A war horn sounded in the distance, and I turned to the fortress walls.
Cion and Raven were locked in a head-to-head confrontation as they glared at one another. Neither the Golden Lion nor the innkeeper looked like they were expecting reinforcements. Things were visibly getting worse by the second, but with the divine soldiers rampaging around, everyone was already stretched to their limits. As the incoming fighters flooded into the temple plaza, the innkeeper let out a shout.
“Devil-touched!”
The sudden new wave of assailants charged straight in, attacking humans and demons alike. They carried mismatched equipment, their tactics were chaotic and disorganized...and every single one had inhuman features somewhere on their body. Judging by Raven’s demeanor, he was clearly the one who’d set this up.
“Gods’ sakes... None of this is my job, dammit!”
I gave up on healing the lion and went to stand at Cion’s side. Raven gazed smugly down at us, narrowing his eyes.
“You’re welcome to flee, should you wish to.”
“Like hell we will!” Cion shouted back.
The local aether was already too thin to be much use, though. And after I’d forcibly resurrected Cion, my personal mana reserves were also starting to bottom out.
“Please, we need a truce!” I shouted out to the mercenaries at the top of my lungs. “We have to fight together if we want to survive!”
But I didn’t get much of a response. They already had their hands full with the monsters right in front of them; of course they didn’t have time to lend an ear to a bride of the Holy Church. Still, I had to keep trying.
“Demons, you as well! Please!”
The battle had already been going badly, and this chaotic free-for-all could only end in total annihilation. But the Golden Lion just shook his head. It wasn’t from stubbornness—I could see the pained frustration on his face.
“Why...?” I started, but the answer was obvious.
The automated soldiers kept on rampaging, driven by the excess mana that had been forced into their remodeled bodies. Those monsters had been produced by human hands. But originally, they’d been demons.
No one knew the truth of what had happened. And because they didn’t know, they instinctively pinned the blame on their opponents: We could settle this peacefully if you’d just back off, so why won’t you?
As frustrating as it was to admit, the supersoldiers Raven had designed really were incredible. At this rate, we were all done for—but even knowing that, we still couldn’t manage to work together.
“Do you idiots all want to die?!”
As I shouted, Raven struck from my blind spot, but Cion was there to defend me.
“Do you?” he replied.
“Alicia, get them together!” Cion called out to me in a strained voice.
She pushed back Raven and lunged after him, beginning the steps of a familiar dance of death—sticking her own neck into danger again and again as she closed in to strike.
“General Felida Ba!” I called out, dredging up a faint memory of the Golden Lion’s name.
As far as the demons were concerned, we humans were just lower life-forms unworthy of their notice. But despite that, we treated them as monsters, and we’d even assassinated their ruler. Where the hell did we get off asking for an alliance now? Even I had to admit it was a ludicrous demand, but that didn’t matter!
“There are things more important than the lives that have already been lost, aren’t there?!”
The past was the foundation that all of us stood on. None of it could be erased or discarded so easily. Not our hatred, not our grudges, not our vendettas...and not our sins. There were moments when we needed to hold tightly to those memories in order to keep moving forward. But this wasn’t the time!
“Don’t you understand?! Martyrdom is for idiots!”
The lion’s eyes fixed themselves on mine. It wasn’t the gaze of a beast—they were the wise, knowing eyes of a person.
“We’ve all spent long years killing one another up till today. Even if we’ve got a common enemy now, trusting each other with our backs isn’t nearly that easy.”
As I listened, I found a thread of hope in his words.
“Boss!” I called out.
“Listen up, you bunch of drunks!” he shouted.
He’d picked up my meaning without me even having to say it. He’d been a royal knight captain once, after all. He didn’t think for a second that humans could win in a frontal assault against demons, and he must have always had the thought of compromise somewhere in the back of his mind. Before I could even explain my plan, the order had gone out to the mercenaries—and they also had what it took to survive.
“Do as our goddess commands!”
“Stay alive, boys! If we’re gonna die, may as well do it now!”
“Even if you get hurt, she’s not gonna let you cop a feel!”
“Ain’t even anything there to cop!”
I couldn’t help feeling like they were taking things in entirely the wrong direction, but regardless, they dispersed and leaped out in front of the demons.
“Don’t take the hits head-on! Just parry and dodge!” the innkeeper called. “Make an opening, and they’ll handle the rest!”
Cries of “Yes, sir!” rang out in response, and the mercenaries began defending the demons. Humans didn’t have the strength to land decisive blows in this fight; the best thing for them to do was to serve as shields and decoys, carving open a path for the more powerful killers. They turned their backs to the demons without so much as a glance, facing off against the divine soldiers.
The demons reacted with surprise, but only for a brief moment.
“Remember your pride as warriors, men!”
With the Golden Lion’s call, the shift in the tides of battle became unstoppable.
“We’ll give you a nice clean opening!” a mercenary called out.
“If you still can’t finish the job, then I guess those claws are just for show, huh?!” another taunted.
They provoked and riled up the demons, and the demons wielded force as their answer.
“Your help ain’t nothing, you hear?!”
A minotaur swung his greatsword to lop off a divine soldier’s arm, and a demon with bird wings dove in to kick it right in the head. It was hard to believe this was an impromptu alliance; all I could do was marvel at the coordination on display.
“We’ve all lived our lives on the battlefield,” the Golden Lion said, slowly standing up. “Once we get on the same beat, our bodies know what to do.” He gazed over at Cion and Raven, his eyes wavering. “I’m just sorry I can’t join the fight myself...”
“As long as you’ll help take the blame once this is all over, I would ask nothing more,” I replied, watching over Cion and Raven’s battle alongside him. “You aren’t the only one unable to join in...”
My hand tightened its grip on my bible as I stifled the urge to leap in myself.
The lion turned to stare at me with a strange reverence.
“My, how you’ve grown...”
“Pardon?” I had no idea what he meant, and I wasn’t sure how to respond. “Have we met somewhere before?”
“No, never mind. Just thinking to myself.” He turned his gaze back to Cion. “So, do we have a chance?”
“If I said no, would you give up?”
“We’re warriors. We keep fighting to the bitter end.”
“Then that’s all I can say.”
I gathered and took in what little aether I could find, but there still wasn’t nearly enough. My orisons wouldn’t be of any use like this, and I didn’t have the mana left for spellcasting either. Mercenaries were used to fighting with nothing but their skills, but honestly, it was taking everything I had just to keep standing. If I jumped in right now, it was obvious that all I’d do was get in her way—but if I just left Cion to handle this alone, she’d be overcome sooner or later.
How...? How the hell do I...? Cion!
In the face of an unbridgeable divide in strength, all the feelings in my heart were utterly powerless.