episode_0224

The Children of Light Finally Meet

Five minutes had passed since the Divine Annihilation War began. In those five minutes, a great deal had happened. The resistance fighters protected each other, launching attacks against the cult. The cult, unlike the resistance, did not protect their comrades, treating them like expendable items, and thus suffered under the resistance’s assault. However, proving that the cult had been an organization for a long time, the number of its followers was far greater than expected. Because of this, the resistance fighters’ numbers were also dwindling, nearly matching the cult’s ratio. The battle could have ended in a stalemate, but… a new variable emerged for the resistance.

“Gah!”

“Crazy… what in the world is that kid…!! Aaaaargh!”

It was the appearance of Jervell, one of the Children of Light. At Jervell’s sudden arrival, all the resistance fighters were startled and began falling one by one to his sword. The resistance fighters, who had underestimated his power, thinking him a mere child, allowed Jervell’s surprise attack due to their carelessness, and many of them began to be defeated by him. However, the cult’s threat did not end there.

“Ugh…!! What is this guy…?! He’s not being pushed back at all against all five of us…!!”

“Damn it… how is he blocking the swords of all five of us with just one spear!!!”

“Your profane swords, devoid of His blessing… cannot defeat my spear, which has received holy favor!!!”

Adoleth, another member of the Children of Light, blocked the swords of no less than five people at once, then pushed their blades away, deflecting them. After that, he quickly stabbed them one by one with his spear, bringing them down. As the Children of Light fully commenced their activities, the resistance fighters began to fall one by one. No matter how much they tried to protect each other, they were helpless against the attacks of the Children of Light amidst the cultists. As screams from the resistance fighters began to echo around her, Cecilia blasted a mass of black magic from her hand, striking a cultist rushing towards her in the abdomen, felling him, and then looked perplexed.

“What is this…? I’m sensing power on a completely different level than the others… Could it be the cult’s greatest force…?”

“Ah… you are the demon. I was truly greatly surprised when I heard from other cultists that there was still a demon here.”

“….!! I feel immense power… Though it seems a bit weaker than Aria’s… who are you…?”

Cecilia, seeing the saintess Remie standing before her, clad in silver armor and holding a sword and shield in both hands, emitted magic from her own hands and asked, warily. At Cecilia’s question, Remie smiled from her shadowed face and spoke to Cecilia.

“There is no reason to tell my noble name to a filthy creature like you… However, acknowledging that you had the courage to come this far, I shall specially inform you. I am Remie, a member of the Children of Light. I possess a distinctly different power than any cultist you have faced so far.”

“Children of Light? Ah… so you are the cultists with distinctly different power that were mentioned by the others before? Well… it seems I’ve stumbled upon a major opponent…”

“There’s no need to be nervous, demon. You will be utterly defeated by me anyway…”

“We’ll see about that!!”

As Cecilia tensed up, realizing she was facing such a formidable opponent, Remie chuckled and told Cecilia not to be nervous, as she would be utterly defeated anyway. Slightly provoked by this, Cecilia blasted masses of magic from both hands, attacking Remie. Remie blocked Cecilia’s incoming magic blasts with her shield, then immediately raised her shield and began rushing towards Cecilia. Cecilia, in turn, spread her wings, leaping backward and speaking.

“It seems I can’t win with attacks like this? Then, before your sword reaches me, I’ll try another attack…”

“Who said I’d swing a sword, vile creature.”

“….!!”

As Cecilia anticipated Remie would swing a sword, Remie held her shield up, pointing it towards Cecilia, who was airborne. As the emblem engraved on Remie’s shield began to glow, Cecilia felt an ominous premonition, but it was already too late. The moment the emblem on Remie’s shield shone, a powerful shockwave began to spread throughout Remie’s vicinity. Cecilia, exposed to the shockwave, was impacted and sent flying backward. Remie then quickly rushed towards the recoiling Cecilia and struck her directly in the face with her shield, sending her flying back even harder. Cecilia, having sustained significant injuries from Remie, crashed against a rock and collapsed on the spot. She coughed up blood and slowly began to get up.

“Gasp… gasp…. What… what kind of person is this…. Unlike anyone I’ve met so far…”

“The Glow of the Holy Ring hasn’t even activated yet, and you’re already in such a pathetic state… A vile being truly cannot withstand His light.”

“….!!! Th-this can’t be….!!”

As Remie suddenly approached her and raised her sword to strike, Cecilia, sensing her imminent death, squeezed her eyes shut. At that very moment, a box suddenly flew from somewhere, striking Remie in the face. Simultaneously, a giant magical beast in the form of a bear appeared behind Cecilia and swung its arm, sending Remie, who had bounced off the box, flying sideways. Rapien then emerged from the box and smiled at Cecilia, speaking.

“Are you hurt anywhere, Cecilia? Dio V Runner-nim told me to deliver this if anyone was injured, you see? Here!”

“Huh? This is clearly… a Healing Stone…!! My wounds…!!”

As Rapien revealed her upper body from the box and threw a green gem to her, Cecilia caught the gem and immediately recognized it as a Healing Stone. The Healing Stone then turned gray, and her wounds quickly began to heal. Cecilia was startled and let out an awkward laugh as she spoke.

“This… is an otherworldly item that puts an enormous strain on the body later… but I guess there’s no choice… Anyway, thanks to you, I’m alive! Thank you, Rapien. Hehe.”

“It’s nothing….!!”

“….!! Graaaahhh!!”

Cecilia, knowing that using the Healing Stone would put an enormous strain on her body later, was nonetheless grateful that her body had recovered given the circumstances, and thanked Rapien for saving her. At that moment, the bear-shaped magical beast discovered something and frantically roared, beginning to charge. Then, as if struck by something, it was sent flying sideways. Cecilia and Rapien then saw Remie deflect the beast with her shield and approach them, nodding her head, so they hastily began to become wary of Remie again. Remie looked at Rapien, who had saved Cecilia, and let out a scoff, speaking.

“Magical beasts… horrible monsters created to ravage the world… They should act according to their purpose… Ha… to think they’re helping these heretics. In another sense, they are ravaging the world.”

“It’s not us who are ravaging the world, it’s you!! And you’re saying such things without even knowing that your leader, Camilla, manipulated us to threaten this world?!”

“If she truly did such a thing, there would be a reason. And because I believe that reason is noble and just, I do not doubt my light. Anyway… a demon and a magical beast… it’s truly fortunate that the things I detest are gathered in one place. I can kill them all at once…”

Remie showed absolute blind faith towards Camilla, believing that there must be a reason why Camilla made the magical beasts ferocious and threatened the world, and that this reason was noble. At her words, Cecilia and Rapien were astonished to see Remie’s bewilderingly blind faith in everything Camilla did.

“Does that saintess know that her emotions are being manipulated right now…? Or was she like that from the start…?”

“I don’t know that, but… it seems even more serious than Viola’s past self…. By the way, can you fight in that form, Rapien? If you can’t…”

“Hehehe… Cecilia-nim. You shouldn’t disregard my body just because it’s a box like this. Because this box itself is me, and this form is also me… I can even do things like this!!”

“Things like that? What do you mean….?! Whooooa!?”

“…..?”

As Rapien declared she was doing something and entered the box, Cecilia tilted her head, curious about what Rapien could do. At that moment, Rapien’s box suddenly began to quake, then transformed into a blue, viscous fluid. The fluid then began to change into the form of an armored woman, and Rapien fully transformed into a human woman clad in silver armor, speaking to Cecilia.

“See? I can make the box itself mimic other forms, right? And I can even turn bone-like substances into swords and armor!”

“….Next time, at least give me a heads-up…. I’m sorry to say this, but… I almost felt nauseous…”

“Huh?! What do you mean….”

“Perhaps because it’s a magical beast… it truly has a more disgusting trick…. This won’t do. If I keep letting this happen, my eyes will rot first….!!”

Cecilia, having watched Rapien’s transformation process, genuinely deadpanned that she had almost felt nauseous. Rapien, perhaps feeling hurt, was about to retort with a crestfallen expression. However, Remie, who had also watched Rapien’s transformation like Cecilia, felt disgust and quickly rushed towards Rapien. Rapien, sensing Remie’s movement, turned her body and blocked Remie’s sword with her own, shouting.

“Aren’t you two being too much?! Can’t you just accept that I’m also a living being like this!!!”

‘….?! This one… how can she block my sword, imbued with His blessing, so easily….!?’

“Alright, alright!!! Anyway, let’s focus on defeating this saintess for now!!!”

“These disgusting creatures….!!”

Remie, who was flustered that Rapien had blocked her sword, felt disgusted by Cecilia’s shout to defeat her, and began to put more strength into the hand holding her sword. While Cecilia and Rapien were clashing with Remie, Protega continued to unleash his energy with other dragons, attacking the temple. However, when the high-ranking cultists in front of the temple gathered their strength and shot down their energy with beams of light, the Red Dragon next to Protega gnashed its teeth, enraged.

“Those damn cultists keep shooting down our attacks…?! This feels like a huge blow to our pride, Protega-nim!!”

“Damn it… perhaps because there are also members of our Dragon race among them, they’re certainly good at shooting down our attacks…. But don’t charge forward with your bodies!! That’s nothing short of suicide!!!”

“This is truly fascinating. To see the proud Dragon race being so cautious instead of disdaining us…”

“….!!!”

The moment Protega warned the other dragons not to charge forward with their bodies, Shalev, who was flying higher than the dragons, approaching them with his eyes closed, heard Protega’s words and was surprised by the dragons’ cautious movements. Simultaneously, he unfolded the holy scripture in his hand and created a massive circular formation of light behind him. Protega sensed the energy emanating from the formation and, seeing it tilted downwards towards him, realized that Shalev was targeting him.

“How dare a mere cultist look down on me from above…!!”

“It seems you still have your pride, after all. Now then… will you be able to avoid my attack?”

“Ha…!! I’ll dodge such an obvious attack….!!!”

When Shalev asked if he could avoid his attack, Protega scoffed, about to say he would dodge such an obvious attack of Shalev’s. However, realizing that if he dodged, the resistance fighters fighting on the ground might be hit by the beam that Shalev was expected to unleash, Protega flinched. He did not avoid the beam emitted from the circular formation created behind Shalev; instead, he held flames in his mouth and breathed fire back, countering it. Shalev then spoke, surprised that Protega had not dodged his attack.

“This… I didn’t expect this. To counter my attack instead of dodging it. I certainly thought you would dodge without considering the people on the ground…”

“Shut up…!! I’ve seen their nobility from before…!! Those who protect this world with their free will, rather than clinging to a mere god like you, are the truly noble ones…!! Do you think I would let such proud beings die…!!!”

“P-Protega-nim….”

The dragons couldn’t help but be greatly surprised when Protega emphasized that their fellow resistance fighters on the ground were noble beings overflowing with pride. It was astonishing that Protega, who had previously disdained other beings just like them, had changed enough to say such words. The dragons then, as if having decided something, also held their respective elemental breaths in their mouths, just like Protega, and unleashed them at Shalev. Shalev flinched in surprise, then swung the arm holding his book, conjuring a barrier around himself. The dragons’ breaths then clashed directly with Shalev’s barrier. However, perhaps because Shalev’s barrier was so sturdy, it sustained no scratches even after being hit by the dragons’ breaths. The dragons were enraged to see Shalev unharmed.

“Damn it…!! To be unharmed even after taking our breaths…”

“But we won’t give up…!! Remember that if we fall, the combat strength of our fellow resistance fighters on the ground will diminish!!!”

“We will not disdain others like the cult does!! We will fully protect and trust our fellow resistance fighters on the ground!!!”

“….These guys… have you also finally started to change….”

As the dragons beside him began to completely trust and truly accept the fellow resistance fighters on the ground as comrades, Protega smiled, realizing that the other dragons had also begun to change like him. Shalev then dropped his barrier, opened his book halfway with his right hand, extended his hand towards them, and created about ten small circular formations around him, speaking.

“Foolish… to discard your pride so easily… It’s a bit regrettable to see the proud and dignified dragons disappear…”

“But isn’t it actually cool and good for us that the dragons are showing such a side?! These people don’t know what ‘cool’ is!!!”

“….?!”

The moment Shalev was about to attack the dragons, a man’s voice suddenly came from behind him. Shalev flinched in surprise and turned around. Andres, who had flown up into the air, reaching behind Shalev by emitting magic circles from his shoes, blasted a beam from his staff, which was adorned with Magnod’s Tears, attacking Shalev. Shalev was struck by the beam from behind and plummeted directly to the ground. Andres then grinned and spoke to Protega.

“Don’t mind such words, Protega-nim! You are still objects of fear and awe for us!”

“A human magi-engineer, are you… I’ve already heard enough to be sick of hearing that you mages find our forms cool. However, I wish to stop being perceived as an object of fear now…. Anyway, shall we cooperate and defeat that strong-looking cultist?”

“It is an honor, great race. I will help you with all my strength…!!”

When Protega requested his help, Andres took the staff embedded with Magnod’s Tears, which Aria had given him previously, in both hands, stood beside Protega, and readily agreed to fight together. Shalev, who had fallen to the ground, then looked up at Protega and Andres gazing down at him from above, and let out a scoff, speaking.

“Hah…. What a truly deplorable sight… Such a shattered display of pride…. Unacceptable…!!”