As soon as the prayer left her lips, Tida’s stigmata grew to cover half of her body. The lion groaned and was about to lunge at her neck with its fangs, but it abruptly backed off. Its survival instincts had kicked in the moment it had felt the strange power that emanated from Tida.
Tida’s stigmata allowed her to temporarily borrow God’s might. Some of the divine power turned into mana before gathering behind Tida’s back and taking the form of four white wings. Another portion of the power twirled over Tida’s head and turned into a sparkling halo of light. The halo enhanced Tida’s physical abilities while continuously healing any wounds. Tida looked just like an angel.
“Keeping this up for too long will tire me out, so let’s get this fight over with!” Tida spread her wings, which shone with a faint glow as her feet left the ground. Despite the narrowness of the cave, Tida could fly freely, and she rose almost all the way to the rock ceiling.
“Wings of Divine Punishment.”
With a flap of her wings, Tida sent glowing feathers flying at the black lion with blinding speed. Each of them was imbued with so much mana that it pierced through the thick pelage of the lion. The beast roared, sending a wave of mana at Tida in response, but the bountiful mana that surrounded her blocked it before it could reach her.
“It’s about time you went down, don’t you think?”
Tida raised her holy scythe and dove toward the lion at full speed. She cut off both of its front limbs before slashing at it first diagonally, and then horizontally. After that, she got behind the monster and sheared through it again. With every blow, she made sure to send some of her mana through the wound to hinder the lion’s regenerative abilities.
The lion collapsed to the ground, its body riddled with lacerations. Tida put her scythe over her shoulder before thrusting her arm forward. The halo above her head radiated light as a staggering quantity of mana gathered around Harvest. It was far more mana than a human should have been able to produce, and the pure white blade of Tida’s scythe started shining brilliantly.
“This is the end! Divine Slash!”
When Tida swung her Divine Artifact for the final blow, a flash of light bisected the lion. This single slash, imbued with the strength of God, also cleaved through the spirit crystal at the core of the monster. As soon as Tida destroyed it, the lion’s corpse disintegrated into a cloud of black mana before disappearing.
“Holy Cage!” Tida placed a seal around the two halves of the spirit crystal. This sealing spell also relied on God’s might. It was so powerful that no human could break through it.
That should be good enough for now, Tida thought as she picked up the sealed spirit crystal.
“I should send this to the Grand Sanctuary so they can keep it sealed,” Tida said. She let out a big sigh as her wings and halo disappeared and her stigmata shrunk back to its original size. Tida groaned. Her entire body ached.
“Aah, this is exactly why I hate using the power of my stigmata so much.”
A human body was not made to withstand the power of God. Even as an apostle who bore the mark of God, Tida would suffer from body aches for days whenever she borrowed a fraction of it.
“Ouch... All right, time to hurry back to Miss Ellie and the others.”
Tida started retracing her steps despite the pain.