Inland of North Ufiga, within the capital city of Addus—Yadith.
By early afternoon, a heavy overcast pressed down on Yadith, its oppressive gloom blanketing the entire city like the prelude to some impending upheaval, leaving the citizens on edge.
In the Baruch royal palace’s negotiation hall, tensions ran high. Once Muhtar made his intentions clear, the atmosphere ratcheted up to its peak. Observers could see at a glance that the Savior’s Advent Sect planned on using force. Members of the Church’s delegation had drawn their weapons, poised for direct confrontation with Muhtar. Shadi, at one side, wore a look of dismay. He addressed Muhtar.
“Lord Muhtar, what are you doing? This is no attitude for a negotiation—please, be more mindful…”
“Force is a kind of language, and language can likewise be a form of force. We’ve exhausted our words in those so-called talks, and since you all fail to comprehend and accept our position… we can only resort to this final mode of discourse. General Shadi, you’d best keep your men in check and avoid reckless moves; we can’t guarantee we won’t hit you by mistake.”
Muhtar threw Shadi a condescending glance, then turned his attention to Vania’s group. In a measured, serious voice, he said.
“Nun of the heretic creed—along with all your followers—know that you now stand before the true light of Radiance. Our Lord’s mercy gives you the right to renounce your false trinity faith. If you do so this instant, I’ll spare you. Make your choice: submission or annihilation!”
With that final ultimatum, he looked directly at Vania. Yet she showed not a hint of fear. Quietly, she replied.
“From my youth, I have been nurtured by the Three Saints’ genuine grace, and there is nothing false about their teachings. The Savior and the Three Saints share the same source and essence; there should be no division. Even the Savior above would not want you to stray so far down this path you cannot return from it. So in turn, I urge you: while you still can, call off this folly. Otherwise, for you and all of Addus, only ruin lies ahead.”
Rejecting his ultimatum outright, Vania tried at the final moment to persuade Muhtar instead. Her handpicked guards also stood firm, eyes blazing with conviction and no trace of cowardice. Weapons raised, they braced themselves for Muhtar’s move. He only gave a cold snort, having foreseen all this.“Hmph… since that’s your stance, then see for yourselves whether these so-called fake Trinity Gods exist at all…”
Even as Muhtar lifted his hand toward Vania’s group, as if to strike, something unexpected happened.
From beyond the negotiation hall, repeated bursts of lightning flashed. It was immediately followed by a series of thunderous booms echoing outside, giving everyone a start.
Sure, they’d heard thunder earlier, but never in such rapid succession. Senses sharpened by tension, many turned in the direction of those strange, continuous rumbles. Quite a few realized they were all coming from the same spot—indeed, those around Muhtar noted it was precisely the location of their own base in Yadith, the Light-Prayer Cathedral.
Shadi, through the bone artifact concealed near him, sensed faint stirrings from the wraith Setut, who was evidently reacting to that chain of thunderclaps. Perceiving this, Shadi asked in a quiet undertone, audible only to the undead.
“What’s wrong, Setut?”
“It’s started… it actually started. My hunch before wasn’t a fluke—it was real…”
“What hunch? Started? Be more specific.”
Shadi pressed, puzzled. This time, Setut paused, then answered in a weighty tone.
“Yadith… or rather, Ladeset’s leftover city defense system has been activated. Someone has successfully entered the Temple of Revelation Runes and triggered the relic inside… Incredible… My earlier guess turned out to be true!”
Setut murmured in amazement. Shadi recognized only a few points in that statement: for instance, he knew that “Ladeset” was an ancient name for Yadith some seven thousand years ago. But as for the Temple of Revelation Runes or any city defense system, he had no clue. Still perplexed, he inquired further.
“What guess? What are you talking about? Does all that have something to do with this thunder outside? Could this be that ‘unexpected development’ the nun mentioned?”
Shadi wondered aloud. Last night, while planning the day’s events with Sister Vania, she’d told him to be patient—some upheaval would occur, and only then should they act. He’d been mystified about what exactly that meant. Now it looked as though that “something” was a raging thunderstorm?
Did that Church nun foresee this lightning spree? What was its true nature? Confounded, Shadi looked to Setut for answers. After a brief silence, the wraith spoke quietly.
“It’s ‘Revelation’… A Beyonder who meets all the conditions—at least White Ash-rank in ‘Revelation’—must have solved the thunder-based puzzle inside the Temple of Revelation Runes. They gained access to the reading chamber and seized the old Ladeset city defense system. This thunderstorm is the result of that Beyonder utilizing the system!”
“What? A Revelation Beyonder…?”
Hearing those words, Shadi froze. Having spent decades in the mysticism world, he well understood what a Revelation Beyonder signified: theoretically possible but never actually witnessed in the mysticism world—a broad blank in the modern Beyonder system, a taboo domain shrouded in the quagmire of cognitive poison, absent for over a thousand years, existing only as fragments of ancient rumor.
A flood of thoughts surged through Shadi’s mind, leaving him visibly rattled, while most others in the hall remained confused. Many had turned their attention to the repeated thunderclaps outside, throwing open the windows to see brilliant, branching flashes of lightning arcing in the distant sky, striking somewhere out of sight behind intervening buildings. Everyone was wondering what on earth was happening out there.
Muhtar’s attempt at intimidation had been abruptly disrupted by this inexplicable thunder. It irked him greatly. Staring at the chain of flickers in the far skies, he scowled, then turned to a subordinate and demanded.
“Ask the people at the cathedral what’s going on over there. What’s with this lightning?”
But before the subordinate could reply, someone burst into the negotiation hall, stumbling in—a cleric of the Savior’s Advent Sect.
“Lord Muhtar! Urgent report from the Light-Prayer Cathedral!”
Panic etched on his face, the cleric rushed forward to Muhtar’s side. Muhtar immediately rounded on him, snapping.
“Speak. What’s happening there? Where’s this thunder coming from?”
All eyes shifted to the cleric. After taking a trembling breath, he managed to say.
“Acc… according to the cathedral… they were attacked by a lightning storm. Our Lord’s altar was destroyed, and most of those stationed there… died…”
“A lightning storm? How could such a massive one just appear out of nowhere? Is someone behind this?” Muhtar growled. He shot a glare at Vania’s group, clearly insinuating that this was the envoy’s doing.
Raising his voice in accusation, Muhtar effectively pinned the blame on the Holy Mount’s delegation. In his mind, only a formidable power hostile to the Savior’s Advent Sect could have orchestrated such a bizarre event. And in Yadith, the only such faction was the Church’s envoy.
Regardless of the actual facts, the claim served Muhtar’s agenda well. With this lightning strike as a pretext, after dealing with the envoys he could easily declare that the cathedral had been attacked by them, causing major casualties—and that the Savior’s Advent was forced to retaliate in anger. Twisting the sequence of events would make the Sect’s actions appear more “righteous”: rather than murdering emissaries during negotiations, they’d be punishing those who’d first raided their church, killing many of their people.
But the cleric’s next words caught Muhtar off guard.
“Yes, Lord Muhtar, you’re right that someone caused the storm. According to survivors at the Light-Prayer Cathedral, it was summoned by a local North Ufiga woman named Isis. She calls herself a priestess of ‘Heaven’s Arbiter’—says They were this land’s ruling deity before our Lord… calling us all shameful usurpers…”
“Heaven’s Arbiter…”
Muhtar’s eyes widened. Others in the hall looked just as baffled, while Shadi suddenly sensed the wraith Setut—concealed at his side—react with startling intensity, an unprecedented display.
“Hey… Setut, what’s happening? Your spirit form’s getting unstable…”
“A priestess of the Heavenly Saint Master… That can’t be… Could the Heavenly Saint Master actually…”
In Shadi’s mind, Setut’s tone was laced with shock. Meanwhile, the cleric went on.
“Yes… Heaven’s Arbiter. She claims They’re the land’s original and highest deity. We and the False Trinity Gods, she says, are disgraceful impostors. She’s here to judge us, to steer this territory back onto the right path!”
He had barely finished when Muhtar, about to respond, felt a sudden flash of danger. His heightened Lantern senses alerted him to a surge of powerful spirituality gathering above—a threat bearing down. Instantly, he acted, activating his Beyonder abilities.
Boom!
Before those in the hall could fully absorb the cleric’s words, abrupt upheaval ensued. A brilliant white glare appeared outside, and in the next moment, the dome ceiling of the negotiation hall fractured with a thunderous crash. Rocks tumbled, and a massive bolt of lightning shot through the shattered rooftop, slamming straight into the floor for everyone to see—striking directly on Muhtar’s head. In an instant, he and several attending clerics were swallowed by the searing white brilliance, vanishing from sight.
The thunderclap reverberated deafeningly, the light blinding. Under such intense, close-range lightning, many in the hall experienced a momentary loss of hearing and vision. When they regained their senses, the hall lay in ruins.
Where there had once been a regal, dignified chamber, large sections were now rubble. The domed ceiling was gone, and at the spot where Muhtar had stood gaped a scorched pit. The ornate marble floor had shattered, and furniture lay burned to cinders. Inside that crater were multiple charred corpses, blackened as though turned to charcoal—Muhtar’s former attendants. A single lightning bolt had reduced them to nothing.
At the center of the pit stood a lone figure: Muhtar himself. He remained upright, clothes aflame, wide swaths of skin burned pitch-black, giving him the appearance of someone about to collapse.
Yet despite his trembling body and the anguish on his face, Muhtar did not fall. Slowly, he opened his eyes after the lightning strike. Lips cracked, he murmured.
“The mind overcomes the flesh; the soul transcends the body. Physical pain won’t shake steadfast faith…”
Muttering this, Muhtar’s condition shifted. Flames flickered out on his garments, the burns on his skin persisted, but he steadied his stance, and the expression of agony melted away.
Though badly wounded and in tattered clothing, he radiated a strange, intangible aura of authority that commanded respect. Seeing this, Gaspard, one of Vania’s guards, murmured/
“That’s a Soul-Surpassing technique… letting the spirit’s fortitude absorb the body’s injuries. If the soul is strong but the flesh is weak, it can grant someone formidable resilience.
“They cultivate enlightenment by enduring physical pain, and by strengthening the spirit, they perceive divine will. It’s a method used by ascetic practitioners—among their most powerful abilities…”
As Gaspard spoke, thunder resounded again over Baruk’s palace. Volley after volley of lightning crashed down from the clouds, striking the edges of the palace grounds where the Savior’s Advent troops were hidden. Taken by surprise, the ambushers panicked in the face of the thunder’s power, many showing signs of fear or disarray. Perceiving this from the hall, Muhtar opened his holy text, speaking with grim authority.
“Commandment: show neither fear nor chaos; keep your order. The might of thunder cannot unsettle our unwavering faith.”
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