Youngest on Top - Chapter 277

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 277

* * *

Crack!
Each time Saelika swung the club—no, the Sacred Maiden’s scepter—the Demons tumbled across the ground like autumn leaves.
No matter how many times they tried to block, it was futile.

Snap!
Finally, Alice Celestia was aimed at Amelia.

Amelia glared at Saelika with fierce eyes.
A solemn tension hung in the air as Amelia opened her mouth.

“You little—Ugh!”

Whack!
Before she could finish speaking, Alice Celestia struck Amelia across the head.

“What are you—Argh!”

Smack!

“You—Oof!”

Whack!

By this point, even Amelia had no choice but to learn the lesson.
Opening her mouth meant getting hit.

These were attacks she could neither evade nor block.
With each blow, her skull rang and her bones ached.
The strikes came from someone who knew exactly which spots hurt the most.
Like someone who’d spent centuries as a thug!

“Why are those Parmanase people all so alike? Those angel bastards couldn’t read the situation either, just ran their mouths and challenged me.”
“….”
“That’s why I always had to personally show them that my fist was closer than distant Parmanase.”
“….”

Amelia had a mountain of things she wanted to say, but she couldn’t bring herself to open her mouth.

“Come on, get up, get up. Don’t be such a baby about it.”

The way she stood on one leg and spoke so casually showed this wasn’t her first time doing this.

‘That’s supposed to be a Sacred Maiden?’

Amelia’s eyes wavered.

‘She was chosen by the divine? This street thug?!’

Saelika chuckled and sat down in front of Amelia.

“What, did you think I’d listen to everything you had to say?”
“….”
“Then you should never have dared speak Artemia’s name.”

Her blue eyes had completely transformed, gleaming with intensity.
The terror that Parmanase’s angels had once felt.
In this moment, Amelia felt that same terror.

But Saelika was no longer the Saelika of before.
Unlike her days as an angel, after enduring such long hardship(?) in the mortal realm, she had grown quite perceptive.

“Sacred Maiden of the Demon God Parmanase, Amelia.”

Saelika rose and looked down at Amelia with dignified bearing.

“The crime of brazenly inciting innocent people and throwing this land into chaos, the crime of deceiving people and ruining their lives while posing as a savior, the crime of colluding with demons and bringing death, the crime of disregarding human lives and using them as mere means!”

Behind Saelika, who had taken flight into the sky, a pair of pure white wings spread wide open.
A radiant halo shining above her head like a symbol of justice.
Even the halo shining above her head like a symbol of justice.

“As Artemia’s Messenger, as the Sacred Maiden, and as the Grand Sacred Maiden representing all the Sacred Maidens of the gods, I shall punish the sinner here.”

She was truly a divine messenger descended from the heavens to punish the guilty!

Alice Celestia, responding to Saelika’s will, spread her wings wide.
The azure divine stone, the same color as Saelika’s eyes, shone brilliantly.
And then.

KWAAAAAAANG!
The heavens and earth trembled with a tremendous explosion.

Even those watching from afar atop the altar closed their eyes against the impact and bowed their heads.
Only after the shockwave that shook the ground subsided did they slowly begin to lift their heads, one by one.
But then.

“My… my goodness…”
“How is this possible…”

A sight entirely contrary to their expectations unfolded before them.

“She’s perfectly fine…?”

Upon the half-destroyed altar.
Amelia stood unsteadily.
Around her, a blood-red aura undulated softly.

Her body trembled involuntarily.
It was an oppressive power so overwhelming that merely gazing upon it felt as though one’s soul was being pierced.
The Priests of the Temple murmured in agony.

“To think she still possessed such power…”
“No, this is even stronger than the power she displayed before.”
“How did she conceal such tremendous strength…”

A suffocating tension took root.

“Huff, huff-huff, huff-huff-huff…”

Amelia let out a chuckle.
The people’s reactions delighted her.
These arrogant fools who thought themselves so superior.
Now they cowered in fear before her true power!

‘But.’

Amelia’s gaze turned toward Saelika.
Saelika remained unmoved like the others.
She simply gazed down at Amelia with a calm, settled expression.

‘I don’t like that.’

Still wearing that look!

“You don’t seem to understand the situation? Even after witnessing my power—.”
“How many people did you kill exactly?”
“What…?”

Saelika instantly recognized the source of Amelia’s power.
She had no choice but to.
It was what had happened to her before the regression!

“Did you tell them that dying for your ambition was glorious?”
“…!”
“Or did you tell the dying that their sacrifice wouldn’t be in vain as you saved the world?”

What Amelia had done to Saelika at Parmanasus Temple before the regression.
That cruel and horrific act—she had now inflicted it upon countless people!

Amelia, who had been flustered by Saelika’s words, suddenly burst into laughter.

“Yeah, I did. I don’t know how you found out, but so what?”
“…”
“It’s not even wrong, is it? Worthless vermin who can do nothing alone finally found some use, however small. All thanks to a special being like me!”
“…”
“Now, behold my power! This magnificent—.”

Amelia’s words never reached their conclusion.
The sacred power radiating from Saelika simply erased her strength entirely.

“…?!”

How…?
Before I could even voice that thought, Saelika’s eyes appeared through the dissipating aura.
She had closed the distance in an instant.

“You should speak the truth immediately. That’s not even your power.”

Her blue eyes gleamed with chilling coldness.

* * *

The crowd stood with their mouths agape.
This was not a contest.
Each time Saelika rushed forward (or more precisely, each time she threw a punch—though the spectators seemed to be viewing it through a halo filter), the ominous aura was torn asunder and reduced to ash.

The power Amelia had just summoned was far from weak.
In fact, it was strong enough to break one’s will to fight.
Yet this was the result.
Once the shock faded, only admiration remained.

“No matter how many dirty tricks she employs, there’s no way she could stand against the Messenger of God!”
“To think I’d witness the descent of an angel with my own eyes!!”
“No, this isn’t a descent. I’ve known from the start! Saelika is the reincarnation and manifestation of an angel!!”
“Artemisia sent down her most beloved angel to save this land!!”

The crowd erupted in excitement.

“Ohhh, truly the Angel of Blood!”
“Angel of Blood! Angel of Blood!”
“Angel of Blood, Saelika!!”

…Whether this was truly the invocation of an angel protecting the world
or the frenzied summoning of a demon during a demonic ritual was somewhat unclear.

In any case, the affectionate(?) nickname that Saelika’s brothers had spoken of long ago was now resonating across this land in this very moment.

“Cough…!”

Amelia coughed up blood and fell to her knees.
She tried to stagger back to her feet, but it was futile.

With a sharp sound, Saelika descended before the kneeling Amelia.

‘Why…?’

Amelia’s mind, tattered by pain and agony, wandered in a daze.
The sting of submitting to someone like Saelika burned far more than any physical torment.
Why did such things keep happening?

‘It’s Artemisia again.’

The thought suddenly surfaced.
She couldn’t even understand what “again” meant.
Yet the fury burning like wildfire was unstoppable.

‘I should have severed Artemisia’s lifeline long ago! I worked so hard for that…!’

It was no accident that the Artemisia Temple had been isolated in the eastern regions.
Supporting the Molloresta Temple wasn’t merely because wealth overflowed.
Expelling the Artemisia Temple from the system.
Distancing the powerful from Artemisia.

All of it was to sever the Artemisia Temple’s lifeline.
So that Artemisia could wield no power in this land!

‘Yet that wretched vermin ruined everything! All of it—!’

Amelia flinched.

‘…Did I… make such efforts?’

Everything she had just recalled had been carried out long ago.
Before Amelia was even born.
Since before a Sacred Maiden appeared in Artemisia—from two generations prior!

‘Ah.’

But the confusion quickly dissipated.
Why had it even been a question?

‘What I did was right.’

Amelia chuckled softly.
The fog that had clouded her mind began to clear, growing brighter with each passing moment.

“Saelika, Saelika…. Haha, it was you. It was you all along.”

At her sudden shift in demeanor, Saelika furrowed her brow and stared at Amelia.
Amelia spoke with evident delight.

“If I had recognized you sooner, I would have treated you far more specially. Then I wouldn’t have found myself in such a desperate position.”
“….”
“It seems I was the first to see through you after all?”

Saelika.
The cursed angel of Artemisia.
The one Artemisia cherished so dearly that she could not bear to keep at her side, left to suffer helplessly from afar—

‘—Artemisia’s everything!’

“I should have killed you back then in the Heavenly Realm…!”
“…?!”

At the words that spilled from Amelia’s lips, Saelika flinched.
In that instant.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaagh!”

A scream, sharp and piercing as if the very air would tear, echoed through the void.

* * *

Screams echoed from every direction.
The Sacred Maidens maintained their defensive barriers, protecting the people and restraining the monsters.
Then they suddenly collapsed, crying out in agony.

“Rubiera!”
“Natalia!”

The Temple Priests and Priests rushed in panic to check on their Sacred Maidens.
But even assessing their condition proved difficult.

“Cough, hack!”
“Ugh….”

Blood poured from the Sacred Maidens’ mouths in torrents.
Extreme agony caused their intraocular pressure to spike, bursting capillaries and causing tears of blood to stream down their faces.
Their fingernails shattered as they clawed at the ground.
Vivid crimson marks scarred the earth where they scratched.

‘Beatrix…!’

Saelika’s gaze fixed on one figure.
Amid the sudden chaos, Beatrix alone remained composed.
Rather, she was leisurely admiring her own masterpiece.

‘I thought she had vanished at some point, but was this her purpose all along?’

Saelika tore her gaze from Beatrix to examine the Sacred Maidens.
They were all the ones who had been subjugated by Amelia.

‘She must have planted something when she subjugated them.’

The moment Saelika attempted to launch herself into the air—

Clang!
Her path was blocked.

“Where do you think you’re going.”

Amelia stepped in front of Saelika and laughed.
It was a far cry from moments ago when she couldn’t even properly defend against Saelika’s single strike.

“…Amelia.”

Saelika murmured softly.

“Or should I call you Parmanase?”
“You finally noticed? Well, I just realized it myself.”

Amelia drew a breath, placing her hand gracefully over her chest.

“The Parmanase dwelling within me.”

Saelika gripped Alice Celestia tightly.
Her suspicion had been correct.

‘A divine being dwelling within Amelia’s body!’

Within Amelia’s soul slumbered a fragment of Parmanase.
The ritual at the altar was likely an attempt to connect the Parmanase in the celestial realm with the fragment dwelling within Amelia, awakening its power completely.

A blood-red aura surged around Amelia.

“You should stop. For your own sake.”
“A mere angel dares command a great deity? Or are you trying to intimidate me into submission?”
“A human body cannot bear the power of a god!”
“I have plenty of others who can bear it in my stead.”

Amelia tilted her head toward the Sacred Maidens writhing on the ground.

“You truly are consistent. Whether as Parmanase or as Amelia.”
“If you find it so tragic, why don’t you just die quickly?”

Amelia let out a soft laugh.

“Who knows? If my mood improves, I might show a bit of mercy.”
“….”
“You understand, don’t you? I’m quite a merciful savior. My heart aches too. But to save the world, some sacrifice is inevitable, isn’t it?”
“Save the world? Some sacrifice?”

Below the altar, hell itself was unfolding.

As the Sacred Maiden collapsed, the Temple Priests and Priests connected to her fell into turmoil.
The protective barrier that had shielded the people vanished, and the monsters ran rampant.

The sinister aura emanating from Amelia was driving the monsters into even greater ferocity.
And worse still—.

‘The Demons are rising again!’

Moreover, they were completely different from before.
The word “monster” was insufficient—no trace of human characteristics remained anywhere on them.

“Have you made peace with death?”

Seeing Saelika’s silence, Amelia laughed with a cruel edge.

“It doesn’t matter if you haven’t. You’ll die by my hand!”

Amelia cried out in exultation.

“To kill everything of Artemisia with these hands—even that wouldn’t be enough!”

Saelika still kept her head bowed.
Her resignation seemed pathetic.
Indeed, what could someone like Saelika possibly do in such circumstances?

‘If things continue like this—.’

That was when it happened.
A powerful sacred force rippled from below.

Uuuuuuuung—
The Divine Circuits of the Artemisia Priests and Temple Priests spun fiercely, forming a singular structure.
They drew from one another.
Stronger, more solid!

Perfect resonance.
And that power extended toward only one place.
Answering the call of their Sacred Maiden, toward Saelika!

And Saelika—

‘No, surely not…!’

Feeling the heavens opening, Amelia hastily reached out her hand.

Crash!
But she was blocked at once.
By the Five Angels standing in her way.

“Did you make our child cry?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————