Chapter 109
For 300 years, divine pronouncements had not easily descended.
As days turned into years, the Gods of the Pantheon ceased to bestow their will upon humanity.
The 24 Cults on the Mortal Realm grew increasingly anxious with each passing day, yet they did not abandon their faith.
Divine power could still be wielded.
Although the Gods remained eerily silent, the ability to use divine power meant that the Deities they worshipped had not perished.
They believed that one day, just like in the past,
the Gods would once again bestow their will upon humanity, and so the Pantheon, a collective of 24 Cults in the Human Realm, continued its religious activities.
But today, every Cult within the Pantheon had temporarily halted their religious activities and were engrossed in preparing for battle.
“Demon Followers, you say?”
“It's an urgent report just submitted by an Investigator from the Ministry of Labor!!”
“Inform the Imperial Family and the Pantheon immediately!!”
Upon receiving the urgent news from Kal Renaro, the Minister of Labor, the Pantheon hastily armed the Paladins and Priests of each Cult, preparing for battle.
Though they served different Gods, with a common enemy like the Demon King appearing, alliance was a natural outcome.
“Saintess. Did you hear?”
“I heard. Everyone, arm yourselves. Let's go wipe them out.”
Among them, the White Order, led by Iomene, was, as expected, the most fervent in its battle preparations.
While the Pantheon prepared for battle, the Imperial Family was not idle.
“Which Unit is closest to the Talahaim region?”
“The 3rd Division, Your Majesty.”
“Move. Tell them to surround Talahaim's Rocky Mountain entirely.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“And summon Otto Delmarck. Mobilize the Soulless Ones of the Black Fortress.”
The Magic Tower, too, found itself in a desperate situation.
“Research? That's not important right now!! Gather everyone!! Bring all Mages specializing in Combat Magic!! Activate the Teleport Stations between Magic Towers!! Tell each District Magic Tower to dispatch at least 10 Combat Mages!!”
Oergen, the Magic Tower Lord, was shouting into the Magic Communication Orb until his voice was hoarse.
Almene, helping her Father, was frantically rushing the preparations for the 3rd Division and the Black Fortress's deployment, while Erfa silently gathered her wand and armed herself.
It was at that very moment that the entire Capital was frantically engrossed in battle preparations, as if a beehive had been stirred.
The space in the wide open ground before each Cult of the Pantheon tore open from top to bottom.
And with that,
divine pronouncements, more powerful than ever before, began to pour down like rain.
“O Dulanere.”
The Ketratuss, Iomene, and High Priest Miromel knelt and wept.
“R-Neri speaks.”
High Priest Gerson and the Priests of the Cult of Silence foolishly gazed up at the sky.
“Ah, Grace. O Lilia.”
The Priests of the Cult of Grace and High Priest Yodel, who had been rushing preparations for deployment at the Mage Tower Temple in the Capital, also looked up at the sky, weeping.
They were not the only ones.
The Cult of the Sun.
The Cult of Prophecy.
All were receiving divine pronouncements.
And what was most shocking was this:
“........It's a divine pronouncement.”
“The Gods are speaking to us.”
Unlike other Cults that had received sporadic divine pronouncements over the past 300 years, three Cults within the Pantheon had never received a single one.
The Cult of Wisdom.
The Cult of Moonlight.
And the Priests of the Cult of War were hearing divine pronouncements.
And the content of the divine pronouncements they all received was identical.
[Go.]
[Go and save the Saint of Healing.]
[He is our Chosen One, whom we love, so go and save him.]
Their morale soared, not just touching the sky, but piercing through it.
“By God's Will!!”
Countless Paladins and Priests of the Pantheon roared and rushed towards the Passage the Gods had opened for them.
The Imperial Family also did not stand idly by.
“Deploy the Soulless Ones immediately!!”
The Black Fortress moved.
“Yes!! A portal!! A portal!! The Gods have opened a portal for us!! Bring all Mages under your command who can move to the Capital right now!! We'll keep the Teleport Station open!!”
The Magic Tower also moved.
Countless individuals passed through the portal the Gods had opened for humanity, heading to Talahaim's Rocky Mountain.
And there, they witnessed:
“[Stop them!! We must hold out until the ritual is complete!!]”
The three incarnated Demon Kings roared in urgency.
The Goddess of War, roaring and fighting them.
And then.
“Grace!! L-Lilia!!”
A being whose presence filled the entire rocky mountain.
A being silently looking down upon everything on the Mortal Realm from the mountain's summit.
It was a sacred sight: a colossal Deity, identical to the Goddess of Grace, gently holding the Saint.
***
Kanya roared.
In the exhilarating sensation of Velia and herself becoming completely one, she swung her sword in a frenzy.
“[Satan!!]”
Her sword began to move faster and faster.
Normally, even if Velia had recovered her past Deity, she wouldn't have been able to defeat Satan, who had accumulated his Deity for 300 years.
The problem, however, was that Satan's physical body was not in a normal state, having just been directly attacked by Asmodeus.
Because of this, the battle remained fiercely balanced for a while, then slowly began to tip in Velia's favor.
As blazing, blood-red divine power melted and cleaved through rocks, raging like a storm, Satan gradually began to be pushed back.
“[You bitch!! You bitch!!........]”
Exasperation burst from Satan's lips.
He desperately swung Baltaruk, but now, far from seizing victory, merely defending was a struggle.
Satan was an excellent Warrior.
That's why he realized that a direct confrontation would be difficult to win now.
Moreover, time was not on his side.
Space was tearing open, and humans who believed in the Gods of the Pantheon were pouring out.
If things continued like this, he was in danger of having his Deity destroyed in the Human Realm without being able to do anything.
What could he do?
“[Help me!!]”
If he couldn't win alone, the only option was to increase his numbers.
At Satan's near-scream, his Followers immediately began to swarm him.
Chosen Ones clad in heavy armor.
Numerous Black Mages.
And Satan's loyal Believers, fully armed with firearms, simultaneously aimed their weapons at Kanya.
Soon, gunshots began to ring out fiercely, and with them, Black Magic and heavily armored Knights also started to rush towards Kanya.
Only then did Satan finally get a moment to compose himself.
Recovering his body, damaged by Asmodeus, was the most urgent matter.
It was a body he would discard once he returned to the Spirit Realm anyway, but he needed to repair it and use it until then.
“[Offer your body to me.]”
Satan pointed to several Followers and called them.
They approached, shedding tears of gratitude, declaring their willingness to offer their souls and bodies to Satan.
Satan hastily absorbed their bodies and looked at Velia.
Her figure, deflecting bullets raining down like rain, nullifying all sorts of Black Magic, and leaping into the midst of dozens of Followers to swing her sword like a beast, was terrifying.
He'd momentarily forgotten about her while focusing on the Saint, but to think she'd return as such a massive obstacle.
If she wasn't dealt with quickly, she would undoubtedly become a persistent threat.
Just as he was thinking of returning to crush Velia once his body recovered a little,
Satan witnessed the space behind Velia tear open vertically.
“Ah!”
“I-It's true! The Goddess of War is here!!”
Red-tinged armor, firmly donned.
A massive longsword held in hand.
Countless women, dressed astonishingly identically to Kanya, emerged from the portal.
Velia didn't even glance back at them.
She let out a satisfied laugh and roared.
“[Annihilate them!]”
Every single Believer of the Cult of War was, without exception, a woman.
And these Paladins and combatants belonging to the Cult of War.
The Battle Nuns of the Crimson Convent roared at the command of the God they served and gripped their weapons.
A massive longsword in their right hand.
A large-caliber revolver in their left.
With gunshots, holes appeared in the heads of Satan's Followers, and simultaneously, the Battle Nuns charged in, swinging their swords.
Gruesome sounds of flesh being torn rained down from all directions.
“O Goddess!! Receive this!!”
The High Priest and Abbess, who had cut down several of Satan's Followers, approached and threw a massive 5-shot revolver to Kanya.
Kanya, who had been swinging her sword with her right hand, decapitated three of Satan's Chosen Ones and caught the pistol with her left hand.
With a click, a Mithril Bullet consecrated with divine power was fired with a deafening roar.
Her shooting was impeccably accurate, and Kanya's Swordsmanship continued to grow more refined.
Now, Velia was no longer alone.
She was a mad killing machine, constantly growing stronger in real-time, sucking up the intensely fervent faith offered by humans who had witnessed the God they served with their own eyes, like a straw.
Satan's Followers began to be shredded like mad.
And in direct proportion to that,
“[Get out of the way!! I'll handle this!!]”
the faith pouring towards Satan was rapidly diminishing.
Satan, flustered, hastily finished absorbing bodies, pushed his Followers back, and stepped forward, but it was already too late.
“Wrath must not fall!! Prepare an Area of Effect Skill! Immediately!!........”
The heads of the Black Mages, who were frantically Casting Magic, suddenly fell to the ground.
Satan's Believers, who were preparing to fire, also continued to meet inexplicable deaths, such as suddenly having holes pierced through their hearts or their heads flying off.
Satan's eyes widened.
“An Anti-Magic Field? Th-The Black Fortress!!........”
Simultaneously with the head of the High Priest, who could be called the core of Satan's Cult, exploding without being able to do anything, Satan urgently gave orders.
“[Catch them! Catch the Assassins who infiltrated among you!!]”
Satan tried to catch the Assassins of the Black Fortress, who had erased their presence by emitting divine power, but Velia was a step faster and charged at Satan.
“[Do you think you have time for that?]”
“[Velia!!]”
Satan screamed desperately and raised Baltaruk.
The fierce battle between the two Deities began once more.
However, the battle among the Followers was not so balanced.
“Where are they!! Where are th—!.......”
The Soulless Ones continued their merciless Massacre.
And thanks to them, the Nuns of the Cult of War began to directly kill Satan's Followers, who were in extreme chaos.
The Cult of Satan was collapsing catastrophically.
But they were better off.
The Followers of the Cult of Sloth and the Cult of Envy were facing an even more horrific fate.
“Draw Sword!! And attack!!”
Thousands of Paladins, clad in divine power, charged forward.
“Prepare Dispel!! Do not let the Black Mages Cast Magic! Then the rest will be taken care of!!”
Over 100 Combat Mages, hastily gathered from Magic Towers across the nation, were systematically and effectively defending against the Black Mages' Magic under Erfa's command.
Moreover, the Assassins of the Black Fortress were also running wild here.
“[Belphegor!! Spit out all your collections! This is no time to be stingy! If things continue like this, your Deity could be destroyed in the Human Realm!!]”
As Leviathan urgently shouted, firing Magic at the charging Paladins, Belphegor bit her lip.
But Leviathan was right.
If things continued like this, they were in danger of dying.
At Belphegor's gesture, a new portal opened, and countless cherished 'collections' she had hoarded poured into the Human Realm.
Numerous Chosen Ones of the Pantheon, whom she had personally corrupted during the Heavenly War 300 years ago, reappeared in the Human Realm.
But it backfired.
“Traitor Kalantis!! Your name is written in the Book of Apostasy in the Cult!! I will annihilate your soul!!”
“Lewd Veronica!! You disgusting corruptor!!”
“Black Cardinal Maldred. Do you remember my name? My ancestor fell to you!! Even now, your name is passed down in our Family for revenge!!”
Upon seeing the corrupted Saints, Saintesses, and Heroes, the Knights of the Pantheon, instead, erupted in fury, and their morale soared.
Far from their morale dropping, they charged at the enemies with murderous intent, filled with righteous indignation.
But no matter how enraged the Paladins of other Cults were,
they could not have been as enraged as the White Order.
“Traitor Ketratuss!!”
“Heretics!! Heretic!!”
The White Order was one of the easiest Cults to corrupt.
Due to their passionate and reckless nature, which ground everything in their path, many would stumble if provoked even slightly.
Thanks to this, the corrupted Legiones Ketratuss boasted the largest numbers among Belphegor's collections.
“[Deal with them.]”
Seeing the Heretic Ketratuss roaring and charging at Belphegor's command, Iomene calmed Al Madai and the Ketratuss, who were about to rush out immediately.
Her eyes blazed with hatred and fury.
The holy mark of Dulanere etched on the back of her hand was not just burning, but spewing out divine power so dazzling it was blinding.
“[So my Traitors were here.]”
Was it perhaps because the Passage between the Heavenly Realm and the Human Realm had been connected by Asmodeus?
A divine pronouncement flowed from Iomene's lips.
“[I will ensure you never know peace.]”
Iomene gestured.
At her signal, the Ketratuss split to either side.
And through the gap,
a heavy metallic sound, as if the entire rocky mountain was reverberating, began to be heard.
“[Belphegor. This is my gift. The engineers of the Scrap Yard presented me with quite an excellent gift.]”
Ketratuss, clad in heavy armor a head taller than even ordinary Ketratuss, stood on either side of Iomene.
Heavy iron packs were on their backs, and in their right hands, a Rotary Cannon with six barrels bundled together was mounted.
“[It's Annihilator Armor.]”
A thunderous roar and light erupted from the Rotary Cannon.
As the Heretic Ketratuss and Believers of the Cult of Sloth were torn apart and exploded, armor and all.
“Charge!!”
Al Madai and the Ketratuss charged forward, gripping cannon-like pistols and greatswords.
Blood and screams.
Guts and the clang of steel began to fill Talahaim's Rocky Mountain.