The King Of Warriors novel (Jared Chance) novel Chapter 6231

The Celestial Palace Elder tightened at once.

Staring into Aurelius's eyes, he instinctively tried to say something else, still trying to argue for himself and for the Celestial Palace.

But the instant he opened his mouth, Aurelius lightly lifted his right hand and casually pointed a finger at him.

There was no world-shaking sign. No crushing pressure.

A thin strand of golden radiance, soft and not at all glaring, slowly shot from Aurelius's fingertip.

It wasn't fast.

If anything, it was slow. It looked completely harmless, like an ordinary wisp of holy radiance.

And yet that harmless-looking streak seemed to pass through space itself.

It ignored distance. It ignored every defense. It ignored the protective divine light around the Celestial Palace Elder and the treasures guarding his body.

In an instant, it struck dead center between his brows.

There was no explosion.

No scream. No spray of blood.

The Celestial Palace Elder's body locked up all at once.

His eyes flew wide, his pupils drawing tight.

The anger and heat were still frozen on his face, but the rest of him had gone completely still, as if someone had nailed him in place.

His mouth moved.

He looked like he was trying to say something, trying to force out even a sound, but not the faintest breath escaped him, and he couldn't make the smallest movement.

Then the next moment came.

Something strange happened.

Starting at the spot between his brows where the light had entered, his body began to break apart bit by bit into tiny golden motes.

It looked like a sand figure catching the wind, crumbling, melting, and scattering away a little at a time.

It spread from his head to his torso, then to his limbs.

It took only a few breaths.

An Elder of the Celestial Palace who had lived for thousands of years was erased like that, right in front of everyone.

He turned into a skyful of drifting light and vanished into the air without leaving a trace.

He didn't even have time to let out a scream.

Not a drop of blood was left behind.

Not a fragment of bone either.

It was utter soul-ruin.

Total annihilation.

Even his chance at rebirth had been wiped away.

Inside the great hall, not a sound remained.

The hall went dead silent.

Everyone was stunned.

Even the Elders of the Celestial Basilica gave a slight start.

Then they settled right back down, and when they looked at Godric and the others again, their eyes were colder than before, and openly contemptuous.

The people from the Celestial Palace looked like they had just watched a nightmare step into the open.

Their bodies shook hard. Their faces had gone paper-white. Their eyes were full of disbelief, and something raw enough that nobody needed it named.

They stared at the place where that Elder had vanished.

Their chests heaved, each heartbeat pounding so hard it seemed ready to leap straight up into their throats.

One move.

Just one casual point of a finger.

Not even a single extra motion.

And an Elder had been erased cleanly, completely, with not even a chance at rebirth left behind.

So this was the strength of Aurelius, the Lord of the Basilica?

So this was the terror of the true celestial bloodline?

Godric stood frozen where he was.

His mind had gone blank. Cold had spread through his whole body.

That Elder had been one of his most loyal and closest subordinates.

He had followed Godric for thousands of years, gone through life-and-death battles at his side, and fought across every corner without ever wavering once.

He had never held a second allegiance. He had never betrayed the Celestial Palace. He was one of the people Godric trusted most.

And now.

He had died right in front of him like that.

The Elder had died that easily.

That cleanly. That completely.

He hadn't even been given the slightest chance to fight back.

Inside Godric, the rage, the grief, and the hatred slammed upward all at once, hard enough to tear straight through him.

He was enduring it for them. He was enduring it to preserve the Celestial Palace's last flame seed.

He was enduring what no ordinary person could endure.

He endured a humiliation no ordinary man could have borne.

From the throne, Aurelius looked at Godric bent so low, swallowing it all down, carrying the weight of it in silence, and the faintest trace of satisfaction passed through his eyes.

He slowly drew back his hand.

That mild, harmless smile returned to his face, as if the one who had casually erased an Elder a moment ago had been someone else entirely.

"Lord Godric truly is a man who understands reason, who sees the bigger picture and knows what matters. In all my life, the people I admire most are capable men like you who know when to yield."

He paused, his tone easy and distant, like he was arranging something too small to even mention.

"Since that's the case, I'll accept this show of sincerity from your Celestial Palace and take all of you in."

"But the Celestial Basilica has strict rules. We don't keep idlers, and we don't keep trash. Since you've come to the Celestial Basilica, since you've come to Saintlight Peak, you'll have to do something for me and for the Celestial Basilica. You'll have to be of some use."

He looked at Godric, and a smile pulled at the corner of his mouth, loaded with meaning and naked mockery.

"How about this."

"Starting today, every surviving member of your Celestial Palace will be responsible for patrol duty and guards work at the mountain foot of Saintlight Peak."

"Lord Godric, what do you think?"

Patrol duty?

Guards?

The mountain foot?

Those few words crashed through the hearts of everyone from the Celestial Palace like thunder.

Work like this, a posting like this, was the kind of miserable duty only the Celestial Basilica's lowest menial disciples got stuck with.

The ones with no talent, no backing, no standing at all. The disciples at the very bottom.

It was hard. It was dangerous.

And it came with the kind of low status that made everyone look down on you.

They, on the other hand, had once stood high above the rest.

They had been Celestial Palace disciples, the elites who moved across the Fourteenth Firmament, figures others looked up to.

And now they were supposed to take on work this low?

This wasn't assigning them duties.

This was humiliation with nothing covered up.

It was taking what little dignity they had left and grinding it into the dirt, over and over.