Chapter 328: Trial
[Timeline: One Month Earlier – The Surface World]
[Location: The Grand Cathedral, Inner Sanctum]
The splintered adamantite doors slammed shut, sealing them inside the ancient chamber.
Outside, the muffled, thunderous impacts of the Pope’s *[Sanctuary of the Absolute Sun]* hammered against the thick walls, shaking the very foundations of the Cathedral. But inside the inner sanctum, the chaos was abruptly cut off.
The air was perfectly still, smelling of ancient dust and ozone.
Lukas collapsed against the barricaded doors, sliding down to the floor as his Magitech Gauntlets hissed, venting scalding steam. Beside him, Elena lay on her back, gasping for air, her pristine white uniform scorched and her mana core completely wrung dry from the sheer terror of bending a 7th-Order Domain.
"We’re in," Lukas wheezed, his metallic fingers twitching. "But those doors won’t hold an angry Pope forever. Do it, Alaric. Hurry."
Alaric didn’t answer.
He was staring straight ahead.
In the center of the dim, circular chamber, bathed in a solitary shaft of pale golden light, sat a simple, unadorned stone pedestal.
And driven deep into the stone was the Sword of Heroes.
It didn’t look like the extravagant, jewel-encrusted ceremonial weapons the Paladins wielded. It was a longsword of flawless, untarnished silver, elegant and terrifyingly simple. It radiated a pure, dense holy mana that felt entirely different from the Pope’s suffocating fanaticism. It felt ancient. It felt like the very concept of salvation.