Raise Joan of Arc to be an empress, then discard her.

He stood right under the blazing sun, with the sun high in the sky behind his wings. At this moment, the sun in the sky was also surrounded by his wings. The scorching sun slowly became blurred within his wings, and then almost merged with the spiritual power in his wings, turning into a ball of light like the blazing sun.

As if sensing something, Dastro raised his head. Although he was currently experiencing torture-like pain, his limbs were being torn apart by bone spurs, and his flesh and blood were even being lifted into the air, and he had almost become a terrifying monster made of bone spurs, when he saw the blazing sun wrapped in white wings in the sky, fear still instinctively appeared on his face, like a creature that had been living in darkness suddenly seeing the sunlight.

"I don't usually use this trick, but it seems necessary to deal with you."

"Light cannon".

Slowly, the dazzling orb of light separated from the wings, revealing the true sun behind them. At this close distance, the orb of light seemed to be as dazzling as the sun. As he spoke those words, the light cannon shot out like lightning, and a huge beam of light fell from the sky, directly piercing Dastro's deformed and terrifying body.

Dastro's body was instantly enveloped in white light, which, even from a distance, was as dazzling as the rising sun. Aaron glanced at it, but the light was so bright that he couldn't open his eyes due to the pain. Only Elliott in the sky remained calm.

At first, Dastro could still scream, but the screams quickly disappeared. The terrifying light only lasted for three seconds before it ended. When Aaron looked back at the spot after the light faded, there was no longer any deformed monster there, only a pale corpse lying in a huge pit.

It is worth noting that the corpse's skin was like a leather bag riddled with holes, as if there were no drops of blood left in its body. Each hole was so deep that bone could be seen, and if you looked inside, you could only see the empty parts. The corpse itself was like a dried-out leather bag, lying there, as if anything could destroy it.

Aaron felt a pang of regret that “Destruction” had died right here. As he looked up, he saw Elliott descending from the sky.

Elliot spread his wings and unleashed his beam attack, causing his white clothes to shatter. He was now naked from the waist up. He wasn't as muscular as Theo, but in the sunlight, Aaron still thought his body was as athletic as the sculptures depicting young people in art galleries.

Before he could speak to Elliot, Elliot had just landed when he suddenly began to cough violently. The sound was extremely inappropriate, and his tree-like wings behind him seemed to be affected by the disturbance, causing countless feathers to fall.

Back on the ground, Elliott immediately folded his wings and the illegible book. He clutched his heart and coughed violently. Just moments before, he was the heart of an angel in the sky, the golden judge, but once he landed on the ground, he became a frail boy, or a seriously ill tuberculosis patient, coughing violently as if he were coughing his lungs out.

Aaron struggled to his feet and tried to help him up, but Elliott waved him away, telling him not to come near. Aaron stood there, unsure whether to go in or back, and just watched him cough.

After coughing for about half a minute, Elliott seemed to finally feel a little better, but he was still clutching his heart, looking up at the sky, and a painful, self-destructive smile slowly appeared on his face.

At this moment, the flawless smile on his face disappeared, replaced by a slightly furrowed brow and a helpless smile that showed he didn't know what to do. He instantly transformed back into the gentle Elliot that Aaron had first met.

But his face was deathly pale, and beads of sweat glistened on his forehead. He looked more like a patient than the Elliot Aaron knew. It was the first time Aaron had ever seen weakness, pain, and yet also a sense of acceptance on his face at the same time, a mixture of helplessness, self-destruction, and an attempt to appear indifferent, as if he were the young Elliot who had been lying in a hospital bed for many years.

“Pour me a glass of water,” Elliott said to Aaron.

Aaron looked around and, after much effort, found a clean cup, poured a glass of clean water, and handed it to Elliott.

When he returned to Elliott's side, he had found a cracked wall to lean against. He was still naked and looked a little better than before, but it was clear that he was still unwell and had heart pain.

He leaned there, tilting his head to look at the white corpse in the pit in front of him. It was his handiwork, and he didn't think much of it. After Aaron handed him water, he took it, tilted his head back, and slowly drank it. After drinking half of it, he said to Aaron, "You must have never heard of Dastro's story before. Aren't you a little curious about what happened to me?"

“I am curious, but it sounds like you’d rather tell me,” Aaron said.

Elliott chuckled and patted his chest. "So, are you curious about this? The legendary Elliott is actually a patient with a congenital heart defect. Even now, he can't use his abilities freely. If he does, his heart will hurt, and he has to take medication."

“Having this ability, if it only causes heart pain afterward, isn’t a heavy price to pay,” Aaron said.

“You’re right, but these can’t be entirely attributed to my abilities. They should be attributed to the abilities of my heart, the abilities of this angel’s heart. Sometimes, I feel like I’m just a vessel for this heart.”

"Did you know? The doctor who performed my heart surgery when I was a child told me not to use any spiritual power, because if I used spiritual power even once, my lifespan would be shortened."

Aaron was stunned.

Seeing Aaron's reaction, Elliott was pleased and continued, "Many people would react the same way you would when they hear that, but it's actually not that bad."

"You should know that powerful superhumans have long lifespans, around three to five hundred years. As for me, as long as I continue to improve my sequence and reach the limit that my age and talent allow me to reach, which is the legendary ceiling of spiritual power, and based on the frequency of my use of spiritual power, I should be able to live a lifespan similar to that of a normal person, around eighty or ninety years old."

"Although it's a short time for a superhuman like me, it's a very good life for an ordinary person."

He continued, "But what does it matter? When I was little, the people around me and I told myself that I wouldn't live past thirteen. For me, every extra day I live is a blessing."

"So even though I could live for three to five hundred years if I were just an ordinary person, I still choose to use spiritual power and become a judge, because I don't want to spend my life like a tortoise. If I become a judge and help others live the way I want, even if it costs me my life, I will not regret it."

Aaron nodded, having already grasped the meaning behind Elliott's words, so he asked directly, "Why are you telling me this?"

Elliott looked into Aaron's eyes and smiled: "Because this is the reason I told Claire that I joined the Church of Judgment. Claire agreed to let me become a judge because of this."

Aaron was stunned again.

Elliott appeared very pleased, his eyes filled with a sublime reverence as he looked up at the distant sky and said, "Few people know about this now, because it happened many years ago. The heart in my chest was given to me by Claire."

“Would you like to hear a story?” Elliott asked Aaron, turning to him.

"Yes." Aaron nodded.

"Since the police and the people from the Church of Nature will be here in a while, I'll take this opportunity to tell you a story."

Elliott paused for a moment, as if thinking about where to begin, before saying softly, “You may have noticed that I come from a respectable noble family. My father was a lord, many of my family members were diplomats, and the women were all ladies. I grew up in that kind of environment.”

Chapter 210 Heart

Aaron understood this without Eliot saying it, because both his eloquence and demeanor showed that Eliot must have received a very good education. His poetic temperament and gentle speech were not qualities that just anyone could possess.

"I'm actually one of the very lucky people. I have a good family background, loving parents, and a very prominent family. If things had gone according to plan, I would have married another noble lady from a prominent family around the age of 20, just as my family expected, and lived a boring life as a rich young master. I guess even if I lived that kind of life, we would still be able to meet, Mr. Aaron. But I think that would be a completely different scenario."

At this point, Elliott sighed. Despite his heartache and furrowed brow, he didn't seem to care; it was as if the pain helped him tell the story better.

"But even though I was the chosen one, growing up in a privileged family with everything around me perfect, the Seven Gods played a joke on me and gave me a body that was born with defects."

“When I was a child, I was weak and would get out of breath and my heart would beat very fast when I exercised. My family initially thought it was because I didn’t exercise enough and didn’t care. But when I was twelve, I fainted while chasing and almost died. That’s when I found out that I had a congenital heart problem.”

Elliott pointed to his heart: "My heart was born with a few fewer valves than normal, so I was born with a defect. According to my doctor, if I continued to use my original heart, I wouldn't live past the age of thirteen. So my family tried to find a treatment for me, but unfortunately, they tried all sorts of methods, but there was still no way to cure me."

At that time, my family had already resigned themselves to their fate, and our entire family were devout believers in the Judgment Church. You should be able to understand the choice a believer family would make at that time. My mother took me to live in the church, hoping to receive God's mercy there.

And coincidentally, the church I was in had a relic of a saint, the Heart of an Angel.

"The so-called Angel Heart is the heart of an angel from several hundred years ago. You can think of her as Claire from several hundred years ago. That's where I saw that heart. As soon as I saw it, I resonated with it, and then I fainted. Guess what happened after that?"

"When I woke up, the bishop told me that the heart was a very good match for me. He also told me that I was very likely to be a person blessed by angels. At that time, the bishop held my hand and was very excited. Just think about it, there are only twelve people like Claire in the whole world, and the bishop actually found one in his church. Moreover, our family happens to be devout believers in the Church of Judgment. Of course, the bishop was very excited."

“At that time, my child was eleven or twelve years old and about to receive the blessing. The bishop naturally took me to see that painting, the one you are looking at. If you have seen that painting, you should understand that, given my physical condition, I might not have been able to go to see that painting. But my parents still agreed and took me there.”

"You've successfully grown wings and are flying?" Aaron asked.

Elliott first shook his head, then nodded: "I stood up without much effort, and wings successfully grew on my back, but I couldn't fly. Later I learned that I did have the talent of an angel, but not the conditions. Although I have wings, I can't fly, just like my life. I have a privileged background, but I'm disabled. I have wings, but I can't fly. To an angel, perhaps that's also a disability. Even if you have talent, you can only waste it."

"At the time, the bishop felt it was a great pity, but he still believed that I was the child of the seven gods and had received the favor of the god of judgment, but the seven gods did not fully favor me."

"Because my situation was very special, even the bishop did not understand the meaning of the seven gods. He was going back to study my situation carefully and understand what God's will was. In fact, he was going back to have a meeting with a group of bishops to discuss my situation. At that time, I did not expect what would happen later. I was just very disappointed and felt that my life was full of regrets."

"But then, do you know what happened? I went home and was lying in my hospital bed when suddenly an angel came through the window and stood in front of my bed. Do you know what that meant to me at that moment?"

Although Aaron couldn't see the scene, he could tell from Elliot's excited expression and clenched fists what that event meant to him. Even today, whenever Elliot thinks about that day, he still feels very excited, as if it happened yesterday.

Claire asked me a few questions. She asked me, "If you had a longer lifespan, what would you choose to do?"

"You know what? I was already dying at the time, and I felt that I had received God's will, so I didn't intend to lie. I told her all my thoughts at once."

Elliott pressed his hand to his heart and said, “I will burn my life, taking every extra day as a blessing, making every day meaningful, and doing something for this world, leaving proof that I have lived. Sounds naive, doesn’t it? That’s what I said to Claire back then, and it was all from the bottom of my heart.”

After hearing this, Claire spread her wings and flew away through the window. I was stunned and thought that a real angel had descended. Later I learned Claire's identity. In fact, Claire was not older than me at the time, but was actually younger than me. However, I thought she was an angel.

"But later, I received another message. At first, I didn't know the original content of the message. It wasn't until many years later that I slowly pieced together the events of that day."

"Simply put, after the bishops discussed my situation, they all felt it was a great pity. One of the bishops, who was specializing in medicine, suggested that the angel's heart could be transplanted into me. This would not only extend my life but also make the best use of the heart."

"This proposal was naturally opposed by most of the bishops. Although the discussion was heated, the pro-proposers were overwhelmed, the original pro-proposers became the opposition, and even the bishop who supported me the most shut up."

"After returning to the church, Cocleya argued her case forcefully, standing alone against the majority, and refuted the bishop's words."

“Claire said that since Elliot’s heart resonates with that angel’s heart, and the similarity between them is so high, and he just happened to appear in this church, and the saint’s heart just happened to be here, how could there be such a coincidence in the world! So that heart must have been prepared for Elliot!”

Besides, that heart has been shining here for hundreds of years, and it has only ever been an ornament with no other function. Elliot has a congenital heart disease and just happened to pass half of the test. This must be God's will! None of you have understood God's will! That angel heart was prepared for Elliot. He was born to have that heart, and that's what the God of Judgment told him.

At this moment, Elliott revealed a smile that seemed out of character for him, a smile that possessed a youthful air: "In short, she searched for every coincidence and sign she could find, and attributed all of them to the will of God, the will of God to give me that heart."

"Isn't this... a bit far-fetched?" Even Aaron was stunned.

“Yes, the evidence she found was actually very far-fetched. That heart had been there for hundreds of years. I am not the first person to resonate with the heart, nor am I the first person to have a heart condition, nor am I the first person to have a certain talent but fail the judge’s test. But she still attributed all of this to the will of God. Do you know what it was like when she refuted all the other bishops in the church that day?”

"It is said that she debated with the bishops and overruled their objections, actually suppressing their opposition. The bishops knew that what she said was just sophistry, but they couldn't fight back because she was very firm in her stance and determined to give me that heart."

"Although I didn't get to see it, I still feel that she must have had the demeanor of a pope that day."

Aaron looked at Elliott, who was talking about someone else's story, yet it seemed as if he were recounting the most glorious moment of his life, as if he were the one who had defied all opposition in the church.

Inspired by Elliott, Aaron also imagined what Claire, whom he knew, might have looked like back then.

Claire and Elliot were about the same age at the time, meaning Claire was only eleven or twelve years old, or even younger than Elliot, just a little girl. Yet she stood up and faced a group of bishops who were good at debating, to fight for the right to live of a boy with a heart problem.

Aaron imagined the scene, thinking of Claire as a child, whose expression was probably just as cold as it is now. He felt that Claire back then must have been radiant and full of life.

Because Aaron had a similar experience and had also been saved by Claire, he immediately understood Elliott's feelings.

When Claire ripped open the roof and killed Eclair in a flash, descending to his side to save him, he had a similar feeling. Therefore, he could imagine how Elliot felt. Claire must have been shining like a real angel at that moment.

"Then there was what happened next. Actually, I later learned that, strictly speaking, Claire didn't refute them. After all, she was just a twelve-year-old girl. How could she possibly argue with those bishops? But in the end, they still agreed."

"Because Claire was an angel at the height of her power at the time, she said she had seen a divine oracle, and the bishops could not refute it. Since she interpreted the divine will in that way, and I happened to be a match for that heart, they agreed to give the heart to me on the condition that I would be a devout believer in the Church of Judgment for the rest of my life, and that after my death, the heart would not belong to me, but would still belong to the Church."

“You know what? She didn’t actually ask me to join the Judges or become a Judge. It was I who asked to become a Judge later.”

"Then came the heart transplant surgery. Although all of this seemed like a dream, like the will of God, and it seemed like everything that followed was a matter of course, in order to actually get that heart, we still had to have a heart transplant surgery that was considered very advanced at the time."

"Although heart transplantation was invented two hundred years ago, only seven people have ever had the surgery. Four of them died and three survived. That means my chances of survival after the surgery were less than 50%. But I still had it done, and luckily, I survived. That's who you see now."

"Although the surgery was successful and I successfully obtained the power and title of Angel Heart, perhaps the surgery was not perfect, or perhaps there is a problem with my body. Every time I use my ability, my heart still hurts and I have to take medicine to relieve it."

With that, Elliott finally took out a medicine bottle from his body, poured out the pills, tilted his head back and swallowed them. He didn't drink any water. After swallowing the pills, a satisfied expression appeared on his face.

"That's why I've always cherished my heart," he said.

"But at the same time, I am just an ordinary person with the heart of an angel."

Aaron seemed engrossed in listening, nodded, and asked, "What about Claire?"

“Claire?” Elliott smiled, looking at the distant horizon, and said, “Claire, of course, is a real angel.”

He looked at his hands and said, "Although you see my great power, I am just a degraded version of an angel."

A degraded version? Aaron recalled how Elliot looked in the air and thought he was a true angel. If even he was only a degraded version of an angel, he wondered what a true angel looked like.

Elliot continued, "I am merely a mortal with an angel's heart, but Claire is a true angel, an angel in every way. Although the heart may be one of the most important organs of an angel, I know that my power is only about one-tenth of hers, while her strength and talent are beyond my reach, many times stronger than mine."

Although Aaron knew beforehand that Claire was very special, one of only twelve angels to appear among hundreds of millions of people in the world, he never imagined that she was even more sacred, more holy, more powerful, and more admired than he had imagined.

A real angel...

"Alright, although I don't know if the anomaly in Blackrock Street is due to Dastro, the rats should be satisfied with the capture of the Seven Deadly Sins. The Church of Nature will be here soon, and I will hand over the reins to them."

"Should we hand Dastro over to the Church of Nature?"

"Well, as long as we can solve the rat problem, that's fine. Dastro himself isn't important to us, but he's a wanted criminal that the Church of Nature has been pursuing for years, so he's very important to them. If we hand Dastro over to them, we'll gain merit and do them a favor at the same time, killing two birds with one stone."

Chapter 211 The Vanished God