Chapter 24: Newborn…
Having finally come to this realization, Loranda's entire body surged with blazing holy light. One could see this gradually swelling, vast deep-gray holy light beginning to burn around the paladin's form, seemingly attempting to transform him into a radiant humanoid entirely composed of light, much like Eagle.
Originating from a deity walking the earth, perhaps the strongest holy light inheritance in the Mycroft World during the current Era of Falling Stars, it naturally sought to reshape the life form of its young inheritor. But this transformation lasted only an instant before it abruptly ceased. Then, under the will of its young master, it shifted into another form entirely!
At that moment, the paladin moved. He transformed into a streak of rapid light, actively launching an attack at Joshua!
*Boom!* The sound of atmosphere and matter shattering together rang out. During his charge, Loranda merged his warhammer and shield together. The materialized holy light writhed as if alive, eventually forming a massive shield-axe. He swung this holy light shield-axe with incredible speed, turning it into a flying streak of light.
The gray holy light illuminated everything around—whether rock or lava, metal or crystal—all were clearly reflected. The weightless, frictionless holy light shield-axe then slashed toward the warrior's neck!
Faced with this incredibly swift, almost limit-breaking strike, Joshua's eyes lit up slightly. He could see that Loranda's power at this moment was already showing signs of surpassing the Ultimate Peak. If the battle continued like this, the paladin might, like Brandon and Joshua himself in the past, be pushed to the brink and find the path of sublimation hidden deep within his soul!
Years ago, if not for the legendary soul of the Grandia World, Akhar Alyiev, attacking him with the "Prison Star Heavenly Prison," Joshua believed it would have taken him at least a year or two to slowly integrate his power. The same was true for Brandon—if the warrior hadn't kicked him into a star, he wouldn't have quickly comprehended the Abyssal Sky Sword capable of cutting through solar corona torrents, formally stepping onto the path of sublimation beyond Ultimate Essence.
The holy light shield-axe flew toward him at a speed that was fast, yet slow in Joshua's eyes. One could see that as the weapon approached the warrior's side, it was deflected and offset by layers of Life Energy barriers condensed to the extreme, rippling like water in concentric circles. Joshua wasn't about to use his own meticulously honed Steel Force to block this strike—that would go against the spirit of their sparring match at the Ultimate Peak realm.
So, the warrior simply extended one hand, preparing to catch Loranda's fierce blow head-on, then use the momentum for a core-throw, hurling him straight into the center of the planet's core.
But something unexpected happened.
Just as Joshua reached out to block Loranda's strike, the Life Energy barrier illuminated by the gray holy light underwent an extremely bizarre transformation—it suddenly lost all its properties of resisting impact and defending against energy, becoming utterly inert, ceasing to react with any other supernatural force in this world!
"Excellent!"
Sensing this, Joshua raised an eyebrow slightly. He wasn't surprised but instead showed delight. But by then, the holy light shield-axe that had breached the barrier's defense had already arrived, slashing fiercely into the warrior's neck!
*Squeak!*
Accompanied by a harsh grinding sound like real metal colliding, the moment the holy light shield-axe struck Joshua's neck, it shattered into countless specks of light, dissipating into the air.
Sensing this, Loranda immediately retreated rapidly. The fact that his attack had no effect didn't surprise the paladin at all. But what puzzled him was that Joshua, who had clearly caught his offensive mistake, didn't seize the opportunity to counterattack. He had originally expected the warrior to grab his hand and perform a core-throw, sending him straight into the planet's core.
But Joshua, with a somewhat strange expression, rubbed his neck. He narrowed his eyes, looking at the spirited, battle-ready Loranda before him, and murmured in a low voice: "This is… the power to alter the properties of matter."
It seemed that before he had proposed this sparring match, the paladin must have been close to touching the threshold of the Legendary realm…
Lowering his hand from his neck, one could clearly see a silvery metallic mark on Joshua's palm—that was the result of Loranda's shield-axe strike. It had breached Joshua's defense, leaving a faint wound.
Although this avatar of the warrior only possessed Ultimate Peak power, and its body wasn't composed of degenerate-state armor, even so, a body made of super-dense alloy should have been nearly impossible to damage with power below the Legendary realm, especially by such an ethereal holy light shield-axe.
If so, then there was only one answer—Loranda's strike just now had unconsciously touched upon a realm beyond Ultimate Essence. His holy light was no longer the ordinary sacred power of a paladin but had acquired some unique property, a holy light power entirely his own.
And the nature of this holy light power could temporarily alter the properties of matter and energy themselves—it could render the active Life Energy of a warrior inert, and also make tough, suitable armor even harder, yet more brittle!
"Is it using holy light to influence matter, thereby changing the world?"
Thinking this in his mind, Joshua temporarily ceased his attack. His purpose in sparring with Loranda was to help the paladin realize his own will under pressure. Although it was a pity, since the goal had been achieved, it was time to pause for now.
After all, once the other party truly advanced, sparring would be much more interesting.
At this moment, Loranda himself sensed his own breakthrough. He was now closing his eyes, his entire body surging with gray holy light flames, seemingly feeling the characteristics of his own power.
But before him, Joshua had already roughly deduced part of the essence of the other's power.
The same holy light, the same inheritance. If the old Pope Eagle's path of holy light was to become light himself, replacing other light in the world, and then within a certain domain, through self-modification, alter the constants of a region.
Then Loranda's was to use holy light to influence other matter—just as under extremely high gravity and high-energy environments, the properties of matter would change. His holy light could temporarily alter the properties of all matter.
To put it in simpler terms, Loranda's holy light was like the high temperature and pressure of the Earth's crust making solid steel as soft as butter. Under the effect of this gray, dim holy light, matter and energy would undergo strange transformations, giving birth to things akin to unoriginal matter, temporarily unanalyzable entities.
And this, perhaps, was the future legendary power of Loranda!