The light from the palace burst outward like a dying star—white, black, and red twisting into a single, blinding flash that split the sky.
For a mont, everyone on the battlefield froze. Then ca the roar.
A sound that wasn’t thunder, nor explosion—but sothing alive, sothing ancient.
The kind of sound that pressed against the soul itself.
At the southern gate of the Devil’s Citadel, the war that had raged for hours suddenly changed.
The air turned heavy. The world seed to breathe in—and then exhale despair.
Nock Fletcher’s divine barrier cracked in three places before he even realized it. His golden aura sputtered, the hymns of his priests stuttering mid-chant. The devils ahead—once sluggish and retreating—suddenly scread in unison. Their eyes burned crimson, their bodies swelling with unnatural strength. Even the lesser ones, the ones they’d cut down by the dozens, began to regenerate faster than before.
A wave of dark mana burst across the plains, coloring the sky blood-red.
"—Everyone, brace!" Nock shouted, slamming his staff into the ground. Holy light erupted outward, but the shockwave still threw the front lines back like leaves in a storm.
Seraphine, already mid-flight above the battleground, felt it too. The air around her shimred with unstable mana currents. Her phoenix wings flickered—flas warping, reacting to the oppressive darkness spreading below.
"What in the world...?" she muttered, gaze snapping toward the palace in the distance.
The tower of black stone at the center of the kingdom now glowed faintly, pulsing with rhythm—like a heartbeat. "That... wasn’t a normal surge."
Kaelion landed beside her with a hard crash, his spear spinning in his hand as he skewered a charging devil. The creature disintegrated into ash—but the ash reford, coalescing into a smaller, angrier version of itself.
Kaelion’s eyes narrowed. "They’re not dying anymore."
He thrust again, this ti coating his weapon with lightning. The sa result. The devil’s body scattered and reford, its energy burning brighter than before.
Seraphine clenched her jaw. "Aamon’s power reached them. Every single one of them."
Below, the human army struggled to hold formation. The saintess stood at the front line, her staff raised high. A golden field of light radiated from her position, pushing back the encroaching tide just enough to keep the soldiers from breaking.
But even her light trembled—flickering as the black mist began to eat at its edges.
"Saintess, the front line’s falling apart!" a knight shouted as he barely deflected a devil’s claw. "They’re—stronger now! Twice as fast!"
"Hold your ground!" her voice cut through the chaos, clear and fierce despite the exhaustion in her eyes. "Do not retreat!"
Yet even as she spoke, the devils pressed harder. The front ranks were shredded within minutes. n who had fought bravely for hours now struggled to even parry. Their blades bent against claw and fla. Their armor lted from a single touch.
On the left flank, one of the Saintess’s paladins fell to his knees, holy aura flickering out. A devil with four arms tore through him and leapt over his corpse, screaming in exhilaration.
The line collapsed there.
Kaelion noticed it first. "Seraphine—left side’s gone!"
She dove instantly, flas trailing behind her as she unleashed a scorching inferno across the devils. But even that didn’t stop them. The fire burned their bodies, but their blackened flesh simply reknit itself as they advanced through the blaze.
"This is impossible..." Seraphine hissed, landing near the breach. "It’s like they don’t have limits anymore!"
Kaelion gritted his teeth, lightning flashing across his body. "Then we push harder."
He leapt forward, his spear spinning into a streak of light as he slamd into the horde. The ground erupted, creating a crater of smoking earth and burning shadows—but for every devil that fell, three more erged from the darkness.
At the center, Nock’s chants grew louder. The priests rallied behind him, their voices rging into a chorus. "By the light of the Dawnfather—purge the wicked!"
A blinding column of light descended from the clouds, vaporizing hundreds of devils at once. The humans cheered—but the triumph died the next second as the vaporized shadows reford into shapes again.
Nock’s eyes widened. "That’s... not possible."
The Saintess turned toward him, her face pale. "Their souls aren’t returning to the abyss. He’s binding them here!"
And as she said it, they all felt it.
A pulse.
Not from the battlefield—but from the palace. A wave of power so imnse it made even the SS-ranked warriors shudder.
Kaelion looked up. "That wasn’t just any awakening... that was an ascension to another level humanity could not achieve."
Seraphine’s flas faltered for a heartbeat.
The entire battlefield began to tilt. The devils surged forward in synchronization, their movents no longer chaotic but orchestrated—like puppets dancing to an unseen rhythm.
And above them, the sky tore open with a vertical slit of crimson light.
The Saintess raised her staff high, her voice echoing across the field. "Everyone fall back to formation delta! Protect the healers!"
But the command barely registered through the screams.
A massive devil general—wings torn, jaw split into fangs—erged from the rift with a roar. Its presence alone made the ground quake. Its power now rivaled an A-rank hero.
Kaelion lunged to et it. The two clashed, shockwaves rippling outward as lightning t infernal fla.
Seraphine and Nock joined from both sides, the three SS-ranks forming the new core of the resistance. The Saintess focused all her mana into a radiant do, holding the army together as the devil legions encircled them like predators closing in on prey.
Yet the truth was becoming clear to everyone on the field—
The gates were bending.
And soon, they would break.
Kaelion’s spear shattered through one general’s chest, only for another to slam him aside. Seraphine’s wings burned brighter than ever, but even her phoenix fire began to dim. Nock’s chants grew weaker as blood dripped down his chin, the toll of constant miracles catching up.
"Saintess!" Kaelion shouted between blows. "We can’t keep this up—what’s happening inside that palace!?"
The Saintess didn’t answer. Her eyes were locked on the distant tower, glowing faintly against the chaos. "Soone... is fighting him."
"Must be soone from Mias Group" Seraphine said.
The wind howled again, carrying with it the faint echo of a clash so vast that even the heavens seed to shudder.
Kaelion exhaled sharply. "Then they’d better win fast."
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