Ch.110Burning Square

Marcus fell to the ground, and immediately the standard-bearer rushed over to remove the blade embedded in his body.

Fortunately, there was no poison applied to the weapon, and the Grand Sovereign’s sacred body remained unharmed thanks to the cloth armor he had worn in preparation for any unexpected attacks.

“Your Majesty. Are you alright?”

“I… I am fine.”

Aside from being startled by the sudden knife attack and falling over, the Grand Sovereign’s body was unharmed, which proved that the protective barrier was still intact.

“ARGHHHH! Let me go!”

Below the platform, knights were restraining the would-be assassin who was thrashing about wildly.

He was resisting so violently that even though two sturdy knights were holding him down, it seemed like he might break free at any moment. Seeing this, the standard-bearer, concerned, left the Sovereign in the care of his subordinates and went down to assist.

“You men, support His Majesty.”

“Yes, sir!”

When the standard-bearer went down and removed the robe of the would-be assassin being restrained by the knights, it revealed, as he had suspected, a repulsive figure with dark red veins protruding all over—unmistakable evidence of a cultist.

“A heretic!”

Upon the standard-bearer’s declaration, one of the knights restraining him quickly drew a dagger and plunged it into the cultist’s head.

“How dare this vile heretic attempt to assassinate His Majesty!”

There was no time to gather information or conduct interrogations.

Heretics never, ever acted alone.

Heretic.

Cultist.

The weight these words carried in this world was far heavier than on Earth.

He had tried to kill the Sovereign, to kill Fahrenheit.

Despite his caution in concealing a throwing knife, his emotions got the better of him, and he failed to achieve his goal. But if that blade had struck a vital point like the face or neck, Fahrenheit would have started down the path to destruction that very day.

“Seal off the area! No one in this square is to leave! You men, escort His Majesty back to the palace immediately! Hurry!”

“Yes, Standard-Bearer! Your Majesty, this way…!”

The situation reversed in an instant.

The number of people who had been listening to his inflammatory speech in the square was not insignificant.

“N-no! I’m not a heretic! I’m a victim too!”

“If you wish to prove your innocence, stay still! The priests will be here soon!”

Though he said this, the standard-bearer’s back was growing damp with sweat.

No one could guarantee how cooperative the priests would be, especially after they had clearly witnessed these cultists burning children alive.

After about 30 minutes had passed… when the purple hoods of the approaching priests became visible, the heretics hidden among the crowd began to reveal their true colors, gritting their teeth.

“Death to the false sovereigns! The city must fall!”

“The time for martyrdom has come! Followers, take up arms!”

Shing! Shring!

As the cold sound of swords being drawn from their scabbards rang out, the citizens’ shock at realizing they had been manipulated by heretics all this time exploded into panic, and people began to flee wildly, breaking through the knights’ control.

“Damn it! Release the cordon! There are heretics mixing in with the citizens! Pursue and exterminate them!”

“Yes, sir!”

The standard-bearer was dismayed at the loss of control, but with too few knights to maintain order anyway, he simply ordered them to abandon the cordon and pursue and eliminate the fleeing heretics.

Just then, hundreds of priests arrived, heavily armed with chain mail and maces. Seeing the cultists engaged in fierce battle with the knights, the Cardinal, his face contorted with rage to a degree one wouldn’t think humanly possible, ordered his priests:

“These heretics are the ones who burned innocent children alive! In the name of the angels! In the name of human decency! Show no mercy!!”

“BURN THE HERETICS!!!!”

The priests, who vividly remembered how innocent people had been trampled to death by the incited mobs, raised their maces while offering prayers to the angels.

Soon, the angels answered their prayers, blessing their maces with a brilliant white light. The cultists struck directly by these weapons were literally disintegrated at the atomic level and dragged before the angels’ tribunal.

“Slaves of the oppressor angels!”

“Heretics who sold their souls to demons!!! I will purify you all! Great Archangel of Courage! Grant me strength!”

The servants of angels invoked blessings, while the slaves of demons spewed curses.

Eventually, the apprentices and wizards from the magic tower, having assessed the situation, also joined the battle, unleashing spells against the heretics. Meanwhile, soldiers, realizing the nation was on the brink of collapse, quickly regained their senses, armed themselves hastily from the armory, and rushed toward the square.

“You bastards! After being played by heretical incitement, you dare claim to fight for the nation?!”

The knights hurled insults, overcome with resentment, but in this crisis where they needed all the help they could get, they couldn’t refuse the army’s assistance.

“We will accept punishment under military law! Please allow us to atone for our sins now!”

“Ordinarily, you would all be beheaded, but given the urgency of the situation, I’ll let you earn merit first! Block the main routes, hunt down the heretics, and kill them! The priests will assist you!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Let’s hurry! We must catch them before they blend in!”

The thousands of soldiers who had gathered were quickly joined by priests as they rushed to block the main routes leading to the square.

Ironically, because the country had been in shambles for the past few years, the streets were littered with garbage and filth, which made it easier to build barricades and control the flow of citizens.

“You there! Show your face!”

“Damn it! Die!”

“I’ll make you die!!”

CRACK!

“ARGHH!”

Fortunately, identifying the heretics wasn’t particularly difficult.

With priests acting as living detectors and the heretics mostly armed with short swords or blunt weapons to avoid detection, they were no match for soldiers equipped with longswords, spears, and armor.

However…

“Grrrr…!”

“Wh-what?!”

“ARGHHHH!”

“Light of the angels!”

“KYAAAAA!!!”

Those who had abandoned their humanity didn’t die easily from wounds that would kill normal humans, so the assistance of priests was essential to truly eliminate them.

Seeing the fate of heretics who had lost their human form and degenerated into meaningless masses of flesh, citizens became even more terrified and hurried their steps, while the heretics’ attacks grew increasingly fierce.

“Death to the slaves of the false sovereign! Offer your souls to Him!”

“Ascension…!!! Ascension…!!! Ascension…!!!”

The number of those who had become slaves to evil gods, with their grotesquely twisted appearances, exceeded hundreds of thousands. The citizens of Fahrenheit, trying to ignore the fact that they had unwittingly been handing over their nation to heretics, began retreating to the relative safety of their homes.

This wasn’t particularly strange. Countless nations had fallen this way.

Like parasites controlling their hosts to be deliberately eaten by predators to increase their numbers, the heretics’ methods were predictable, but that made them all the more easy to fall for.

The complacent belief that one couldn’t be deceived because one knew all the tricks was precisely the shadow in which heretics could hide…

“Do not fall for the deceptions of evil gods! The angels are with us!”

“Send the heretics to the angels’ court! The archangels’ judgment shall fall upon them!”

In the square that had instantly become a battlefield, priests were physically threshing the heads of heretics with their maces, venting the frustration they had endured, while at the city’s main routes, soldiers desperately held back the grotesquely mutated heretical forces with spears and arrows.

The crisis had erupted so suddenly that everything was in short supply—resources, manpower, weapons, information—everything.

The only fortunate aspect, if it could be called that, was that one of the heretics had lost control and thrown a knife at the Grand Sovereign, causing the situation to escalate before the heretics were fully prepared for their uprising.

If they had made thorough preparations and gradually manipulated Fahrenheit until a second great war broke out… Fahrenheit might have gone down in history as the worst nation in the north, controlled by heretics for hundreds of years and suffering pointless casualties.

“Damn it…! Hold back the cultists! If we break, it’s over! You men, go gather the reserves!”

“Understood!”

“Priest! One more area healing, please!”

“We beseech the merciful Archangel in heaven…”

Just one day.

It took just one day.

Hatred and anger accumulated over years transformed into betrayal, and that betrayal into humiliation—all in a single day.

In Fahrenheit’s 324-year history, there has never been a day more humiliating than today, nor will there ever be.

That is, if there is a tomorrow at all.