Secret World: I Became a God Through Lies

Chapter 444 Blood Moon Iron Cavalry, Death Battle at Mirror Sea
"When a knight is resurrected under the blood moon, death is merely a brief pause in the changing of horses."

—Records of Bloodline Shrine Rituals

The Royal Rose and the Doomsday Rose floated side by side in mid-air, the Mirror Sea like an inverted water mirror, reflecting both the ship's shadow and the starlight.

The cold light of the cannons illuminated the sea fog, and as the ship trembled, the cannons were already aimed at the Royal Palace Square.

However, ahead of the firelight of the ship's cannons, a black tide of knights was surging out from behind Medusa.

Thousands of Blood Moon Knights, their armor riddled with crimson cracks, blood flowing beneath their hooves, their iron hooves pounding heavily on the Mirror Sea, each step stirring up crimson ripples.

They stood in neat formation, like waves of blood, and led by Knight Commander Lucien and Divine Grace Commander Sephiroth, charged straight at the two ghost warships.

Behind them, the monks chanted in a low voice.

That was the hymn to the Blood Moon, and with the rhythm, every knight's eyes gleamed with a cold red light.

"Front-line shield formation—Charge!"

"Blessed by the Holy Emblem—In Perfect Harmony!"

The sound was deafening, and blood-red spears were raised in unison, their tips reflecting the blood moon in the sky.

Edel bit his lip, his fingers trembling as he gripped the binoculars.

What he saw was not a military formation, but endless despair.

He murmured softly:
"Damn it... Sister Medici, what do you take my knights of Trelian for?"

But the next moment, the sound of military orders drowned out his regret.

"Main gun charging completed!"

"The second naval gun has completed cooling!"

"Fire control calibration - coordinate lock!"

Edel coldly ordered, "Fire!"

boom--!
The sky tore.

Hundreds of gunfire simultaneously pierced the darkness, and giant shells, trailing fiery trajectories, hurtled towards the Blood Moon Knights.

The explosion sent up a fire wave tens of meters high, and the entire battlefield was instantly engulfed in flames.

Raindrops of iron and blood fell on the Mirror Sea, and the shockwave from the explosion sent an entire row of knights flying.

However, the black tide under the blood moon did not recede—countless fallen figures soon wriggled in the blood moon womb behind Medici and emerged again.

Edel clenched his fists, his Adam's apple bobbing: "They... won't die."

Before the flames had completely died down, the chanting of the Blood Moon monks came from the direction of the royal palace.

The sound was slow and deep, like the tolling of a bell emanating from the bottom of the blood pool:

"When the blood moon rises, all living beings are offered up. I grant you rebirth with my blood and life."

Crimson light rose from the monk's palm and spread across the battlefield.

Those Blood Moon Knights who were blasted into charred remains and severed limbs were reassembled one by one in the blood mist, their bones and flesh piecing together.

Soon, they donned their armor once more, mounted their blood-stained horses, and their spear formation was reassembled, as if death had been but a brief pause.

"They've come back to life...they've come back to life again!"

"My God—they can't die!"

The young sailors on the fleet stared wide-eyed, their hands trembling as they gripped the ship's gunwale.

His voice was almost hoarse, a mixture of anger and fear.

Edel glanced back coldly, his words short and decisive: "Then keep killing."

The next moment, artillery fire erupted again.

—Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ship's cannons roared, and flames engulfed the Mirror Sea.

Blood and shards of iron flew everywhere as Blood Moon Knights fell in droves.

But at almost the same moment, the monks' chanting began again, blood flowed back into their bodies, and they rose again, spears raised, charging forward.

This is an endless cycle.

Edel's hands trembled slightly as he gazed at the battlefield, his heart feeling as if it were being crushed by iron.

His voice was low, as if he were talking to himself:

"Is this your fate? To die again and again, only to be pulled back by the blood moon... To be toyed with like this, and yet you dare to call for a holy war?"

However, the soldiers on board did not back down.

"Let's load again!"

"Even if they resurrect a hundred times, we'll bombard them a hundred times!"

"This is the Royal Rose, we have no way out!"

An old sailor, his face covered in gunpowder smoke, pushed a shell into the breech. His hands were bloodied and mangled from the impact, yet he still smiled.

"Hey, I don't want to be blessed into becoming a monster and die on the Royal Rose. Let us witness the glory and immortality of Saint Trelian together!"

“Fire—!”

The cannons roared once again.

This is the voice of mortals defying the divine retinue.

Even if the Blood Moon Knights keep resurrecting, even if the Mirror Sea is stained with blood, even if Medici sits high in the Blood Moon Palace...
Watching all this with a cold laugh—the people on the Royal Rose continued to force the ship's cannons to roar incessantly with their anger and bloodshed.

They are not gods; they do not have the power to resurrect.

But what they possess is the stubbornness that comes with being human.

Edel murmured softly, "Father... if you were still here, you would be proud of them."

—But the battle lines are still being slowly pushed forward.

"Step aside--!"

A roaring wave of blood suddenly surged up, like a crimson tsunami rising out of nowhere on the battlefield.

Selene stepped out from the blood wave, her wings spread wide, and blood flames burned.

Her fingertips extended, and five blood claws slashed through the air, tearing apart several rows of Blood Moon Knights that were charging towards her.

Before they could even scream, they were torn to shreds into a bloody mist.

"What kind of knights are you, these fake corpses!"

Selene let out a long howl, and the rain of blood transformed into sharp spears, pouring down from the sky.

Countless blood spears were driven into the ground, warhorses neighed, knights fell to the ground, and flesh and blood flew everywhere.

At the same time, a massive earthquake struck on the other side, as if the entire Mirror Sea was undulating.

"Moo-!!!"

The Baroque-transformed tidal giant thundered into the battlefield from the edge of the fleet, standing tens of meters tall.

The giant's back was still covered with tattered cloth bearing the sails of a ship, like a battle robe draped with a tattered flag.

With each step he took, giant waves were created; with each punch he threw, a swarm of Blood Moon followers was sent flying.

boom!
His massive fist smashed an entire line of knights and their horses into a bloody pulp. Blood streamed down his arm, dripping into the Mirror Sea, where it stirred up new waves.

"Listen up—!"

Baroque's voice was like thunder, shaking the entire battlefield.

"As long as I, Baroque, stand—you beasts, don't even think about touching a hair on Si Ming's Dream Cocoon!"

Blood and tides clashed in the center of the battlefield, Seliana like a blade, Baroque like a city wall.

In an instant, the Blood Moon Knight's charge was abruptly halted, and large numbers of his followers were reduced to mangled limbs by the combined attack of the two.

Selene's blood waves intertwined with the Baroque tsunami, almost tearing the entire corridor apart.

But soon, the pulse of the Blood Moon's womb returned.

The knights who had just been shattered gathered again in the blood mist, their bones cracking and their flesh covering them once more.

Selene gritted her teeth: "Damn it... they'll never all die!"

Baroque swung his giant fist, slamming the resurrected row of knights back into the sea, roaring, "Then I'll kill them a thousand times, ten thousand times!"

Giant fists and blood claws clashed, making the battlefield resemble a shattered inferno.

However, even with such fierce fighting, the Blood Moon army's momentum continued to rise wave after wave, seemingly endless.

Allison coldly observed all of this and said in a low voice, "Time... can't be delayed any longer."

Blood surged in the Royal Palace Square. The knight's body had barely fallen when it was reborn in the blood mist and picked up its lance again.

Medici sat upright in the shadow of the Blood Moon Palace, her gaze as cold as a judge: "Continue the charge. Blood is immortality. Anyone who stands in my way shall perish."

Her voice was like the whisper of the Virgin Mary, carrying an unquestionable authority.

The pulse of the blood moon grew stronger, and the blood knights in the square seemed endless.

At that moment, a roar that shattered the air rang out—

"The Blood Moon Queen's enemy, damn it!"

Knight Commander Sephiroth charged forward first, his armor glowing red in the blood-red light. He swept his lance, tearing a gash in the waves.

On the other side, Duke Lucien of Black Mountain charged forward on his blood-red warhorse, his armor completely black, his eyes sunken, as if a death knight had returned.

They led hundreds of knights, one on the left and one on the right, straight towards the direction where Dream Cocoon was located.

"Damn it!"

Selene swung her claws and cleaved two Blood Knights in two, but was pierced by a spear behind her.

She turned around abruptly, only to find that more than a dozen knights had surrounded her.

"Selene!" Baroque roared, swinging his fist in a sweeping motion. The giant wave scattered the knights, but also exposed his own weakness, allowing Lucien to pierce his shoulder with a spear, causing blood to explode in a flash.

At that very moment, a flash of silver light appeared—

Selene and Baroque vanished simultaneously.

The next moment, they were on the deck of the Doomsday Rose.

"Huh...huh..."

Selene clutched her chest, gasping for breath, blood dripping from between her fingers.

Baroque knelt on one knee, the bloody gash on his shoulder revealing the bone.

Rex walked over from the other end of the deck, his monocle reflecting a cold light.

He raised his sniper rifle, his voice lazy yet full of confidence: "The shimmering light of the boundary messenger. Heh, I told you, as long as I'm here, you won't die."

The next second, his gun muzzle burst out with blue and white flashes, the bullet following a trajectory of spatial distortion, like being struck by a dozen superimposed lightning bolts, shattering a squad of Blood Knights that were rushing toward the deck.

"Go and rest, then go back up."

Rex said coldly, lifting his finger slightly, and with a twist of space, he sent Selene and Baroque back to the other side of the battlefield.

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on the blind spots for you."

Selene licked the blood from the corner of her mouth and sneered, "With you backing me up, I won't lose to that fake saint."

Baroque grinned, his giant form plunging back into the sea of ​​blood: "Good brother, I owe you a barrel of wine!"

Silver light flashed continuously on the battlefield. Each flash represented Rex pulling his comrades back to safety at a crucial moment before sending them into the killing spree.

Even so, the Blood Moon army continued its relentless pressure. Sephiroth and Lucien led wave after wave of advances, gradually pushing back the battle lines.

Allison looked up at Dream Cocoon and whispered, "Hang in there... Si Ming."

Blood mist filled the air, and the sound of cannons gradually faded. The hulls of both the Royal Rose and the Doomsday Rose were splattered with blood and severed limbs, and the muzzles of their cannons were scorching hot, but they could no longer keep up with the speed of resurrection.

"Reload! Quickly—"

Someone roared at the top of their lungs, but their voice was drowned out by the Blood Knight's battle cry.

No matter how many are shot down, those knights will crawl out of the blood pool in the next instant, their eye sockets empty, their blades unyielding.

"Damn it... this is never going to end."

Edel gripped his longsword tightly, his throat low, his eyes filled with an unprecedented regret.

If he hadn't chosen to leave back then—perhaps the empire wouldn't have fallen to this state.

But now, all regret can only be channeled into the power of the sword.

Boom——!
The sea of ​​blood exploded, and two figures charged out.

Sephir, with his Blood Moon Lance, swept across the enemy lines, breaking through their lines of fire.
Lucien, the Black Mountain Demon, swung his sword, shattering the deck.

They came side by side, heading straight for the Dream Cocoon.

"Stop them!"

Selene roared, unfurled her blood wings, and burned with intense blood flames as she lunged at Lucien.

Baroque roared, and the giant of the tidal wave charged again, his hands meeting Sephir's spear head-on. The immense force of their collision caused the entire square to tremble with a roar like the waves.

Allison raised the blood-red flag high, her voice hoarse: "Fight to the death! No retreat!"

The last remaining sailor on the gun emplacement bit his tongue, his eyes red, and pulled the trigger again.

Rex sniped from a high vantage point, his silver blade flashing, forcefully slowing down the two knights.

But cold sweat rolled down his forehead; he knew they couldn't hold out much longer.

Edel stood before the Dream Cocoon, the tip of his sword pointing directly at the enemy ranks.

"This is the last line of defense. No one can retreat!"

Everyone stood side by side, their figures forming a precarious shield wall amidst the blood mist.

Yet the waves of blood continued to surge, and the resurrected army showed no signs of stopping. The light behind the dream cocoon seemed to gradually dim along with the despair outside.

Failure... seems like it could happen in the next moment.

"When the blood moon rises again and again, even the bones of knights will not rest in peace."
The shield wall is crumbling, and the cries of mortals will eventually be swallowed up.

Anyone who dares to gamble at this moment must be either a madman, or... the Lord of Destiny himself.

—From *The Fragments of the Foggy City: The Blood Moon Chapter*

(End of this chapter)