WeTried Translations

Translator: Hydrogen B

Editor: Hydrogen B

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 387: Lightning Did Not Fall from the Sky - 10

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In the midst of her fierce battle with Shei, Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka felt something unpleasant.

It was not because of Shei before her. It was an irritating sensation, like needles lightly pricking her skin. Chances were, someone nearby had come into contact with a god. A Holy Maiden, or a member of the Holy Sword Corps serving one.

Tyrkanzyaka stopped attacking and turned to one side. In doing so, she failed to notice a boulder flying toward her and was struck hard enough to be crushed, but she stared into Cloud Waterfall as though such an impact meant nothing.

"...This is."

"Focus!"

When the opponent she had been fighting suddenly lost interest, the enraged regressor shouted in fury. Tyrkanzyaka, however, had already turned her attention away from Shei.

"There is an order even to battle. Step aside. There is somewhere I must go first."

"You picked this fight, and now you're backing out? Are you trying to run away?"

"Think what you wish."

There was no doubt that Shei was connected to the Sanctum. As Hilde had said, perhaps he was a Holy Maiden, or at the very least, part of the Holy Sword Corps. Rationally speaking, that was the right answer.

Yet it was a fact Tyr could overlook. Until now, Shei had neither used sacred power nor seen the future. If he had shown even the slightest sign of either, Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka would have noticed immediately and attacked. In other words, if Shei did not reveal it, Tyr might not attack him.

Unlike Shei, whose fate depended on Tyr's mood, the unpleasant sensation Tyr felt now was real. The nauseating scent of a Holy Maiden hung thick in the air. Tyrkanzyaka turned away as if she had no further interest in Shei.

"If you wish, I will entertain you once this is over. For now..."

A distant gaze, as though looking down upon all people, pierced the Progenitor. This unpleasant feeling. Those eyes looked down upon her as if they understood all her rage, wounds, and anguish, declaring that even this was fate.

There was no room for misunderstanding now. This was a Holy Maiden. The Progenitor's mortal enemy.

The enraged Progenitor sharpened every sense. Anything that dared approach her carelessly would be reduced to a handful of blood. Of course, no human should have been bold enough to approach an angry Progenitor in the first place.

"This handmaid has answered the summons and come."

But what if it was God's will?

A gale seemed to blow through, and then a fist slammed into Tyrkanzyaka's face.

Tyrkanzyaka's body flew like a ball. Nearly ten seconds passed before her airborne body touched the ground, carrying her dozens of meters away. She rolled across the ground, scraping against it, and only stopped after crashing into Claudia's outer wall.

The Progenitor, humanity's terror, had been defeated. The small fist wrapped in bandages had accomplished that overwhelming feat. Recognizing its owner, Shei muttered.

"Peruel?"

Peruel, the Steel Maiden. With her hood pulled low, she looked at Shei and gave a slight nod.

"One who stands against the great enemy. This too may be fate's guidance."

"What? Why are you here?"

"There is no need to ask why. This handmaid's presence here means there is something this handmaid is needed for. Where I am to be used will naturally become clear."

Shei knew Peruel. Over several regressions, she had encountered Holy Maidens countless times. She had never personally connected with the human known as Peruel, the Steel Maiden.

Yet she had come to know Peruel better than that.

Shei stopped questioning her further. She knew who Peruel was, and what kind of being she was.

"A servant of the Celestial God dares show herself before meee!"

So when Tyrkanzyaka emerged cloaked in darkness and attacked Peruel, Shei worried not for the girl who would have to bear the Progenitor's wrath...

But for Tyrkanzyaka, who had attacked her.

"If dying is truly your wish, I will grant it!"

Tyrkanzyaka's claws, capable of tearing apart even steel, descended upon Peruel. Even before obtaining her heart, the Progenitor's attack would have been powerful enough, but now that she had obtained it, her strength was incomparable to before.

Still, there was one person against whom she would have been far more effective before gaining her heart.

The Steel Maiden.

Peruel did not move. She neither tried to evade Tyrkanzyaka's blow nor block it. With her eyes wide open, she calmly watched the claws flying toward her.

Soon, a human body was crushed.

Tyrkanzyaka's arm broke apart, unable to withstand its own strength. Standing unharmed amid the scattering blood, the Steel Maiden clenched her bandaged fist and muttered.

"It is not yet time for this handmaid to die. That future has not come."

The future seen by the Steel Maiden differed somewhat from that of other Holy Maidens. While Holy Maidens observed all things in the world and adjusted fate, Peruel observed her own future. Where her body would be, what she would be doing.

Pitiful, fragile creatures could receive revelations and still fail to act. They would doubt and doubt again, fearing that their faith might lead them to death, until they ultimately abandoned that faith.

But Peruel, blessed by the First Holy Maiden, was different.

Everything she saw, believed, and did was God's will.

The already determined future protected her.

The Steel Maiden thrust out her fist again.

The future observed by the Steel Maiden would come to pass despite any obstacle. It did not matter whether the Progenitor stood there or a great mountain did.

Her fist treated Tyrkanzyaka as though she did not exist. The Holy Maiden's fist pierced space. It drove away the grotesque things that dared occupy the space she was destined to advance through, and the present caught up to the determined future.

Tyrkanzyaka's arm shattered. Her body could not endure Peruel's power or the force of her own blow colliding against it, and broke into pieces. The impact shook Tyrkanzyaka's body and sent her flying far away once more.

To defeat the Progenitor twice was a feat that would leave any other human astonished, but to Peruel, it was only natural.

"In a brute-force fight, this handmaid will not be defeated. Progenitor, I do not know what change has come over you, but if this handmaid was sent here, then that too is guidance."

Unyielding because nothing could stop her.

Invincible because no one could oppose her.

She who carried out God's will in the world was the Sanctum's strongest.

...But.

"Is being hard all you are?!"

The body that had been shattered rewound time. Blood took shape, and scattered pieces of flesh returned to their places. From her right arm to her chest, even the bones had been lost, yet it all returned as though nothing had ever broken.

She would not die. A vampire's immortality was not toughness, but regeneration. Even if shattered for a moment, they returned to their original state.

To defeat a vampire, one had to use certain spells developed through history, but most of them did not work on the Progenitor.

Darkness swelled from the Progenitor. It was darkness meant to block the Celestial God's gaze. It had no effect on Peruel, who observed herself, but it was still an irritating power. Peruel faced the Progenitor with dry eyes.

"No matter what you do, you cannot harm this handmaid... Though making you realize that will likely take all day."

"All day?! You lack patience. I could keep at this for ten years!"

Tyrkanzyaka shouted with no bluff in her voice, then swallowed Peruel in darkness. Their battle vanished somewhere no one could see.

[The Progenitor is trite and old-fashioned. She could not endure a thousand years and turned herself into a phenomenon.]

Suddenly insulting vampires was an everyday occurrence for anyone who believed in God even a little. Hilde nodded in partial agreement.

"At her age, it can't be helped~."

[Push her a little, and she moves exactly as you want. She struggles to escape fate, yet she is the one being toyed with by it.]

"Ugh. Right. She was no help whenever it mattered. Was this another waste of time~? 'I' knew it. Isn't there any support?"

[Of course, there will be no support for you.]

The Thunder Lord snapped her fingers. Lightning flashed and thunder roared. Those who recognized the signal through the fog rushed over swiftly.

"Thunder Lord."

Too much time had passed. Enough for the city, thrown into confusion, to organize its forces and come looking for the Thunder Lord.

The Thunder Guardians no longer considered this an ordinary accident. They gathered troops in preparation for battle and sought their commander.

Claudia's direct military force, tasked with protecting the city's peace, approached with steady steps after seeing the Thunder Lord's signal.

The Thunder Lord spoke to them.

[Has the evacuation been completed?]

"Yes. The practitioners are leading the citizens away. Most of the Guardians are gathering here... Is this an enemy attack?"

The Thunder Lord nodded at the Guardians' question.

[It is. Fulfill your duty.]

"Then we will prepare for battle."

At the command, the Thunder Guardians released lightning all at once.

Each of them fell short of the Thunder Lord, but they wielded the power of thunder in a similar manner. Lightning gathered around their arms and weapons.

One of the Guardians raised a long spear above their head. Crack. A small bolt of lightning shot into the sky. The small signal awakened the enormous device that had kept the city functioning.

The Thunder Mill. The lightning-powered waterwheel that moved the city became a weapon to defeat its enemies.

Boom, boom, boom. Huge iron stakes fell from the sky. Lightning raced through the iron stakes driven deep into the wet earth.

The power drawn from across the city had gathered in one place. The difference in strength was something no single person could possibly overcome. Hilde whistled at the electrifying sensation rising from beneath her feet.

"Whew~. So you're saying you want to wipe out 'us' to monopolize this incredible power, right?"

[You are steeped beyond measure in sin. This is not power, but a curse. It seems even a curse looks like power to an apostate.]

"You look pretty healthy for someone under a curse~?"

[That is thanks to God's protection.]

Wrapped in lightning drawn from across the city, the Thunder Lord now looked closer to an angel than a human. Her outstretched wings spanned more than ten meters, and with the smaller bolts, it was too much to take in at a glance. The lightning surrounding her was so powerful that her feet no longer touched the ground.

This was the greatest power the human known as the Thunder Lord could wield. Even Hilde could not overcome that power, protected by fate. Spinning two holy swords, Hilde said,

"Are you sure it's okay to come at me? The Verdigris Lord is here."

The Thunder Lord's gaze briefly turned toward Perru. The owner of the Golden Bell hid with a pale face behind a makeshift wall of steel at the Thunder God's side.

Even without the Golden Bell, Perru's power was terrifying simply by existing. The Thunder Lord, who knew the Lesser States' secrets, understood that better than anyone.

Verdigris's power... could reduce even humans to dust. Living creatures resisted Verdigris's power somewhat, but that resistance meant nothing to Lesser States citizens who carried alchemical materials within their bodies. If Perru wished, she could kill every Thunder Guardian in an instant. She could turn them into dust, leaving behind not even corpses, and defile their lives and souls alike.

Perru should have been on the Lesser States' side. Yet it could not be helped that she had made another choice.

[If her faith in the value she speaks of is genuine, she will not use that ability on humans. That would be an act of destroying value.]

Instead, the Thunder Lord calmly ordered her forces forward.

[Go. Do not attack the Verdigris Lord if possible.]

Click. Click. The Thunder Lord approached at the front, with her troops following behind, radiating killing intent. Perru had built walls as best she could, but they would fall eventually.

"Haah. It can't be helped~. I suppose I'll have to fight a lonely battle~."

As Hilde spoke, she suddenly threw a holy sword. The dagger flew like the teeth of a comb, aiming for the Thunder Lord's head. The Thunder Lord easily avoided it by tilting her head back. It pierced only an afterimage made of lightning.

She could have deflected it, but there was no reason to take a hit from a holy sword whose abilities she did not know. Watching the holy sword vanish into the distance from the corner of her eye, the Thunder Lord muttered.

[Today, I will put an end to this here.]

"Hmm~. Fighting as a group is pretty cowardly, isn't it? At this rate..."

Hilde glanced at Perru. It would be different if Perru were willing to destroy even humans, but she had no intention of doing so.

It did not matter. Perru had never been the one Hilde had in mind.

"Then I don't have to feel guilty! I thought only 'we' were fighting unfairly!"

[We?]

"'I' haven't just been fooling around, you know~!"

The thunderous footsteps of the Thunder Guardians were drowned out. Something far more dreadful and ominous was approaching from even farther away. Not from Claudia, but from the opposite direction.

It came through Cloud Waterfall.

Beyond the Mist Range, vampires lived.

Today, humanity would be reminded of that fact once more.

Footnotes:

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