep up with what was happening.
He had thought the plan was flawless.
Using the progenitor vampire as bait, they had finally drawn out the Holy Grail the Church had pursued for so long—and summoned him.
They were not lacking in manpower either.
Every available force they could muster was gathered here.
If a battle broke out, victory was supposed to be overwhelming; and even if it didn’t, it wouldn’t have mattered.
After all, just slaying the progenitor vampire alone would have been enough of an achievement.
And yet—what was this?
The progenitor vampire still lived, and the Holy Grail forged by the gods had become something that even gods coveted.
Two of the mages bearing the Titles of Color had died, and the Church’s proud paladin order had been crushed without even managing to use their strength.
“Don’t make me laugh!”
With a wet cough, Paladin Commander Bentham spat blood and shouted.
His eyes glistened feverishly as he glared at Ludger.
Considering the power Ludger had displayed, it would not have been strange if he fled immediately—but as a devout believer, he did not flinch.
Bentham’s will and his long-honed body did not waver even before Ludger.
“How dare you speak of divine power in front of Lord Lumenis! All heretical gods have been erased! They lost their class, their names were wiped away, and they all died!”
“Paladin, those names were only forgotten by you. They never forgot themselves.”
And Ludger, who could hear their voices—
He knew every name of the forgotten gods.
“Not only that. The gods of this world are not the only ones that exist. Beyond this world, far beyond the distant stars, there are countless more.”
“Blasphemy!”
Bentham refused to believe it.
For one who served only the chief deity, Lumenis, even the mere mention of other gods was enough to send him into a frenzy.
And now this man claimed that beyond this world existed even more gods?
Though his mouth called Ludger’s words lies, Bentham knew.
He knew Ludger wasn’t lying at all.
Ludger’s very power proved it.
The Hammer of Lightning, the Spear of Heaven, the Golden Sun—
None of those were recorded even in the ancient scriptures of Bretus Theocracy.
Otherworldly divinity.
A world beyond this world—a new realm of existence.
To Bentham, who had believed all his life that Lumenis encompassed the entirety of the world, it felt as though his very faith and existence were being denied.
Instead of accepting that truth, Bentham chose rejection.
He wanted to prove that the path he had walked, his faith, his creed—were not mistaken.
Bentham summoned his holy power to his hands.
It took form as a sword shining with golden light.
He threw away his shattered shield, and with his empty hand, conjured another—this time a radiant golden shield made of pure holy light.
The wounds across Bentham’s body rapidly healed.
With eyes that did not waver, he fixed his gaze on Ludger and took a step forward.
Boom!
As he struck the ground and moved, Bentham’s figure left no trace behind.
Physical prowess—
That was the one thing that made paladins superior to ordinary knights.
While holy power was weaker than aura in raw destructive force, its blessings and enhancements granted far greater physical might than any knight could possess.
Right now, Bentham’s physical ability was stronger than anyone else present.
“Begone, heretic!”
Bentham brought his golden sword down toward Ludger’s crown.
Ludger looked at him with an indifferent gaze—and flicked his finger lightly.
Bentham was hurled back faster than he had charged forward.
He rolled several times across the ground, and when he tried to rise, no strength came into his limbs.
With a single flick of Ludger’s finger, all his arms and legs had been shattered.
Even though his body was tough enough to pulverize stone, and even further enhanced by divine power—it still wasn’t enough.
‘My body... it’s not healing.’
He tried desperately to mend his broken bones with holy power, but it was no use.
His divine light, which could heal any wound in an instant, was as though blocked by some invisible force—it simply wouldn’t work.
When Ludger struck him, he hadn’t merely attacked—he had infused the blow with divine power of his own.
That foreign, otherworldly divinity was now gnawing away at Bentham’s body, hindering his regeneration.
Ludger raised his hand again and pointed a finger toward Bentham.
A blue light gathered at his fingertip.
‘No, stop—’
Just as Bentham struggled in futile defiance, someone intercepted the blue flash.
Clang!
The bent beam of light streaked across the sky before vanishing into the distance.
A towering blue column of light erupted far away, followed by a thunderous explosion that shook the heavens.
Everything around it was obliterated.
The one who deflected Ludger’s attack—was Valrut.
Commander of the Lumos family’s direct knight order, and Bentham’s close friend.
He looked at Ludger with a calm face full of restrained poise.
“Quite an impressive strike. But I couldn’t just stand here watching my friend fall.”
Though Valrut spoke as if composed, the corners of his eyes trembled uncontrollably.
‘Damn it. Blocking that single attack completely destroyed my right arm.’
He was still holding his sword, but that was all.
His muscles were torn, his bones shattered; that arm could no longer swing a blade.
‘And my sword’s edge is gone too. It was forged from special materials by a master craftsman, and just from deflecting one attack it ended up like this?’
He hadn’t even blocked it directly—he had merely diverted it as much as possible.
The damage he took wasn’t even one-hundredth of the power Ludger had unleashed.
‘Only one percent of that strength—and my weapon and arm are ruined. What kind of monster is this?’
Though he had intervened to save Bentham, Valrut was now struck by the chilling realization that he might have stepped into the mouth of hell.
He shook off the rising fear.
Even if he ran, that man intended to annihilate everyone here anyway.
It was better to fight now, while some of their forces still remained.
When Valrut signaled with his still-functional left hand, the knights began to move.
They too knew how terrifying Ludger was, but retreat was not an option.
The Lumos family’s knight order was notorious for its ferocity—they would never flee from an enemy.
“We are the Knight Order of the Lumos family. You all knew what you were signing up for.”
Valrut deliberately mentioned “Lumos” aloud in front of Ludger.
He hoped that even a man like him, upon hearing the name of one of the Empire’s Three Great Ducal Houses, might at least show some reaction.
If there was even the slightest shift in his heart, perhaps their odds would rise by one percent.
Valrut had to try something—anything.
“Lumos?”
Ludger’s reaction made Valrut think he’d struck a nerve.
But what Ludger did next left him confused.
“Ah, yes. Cayden Lumos. I’ve been considering that man for quite some time now—whether I should remove him or not for the sake of my future plans.”
“What? What are you talking about...?”
“Now that I’m omnipotent, this is the perfect opportunity, isn’t it? Don’t you think so, Cayden Lumos?”
Ludger spoke as he fixed his gaze—not on Valrut’s face, but on the brooch pinned to his chest.
And just then, when everyone else looked puzzled—
The brooch.
Far away, Cayden Lumos, who had been watching the scene through that long-distance artifact, opened his eyes wide.
“‘How is this possible?’—that’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it?”
Before Cayden could give any order, Ludger spoke first.
“You’re sitting in your mansion right now, aren’t you? You must be thinking there’s no way I could possibly observe your every move from beyond the Empire’s borders.”
Cayden remained seated, silently listening to Ludger’s words through the artifact’s projection.
He was trying to determine whether Ludger was bluffing or if he really could see him.
Ludger moved with an almost resigned air.
“You still think I don’t know?”
Sitting in the grand master’s chair of the Lumos mansion, Cayden slowly turned his head toward the voice that had come from right beside him—and stared in disbelief.
“How...?”
Ludger was standing there.
Cayden immediately looked back to the artifact’s projection.
Ludger was still there as well.
He couldn’t comprehend it.
How could the same man exist in two places at once?
“Why? Is it so strange to you?”
Ludger began walking slowly.
He ran his fingertips lightly across the long table covered with a white tablecloth before him.
A faint trace remained where his fingers had touched—proof that he was not an illusion.
“It’s a form of spatial magic. Normally, it couldn’t be used—and shouldn’t be. But inside this cage, now that I’ve released all the seals, I can use it... exceptionally.”
“What in the world are you?”
“You already know, don’t you? Has Cardinal Patricio not told you? Heathcliff von Bretus. That is my true name.”
“I knew you shared that bloodline, but this power...”
As Cayden trailed off, Ludger’s eyes turned toward him—cold, or rather, utterly devoid of emotion.
A true void of feeling.
And that made it all the more terrifying.
Lumos never forgets a grudge.
Those were the words Cayden had told his children, remembering the humiliation he’d suffered from Ludger that day.
That was why he had sent the Lumos knights for the Grander subjugation operation—to kill Ludger’s teacher and either capture or kill Ludger himself.
But everything had gone wrong.
“You wanted revenge on me, didn’t you? For shaming you and your children before everyone that day?”
Ludger spread his arms wide.
“Fine. Here I am, standing before you now. So—what will you do?”
“......”
“You wear such a complicated expression. The Lumos never forget a grudge, yet when given the chance for revenge, you stay still?”
“That power of yours should not exist.”
At Cayden’s growled words, Ludger gave a short, scornful laugh.
“That’s all you can say? And how exactly do you intend to enforce that decree?”
“You think Lord Lumenis will simply let you be?”
“Ah. Lumenis. So that’s what you’re relying on. I suppose that makes sense.”
Ludger nodded slightly, acknowledging that Cayden’s words weren’t wrong.
“You’re right. Until now, Lumenis has been desperately searching for me. Now he must know I’m alive—and that I’ve used this power. I can no longer hide from his gaze.”
And to prove it—
Between Ludger and Cayden, a faint white light began to spread.
Ludger’s eyes grew colder, while Cayden’s expression turned almost reverent.
“Lord Lumenis... do you grant us your blessing to protect your children?”
Ludger had released his seals completely, attaining power akin to that of a god.
In doing so, he had opened a path between this world and the realm where the gods dwelled.
Through that passage, he could borrow the power of many gods—but it wasn’t a one-sided gift.
As now—Lumenis, too, could reach through that passage.
The divine power bestowed by Lumenis began to pour into Cayden.
His navy garments turned pure white, and his entire body glowed with saintly light.
And this phenomenon wasn’t limited to Cayden Lumos alone.
At the crater where Ludger currently stood, the same white radiance began to descend upon the members of the subjugation force.
The blessing of Lumenis.
It erased fear and filled their hearts with courage and strength.
“Lord Lumenis watches over us!”
“Kill every heretical god!”
“Let us purify this world!”
No—beyond courage, it birthed boundless reverence and madness.
Empowered, Cayden smiled coldly.
“Yes. You’re right. The Lumos never forget a grudge—never.”
“Confidence comes easily when you have power, doesn’t it?”
Ludger shook his head, as «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» though finding Cayden’s behavior beneath him.
“Can you take responsibility for those words?”
“Responsibility? For what? For saying we never forget our grudges?”
“Yes. If you dare to say those words, shouldn’t you first settle things with someone else before me?”
Who?
Even though Cayden genuinely looked as though he didn’t understand, Ludger wasn’t surprised.
He had expected this reaction.
“Come, Flora.”
At the sound of Ludger’s voice, a shadow stirred beside him—and Flora appeared.
Cayden’s eyes narrowed sharply.
“You can’t mean...”
“The Lumos never forget a grudge. Then shouldn’t the first to settle that grudge...”
Ludger placed a hand on the shoulder of the slightly dazed girl standing next to him.
“...be this child?”