Immediately after the Blood Brotherhood attacked Trinity Building, emergency sirens sounded throughout District 17, accompanied by warning broadcasts on the radio.
[Alert. Terrorism has occurred in District 17. Citizens are advised to evacuate immediately. We repeat. Terrorism has occurred in District 17.]
City government agents who had been standing by responded swiftly.
"Everyone move!"
"Don't run! Stay calm!"
They cordoned off the area around Trinity Building and evacuated the remaining citizens.
"Lady Plimene. We've spotted enemies presumed to be the Blood Brotherhood in the air and are currently intercepting them."
"Keep the interception personnel to a minimum. That's just a diversion."
Plimene answered while watching the streaks of light cutting through the air and the black bird they were chasing. More than that spectacular battle, what caught her attention was Trinity Building with its top floors engulfed in flames.
"To think they were in such a place."Trinity Building was a landmark of District 17 and owned by the famous securities company Armory Trade. This suggested that the current terrorism was likely some grudge-motivated crime targeting the securities company.
But Plimene didn't think so because even to her eyes, there was something strange about the burning building.
"Despite taking multiple direct hits from 5th-grade flame magic, the fire is dying down quickly."
Naturally, sturdy design to withstand external shocks would be incorporated in case of emergencies. But what Trinity Building was showing now was too much to simply dismiss as sturdy.
In the first place, the windows of buildings on the opposite street had shattered from the explosion's impact, yet Trinity Building's windows were perfectly intact as if they were new.
Was that even glass to begin with?
"Everyone prepare. We're also entering the Trinity Building."
The series of events happening now was probably caused by the Blood Brotherhood and heretics fighting each other. Actually, this worked out well. Both were existences that provided no benefit to the city whatsoever. It was the perfect opportunity to sweep away all the troublesome ones at once.
'That's why I was assigned such massive forces.'
The city government was taking this situation seriously. They had no choice, because no matter how much this was called a city of freedom, heretics who believed in outer gods had been hiding in the heart of the city.
And they had brazenly disguised themselves as a securities company and established themselves in District 17, which could be called a core area. While this meant they had hidden themselves secretly and carefully, the fact that this hadn't been noticed was quite shocking.
'Plus that horrific party they held in another district.'
All the participants were wealthy people who had fallen to heresy. At the party, they had secretly kidnapped people, ground them up, and raised toasts made from their blood and flesh. Even just hearing the report without going to the scene was utterly disgusting.
Plimene opened the locket of her necklace and looked at the black and white photograph inside. She quietly stared at the smile of the man looking toward her and laughing, then bit her lips tightly.
Plimene closed the locket's lid and spoke in a cold voice.
"We won't accept surrender. Kill all the heretics."
At Plimene's fierce command, agents equipped with heavy gear moved. Each time they moved, they clanked and steam puffed out from between the joints of their suits.
From inside their crude helmets, keen eyes like Plimene's gleamed.
The split-open floor was like a giant monster's gaping maw. This wasn't just a simple metaphor—the actual sight was the same. There were wriggling giant masses of flesh and sharp teeth densely embedded within them.
It was a horrific pit of hell that went beyond just devouring, grinding up what it swallowed while still alive. This scene meant that Trinity Building itself had been eroded by the Red Eternity and become one giant organism.
It was a trap designed to turn ordinary people into blood and flesh for digestion, but everyone gathered here were experts who had reached the superhuman realm individually.
The first to react was Senaka, who had been still like a doll until now. The small Snow Tribe half-blood stared calmly at the grotesque scene before her without even frowning.
-Crackle.
White frost instantly covered the surface of the flesh trap where Senaka's gaze fell. The unpleasantly writhing masses of flesh froze and stopped moving all at once, while simultaneously beginning to crack and crumble rapidly.
It happened without any warning.
'An ability to freeze anything that comes into her sight?'
Osian observed this with interested eyes.
The Snow Tribe was born with the power to manipulate cold. The northern Nords had mastered the power of frost to survive in competition with such Snow Tribe.
The [Frost Wolf] used by ancient Nords originated from the Snow Tribe's innate ability and the power of cold that Senaka wielded had mutant-level strength that had evolved several stages beyond that origin.
To freeze opponents just by looking at them without any warning. No wonder even the Snow Tribe, who worshipped the strong, would fear rather than respect this. It was too abnormal to be considered legitimate power, closer to some terrible sorcery.
"Well done, Senaka!"
Krollakia carried Senaka on her shoulders, then drove her tail into the wall to anchor her body. Senaka rapidly froze the surrounding area, turning the world of flesh into pure white.
But this wasn't simple flesh. This was a supernatural space that had been transformed through erosion by power granted by outer gods. Naturally, more masses of flesh burst out like tentacles through the frozen flesh.
It looked like monsters being newly born by breaking out of eggs.
Something resembling actual birth did unfold. Part of the flesh mass swelled up, then Cardinal Zaxilos appeared in perfect condition, tearing through what seemed like a thin membrane from inside.
His mangled body and torn clothing had returned to perfect condition. In other words, the coordinated attack they had launched caused him no damage whatsoever.
"Truly excellent individuals. Each one so extraordinary that it would be too wasteful to simply devour you."
The revealed Zaxilos openly displayed his greed toward those who opposed him. To him, who wanted to greatly expand the influence of the Eternal Church, the Blood Brotherhood appeared as very precious resources.
Ordinary humans became formidably powerful just by becoming corrupted ones—how strong would those who had already become superhumans become if they were corrupted?
And how much would the authority of the order rise if they swore loyalty to the Eternal Church?
Everyone present read Zaxilos' inner thoughts. In the first place, Zaxilos made no attempt to hide this in his eyes.
This was leisure he could afford as a strong person because he wouldn't die from ordinary attacks. If you mangled someone like that, even a high priest would die. But Zaxilos was a cardinal. And his body, in Osian's judgment, had become one with this building itself.
Just as the building had become a living organism, its influence was in Zaxilos' hands. It would be fair to say they were practically inside this creature's body.
"Now. Try to entertain me a bit more."
No sooner had Zaxilos finished speaking than Grace Seeker's shadow rippled and jet-black thorns shot out, piercing through his body.
The thorns swayed left and right as they scattered, slicing Zaxilos' pierced body like thin slices.
But before those sliced corpse pieces could completely fall to the floor, another Zaxilos was born from a different wall.
"Good spirit, but I'm not in a position to be affected by such things."
This time Basilio stepped forward. His cloak fluttered roughly, and a red greatsword rose above his head. The blood greatsword, with a blade over 3 meters long, shot forward leaving afterimages. Zaxilos' neck was cleanly severed but his falling head was laughing.
A tentacle jutted out from the wall and caught his head. Soon, as the head took proper position, masses of flesh wriggled out from below to form his body and robes.
His regenerative power transcended common sense. At that level, it had gone beyond regeneration—it was fair to say he was newly creating his body.
"Hmm."
Basilio let out a groan seeing that his attack, which handled similar types of power, had no effect either. He had no choice. Though Zaxilos seemed to exist before them now, that couldn't be called his main body.
To put it precisely, they were now facing a small tumor inside the body of a living organism called a building.
Cardinal Zaxilos also knew this, so he was full of leisure. He displayed the leisure possible only for the strong, saying they could attack as much as they wanted. The moment he looked around to voice this, he realized one person's form was nowhere to be seen.
"Where?"
Zaxilos felt his head above was shining brightly. Brilliant light shone in the red world. What Zaxilos saw when he reflexively looked up was a knight clad in pure white armor. One who was emitting intense light from his sword.
-Swoosh!
The knight's sword split Zaxilos exactly in half from crown to crotch. Zaxilos tried to say it was useless, but what flowed from his mouth was surprisingly a scream.
"Kyaaaaaaah!"
It wasn't acting like he was being hurt—it was a sincere reaction from actually feeling pain.
This was something that surprised both the watching Blood Brotherhood and Zaxilos himself, who had screamed.
"How about that? Does this not work either?"
Osian asked this while stepping on one wall, then rushed in again to slice Zaxilos' body horizontally this time.
Zaxilos' body, cut into four pieces, couldn't regenerate properly because the places where the starlight had cut through were rapidly collapsing.
"You! What exactly are you!"
Zaxilos abandoned his quartered body and shouted as he was newly born from one wall. His eyes, which had been full of leisure until now, were filled with confusion as they looked at the White Knight.
This was the first time he had felt such pain. How long had it been since he felt pain? This unpleasant sensation brought up memories of the past that were now only faint to him, who had lived for long ages.
"Who am I?"
Osian moved. The Nebula Silk split left and right, taking the form of wings. Light powder sprayed from his back as his body soared like a rising bird. Simultaneously, his sword pierced through Zaxilos' heart.
-Cough!
Zaxilos spat blood from the shock of his heart being pierced and glared at Osian with bulging eyes.
Osian didn't avoid Zaxilos' gaze. He faced him while emitting blue light from inside his pure white helmet.
"The owner of the power you stole."
"Stole? What do you mean...?"
"If you don't know, die until you do."
Osian swung his sword upward, splitting Zaxilos' upper body in half, along with the flesh wall beyond.
The flesh mass writhed roughly and let out pained groans. Soon countless red tentacles launched a counterattack aimed at Osian, but Osian spun fiercely like a top in place while holding his sword.
The pure white starlight sword drew a sword barrier, cutting down all the tentacles. In that gap, Zaxilos, who had revived again with a paler complexion than before, shouted.
"I finally remembered. It's you. That light I saw at the banquet hall!"
That must be what Archbishop Mirak had spoken of. Then the shadow would be that black-haired woman who had been manipulating darkness earlier.
"Yes. It was exactly you!"
Was it only the banquet hall? The moment Zaxilos saw Osian's starlight, he realized the identity of the intense déjà vu he had forgotten.
"Knight of Heaven!"
Why had he only remembered now? Because of the fearsome power that knight-types possessed, hadn't they spent long ages trying to eliminate their lineage?
He had forgotten due to the complacent thought that it was about time, that they should now focus on expanding the order's influence, and the tedium of living for a long time.
At the same time, he trembled with his body. He knew enemies were attacking. He thought he had made sufficient preparations for it. But that was a disaster that couldn't be anticipated even with full preparation. Wasn't it as absurd as a meteorite falling from the sky and striking his head while walking down the street?
Nevertheless, this was reality. The descendant of the terrible monster who had single-handedly swept away the Eternal Church's forces in the past had revived and appeared before him again.
"Even so, you're just a remnant that disappeared from the era! I'll kill you right here!"
Zaxilos, shouting in a more agitated tone, stretched out his hand. Following his gesture, giant masses of flesh gathered to form a giant hand. Eyes and teeth were attached all over the hand made from countless flesh masses twisted together like rope.
It pressed down toward Osian as if crushing the world.
"That's quite an unpleasant thing to say."
Zaxilos seemed to think of Osian as merely a descendant of a vanished knight.
Osian didn't bother to correct that misconception but it was also true that he felt bad about it.
Daring to treat the origin as a derivative when he was already irritated that they had stolen his power made Osian irritation double.
The starlight flowing from Osian's sword grew stronger. Its size exceeded 3 meters and soon rose to over 10 meters.
Now it was fair to say he was wielding not a sword but essentially a torrent of light.
[White Giant Star]
Osian swung the great sword toward the falling hand.