"Why are you surprised?"
Alpheos said this, then quickly drew his pistol and aimed it at Osian.
Although a sacred defense barrier stood between them, Osian instinctively felt the danger.
Osian's body melted and disappeared in mid-air, and the bullet fired by Alpheos crossed the empty space.
Despite the shot missing, Alpheos was not flustered and spoke.
"Even though I might not look like it, I'm someone who knows a few things. I've seen something similar in the old books of the order. Stories about knights who use light dwelling in the sky."
To people nowadays, this would be nothing more than an absurd, old folk tale but Alpheos sincerely believed in it.
"The words of the elders always have their reasons. Of course, my research into knights wasn't for such old-fashioned and righteous reasons."
-Click.
After pulling the slide of his pistol, Alpheos spun the gun stylishly with his index finger."Actually, I was interested. I thought if such a powerful force existed, I could become even stronger than I am now. So I searched hard, but honestly, it wasn't easy. Finding a completely lost power, and beyond that, mastering it myself was an impossible task."
While continuing to rotate the gun, Alpheos rolled his eyes searching for Osian's location.
"Even if you knew the method, you wouldn't have mastered it."
Osian's caustic voice echoed through the interior of the cavity.
Alpheos narrowed his eyes while laughing out loud.
"Haha. I admit it. All I know how to do is shoot like this. Of course, I can handle sacred power to some extent, but compared to a real paladin, I'm lacking."
Considering his current position of commanding paladins and priests, it might sound like humility.
But Alpheos was being sincere. In fact, he was among the paladins with less sacred power.
His disposition also didn't match that of a paladin.
Even though paladins had changed their weapons to firearms in modern times, their combat methods were still somewhat old-fashioned.
In contrast, Alpheos was free-spirited, skillfully handling various firearms and employing diverse fighting techniques.
The fact that he could use even a small amount of sacred power was almost miraculous.
Because of this, it was natural for Alpheos to become stronger faster than other paladins.
Unlike those who could barely handle shotguns, he was proficient with most types of firearms but even he soon found his limits.
Because he had little sacred power, he couldn't rise above a certain level as a paladin.
Moreover, his personality lacked camaraderie and he believed sacrifice was natural for practical matters, causing various large and small problems within the order.
It was inevitable that such an Alpheos would end up half-exiled to the Tirna diocese.
"But now it's different. The sacred power that used to hold me back has become so abundant."
"Is that so?"
Osian's voice rang out right next to Alpheos.
Without even looking, Alpheos immediately drew a sawed-off shotgun from his waist.
The buckshot-loaded shotgun spewed fire, and golden particles spread in a fan shape.
But what shattered were only ice crystals. Osian was not there.
-Pong!
Two shell casings ejected from the double-barrel shotgun. Alpheos took out gauge shells and loaded them one by one.
"Seeing a power I've only read about in books is fresh. I thought I no longer needed to master it, but seeing it makes me want to challenge it again."
"That power is too much for you."
This time the voice came from further away.
As Alpheos had anticipated, he had already replaced the buckshot with slug rounds and immediately pulled the trigger towards the source of the sound.
But Osian was not there either.
'Annoying fellow. Not only hiding within this space but also making sounds.'
But Alpheos was not disappointed. This fight was much more advantageous for him.
Not just in numbers, but because he knew the power Osian was using, he could respond accordingly.
"Wasn't it called Moonlight? You're good at hiding your body and bewitching the opponent, but you can't deal with all of us like this, right?"
"There's no need to deal with you guys."
Osian spoke as if he would escape and spread rumors outside, but Alpheos responded with a sneer.
"Do you think we're not prepared for that?"
He had already blocked the exits. Even if Osian escaped, it didn't matter.
If he spread rumors, there would be no evidence to support them, and if needed, they could cut off his trail.
They had already paid a substantial amount to buy off the 29th district public official, so the guards wouldn't move.
"If we continue like this, the outcome won't be decided, so let's end it cleanly."
Alpheos signaled to the troops behind him.
As he took his stance, three paladins and two priests gathered and spread out into the cavity.
One of the priests closed his eyes and raised sacred power, spreading bright light around.
The ice crystals Osian had suspended in the air began to melt upon touching that light.
"Won't you surrender? If you come out now, we can at least treat you humanely."
"Humanely? From those who let children die like this? I'd rather beg for mercy from a black magician."
"I hope you don't see us too negatively. This is a necessary sacrifice for the future. Even if we weren't here, children would die in this criminal city. If they're going to die anyway, isn't it better to guide them in a direction with at least some value?"
Osian did not respond but Alpheos had not said it expecting an answer.
As the encirclement slowly narrowed, Osian finally revealed himself by lifting his concealment.
"I didn't expect you to really come out."
Of course, Osian had not revealed himself to surrender.
By now, instead of the moonlight, he was holding two large square shields taken from the paladins, one in each hand.
Alpheos raised his hand, and the paladins simultaneously aimed their guns.
The sound of guns being loaded and bullets imbued with sacred power, fired on command were heard.
A golden starry field that engulfed the space and it swallowed Osian with destructive force.
Osian canceled the Full Moon form and switched back to Starlight Armor.
Crossing the shields in his hands, he protected his body.
In the merciless shower of bullets, Osian's body shook violently.
The durability of the shields imbued with sacred light was rapidly decreasing.
These were bullets fired by paladins boosted by the power of the sacred choir.
The paladins continued firing shotguns as they closed the distance.
They seemed to have been thoroughly trained by Alpheos, quickly reloading with a double-load method even as bullets dropped rapidly.
Having completely surrounded Osian, they intended to empty all their ammunition until he collapsed from exhaustion.
It was at this moment that Alpheos showed a smile of satisfaction.
The moment he saw Osian's eyes subtly revealed within the shield, Alpheos couldn't help but feel doubt.
'How is his gaze not breaking even in this situation?'
The reason was soon revealed.
The interior of the cavity, which was originally dark, had turned a brilliant golden color.
It was true that the space had brightened due to the paladins' gunfire, but now it was as bright as if the sun had risen at midday.
Alpheos felt goosebumps all over his body without realizing it.
On the cavity's ceiling, an immense sacred power was surging that even paladins strengthened by the sacred choir would not dare to challenge.
It soon transformed into golden flames, raining down on the paladins firing at Osian like rain.
"Everyone, fall back!"
Alpheos gave the order. The paladins and priests immediately responded and retreated.
But the team closest to Osian was caught in the flames.
-Kwaaaaa.
The paladins and priests caught in the waterfall-like golden flames writhed.
There were no screams. Even their screams were completely incinerated by the flames.
This was a divine punishment from heaven.
The flames of God that exist to cast sinners and heretics into the depths of hell and burn them with endless karmic fire.
"Sacred Fire..."
The sacred fire, burning fiercely, split open in the center, revealing a boy wearing a white robe with a hood.
With the boy's appearance, the sacred fire that seemed to burn the entire world disappeared without a trace.
The light inside the cavity vanished, and so did the sound.
Something drifted in the air, falling like snowflakes.
It was ash of a deep gray color.
Ash falling like heavy snow settled behind the boy, turning the white robe ash-gray.
While everyone was silently staring at the boy, Osian discarded his tattered shield and spoke.
"Looks like you've finally made up your mind."
"Yes."
The boy, Martinez, answered in a blunt tone.
No emotion could be felt, but Osian sensed countless emotions churning within that voice.
This was probably not a misunderstanding.
"Will you be okay?"
At Osian's question, Martinez extended his hand into the air.
The drifting ash settled on his palm.
Impurities born from the flames, the ash did not melt like snow. It simply remained in this world, pitiful.
People try to erase it when they touch it because it is worthless and dirty.
Martinez grasped the accumulated ash in his hand.
At the edge of the boy who had made up his mind, the conversation before coming here resonated again.
-Are you awake?
Dorothea quietly entered Martinez's room.
The boy, feeling a sense of loss from such a shocking fact and even disappointed in himself, was sitting helplessly on the bed.
-What's the matter?
-I thought we could talk.
-I have nothing to say.
-You would think so. But I wanted to say this.
Dorothea smiled with an unusually mature and benevolent expression.
Pulling a chair and sitting opposite Martinez, she spoke.
-Martinez. You are an extraordinary person. After all, you're young but possess outstanding talent and hold a high position in the order.
-Why are you saying such things? I've only failed my mission and been demoted here. If anyone, it would be Sister Dorothea...
-I'm not such an extraordinary person. I told you, I just did it because I had to.
-That's what makes you extraordinary.
Dorothea chuckled and patted Martinez's head.
Martinez stared at her with a bewildered expression.
-You seem too obsessed with being extraordinary.
-Me?
-Yes. You pretend otherwise, but you always do this. "This is amazing." "That's amazing." When in fact, it's nothing special.
Martinez hunched his shoulders, feeling his inner thoughts were being exposed.
Dorothea's words were not wrong.
While verbally claiming he was nothing after being demoted, he subtly believed himself superior by praising others' actions because he was actually extraordinary.
He became the youngest 13th Judge and was born with the highest talent.
Though he came to Tirna following the Pope's order and claimed to willingly follow, somewhere in his heart, dissatisfaction remained about why he was here.
Lowering himself was not from truly feeling his own inadequacy.
He just wanted comfort and sympathy by superficially appearing to recognize his own shortcomings.
-You don't need to be obsessed with being special.
-Sister Dorothea...
-You don't need to be fixated on being extraordinary or doing what others can't. You don't need to worry about heavy things like righteousness or doctrine. Just do what you want to do.
-Why are you saying something so irresponsible? We must follow the will of our Father in Heaven. That is our purpose.
-Our Father in Heaven is great. Of course, He's God. No matter what we do, we won't even touch His feet. Because in His gaze, we are nothing but dust.
Martinez bit his lip.
How could the Father treat little lambs like dust? Isn't this blasphemy?
But at Dorothea's next words, Martinez could only swallow his breath.
-But He would love even such dust.
-...
-So, don't suffer from the obsession of having to be special. You don't need to be too righteous. What if you're a bit crooked?
He would still love us.
Dorothea showed a shameless, confident smile.
-We're just dust anyway. Isn't that okay?
Returning to reality, Martinez opened his closed eyes.
And he began to smear the ash he had grasped onto his robe and hood.
Martinez, who had voluntarily become covered in ash, said to Osian:
"Right now, I am nothing."
"Is that so? Then what should I call you?"
While creating weapons with sacred alchemy in both hands, Martinez said:
"Just call me something like 'Ashes’ will do."