Chapter 687: The Descent

Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit.

“Aaaaaah!… Aaaaaaaaah!!”

Darkness covered the Holy Capital.

Beyond the veil, the sound of frogs and the screams of people filled the air.

Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit.

“Eeeeek!… What is this?! What?!”

Frogs poured out from blood-tainted water, more than anyone could count, causing those who saw the scene to shriek in terror.

This happened in the workers’ living quarters of the Holy Capital, the Holy Knight School that trained knights, the Theology Academy that trained priests, and even the temples where priests resided.

And at the heart of it all was the Hill in the center of the Holy Capital, on top of which stood the white palace known as the Holy Emperor’s Palace.

Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit.

“Ugh… Get out of here. Go away!”

The Holy Knights and servants responsible for guarding the Holy Emperor’s Palace frantically swung their brooms, batting away the frogs that swarmed inside and out of the palace.

Oddly enough, the brooms proved more effective than swords and guns against the frog hordes.

Though, even that made little difference.

Against the endless waves of frogs, brooms were merely a stop-gap measure.

But at that moment, even such a stop-gap was desperately needed.

Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit. Ribbit.

The black and green frogs emerging from the bloody water appeared fearless, advancing relentlessly as the Holy Knights and servants, stationed at the doors, tirelessly swept them away.

Behind them, in a room, the Dark Priests had taken shelter.

They struggled to come to terms with the situation. Their eyes darted restlessly, their breaths ragged, some even closed their eyes and prayed for divine intervention.

It was understandable.

All the water in the Holy Capital had turned to blood, and from it, these swarms of frogs emerged.

All this happened in the Holy Capital, the center of the Pater Church.

A disaster. A disaster unlike anything in history.

“Damn it… Damn it!! Just hang on for a moment!”

A Holy Knight, the captain of the palace guard, left his post to check on the Dark Priests inside.

He needed to assess their condition.

In the midst of such a disaster, if something happened to the Dark Priests, the leadership of the Pater Church, it could spell disaster.

This wasn’t just an internal affair of the Holy Capital.

It was a problem concerning the entire world that looked to the Pater Church for order.

Squeeeak!

Expressing his urgency, the guard captain flung the door open.

“Is everyone alright?”

“We are alright for now… But what is happening?”

One of the Dark Priests asked, but the captain, a mere Holy Knight, had no answer.

In fact, he wanted to ask the same question. What exactly was happening?

The water turned to blood, and frogs came pouring out of it.

He wanted to ask the Dark Priests, who were close to the divine, what was really going on. Could this be the wrath of the gods?

“Is there any water?”

A middle-aged Dark Priest, supporting a fat, exhausted one, asked.

The fat priest, seated in a chair, was pale and gasping for breath, likely in shock.

“I need something to drink. Is there any water?”

“I’m sorry, sir.”

The captain could only offer an apology.

All the water in the Holy Capital, including drinking water, had turned to blood and was undrinkable.

At least, that’s what the reports indicated.

Perhaps, if they scoured the city, they might find some untainted water, but they didn’t have the manpower to do so.

Most of the available men had already been sent out to search for other priests and protect the Holy Emperor, leaving them severely short-handed.

The screams echoing throughout the Holy Capital without any response only proved that point.

Just then, a raspy voice broke the silence.

“That… That thing should’ve been killed!”

It came from the elderly, fat Dark Priest, his parched throat making his voice crack.

Sweat pouring down his face, he continued ranting, his eyes wide open as if possessed by something.

“The devil…! It’s that devil’s doing!! Kill it… now… Ghh!”

The overly excited priest began to gasp for breath halfway through his sentence.

Another Dark Priest handed him a small flask.

“Water?”

“… It’s wine.”

“…”

“Red wine. At least drink this.”

The priest accepted the flask without question and opened it.

Something seemed to make him believe it was safer to drink, and sure enough, the fat priest’s condition improved.

“Kill him immediately. Whether it’s in the Archive or wherever…”

As he spoke, holding the flask, the priest suddenly stopped.

There was a chilling silence, and the fat priest’s eyes widened…

“Bleeeeegh!”

He vomited violently.

The flask hadn’t contained red wine; it was full of tiny lice.

An uncountable number of lice spilled out, spreading across the floor, and the sight caused the other Dark Priests to recoil in horror.

Rrreee!

The lice made a sickening sound as they scattered widely,

And the priest who had drunk from the flask clutched his bloodshot throat as he coughed up blood, possibly from some lice that had gone down his throat.

Gasp. Gasp.

Drip. Drip. The sound of blood falling.

Scratch, scratch. The sound echoed in the room.

Huh, scratch?

Everyone turned their heads and looked at one of the Dark Priests.

He was scratching himself under his nightwear, and he didn’t stop even as others looked at him.

His scratching grew more frantic until he pulled up his nightwear to look underneath.

Squirm…. Squirm…

There were lice there too.

The third sign: Lice.

The lice under his clothes spread from body to body, from floor to floor, quickly infesting others.

Even those who hadn’t been touched by the lice found themselves scratching as the insects appeared on their bodies.

Each Dark Priest started to scream, stripping off their clothes, shoving and pushing each other to escape the infested room.

In the scramble, one priest tripped and was trampled by another.

As the captain of the Holy Emperor’s Palace guards silently watched the horrifying scene, a single word crossed his mind.

Hell.

The Holy Emperor’s Palace had turned into hell.

***

“Diiieee!!”

A sword bathed in a deep golden hue, nearly like sunlight.

The blade created countless afterimages as it sliced fiercely through the air.

Each swing of the sword split the air, cracked the ground, and unleashed a storm of wind and debris.

The sight was more akin to a phenomenon than a man or machine.

Amidst this terrifying sight, a single man was literally walking a tightrope.

Relying on protective gear granted by a spirit, Kevin charged into the eye of the sword-storm.

In that narrow window, Kevin thrust his fist towards the eye of the storm.

“Who dares!”

Inside the storm’s eye, Sister Delra twisted the trajectory of her sword to slice off Kevin’s arm as it flew toward her.

She accomplished this not through skill but sheer strength.

Yet, her effort was meaningless as the severed arm turned out to be nothing more than ice.

A trick by the spirit. Realizing this, Sister Delra felt a sharp pain in her right side.

“Ghh…?!”

Kevin’s fist had struck exactly where he aimed.

Even with a body blessed by Holy Power, the pain was unbearable, causing Sister Delra to stagger, and Kevin didn’t waste the opportunity to launch another attack.

Chin.

Ribs.

Lower abdomen.

Heart.

Philtrum.

Solar plexus.

Neck.

All places where a single hit could be fatal.

Fortunately, Sister Delra’s body, reinforced by Holy Power, managed to endure, but that didn’t make the pain any less real.

Letting out a sound that was somewhere between a sob and a scream, Sister Delra swung her Holy Power-imbued sword wide to create some distance between herself and Kevin.

It hurt. It hurt so much. She needed to recover with Holy Power, before—

—Shraaak!

But before she could recompose herself, a searing pain shot through her shoulder.

An icy tomahawk, stolen from a Holy Knight, had flown by and sliced her shoulder.

Thanks to the Holy Power, the wound wasn’t deep, but the combination of fists and sharp pain was enough to shake Sister Delra’s already fragile composure.

Recognizing her vulnerability, Kevin conjured multiple ice tomahawks and hurled them at Sister Delra. She responded by activating another Holy Power.

[Obice Lucis]

Upon incantation, a radiant wall of light appeared.

Kevin’s tomahawks shattered like glass against this impenetrable barrier.

Without hesitation, Kevin channeled his spirit’s power into his fists, shattering part of the icy ground beneath him and spreading a thick white fog across the area.

The fog was intended to obscure her vision.

Sister Delra assumed that Kevin would go for an unprotected side or rear attack and transformed the wall of light into a dome-shaped barrier.

[Divine Protection]

A perfect defense covering the North, South, East, West, and overhead. However, this wasn’t Kevin’s true strategy.

[Purify]

As Sister Delra chanted, the dome she was in ignited.

A Holy Power that turns the shield into a weapon, burning everything around it.

She limited the strength of the burning to protect the nearby nuns and girls.

Although this weakened its potency, it would still be enough to dissipate the icy fog.

Sister Delra prepared to slash at Kevin with a Holy Power-forged sword once the fog cleared.

One strike. One well-aimed hit would secure victory.

She waited anxiously, but when the fog dispersed, Kevin was nowhere to be seen.

Kevin wasn’t there.

As she turned her head to find him, Kevin burst through the frozen ground, revealing himself once again.

Pah!!

Using the fog and ice to conceal his movements underground!

Caught off guard, Sister Delra was struck once more by Kevin, the attack landing on her vital points.

However, this time, she refused to let the pain dictate her actions, forcing herself to counterattack.

Her powerful sword intent aimed to take Kevin down, but he narrowly dodged, using his ice-generated armor.

Once more, Sister Delra swung her sword wildly, forcing Kevin away, and then conjured a Holy Power-created blade above his head.

It was an attempt to create space by bombarding him from all sides.

Yet Kevin, without even looking, dodged her attacks, getting closer instead.

By now, he had already memorized Sister Delra’s attack patterns from the earlier fight.

“Have you ever questioned why?”

Kevin asked while dodging her furious sword strikes.

“Why, when the core of the Holy Knights is their Holy Power, do they still go through years of rigorous training?”

Sister Delra swung again. The move was too large and linear, allowing Kevin to close in.

“Why is it that, except when they sleep, they constantly train their stamina, refine their weaponry, and suffer harsh training?”

Before she could raise her sword again, Kevin struck her hand, stopping her, and followed up with a punch that slammed into Sister Delra’s chin.

“The power of Holy Power may be overwhelming, but it’s not everything.”

As if confirming his statement, Sister Delra staggered and fell to one knee.

Normally, her chin would’ve been shattered, and she would’ve lost consciousness; at the very least, she would’ve collapsed. But her Holy Power-reinforced body only momentarily lost balance.

However, this also meant Holy Power wasn’t fully negating the damage.

It was true that it significantly reduced the damage, but the damage had not been erased; it was simply accumulating.

“Magic, Dark Magic, Holy Power, they’re all useful tools. But no matter how powerful, it’s meaningless if you’re just stealing the power, not cultivating it yourself. Especially if the very power you’re stealing isn’t even yours.”

Kevin was delivering this harsh but obvious truth to the shallow thief.

“Don’t make me laugh!!”

Furious, Sister Delra called upon stolen Holy Power and lunged at Kevin once again.

“This is my power! My will!! He chose me, and I chose to follow! It’s entirely my power, my will! Don’t speak about what you don’t know!!!”

Perhaps out of rage that transcended pain, her attacks became even more forceful, but also sloppier.

Kevin seized the opportunity, grabbing her arm as it descended and using her Holy Power-enhanced strength to hurl Sister Delra into a corner.

This had been his plan all along; he provoked her to create an opening.

With her own strength, Sister Delra flew toward the wall, crashing into it and stirring up a cloud of white dust. Kevin, aided by his spirit, conjured an ice spear.

“That kind of thing…!”

Though disoriented from the impact, Sister Delra sneered.

Even injured as she was, she could easily block such an ice spear.

Kevin knew this as well.

So Kevin Extracted an emotion, his own.

Shhhh…!

An intense resolve gathered at Kevin’s fingertips. He melded it with the spirit’s power, layering it over the ice spear.

A technique that would’ve been impossible without the spirit’s cooperation.

Kevin’s unwavering resolve infused the ice spear, turning it jet black, and with this, he took aim and hurled it.

[Mental Lance]

The jet-black spear flew straight and with a terrifying speed.

Sister Delra sensed something was off but couldn’t dodge due to the accumulated damage, so she erected a defensive barrier infused with Holy Power instead.

Just before the black spear made contact, the radiant barrier once again sprung up to shield Sister Delra.

━━━━━!!

Kevin’s will-powered black spear pierced through the barrier and skewered Sister Delra’s heart, pinning her against the wall.

“…!!”

With the shockwaves shaking the entire underground area, Sister Delra died, nailed to the spot.

For one who sought to summon a devil and stole the Holy Power of the Holy Knights, it was an anticlimactic end.

Yet Kevin accepted this outcome as natural.

Indeed, while her power might have been strong enough to be threatening, the person wielding it was incompetent.

Had he not wielded the spirit’s power but used only magic, who knows. Perhaps things would’ve been different. But against Holy Power, he had a countermeasure in place, so this outcome was inevitable.

If she’d been a properly trained Holy Knight, things might’ve turned out differently.

A properly trained Holy Knight would’ve been hard to overwhelm in close combat.

With the situation settled, Kevin surveyed his surroundings.

“Knight.”

“Yes, I’m here.”

Kevin turned toward the voice and saw Joanna rescuing the girls trapped in ice.

With a bear-shaped spirit’s help, Joanna freed the girls.

The girls, heavily exposed to cold and ice, had turned pale and lost consciousness. Honestly, Kevin couldn’t decide how he felt about them.

Given that Joanna had bothered, it seemed they were deceived into being here, but the lack of intelligence made him numb to their plight. He wasn’t moved.

Though he had no intention of killing them, he wouldn’t care much if they died. Thus Kevin chose to focus on more important matters.

“Knight, you need to leave this place.”

Considering Joanna’s pivotal role in the Demon Summoning ritual and her connection to Xenon, Kevin suggested.

No matter how he looked at it, getting Joanna out of here first was the correct choice.

“Yes, but can you free these people first? I’m sorry for troubling you after all your help, but I must ask.”

Joanna pointed to the girls still trapped in the ice.

Though they managed to free about a dozen girls amid all the fighting, there were still many more bound in the ice.

Kevin, maintaining his understanding of why any Holy Knight would be doing this, nonetheless felt a sense of frustration.

Then it happened.

“This isn’t just an emotional response.”

Joanna spoke with earnest eyes.

Her expression conveyed conviction and belief rather than a mere spur-of-the-moment emotion, suggesting her actions were guided by faith.

“The end times have come to judge humanity’s sins. This is exactly why we must act like this. Trust me.”

Kevin considered her words and decided to trust Joanna’s sense of faith.

In unprecedented times such as the apocalypse, seeking rationality and efficiency wouldn’t be rational or efficient.

So Kevin helped Joanna free the remaining girls trapped in ice.

“Do you think we’ve won?”

Clack. Clack. Clack… One of the still-encased nuns spoke, teeth chattering.

Even though she seemed on the brink of freezing to death, she glared at Kevin with venom-filled eyes.

“Shut up. The only reason I didn’t kill you is that we need someone to explain what happened.”

“You fool… Do you think we’re afraid of death?”

“Yes.”

Kevin replied firmly.

There are countless reasons for specific actions: fame, revenge, filial piety, righteousness, sacrifice, etc. But at the root of it all lies desire.

It’s a perfectly natural principle. Without desire, no human action could take place.

Even the act of breathing exists because of the desire to live.

If someone claims not to fear death, it’s because they have a desire so strong it eclipses even the fear of death.

Most often, this desire is born from vengeance.

A bright and burning desire to annihilate its hated target, no matter the cost.

Even if these nuns had such desires, they wouldn’t want to die.

At the very least, they would want to live long enough to see their hated foes turn to ash.

So Kevin’s words were blunt as he told them to keep their mouths shut. At that moment, one of the girls let out a strange scream.

“Guhhh…”

It was a voice of despair that no girl should make.

But it wasn’t just the sound that was terrifying.

The girl quickly began aging, almost as if time was fast-forwarding just for her.

Her youthful vitality and beauty vanished. Her golden hair turned white, and her grape-like skin shriveled up like raisins.

And it wasn’t just her.

Several other girls, out of the 55, rapidly aged to death.

Kevin instinctively looked in Sister Delra’s direction. Despite the spear piercing her heart, she was reviving herself, pulling the black spear from her chest.

She had sacrificed the girls’ lives to resurrect herself.

But that wasn’t the only horror.

Crack… Crack… Cracckkk!!

The sound of ice breaking echoed as countless corpses spilled out of coffins embedded into the underground chamber.

These corpses were the remains of nuns buried underneath the convent for centuries, but they were now rising with an aura distinct from Dark Magic.

The bodies intertwined, forming a massive shape with numerous heads and limbs.

Aaah… Aaah… Aaah… Aaah…

The macabre mass of nun corpses and bones emitted eerie groans as it cornered Kevin, with Sister Delra pointing her sword at him from within the horde.

“Did you think my power… was just Holy Power!!?”

The corpses stretched out countless hands, forming an encircling wall.

As Kevin readied himself by Extracting his emotions, he replied.

“Power stolen still remains someone else’s power.”

“Heh… I can’t wait to see how long you’ll keep spouting that nonsense. Will you—”

—Crack!

There was a sound of something breaking.

The sound came from Sister Delra, specifically from the arm holding her sword.

The arm of Delra, which was resurrected by sacrificing the lives of the girls, suddenly broke.

At the same time, the corpses of the nuns, resurrected by Delra’s hand, started chanting a prayer, gathering their multiple hands together and surrounding the nuns trapped in ice.

Just as the nuns surrounded the girls earlier.

“D-d-do you really think…”