Cap 53
*Splat*
Soldiers screamed in horror as they ran in terror, hearing metal, flesh and bone being shattered behind them.
*Splat splat*
Strong tremors made it difficult for them to flee like ants, but they still tried.
"Beeh. Beeehh." "Beh~"
Sheep-like bleats, so loud and strangely normal, yet terrifying, rattled their eardrums, while herbivorous teeth crushed holy metal and flesh between them as if they were just a pile of grass.
On the other hand, furious and victorious roars came from enormous hooves, rushing angrily toward those terrified soldiers, even if their newly appeared allies accidentally crushed them.
They were unafraid of death, and showed it with a monstrous bloodlust, indifferent to being crushed into piles of crushed metal until they disappeared into dust.
If one had to define the scene, it was Hell, even more so than the many times that expression was used.
Even if there was some kind of chance against the Demons… It didn't matter what they used. Weapons, spells, Angels, even the icy breaths of the Frost Dragons…
The two enormous black trees, with branches like giant tentacles that caught anything that tried to attack from the sky, throwing them into the black maws of white teeth typical of a herbivore, with five hooved legs, didn't even flinch.
They just bleated tirelessly, marching toward the United Army, or rather, more specifically, toward the Theocracy forces over those of Deorum Regnum, without it being anything noticeable.
The two Dark Young, summoned thanks to the sacrifice of countless soldiers, bleated contentedly while using one of their very few ways to cause damage, simply walking and crushing insects under their feet.
And of course, faced with their powerful and intimidating alien aura, the B.A.F.W. simply fled, it's not as if they had been deliberately ordered to do so, not at all.
Who would think something like that?
Likewise, if they were unlucky, some soldiers would simply die almost instantly from collateral damage.
All due to the intense battle taking place not far away.
"[Grand Fireball]!" A malicious and naturally evil voice, which no one could say boded well, chanted. With one of its shadowy, black-fleshed fingers like claws, it pointed at a silver armored figure flying with a spear in its hand. At this, a massive fireball appeared in front of its hand, shooting out like a missile toward said target.
Echidna estimated the level of impact this would have, both in terms of how serious it would be and how impressive it would be if she took it head-on, dodged it, or simply blocked it.
In the fullest sense of the word, Echidna simply decided to pretend to try to avoid it, just enough for the massive fireball to hit her arm.
All the while, an arrow of light whizzed past the side of her head, burying itself in the Archarchaeologist's palm.
"Tch! Damn it! Just die!" Betelgeuse shouted, following suit, spreading his hands to his sides and chanting another mid-level spell. "[Electric Storm]!"
The reddish clouds swirled slightly, before, after a delay of a few milliseconds, lightning bolts began to fall in unspecified pattern, forcing Echidna to retreat before a bolt could hit her, and Miia to jump into the air after firing arrows to avoid them.
Because the arrows were much weaker due to the higher firing rate, they merely collided with the Devil's lesser magic defense, barely creating cracks.
"Enough, Demon!" Miia shouted seriously in her indifferent tone as she dodged the thunder. "It's your time to die."
"I say the same to you, heretical mortals~!" Betelgeuse hummed, pointing a finger at Echidna. "Witness my most powerful spell! Bestowed by Her Majesty, the Demon Empress! 'Instant Defeat'!" He shouted the keyword.
At once, the armor froze, before, as if struck by a hook, arcing out as it seemed to be knocked out, despite being a machine, falling to the ground.
"Echidna, noooooo!" Miia shouted in her monotone as she extended a hand to the armor, with the entity falling to the ground in an explosion of dust… While she had a hand on her forehead and a flower pulled out of thin air on her chest, and two 'X's drawn on her visor with a marker. "Muahahahahaha! See, you foolish heretics!? You don't stand a chance against Komod's forces-!" Betelgeuse stopped, before abandoning his somewhat dramatic pose and looking to the side…
Miia and Echidna accompanied him, seeing that no Theocracy soldiers were paying attention to them, more frightened by the Dark Young than the outcome of the three of them fighting.
The trio fell silent, then looked up, then the Devil looked at the Fairy.
"Ahem." Betelgeuse coughed into his fist, before extending a hand toward the Dark Young, and giving them a mental command.
They bleated in obedience, noticeably reducing their speed, before stopping and turning, beginning to run, as fast as they could, toward Miia.
With that, the desperate attention of the Theocracy soldiers quickly followed the dark goats, obviously wanting to satisfy their curiosity at seeing the beasts slaughtering them changing course.
At this, Betelgeuse looked at Miia again, coughing into his fist again.
"Ahem. It's your end, heretic! Do you think you can take me and the Dark Young without your metallic dog?!" He shouted victoriously, pointing a finger at Miia. "[Call Thunder]!" He chanted, causing the sky to warp slightly again, and a bolt of lightning to suddenly strike Miia, striking her squarely, even though she looked a little annoyed at the Devil for how he called Echidna.
Betelgeuse would make sure to apologize properly to the Fairy.
Being coated with the Level 7 Electric-type spell, Miia frowned slightly, pretending to grunt as she writhed in supposed pain.
Although she certainly felt discomfort. After all, she still didn't possess immunity to a Level 7 spell, much less from a magic caster like Betelgeuse. Still, between her equipment and magic defense, the damage was minimal, barely taking less than 5% of her HP as a ranged attacker.
Nor was it intended to seriously damage her. After all, even with the intensity of the attack, such as summoning two unfortunate Dark Young, they were ready for an ambush from Riku or any of their companions at any moment.
Miia flopped, stunned by the electricity in her body, falling like a dead bird.
"Hahahahahaha~! Die!" the Archdevil laughed, glancing sideways as the Theocracy soldiers stared at the scene in horror, now trying to defend themselves from the Demons without the immediate fear of the Dark Young...
However...
"Stop right there, Demon!"
A powerful voice echoed out of the blue, causing Betelgeuse to turn his head to the side, trying to see who had arrived.
Only to receive a punch to the face, launching him towards one of the Dark Young, landing in one of its mouths with surprising accuracy.
Fortunately for the mage, the attacker's strength was limited to a slight push, which still caused damage.
The attacker plummeted, lacking an object that allowed him to fly, and appeared out of nowhere in front of Betelgeuse just by jumping.
Miia weakly stood up, looking towards the new present...
"Bulldoger..." She muttered.
"How is this possible!? I received an emergency call from the rear lines about an ambush! Damned cowardly Demons!" He roared like a wild beast as he glared at the Dark Young, one of them thrusting a tentacle into one of its mouths, practically vomiting up the dark-spittle-soaked Demiurge.
"... Ahem." He coughed, activating a flight spell and moving the tentacle away while wiping the saliva off himself. "Another heretic!? Ugh! Never mind! I'm going to kill them all! Instant Defeat!" Betelgeuse chanted at Bulldoger.
However, the Commander tensed… Before letting out a mighty war cry, he began to run like a beast forward, toward the trio of enemies.
"Huh!? Impossible! Her Majesty's spell…!" Betelgeuse looked shocked, almost scared some would say, backing away slightly as the Dark Young advanced, as if trying to interpose themselves between the Commander and his summoner.
"Something like that won't stop me! For I have the blessing of the Goddesses Onyx and Morbius protecting me from the Traitor's blasphemies! Waahhh!" Bulldoger blurted out, not at all inciting the Theocracy soldiers to believe in another pantheon.
"Grrrr! Gahhhh!" Betelgeuse roared furiously before extending his hand toward Bulldoger. "Disappear, filthy rat! [Cyclone]!"
The spectacle- ahem, epic, legendary life-or-death battle had only just begun for the United Army's rear lines.
…
"Hm. That human surprised me a bit." Greed muttered with a smile, looking down at the hairless gorilla fighting like a mindless maniac against the Infernal Protectors, unconcerned about the blades digging into his flesh or the pain each blow inflicted on him.
"..." Pride, true to his name, didn't even deign to comment on the matter, clenching his fist damaged by the human.
Of course, the wound was healing quickly. Even if it was surprising, the damage was still unremarkable, as expected from such an inferior creature. If Pride had treated the human with decent seriousness, even if the human was capable of harming him at the end of the day, said human would have barely been able to cause the slightest lasting damage to the Evil Lord.
After all, the conventional difference between Greed or Pride and the Theocracy's elite, the Black Scripture, was up to about five levels, taking the strongest of the Black Scripture, the Captain, as a reference.
The Extra Seat's strength still needed to be roughly estimated, but that still spoke very little of humanity's heroes.
Even if the 10th Seat, also known as the Strongest Human, had a minimum strength of level 70, their estimated difference with even the weakest of the Evil Lords, Envy, was more than 10 levels, so Pride could very well fight barehanded against the mountain of muscle and still win by a large margin.
But again, the 10th Seat's strength was still something to behold, let alone other members of the Black Scripture.
After all, a clear example was the 11th Seat, who, despite having magic up to level 6, had enough Mana to classify her as level 80.
While they weren't really a threat to even an Evil Lord among the entire Black Scripture, except perhaps for the Extra Seat, they still demonstrated why they were the elite of the Theocracy's elite. There weren't exactly that many Evil Lord-level beings in the entire New World.
Within Titania's estimation, there were perhaps a dozen or so beings who even minimally reached the level of an Evil Lord in the New World. And several such threats were eliminated by Titania's own forces.
A clear example could be seen in the gap that remained in the Great Forest of Tob, or the destruction caused by the Great Rift in the Dwarven Kingdom, or the corresponding chaos and flooding in the Holy Kingdom.
But again, it still proved that, while Titania was at the top of the New World's global powers, they were still not untouchable, and they still had competition.
"How many do you think will die before 'that'?" Pride whispered, causing his companion to grin widely with malicious amusement.
"Shall we bet~?" Greed hummed in an alluring tone, causing the knight to grumble.
"Tch, it's useless to ask you anything." He grunted haughtily.
A barrier stood between the swords of the Infernal Protectors and the tightly packed elite forces of the United Army.
And not long after, dozens of sounds of metal clashing against something resembling a wall were heard.
The Demons pounded and pounded, relentlessly, even though it seemed as if the barrier would never give way, given the lack of cracks.
From inside the barrier, the Captain of the Black Scripture brandished his spear, plunging it into the tanks, along with the 6th Seat and 9th Seat, while Brain quickly went to try to treat the 4th Seat, along with the 5th Seat, and Elise.
After all, to say the girl's condition was serious was an understatement.
But with Elise whimpering in false desperation in an 'attempt' to heal the enormous wound on the woman's chest, and the 5th Seat unsure of what to do... Brain could simply click his tongue, since placing a couple of fingers on the girl's jugular vein made her condition evident.
There was no pulse, after all.
"Damn it!" The 5th Seat growled, his brow furrowing. Of course he was going to be upset and a little scared. They lost three members on the way here alone! Not counting the Hero of the Argland Council.
And among those losses was one capable of reviving almost anyone.
Previously, it would have been said anyone, but due to a certain Demon and a nasty ability of hers, that unquestionable fact proved to be wrong.
And the only one capable of using something like [Raise Dead] wasn't exactly idle, given how he was fighting the armored Demons as best he could.
"Enough." The golden-armored Demon grumbled, gripping his sword firmly. "Time to die, Rats~!" He shouted, before throwing his sword like a spear.
"Don't get so gullible!" 11th tried to show off some of his tenacity, only to suddenly choke, a spray of blood flying from his nostrils as the sword collided with the shield.
It didn't destroy it, but it did crack it noticeably.
Elise almost wanted to laugh, but she just watched tearfully and depressed as 11th collapsed.
After all, it was stupid for a mage who could barely use level 6 spells to use a mana-draining defensive spell to remain indestructible against such a powerful pair of beings.
A single blow from Pride, using a ranged attack as inefficiently as a ranged attack, was enough to shock the girl at the massive reduction in Mana.
"Tch, dispel the shield, 11th. 2nd, support us." The Captain ordered, not wanting to risk another member, with White Orchid nodding as she gripped her staff tightly.
Dizzy and on the verge of fainting, or perhaps having a stroke, she obeyed, collapsing to the ground trembling as the barrier disappeared.
Brain grunted, quickly grabbing his sword, and appearing in front of a Hell Protector.
"[Demon Cutting Slash]!" He shouted, brandishing his rune katana at the Demon.
His weapon pierced the Demonic creature's flesh and armor cleanly. Even the Demon's additional defensive resistance wasn't enough for the martial art specialized in destroying Demons to save him. However, as expected, Brain himself let out a groan at the pain that came from nowhere, as if he himself had received the cut with a dull dagger.
It didn't do much damage overall, but it still hurt, and it was still damage.
To one side, a certain someone remained silent, almost ironic that no one had even deigned to look at her… But he held back a sigh, waiting a little longer…
Greed, smiling slightly, examined each member of the Black Scripture carefully. More specifically, their weapons and equipment…
On the other hand, Pride extended his hand, retrieving his sword, which magically appeared in his grasp.
"I'm done waiting for your deaths, Rats~ Here I go~" Pride laughed, taking a step…
Before practically disappearing in a blur, and appearing behind 6th.
The Paladin barely caught a glimpse of him before receiving a punch to the stomach.
"G-G-Gah!" He spat out blood under the powerful blow, sending him slamming into the shield of a Hell Protector, his bones crunching as it pushed the Demon back.
"6th! Tch..." The Captain snarled, slaying the Hell Protector beside him with a sweep of his spear and stepping back, facing Pride.
"What a bunch of weaklings~ Haha~" The Demon hummed, clutching his face in amusement before looking at Seraiah.
"[Piercing Attack] [Divine Speed] [Spear That Pierces Mountains]" The human chanted earnestly, practically appearing in front of the Demon instantly, his spear facing forward, coated in a sharp white energy.
The Demon swung his sword, its blade interposing itself between the edge of the spear and Pride's chest.
Both weapons collided, and yet, even though it was only a few centimeters, Pride fell back, the spear's white energy ignoring the sword and colliding with the armor…
Pride growled violently before slashing out, causing Seraiah to flinch.
The Evil Lord then swung his sword again, blocking a knife that came from the side.
5th clicked his tongue, stepping back as he now had Pride's attention…
However, the knight's gaze shifted not far from the blond…
"Hiii!" Elise let out a frightened sound, extending her hand toward Pride. "[H-Holy Lan-]!" Her sad words were cut short as she felt a breeze at her back, as Pride disappeared from her line of sight.
"You've had enough, Rats~" The proud Demon's voice came from behind Elise, his sword raised.
The Black Saint could barely look back. Genuinely, she couldn't see his movements, but then again, Elise wasn't a force that could oppose an Evil Lord either.
"Die." The sinister and malicious voice of the Elder Demon sent a chill through 5th's column, while Seraiah leaped toward Elise.
He wasn't going to let her die...
But no matter how many times she told herself that.
Even with her enhanced speed... She wouldn't make it in time...
"Wahhh!" Elise sobbed in terror, not even having the chance to...
And then...
*Shwing*
The sound of a blade slicing through the wind rang out, chilling the blood of even the Demons…
Pride looked up, blinking.
"… Ha?" He muttered, somewhat confused by the sound, for his sword was still raised…
Then, he felt his strength drain from him, staggering slightly to the side, as if struggling to control his body…
Shocked gazes followed him, with even the Infernal Protectors staring in amazement, seeing the Evil Lord appear dizzy and drunk…
A moment later, as if light and reality itself had remembered to show what had happened, a diagonal slash of white energy appeared from the shoulder to the hip of Pride's Evil Lord…
"FOOAHH!" Before a wad of golden blood spewed from the bottom of his helmet, and another wad spurted out of a deep gash on his back and chest, the white gash remaining manifest, as if solid light decided to freeze to show what it had done.
Looking at where the cut supposedly came from, only smoke was seen, no, rising dust… To which the Lord of Greed looked down, seeing from his chest, a white blade protruding, painted with his black blood.
A strong blow from him, using his leg to kick back, caused the weapon to leave his body, even so, with the hook causing enormous damage as it was forced out, causing a huge trail of dust and rocks.
"W-What…?" Seraiah muttered, looking towards the area where Black Abyss must have been, not being able to see her, then looking at the white figure emerging from the smoke… "…" He was stunned seeing her standing… She looked tired, but she was awake…
Seraiah almost fell to his knees, wanting to rest, knowing they were in much better condition now, but he only turned his spear and took it with both hands, while the others also noticed the event, staring at the white-haired woman.
"You…" Greed snarled, before spinning around with his scythe in hand at high speed.
However, even though it was just a narrow escape, the black blade only cut through the wind as the Demon leaped back to avoid the white halberd, clicking his tongue at the gush of black blood that spurted from his mouth and chest.
"WHITE RAT!!" Pride roared, so loud that the nearly unconscious 11th convulsed as a massive demonic aura erupted from the Pride Lord, forcing even Seraiah to take cover.
At this, the white gash on his chest dissipated, leaving only the wound as Pride leaped forward at full speed, even though it looked like a truck running over a bunch of people given the way the Hell Protectors in his path were sent flying.
His diamond sword, which obviously wasn't made from a stick and two small diamonds, ignorant ingrates, slashed violently forward horizontally, utilizing all the G-forces it had from its momentum.
However, even though it was just a narrow escape, the sword ended up colliding with the white handle of a halberd.
Still, the force was enough to knock its wielder back a few whole centimeters.
"Pause." "Uh..." The White Rat said, raising a few question marks in some of the Demons' little heads.
However, all the Demons practically froze in place, obeying their 'enemy'.
"W-What's wrong...?" Brain muttered with a drop of nervousness on his forehead, as did the vast majority of the remaining Scripture.
"What did you do? I want to know before I kill you . There's no way you put me in a coma without anyone helping you." Black Abyss asked, standing up straight and looking directly at Pride.
Pride, who, though it didn't seem like it, wasn't putting the slightest pressure on the Paladin, merely breathing heavily.
However, the one who answered in his place was Greed, laughing loudly.
"Hahahahahaha~! But of course you wouldn't know~! Stupid White Rat~!" The Demon laughed before grabbing his scythe and leaping toward Black Abyss.
The Paladin clicked her tongue, lightly pushing Pride away to block the scythe from plunging into her head.
"Answer me!" The Paladin demanded, before summoning her shield in her other hand and blocking Pride's sword from nearly plunging into her stomach.
"It was the Anti-Coffee!" Greed said proudly, ironically, as the Lord of Pride himself stood beside him.
Three ellipses appeared above the heads of the Black Scripture and Brain.
"The what…?" 2nd muttered.
Of course, no one was paying attention to 10th, who was still smashing Demons like crazy, even if they were still frozen.
"No!" Black Abyss let out a sharp laugh, suddenly pushing both Lords a few feet away from her. "The Anti-Coffee is just a legend!" She exclaimed, placing her shield in front of her and her halberd on top of it, pointing it at them.
"Hahahahaha~! Do you really believe that, White Rat~!?" Greed laughed, gripping his scythe firmly as the Infernal Protectors began to move back.
"Anti…Coffee…?" Brain asked, shifting his position, standing near Elise, who glanced at him.
"I-It's a legend… I-It's said that the Goddess Onyx, o-once drank so much of the sacred beverage that she couldn't sleep a wink… And in response, she created the Anti-Coffee… A substance capable of putting even a God to sleep for millennia… Only to awaken completely at her will…" She said, incredulous and depressed. "B-But that's just a legend… There are no records of the existence of the Anti-Coffee or its formula beyond that tale…"
"It was a legend~!" Pride shouted, much less furious, and began to mock the Paladin. "But Her Majesty managed to get it! Hahahaha~!" The Demon laughed.
"And she plans to put the Goddesses to sleep to destroy them~" The other Evil Lord purred with a malicious smile.
"K-Komodo h-has no D-Divinity or H-Holy power to do so! V-Vile lies!" Elise said angrily to the Lords.
"That's true." Greed admitted with an almost ironically humble smile. "Her Majesty, the Demon Empress, possesses no trace of Divinity or sanctity~"
"That's why, proving how low Her Majesty can stoop, instead of me~ She decided to turn to a third party to obtain the secret formula for the krabb- The Anti-Coffee~" Pride added, before slashing toward Black Abyss, attempting to attack her from the side, but being blocked by the shield.
Black Abyss's phalanx position was difficult to overcome, even for Pride, who had to retreat from Black Abyss's thrusts, leaving space for Greed. He attacked with his Scythe and made Black Abyss duck. The latter kicked the Lord's feet before striking him with a mid-falling thrust, pushing him at high speed and causing him to crash into other Demons. Titania stood up and stepped back, dodging a sword slash from Pride, a droplet on her forehead.
"You seem to have discovered something~" Pride said, placing his sword on his shoulder, seeing Black Abyss somewhat worried for some reason…
"The Theocracy…" She said to Pride, causing the remaining members of the Scripture to look at her at that mention, as little as they could while fighting Demons.
"Hahaha~!" Greed laughed as she stood up from the pile of downed Demons. "Indeed, White Rat~! It's funny~ Her Majesty noted the stupidity you possessed~ But it seems she exaggerated a bit~" The Demon hummed, suddenly appearing behind Black Abyss, slashing and making the Paladin click her tongue at the damage.
Still, Greed didn't take a blow from Black Abyss, but he did take one to his side, delivered with all the might of someone who had practically forgotten about his existence.
"Stop lying!" Seraiah yelled in annoyance, very, very strange considering how he used to be, giving Greed the hardest blow he had yet with his spear, knocking him to the side, landing on his feet without a problem.
"Hahaha~! The Flea Rat is stupider than the White Rat~! Hahahahaha~!" Pride laughed, kicking the distracted Paladin in the shin, making her grunt as she knelt in pain, only to be forced to somersault to avoid the Demon's diamond sword.
"..." Black Abyss said nothing as she stood up, glancing sideways at Seraiah… but still keeping his attention on the high-level Demons.
"I guess those insects who call themselves 'Cardinals' keep some secrets from their elite unit~" Greed laughed, spinning his scythe almost like a fan, positioning himself to face Seraiah. "They saw Her Majesty's power firsthand~ And, intimidated, they agreed to a very generous little deal from the Demon Empress~" The Evil Lord decided to explain, charging toward Seraiah and suddenly changing direction, launching a slash at Black Abyss and slicing her cheek.
If she hadn't seen the feint out of the corner of her eye and positioned her halberd to slightly deflect the attack, she would have lost an eye.
Still, the hook caught the scythe, causing Black Abyss to spin her weapon and inflict a very nasty twist of the wrist on Greed's hand, while she used her shield to slam into his elbow, so hard that it momentarily bent inward.
Seraiah leaped toward Greed, but a powerful fist struck his face from the side, sending him violently to the ground.
Looking up, Pride's sword was rising to pierce through his chest... Ah... He made a very bad move...
Even so, a magical spear of pure holy power pierced Pride's stomach, stopping him from killing the Captain.
"GAHHHHHH! WHITE RAT!" The Demon roared angrily, kicking back and knocking the Paladin off balance, then punched her in the face, knocking her back as he released her halberd, with Greed using the gap to leap at Titania.
She pointed her finger at him, causing it to glow with pure red fire.
"[Greater Fire Cannon]" She released it, and a ball of fire shot out of nowhere, causing so much heat that the surrounding flora withered. While Greed managed to move slightly, he couldn't do much due to the distance it closed. Therefore, the fire attack took his arm with it, burning it and making him grunt, followed by several Demons before beginning to ascend slightly and disappear into the distance.
Of course, the Paladin practically gritted her teeth at the slight HP drop she received from the damage returned by the Infernal Protectors.
Greed looked at his side, seeing his arm and part of his side scorched. He then received a shield blow too strong from the Urielle, throwing him against Pride and colliding with it, being stopped by it.
Pride threw Greed at the Scripture Captain, knocking them both back, before bringing his sword down at the paladin, ramming her against her shield, then slamming again, and again, and again in a cacophony of metallic impacts that forced the Angel into a defensive stance.
"Ha! Ha! You know what's the funniest thing, White Rat~!? Those human insects made the Anti-Coffee for us for nothing! Ha, HAHAHAHAHAHA!" The Lord of Pride laughed like mad, attacking Titania relentlessly, leaving her no room for a counterattack.
Still, he saw her mouth move, as well as chains appearing in her hand, attached to Pride's, with Black Abyss suddenly leaping up and taking him with her, pulling him up with her, spinning him in the air and slamming Greed into him, and with a scream, launching him at speeds far exceeding the speed of sound toward the Demons, colliding with them and sending Pride hundreds of meters away in a line of destruction on the ground, just as Greed had been sent by the blow, albeit to a lesser extent.
… There was a slight, awkward silence as the Demons rose, with Black Abyss turning to look at Seraiah, who was getting up in pain.
"W-What were you talking about...?" The Captain growled, his eyes almost bulging with anger, but noticeably calmer than he could have been, showing that, even if he had lost some of his calm and cool composure, he still had some self-control.
Black Abyss stared at him for a moment longer…
"The reason I fell asleep… Your kingdom created it and gave it to those things, to Komodo. A power that even knocked me out." Black Abyss said seriously to him…
"That's impossible! The Theocracy would never do such a thi-!" Seraiah lashed out violently, refusing to accept it, however, he was interrupted by Titania, who narrowly managed to deflect Greed's scythe, only to have her ankle slashed by Pride.
"Agh!" the Angel complained.
"Believe it, Flea Rat! Your leaders betrayed you for a promise of humanity's prevalence~! Hahahaha~!" Pride sneered, stepping back to avoid the Captain's spear while Greed blocked the Paladin's halberd.
"LIES!" The Captain shouted. "[GODLY DEATH]!" He roared, his spear shining gold, as, with overwhelming speed, he charged at the Golden Demon…
Surprisingly, despite everything the previous interactions had shown, the attack worked.
"Ah." The Evil Lord blurted out, seeing the spear piercing his chest.
A second later, Seraiah violently withdrew his spear… And Pride collapsed instantly, to the dismay of Greed and Titania herself.
The Evil Lord of Pride turned to glittering dust instead of leaving a corpse.
("He killed him… The son of a bitch managed to kill him…") The Paladin thought, more nervous than happy for it…
However, showing the effort required by such apparent skill, or martial art, Seraiah seemed to lose all his strength, before fainting, trembling.
The Paladin and the Lord of Greed looked at the Captain… And Greed reacted as quickly as he could.
"[Claim War Trophy]" He chanted, with Seraiah's loose spear suddenly floating toward the Demon's hand.
Then, the Lord of Greed's wings spread, flapping as he moved away from the still-surprised Paladin.
That... He'd taken her weapon using his Lord of Greed's special ability... It was very good...
Black Abyss looked back at the fading dust, before looking at Seraiah, and then at the retreating Demons...
These guys... They did a great job... The Lords, that is.
"Retreat." He ordered immediately, vanishing his scythe and thrusting his spear somewhere, aiming at the muscular giant. "[Claim War Trophies]"
After that, the 10th Seat, standing in its entirety and foaming at the mouth as it seemed about to lower its weapons at any moment, was left completely naked and unarmed, while its corpse, static and standing despite having died several minutes ago, did not flinch, having been ignored by the Demons once they confirmed that he simply… Died standing up.
"..." The Demon looked at the group, before smiling, showing its sharp teeth. "Don't get too confident~ Pride did what was expected of it~ But we have much more prepared for you, Rats~ I hope you missed your Rat friends~ Haha~" He hummed, improvising a bit.
And with that done, the Lord of Greed practically disappeared, while the Infernal Protectors began to raise their shields forward and retreat rapidly, disappearing among the trees and the smoke blackened by the pulverized coal…
Brain gasped, his knees shaking…
Not only had it required him to expend a lot of stamina and energy to move with all his might and use martial arts nonstop, but every blow he made made him feel pain…
White Orchid leaned on his hands against the ground, looking at the unconscious Captain, and trying to crawl towards him. The 9th Seat gasped, dragging her feet quickly toward the 10th Seat's corpse, praying to the Gods that he wasn't truly dead…
On the other hand, to the Saint's dismay, Elise spent her time vaguely healing the 6th Seat from his injuries from the Lord of Pride while the 5th Seat sat wearily over the corpse of one of his two Basilisks… Only the other survived, but it had one less eye.
And finally, the 11th Seat allowed himself to faint as well, having served as magical support to the best of his ability, having barely recovered from his massive damage due to the stress of losing so much Mana at once from a potion given to him by the 5th Seat.
To say they barely survived was an understatement…
Titania sighed, allowing herself to sit up as she panted, looking through Pride's ashes again…
She saw the glass bottle containing a clear liquid that anyone would mistake for water…
She took it, clicking her tongue, knowing what Pride was going to do with it…
However, she put that out of her mind, putting the bottle back in her inventory as she looked at the elite unit.
Not really tired, just… Somewhat surprised and annoyed, she stood up.
With false effort, the Paladin raised her halberd to the reddish sky.
"We have eliminated one of Komodo's Generals." She reported, as if explaining the results of the entire engagement. "However, now Komodo knows that I have overcome the effects of the Anti-Coffee, and that we are heading her way. She will most likely withdraw all her forces and concentrate them around her base of operations… It will be difficult… And we have lost good men… But we will triumph. Because good will always conquer evil." As if giving an inspirational speech, the Paladin spoke with a soft, calm tone… Remarkably serious at the same time.
With determination, grief, fury, annoyance, exhaustion, and sadness… The survivors of the battle… Those conscious at least, could only look down or at Titania…
It was a tough fight… But they still prevailed.
"We will not let the dead down…" Elise murmured sobbingly, looking down at the 4th Seat's corpse.
"T-Tch…" The 6th Seat growled, reaching out a hand despite being in a state that barely allowed him to move, and grabbing Lucilla's cold hand…
The Paladin nodded, lowering her halberd, and looking back at the path they had to follow…
On the other hand, she looked back at the Black Scripture.
"... I'll have to ask you some questions about the Cardinals…" She murmured seriously, causing the humans to stare with clear defiance, confusion, fear, and almost an existential crisis…
…
Far from a tragic scene, in a room practically exclusive to the highest figures of power in the nation of the Six Great Gods, a collective sneeze struck the seven figures present.
"Huh? What a coincidence…" Raymond muttered.
"That was weird…" Berenice nodded.
"I feel like someone's talking bad about me…" Dominic grumbled.
"Especially weird for me…" Maximilian grunted, looking at one of his rings.
"Enough. We're all stressed and worried, that must be it." Yvon sighed.
"No news from the Elite Unit or the Extra Seat…" Zinedine whispered worriedly…
"And according to the Captain of the Poppy Scripture, there's no news from Titania either from Deorum Regnum… It seems there's a major plot behind the scenes…" Maximus, the Pontifex, muttered.
"Hmm… Do you think it's Komodo's doing?" Berenice asked. "It's not a remote possibility that he has some special unit seeking to delay our communications."
"You're right there, Berenice. It's a possibility…" Maximilian nodded.
"Or those heretics are simply depriving us of information." The Cardinal of the Wind grumbled again.
"Ha, enough, Dominic." Raymond sighed, tired of his companion's antics.
"Ugh, I'm too old for a war on this scale…" Zinedine sighed, clutching his head.
"I think we all are." Yvon added, a little amused. Despite the great tension of the entire situation, the Cardinals allowed themselves a small laugh together…
Even in these moments… No, it's precisely in these kinds of situations that even the smallest of smiles can clear one's mind and reassure one that there is still hope.
And with the atmosphere slightly calmer, the serene seriousness returned.
"So, regarding the supplies to the United Army…" Berenice began to speak.
There were no shortage of problems and arguments the Theocracy had to deal with…
And when the report of what happened to the United Army arrived, and even more so when they learned about what happened to the Black Scripture… They would have a lot more trouble on their hands…
…
"Ugh… Damn dirty old men…" A young woman grunted, walking through the dark tunnels while looking at the map in her hand. "If you're not going to say a word, then I'll do whatever I want." The black-and-white-haired girl muttered with noticeable annoyance, finding herself at a dead end for the second time.
However, unlike the previous time, this end of the path wasn't supposed to exist…
And judging by the way the 'wall' in front of her consisted of snow and rocks, it was obvious that something more than a mere collapse had happened.
After all, the tunnel would still have to be several meters beneath the mountain rock for a mere cave-in to have allowed the snow to enter.
Thus, with a small vein popping out on her temple, the girl clenched a fist and punched the wall.
A powerful explosion of snow and dust erupted from outside, as Zesshi Zetsumei made her own way out.
"Ha... Finally." She rolled her eyes, finally emerging from the labyrinth of caves.
However, the ground began to shake, causing the Half-Elf to look around...
Then she looked back up at the mountaintop...
"... Shit." She spat, watching as an avalanche, unbeknownst to her, the second one, was coming toward her.
Another vein popped out on her temple as she easily imagined that sleeve of wrinkled children saying to her: "Take it for the sake of humanity."
A second voice came, saying: "Mudblood."
And a third voice appeared, saying: "Ow! My bunions!"
Then she heard the voice of a cow with a flower on her head: "It wasn't a mooooood idea to ride that giant bull!"
Although that last bit was just a memory of that time she hit her head really hard after trying to ride a bull.
An imaginary blow made her click her tongue, easily imagining that wrinkled little boy looking at her with a smile. "Don't get distracted by nonsense. You're better than that."
Ugh, how annoying…
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Name: Pride
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