The grand plaza was trembling, screams echoing from every corner.
What is going on…?!
Saint Yurisa Kidafreny was there, witnessing the horrors.
Is that a faerie? Or wait, could it be a demon lord?
Whatever it was, its steel vines shattered the pavement as they erupted from the ground.
With metallic shrieks, they lashed out at the crowd in a frenzy, indiscriminately tearing through everything in their path. Even the sacred stage beneath Yurisa’s feet began to crumble.
A high priest, screaming in terror, was caught by one of the vines and dragged to the ground before being peeled apart by even more tentacle-like tendrils. More screams followed.
“P-please help!” A hand stretched out from the crowd toward Yurisa. “Saint Yurisa! A monster…! A monster has my brother!”
“Yurisa!” Tevi, her guard, tugged at her arm, her lightning staff already drawn. “You need to get out of here! That creature appears to be a demon lord!”
“…N-no.”
Yurisa felt a knot tightening in her throat. As a saint, she couldn’t run—she had to stay and help. Yet she was having trouble putting those thoughts into words.
What should I do? I could summon a wall to keep it at bay… No, that wouldn’t work.
With the confused crowd running around the plaza, it would only trap people as they tried to escape.
Then what? There has to be a better way. The tentacles are coming from underground. Maybe I should create a staircase or a tower to help everyone escape upward? Or a pillar? Or a small wall?
A flurry of ideas surged through Yurisa’s mind, each one fraught with risk. One wrong move could cost more lives. In reality, it was barely a second of hesitation, but to her, time seemed to stretch on forever. Nevertheless, in that fleeting moment, someone else made their move.
“Everyone in the front row, please evacuate to the stage!” Nicold Ibuton stepped forward, his voice piercing the air. “Guards! Line up, form a wall, and protect the people! Use your lightning staffs to push the enemy back! Lightning is working!”
He was right, too. Some of the guards on the stage had already begun retaliating with their lightning staffs. While the bolts couldn’t sever the steel tendrils, they were making the creature wary, buying Ibuton enough time to look back at Yurisa.
“Saint Yurisa, please provide backup.”
“Huh? Oh.”
“I would like for you to summon a few small pillars or walls for people to hide behind. The tentacles cannot move freely underground. They only attack from where they emerge, randomly striking at whatever’s around them. They lack the ability to detect anyone hiding behind a barrier.”
“O—” Yurisa gasped for air as a faint pain shot through her right eye. Sparks flew into the air. “Okay!”
It was easy, now that she knew what to do. Yurisa extended her right arm, summoning pillars that could serve as cover and colossal walls to be used as shields.
I froze…
A feeling of utter powerlessness suddenly gripped her.
I hesitated and thought too long when I needed to take action. I’m the Saint. I should have been able to act more quickly!
Yurisa had thought she’d changed after setting foot on the battlefield, at least a little. Yet High Priest Ibuton, who wasn’t even a soldier, seemed far more composed as he gave orders to his guards.
“All right. I’m sorry, men, but I’m going to need you to put your lives on the line.”
The soldiers with him were recruited by the penal heroes. Though mostly ill-equipped and poorly trained, there was one man among them who stood out—a penal hero called “Tatsuya.”
Ibuton faced the men and gave concise orders. “Distract the enemy by attacking its tentacles while those in the plaza escape.”
“What? That’s too reckless,” muttered one of the guards. “We won’t be able to protect you.”
“I don’t need protection,” insisted Ibuton.
“But protecting you is our job.”
“Then I will walk into battle myself. If you people are truly loyal and dutiful soldiers, then make sure I come out unscathed.”
“Wh-what?!”
“Your resolve is admirable, Nicold Ibuton!”
A towering figure shouldered his way past the startled guards. This man was a penal hero, too, Yurisa recalled. If memory served, his name was Norgalle. He traced his fingers over the sacred seal at his neck.
“Hear me, warriors! The lives of the people rest in our hands! We shall stand as their shield, drawing the enemy’s wrath upon ourselves! Word has reached me from Commander-in-Chief Xylo—he is ready to apprehend the ringleader of this madness and take out the monster’s main body, but he requires a little more time. Let us aid him, so that he may root out and destroy the source of this chaos!”
The instant Yurisa heard the name “Xylo,” she felt a sharp pang in her right arm. She told herself it was probably just her imagination, nothing more.
“Move out, my elite!” Norgalle shouted. “General Tatsuya, you have my permission to attack!”
“Vuh!”
“Y-you’ve got to be kidding me!” one of the guards shouted. “This is nuts!”
At Norgalle’s command, Tatsuya charged forward, his battle-ax raised high. With a fierce, decisive swing, he cleaved through one of the monstrous tentacles with enough power to shatter it in a single blow. The guards quickly joined the fight, wielding their lightning staffs and axes.
… I doubt anyone needs to vote now. It’s already clear who the next archpriest will be.
That was the first thought that crossed Yurisa’s mind. Amid the chaos, Nicold Ibuton was the only one standing tall and facing the enemy, his voice rising above his peers’ as he urged the citizens to evacuate. He was even issuing orders to his fellow high priests.
“It is time to fulfill our duties as priests! Prove that your faith is more than just talk! Protect the people!”
Only a few managed to heed Ibuton’s command. Most of the high priests cowered with their heads in their hands, hid behind their guards, or had already begun to flee. High Priest Mirose was in the latter group.
“Get me out of here,” she shouted. “Protect me! Hurry! We must leave the plaza at once!”
Yurisa didn’t want to see her like this, but it was too late. Everyone in the plaza watched as Mirose escaped, protected by her guards.
After that, Yurisa felt as if her right eye began to move on its own. Across the vast plaza, she saw a red brick building suddenly collapse. Someone tumbled out of it, as though something had struck them and sent them flying. The figure rolled across the ground as dust and shards of broken brick scattered in all directions and the air filled with a haze of debris.
As the man shouted at the sky with a furious, savage expression, Yurisa’s eye recognized him. It was…
“Xylo Forbartz…!”
“Yurisa, wait!”
The instant Yurisa whispered that name, she was already unconsciously charging forward, only realizing what she was doing a few seconds later.
It wasn’t until Tevi’s voice reached her ears that she realized she was already in the air, a spire rising beneath her feet. Only then did it dawn on her that the Goddess of Fortresses’s ability could be used for transportation.
What am I doing? she wondered.
…No, this is right.
Acting on impulse was far better than freezing in place as she had earlier, even if her decision wasn’t logical. But if Xylo Forbartz was shouting like that, then the target of his fury must have been the one behind the chaos.
I can worry about whether I made the right decision after all this is over…!
As Yurisa made up her mind, she felt a slight pain throbbing in her right eye.