Chapter 243: Soldiers of Hope vs. Ancient Ones

(3rd person perspective)

The space above the Golden Buddha Sect displayed the depiction of the apocalypse.

Millions of cultivators with the power to erase universes were working together to face a colossal mass of flesh filled with tentacles and mouths that destroyed everything in its path.

The cultivators resisted the chaos personification attack thanks to the monster paying no attention to them, the monster was only interested in breaking through the barrier that protected the Buddhist sect.

The leaders of the most important sects of the Eternal Heaven Immortal were making efforts to contain the power of Azathoth.

While the greatest danger was faced by the leaders, the other cultivators entered the sect to face the attack of three enemy groups.

Randomly there were two Ancient Ones that were wreaking havoc while appearing to be searching for someone.

As if that wasn't enough, an invasion from Hell had begun in the northern area at the same time that the army of Paradise had begun invading the sect from what should have been the safe area in the west.

Paradise might have internal conflicts due to differences in interests and ideologies, but when it came to facing external enemies they were the most united organization.

The two factions of Paradise had stabilized the two Dimensional Gates that connected the Buddhist sect to Paradise and the troops began to invade the cultivator world.

The two armies were cooperating without the slightest conflict showing strength in numbers. Although the warriors of Paradise were weaker than the cultivators in single combat, the strength of these soldiers lay in the perfect teamwork that allowed them to take on calamities such as Ancient Ones and crazed cultivators.

The army advanced as they destroyed every enemy in sight. Cultivators and demons were destroyed while their souls were sent to the reincarnation cycle so those entities won't be able to return to the battlefield in a short time.

"What happen?" – A warrior in silver armor asked a man in golden armor next to him.

"I don't know" – The man frowned. – "I feel that someone is watching us with an analysis skill, but I cannot identify where this skill or its effects come from"

The man in golden armor was one of the generals of the Harmonic Paradise (Idealist) faction. The man next to him was his assistant.

While both men were not the strongest and their names were irrelevant, they both had a decent level of power, and most importantly, they were both followers of the 'Archangel of Hope', Auriel.

In addition to the mission to counterattack the cultivators, this general had a secret mission that was entrusted by Auriel herself. ..

...…..

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[System Notification: The skill 'Paranoia' warns not to seek too much information or the entity 'Auriel' will detect the skill 'Reader's Perspective']

...….

.......

"We are in the middle of a battlefield, the skills of analysis and clairvoyance are normal" - The assistant smiled wryly at the paranoid attitude of his boss.

"This is different" – The general sighed. – "I don't feel malice in this skill, it seems just a skill to understand the battlefield… Oh, now that I think about it, Heroes usually have this skill"

The assistant frowned. – "General, do you think this skill belongs to the Hero of Harmony?"

The general smiled. – "It is possible… The report said that brat sent a warning to our holy lady about this attack, a good brat"

The assistant had a wry smile. – "But general, that Hero rejected the offers of the followers of our holy lady and decided that a factionless woman would be his representative… Should we really trust someone like that?"

The general smiled. – "I heard that the brat was a human who has lived less than a century, it is normal to be a little impulsive, I even heard that lust is what is normal among young people"

The assistant sighed. – "General, you are too permissive…"

"Never mind... What is that?" – The general stopped smiling and looked in a distant direction. – "This energy…"

"It is the blessing of our holy lady" - The assistant frowned.

"Let's go!" – Large golden wings emerged from the general's back and in an instant, he disappeared from the place while the assistant and a troop of soldiers followed him.

This did not cause any problems in the Paradise army as this general was irrelevant to the rest of the generals as among the Paradise troops, the soldiers that work for Auriel normally have the support role, rescuing civilians and healing the wounded.

Although Auriel is a powerful entity, her main role is to heal other Higher Entities as she is one of the few entities in the multiverse with the ability to heal soul wounds instantly, so other leaders prefer that Auriel stays out of the conflicts since Auriel's death would be the same as losing the most precious medicine in Paradise.

This has been reflected in Auriel's soldiers as they also prefer to save innocent people instead of fighting evil forces, but that did not mean that they were weak, on the contrary, protecting defenseless people is more difficult than facing powerful enemies.

The general approached the place where the familiar sensation that could only be detected by those who have come in contact with Auriel's blessing came from.

Arriving at what appeared to be the rubble of a reinforced building, the general was surprised by what he saw.

Millions of normal people with no combat power were being surrounded by thousands of demons driven mad by the hunger for human flesh.

These humans should have been turned into chewed meat long ago, but a man accompanied by a group of female angels was stopping the demons from advancing.

The artificial entities were not strange and Paradise had different types of automatons, so they did not question the origin of the women since it was clear that they were a type of android, what really caught the general's attention was that the man was holding a sword made of gold without decorations, but giving off a warm hopeful feeling.

"A good brat indeed" - The general smiled favorably and quickly hurried towards the demons.

The general realized the demons were not living entities, but rather corpses reanimated with some kind of evil ritual.

It was no wonder Hell used necromancy to keep its creatures fighting after death so the general wasn't worried as holy energy was the natural weakness of the undead.

The general reached the center of the group of demons and his body was covered in a warm golden light.

Holy energy emerged from the general's body which immediately destroyed the bodies of all the entities with great sins in their souls while the defenseless people regained vitality and health.

The general turned around to see the boy who had faced the demons.

"Brat, you're talented" - The general smiled when he saw that the young man held the sword defensively. – "It is good that you do not let your guard down, but do not worry, I am here to help you"

The man emitted quality energy that made the young man sigh, this was the same blessing of Auriel that the young man possessed.

"Thank you for coming" - The young man sighed. – "It was becoming a nuisance to fight non-stop... Anyway, nice to meet you sir, my name is Ichijo Seiji"

"I know, you are the Hero of Harmony" - The general smiled.

"That title is a bit…" - Seiji smiled bitterly. – "Well, it does not matter, I appreciate the help of the sir"

"You don't need to be such a respectful boy" - The man smiled. – "By the way, do you keep an analysis skill active?"

Seiji smiled sheepishly. – "Sorry sir, this ability is activated automatically when I am in a fight, although it is only to know the battlefield and thus prevent sneak attacks"

"I see" - The general nodded. – "Don't worry, but I recommend you reduce the range of this skill or your mind will be overloaded by too much information"

Seiji nodded as he massaged his forehead. – "In fact, I am a little dizzy, but it is tolerable"

"Hahaha, you just need a little training, your bases are good" – The general was having fun.

Auriel's soldiers came over and started helping the normal people, leading them to the portal connected to Paradise.

Seiji gestured to the winged women not to intervene and that they could rest.

"Is it fine to take the inhabitants of this place away?" – Seiji asked with doubts when he saw that the civilians were escorted by the soldiers.

The general smiled. – "Boy, tell me, why did you protect these people even though the cultivators were the ones who kidnapped you? You even fought an army despite being in the middle of a war between entities beyond your imagination"

Seiji sighed bitterly. – "Well… There were some pretty girls it would be a tragedy to see them die"

"Pfff ahahahahahaha" – The general patted Seiji's shoulder. – "Brat, be careful not to get in trouble for thinking with your lower part… But it's ok, actions speak louder than words, and the fact that you risked your life to send the information to our holy lady shows that you have the heart of a hero"

Seiji had a bitter expression as if those words made him uncomfortable.

"By the way, your weapons are quite good" – The general looked at the winged women. – "I did not think that technology could develop to such an extent, I think I am getting old"

Seiji sighed. – "Sir, with all due respect, they are not my weapons, they are my family"

The winged women heard this and blushed a little, except for a small greenish-blond-haired little girl who rushed to hug Seiji.

"Onii-chan, how did I do? I killed many villains!" – The little girl smiled adorably, although the blood and intestines that covered her clothes were disturbing.

"You did a good job Chaos" - Seiji smiled and patted the little girl's head.

The general smiled upon seeing this scene. – "I see, so you are a family man, that is good… Some people think that emotional bonds are a weakness, but that is stupid, the true strength is in protecting those we love"

Seiji nodded and was about to say something, but both the general and Seiji backed away quickly.

The ground cracked where both men used to stand and hundreds of black tentacles emerged from the crack.

The winged women moved away which deactivated the barrier protecting the civilians.

As the tentacles were about to crush the helpless people, Auriel's soldiers raised heavy shields.

A golden barrier appeared in front of the soldiers which stopped the attack of the tentacles without problems.

The ground began to shake and thousands of tentacles emerged from the ground, but the soldiers had extensive combat experience so they managed to withstand the attack while protecting the civilians.

The winged women stood behind Seiji as the general stood next to the hero.

"An Ancient One…" - The general frowned. – "Boy, you better back off, you are not ready for this fight yet"

Seiji was about to say something, but he quickly raised the golden sword as four energy shields covered him.

The shields were destroyed by a thin tentacle, but the golden sword was able to prevent Seiji's heart from being stabbed.

The general was unable to help as he used his holy energy to create a golden shield to block an attack coming from what seemed like a sea of fire that had covered the sky.

Charred corpses of cultivators and demons began to fall from the sea of fire as the temperature rose suffocatingly.

At the same time, the number of tentacles emerging from the ground kept increasing, making the soldiers unable to counterattack in order to protect the civilians.

"Cthylla and Cthugha…" – The general frowned and drew a heavy two-meter-long sword. – "Boy, I will draw the attention of these two creatures, take advantage of the opening to escape towards the Gate…"

"I don't think that's possible" - Seiji smiled wryly. – "Maybe it is my idea, but I think the tentacles are pointing at me…"

The conversion was interrupted when a fireball attacked the general while two tentacles attacked Seiji.

The winged women formed multiple energy barriers that weakened the attack of the tentacles allowing Seiji to cut them with the golden sword, but this seemed to have been a decoy as a needle-thin tentacle emerged from under Seiji and wrapped itself in the right arm of the hero.

Seiji didn't hesitate and cut off his own arm before the tentacle could invade his body.

A girl with pink hair grabbed Seiji and quickly walked away, but the battlefield had been blocked with a barrier of fire preventing Seiji from reaching the Dimension Gate.

Golden light covered Seiji's arm regenerating his arm, but the hero did not look calm.

"Sorry girls, this is too dangerous for you" – Seiji sighed.

The winged women were confused by these words but quickly showed distress as they understood what Seiji would do.

The winged women disappeared leaving Seiji alone against the tentacles.

The general noticed this, but he was unable to help the Hero as he was focused on preventing Cthugha's fire from destroying the civilians.

"Formation 22! The priority is to protect the Hero of Harmony!" – The general yelled at his subordinates.

"Disgusting creatures..."

The sea of fire increased its heat causing the spiritual energy in the environment to begin to evaporate.

"Where is she? ...."

The heat and traces of corrupted energy increased making the task of protecting civilians increasingly difficult.

"WHERE IS MY NYARUKO?!"

Out of the sea of fire came a pretty red-haired girl who was dressed in what looked like a revealing outfit that outlined her body.

The girl was holding an evil-looking long sword as small cannon-shaped drones surrounded her.

"GIVE ME MY NYARUKO!" – The girl screamed obsessively as she attacked the golden armored general's barrier.

Although Paradise has enhanced holy energy to counter Madness, this method is more effective against Outer Gods as they use Madness energy in its purest form.

On the other hand, the Ancient Ones mix other energies with Madness so the holy energy is not as effective against them.

Cthugha's flames began to consume the golden barrier, but the general showed no distress, he tightened his grip on the sword and with a vertical slash faced Cthugha.

Cthugha and the general recoiled from the force of the impact as sounds of glass breaking due to cracks appeared in space.

The general was quick to use his holy energy to stabilize space as space cracks could generate space storms which would not only destroy civilians, even the hero would be in danger.

Cthugha took advantage of this to attack the general, but the man showed a lifetime of combat experience as with a smooth swing of his sword he was able to counter Cthugha's attack and managed to make a deep wound in the girl's abdomen.

The general's sword was stuck in Cthugha's abdomen, but she didn't seem to care.

"GIVE ME MY NYARUKO!" – Cthugha yelled as she held the sword to her abdomen to prevent the general from backing away.

The flames increased in intensity and surrounded Cthugha.

The general did not hesitate to drop his sword and kicked Cthugha back into the sea of fire.

In the sea of fire, a red sphere the size of a planet appeared, then that sphere shrank and disappeared leaving a hole in space as if a black hole had destroyed all traces of matter in that place.

In the empty space, there was only the red-haired girl who seemed tired, although her expression of maddened hatred showed that her desire to fight had only grown.

"I bought that sword at a clearance sale, what a waste..." The general sighed and a golden spear appeared in his hands. – "Let's see if you can fight against a Christmas present"

The general moved forward to engage Cthugha as he made sure to prevent the impacts of the fight from reaching the civilians and the hero.

While the general faced the danger that covered the sky, on the ground the soldiers had prepared a strange combat formation.

At first glance, it seemed that they were scattered without coordination, but this formation allowed them to enclose a much more powerful enemy like a birdin a cage.

In the center of the combat formation was a beautiful woman with black hair and white clothing that showed off her alluring body.

The beauty of this woman contrasted with her gloomy gaze that caused terror in anyone who dared to look at her.

"I'll ask one last time... Where is my little brother?" – The woman asked a young man holding a golden sword.

"I already told you I don't know who you're talking about" - The man smiled wryly as golden light regenerated his left arm and half of his face. – "Miss, I think there is a misunderstanding here, why don't we sit down to discuss this over a cup of tea? Although personally, I prefer coffee"

The woman looked at Seiji with disgust. - "Are you flirting with me?"

Seiji blinked several times in confusion. - "Yes?"

A tentacle tried to split Seiji in half, but the soldiers managed to block the attack perfectly.

"Only my little brother can look at me lustfully!" – The ground under the woman began to shake as black liquid emerged like an oil leak. – "Give me back my little brother or I will kill you in a more horrendous way than your disgusting mind can imagine!"

Seiji smiled wryly. – "I already told you that I don't know who you are talking about, besides, there is very disturbing garbage in my head and I don't think you can overcome the torture methods that I know… Have you ever heard of Unit 731?"

"Shutup!" – The woman screamed furiously.

A tentacle the size of a country emerged from the ground and tried to crush Seiji causing the woman to leave her back unprotected.

"Now!" – Seiji yelled as he focused his energy on the golden sword to resist the attack.

A group of soldiers helped Seiji resist the attack while ten soldiers attacked the woman's back causing serious injuries.

Seiji's arms were broken and several soldiers were seriously injured, but in an instant, Auriel's blessing covered them all leaving them unharmed and ready for combat.

While the general was facing Cthugha, the soldiers and Seiji had used this tactic to face Cthylla.

The tactic is to surround the enemy and then draw her attention. Every time the enemy attacks a part of the formation, the other soldiers will attack the unprotected areas.

Although Auriel's soldiers were not the most powerful in Paradise, they were the best walls of flesh since Auriel's blessing made them unstoppable, they could even suppress Devourers that use attacks to destroy souls.

The problem with this tactic is that it takes a long time to suppress the enemy as they can't attack if the enemy doesn't attack first, but this is where Seiji had a big role.

It was obvious that Cthylla's target was Seiji so he offered himself as a decoy.

The soldiers initially did not want to accept this as their mission was to rescue the Hero of Harmony, but Seiji managed to convince them that this method would make it easier to defeat Cthylla, and thus they could support the golden armored general.

The wounds on Cthylla's back were so deep that her organs and bones were visible, but she showed no pain and she just kept attacking Seiji even though this left more openings for the soldiers to damage her body.

Cthylla was very dangerous and her power was increasing every second, but she had started having an attack of dementia making her unable to analyze the situation, she was becoming a violent and irrational beast.

"You smell like him! Do you know him! You had it close!" – Cthylla screamed as her energy exploded creating millions of tentacles, each one with the power to sink a country. – "TELL ME WHERE IS MY LITTLE BROTHER!"

The soldiers had to focus on defense as that attack had the force to destroy the entire Buddhist sect.

Some soldiers died, but Auriel's blessing brought them back to life allowing them to withstand the attack, and even managed to protect the civilians, the problem is that if this attack continued then the civilians would start dying from the mental corruption.

"We can't go on as this or people will die!" – Seiji yelled out in anguish as he saw the Madness begin to seep out of the soldiers' barrier.

If the soldiers weren't protecting the civilians then they could suppress Cthylla more efficiently.

The problem is that they couldn't keep the civilians away since the whole sect was a battlefield and the civilians could become the food of the demons if they weren't escorted out.

"At this rate, we won't be able to resist" – The silver armored assistant frowned. – "The demons and cultivators have already noticed us, they are just waiting for Cthylla to weaken us so they can attack us"

Seiji frowned and looked around.

The area was covered with a barrier of fire put up by Cthugha, but outside the barrier were cultivators and demons who were waiting for an opportunity to eliminate the soldiers of Paradise and capture the Ancient Ones.

"Hero, you have to protect the civilians while you go to the Gate" - The assistant sighed. – "We will take care of the Ancient Ones, just wait for my signal to run away"

Seiji frowned. – "What about you?"

The assistant smiled kindly. – "Do not worry, our holy lady will protect us"

Seiji fell silent with an expression of reluctance.

"Kindness is a good trait, but in war, there are always sacrifices" – The assistant patted Seiji's shoulder. – "You are still young and you have a lot of potentials, it is better that you get out of here"

Seiji looked down.

"Don't worry boy" - The assistant had an expression of total kindness.

Seiji kept looking down. – "Your group has spatial skills?"

"No" - The assistant sighed. – "We specialize in defense and healing, plus there are many ways to interfere with space skills so they are not very reliable during combat"

"To tell the truth, I can't transport large groups, but if I use all my energy I can forcibly transport an entity stronger than me" – Seiji kept looking at the ground.

"Oh, that skill is interesting" – The assistant responded with genuine surprise.

Seiji looked up, but his expression made the assistant frown.

"Please help the general, he seems like a nice man" – Seiji smiled and disappeared.

The assistant tried to enter the formation that caged Cthylla, but he wasn't quick enough.

Inside the combat formation, the beautiful woman's hand had pierced through the hero's stomach.

"Will you finally tell me where my little brother is?" – Cthylla used what little rationality she had left not to kill the hero immediately.

Seiji smiled even though his intestines were destroyed. – "Sure, I will take you with him"

With a spatial fluctuation, both Seiji and Cthylla disappeared from the place leaving the soldiers with expressions of astonishment and horror.