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Chapter 472: A Good Hook to Start it All. [Trhid Draft] (Massive Changes)
🕑 Added 2023-12-23 05:31:32 +0000 UTCFirst thing, sorry for such a long delay. I've been preparing some Holiday stuff and also had some family issues this week. I didn't mean to take this long for the next chapter.
Edit: Changes in Tatsuya's fight. Removed Grimnir mention in the initial raid fight.
Edit: Entirely different beginning of this climactic battle.
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<[Blessing of the Goddess of Light (Major)] [Shadow Armament (Full Body)] [Sacrilegious Master] [Various Spell Buffs] [Lifetaker (3 kills)] inflicted on [Young Stygian-Scaled Fenrir, Saori Segawa]>
<Experience for development Jobs has reached multiple breaking points.
[Shadow Trickster]: Lv. 14 -> Lv. 18
[Monster Tamer]: Lv. 20 -> Lv. 25 | Reset accumulation finished | Prestige 7 Lv. 8
[Belzac Pup]: Lv. 24 -> Lv. 25 | Reset accumulation finished | Prestige 5 Lv. 5>
<You may spend your prestige points when you are ready>
“Good work,” I praised, prompting my shadow pack to howl before they vanished back into the shadows. I nodded and sighed as I looked down on all the demonkin corpses.
“Demon’s Grace,” as Vifi called the black elixir, was my first worry as I ambushed this group. Seven of them were here and I managed to kill their leader before my shadow pack took out the rest with my help. It was a good thing that not every demonkin was as strong as the sin heirs, but then again, all of the ones here were demonkin of envy.
They were good mages, not as good warriors, according to Klea. Their demonic powers was a bit annoying to fight around, but it was useless against pure melee attacks so pulling out my daggers was all that was needed.
I looked over at the Yanderu representative and thanked him for his help baiting them here. This wasn’t an achievement, but reducing the number of people who may interrupt our battle later on was better than nothing.
“Don’t sweat it … Just make you guys win, or I will lose out by a lot!” he said before slipping into a door in the back of the restaurant, disappearing now that his part of the deal was over. It was time for him to deliver the messages to Franz.
As the onnikai began cleaning up the corpses, mostly for their own usage, I went outside and began hearing the sound of fighting. Nothing close, so it wasn’t inside the city, making me assume it came from the outside wall area—Aureolis city’s farms.
Dashing through the roof while keeping my [Detection Sensor] on, I witnessed the countless Kirstine’s knights leading large congregations of people outside the city. Although Hestia expected it, I was still a bit baffled that people weren’t going to the free food and drinks concert. It worked phenomenally in pretty much every locale she performed in, but maybe Aureolis was too temperate to be enticed?
In any case, as I rushed over to the entrance, my shadow pack warned me to stop as they detected some unusual movements. None of them smelled like the demonkin from before, but hints of warmed wood and ash entered my nose. That didn’t mean much since every house had a hearth, but I believed my wolves.
Unusual movements and no demonkin? The Yanderu mercs shouldn’t be helping the demonkin, so it has to be the Danterno cultists.
If one of these lunatics hid themselves amongst the groups, then that could spell a disaster.
[“Mother, I will rely on you.”]
[“Understood. Keep them in place and do not allow them to move before we arrive.”] Mother then dashed away, returning to the “Noble’s Secret.” Once that was done, I ordered the remaining shadow pack members to disperse and contact the knights, while I continued outside the city, where I found the second brick in our plans.
“Help!” a woman cried as four wolves surrounded her and a group of citizens. They growled and howled, licking their blackened teeth with glee, as if they felt satisfaction from sadism.
Intelligent … I concluded from a single look. The positioning of the ears, the lack of tension in their bodies, and the slight arcing of their tails. Body language was ingrained to humans, but it was even more important to us canines since most couldn’t speak. I was used to [Telepathy], but seeing my garms live and grow every day for nearly a year allowed me to fill in the gaps I had about wolfen conduct.
Even worse, though, it made me fully aware of my competitive fenrir side
[“They can smell us,”] Belzac said. [“They are tamed monsters, fully confident in their masters. They can smell us, yet they look down on us! Do the demonkin know about your legacy, or do they only see you as a mere wolf.”]
[“They know I’m a monster wolf, that is for sure, but I never revealed that I am a Belzac.”]
My instincts told me to act, but I decided against it to get a proper view over everything. Gazing down the rebuilt gates of the inner city, the farm lands of Aureolis city were filled with citizens, but the groups were only guarded by a couple of knights. Dame Kirstine wasn’t amongst them, probably taking control of the caravans leaving by the outer gates.
From the time the priests and knights left the city to now, the demonkin had all the time they needed to get things ready on their front. They understood the battle had begun, and this was their way to retaliate. Hostages were powerful to people who cared and even if you weren’t part of Aurora, you could understand where Hestia’s heart lay. In fact, she only doubled down on it recently.
As the Yanderu representative said, “Don’t poke a sleeping dragon, and definitely not steal from their nest!” I would not allow her rage to manifest with this pitiful tactic.
However, all I needed to do was identify the wolves’ master. After all, our support just arrived from the sky.
“Drop!” A man shouted from above me before a loud paphew shot through the air like a fighter jet, slicing the wind. In the next moment, four individual landings happened in front of that trapped group of citizens.
Our four dragoons had arrived—Yorshka, Midirn, Tatsuya, and Ellaine. Four coordinated [Dragoon Dive] eliminated the wolves within the span of a second.
“We are Champion Hestia’s knights!” Midirn shouted. “Dragonewt and human knights in the service of the dragon princess! Allow us to guide you in the name of God Kargryxmor and his Goddess, Goddess Aurena!”
Tatsuya raised his spear, adding onto the introduction, “Hero of Aurena, Tatsuya! An otherworlder summoned by the Goddess of Light! Please, let us help you. Follow us to the knights, now!”
Hearing Hestia’s and Tatsuya’s name roused the citizens back on their feet, allowing them to fight back their fear and follow the four. The field was disorganized, with citizens splintered from the main fighting force. Having this reinforcement come in allowed the knights to fully concentrate on protecting the blob of people while the former rescued the stragglers.
With the situation handled, I looked up, noticing two large wyverns flying above. Shay and Beth—the twins—were carrying our people like Hestia Airlines, allowing them to quickly respond to issues since everybody had [Air Walk] thanks to the SP shop. They carried our dragoons into the fight like a mobile base, yet only my students and our lighter fighters could be on them.
The saurians, after all, could run by themselves.
“Zahala’teel garusch Xohulotel! Hisch’kaneel Plesia mefhi’kushtel za!”
“Xohulotel, laruz!”
Like charging cavalry, a horde of water-created dinosaurs rushed into the scene, ravaging the wolves, picking them off like flies. Velociraptors flew in with their long toe claws, digging into flesh like a buzzsaw before crushing the wolves’s head with their fangs. Triceratops bulldozed their way in, forming a defensive wall with their three horns. Meanwhile, this left the three saurians to enter like shining knights riding on white horses!
… Uh, navy blue, coarse, boney armor on vicious looking water golem theropods that I couldn’t identify, so I subconsciously called all of them tyrannosauruses. The absurdity of a dragon riding on a wyvern was one thing, but a dinosaur riding another dinosaur was a surreal sight to me … I guess it was on the same level of a wolf riding on another wolf.
As the pack of monsters were routed, they fled the scene in a panic, causing them to all run towards a single location. The tamer was located, and I was signaling to everybody with my waving arm, pointing at the location before I began running along the walls towards it.
Once the citizens were saved, I noticed Midirn giving orders to everybody, even shouting for the twins to let my students down. Now appearing before them, Rhea rallied the citizens with all my students aside from Asaka, taking over for the dragonewts and saurians. With them aiding the evacuation, Midirn, Yorshka, Ellaine, and the saurians rushed over to my location.
Once I was there, I clicked my tongue as I noticed the northern gate was open, despite the fact we had ordered all the knights to close every single one except the western one that led to Hestia’s concert. It made me question how the demonkin snuck wolves into the city, but I remembered the rebuilding also included the sewers.
They weren’t in the best state right now, but they were definitely traversable. Here I thought it would be too obvious to use them again after what happened, but the demonkin were daring enough. Here I thought the mud tunnels the Wrathbringer created would have sufficed.
What a missight. Doesn’t matter.
I then looked up, noticing the twins and the dragonewts making their way into the city, while from below, the saurians charged in with their horde of dinosaurs. Honestly, if we weren’t here to liberate it, it might have looked like we were invading Aureolis’s city.
Evacuating people meant losing our position within the city, as the only person inside the city during Hestia’s concert was me. Everybody else departed to get ready for the reacquisition during the evacuation phase, leading to the enemy hitting before we wanted them to, yet none of this was a surprise.
If they thought they could ambush us, then they thought wrong. “No more surprises?” Arrogance. “To fool the world, tell the truth.” That was all we needed to do, so demonkin, please, show us your best hand.
“Wruuuuh!” I howled, signaling four other wolves to howl with me. In the next moment, the shocked cries of countless men and women erupted inside this already tumultuous night.
In the next moment, flames surged, coloring four areas in orange and yellow. I closed my eyes, activating the sight of the [Shadow Snake]s I left with my shadow pack, before choosing one to teleport to with [Umbral Skip].
As the world darkened for a split second, I reopened my eyes to the sight of a surprised fire mage, dressed as a normal man. Three scorched men roared in pain as they rushed him, clawing and biting the fire mage as if they couldn’t feel anything, merely mimicking the “pain” they would be feeling if they were alive.
“Go!” The burning man cried before receiving a fireball to the face, blasting his head off.
Not worrying one bit for them, I used [Gale Steps] to close the gap to land a charged lightning punch into the man’s chest. As he cried out in pain, I pulled my arm out and left him to bleed out while the three scorched men began pulling him into a hole. Even the decapitated man, as these were imperfected onnikai.
Unlike my garms, losing a head wouldn’t do anything to do as the only way to kill them was to destroy the faefolk hiding inside the corpses’ bodies, encased in a black slime. Our clean up crew and our scouts living inside the leftover mud tunnels form the previous attack.
“The issue is done, move!” I ordered the knight leading the scared group of citizens, prompting them to calm everybody and continue their duty. I, on the other hand, used [Umbral Skip] once again.
This time, the scene was most out of control. Five fire mages were slinging magic around, while the holy knight tried to keep everybody safe with his water magic. A veteran, he was dashing around the area, blocking everything with a full focus on defense, leaving the attacking to a young woman swinging around a beige scythe while riding on an infernal mount.
Asaka and Uno, what a rare combo, but the two were executing the fire mages with barely any issues. Uno’s deft dodges was the most trained amongst my four fenrirs, furthermore, having access to black flames allowed him to fully serve his role in defending Asaka from the fire mages while she swung and shot her beige slimes around.
Fully powered by being under the moon, her [Twilight Paladin] gave her immunity to arcane corruption and increased mana regeneration while her [Vivid Graffiti] custom spell allowed her to transmute various weapons. Ranging from a scythe, spear, mace, or even her trusty graffiti can, she was delivering dark and twilight elemental attacks on the remaining five fire mages.
“Now!” Asaka shouted as she turned the scythe into a kusarigama—a one-handed scythe with a chain attached to it—and threw it at the fire mages, only for two of them to produce walls of wildfire to burn it into ash. It was only a slight inconvenience since Asaka could regrow it, but this distraction was enough for her onnikai “minions” to strike.
“For Ilsaphone! For Saintess Asaka!” They yelled as they burst from the ground. 19 onnikai undead clamored onto the fire mages, howling like simians, grabbing and tugging on anything they hand to prevent their continued spell cast. Their staves would even be nibbled on, trying their damndest to protect their blessed.
Uno then charged through the fire wall, charging forward as Asaka sprayed graffiti, creating a flying sword that disarmed a mage. His enchanted robes protected him from the damage, but it left the man with a slowed casting speed, unable to support his fellow mages. Sadly, his allies were less inconvenient and attempted to shoot at Asaka, but before they could, I shot four [Stygian Lightning].
Paralyzed by the weakened spell left them open to Asaka and Uno’s finishing blow, killing the fire mages in no time. As they reaped the benefit of the experience, Asaka turned to me, scowling.
“You’re not getting a thank you!”
I smiled, waving at her. “I’m perfectly happy seeing you blush, unable to be true to yourself, my little student!”
“Dammit!” she shouted, but I left her to handle the situation and closed my eyes, only to furrow my brows.
What is this?
There were three more attack knight groups to handle, but luckily, the twins and saurians arrived in time for two of them. What was weird was the last group that Song was taking care of wasn’t saved by any of our allies, but instead by a group of holy knights. None of Kirstine’s subordinates or brought-in allies, as everybody who was part of the plan was outside the city right now. Meaning, these were the remaining ones.
Royce? Amongst them, I noticed a certain “hater,” as Hestia called him in private. From Tatsuya’s and Kyouya’s recollection of the man, I had to agree that he wasn’t a friend of our party.
Regardless, they were protecting the citizens and even slew the mages attacking them. Even with all the drama between our two group he was still the city’s protector, so I decided to use this chance to contact him. Teleporting over, I alerted the group due to my [Shadow Armament], but once I dispelled it around my face, Royce ordered them to stand down.
He approached me. “The Commander has explained everything to me. The truth of this matter. I … I cannot say it directly to her, to your party leader, but on behalf of the Knights of Aurena, I thank her for taking this action. You are saving the people and assuring them that they don’t see the terror.”
He then directed his head to the knight leading this citizen and gestured with his hand. He then ordered all knights but his two partners—Falamm and Karlst—to spread out and help out anybody in need before leaving the city with the rest.
“Except for the few, sadly. We’re ready.”
I eyed him suspiciously. “… Ready for what?”
“Ready to fight for Aureolis! Ready to fight the demonkin plaguing our city, not to mention that traitor!” he shouted, full of rage. “The knights who supported me—those Kirstine couldn’t bring over—were sent away so they wouldn’t get in the way. Some witnessed what Champion Hestia did, while I persuaded the rest to believe in her. Believe that after all this is over that she will be the future with Saintess Fleindia. They can be trusted, I swear, I am not doing this for revenge on your party. I am not that much of a fool.”
Fleindia? Why did he have to emphasize that last part?
Hestia and I had strong hearing, and while I could hear Royce’s heart while he was speaking, I couldn’t really tell if he was lying or not. I didn’t even know if this was a myth created by Hollywood or actually scientifically proven. His heartbeat was so erratic, as if he had just run a marathon. I didn’t believe it was caused by fighting outnumbered fire mages, but he might have rushed over here for some reason.
“Where is the commander?” I asked.
He was our other left behind member, but unlike me, he was significantly stronger enough to fend for himself even if the sin heirs came. We could trust him as our “anchor” to retake the city, so he was situated in the middle of the lion’s den, waiting for us to fight with him. Yet, he told Royce without saying anything to us and this clearly experienced person stayed behind despite knowing I was paranoid?
I hated to say it, but I wasn’t convinced.
“In the basilica, waiting,” Royce said. “We should hurry. Come, let us—”
“I do not believe we need to go anywhere just yet!” Interrupted Royce, a voice appeared from above us before a person fell from the sky, barely stopping his crash by spreading his wings out. It was Midirn. “The worst decision right now would be to enter the enemy’s lair so carelessly. What an oversight, Knight-Captain Royce.”
Royce quietened down. “Sir Midirn …”
“What use is going into the basilica when our forces have not consolidated just yet, not to mention, our goal is to evacuate everybody before we begin this fight. Did the Commander not tell you this?”
“Of course, our priority is our fellow followers’ safety and that is why I sent the rest of the knights out. The only ones left in this city will be those willing to fight our enemies. I am fully aware of basic tact, Sir dragonewt. As such, I—”
“‘Haste makes waste,’ as my dear apprentice always loves to say.” Once again, Royce couldn’t end his sentence before another interloper arrived. With the quaking earth, Kushlek’zar and his platoon of dinosaurs arrived. “And the last thing we need is for everything to derail from our original plans. You were not expected, Sir Royce.”
“Lizard—” Karlst almost insulted before Royce raised his arm to stop him.
Glaring at him to be quiet, Royce then looked at the saurians. “I can notice suspicion clearly, but I’ve earned it after everything that happened. I learned. I understand the value of fighting side-by-side, back-to-back with fellow warriors and even if I would rather not, I can work with races aside from humans for the sake of the Goddess. This is something I cannot change about myself, so please forgive me. Nevertheless, can we not ally with each other?”
“Then you have to prove it!”
Finally descending to the ground, the twins landed on the nearby roof tops, allowing the last four members to join up. Tasianna, Ellaine, Yorshka, and Fargryneill approached us, while I felt my shadow pack return to me.
With her sword unsheathed, Ellaine continued while glaring at Royce. “You are not needed here, Sir Royce. There is a reason why Dame Kirstine isn’t with us, but outside the walls, aiding the evacuation efforts. To succeed, this is all we need.”
“What arrogance is this supposed to be?” Falamm scowled. “We are three captains; all three of us are above level 100. We are worthy to lead knights into wars, and you dare question our capabilities? That we are deadweight? Then … what are you, ‘Dame’ Ellaine? We’ve heard rumors that you aren’t even properly knighted, nor even a squire.”
“The rumors are correct,” Ellaine stated with full confidence. “But I also do not need a title to serve the one I swore my life and honor to. I fight for Princess Hestia’s sake with pride. I do not need her to knight me in a ritual, her mere acceptance when I asked to become her knight was enough for me. I shall call myself her knight even without being a dame.”
“And she has earned that privilege,” Tasianna added. “I dare guess that the both of us are below your levels, Sir Knights, but I can assure you with confidence that we can defeat you in a duel. Levels and stats do not matter in the grand scheme of a battle. It is how you wield this advantage and your skills.”
“Finer words have never been said!” Midirn grinned. “This arrogance is what rubbed me the wrong way, humans. We could not work until everything collapsed against the sin heir of envy, and I have to agree. What did you tell me, Sir Royce? ‘This is my platoon, I shall lead them instead, beast?’”
Royce and his two allies looked so small as our group outnumbered them, overshadowing them even. At such a pivotal moment, gaining allies was a necessity and welcomed, but old grudges couldn’t be forgotten so easily, especially not after the disaster of Akasht’s death.
“But that is why you said they must prove themselves, right, Ellaine?” Yet, one person did come to their rescue. “One last time, Royce. I do not like you, but as a former Knight of Aurena, I should give you the benefit of the doubt. Let us see if you can keep up with our plan.”
He saluted and nodded. “If that is the case, then so be it. Should we go now?”
“There is no need to move,” Midirn said, surprising the knight. “There is a reason why our first goal is to get all the civilians out. This place is our first battleground. Saint Kushlek’zar, announce the truth, now!”
A devious plan Hestia and Midirn concocted using one bit of information the latter had never wanted to announce to the world. After all, to her, this drama didn’t need to be said as it would only increase the tension between two religions. The consequences this would lead would lead to serious global damage.
… Which was why Midirn vetoed the idea down before they finalized it. Instead, a mix of falsehood and truth was needed to hide the war-inciting truth while also providing us with the spark to light the fire ahead of time.
Clearing his throat, Kushlek’zar stood on the head of his water tyrannosaurus. Tasianna flew up and used her [Aerokinesis] to amplify his voice for everybody in the city to hear. “Hear me, minions of the dread lord of fire, Danterno! Hear me, for this truth comes from the Crimson Saintess! Champion of Aurena and Saintess of Danterno! The Young Princess of Light and Fire has an announcement for the world to know, and I, Kushlek’zar, Saint of God Xohulotel of the Water Pantheon, shall be the messenger! Hear me! … Forgive me, Depth Goddess.”
He whispered that last part before raising his voice once again. “As the God Listener, her soul is strong enough to understand the words of the gods, proven by Saintess Fleindia. God Danterno has been punished in his attempt to coerce the young princess when Goddess Aurena had marked her as her blessed! This led to an argument between the two Origin Gods before Champion Hestia personally intervened, proceeding to denounce the God of Fire! She demanded he be punished for harming her soul, endangering her friends, and for the incompetent Church of Danterno who attempted to hurt her under the orders of the ambitious subordinate gods! He, who wished for a blessed to save his corrupt religion, only drove her further into the light!”
Tell the truth and blame it all on the subordinate gods of Danterno. Make them our enemy! Twist the truth by leaving Plesia out of this by only mentioning Aurena, which was the obvious truth. Make Hestia the lightning rod of hate, the one dancer in the spotlight, and have her reveal her true feelings and make that the truth.
We did not want another religious war erupting between the Church of Plesia and Danterno. We did not need to expose the dirty laundry created by Plesia punishing her brother for breaking a divine law between Origin Gods. Confine it as a problem between Aurena and Danterno, but more importantly between Hestia and the entire Church of Danterno. Make her denounce them, just like she denounced the Church of Aurena. It was within “character” and made it believable.
Kushlek’zar lied by using his authority as a Plesia blessed, which was why he apologized. To hear all of this coming from a Water Pantheon Saint meant the natural hostility of the Danterno followers would force them to listen. Like an angry mob unable to ignore anything. They hated both Plesia and Hestia, so by utilizing this fact, this “truth” will become the world’s truth through anger, fear, and fanaticism.
“Once again!” Kushlek’zar clenched his fists, overwhelmed by the emotions he was simulating. “Champion Hestia, once again, denounces the Fire Pantheon and the Church of Danterno for their incompetance! Just like Saint Sierras and Champion Ferrit, she will defeat all who dares approach us! She spits in the face of the God of Trailblazing, Askaino, as nothing but ‘embers unable to understand what true fire is! An envious existence who cannot understand the world has progressed beyond his feeble mind could comprehend!’ Furthermore, God Ferrit’s patron—”
“HERETIC! FIRE CONSUMES FIRE!”
Like smoking out a rabbit from their hole, so shall we smoke out the rats from their hiding spots.
How easy is it to agitate hotheads?
Flames spewed out in the sky until I noticed a sea of flames burning through numerous houses, approaching us like a tsunami. Magma rained down like an active volcano, discoloring the sky red and brown. Like an apocalyptic scene from a movie.
Kushlek’zar then pulled his amulet out—his catalyst—and shook it once before a magic circle appeared. In the next moment, he pulled out another one—a far more decorated amulet colored navy blue with white-green gilded ridges—and swung it around like a ritual censer. In the next moment, water began streaming out of it, covering his body and creating a liquid robe so black it was impossible to see his armor underneath it, while a skull helmet designed after a bull-horned dinosaur materialized on his head.
As his new appearance finalized, nine car-sized magic circles appeared around this area before they activated, casting [Sapphire Membrane], [Torrential Rain], [Plesia’s Grasp], [Xohulotel’s Scaled Barrier], and other spells I couldn’t name off the tip of my tongue. Nevertheless, these water spells fully protected us from the lava rain to the fire sea.
In fact, even when the steam clouds weren’t dissipating, Kushlek’zar increased casting spells, pushing the boundaries of the barrier further and further. What a sight it was to witness the countless blue sparkle and dim; I was in complete awe only to remember he had done the same once against Hestia. Their duels prior to our reunion always ended up with Kushlek’zar overwhelming everything with his fast casting spells and his reflexes.
This was nothing special to him, in fact, having to take care of our resident forest burner might have only made him even more proficient against fire mages. With the help of his army of water dinosaurs, he eventually created an opening for us to move out.
As the bubble burst, he roared, signaling all of us to jump out, confusing the knights. Fire spells were slung at us, but Kushlek’zar handled every single one. The suppressive fire was useless against us as we had a master of water mage on our side!
Leaving Royce behind, our combined group quickly hunted the mages down, cutting numerous of them down as they acted like rabid dogs. Their rage clouded their minds and gave us plenty of time to cut down the majority of their army before they could regroup. Any who tried would only feel the wrath of an incoming [Kraken’s Destruction] of [Azure Blade] dashing their hopes of survival.
< [Lifetaker (16 kills)] inflicted on [Young Stygian-Scaled Fenrir, Saori Segawa]>
<Experience for development Jobs has reached multiple breaking points.
[Shadow Trickster]: Lv. 18 -> Lv. 25 | Multiple Reset accumulation finished | Prestige 9 Lv. 15
[Monster Tamer]: Lv. 8 -> Lv. 25 | Reset accumulation finished | Prestige 8 Lv. 26
[Belzac Pup]: Lv. 5 -> Lv. 25 | Reset accumulation finished | Prestige 7 Lv. 19>
<Prestige requirement achieved! Job max level has increased. Experienced accumulation and reward quality increased.
[Shadow Trickster] Max level -> 30
[Monster Tamer] Max level -> 30
[Belzac Pup] Max level -> 30>
<You may spend your prestige points when you are ready>
The number of rogue signals vanished as quickly as they appeared, leaving only a few left close to the entrance to the basilica. All of us regrouped when the fire spells stopped. Royce and his group were the only ones who hadn’t done anything during this entire mess, simply standing around, stunned when we last saw them. When we hurried them to follow us, they did so without a word.
As we reached the gate to the church area, the dragonewts and saurians began to growl as they noticed a one-armed, well-dressed man sitting on the body of a dead mage. He was a demonkin, recognizable by his horns and tail, and also with the other demonkin standing behind him. Multiple robed mages were tied up and held on the ground by their feet.
“… I applaud your choice. This time, we were outsmarted,” the well-dressed man said before standing up, causing me to instantly get into a stance. “We haven’t gotten to meet yet. Saori Segawa, correct?”
“Careful!” Kushlek’zar growled with suppressed anger, glaring at the man with widened eyes.
Midirn walked in front of me, spear pointing at the group. “He is the sin heir of envy.”
“Rein’Yond, please, to meet all of you again.” He bowed dramatically like a performer pleasing the crowd. “What a wonderful fight we last had. What a wonderful fight we shall have now. Yet, I cannot allow you to meet my cousin.”
He then snapped his fingers, ordering five demonkin to step up, revealing the five remaining cardinals, all tied up. Considering they were in cahoots with the demonkin, we had thought we would fight them, but were they hostages now?
“The price of betrayal is easy. The price of incompetence is harder to pay, but during this night, we cannot allow anything to go to waste. Not even corpses!” He pulled the mage’s mouth open, signaling the other demonkin to do the same before all pulled out a black potion.
Demon’s Grace!
“Help, please!”
“No, no, I followed your orders! Help, help!”
The cardinals pleaded, but even if we tried to move now, it was too late. We couldn’t even make a move before several demonkin moved in front of us, blocking our path. Fully armored and equipped, their skin was also dyed pitch-black allowing them to camouflage into the night, a result of drinking the black elixir as Midirn announced.
“No, Goddess, please, save us—Graaguuahhh!” Guttural screams erupted before I heard the sound of squishy flesh move around as bones began to crack. All we could do now was prepare for a fight.
Humanize!
But before my transformation finished, I felt somebody attack me from behind.
