Chapter 1346: Beam of the Order
"It's no use. You can't reach it. This is beyond the realm of the mortal, I think," the old man told Pherdanta just as she was about to slash with the Bashful Abomination again. "Don't be fooled by the seemingly flimsy defence. I imagine the real protection against any kind of interference - like us - was this, rather these dark creatures that were guarding it."
Pherdanta agreed, but she muttered under her breath "I wasn't fooled, old man."
She, this old man cloaked in a passive Territory aglow, and the Stark Troops surrounding a large, loud of group of commonfolk and withered experts were standing before a strange crystal. It massive, gleaming with a reddish-purple glow. It had only been revealed when Pherdanta had sensed something odd in the bland space ahead of her and slashed through it using her newly earned skill [Infinite Sword God: Primordial Sword]. She had found hidden this crystal, guarded by a fair number of Cavern that she had dispatched in a breath; apparently, they were a false defense mechanism.
But as the old man said, the crystal was the real protection. There was something within it, impossible to see clearly from the outside. Pherdanta's slashes didn't so much as graze the crystal, and to her and the old man, that was a tell-tale sign that this thing was beyond what mortals could understand or interact with.
The thing did feel a lot like Skullius, Pherdanta had noted.
"I had been wondering why these dark creatures were dying like flies all over when their mission was conquest. I mean, they've done a fair share of damage to Aigas, but now it appears that they are willing distractions. They are giving their lives freely. Unlike humans, they don't hesitate to dive to their deaths for their lord's plans. They don't second guess him. Admirable," the old man said and suddenly looked emotionally.
Pherdanta gave him a look with both her eyes and pointed nose.
Before leaving the Empyrean Bosom, she was the one who had proposed to the other Unlimited Stars and Stark Troops that if possible, it was preferable to try and ascertain the intentions of experts who breached the drapes of time rather than to immediately go for the kill.
The Commander of the Stark Troops had every hope to prove the strength she had acquired through the Impossible Task, but it seemed that she was not to prove it here. What she needed was a real opponent, not an artefact requiring a simple threshold of power to defeat.
Pherdanta sighed.
But fulfilling what her master had asked was enough, right?
"You're right," she said to Rakon. "Let's go on. There's more lives to be saved and our company is meant to support Yuyui and Grim's in preserving Aigas. Until the guardian beasts mobilise enough of their strength and cover the whole of Pelian, it's up to us to limit the death toll."
And indeed, that was the case.
Pherdanta gave one last look at the crystal and led the company onwards.
In the following hour, she would go on to save hundreds of thousands more lives and spread the fame of the Stark Troops in a more righteous fashion than even that of the Purity. Thankfully, the crushing shockwave from an attack which almost ended her master's life was stifled before it could reach her, courtesy of Suzamete who noted the large number of survivors she was to be save.
But the Unlimited Star's role was far from done.
Carrying the torch for her Order was only the beginning for what Direction had in store for her.
On the other hand, a certain, short Mage was taking inspiration from infamous events that completely disregard righteousness and order itself.