The Temple of Yore was quite unique; the air inside was thick and sticky, almost as if seawater had been mixed into it.
A head slipped off its neck, slowly, gently, with almost no sound at all.
The priest standing second to last in the line didn’t react at all, not until it saw a petite figure walk to the front and press a dagger to its teammate’s neck.
So arrogant! Right in front of me, huh!
The second-to-last priest wanted to shout, to warn its teammate, but the moment it opened its mouth, what spilled out wasn’t a stern rebuke, but sticky blood and mucus from its throat.
So its own neck had been slit long ago—no wonder it could ignore everything.
Two seconds later, it watched its teammate’s head tumble down as well, and for some reason, a strange sense of comfort welled up in its heart.
The three priests in charge of “guarding” died without a sound, leaving only two priests fighting for a front-row seat by the Altar.
“Cunning humans, they’ve actually surrounded her for protection.”
“So cunning, ribbit.”
“This one! How is it possible! She can chant spells while dodging, and she’s so quick to react!”
“Unbelievable, ribbit.”
“Damn her, she’s still chanting nonstop—she can’t be anything good.”
“Humans really are cunning, weak, and ignorant creatures!”
“Damn it! Kill her! Kill her!”
The priests cursed again and again, their mouths going dry, when suddenly they realized that at some point, only they were still talking—the companion who used to echo their words hadn’t made a sound for a long time.
Where did they go?
It looked up and saw only a petite figure, and next to her, a freshly fallen, headless corpse.
“You! Someone—”
Ssssh—!
No one else remained.
There had never been any humans in the Temple of Yore, only twisted cultists, drowned laborers, and a Little Necromancer skilled at ambush.
Having dealt with the last priest in the temple, Zero took a few deep breaths, her gaze falling upon the Altar.
That twisted, blasphemous, shadowy thing—though there were no carvings or paintings on it, just a plain gray disk—somehow gave off such an unsettling feeling.
Treat it as a living thing, and just kill it.
Those were Lisa’s words to her before the mission, and as for the source of that intel, it was, of course, Granny Kagasha.
Killing a living thing was what the Silent Sanctuary did best, especially now that she wielded the new weapon, the Silent Watcher.
The girl drew her dagger and slashed fiercely toward the Altar.
“What do you desire?”
A voice suddenly echoed in her mind. Time froze.
The killing strike, which normally would have happened in an instant, slowed down until it was visible to the naked eye.
“Whatever you want, I can give it to you.”
The murky whispers that had always filled the temple, for the first time, rang out clear and true—no static, no garbled nonsense, just a real transaction echoing in her mind.
“Wealth? Endless riches. Power? Supreme authority. Whatever you desire, I can grant it.”
“What about her?”
“…What?”
The frozen time shattered.
The whispers in her mind turned into a shrill scream as a wound split open on the Altar, and fresh blood gushed out in torrents.
Real blood—not the sticky mucus from the priests’ bodies.
In that moment, it was more like a true living being.
The ground trembled. Bricks and dust rained down.
Countless drowned laborers wailed in terror and fled in panic.
As the Altar died, the entire Temple of Yore welcomed its End.
***
In Reality, where once there was a ruined temple, now there was nothing but flat ground.
The girls held their formation until the very last second.
Ella realized that everyone falling for the trap wasn’t entirely a bad thing—for example, when it came to the Sea Demon Priests, their only target was her.
Even if her teammates slipped up now and then, the priests didn’t care—they just kept charging at her.
Put yourself in their shoes and you’d understand.
After all, her cherry lips never stopped chanting, and the priests were terrified that if she finished, it would all be over.
But just then, the Fish Priest suddenly felt a sharp pain in its heart.
“Ah!”
The other priests also froze, clutching their chests in agony and despair.
“It’s over, it’s all over.”
“May He…don’t abandon us, don’t leave us behind.”
“Ah! Ah! Ah!”
Celes still didn’t let her guard down, worried it might be a trick to make her relax.
Not until Ella patted her shoulder.
“It’s fine. It’s over. The Shrine is destroyed.”
Celes blinked in surprise and asked joyfully, “You did it?”
“We did it. Zero succeeded.”
“Zero?”
The girls looked at each other in confusion, but now wasn’t the time for explanations.
Ella said they’d talk later—right now, she just wanted to sit down and catch her breath.
Unfortunately, there was nowhere to sit nearby.
The Sea Demon Priests began to move.
Celes tensed up, only to find that they simply slumped to the ground in defeat.
“We’re finished, it’s over, everything’s over.”
The Shrimp and Crab Priests mumbled these words as they blew bubbles from their mouths.
The Barbed Priest had vanished long ago—ever since it left the battlefield, it hadn’t come back.
The Naga Priestess knelt on the ground—or maybe she was sitting or crouching, it was hard to tell with her snake tail coiled beneath her.
“We couldn’t do it. I said so from the start…”
Only the Fish Priest truly knelt, its fish head gazing up at the stars, muttering, “We are sinners. Sinners begging for His forgiveness.”
From the very start of the battle, Leah had stayed by Ella’s side, casting Blessing only on her.
Now, seeing this scene, she couldn’t help but poke out her head and ask, “What are they doing?”
No one knew, and naturally, no one answered. But just then, something happened.
“Look at the sky!”
Ella heard the Little Witch’s voice and looked up at once, her beautiful ruby eyes narrowing.
If you had to describe the starry sky in that moment with a single word, it would be magnificent.
No definite shape, no features, no outline—only the twisting, shifting play of starlight, proving that something was indeed there.
That was…Him?
“Ah—!”
The priests suddenly cried out, their bodies snapping upright, eyes rolling back.
Wisps of white mist were sucked from their mouths and drifted upward to the stars.
That was their Soul.
Though they’d never seen it before, the girls all instantly understood.
The God-bestowed Priests of the Sea Demon Tribe had failed their mission, but He didn’t care. No matter the outcome, He would take these unworthy children back.
How pitiful.
Ella wanted to say something like that, but her lips wouldn’t open, and her body wouldn’t move at all.
All the girls present were the same—no movement, no sound. In the face of Him, everything ground to a halt.
A gaze fell from the starry sky, settling lightly on the pink-haired, thunderous beauty.