Zarian watched as Bianca whirled away from him, the light sword in her hand shining ever brighter. With one sweep, she deflected another one of Orin’s long flaming sword attacks as if it was child’s play.
Orin tried to power up his strike for a stronger attack, but he was too slow.
Bianca stepped forward so quickly, she became a streak of radiant and shiny light. She only stopped when her dazzling boot struck Orin’s breastplate.
The straight leg kick deformed the legendary armor, knocked the air out of Orin, cracked his ribs, and sent the old man flying backward into a powerful light wall that stopped him in his tracks. The light wall was one of the slickest and most tactical conjurations Zarian had seen from Bianca, too, worsening Orin’s position.
The man crumbled to the floor, his hand to his dented breastplate, as Bianca sauntered toward him gracefully. She revealed yet another of her incredible abilities as she approached Orin.
This new ability of hers had been running in the background the whole time without Zarian realizing the implications and how much power that gave Bianca and everyone under the freedom alignment. It was an ability that had come from combining the traits Evil Hunter (Rare), Sainted Smite (Legendary), and Gold Guardian Wings (Legendary).
<Angel of Freedom (Mythical): As the angel of freedom, your presence grants everyone with the freedom alignment an extra +1 to their sub alignment. Other alignments have -1 subtracted. Additionally, you get +200% to Wonder and can summon beautiful angelic wings to fly with or wow others. You can also strike with nearly quadruple the offensive power against those who are ‘enemies of freedom’ once every battle encounter.>
Zarian collapsed to his butt, leaning back on his hands. Bianca’s latest showing had successfully floored him.
“She’s so freaking overpowered it’s horrifying,” Zarian mumbled. “Is this my fault? Did I play a part in making Queen Bianca Garcia into a monster?”
“Yas, you did, and it’s wonderful!” Para cheered.
Orin spat blood to the side while kneeling on the floor. He tried to stand up, but Bianca wouldn’t allow it. She tapped her dazzling boot and conjured a deluge of aura and light from the air to land down on Orin’s shoulders.
Her power forced the man to buckle and slam back down to his knee. Things only grew worse for Orin when Bianca finally revealed her mythical wings.
Zarian was glad he was already sitting, because the wings were the most beautiful and incandescent things he’d seen.
Bianca’s wings spanned thirty feet in width, with each graceful feather made of shimmering light and a solidified power that Zarian could only describe as freedom given into shape – Bianca was literally the Angel of Freedom.
Orin laughed throatily. “All of those paladins you’ve killed … will bring the wrath of the Ascended Heavens on you, you whore! My death would’ve opened the gates for sure. But their deaths were more than enough to call down an arch cherub with a Level 125 class and good +8! You cannot hope to defeat that!”
“Would that damage the nice pants Abuela Ruvaria gave Zarian?” Bianca asked in a serene and lovely voice, her smile sparkling, her wings fanning delicately.
You probably shouldn’t answer that, Orin, Zarian thought.
Answer it and unleash the power of Queen Bianca Garcia! Para cheered mentally.
“Pants? Who cares about your witch wardrobe? The arch cherub will destroy your clothing and everything you’ve worked for, accursed fiends!” Orin roared with bloody glee and fanaticism.
Bianca’s smile brightened even more, so did her wings and her boots.
She smashed Orin’s jaw into fragments with a swift kick and sent him flying through the walls of a stout stone dwelling. She spun around with a flourish, her glittery and resplendent dress flaring around her long and tanned legs.
Then she pointed her hand down at the ground, paused, and looked over to Zarian kindly as the sky opened up with a boisterous blare, like thousands of trumpets honking down upon them.
Zarian straightened in his seat and asked, “Need help?”
“A little more aura would be nice, papi.”
“Yeah, sure. I can also make your aura more efficient with my Aura Transcendence.”
Bianca graced him with an even more beautiful smile that made him happy to help.
With Aura Mastery and Aura Transcendence, he gave Bianca more power to draw on and oiled up her channels to peak conditions. She wasted less aura while producing more of the desired results.
Thus, she used another new skill Zarian was the most curious about.
<Great Shining Territory (Level 9): Place down a shining territory that weakens other alignments outside of yours to a significant degree. While inside of this territory, abilities of light and darkness from yourself or allies receive an incredible boost. Beware of the high aura cost. Can only use this once every long rest. Scales with Wonder.>
Bianca drained a lot of power from Zarian, more than he’d expected. But she was placing down a vast territory that warped the light and darkness around multiple northern island villages.
Zarian watched as strands of light and darkness twisted together, becoming something akin to a helix symbol with one side made of light and the other made of darkness.
These light-dark helices formed like rising trees across the many islands inside of Bianca’s Great Shining Territory, each one reaching further and further into the sky. Obviously, the ones made of light seemed to dominate more, showing preferential treatment to the owner of the skill.
But that didn’t bother Zarian whatsoever, because Bianca had shown another way she could boost his darkness. He felt it even more so when she bent the light herself to produce darkness. It was almost too much for him, making the inky blot in the middle of his soul turn and become more excitable.
With a sigh, Zarian shook his head and refocused on Bianca.
She was gathering more light into her hands from everywhere, from the sky, from the helices, and from within herself. She shaped all of those lights into an intensely bright sword. Then she performed some powerful, quick, and graceful dance steps.
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One, two, three, four.
The arch cherub announced its arrival with a great trumpeting roar, the gates of the Ascended Heaven clashing with a clamor while remaining invisible to everyone deemed unworthy.
Five, six, seven, eight.
The appearance of an anatomically accurate angel figure would’ve melted the minds of most mortals. Zarian and Para had to sync up and cast double Void Domain to warp the air above the innocent islanders and block their view of the monstrous agent of the Ascended Heavens.
Nine, ten, eleven…
On the twelfth whirlwind killer step, Bianca whipped around, her wings flapping like the drums of freedom, her boots flashing like a solar flare, her dress glimmering with legendary elven magic.
She swung her sword in a strong low to high arc and carved the atmosphere open. From the northern horizon to the southern horizon, she wounded the atmosphere of the world, going further beyond just the mere sky and enemy that were present above them.
The arch cherub fell in two neatly split halves. Behind the death of the arch cherub, the light of Bianca’s cut bled out into space as a brilliant shower of magic photons. It was almost like witnessing a reversed comet shower. That was the beautiful part.
The horrifying part was the sound of a distinct and roaring suction. Thankfully, the Star System was quick to patch that, or the vacuum left behind from Bianca’s cut would’ve sucked people, structures, islands, and many other creatures and things out into space.
Instead, everyone across the Walled Continent had the pleasure of Bianca’s light show.
***
Over at the central parts of the Walled Continent, Foodie and Wallen stopped cooking on a parapet to turn and see the showering light shooting out of the atmosphere.
For three days now, the Indomitable Cook and Bug Alchemist had collaborated. Though the cook was mythical and the alchemist was rare, they’d shared a strangely kindred spirit with their projects. It was while they were at the forward fortress taken from the wolf dragons and wolf kobolds, they’d come up with the idea to work together to concoct moon products the others could safely ingest.
Prince Omar Windstorm would come around to watch and pester Foodie about royal things. Many of the guild members would come around, too, but mostly to pester Wallen, since he was the oddest of them and fun to pester. But most of Foodie and Wallen’s focus was on cooking up moon meals and drinks until the impossible light shower lit up the half-lit day.
“Princess Bianca?” Wallen asked.
Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.
“No,” Foodie said with a shake of her head. “Somehow, I can feel she’s not a princess. She’s … greater.”
Prince Omar, Roland the Ride-or-Die Guild Captain, Amabel the Shadowfell Acolyte, and others looked from the light show to Foodie and back. Wallen was the most amazed, his mouth hanging agape.
“And to think, Wallen got a kiss on the cheek from her,” said one of the male guild members.
“Lucky bastard,” said another.
Wallen’s cheeks turned red before he spat insults and shook his fist at his fellow Ride-or-Die Guild Members.
Princess Foodie watched the dominant and shiny display of power. Then she shook her head, her big, leafy green ears flopping, as she snapped back to focus. With a quick bark, she silenced everyone.
“It won’t be long before we face the wolf dragons and wolf kobolds in their den. Let’s return to our preparations. I want Father and the Floridians to come home to a region we’ve thoroughly conquered for them.”
The others nodded and went back to making preparations. Foodie and Wallen returned to their collaboration, with Prince Omar lingering for a little while before marching off to find something to do.
***
Back over at the northern islands of the Windy Strider Kingdom, Zarian reached up and pushed his jaw shut. He felt around with Aura Mastery for where Para’s phantom jaws would be and pushed those shut for her.
Then Zarian tried to get up, but he couldn’t, since his Willpower was on the fritz. Which wasn’t any fault of anyone other than himself. He was just that amazed by how far Bianca had come.
So, he stayed seated as a simple question came to mind. “What’s your free good?”
Bianca turned off her Great Shining Territory skill. The alluring helix formations of light and dark faded away.
She nodded at the dead halves of the arch cherub floating in the waters outside of the island village. Then she turned with her magnificent wings fluttering slightly, tracing an array of colors across the air, her resplendent dress glittering like a field of colorful gems, the skirt flourishing around her legs and above her dazzling boots.
She answered with a shaky voice. “Free good +8.” Then she sighed. “Now I’m sad. But that’s okay. I do what I must because of my Thematic Concept … Para La Familia.”
“Gilbert’s Christian God Almighty,” Zarian said. “Is that … what you got from …”
“Banishing Ariana?” Para finished asking.
Bianca nodded. She dismissed her mythical wings of freedom. She dismissed her dazzling boots and dropped six inches of height to walk on her bare feet. But even then, she still moved as a statuesque, golden-haired, golden-eyed beauty at six feet, six inches. All with the regalness of a queen for a few steps longer.
Then she returned to being Zarian’s bratty princess, falling into his lap and crying. This time, the tears weren’t random. They came with the consequence of using her divine trait.
<Thematic Concept/Para La Familia (Divine): When acting selflessly for those you deem family, your Wonder benefits from an extremely vast growth for a limited time. However, beware of the deep depression and a standoffish mood you’ll feel afterward that’ll last until you have a proper rest.>
Did she really use a Thematic Concept and all of those powerful abilities together because Orin splashed some fire on my pants? Zarian thought.
Yes, she did, and she’s wonderful for it, Para shared. Under certain conditions, she has the potential to be a great one-shot killer. Though, that comes with the cost of her being heavily aura dependent. She also needs more rest periods between these amazing attacks of hers.
I think she can handle Two Percent Darkness for sure. At least with striking once with all of her power. Maybe she might even match three percent somewhat.
Zarian stood with Bianca curled in his arms. He walked the sniffling and teary-eyed queen toward Orin’s dazed form.
The leader of the Stalwart Paladin Kingdom shook his head. His vitality helped him regain his sense of awareness and fixed up the damage to his jaw. He tried to rise to his feet, but Para’s willful phantom power came crashing down on Orin.
Para flattened him into the ground, like a bug under a giant’s hand.
“Hey Bianca, sorry to disturb you, but we gotta know what you want to do with this one,” Zarian said gently.
Bianca sniffled. She pouted down at Orin. “Join the freedom alignment! If your faith is so powerful, then your goodness will shine through! Or whatever!”
Zarian wasn’t sure if that was a convincing enough argument. But that was okay. Bianca’s abilities made her one of the most convincing people in the world.
Even when she was bawling her eyes out and had snot dripping from her nose.
“Your freedom is a hoax! It’s a lie! I will prove to everyone that freedom is a trick of Hidden Hell!” Orin shouted, taking the bait.
As an avian cried in the background, Bianca tapped her foot on Orin’s bald head and gave him the option to join the freedom alignment.
The old man went all in, and the moment he switched from traditional good +4 to free good +4, the glint of zealotry in Orin’s eyes snuffed out. The old man looked much, much older.
Para released her hold of Orin.
The last remaining paladin of another failed crusade sat up on his knees. He opened and closed his mouth multiple times before falling silent, completely dumbstruck.
“What have you done to me?” Orin asked.
“Gave you freedom,” Zarian said.
“No. No, no, no. I don’t want this freedom. You took away the power of true goodness. You made it go silent. I don’t want this. Please take it back! Take back this accursed freedom! Give me back the power of true good!” Orin blabbered, groveling at their feet.
Zarian turned around and flew away with his weeping Radiant Queen. The reverse comet shower above was gone, but there were electromagnetic currents wavering about like an aurora borealis.
Just like that, Bianca had thwarted another paladin crusade.
Zarian now had a better grasp of Bianca’s power. It was immense. The old Tier 4 gauge didn’t represent Zarian, Bianca, Naomi, or even Hannah anymore.
They were bigger than Tier 4 kingdom destroyers. They were continental threats, at the very least.
Though, that was still relative to a Lesser World in a Lesser Realm. Zarian imagined in the next worlds and realms above, the setting would be more robust, more capable of handling the raw power of the Floridians.
For now, Zarian felt a sense of pride that made his chest feel hot. He couldn’t stop from smiling.
All that time he’d invested in others kept paying off more and more.
Naomi was a monster. Bianca was a monster. He was sure that Hannah was a monster, too, even if she didn’t have a divine trait. Or maybe she did have a divine trait. He would have to see.
Though that left Zarian a little worried about one other important member of their party.
How much had Gilbert grown?
If only a little, then did Gilbert fall behind significantly? And if he did, what was slowing him down and how could Zarian help fix it?