Underestimating the Cicada

The nightmarish eighteenth bishop used her free hand to grab her head and readjusted it onto her meaty and bloody neck properly. She cast a silent healing spell on herself and the skin began to mend and restore itself. It took less than a few seconds for the supposedly irreversible damage to make a full recovery. She gasped for air, making sure she took a deep breath now that her airways were reconnected.

She puffed out her cheeks and pouted as she started talking like nothing ever happened, "That was naughty! I'll have to pay extra attention to you later~ Wait, that's would be a reward... I'll think of something when we're alone~❤️"

*Crack* *Crunnnch*

Her unnatural grip on his hand began constricting and crushing his hand while she spaced out, thinking of how to punish her little puppy later. Jolts of unfathomable pain traveled up his arm and he felt like screaming! It was unnatural to feel this much pain even if his hand was getting slowly crushed by a mountain?! How was this hurting so much!?!

His mind was going blank and he fell to his knees. His teeth were clenched so tight from blocking the agonizing screams that he genuinely thought that they might break. He was teetering on the edge of unconsciousness from how much pain he was experiencing!

"Ah, that's the expression! The way you try to hold back the pain is adorable~! Oh, how can I stay mad at you!!" Her breathing became heavy as her twisted expression was now joyous while she relished in his suffering.

"LET GO OF OUR CAPTAIN YOU SADISTIC BITCH!!!" Harris, who has been near him since the start now completely ignored Kyren and placed his full attention on his fading leader. His wounds were healed but he still couldn't move under the passive pressure the male Bishop was releasing.

The other soldiers also started cursing her out for what she was doing to their beloved captain.

Harris's scream managed to pull Usman back to reality and he grabbed the knife he previously dropped. He made a split-second decision and gave up on killing her, instantly slicing at her wrist to cut it off. But just like last time, the blade seamlessly cut through her until it hit her bone, unable to cut anymore. Her bones were stronger than his epic adamantite knife!?!

She began giggling like he was a silly puppy doing something foolish.

'How does she feel no pain from this!?! There was no reaction at all!! Is she undead?!' His grip loosened and he let go of the knife which was still wedged in her arm.

That didn't make sense though because she used life mana to heal her neck earlier, plus she's apart of the church who are known to be fanatic human-supremacists. If she was undead, life mana would've been lethal for her.

His brainpower began to slow down again because the adrenaline was wearing off, making the pain evident yet again.

Just for some added fun, she began to use spells to heal his hand and then crush it again, creating a vicious cycle of misery for him. Her amusement and arousal increased with each heart-wrenching expression he made. She also got a kick out of the terrified faces the other imperials and young apprentices were making.

Her expression warped even further as she felt complete bliss from this kind of situation. She could feel herself getting even more heated and passionate as each second of torment and suffering passed. This is what she lived for! Her prime desire and sole reason for living were to see these cute little puppies' adorable expressions of distress!! From the little squirming and writhing to their energetic and noisy voices just really gave her both contentment and exhilaration like no other!

Puppies like the one she was currently playing with, who tried their best to suppress their pained reactions were just her type. She could even feel her heart race around him and her special area get tingly. She just felt like spoiling him for eternity! She wondered if this was what true love felt like? Or was it love at first sight since they just met? She's given her unconditional love to many people before but they couldn't seem to handle her overwhelming feelings for too long... Hopefully, this one was different, otherwise, she'd be pretty disappointed.

While the demonic eighteenth Bishop envisioned their fantastic future together, Usman gained a strange moment of clarity. Was this more adrenaline? Has the pain gotten to a point where he couldn't process it? Whatever it was, he needed to make the most of this!

He grabbed the knife yet again, which he left stuck in the Bishop's arm, and yanked it out. Utilizing the dripping white blood on the blade, he brandished it and the blood was flung into the she-devil's eyes, blinding her momentarily. He then raised the knife high and used all of his remaining strength to slice off his ensnared wrist.

He tumbled backward after being freed and clenched his arm tightly to stop any bleeding. Somehow, the intense phantom pain he felt from slicing off his own hand was relieving compared to the pain he felt beforehand. He even sighed with satisfaction from amputating it, finally freeing himself from that agony, which was weird. She must've had an ability that amplified pain or something like that, which fit her nasty personality perfectly.

The female Bishop was frantically rubbing her blood from her eyes with a wronged and teary expression. When she opened them, her eyes were bloodshot and disturbing but she healed them up pretty quick. Then she noticed that the crushed hand she was holding onto wasn't connected to his body anymore and she callously dropped it. The hand was practically meat and bone paste anyway, so she'd rather play with things that can give her a juicy reaction.

Although he was finally relieved of his pain, he wasn't out of the woods yet. He still needed to get his subordinates out of here alive. He's already thought of offering himself up as a sacrifice so the others could leave but he assumed that it wouldn't work.

Their only way out of this was to fight their way out, but that would be impossible. Even if all eighty of his subordinates were A~grades, it would be unthinkable that they could win against two S~grades from the church. That was only assuming that they came alone.

The church's true strength has always been a mystery to even the world's largest powers, so he was stupified that mere Bishops were already S~grades.

Did every Bishop have the strength of a S~grade? There are so many!!

How strong was the Archbishop that controlled this continent from the shadows?

How ridiculously powerful was the innermost circle within the church? Meaning the Cardinals, Trinity, and Pope?!

Hundreds of questions raced through his head making his already feeble mental energy decrease even more. That torture from earlier really took it out of him. This was valuable intel but he didn't know if he'd be able to live long enough to report it.

He didn't know why the church was here or what they were after, but he could tell that they weren't getting out of this in one piece.

After glancing around, he confirmed that everyone wasn't in top condition mentally or physically. They might've been healed earlier but it was only enough to keep them from dying.

The young apprentices that didn't pass out were on the verge of breaking down. They were too young to experience something like this. The older imperial soldiers were a little better off, but not by much.

He remained strong and firm on the outside for his grieving subordinates but he was also falling into the pits of despair. He didn't have any family or anyone to live for, but his future was bright.

He let go of his arm which already stopped bleeding long ago and readied his knife. He was ready to die fighting if that's what it took to give everyone even the smallest chance of surviving.

The other soldiers took notice of his unwavering stance for survival and they all gained his same resolve to fight to the end and also readied their weapons. Their movements were severely limited by the passive pressure of the S~grades, but they had no other choice.

Harris struggled a little bit but eventually moved to Usman's side.

"Captain, what do you think we should do?"

The eighteenth Bishop just stood there with a delighted smile. The blood covering her body that belonged to both Usman and herself made her seem like a living nightmare when paired with that smile. She was looking forward to seeing her little puppies struggle a bit before firmly crushing their last bit of hope. In her head, if they had enough time to plan, then their hope of getting out of this alive would be the highest, making it much more satisfying to extinguish.

"Hmm, what's our status?"

"More than thirty percent of our healers, supporters, and mages are in a coma for who knows how long. Seventy percent of our apprentices are also in that state while the rest are in no shape to fight. Our more physical soldiers all managed to resist getting knocked out, but they are much the worse for wear. In fact, everyone wouldn't be able to last long in a fight due to the many status effects inflicted on us. The situation is... grim."

"*grumble* Anything else?"

"I tried to secretly contact the outside, but I got nothing. This unprecedented large-scale event brought many imperial and local forces here, but we are unable to contact them. Most likely due to jamming."

Even if they managed to get through, no one would help them oppose the church. At least it was with a try.

"Then is there any good news?"

"We have anti-dragon contraptions, but those are meant for large monster-level creatures so I doubt their effectiveness in this type of situation."

While they planned, the female Bishop patiently and eagerly waited. The male Bishop on the other hand couldn't take this anymore.

"Number eighteen, as much as I love your twisted little games, we shouldn't keep the Respected waiting. Even with your big sister's status, power, and authority, tensions are high back at camp so I'd rather not piss them off right now. Let's complete our objective and kill (or capture if you must) these imperial dogs."

"Hmph, I want to play longer!!"

'*Siiigh* It's like I'm babysitting her! She has such a mature body but she acts really childish sometimes!! Ugh, if she wasn't "her" sister and higher in the Bishop rankings, I would've gotten this over with and scolded her.' The fortieth Bishop lamented for a bit before coming up with an idea. She might not care about others' opinions of her, but she does care about something. "If we don't get good results, Knox might report to your sister and then you'll get grounded. Do you want that? Do you want your toys to be taken away? I think— Mmph!?!"

The realization of such a possibility hit her like a lightning bolt and she bit her thumbnail as she tried to think of what to do. She despised the ultra-macho musclehead known as Knox and this sounded like something he'd do just to spite her.

"Fiiiine! But I at least want to keep the one with the scar on his face~ You can kill the rest."

"....."

"We're after the Dragon Slayer, right? Can I play with him for a bit before we have to... you know?"

"....."

"I'll make sure to ask later," She looked at the dumbfounded Usman and Harris. "Bring out the Dragon Slayer quickly now, please. Whoever gets him to me first might get to live... hehe."

"....."

"Is it so surprising that we're after the same target as you that you have to make those faces? That's right, you just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's not your fault and we have nothing against you, but the church has a policy of no witnesses allowed so..."

"....."

"What's with you guys? Why aren't you bringing the Dragon Slayer to me already? I thought I saw him tied up earlier. And why are you being so silent all of a sudden fortieth Bishop?"

"....."

The imperial soldiers were oddly silent with their mouths agape. Great astonishment and confusion were painted on their faces, unlike their previously despairing expressions. They weren't looking at her, but behind her for some reason.

She immediately guessed that her fellow Bishop summoned the many Templars in hiding and they were flabbergasted by their number. Although she would've liked to play a little longer, they indeed needed to finish up.

A smug and wicked expression formed on her face and she was about to say something, but the man who was previously talking with the scarred man about fighting her mumbled something that stopped her in her tracks.

"H-How did he get out? I could've sworn he was entangled and suppressed by legendary and epic items made of four-star materials, m-meaning no mortal could escape and negate all those curses... and I was even watching him almost this entire time! " Harris and everyone else just couldn't believe what they were seeing! It all happened so fast?!

Now greatly confused, she swiveled around and froze at the jaw-dropping scene she was witnessing.

A cloaked man with dragon-like gauntlets and boots stood in the male Bishop's place with the Bishop himself in his draconic claws, being held up high by the neck. He was unmoving so he was either dead or unconscious.

"So this is a Bishop's robes? Yikes, that's a lot of buffs and abilities. Well, I don't need you anymore..."

His claws let go of the poor Bishop's neck and he fell down the side of the wall after being thrown off the edge. Instead of hitting the ground with a sickening thud, the body literally fell through the earth into a mysterious and magical hole or portal. The hole closed up and disappeared, leaving no trace of the Bishop.

The eighteenth Bishop was speechless. She couldn't comprehend what was happening.

She gritted her teeth and yelled at the nonchalant Kyren, "Who are you?! Do you dare go against the church!?!"

"Huh, what do you mean? Weren't you just asking them to bring me to you?" Kyren crouched on the wall's ledges and cocked his head. His tone was patronizing and cold as [Patron of Destruction: Complete Annihilation] told all those present that only doom awaited them. Compared to when he was "captured" in the alleyway, the pressure they all felt coming off of him was on a completely different level.

She shivered and then ordered in a panicked voice, "T-Templars!! Come out and deal with him already!!!"

"....." A deafening silence prevailed and her pleas went unanswered.

Kyren's bone-chilling chuckle filled the silent void and he didn't need to say anything for them all to guess that they all met the same fate as the male Bishop. There were way more than a hundred A~grade and B~grade warriors of the church, but they were all put down in a matter of seconds by the snickering monster on the wall.

She was about to send out a request for help secretly but she remembered that she used an anti-communication spell on this entire area so it was useless. It wasn't fun to get a taste of her own medicine.

Kyren rubbed his chin as he tried to recall something in a low voice that almost seemed as though he was thinking aloud, "What was that Chinese idiom... 'The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind'? If the imperials are the mantis and the church is the oriole... does that make me the cicada? Well, looks like you both were unaware who was actually hunting who."

Something told her that no matter what she did, there was no escaping what was to come. He seemed to be aware that they were apart of the church but he just didn't care. It's been a long time since she's felt threatened to this extent. Not even Knox could ever scare her this much. Only her sister ever came close. This situation reminded her of every time she was in her dear elder sister's presence... absolute futility and complete dominance.

No!! She still had so many toys to play with! She wasn't giving up now!

Healers and supporters had little to no offensive spells or skills but she could still use some special status ailment—!!

*Gasp* *Thump*

Her pressure points were abruptly hit from behind and she went limp, falling onto the ground paralyzed. Another strange hole appeared below her and she sank in, vanishing without a trace. The only evidence that she was there in the first place was the pearl white bloodstains on the ground.

Kyren stood where the female Bishop used to be and moved the joints of his fingers on his right hand. "This is the first time I used martial arts since I got this class. Or did I use some when I fought that Kraken? I don't remember but it was much easier than I thought it would be... Kinda like it was already apart of my muscle memory." Kyren stood where the female Bishop used to be and moved the joints of his fingers on his right hand. He turned to the confused imperials and addressed them, "I thoroughly enjoyed that little show from earlier and I should've intervened but I got some pretty good footage which I didn't expect to get. But I have a hot date to get back to so I need to wrap things up here. I can't leave her waiting any longer so I'll meet with you all in a bit."

He waved his dragon-like hand to say goodbye, further confusing them.

They then realized that they were all falling and they looked down to find the same portal that swallowed the Bishops, but only massive. They fell in and vanished without a trace, leaving the castle's courtyard silent and empty.