Chapter 81 : It Is Their Honor

As expected, the result was the same.

With the last soldier exploding into a mist of blood before Stacy, the battlefield fell silent once more.

The moon dimmed, hidden by clouds, as if it couldn’t bear to look upon the carnage below.

Stacy stood in a sea of blood. Not a single complete corpse remained, but the ground was soaked crimson.

“How disappointing.”

It wasn’t that she hadn’t found the battle a little stimulating. But this outcome was expected. What she hadn’t expected was that the Pope, who had yet to appear, had simply watched as his men marched to their deaths.

And the people Lillian had named, the ones they had visited, they hadn’t shown up either.

Were they hiding, waiting for a chance to strike?

And for that chance, they were willing to sacrifice all these lives?

What was that old fool thinking? Was he trying to buy time?

No… he could have bought more time by fighting himself.

Well, she didn’t really care what he was thinking. She would just find him, deal with him, and then go home to prepare dinner for Little Milly. She had been sleeping all day; it was time for her to wake up.

And if she wasn’t awake when she got back, she had a way to rouse the little one from her dreams.

Compared to their last meeting on the battlefield, Oswell’s aura was much better hidden. She couldn’t even sense his presence. It wouldn’t be easy to find him.

But had the old fool forgotten something? Although his men were all dead, there was still one person alive at the rear.

Saintess Lillian knelt on the ground, her head bowed, not daring to look at Stacy. The reason was clear to both of them.

It was time for the dear Saintess to tell her where the old fool was hiding.

The moment she took her first step toward Lillian, Stacy froze.

No.

The concentration of magic in the air was wrong. A massive amount of energy was gathering.

So, this was where he was waiting for her.

The moment she realized it, a pillar of light a hundred meters in diameter shot down from the sky, engulfing her. She had tried to dodge, but she was a second too slow. Half of her body was caught in the light.

The moment it touched her, her left side began to vaporize. New flesh writhed and twisted, and in an instant, the vaporized part of her body was restored.

“Interesting.”

It was the first time she had taken actual damage. Though with her ridiculous healing ability, it was nothing. But still, she had to give them credit.

She unconsciously touched her neck. Even though half her body had been vaporized, the sigil had reappeared on the new flesh. Her theory was correct. It wasn’t just on her body; it was engraved on her soul.

That had hurt a little.

Hurt?

Feeling a dull ache on her left side, Stacy frowned. This wasn’t good. The temporary sigil that turned pain into pleasure had expired. So now, she could only feel the raw pain.

Although she was far from the fortress, she could feel the sigil still working. Which meant that the pain of half her body being vaporized had been fully transmitted to the little one on the other end.

This was a problem.

…

In the deepest room of the fortress, Milly was still lying on the bed. In her dream, she was eating her mother’s apple pie, the familiar taste exploding on her tongue, the crisp crust so real.

If her appearance hadn’t changed, she might not have realized it was a dream. But so what? She would stay in this dream until it shattered.

The next moment, the dream began to shake. The scene before her fractured.

“No!”

She desperately tried to hold on, as if that would save the dream. But the faster she tried, the faster it crumbled, until there was nothing left. She struggled to open her eyes and shot up in bed.

An unfamiliar ceiling, an unfamiliar room. Her eyes were wet, and… pain.

What was happening?

A searing pain shot through the left side of her body. It was worse than anything she had ever experienced.

She pulled open her collar. Her skin was fine. Nothing had happened, but the pain was as if half her body had been torn away.

No… she understood.

She clutched the sigil on her neck. This could only be Stacy’s doing.

She remembered what had happened after she was brought back. At first, she thought Stacy had gone crazy, or perhaps had a change of heart. But it hadn’t even been that long, and she was already back to her old tricks.

Was this a new game? Or was she testing her limits?

She didn’t know. She could only roll on the bed, trying to ease the pain, but it was useless.

Before she passed out from the suffocating agony, a guttural sound escaped her throat.

“Stacy!”

…

Not far from the battlefield, three cardinals stood at the center of a magic circle, a golden rune burning in front of them.

Dozens of bishops surrounded them in a circle, their open holy books radiating a brilliant light.

“So, you were all hiding here,” Stacy’s lips curled. If it weren’t for what had just happened, she might have played with them a little longer. But now, she was impatient.

The cardinals were not flustered. The previous holy judgment had failed to kill her. They had more prepared.

The smell of blood in the air suddenly rushed toward the center of the magic circle. Stacy frowned. She now knew why Oswell had sent his men to their deaths.

Compared to her, the Fell God, some people’s actions were much more twisted.

The blood in the air was instantly absorbed by the circle. The magic within it grew even more powerful.

“The holy light needs fuel.” A powerful voice came from above. As several pillars of light descended, a sigh of resignation followed.

“It is their honor to become the fuel to purify the Fell God.”

“Still so sanctimonious, old fool.”

Stacy was swallowed by the blinding light. This time, the pillar lasted a long time, as if to completely erase her.

Just then, crimson feathers shot out from the light, piercing the magic circle’s barrier and a bishop’s body.

When the light faded, Stacy hovered in the air. But behind her, a pair of wings that seemed to block out the sky had appeared.

“Well, I should give you some credit. But now, I’m not in the mood.”

The moment she spoke, the three cardinals began to bleed from their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Writhing tentacles emerged from their orifices.

“What’s happening?”

Before they could react, the three cardinals went mad, tearing at their own kind.

“Hey, old fool, now it’s just you. I’ve lost interest in this show.”

“Are you going to come out, or do I have to dig you out?”

Just then, the clouds above began to tremble. A brilliant holy light pierced through, turning the night to day.

“Finally.”

The moment Oswell appeared, two tentacles, long prepared, pierced his body.

“Old fool, besides hiding, you’ve gotten much weaker.”

Before the Pope could reply, the tentacles expanded, and his body exploded into a rain of blood.

“Witch, it’s time to end this.”

She turned to leave, but the powerful voice came again from the sky.

She looked back, a cold glint in her red eyes.

The mist of blood was reforming, piecing together the Pope who had just exploded.