Chapter 20: The So-Called Saint
“Prayer?”
Eagle was intrigued by Joshua’s words. He pressed further: “Did you hear the prayers from the Great Temple? Or perhaps the hymns from the Holy Mountain? If that’s true, your hearing is rather astonishing.”
“I can hear, but it’s not that kind.”
Joshua pondered for a moment, feeling that there was nothing he couldn’t share with the old Pope. Then he recounted what he had done to a certain Flame Demon in the Sixth Abyss: “It was roughly like this. I used Steel Force to reshape its entire structure, purging most of the toxic radioactive substances within its body. I essentially purified it completely, so now it’s as harmless as an ordinary slime. Because of that, a trace of my Steel Force remains inside it. And just now, it seemed to be praying to me.”
Having said this, the warrior couldn’t help but let out a helpless chuckle. “Could it be that after all that, it actually has faith in me? I only spared its life, after all—it was quite obedient. Or is this another sign of divine awakening?”
“Most demons worship the strong. You spared its life and purified the toxins within it. While that deprived it of a weapon against enemies, it also expanded its future possibilities. If it truly has faith in you, I wouldn’t be surprised at all.”
Unlike Joshua, who found the situation odd, the old Pope was quite interested in such matters. He spoke with enthusiasm: “Perhaps you can convert this demon to our side—don’t look at me like I’m some crazed missionary; I’m serious. In the future, we will inevitably have a war against the Abyss, and a native demon familiar with the Abyss will be very important. Don’t you want to counterattack the Abyss, rather than waging war between Legendary experts on our home soil, the Mycroft Continent?”
Joshua considered the scenario where Eagle and other Legendary experts went all out on the Mycroft Continent, unleashing their light-speed domains and ultimate techniques… The warrior shot the old Pope a wary glance, then shook his head, indicating that this was absolutely unacceptable.
Seeing that Joshua understood the point, Eagle smiled and then fell into thought. The old Pope’s face on the other end of the communication array was somewhat blurry—this was because his power was too great for magic to clearly reflect his features, compounded by interference from the Great Magic Tide. After a moment, Eagle spoke: “As for you being able to hear its prayer, it is indeed related to divinity, but it’s not just that.”
Joshua looked at the old Pope, and Eagle looked back at him. They locked eyes. Eagle said calmly: “As far as I know, gods have their own methods for receiving faith and buffering the assimilation of divinity. You don’t know how to do that yet, so in theory, you shouldn’t be able to hear prayers. But since you can hear that Flame Demon’s prayer, it’s not false… So there’s only one possibility.”
“What possibility?” Joshua asked.
Eagle took a deep breath and said solemnly: “Do you know about the Sage and his Thirteen Saints?”
“Of course I do.”
Joshua was slightly taken aback, not expecting the old Pope to steer the conversation in this direction. He thought for a moment and replied: “In the legacy left by the Sage, I saw thirteen figures standing behind him… They supported the Sage in harmonizing and balancing the world. It was because of their assistance that the Sage became the Sage.”
“Indeed. The Thirteen Saints were the Sage’s greatest support. They came from different races, different civilizations, and even different worlds, but they had one thing in common.”
After hearing Joshua’s response, Eagle nodded. He spoke in a calm tone, but by the end, he emphasized: “That is, they all used Holy Light Power.”
He paused, then added: “The power originally pioneered by the Sage.”
“…I think I understand.”
With Eagle being so explicit, Joshua naturally understood—although Holy Light users are now spread across the entire continent, and all clergy of the Church of the Seven Gods specialize in Holy Light Power, there’s no doubt that the Thirteen Saints were the first to learn Holy Light from the Sage!
And while Joshua didn’t create an entirely new power system like the Sage, his Steel Force is undoubtedly one of the rarest high-end forces in this world. In ancient times, only the Mountain Titans and the Earth Mother Goddess lineage—that is, the direct line of the Steel Serpent Mycroft—possessed it. The trace of Steel Force left in the Flame Demon Syndicate’s body should have been fully absorbed by now. That’s why this peculiar connection exists between Joshua and it.
“So that means…” Having worked through the logic, a look of surprised amusement spread across Joshua’s face. He rubbed his chin, turned his gaze to the sky, as if his eyes could pierce through space and see a distant world in the void. His tone was curious: “That Flame Demon is my ‘First Saint’?”
“You could say that.”
The old Pope couldn’t help but chuckle as well. He stroked his beard, the corners of his mouth lifting: “A demon learning to pray—that must be your influence. I’ve never heard of a demon praying before!”
“But I never pray to gods either.”
“Then I don’t know the reason either.”
This topic was quickly wrapped up. The so-called First Saint was just a joke. After Joshua confirmed that he would next head to a Divine Calamity Mist to find a method for training his soul, he ended the communication with the old Pope.
This exchange was pleasant, but Joshua noticed that since their last battle, Eagle had seemed somewhat distracted, as if pondering some very important issues. The warrior didn’t like prying into others’ privacy, so even though he wanted to share Eagle’s burden, he wouldn’t rashly ask. But if the old man spoke up, he would unhesitatingly help this elder who had aided him for so long.
After returning to the Lord’s Manor, Joshua’s thoughts shifted from Eagle back to the Flame Demon Syndicate.
“My saint… is a Flame Demon?”
Taking the tea offered by the Silver-Haired Girl, Joshua took a sip, thought for a moment, and then laughed again under her bewildered gaze: “Not bad, actually.”
After all, Flame Demons are inherently a powerful race comparable to dragons. In legends, the mere descent of the most powerful Abyss Flame Demon Lord could incinerate an entire world, turning a whole continent into an uninhabitable radioactive wasteland. In terms of raw strength and potential, Syndicate has no flaws.
But it is still a demon. Even if its power meets the standard, it urgently needs Joshua’s guidance and transformation in other aspects. Without a doubt, to become Joshua’s saint, this Flame Demon still has a long way to go—whether in temperament or other qualities.
“Still, in the end, it did help in battle—that can’t be denied… It just prayed to me, didn’t it? Let me carefully sense what it prayed for.”
Sitting in his chair, Joshua closed his eyes and began to focus on the resonance of that trace of Steel Force: “If it’s not too excessive, I can grant its wish.”
Unknown World, Chronos Mountains, Dragonman Village.
Night had fallen, but the village was brightly lit with laughter and song clearly audible even hundreds of meters away. In the central square of the village, a massive bonfire blazed. White meteorite iron was placed in the center, and countless adult Dragonmen were drinking merrily, singing and dancing, celebrating this year’s harvest.
Due to the meteorite earthquake, the once flat square was now riddled with ditches and deep pits, but no one cared. Numerous underage Dragonman youths, both male and female, followed their parents in pairs. This was the Dragonman custom—after transitioning from childhood to adolescence, males and females would seek suitable partners to hone their tacit understanding, and upon reaching adulthood, they would directly form families. This was due to the harsh environment of the Chronos Mountains; because of magical beasts, partners often needed to fight together, so cooperation had to be cultivated from a young age. This was true for ordinary Dragonmen, and even more so for demon hunters.
But with people pairing up, there were naturally those who were alone. The Dragonman girl Lisa was curled up in a corner of the celebration, hugging her knees in solitude, motionless.
Lisa was not tall, and when curled up, she appeared even smaller. A long cyan tail extended from behind her, wrapping around her legs along with her arms, forming a ball. Her long black hair fluttered in the night breeze, making the two cyan horns on her head stand out prominently. Beneath her slender brows were a pair of wine-red eyes.
From a certain perspective, Lisa could be called beautiful, but the somewhat rustic attire of the village suppressed this beauty, making her look like an ordinary village girl. However, Dragonmen didn’t care much about appearance; they valued muscles, strength, and fertility.
This celebration was held to commemorate the discovery of divine iron, and also as a precautionary measure to gather all combat strength in case of sneak attacks from other villages.
Heaven-fallen iron had appeared several times in the Dragonmen’s relatively short history of a few hundred years. Each time, it had greatly boosted the strength of one or several villages—these divine irons could forge powerful weapons and armor, allowing demon hunters to hunt stronger magical beasts. With the flesh of stronger beasts, more awakened individuals would be born in the next generation. It was a virtuous cycle, and this time, the opportunity had fallen upon their village.
The magical beasts in the Chronos Mountains were broadly classified by the Dragonmen into lower-rank, upper-rank, and kings that led entire clans. Additionally, there were powerful magical beasts with special names, usually unknown monsters that emerged from the Divine Wasteland, or leaders of the strongest magical beast races. This village, named “Cloud Gauze,” was originally quite strong, capable of hunting the king of a magical beast clan. But a few years ago, a named magical beast that emerged from the Divine Wasteland had crushed their hunting team, significantly reducing their strength.
“We are loved by the gods!”
In the middle of the celebration, a Dragonman suddenly roared loudly. He drew his weapon from his waist—a sharp curved blade—and raised it above his head. As a demon, being able to normally assist its contracted partner was already good enough. Expecting it to care about the other’s life force draining away was completely impossible. Compared to that, it would be better to think about when it could recover its strength.
Speaking of which, the demons chasing me should have all run off by now, right? It’s already this far; they definitely won’t follow me here!
Thinking this, Syndicate felt much more relaxed, but for some reason, a sense of unease lingered.
Unable to figure out the reason, the former great Flame Demon could only sigh. Habitually, it let its mind sink into silence and offered a prayer to that great lord, beseeching that calamity, fear, and death would not befall itself.
“Let it all fall upon my enemies!”
Ending the prayer with this sentence, the Flame Demon was about to sink into slumber to recover some of its power. But soon, it let out a soft exclamation of surprise: “Huh? What’s this extra thing in my mental sea?”
“What is this thing?”