Not long ago, at the Empyrean Star Guard Headquarters in Arcadia.
Ron from the Intelligence Department was showing something to the Legion Commanders present.
“Look at this.”
A monster flickered on the screen like swaying smoke.
The creature, wreaking havoc with a massive spear, looked like a tall human clad in armor. However, it was surrounded by a dense swarm of mutants—bizarre beings with giant mandibles or venomous stingers—making one wonder how they had become so terrifying.
“This one that appeared recently... is undoubtedly a new Legion Commander.”
Ron pointed gloomily at Yuno on the screen.
Having experienced multiple battles, they had gained a certain understanding of the Great Devourer’s hierarchy.
Even the Goddess Hestia was the first deity to fight the Great Devourers in the competition zone of Terra, and she was also the first to suffer defeat.
Naturally, they were well aware of the special individuals possessing self-awareness that stood between the Queen-tier and the common mutants.
“As you know, these monsters use some method or reason to corrupt and brainwash original vassals, turning them into their confidants.”
They knew what kind of existences the Legion Commanders were.
They were even aware that these individuals were not born from within the colony but were talents recruited from the outside.
After all, the first Legion Commander, Celia—regarded as the Saintess of the colony—had originally come from the Holy Kingdom ruled by the Goddess.
It was difficult for them to know the specific method of transformation, but one thing was certain: the Legion Commanders gained immense power. As loyal members of the colony, they commanded the Great Devourers to utterly destroy and kill all who stood against them.
“The Witch and the Gloom Nest Elf.”
The Director played images of Celia and Lisette in succession.
Celia was clad in a black exoskeleton, holding a mage’s staff, while Lisette drew two swords, slaughtering enemies in an instant.
“The Beast of Destruction and the Black Spear.”
Begrun was massive, wearing heavy, thick armor.
Yuno, just as she had when she was a Paladin, hid her delicate frame within a suit of colossal armor.
Yuno, in particular, was the first new Legion Commander to appear after the Great Devourers left Terra. To them, she felt somewhat familiar.
No, if what Yuno wore on her shoulders wasn't just decoration, they would have to recognize her.
She had no intention of hiding it at all.
“...I will go to Tatooine personally. That was a seed I sowed long ago, and it is time for me to reap it.”
One of the commanders, who had been silent until then, spoke up.
Decades ago, it was Meliodas who had first brought Yuno—a girl like an untamed beast—into the Paladin Order.
‘Is it brainwashing? Or forced physical modification?’
Even as Meliodas traveled through the Stargate to Tatooine, he could not shake that thought.
He recalled the Yuno in his memories.
When he first met her, she was just a young girl filled with innate competitiveness, a rebellious spirit, anger, and hatred.
When he left headquarters to carry out a mission not long ago, Yuno hadn't actually changed much.
She had risen to the rank of Vice Commander through her own strength, but she still enjoyed battle and slaughter.
Even so, after decades of correction—including physical methods like beating her unconscious with superior, overwhelming force, as well as Meliodas’s earnest teachings—she had finally matured somewhat. At the very least, she knew what should and shouldn't be said.
She could even pretend to pray to the Goddess and mimic acting according to established norms.
However, Meliodas had known long ago that Yuno’s true nature deep inside was only suppressed, not truly reformed.
“That girl was harder to tame than a wild horse. How on earth did they do it?”
Meliodas sighed as he looked up at the blue sky of Tatooine, which was currently suffering a large-scale invasion.
He gripped the emblem of the Goddess of Light Association around his neck and prayed to the Goddess, asking Her to help Yuno.
Of course, given Meliodas’s status, he knew the Goddess would not respond to his prayers so easily.
“Commander, preparations for the sortie are complete.”
“Has the location of Yu... no, the Black Spear, been confirmed?”
“Yes, she is in a nearby region called City S.”
His fully armed subordinates reported that they were ready and provided Yuno’s currently observed location.
Although the Empyrean Star Guard was a gathering of the strong, the firepower they could output and the number of enemies they could kill were still limited.
A large-scale war ultimately needed to be carried out by the ‘army’ acting as the main force.
War was eventually a clash between armies, and victory or defeat depended on which side’s main force collapsed first.
Thus, they were deployed to capture those enemy powerhouses who used high firepower and high mobility to ravage the army at will.
“Move out.”
Meliodas, wearing a helmet that covered his entire face, instantly flew into the sky along with the energy erupting from his holy core.
In the direction they flew, a dense swarm of monsters could be seen attacking the city.
The sky and the earth were already occupied by those creatures.
“Get out of my way!”
Meliodas swung his sword impatiently, slicing a tiger hornet ant that lunged at him in half, as if these obstructive monsters were merely an annoyance.
The power erupting from his sword did not stop at just cutting the tiger hornet ant in front of him.
The aftershock, spreading in the form of a wave, turned into another blade of energy that rent the entire space apart.
This was the Realm he had mastered. The Empyrean Star Guard was an elite group even within a high-tier sacred civilization.
As a Commander there, it was only natural for him to be called the strongest in any ordinary world.
Whether they were common mutants or Tyrants, hundreds of corpses were sliced apart regardless of their rank, falling one after another. The aerial defense barrier constructed by the flying species was also torn wide open.
As a result, these twenty or so people landed directly in the center of tens of thousands of Great Devourers.
“There’s no need to charge in since we can't catch them anyway.”
Yuno did not intend to throw hopeless troops into a death trap to hunt enemies who held the advantage in both martial power and mobility.
Instead, she personally took up her spear and led the standby Lictors to meet them.
And the Lictors had been learning and honing their martial arts and techniques since the beginning specifically for moments like this.
‘Yuno...’
In the center of the ruined city, the unit led by Yuno met the Empyrean Star Guard brought by Meliodas.
Both individuals behind their helmets already knew each other’s identity, but neither spoke a word.
‘Is there a need?’
Yuno grinned and was the first to raise her spear.
Since the other party knew her well, she figured he would understand.
Indeed, Meliodas also raised his sword, standing steadfast.
“I see. I didn't have high hopes to begin with. To have a proper conversation with you, it always has to be like this.”
The moment the battle officially began, Meliodas no longer hid his true power.
Deafening, powerful shockwaves that could make one stumble in an instant erupted everywhere.
Meliodas, facing Yuno alone, intended to subdue her first.
Even if he had to cut off her limbs, it wouldn't matter as long as they could be reattached later.
Only by first defeating and subduing Yuno would she be willing to say anything.
‘I need to win on my own as much as possible. How do I stop my subordinates from interfering?’
To that end, Meliodas began to ponder how to skillfully prevent his subordinates from stepping in.
His subordinates would surely want to subdue all the Lictors first and then intervene in his fight, but that would only make Yuno’s stubbornness even stronger.
“Your mind... doesn't seem to be on the battlefield.”
However, at that moment, Yuno knocked his sword aside and spoke in a distorted, raspy voice from behind her helmet.
Meliodas’s body shuddered upon hearing those words.
Yuno had naturally seen through his inner thought that his subordinates would subdue the Lictors.
Of course, Meliodas’s thought was not based on baseless arrogance.
Combat data was certainly not something only the Great Devourers could accumulate.
The Goddess of Light Association had also been rapidly adapting and analyzing as the battle with the Great Devourers continued and prolonged.
And the analysis showed that even the Paladins specially selected for the Empyrean Star Guard could handle Lictors without much effort.
“That is not enough.”
However, as if she had known all along, Yuno laughed as she forcefully pushed back Meliodas’s sword.
“Aaaaaah!”
Just then, a familiar scream came from the communication orb.
“Roland?!”
Meliodas turned his head in panic.
A Lictor had discarded its broken scythe-like leg during the fight, pulled out a short spear, and instantly pierced through the Holy Light Winged Armor and the Paladin’s body.
‘How can this be?’
The battle was not as easy as Meliodas had expected.
The Lictors were executing the techniques they had absorbed and learned with even more precision and speed;
Meanwhile, the knights of the Empyrean Star Guard had to give their all, engaged in one perilous struggle after another.
...
“I am well aware of the strength of the Empyrean Star Guard. Did you think I wouldn't make a proposal to the Queen?”
The Lictors Yuno had brought were even more special individuals.
The differences in their outward appearance were very subtle.
There were only minor differences in the shape of their exposed exoskeletons and some body structures.
But the differences within them were significant.
Elise had accepted the proposal for ‘mass-produced’ units that could rival high-level experts like the members of the Empyrean Star Guard.
Even if the resource consumption was high, creating individuals with the strength of an Empyrean Star Guard member was shocking.
To achieve this, Elise had even built a dedicated nest specifically to produce these more evolved Lictor individuals.
Magic hearts, holy core processing, astral formulas, Spirit-Tech, reinforcement stones, and so on.
They had completely transformed the enemy technologies they had absorbed and learned into their own, creating power units with stronger output and faster, more efficient bodies.
The already reinforced exoskeletons were covered with layers of thin cell membranes, with a modified reinforcement formula engraved onto every single layer.
The magic heart was encased in a modified holy core, which in turn had an amplification formula applied to it.
Small reinforcement stones embedded in the joints created a body capable of maximizing that explosive power.
Naturally, this also required a massive amount of resources.
To prepare the high-concentration nutrient solution, it required an amount of nourishment and energy sufficient to produce hundreds of common mutants.
This would have been impossible without tuning the planetary energy through Gaia, or without extracting additional energy by absorbing the development of the etheric civilization.
“So put away your composure. If you continue to treat them like the children you picked up, everyone here will die. Use your full strength, Meliodas, Commander of the Southern Cross Knight Order of the Empyrean Star Guard.”
Yuno issued a warning to the lip-biting Meliodas.
The warning was laced with killing intent, implying that if Meliodas did not use his full strength to suppress her, she would kill him.
“What on earth is going on? Is the current you still you? Have you not been manipulated and corrupted by some unknown demons?”
Meliodas sighed as he looked at Yuno.
Yuno was an outlier whom even Meliodas himself, and even the Goddess, could not accommodate.
Therefore, he was truly curious.
What method had the Great Devourers used to dye Yuno so completely like this?
“Because they can do what even the Goddess cannot. That person is actually achieving what even the Goddess cannot.”
Yuno did not intentionally avoid answering.
From her firm reply, Meliodas seemed to sense something, and his eyes widened.
It was an unwavering trust—a faith.
However, the truly shocking words followed immediately after.
“How long can it hold? That mutual trust, and that faith.”
Yuno, who could see more through the Hive Mind, knew that while she was wreaking havoc on Tatooine, more than half of the seventeen territories she had targeted had already fallen.
Rate on N.U.
