The air inside the ancient St. Elms chapel was thick with the smell of fresh blood and death. Wrack, the strongest among them, had fallen after a final, desperate attack. His sacrifice had bought them only a few brief minutes, too little time for the remaining investigators to find a way out from the encircling enemy.

Henry, Danz, and Halb, despite trying to use that moment of chaos to escape, were now being cornered, with undead and the disgusting Corpse Golems closing in. All hope of survival seemed to have vanished, leaving only the certainty of an unavoidable death.

Beleth hovered in the air, a dark aura swirling around him, admiring his handiwork. He looked down at the three remaining targets with a sick amusement, a clear satisfaction on his gaunt, pale face.

"You've fought well," he said, his voice a raspy, mocking echo throughout the ruined chapel. "But the game ends here. Your souls will be a wonderful gift, a perfect sacrifice to complete my power. But don't worry," his bloodshot eyes swept over the three, lingering in a probing way, for he could sense a special energy, a subtle flavor radiating from one of them, the thing he had been searching for all this time, "I won't kill you right away, you little rats."

He knew that if the one with the Mystic Sense died, the power would find a new host, and his hunt would have to start over. He didn't want that to happen.

He slowly raised a bony, gaunt hand, its long, dark fingers twisting in a grotesque manner. A sphere of dark energy began to form in his hand. The air around it was compressed and warped strangely.

The screams of countless imprisoned souls emanated from within, making them all shudder with a primal fear. The dark sphere grew larger and larger, ready to absorb the last remaining souls.

Though exhausted and severely wounded, Danz and Halb still managed to stand and protect Henry. Danz's shield was cracked, and Halb's silver spear was broken. Fresh blood and sweat soaked their tattered armor, and their breathing was heavy, labored. But in their eyes, there was a final defiance, an acceptance of their fate without bowing to the enemy, and a loyalty to their young comrade.

"Run, Henry! Hurry!" Danz yelled. "Take this message back to Chief Investigator Ragley! Tell him what happened here!"

Run away? Leave behind the comrades who had fought alongside him, the brothers who had sacrificed their lives to protect him? How many times had he failed already? How many times had he watched his comrades fall because of him?

Was he supposed to run away again? To continue living as a coward? But what if he stayed? Could he survive? Could he defeat the enemy in front of him? Could he face a Rank 5 monster?

To run away and continue living as a coward, or to fight to the death for a little empty glory? Was this the price of the weak?

There were only cruel choices waiting for them, only bad and worse options. In just an instant, his mind and body were in a fierce conflict. His survival instinct and reason screamed at him to run, but his emotions wanted him to stay and fight to the end.

Just as the dark sphere in Beleth's hand reached its maximum size, ready to be unleashed to end this boring battle, something no one could have predicted, a true miracle, happened.

The sky above St. Elms chapel, which had been gray with Beleth's dark energy, suddenly tore open! A brilliant, pure blue lightning bolt, accompanied by the roar of thunder, struck down and hit the middle of the battlefield, right in front of the investigation team.

The lightning didn't strike anyone; instead, it acted as a wall of thunderous light, stopping the dark sphere Beleth was about to launch and causing it to explode in mid-air. The shockwave sent both Beleth and the nearby undead flying.

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After the shockwave subsided, a figure slowly emerged from the center of the explosion, hovering in the air. He was a young man who looked to be under thirty, but his aura was so noble that no one dared to look him in the eye.

His platinum hair fluttered in the wind, revealing a high, broad forehead and sharp eyes like two swords.

He looked down at Beleth as if he were an insignificant insect. He wore a silver-white robe with intricate patterns of waves and lightning embroidered in gold, which sparkled under the pure blue light. His hand held a beautiful silver sword, whose guard was shaped like a pair of eagle wings. The blade glowed with small, blue sparks of lightning.

This was Mythris, the Grand Master of the Celestial Accord, one of the youngest and most powerful Rank 7 Demigods in the world of Tehra. His appearance in any place was a final judgment for the forces of darkness. His presence here, at this moment, was a miracle, a salvation for Henry and his remaining comrades.

"You're Mythris?!" Beleth said, his voice filled with surprise and caution. He felt a real threat, a power far beyond his current clone.

Mythris didn't reply immediately. He simply frowned, his eyes sweeping over the bodies of Keln and Wrack before stopping at Henry, Danz, and Halb, who were badly wounded and exhausted after their unequal battle. "The crimes you committed in Aerion, and also here," Mythris's voice was low but carried a power that made the air around them freeze, with no wind daring to blow. "Will end here, right now."

Without any warning, without any unnecessary movement, Mythris acted. The silver sword in his hand vibrated, and blue sparks of lightning danced on the blade, growing more numerous and violent, forming a storm.

"Thunderclap Slash". A strike as fast as lightning, its path invisible, was just a streak of blue light in the air, carrying the roar of thunder and a blade of lightning that slashed directly at Beleth with the force of a thunderclap. Beleth, though on high alert, couldn't react in time to this extraordinary attack. He hastily threw out whatever was left of his undead minions to defend himself. All the undead charged towards Mythris like a wave of death.

The two opposing forces, one a pure lightning carrying the power of nature, the other a darkness filled with the suffering and hatred of the undead and imprisoned souls, clashed violently.

BOOM!

A deafening explosion made the ancient stone walls, already cracked from previous battles, crumble and collapse, with roof tiles falling like rain. Smoke and chaotic magical energy filled the entire chapel, obscuring their vision. Henry, Danz, and Halb had to cover their eyes and brace themselves against the shockwave.

But that wasn't all. Just as Beleth was trying to regain his footing after the shockwave, when all his efforts were about to be destroyed by the power of the lightning sword, Henry only had time to realize that Mythris was already in front of Beleth. His speed was so fast that even Henry's Mystic Sense, though enhanced, could only register a blurry streak.

"Aqua Prison" Mythris said softly. From the void, countless chains of high-pressure water, carrying tiny blue sparks of lightning, appeared and wrapped tightly around Beleth's limbs, imprisoning him in an unbreakable prison of water. The water chains tightened, and the pressure made the joints of avatar crack horribly, as if they were about to shatter.

"So this is the power of a Demigod?!" Beleth accepted the reality, giving up on his body, no longer struggling against the absolute power of a Rank 7 Demigod. In the presence of Mythris, any resistance from a Rank 5 body was meaningless, a ridiculous joke.

Mythris didn't give him any more chances to speak or act. The silver sword in his hand once again shone brightly, but this time, it wasn't the blue light of lightning, but the deep, serene light of the vast ocean.

"Stormbringer's Cascade" A vortex of water formed around Mythris's sword, then enveloped Beleth and the water prison that held him. When the vortex disappeared, Beleth's avatar had vanished, leaving no trace, only a few remnants of dark energy that were slowly dissipating under Mythris's blue light.

Henry, Danz, and Halb stood frozen, unable to say a word. In just a few moves, Mythris cleanly and completely destroyed Beleth's avatar, the one who had easily defeated Wrack, killed Keln, and cornered them. The power of a Rank 7 Demigod, the perfect combination of swordsmanship and Lightning-Water magic. Henry stood there, once again in his life witnessing the power of a demigod.

He had seen Demigod Alfie's power, which was as brilliant and holy as the sun. But Mythris's power was different. It was fierce, precise, and destructive like a storm. It was not flashy, only absolute destruction. He looked at Mythris, and for a moment, he no longer saw a savior, but a force of nature, a storm with a terrible destructive power.

Mythris slowly landed on the ground, the blue light around him fading, but his Demigod aura was still there, majestic and overwhelming, making the air around them freeze. He looked at Henry and his two remaining comrades, and a complex emotion crossed his eyes.

The battle may have ended, but the questions, the secrets, and the new challenges were just beginning to be revealed to them.

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