Chapter 72: Her Favor

“Is Solaris… also preparing to act?”

As they watched the platinum-blonde figure step out of the hall, the higher-ups of the Holy Sanctuary murmured amongst themselves.

They all knew the girl’s name, and they knew that her current strength had reached a terrifying level.

Solaris Liat.

Her father was the head of the Liat family, one of the eight great families of the Holy Sanctuary. Her mother hailed from a God-descendant family.

It could be said that Solaris not only possessed an extremely powerful talent for holy power, but the ancient God-blood also flowed through her veins.

Watching Solaris’s retreating figure, the high-ranking officials of the Sanctuary actually felt a sense of relief.

It seemed the situation was under control now.

Solaris walked out of the hall.

At that moment, there were still Ranked Heroes stepping toward Lu Mo, preparing to engage her in battle.

“That’s… quite enough — “

Looking at the figures of the heroes before her, Solaris spoke in a calm, indifferent tone.

An invisible pressure of her realm rippled outward.

“!?”

Feeling the weight of the realm pressure coming from Solaris, the Ranked Hero’s body suddenly froze.

“Lady… Lady Solaris!”

He turned around. After seeing the girl with platinum-blonde hair, the fighting spirit in his eyes was instantly replaced by terror.

“Step down,” Solaris said flatly.

Hearing Solaris’s words, the hero didn’t care about anything else. He immediately bowed and scrambled to the side as if fleeing for his life.

“Is she… Lady Solaris?”

“The unrivaled number one among the Ranked Heroes.”

Below the stage, people began to whisper.

Sensing the spreading pressure, they all found it somewhat difficult to breathe.

Solaris’s eyes swept across the area, looking at the heroes and Holy Dragon Knights who had fallen on the ground.

“What a boring farce…” she began.

“Just because a mortal might become Cecilia’s knight, you lost control of your emotions and walked out of the hall to fight her?”

“And even then, you failed to defeat a mortal. You people… are truly a disgrace to the Sanctuary — “

Solaris looked at Lu Mo once more.

In those golden eyes, there was no anger and no mockery. There was only a high-and-mighty indifference, like a god looking down upon a mortal.

One was a mortal girl with zero talent for holy power, dressed in ordinary clothes. The other was a celestial being, regarded as the strongest hero.

Their eyes met.

The atmosphere was so heavy that the crowd below felt as if they were suffocating.

“Is Lady Solaris… going to move?”

“Drop your sword, Lady Solaris! Hand down punishment to this person!”

The whispers in the crowd continued. Lu Mo had already tightened her grip on the sword in her hand.

However, Solaris remained unmoved.

She simply watched as the plaza grew quiet again. Seeing that there would be no more fighting, she prepared to turn back toward the hall.

“I will not fight you.”

She gave Lu Mo one last look, her tone carrying a certain absolute indifference. “Because it is all meaningless.”

‘Fighting a mortal would only prove that I am slightly stronger than a mortal. It proves nothing else.’

‘Whether it is holy power talent or realm, you do not yet have the qualifications to make me draw my sword.’

‘I am the celestial one. I… am closer to God than you.’

It was an act of extreme contempt. Yet, no one present dared to laugh.

They knew that Solaris absolutely had the right to say such things.

At this moment, no one thought Solaris was refusing to fight out of fear. Instead, it felt as though Lu Mo, standing there with her sword, had become the pathetic clown.

If it were anyone else, they might have exploded with all their power and charged recklessly at Solaris to prove themselves.

But Lu Mo was not angry.

She simply gave a light laugh. “In that case — “

She did not argue, nor did she raise her sword again.

Instead, just before Solaris turned to leave, Lu Mo took a step forward.

Ignoring Solaris’s pressure, she brushed past her and walked step-by-step into the hall.

The talent judgment had stalled because the heroes had left their posts to fight her, so no one was currently standing before the massive testing crystal.

Lu Mo stepped onto the dais and approached the crystal as if no one else were there.

No one blocked her, and no one scolded her.

“Wait, you’re from the knight queue! You don’t have the right to test right — ” The registrar realized what was happening and tried to stop her.

But by then, Lu Mo had already pressed her hand against the crystal. Then… her realm power erupted!

One second.

Two seconds.

The crystal did not emit any pale gold light. This meant that Lu Mo still had absolutely no talent for holy power.

‘As expected, she’s the same as before.’

‘A defective product with no holy power.’

Some people wanted to mock her.

*Sshhh — *

But in the next instant —

An extremely intense and brilliant light suddenly burst from within the crystal!

This light represented Lu Mo’s current realm. Many people felt a stinging pain from the brightness and shielded their eyes.

Looking at the crystal, Solaris showed a look of astonishment for the first time.

“That… that’s — “

The higher-ups of the Sanctuary were also staring intently at the erupting crystal. They knew exactly what this light represented.

Transcendence!

High-tier… Transcendence!

This light was actually a fraction stronger than Solaris’s!

***

A short while later, the light of the crystal faded.

As everyone slowly opened their eyes, they saw Lu Mo’s test results displayed on the light screen.

[Test Result]
Holy Power Talent: 0
Realm: High-tier Transcendence

“High-tier… Transcendence?”

Among everyone present besides Lu Mo, there was only one other High-tier Transcendence.

That person was Solaris.

And now, Lu Mo, with the talent of a mortal, had forcefully stepped into the same realm as Solaris!

Everyone saw Lu Mo’s realm. At that moment, both inside and outside the hall, including the Sanctuary officials, there was a deathly silence.

In that silence, Lu Mo slowly withdrew her hand and turned to look at Solaris.

She looked directly into those eyes, which were slightly shocked but still indifferent.

“Is this enough?” she asked, stepping down from the dais and walking out of the hall.

At that moment, the forces of wind, Battle Qi, and space began to flow around her, gathering toward the sword in her hand.

The three seemed to be merging and sublimating, forming a power… that even made Solaris’s heart race!

“Now, is it enough?” Lu Mo raised her sword and asked again.

“…” Solaris did not answer her directly.

However, her eyes had completely turned cold. She was finally ready to act. Her holy power rippled out, causing cracks to appear in the space around her.

The momentum generated by the two of them was actually damaging the very ground of the Sanctuary.

“Stop!”

Just as the two forces were about to collide, an old and majestic voice echoed over the plaza.

Several high-ranking officials could no longer sit still. They flew down from the high platform and landed between the two girls.

They realized that if they didn’t intervene, the situation on the plaza would spiral completely out of control.

‘Was Lu Mo trying to fuse three types of attribute power to form a threefold Fusion Sublimation Power just now?’

‘Is she mad? To actually attempt such a thing!’

And what Solaris had been about to use was also a family secret technique. If they were allowed to run wild, everyone on the plaza would be in mortal danger.

“Enough… withdraw your power immediately!”

“Lu Mo, even if people challenged you repeatedly, why couldn’t you be more mature and refuse them?”

“And Solaris, as the Chief Sequence, you failed to maintain the order of the testing, and now you want to use a secret technique? Have you not considered the consequences of this?”

The Sanctuary officials scolded the two of them.

They didn’t dare speak too harshly to Lu Mo. After all, this situation was partly their fault; they had spread the news and permitted the battles to occur. To be too harsh would be a blatant attempt to cover up their own involvement.

By intervening now, they were effectively punishing both sides equally to display their “fairness.”

“Do the two of you… acknowledge your mistake?” the old man asked, glancing at them.

Neither Lu Mo nor Solaris spoke. It was unclear if they were admitting fault or not.

Forget it. It was better to end this quickly.

The old man thought to himself. He left with a final “let this not happen again” to suppress the matter, then turned and walked away with a cold expression.

*Tap, tap, tap — *

At that moment, the figure of a girl came running over in a hurry. When the crowd saw who it was, they were stunned.

Cecilia?

They didn’t know Cecilia’s current mood. But in their subconscious, Lu Mo was the knight and Cecilia was the master. Therefore, Cecilia had likely found out what Lu Mo had done and was coming to punish her.

How could the noble Saintess tolerate a knight turning the Sanctuary upside down?

Solaris saw this and even let a cold smile touch the corner of her lips.

‘A knight… what does that amount to?’

She was the most noble hero. In the future, Cecilia, as the Saintess, would follow her until Cecilia offered up everything she had.

“Miss… Miss Lu Mo!”

But when Cecilia spoke, the Sanctuary officials and Solaris were all stunned.

There was not a hint of anger in that cry. Instead, it was filled with undisguised panic and concern.

They saw Cecilia’s appearance. At this moment, where was the poise of a Saintess?

She no longer cared about her expression or posture. Her dress was disheveled, her usual elegance was gone, and her delicate face was flushed with worry.

In the next second, she was in front of Lu Mo, carefully examining Lu Mo’s body.

“Miss Lu Mo… are you okay? Did you sustain any hidden injuries? Did they yell at you?”

She didn’t care at all that Solaris was standing right there or that the Sanctuary officials hadn’t fully left yet.

Thinking her visual check wasn’t enough, she eventually grabbed Lu Mo’s hands, checking the girl’s fair skin for any signs of injury.

“I… I’m actually fine…” Lu Mo started, wanting to say she was okay.

But in the next second, she was interrupted by Cecilia. “No, some injuries can’t be found just by feeling.”

‘I have to check properly since she went through so many battles…’

“Stop talking and let me see!”

Lu Mo felt that Cecilia was being both serious and a bit silly.

In this moment, it seemed that Cecilia truly felt nothing else mattered. In her entire world, only Lu Mo remained.

Solaris and the Sanctuary officials watched this scene blankly.

Between the two of them, there didn’t seem to be a hierarchical relationship between a Saintess and a knight.

From Cecilia, they saw… a blatant favor.

Solaris was clearly the number one Ranked Hero and Cecilia’s best partner. Yet, Cecilia didn’t even give Solaris a single glance.

Watching this scene, Solaris felt a very faint, inexplicable sense of jealousy rise in her heart.

Towards a knight.

Towards… a mortal.