A blinding light of divine power two tiers stronger than that of Hilde's swept the area and incinerated the Dead Man's Flowers down to their roots. Everyone turned around in delight.
"Ailette!"
"Sister!"
"Big Sis!"
Ailette walked toward the group with a serious look on her face. As she made her way over, she deliberately trampled one of the flowers that was still straining to grow out of the ground.
"Hang in there, everyone. It should be over soon. Tez went inside to handle the root of the problem."
"What caused this to happen?"
"Sister, what is going on?"
Ailette answered Ephael and Hilde's questions at once. "The Apocalypse of Chaos has entered the Human Realm, and her minions are invading churches all over the continent."
The dungeon burst that occurred with the appearance of Evixinous was unlike any other burstâthis time, the Demon Lord went through the gate alone and got her apostles to invade various locations in the human world. In most cases, the master of a dungeon simply brought their entire demonic territory with them through the gate. Her strategy proved to be far more destructive than any other bursts, as it allowed her to send her apostles to churches all over the world, which resulted in simultaneously creating numerous dungeon bursts across the continent.
"The Dead Man's Flower is proof that a demonic apostle tried to invade this church, and the energy would suggest it's a grand bishop serving Chaos and Evil... Regardless, I'm sure Tez would make short work of it anyhow."
As soon as Ailette said that, the demonic plants stopped drawing life force out of the ground. Tesilid came out of the chapel and walked over to the group while flicking blood off the holy sword.
"I dealt with the demon," he said casually, as if fighting a demonic grand bishop with double-digit rankings in the Demon Realm was no big deal.
Upon hearing those words, Hilde, Ash, Ephael, and Hestio immediately flopped onto the ground and tried to catch their breath. Tesilid moved to Ailette's side.
"Allie."
"Yes, Tez?"
Their voices were low and somber. Even though the returner had already seen the end of the world, and the transmigrator knew almost everything there was to know, this incident was no small matter. They stood side-by-side and fixed their gaze on the tens of thousands of celestial bodies streaking across the night sky.
"It's about to start."
Ailette muttered the words she had been holding back.
â¬Â«System» Warning. The final holy war [Harmageddon] is underway.â
â¬Â«System» Warning. Demonic apostles are attacking churches across the continent of Serentra.â
â¬Â«System» The true Chaos and Evil will manifest in the Human Realm once the demonic apostles capture more than 66.66% of territory on the continent. Current progress: 7.19%â
The system updated her on the current situation. The final chapter of the original story had begun. And, as always, the events were occurring earlier than they had in the original text.
Ailette tried to calm herself down and remarked, "Evixinous is supposed to be the final Demon Lord. It's strange that she has shown up already."
"Perhaps Reed killed Karpeios," Tesilid suggested, his eyes shadowed by grim thoughts.
He had harbored a long-standing grudge against Karpeios for many lifetimes, so he knew he would have gladly killed the Demon Lord at any opportunity. And since Reed shared ninety-nine lives' worth of memories with Tesilid, he was sure to feel the same way.
Just then, the god Ailette and Tesilid serve assigned them to a mission befitting the crisis at hand.
â¬Â«Quest» Final [Calling of the Grand Priest of Voiceism] (Difficulty Level: G)
Stop the Harmageddon.
Reward upon success: Tesilid Argente stops returning
Failure Penalty: Destruction of the worldâ
The difficulty, the task, the reward, and the penalty all weighed on Ailette. She drew a deep breath.
"Tez." She spoke softly so only he would hear her. "You said Reed wishes to establish a new god by bringing a Demon God into this world, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then let me ask you something."
"What is it?"
"Do you think Reed knew about Lord Voice when he started the Harmageddon?"
The question caught Tesilid off guard. It was a question about him, but not quite about himself. He thought for a while before answering.
"No."
Ailette's eyes sparkled at his optimistic response. She followed it up with another question. "Do you think I might be able to convince him to stop?"
She was swiftly met with the same response, but to quite the opposite effect.
"No." His somewhat heartless answer shattered her newfound hope, but Ailette didn't begrudge Tesilid for it, since he soon offered a reasonable explanation. "It won't work because I never had you in Loop One Hundred."
Reed, the final antagonist, had no capacity to love the world.
â
Upon seizing the Vatican, Evixinous redecorated the grand hall to her tastes. The white marble floors and pillars were replaced with dark obsidian that emitted demonic energy, and the religious frescoes on the hall's walls and ceiling were painted over with highly sacrilegious motifs.
The sacred altar of the hall was rearranged into a throne room. Pope Senedict was on her knees, bowing down before the high throneâbut she wasn't alone. She was joined by a middle-aged man who took the same pose. It was Count Nauzen, who had become the Master of the Mage Tower through Reed's assistance. Both Pope Senedict Deloard and Count Ghast Nauzen collaborated with Reed long before the invasion, and their role as puppets had spared them after his takeover of the Human Realm.
A barefooted girl passed their kneeling figures and knelt on a spot much closer to the throne. Her overwhelming presence knocked the breath out of the two humans even though she took the pose of an obedient servant, for she was Evixinous, the Apocalypse of Chaos. But of course, her presence was nothing compared to the one sitting on the grotesque throne that had been molded out of twisted pipe organs.
A handsome man sat on the throne. His imposing presence made observers feel as if their lungs should not inhale and their heart should not beat without his express permission. He looked down with eyes as red as a setting sun.
"Your Malevolence, Chaos and Evil," Evixinous said reverently as she began her report. "Out of the 6,666 demonic apostles we dispatched, all but one managed to seize their assigned enemy positions. We will use these locations as bases to send 60,000 more apostles into battle."
"What is your plan?"
"My ears and soul take heed of every word you utter, Unholy One. I intend to conquer all locations of geographic importance as you've instructed and bring us to victory."
"Do not forget that we only need 67 percent of the continent. You mustn't get distracted and focus only on expanding our territory."
"Yes. I will not lose sight of our objective for a second."
"You're dismissed."
"Yes, Your Malevolence."
Evixinous walked out of the hall, leaving the two humans behind. Reed summoned one of them.
"Pope Senedict," he called, granting permission for her to raise her head and stretch her back.
The pope slowly lifted her gaze.
Reed dug his right hand into subspace and brought out a long flag pole with a white banner attached to it. It was the Sacred Place Establishment artifact.
"Once the first wave of destruction is over, take the surviving humans to the last bastion of mankind. I suppose... Mount Eltio should be a fitting location for it."
His eyes briefly flashed with remorse. He would have preferred Ailette's opinion on where the last bastion should be located, but unfortunately, it wasn't to be. So, he chose the first location that crossed his mind. Even he couldn't anticipate what kind of disasters Chaos and Evil would bring to the world once it becomes a god, but he figured the peak of Mount Eltio would at least help the humans survive the floods since it had the highest altitude above sea level in the entire continent.
Count Nauzen found it difficult to keep bowing down with his forehead to the floor, so he interrupted before the pope could answer, in an attempt to see if he would be allowed to move. "Almighty Outcast of the World of Returns, why do you assign this critical task to the pope?"
"Why not? What better person to win the hearts of people in an apocalypse than an established religious leader?"
"Please forgive me for saying this, but the faith of Order and Goodness is currently in shambles."
The Master of the Mage Tower's blunt jab at the religious order caused the pope's shoulders to twitch. Reed wasn't one to turn down useful information, so he released the count from the crushing weight of his power to allow him the breath to elaborate.
Touched by his mercy, Count Nauzen readily offered all the information Reed had missed while he was away from the human world.
"The Divine Emissary publicly broke away from Order and Goodness. That is to say, she abandoned the faith and started a new religion with the master of the holy sword."
The amount of knowledge and wisdom Reed had amassed over his many lifetimes was far too vast to be quantiï¬ed, but none of that knowledge helped him make sense of the count's words. Therefore, Senedict re-worded the information in a way a person of a religious background could better understand.
"The Divine Emissary and the Master of the Holy Sword are heathens."
Upon hearing her words, the handsome man on the throne immediately froze. The air around them stopped flowing, and the demons pretending to be religious art in the frescoes, statues, and stained-glass panels started trembling in fear. The world around them fell silent at the powerful being's change in mood, but the two humans in the hall failed to read the room. In fact, they started bickering amongst themselves before Chaos and Evil.
"Look, your holiness. They happen to serve another god. Why do you have to shun them by calling them heathens?"
"The Strict Order and Goodness is the only god of this world. Serving any other being as God is a clear act of idol worship and heresy," the pope answered.
"Oh, come on. She uses Divine Advent and opened the Gate of the Pantheon. That should prove the existence and power of her god," Count Nauzen argued.
"No. That only proves that she is a heathen. The pantheon itself is a direct challenge against the one true god of this world."
"But the whole notion of monotheism is a claim made by your religious order! You must rewrite your theories if the empirical evidence suggests otherwise!"
"Master of the Dark Tower, that would make sense for you, as you are a mage. However, we deal with faith. And there can be no compromises in piety. Besides, you will do well to remember that the superficial evidence you observed are a part of God's creation as well."
Mages and religious leaders generally didn't get along, and these two were no exception to the rule. They were about to get emotional and start arguing further when they sensed a sudden shift beneath them. They both flinched, but quickly realized the ground wasn't moving.
What had wavered was Reed's shadow, which was now big enough to cover the entire hall of the Vatican, revealing the volatile state he was hiding under his expressionless shell.