Blood on the Ground

"It has started." A green-eyed woman wearing a white nun habit sighed while looking at Academy City. "As expected, this day ended coming."

"… Saintess, we need to leave." The man standing behind the woman spoke up. However, the Saintess feigned not to hear his words.

"Hey, Kallevang. Don't you think people are stupid? The Blight has reappeared, and Returning Dusk has started to move; but despite that, the kingdoms of the different races only think in war."

"… People are like that, Saintess. There is nothing we can do."

"Really?" The woman smiled bitterly. "Academy City is a beautiful place. It's a shame to see it destroyed... Is there nothing we can do?"

The man frowned.

Looking at the back of the woman he served, Kallevang heaved a long sigh.

"… Saintess, we can't do anything about it. Even if you want to help Academy City, the council ordered us not to interfere."

"Hmph, these old fools!" The Saintess snorted. "Did they forget why the Church of Fate was created in the first place?"

"… Saintess, please don't make things difficult for me."

Charise Amra, the Saintess of the Church of Fate, turned around to look at Kallevang and stared at him for several seconds. But suddenly, she smiled devilishly.

"Hey Kallevang, the council told us to not help Academy City, right?"

"They did."

"Mm, but did they say anything about helping our protégée?"

The two-meters tall demigod was stunned.

"That boy? Saintess, you are not thinking of…"

"They said nothing about not helping him, right?"

Kallevang put on a complicated expression before sighing.

"Yes, they did not forbid it."

"Great. Then, Kallevang, as the Saintess of the Church of Fate, I order you to help me to protect him." Charise Amra stated with a gentle smile.

The two-meters tall demigod smiled wryly before nodding.

"Understood, Saintess. The Order of the Guiding Light is ready to follow your orders."

"Great." The saintess's lips curved up slightly. "The council told us to not interfere with Academy City's matter, but I don't think there is a problem if we kill a few members of Returning Dusk while helping the boy, right?"

Kallevang shook his head helplessly.

Inwardly, though, he smiled.

After all, he wanted to kill the people that threatened the world's peace as much as his saintess wanted.

…

While Saintess Charise was getting ready to help Bloed and the others, Liu Ying, Princess Elwha, Eres, Sara, and Aya were in a fierce battle while protecting Prince Calisto and Gina.

Tens of A-Rank and B-Rank zealots of the Church of Slaughter were attacking them without regard for their lives. They threw themselves towards the girls as though they did not care about their own safety.

The battle was very fierce, and the number of enemies put the girls at a disadvantage. In fact, it was thanks to two reasons that the girls had managed to last until now.

The first was Prince Calisto's guards. They had come to the Challenge to protect the life of the prince, and when the Church of Slaughter attacked, they did not hesitate to team up with the girls to resist them.

As for the second reason, it was–

"[World Burning Flames]."

*Whoosh!*

–Eres Skysword's presence.

Under her powerful [World Burning Flames], nothing could resist. In less than two minutes, she had used it to kill more than thirty enemies!

She had stopped more than half of the enemies alone.

Of course, she could not fight all the madmen of the Church of Slaughter by herself. But Princess Elwha's Mental Interference Magic and Sara and Aya's assassinations had taken a great part of the pressure off her.

With their help, Eres could be considered the greatest contributor in this battle.

"We need to kill her!"

"Don't be afraid! Her mana can't last forever!"

"For the glory of our god!"

Powerhouses from the Church of Slaughter attacked Eres one after another, some of them even breaking through her transparent flames to reach her. But then, they would have to face Liu Ying's powerful close combat techniques and Eres's exquisite swordsmanship.

Like that, the girls managed to fight the enemies to a stalemate.

However, the situation was far from good.

Eres could feel an especially powerful aura locked on her from a while ago.

According to her senses, this aura belonged to a demigod!

Fortunately, it seemed that this demigod was wary of Eres's flames, so he had not attacked yet. But Eres was sure that as soon as she showed the slightest sign of weakness, he would move.

Just then, the girls heard a shocked voice coming behind them.

"… It can't be…!"

"Gina…? Did you see anything?" Liu Ying asked concerned.

The honey-haired girl shuddered and her eyes were filled with shock.

"… The Heart of the Forest is not their only target! My hero is one as well!"

The expressions of the girls changed immediately.

Just then, an extremely powerful aura appeared behind Bloed!

""Bloed!"" Liu Ying and Eres exclaimed at the same time.

But when they attempted to help him, the demigod that had been observing from a while ago attacked!

In an instant, he unsheathed his sword and appeared in front of Eres, trying to cut her into two!

…

The most terrifying part of Bloed's battle style was not his deadly saber, nor the versatility of his pets.

No, the most terrifying part of Bloed's battle style was his eyes.

Mechanical eyes that were created to observe, analyze, and learn the patterns and techniques of the enemy. They could see detect even the slightest change in the battlefield, allowing Bloed to always make the best judgment.

Thanks to them, Bloed was able to learn his enemy's movements and slowly decipher them, until his enemy was like an open book to him.

And unfortunately for Anna, she had been fighting Bloed for almost five minutes already, including the original battle.

To Bloed, that was more than enough time to learn almost everything about her battle style.

Anna thought that her attack was unexpected; but in truth, Bloed had long predicted she could try to attack using that method.

As soon as he saw the cloud of dust, he knew the most likely place where Anna was going to teleport.

Thus, when Anna's swung his dagger, he also swung his saber.

At the same time, Oculus's eyes lit up.

[Suppressive Gravity Field]!

For the second time today, Bloed had used this technique.

Moreover, he also activated another two techniques.

[King's Aura]!

[Imaginary Slash]!

Anna opened her eyes wide. She felt her mind freeze for a brief instant, and her body suddenly turned heavy.

Before she could realize the danger she was facing, an invisible blade filled with disintegrating energy cut through her.

Then–

*Slash!*

Her body was cut into two.

"Die..." He murmured softly.

But when he was about to turn around to help Liu Ying and the others, he saw the dead Anna's lips curved up slightly, as though she had accomplished her goal.

Suddenly, he felt a terrifying chill on his spine.

Bloed's instincts activated immediately and he kicked the ground to jump away.

However–

"!!!"

He could not move his body.

It was completely frozen.

At the same time, his extraordinary perception allowed him to detect a figure appearing behind him, brandishing a dagger towards his back.

'Crap!' Bloed turned pale.

–And blood fell on the ground.

...

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