Chapter 2

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Father Samuel and Isabel walked at the front, followed by over a hundred paladins.

They moved slowly, in almost complete silence. On a cold, eerie night, in the deep forest where darkness hid even an inch ahead, they moved forward, relying only on a single small lantern.

Father Samuel couldn’t shake off the words Sister Isabel had spoken earlier in the carriage. They kept resonating in his mind.

It was nothing short of ominous.

The Sister Isabel he knew was not someone who frightened others with idle talk. That could only mean the situation was extremely dangerous, serious enough to make one think about what came after death.

Even if he were to die, it was not a matter of importance. His body was already devoted to God, and to die in His service would be an honourable thing. But if Sister Isabel were to die…

Father Samuel ran through, once more, the measures he would have to take. Her death would mean the collapse of the chain of command. He also held authority, but he would not be able to manage things as well as she could. If she died, he would have to rally the troops quickly and make a hasty retreat using whatever stratagems were available.

That was the Vatican’s rule of warfare. Too many troops had already been sacrificed to the demons, so in an unfavourable battle, withdrawal was the best course of action.

Wooooouuu— Wooooouuu—

A strange sound came from afar. Isabel and Father Samuel stopped. The knights following behind also stopped.

Upon hearing the sound, Isabel immediately realised it was a chant used in rituals to summon Satan. She signalled to Father Samuel.

Father Samuel relayed the signal to the knight behind him, who then passed it on to the other knights behind him. Shortly after, they all understood Isabel’s signal.

[Approach slowly and strike decisively.]

They began moving again, slowly. Gradually, a faint light appeared in the darkness. Along with it, the sounds from that place grew nearer: a chaotic mix of music and chanting, the screams and shouts of people, and the cries of children.

Soon, the source of the light came into view. A massive pile of firewood was burning, and naked men and women were dancing around it. Surrounding them, people dressed in black sat in a circle.

Behind the people dressed in black, newborn babies wrapped in red swaddling cloth were crying. By rough estimate, there were more than fifty of them.

‘So it’s a ritual of offering live sacrifices.’

Isabel frowned. As expected, it was the scheme of demon worshippers trying to prove their loyalty to the demon army by offering newborn babies. By the end of the chant, they would surely throw the babies wrapped in those bundles into the fire.

They had to strike quickly, without a moment’s delay.

She hid in the underbrush and gave a signal. The instruction was to encircle the area around the fire and then take aim with their arrows. The knights moved immediately.

Once the knights were in position, Isabel kissed the crucifix hanging around her neck. Then, drawing her sword, she raised her arm and shouted.

“Knights of God! Destroy evil!”

At her signal, the knights drew their bows. Instantly, the music and chanting turned into cries of terror. Those dancing naked and those kneeling in prayer, all panicked and tried to flee. But the arrows had already been released. Pierced in their vital points by the sacred arrows, they all breathed their last.

After the arrows rained down repeatedly, the paladins and exorcists ran toward the clearing, now a field of corpses. They cut down the few who had survived and rescued the children trapped beneath the bodies.

Isabel drove her sword into the heart of the last living demon worshiper and then looked around. The clearing was completely covered with corpses. Blood from roughly fifty bodies had pooled on the ground, and the stench of blood filled the air.

She wiped the blood off her sword and sheathed it, then called Father Samuel. She instructed half of the knights to clear away the corpses and the other half to rescue the newborns.

While Father Samuel and half of the knights threw the bodies onto the pyre, the remaining knights and Isabel tended to the newborns.

Fortunately, all the newborn babies were unharmed. Perhaps to maintain their status as offerings, they appeared healthy, with no signs of malnutrition. However, each of them bore the mark of the sacrifice on their foreheads. Isabel dipped a handkerchief in holy water and carefully erased the marks from each child’s forehead, then baptised them again.

Once the last child was baptised, Isabel ordered that the newborns be moved to the carriage. From now on, they would be fed, clothed, and raised as children of God at the orphanage run by the convent.

The knights carried the newborn babies back to the carriage, while the remaining knights threw all the corpses onto the pyre. The task was almost complete. The only thing left was to make sure the bodies were fully burned before putting out the fire.

Seeing that the situation was largely under control, Father Samuel approached Isabel.

“That was simpler than I expected.”

Father Samuel was grinning.

“Even your premonitions can be wrong, Sister. How wonderful it would be if our work were always like today — no troops lost, and all the sacrificial victims safely rescued.”

“Father Samuel.”

“Yes?”

Father Samuel, who had been making playful remarks, fell silent. There was a strange expression on Isabel’s face. She was furrowing her brow and biting her lip. Following her gaze, Father Samuel looked toward the pyre.

The pyre, with bodies stacked layer upon layer, seemed undisturbed. But soon, Father Samuel’s expression turned to one of horror.

“…W-what?!”

The pyre was writhing. The very same pyre, weighed down by dozens of corpses. An earthquake? No. The ground beneath his feet was perfectly still. Which meant…

At that moment, the flames that had been swallowing the corpses and curling toward the sky began spinning in a vortex. They then split into four, forming four pillars of fire around the central pile of bodies.

Squirm, squirm.

The pyre writhed, and even the half-burned corpses wriggled with it, as if some being beneath the ground were trying to push through and emerge into the world.

The grotesque sight left the knights and Father Samuel utterly stunned, their minds blank with shock.

Soon, the corpses piled at the top began to tumble down to the ground. And through the gaps between them, something black slowly emerged into the world.

It was…

A massive black hand.

“Everyone, douse yourselves with holy water!”

Isabel drew her sword and shouted. At her cry, the knights sprang to their feet. They pulled the glass vials from their belts and doused themselves with holy water. But Isabel alone could not do the same. She had already used up all of her holy water, erasing the marks on the children’s foreheads and baptising them.

Father Samuel drew his sword and stood close beside Isabel. As her aide, it was his duty to protect his commander.

“Sister, take command! Hurry!”

Isabel looked at Father Samuel. Then, with her sword drawn, she surveyed the knights, soaked in holy water, watching her.

“Everyone, run now!”

The knights murmured among themselves. Father Samuel looked at Isabel in disbelief.

"Sister, what…?!"

“We can’t stop it with these forces. If we charge, we’ll all be killed. The Vatican won’t permit any further troop losses.”

"But what about you, Sister?!"

“If something like this has appeared, there’s probably trouble at the carriage as well. I’ll hold the line until you’ve all gotten to safety, then I’ll follow. Hurry and go protect the children!”

Isabel spoke those words, then closed her eyes and began reciting passages from the Bible. Soon, a dazzling light poured from her body.

For a moment, Father Samuel considered dragging Isabel along and fleeing with her. She was much smaller and lighter than he was, so it seemed possible.

But it was only a fleeting thought. He acted according to her orders.

“Everyone, retreat!”

The paladins fled in a panic. Amid the retreat, Father Samuel looked back at the massive black hand before him and at Sister Isabel’s back, radiating light. The black hand reached toward her, but her holy power blocked it, preventing it from coming closer.

‘Yeah, it’ll be fine. After all, it’s Sister Isabel!’

Thinking this, he turned his head and began running again. But at that moment, the light that had been radiating from behind him faded, and the surroundings went dark. Father Samuel looked back once more.

Sister Isabel, who had been confronting the massive black hand, was gone. In her place, the enormous black hand now occupied the spot where she had stood.

As if it was grasping something.

The moment Father Samuel saw that, he ran toward it frantically, sword in hand, determined to rescue Sister Isabel at any cost.

But just as he neared the black hand, one of the four pillars of fire toppled right in front of him, creating a towering blaze. Father Samuel was blocked by flames as tall as he was and couldn’t get through at all.

“Sister Isabel! Sister Isabel!”

He could do nothing but stand there, calling out for Sister Isabel. The massive black hand, as if mocking him, clenched its fist and slowly sank into the ground.

As the massive black hand disappeared underground, the flames vanished as if by magic. Father Samuel stared blankly at the spot where it had been. Only charred corpses and scorched firewood lay scattered in ruin.

Overcome with despair, he collapsed to the ground and looked up at the sky.

There were no stars, no moon — only black clouds drifting across the sky. It was as if God had closed His eyes that night.

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