Chapter 293: This Is the End (1)

A follower of the Church of Love standing on the battlement fell to the ground, clutching his chest. Seeing their comrade fall suddenly, the believers thought he must have been hit by an arrow. Another believer who was blocking the temple's main gate and drawing his bowstring also grabbed his chest and fell to the ground in the same way. The number of believers rolling on the ground slowly increased like that, one by one. The knight order noticed the anomaly faster than the maddened followers of the Church of Love.

The follower of the Church of Love who fell between the spears rolled on the ground with a disheveled appearance before his muscles convulsed and he began having a seizure. Seeing him quiver like a gas tank about to explode, the soldiers were startled and began stepping back. The soldiers trying to charge forward clashed with those retreating in fear, causing momentary chaos on the battlefield.

Only then did the followers of the Church of Love notice the anomaly happening to their bodies. It wasn't until a comrade who was doing nothing, and a comrade who had been eagerly running forward with a spear from behind, collapsed clutching their chests that they realized something was going strangely wrong. As if a plague had spread across the entire battlefield, all the followers of the Church of Love began clutching their chests and having seizures. Faced with this unexpected situation, even the veteran commander Albus didn't know how to respond and withdrew his troops for the time being.

In front of the military that had retreated thirty paces, believers could be seen collapsed everywhere, screaming and appealing in pain. James, who had been ruthlessly cutting down the followers of the Church of Love at the vanguard, only came to his senses after being dragged back by other soldiers and asked Albus.

"Father. What is happening?"

"I don't know. What on earth is going on..."

Albus shook his head and placed the soldiers with shields at the front. The soldiers firmly blocked the bay-shaped entrance of the Temple of Love in a straight line. When Albus raised his hand again behind the tightly packed shields, spears thrust forward and aimed at the followers of the Church of Love. In that state, Albus began to advance slowly once more.

"Kuaaaaagh!"

"Euaaaaaak!"

"Grrrgkh... kugh!"

The appearance of the Church of Love followers was not normal. The closer he looked, the clearer it became. Albus, who approached a little closer and saw them having seizures, once again ordered the soldiers to halt their advance. It was because he couldn't figure out what the situation was. It could be that some powerful magic prepared by the Church of Love had activated incorrectly, or a plague had spread. Those followers of the Church of Love who were seizing could suddenly rise and attack, leading to a chaotic melee. Albus wanted to observe the situation.

Then, the first follower of the Church of Love who had collapsed raised his head again. Horns began to sprout on a face where blood vessels bulged bizarrely. Muscle mass built up on his thin arms, and his human flesh tore as it couldn't withstand his increasingly growing mouth. Terrifyingly large fangs hung from a massively developed jaw. Albus hastily commanded.

"Charge! Attack! We have to kill those bastards before they all transform!"

"Roaaar!"

The follower of the Church of Love, fully transformed into a demon, charged first. The soldiers in their square formation hid behind their shields and thrust out their spears. Disregarding being stabbed by the spears, the charging follower of the Church of Love crushed a part of the square formation with pure physical strength. As a corner of the square formation tilted due to a single demon, the entire formation began to slant. At the same time, the collapsed followers of the Church of Love began to rise one by one in the form of demons.

On top of the square formation that was on the verge of collapsing, a demon that had been stabbed dozens of times by spears until it looked like a beehive fell. When they pushed back the heavy weight of the demon, other demons began to charge ignorantly. The square formation started to distort under the charge that disregarded life and death. Corpses piled up on the square formation that had met the initial charge, and the demons trampled over those corpses to rise again and crush the soldiers. Before they could even clear away the demon corpses blocked by their spears, other demons threw their bodies at the soldiers, beginning to break the formation.

"Uwaaaagh!"

A soldier's head fell in front of Albus with a Thud! The head of the soldier, wearing a helmet and an expression of shock, rolled across the ground and brushed against his horse's hooves. The terrified soldiers stealthily stepped back to escape to the rear. Albus drew his sword and shouted.

"Do not run away! If we retreat here, our rear will be in danger!"

In the rear, the clerics and nuns of the Archdeity Church were tending to the wounded. If they were breached here, the demons would definitely head straight for that place. Albus gripped his sword tightly and dashed forward. James raised his sword high and shouted.

"For Mila!"

Then he leaped into the midst of the demons and began swinging his sword. The knights followed behind Albus and James, rushing toward the demons. Two knights teamed up to push back a demon they couldn't handle alone, stabbing its vitals to neutralize it. The demons that had been beating the soldiers to death clashed with the knights, maintaining a taut balance.

Then, a loud roar echoed from the direction of the temple's main gate, and two demons shot up into the sky. At the corner of the temple, three demons turned into minced meat and rolled across the ground. Eve swung her sword through the empty air to flick off the blood and was dumbfounded by the dizzying sight unfolding around her.

"What the fuck."

The followers of the Church of Love were nowhere to be found, and horned beasts were roaring, scratching the walls, and charging forward to catch and kill the knight order. Eve ripped out the spine of a demon that showed its back to her while simultaneously driving her sword into the side of another. The demon whose lungs were pierced let out a bizarre sound and fell to its knees.

In another direction, Elsi was slashing down demons with an indifferent face. The demons touched by her claws were sliced apart like scraps of paper. However, there were far more demons remaining than the ones they were cutting down. While quickly scanning her surroundings, Elsi spotted Eve cutting down enemies with an anxious face.

"Mermaid!"

Instinctively raising her sword at the shout calling her, Eve checked Elsi's face and hastily moved locations. Meeting Elsi at the main gate of the temple, Eve interrogated her about Lucius.

"Y-You! Are you alone? Where is my groom? And the hero?"

"I don't know. We got separated too. Wasn't he with you, Mermaid?"

Eve clicked her tongue and looked back at the temple. Just what on earth was happening inside? Was Lucius safe? Eve clutched her sword tightly and looked back and forth between the demons and the temple. Elsi asked.

"Mermaid. What should we do? Do we need to go in and help?"

Eve trembled as she looked at the temple once more. If the head of the church had won, it would be normal for him to have come out carrying corpses by now. However, seeing no signs of that, there was a high probability that these demons were the head of the church's last resort. It was just a guess, though.

"We..."

"What are you going to do, Mermaid? You have to decide quickly."

Elsi urged. One by one, the demons caught the scent of blood and began to turn around. The demons that hadn't yet joined the battle against the knight order and those that had belatedly rushed out from inside the temple bared their fangs at Eve and Elsi. Elsi stomped her feet impatiently as she looked at Eve.

One of the demons swung its heavy arm and lunged at Eve. At the exact same time Elsi shredded the demon lunging at Eve into pieces, Eve cut the demons flying at them from behind in half. Eve flicked her sword clean and spoke.

"...Our goal was to minimize casualties, right?"

"...That's right."

"Then we have to trust my groom. Don't we?"

Elsi smiled and nodded her head. Eve looked at the temple once more before charging at the demons. As Eve and Elsi suddenly ambushed them from the rear, the war situation was tilting in an unexpected direction.

****

"The battlefield is noisy."

During their rest time. Soya, who was sipping water next to Sieri, spoke. Sieri nodded and looked toward the battlefield with a worried face. The battlefield growing noisy meant that the fierce battle was reaching its climax. Reaching its climax meant that the result would be out soon, which also meant that Sieri and Soya would have to face Lucius.

"Ah, what on earth is My Lord going to say..."

He would definitely be angry. Soya already felt her future looked bleak. It was because she could predict exactly what Lucius would say.

Soya. I told you to keep a close eye on Sieri, didn't I? So why is Sieri here?

"Ugh..."

Soya let out a groaning sound and looked to her side. Sieri's face was pale. Soya internally wondered if Sieri was having the same thoughts as her, but then figured she was just worrying about Lucius and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Ms. Sieri, you don't have to worry so much..."

"Ah... ah..."

But Sieri's condition was strange. She trembled violently like a leaf and suddenly dropped to her knees on the ground. Pitch-black veins began to bulge on her pale face. With a shocked face, Soya grabbed her and shouted.

"M-Ms. Sieri?"

"Ah, aheu... ah... aaht...! Ugh...!"

"Ms. Sieri. What's wrong? Huh?"

"What's going on?"

One of the priests from the Archdeity Church approached and examined Sieri's condition. Veins jutting out all the way down to her arms and a roughened breathing sound. The priest of the Archdeity Church merely broke out in a cold sweat at her unidentifiable seizure. Sieri clutched her head as if it were about to break and let out a scream.

"Ah... aaaagh! Kyaaaaagh!"

"Calm down! Over here! We need some people...!"

The moment the priest grabbed her clothes to calm her down, Sieri's hand clamped down on his collar. With a strength that was unbelievable for the frail girl, she lifted the priest into the air and threw him toward a bed.

"Uwaaaagh!"

The priest rolled on the ground, bringing down the tent. Thanks to Soya hastily casting magic, the priest was spared the shock and stared at Sieri with a dumbfounded face. Sieri tightly gripped her arm and spoke.

"Ms. Sieri? What's wrong? Huh? Huh?"

"Ah... aaaagh...! Ah, it hurts...!"

Sieri screamed as she burst into tears. At the same time, the back of her priest's robe began to bulge and swell. A shape suddenly jutted out as if something was growing, eventually tearing through her clothes to reveal its true form. Sharp horns, a thin membrane, and a menacing dark-red skeleton came into view. Resembling bat wings while harboring a bloody aura, they were unmistakably the wings of a demon.

A scream burst from the mouth of the priest who had collapsed.

"It's a demon! There's a demon here!"

"Mage! Call a mage!"

Soya's face turned completely pale. At the same time, Sieri clutched her head and screamed.

"Aaaaagh!"

Inside her mind, memories were overflowing. Memories were constantly surging in.