57. 2-37 The One Who Walks the Path of Power – Edwin’s Confusion

A full-scale battle was raging.

Blades clashed, and blood soaked the ground.The kingdom's cavalry reformed their lines, pressing the rebels with brutal precision, while wizards rained down fire and ice from the skies.

Then—

Edwin swung his sword, cutting down another foe, but he could feel it—the tide was turning against them.The royal army moved like a single organism, and the wizards' spells only accelerated their relentless advance.

"If this keeps up…"

Just as he gritted his teeth and moved to regroup his forces—

A massive wave of sword energy swept down from the sky.

With a gust of wind, the elite cavalry of the kingdom crumbled in an instant.

Edwin's eyes narrowed.

That sword aura… that movement… No—it couldn't be.

He turned around instinctively, and there stood a lone swordsman.

"…Damian?"

For a moment, Edwin's eyes trembled.

The man who had once defeated him.The man who had scarred him with the memory of loss.That very man now stood not with the kingdom, but beside him.

"Damian, why… Why are you helping me?"

His voice shook with disbelief.Damian—betraying the kingdom?Choosing to fight alongside the rebellion?

It made no sense.

Damian slowly lowered his sword, his expression unchanged.

"The strong follow the path of the strong."

That single sentence—

It hit Edwin like a thunderclap.

His entire world faltered.

He was supposed to be strong.A hero.A man undefeated.

And yet—

The one who had once crushed him had now chosen to stand at his side.Not for the crown.Not for politics.

But because he acknowledged him.

"…."

Edwin was left speechless.

The chaos of the battlefield faded from his ears.The world around him seemed frozen in time.

He thought back—

To when he first met Damian.To when he lost to him in battle.To when the kingdom discarded him like a broken blade.

Not once had he questioned his path.

Not once had he wondered if he'd taken the wrong road.

But now, for the first time—

His conviction wavered.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Damian stepped forward.

And with calm certainty, he said:

"I follow the Law of the Strong. That's all."

And in those words, Edwin heard something deeper.

"You are strong. That's why I stand with you."

He looked down at his own hands.

Am I still walking the path of strength?

Could the road to kingship truly be the path of the strong?

A hundred thoughts flashed through his mind—

But this was not the time for answers.

Damian raised his sword once more.

"The battle's not over."

And with that, he and Edwin turned to face the royal army together.

The battlefield had changed.

It was no longer a war of rebellion.

It was now the stage for the strong—To fight, side by side.

***

Chapter : The Battlefield Where Gods Descended – The Paladin's Divide

1. A Divine Intervention That Turns the Tide

The battlefield was chaos incarnate.Edwin's rebel army continued its string of victories, claiming royal strongholds one after another.The royal forces were on the defensive, and the Wizard Guild, caught in the whirlwind, hesitated to choose a side.But the kingdom—It would not fall so easily.They played their final card: the Messenger of the Divine.

From the royal sanctuary, the High Priest rang the sacred bell and cried out to the heavens.

"O hallowed presence, establish justice upon this land!"

In that instant, the skies split open.

A blinding light consumed the battlefield.Stone and stained glass crashed like a blizzard from above as the domed ceiling cracked open.From the heavens, through the shattered skylight, a figure cloaked in divine power plummeted vertically into the fray.

The Messenger of the Divine.A transcendent being clad in holy radiance had entered the war.

The soldiers held their breath.

"This isn't war… it's revelation."

Damian instinctively raised his sword.

2. The Messenger and the Choice of Las Vark

From the rebel frontlines, the holy knight Las Vark observed the battlefield.Once a member of the kingdom's elite knights, he had long since questioned the justice of the crown.He had already severed ties with the kingdom—And other knights who shared his beliefs had followed him.But the kingdom did not forgive betrayal.

Now, the divine messenger approached him.

"Traitor," the being's voice echoed,"You have strayed from the path of the divine."

Las Vark raised his shield.He was being tested.

"I have not betrayed the gods," he said,"It is the kingdom that has twisted their will."

The messenger was unmoved.

"The divine does not hear excuses."

He raised a golden spear and drew down the rays of light streaming through the shattered ceiling, wrapping himself in them like armor.Judgment was coming.

3. Messenger vs. Las Vark – The Shattering of the Order

Holy knight versus holy knight.The battlefield became a war of the heavens.

The Messenger wielded overwhelming divine force, power beyond human reach.Las Vark fought back with everything he had—But in the end, he knelt.His shield shattered.His sword broken.

"He clenched the gilded shards, his lips drained of color, and whispered, 'O God, have You forsaken me…?'"

Yet the final blow never came.

"You are no longer a holy knight," the Messenger declared quietly.

And with that, the kingdom officially excommunicated Las Vark from the order.But—

He could still wield holy power.He had not lost his blessing.

There could be only one conclusion:He had not been forsaken by the divine.

This sparked the greatest schism the order had ever known.Knights loyal to the kingdom.Knights branded as traitors.And knights unsure, questioning the true will of the divine.

The Holy Order had begun to fracture.

4. Messenger vs. Damian – Can a Human Surpass the Divine?

As Las Vark fell,Damian unsheathed his sword.He had been watching the rhythm of the battle.

"So, you're the divine messenger."

The being turned to him.

"…An intriguing presence.""Are you human?"

Damian chuckled.

"You tell me."

The Messenger swung his spear.

The battlefield split open.Divine energy rained from the sky,Golden light and lightning sweeping across the earth.

But Damian did not retreat.He raised his sword.

"The Law of the Strong."

He murmured.

"Only the strong survive."

Then, he clashed with the divine.

A mortal, defying a god's might.

But Damian—He believed.

"I can win."

With that, he struck forward.

5. Turning Point – A Sign of Victory

For the first time,The Messenger recoiled.Damian's blade had pierced his body.

"…Your sword," the being whispered,"is no mere sword."

"You are human—And yet, not."

The Messenger did not continue the battle.He withdrew his spear and looked to the heavens.

"This is the end."

Then, he quietly left the battlefield.

The royal knights were shaken.The Messenger had retreated.Which meant—Even the gods no longer viewed this as a mere civil war.They saw something deeper.

6. Toward the Final Battle – Edwin's Advance

The moment the divine left,The tide of war shifted decisively.

Edwin's forces surged forward, morale soaring.

"Advance!"

With that, the army charged.

Only one battle remained.The final showdown—That would decide the fate of the kingdom.

***

Episode : The Battlefield Cast in the Shadow of the Divine

1. The Beginning of Rumors – An Impossible VictorySoldiers who had fled the battlefield began to whisper unbelievable tales.That day, where the Kingdom clashed with the rebel army—the divine envoy was defeated.

The news spread like wildfire."What?"A nobleman shot up from his seat."You're saying the envoy of the gods… lost?"

His face was frozen in shock.The Kingdom's final card.The absolute being who wielded divine will—had fallen to a mere human.

Impossible.Unthinkable.

But the ones who spoke were eyewitnesses.They had seen it.The divine spear shatter.The envoy retreat.And the name of the one who stood victorious—

Damian.

His name was quickly becoming a symbol of both awe and dread.

2. A Truth Too Much to Believe – The People's Reactions

🗣 "Is it true? A man defeated the envoy of the gods?"

🗣 "That's insane! The envoy is a being sent by the gods themselves!"

🗣 "But… many say they saw it with their own eyes."

🗣 "Then who is this man, Damian… what is he?"

The rumors began to morph and twist, growing ever more outrageous.Some claimed:"He must have been a divine envoy himself!""Perhaps it was a battle between gods."

Others murmured:"If he wasn't an envoy… then he bested one?""Does that make him a god?"

And some whispered words that should not be spoken—"If a man can defeat a god…then must we still bow to the divine?"

3. Within the Order of Holy Knights – Those Who Know the TruthThe Holy Knights of the White Citadel heard the news—and fell into chaos.

This was not merely war.It was a tremor shaking the very order of sanctity itself.

The knights who had stood with Las Bark,now stripped of their titles and names,still retained their divine power.

What did it mean?Had the gods rejected the Kingdom's judgment?Or were the gods themselves… confused?

At the moment the envoy fell,those knights understood:the gods' authority was no longer absolute.

4. Divine Judgment or a New Path?The rumors reached the capital at last.The King and his nobles summoned the High Priest.

"What does this mean?" they asked.

Even the High Priest had no answer.He merely said,

"We must not speak rashly.This is an act in which the will of the gods has intervened."

But the nobles grew only more uneasy at his silence.If the gods would not strike Damian down—Was he truly one who had stepped into the domain of divinity?Was the Kingdom's belief in "divine judgment" now… unstable?

The envoy's defeatmeant the very foundation of order could collapse.

5. The Changing Winds – Kingdom and Rebellion AlikeBoth sides no longer viewed this war as a mere battle for power.

The Kingdom sought to preserve divine authority.They tightened their grip on the temples and the Holy Knights.They tried to suppress the truth.

But the rebel army—used the rumor as fuel.Edwin and his followers were no longer "rebels,"but figures of conviction poised to dismantle a crumbling regime.

Even the sorcerers were watching closely.They, who had long been oppressed by the divine order,felt the ground beneath them shifting.

"The envoy of the gods was defeated."That single phrase had upended the balance of the world.

6. Damian and His ChoiceDamian and his party had long since left the battlefield.But even from afar, they could feel how fast the rumor spread.

He looked at Lean."You saw it. I struck down the envoy."

Lean replied quietly,"But now… people are starting to call you a god."

Damian gave a faint smile, lifting his sword."I'm no god."

Ian, arms crossed, added:"But you are the man who defeated one."

Damian fell silent.He had never claimed divinity.He had simply followed his own path—one carved by strength alone.

But now, his very existencewas beginning to transcend that path.

And he realized—a choice was coming.

He had no intention of picking sides.But there would come a momentwhen to stand idle would be the same as taking a stance.

From the distance, a drumbeat echoed.

The final battle was about to begin.