I Regressed With a 10,000x God-Tier Multiplier-Chapter 72: The Saintess Battle Armor

The secret passage beneath the Grand Cathedral was dark, narrow, and smelled of damp earth.

Lucifer led the two hundred newly conscripted Solaris Templars through the winding tunnel.

The heavy, silver-armored knights moved as quickly as they could in the confined space, their glowing tower shields providing the only light.

The sounds of the Abyssal invasion above them, the roaring of Void Behemoths and the collapsing of marble temples echoed faintly through the stone ceiling.

They emerged into a small, secluded courtyard directly beneath the towering Royal Spire.

Elara followed Lucifer out of the tunnel.

"The King’s personal guard is holding the lower levels," Elara noted, pointing her violet-flaming spear toward a barricade of overturned carriages and splintered pews. "They are fighting a swarm of low-level Void Crawlers. They will not hold for long."

"They don’t need to hold," Lucifer stated smoothly. "We are only here for the Saintess."

Lucifer activated Zephyr’s Grace.

He didn’t run toward the barricade. He bypassed the chaotic melee entirely. He bounded straight up the vertical face of the Royal Spire, his iron boots finding purchase on the decorative ledges and ornate balconies.

He moved with the speed of a dark meteor, completely ignoring the desperate shouts of the Royal Guards below.

He reached the high balcony of the Royal War Room in a matter of seconds.

He vaulted over the shattered stone railing and landed heavily on the obsidian floor. The room was empty. King Carlos and his cowardly generals had fled deeper into the palace the moment Lucifer had secured the Grand Marshal medallion.

Lucifer did not linger in the War Room. He turned and sprinted down the wide, plush-carpeted hallway that led to where the Dawn Saintess was.

Lucifer found her standing in the center of her luxurious, gilded suite.

Lyra was staring out the massive, floor-to-ceiling windows at the burning capital below.

"The world is ending, Lyra," Lucifer said loudly, stepping into the room. His Warlord boots crunched loudly on the fine marble floor. "The King has abandoned his people. The Church has locked its doors. No more prayers. We need miracles."

Lyra did not jump. She did not look surprised to see him. She turned away from the window and faced the Warlord.

Her expression was entirely unreadable. She looked at Lucifer’s dark, bloodstained armor.

"I have prayed every day of my life," Lyra whispered. Her musical voice was steady, completely devoid of the trembling fear she had shown during the Scourgelands ambush.

"I prayed for the Light to save them. I prayed for the King to be wise. I prayed for the High Pope to be just."

She took a slow, deep breath.

"The Light did not answer," Lyra stated coldly.

"I am done praying," Lyra declared.

She unfastened the clasp.

With one sharp, deliberate motion, Lyra tore off the heavy white robes she wore. The fine fabric fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

Lucifer’s eyes widened slightly.

Lyra was not wearing a simple linen shift beneath her ceremonial robes.

She was wearing battle armor.

It was a sleek, well-fitted suit of light, gleaming silver armor, etched with glowing golden runes. A clean white tabard with a bright sun emblem hung over her chest.

A heavy broadsword with a silver hilt rested at her hip.

Lyra did not look like a delicate, fragile doll anymore. She looked like a holy executioner.

"I have been waiting," Lyra said, her blue eyes flashing with blinding, pure white light.

[System Warning: Entity Awakening Complete.]

[Name: Lyra, the Dawn Saintess]

[Class: Radiant Paladin (Tier 3 - Mythic)]

[Status: Combat Ready. Holy Aura Maximum Output.]

Lucifer stared at the Saintess.

In his past life, he had never seen her in armor or holding a sword. The Church had suppressed her so completely, made her believe she was too weak, that she died trapped instead of fighting to escape.

But this time, Lucifer had shattered the parasitic halo. He had broken the Church’s psychological grip on her. He had shown her the reality of a planar war, and he had given her the choice to fight.

She had chosen violence.

"You hid that well," Lucifer noted, his voice a low, approving rumble. He crossed his arms over his dark breastplate.

"The Archbishop would lose his mind if he knew his ’battery’ was wearing armor."

"The Archbishop is a fool who only sees gold," Lyra replied sharply.

She drew the heavy silver broadsword from her hip.

The blade ignited instantly, burning with a fierce, blinding white holy fire that pushed back the gray twilight of the Eclipse Convergence. I knew the Abyss would come."

"And now it is here," Lucifer said.

Lucifer turned his back on her and walked toward the shattered window of her suite.

"We are leaving the Spire," Lucifer commanded over his shoulder. "I have two hundred Solaris Templars waiting in the courtyard below.

They signed my contract. They fight for Obsidian now. We are going to break the siege on the lower city and march them out the main gates."

Lyra did not hesitate. She fell into step right behind him, her silver armor clinking softly.

"Lead the way, Grand Marshal," Lyra said.

They reached the shattered window.

Lucifer did not use Void Step or Zephyr’s Grace. He simply stepped off the edge of the high tower, plummeting toward the courtyard below.

Lyra did the same, her holy aura completely nullifying the physical impact of the massive drop as she landed flawlessly beside him on the blood-soaked cobblestones.

The two hundred Solaris Templars were holding a tight shield wall against a fresh wave of Void Crawlers.

They were exhausted, their silver armor deeply scratched by the jagged chitin of the beasts, but they were holding the line.

"Hold the center!" the scarred Templar Captain roared, driving his broadsword into a lunging Crawler’s skull.

The Captain pulled his blade free and looked up.

He saw Lucifer land.

But then, he saw the woman landing right beside the Warlord.

The Templars froze.

The entire unit of two hundred elite, battle-hardened knights stopped swinging their weapons. They stared in complete shock at the silver-armored figure shining with pure holy fire.

They recognized the face. They recognized the blinding blue eyes.

"The... the Saintess?" a young Templar whispered, lowering his heavy tower shield. His voice cracked with sheer disbelief.

Lyra did not wait for an introduction.

She stepped past Lucifer. She raised her burning silver broadsword high in the air with both hands.

"Dawn’s Judgment!" Lyra screamed.

She brought the sword down in a massive, sweeping horizontal arc.

She did not hit a single Void Crawler with the physical blade. She didn’t need to. A colossal wave of concentrated, explosive white sunlight erupted from the weapon.

The holy magic ripped across the courtyard, moving with the speed of a shockwave.

It hit the swarming wave of Void Crawlers like a physical wall of fire.

The dark, Abyssal magic animating the monsters instantly evaporated upon contact with the pure, unrestricted holy aura.

Dozens of Void Crawlers were vaporized mid-leap, their black chitin dissolving into fine, harmless white ash before they even hit the ground.

The blinding light swept through the alleyways, entirely clearing the courtyard of hostile entities in a single, devastating strike.

[System: Hostile Swarm Eradicated.]

[Source: Radiant Paladin (Tier 3)]

The Templars dropped to their knees.

They did not kneel out of fear, as they had done for the Warlord. They knelt in absolute, profound religious awe. The men who had spent their lives guarding a silent, compliant statue on a balcony had just watched that statue vaporize a monster wave with a single swing of a sword.

The scarred Captain slammed his fist against his breastplate, bowing his head so low it nearly touched the cobblestones. Tears streamed down his dirt-streaked face.

"Saintess Lyra," the Captain choked, his voice thick with raw emotion. "You... you have taken up the sword."

Lyra lowered her glowing blade. She looked at the kneeling men. She saw their exhaustion. She saw their absolute, desperate need for a true leader.

"I am no longer a caged bird, Captain," Lyra stated clearly, her musical voice carrying a fierce, commanding edge that resonated deeply with the knights. She pointed her silver sword toward the main gates of the capital.

"The Church abandoned you. The King abandoned you," Lyra declared. She stepped back, aligning herself perfectly with Lucifer’s dark shoulder.

"The Light did not. Stand up. We march with the Lord of Obsidian. We are going to carve a path out of this burning city."

The Templars roared.

They scrambled to their feet, their exhaustion completely overridden by the sheer, blinding presence of a militant Saintess.

They slammed their broadswords against their heavy tower shields, the rhythmic clanging echoing through the ruined courtyard like a massive heartbeat.

Elara stepped out of the shadows, her twilight wings folding neatly against her Void-Weave armor. She looked at the screaming Templars, then at Lyra. The Fallen Valkyrie gave the Saintess a sharp, fierce smile of real respect.

"You broke their chains, Warlord," Elara whispered to Lucifer, her golden eyes flashing with approval. "You gave them a Goddess of War."

"I gave them a reason to fight," Lucifer corrected her smoothly.

He drew his longsword. The Carnage Core on his hip pulsed a steady, violent ruby-red.

He didn’t need to command the troops. Lyra had them entirely under her holy thrall.

"Form a wedge!" Lyra shouted, raising her glowing sword. "Templars on the front! The Warlord holds the center! We push for the main gates!"

The two hundred silver tanks formed an impenetrable, V-shaped shield wall.

They did not hesitate. They marched forward, completely ignoring the massive purple rifts tearing through the sky above them.

Lucifer walked in the center of the formation. The Grand Marshal had secured his heavy infantry.

The Sanctum of Solaris was collapsing into the Abyss, but Lucifer’s army was marching out stronger than ever.