Once night fell, Lade, Diane, and the Schultz warriors began their infiltration of the Holy Precincts. Reyha’s recon work revealed that worship was held in the temple at night, and the main daemonist participants, such as the magemaster, would gather there. At first, Lade had planned to infiltrate the Precincts on his own, but the panicked Diane insisted on joining him with half of her soldiers. The remaining soldiers and Diane’s lieutenant went to rescue the prisoners, led by Reyha.
The warmaster barged in with a ghastly look on her face, unbefitting the daughter of the clan’s patriarch. None of their clanspeople stood in their way to keep them from entering the Holy Precincts. Even when they came across the rare person blocking them, every one of them had eyes that glowed gold, so Lade cut them down without a word.
The temple was illuminated with the flickering of countless flames.
“P-Princess…”
“Why in the world are the warmaster and her warriors—”
“D-did you come to punish us?”
“That huge warrior! He’s from the warrior clan!”
“Are you here to hunt the magemaster and daemonists?”
The Schultz clan members who’d gathered for worship were divided into the left and right sides of the room. In the eyes of those who let Diane and Lade pass, she could see guilt, fear…and hope.
Diane gritted her teeth. “Ma! Magemaster! How could you?!”
Cher, the magemaster, the conjurers, and countless daemonists stood in front of an altar placed in the center of the temple.
“Diane?” Cher asked vacantly. Her eyes were a cloudy gold, and her mouth hung open. She was unquestionably already a daemonist, no longer herself. The altar she was leaning against had been built with a random combination of daemon, human, and beast bones. It was a pattern of pure hatred.
Diane didn’t know it at the time, but that altar was the Unholy Spirit. It was essentially the same as the altar Baron Corbal of Relis City had tried to make.
“Ma! What the hell’s going on here?! Why are there daemonists terrorizing the Holy Precincts?!” There was fury in Diane’s red eyes as she shouted.
But then she realized that aside from the magemaster and conjurers, most of the daemonists were foreigners. There were very few Schultz clan members in their ranks. This provided a grain of relief in the corner of her mind.
“He would even come here…to our place of worship…to disturb our ambition. That accursed magus…Margilus…!”
It wasn’t the hollow-eyed Cher, but the magemaster who responded to Diane’s words. However, it wasn’t the justification she expected. It was true that the adjutant had also known his name. But how did the magemaster already know that Diane and Lade were connected to Geo?
“First Relis City, and now here! He must be the King of Daemons! It is just as was foretold: Margilus is the true demon! He is the natural enemy of the daemons we worship!”
“And we are your natural enemies.”
“Huh?!”
Lade. He was the strongest warrior in the entire history of a clan who’d hunted daemons for five hundred years.
He prioritized this mission above all other things in life. He had no intention of giving audience to the magemaster’s screams. His greatsword swung in a smooth, mighty arc.
WHOOSH!
“Aaaagh!”
“Huh?!”
“Protect your heads…! Arrrgh!”
The daemonists who stood beside the magemaster were quicker than their leader. They stood in front of him, in order to deflect the steel storm with their bodies. Naturally, they were rapidly cut in two. Their severed pieces flew every which way.
“Get in there! Capture my Ma—and kill the rest!”
“Yeah!”
“Hyah!”
Diane hesitated, but then she made a decision. Barking commands to her warriors, she pulled forth her rainbow-colored blade. The warriors, previously gone pale at the sight of their transformed hometown, were now overflowing with the will to fight. They drew their spears and axes and attacked the daemonists.
“Protect the Daemon Calix and the Unholy Spirit! She is the one who will open the Epicenter! The time of the great brood is upon us!”
“Gruh… Graaah!”
“Shwaaa!”
“E-eek!”
“M-monster!”
At the command of the magemaster, the daemonists started to transform. They were the leeched ones Lade had spoken of before. Some saw their arms contort and harden into the shape of blades, like the long fangs of some profane beast, their entire bodies covered with natural stone armor. Some shot a corrosive, poisonous spit from their mouths. If Geo had seen this, he might have uttered something like, “This game just changed genres.” Of course, to the Schultz clan, it was like a monster from another dimension.
The residents could only look on in terror, dreading whatever came next. Some screamed and tried to run away.
“This way!”
“D-did we make it?”
As the commotion started in the temple, Reyha led several warriors in an attack on the dungeon. She easily kicked down the daemonists who were on guard and freed the prisoners. The patriarch and a young man with long, blond hair—Balzard, the firstborn son of the duke of Filsand—were alive. But they showed the tell-tale signs of torture. Although weak, they were still able to walk on their own.