Bishop Wade released a powerful pressure. A flash of contempt for the magical beast and the Saintess crossed his calm face. He seemed completely unbothered that his hand had been burned, as this would not affect his victory in the slightest.
If one were to ask why humanity would lose to magical beasts, the reason was incredibly simple.
The random spawn locations made it impossible for humans to mobilize their forces quickly, allowing the magical beasts to run rampant. If humans failed to eliminate a magical beast swiftly and let it relocate, it would turn into a war of attrition that would eventually wear humanity down.
But now, things were different.
This was a border city of the empire, the first line of defense—an "iron wall" forged jointly by the Church and powerful nations!
The entire wall was reinforced with embedded metal. The Sages had long anticipated this day and created a material that neither magical beasts nor natural disasters could easily breach.
Of course, the most important aspect was the "city defense magic."
A group of outstanding architects and imperial craftsmen, led by the Pope, had once built this defense system.
The city walls were equipped with ballistas that were three meters wide. Their power could pierce right through an Inquisitor's armor. These ballistas were mounted on wheeled chassis, allowing them to be moved and deployed anywhere along the wall at a moment's notice. Hundreds of these ballistas were already on standby nearby.
More importantly, protected by dozens of layers of magical barriers, a tower over a hundred meters tall stood at the center of every city.
Atop the tower was a "magic diffuser" that supplied magical power to the entire city. Its function was roughly equivalent to a power plant in a certain other world.
The tower housing the diffuser was equipped with a magical attack system and could connect with neighboring cities to form an even stronger defensive network. As long as the diffuser remained active, the destruction of the city was out of the question.
Furthermore, this location happened to be linked with two nearby cities. Not only were two bishop-level figures already on their way, but they would also hand over control of their diffusers, allowing the three cities to execute a coordinated strike.
Magical beasts?
They were challenging humanity's strongest defensive forces!
And as expected, the city walls had not sustained any damage at all.
Out of the five of them, was that dragon-like girl the only magical beast?
She didn't seem all that strong either.
At that very moment, Sathya patted Tina's head.
“Be good, Sister Tina. Just leave this to me.”
“Always... like this.”
“That's not true. You need to conserve your strength right now, Sister Tina. After all, you're still an incomplete magical beast.”
“Guh...”
Tina was a little disgruntled.
Isn't Little Ya mine? Why does she have to protect me every single day?
But Tina could only swallow her complaints. If she didn't do as Little Ya wanted, she would be punished tonight, and she wouldn't have any say in the matter then.
“I will give you one chance to surrender, Saintess.”
Wade, who had been about to launch an attack, paused.
“Actually, I have always been a very sincere man. I believe everyone deserves a chance to start over. You should already know by now that fighting me means fighting all of humanity. And whether you can overcome humanity's greatest city defenses is still highly debatable.”
Sathya's response, however, was simple and direct.
A holy sword formed of condensed light flew straight at Wade. At the critical moment, he stumbled back a few paces, but the holy sword of light still grazed him, severing his other arm entirely.
Having pushed things this far, Wade could no longer hold back his fury.
Using his telekinesis, he activated the city defenses. Numerous giant ballistas emerged along the towering walls. Each mithril bolt was propelled by magic, capable of piercing straight through ordinary stone walls. There were very few spells capable of resisting such a powerful assault.
Behind Sathya, even more holy swords of light materialized.
These holy swords seemed to fill the sky, like a descending golden curtain.
Everyone watching the battle widened their eyes, staring at this miraculous sight.
Several holy swords flew toward the top of the wall, accurately striking the clustered ballistas. Before the ballistas could even fire, the entire defensive fortification was instantly obliterated.
The golden light barriers were completely useless. The Saintess's light affinity was simply too high!
All holy light magic was utterly ineffective against her. It was as if the light element itself was nothing more than her slave!
Then, Sathya began to bombard the city wall, blasting open a gap dozens of meters wide right through the city gates.
At that moment, one of the swords behind her shot toward the center of the city, aiming straight at the magic diffuser. It sliced the tower clean in half, instantly severing the entire city's magic supply.
Just like that, the city defenses were completely demolished under the offensive of a single young girl.
Wade once again used his telekinesis to drive the magic within his body, and golden light erupted from him as well. His two severed arms suddenly regrew, and an armored archer materialized behind him.
Driven by Wade's magic, the archer drew back its bowstring and aimed at Sathya. But in an instant, the archer was struck by a blast of deep blue and black flames that pierced right through its chest. Purple lightning crackled out, shattering the entire illusionary figure to pieces.
Wade collapsed to the ground, his entire body burning with those strange deep blue and black flames. He began to cough in agony.
“I cannot stop you... but you will be reviled and judged by humanity... Do you know that throughout history, anyone who allied with magical beasts has been executed by the Church? They all died miserable deaths...”
Sathya, the battle now over, walked up to Wade and smiled. “Why would the Church judge me? Isn't this simply a case of punishing a bishop who dared to challenge the Saintess on his own authority?”
“You...”
“And you have damaged the city to such an extent. You truly deserve to die. Therefore, I shall judge you in the name of the Saintess.”
Wade could only remain silent. The excruciating pain from the burning flames left him unable to speak.
He was silently waiting for reinforcements, only to realize that the other two bishops hadn't arrived at all!
At that very moment, a pink-haired girl walked up to Sathya and said, “I've taken care of those two. Is there anything else we need to do?”
Sathya shook her head. “Nothing else. Let's keep moving forward.”
“Understood.”
Watching their departing figures, a trace of despair appeared on Wade's face.
The battle had ended too quickly. He hadn't even been able to send out a message. Elcalan probably had no idea what was happening here.
At this, he finally cried out, “Lady Saintess! Saintess, I am willing to follow you! I will support your path to sainthood!”
Sathya, who had shown no interest and was busy comforting Sister Tina, turned her head and glanced at him.
The fire on his body dissipated at that moment.
Only then did Velrose, who had been watching the entire battle, walk up to him and ask, “Where is Krulu?”
Rate on N.U.
