Black blood dripped onto the earth.
I didn’t know what would happen when it hit, but I was certain it wouldn’t be anything good.
I had to stop it from falling, yet all my strength was spent just dodging the beams shooting out of that finger.
Death rays flying at the speed of light. Though not impossible to dodge since they shot in the direction the finger pointed, it wasn’t easy either.
With every nerve in my body straining as if squeezed dry, I dodged the beams like predicting the future. But there was no way to block the blood dripping from the Evil God too.
‘Damn it!’
If only I were stronger—strong enough to create dozens of Superior Blades and slice through everything in sight—I could’ve easily dealt with the Evil God.
But reality? Even creating an Aura Blade in midair required intense focus. Though those fighting Kail didn’t seem to feel the same way, still…
The real issue was that I couldn’t casually block both the Evil God and the drops of blood falling from him.
‘Should I have brought her…?’
Kail thought of Yuri, who would be attending class at the Academy right now. A Master-level Sorceress. She definitely would’ve been a great help against the Evil God here…
Just as he started thinking that, Kail shook his head. Sure, she would’ve helped against the Evil God, but she also might’ve ended up dead.
There was no need to risk my fiancée’s life just to deal with one measly finger. Absolutely no need.
Hadn’t I already thought bringing a Virgin Saintess along was overkill?
“Damn it, you stupid Saintess! If you’ve got time for a mental breakdown, help meeee!”
Shouting toward the mansion where the Saintess was probably clutching her head, Kail dodged another attack from the finger while swinging his sword.
Every time his attack landed, more blood flowed toward the ground. The more he attacked, the more dangerous it became.
But he couldn’t stop attacking either. He couldn’t just let it bleed without doing anything.
─■Judgment.
The moment the Evil God’s finger spoke the divine words, thick black chains began wrapping tightly around Kail’s entire body.
The chains appeared without warning. Kail struggled left and right but quickly realized these chains couldn’t be broken.
Unless he swung his sword with full power, there was no way to cut them. And swinging a sword while bound was obviously impossible.
─■Activate.
Once again, a pitch-black beam gathered at the tip of the finger. The death ray. Sensing his imminent demise, Kail slowly closed his eyes.
A deep darkness enveloped him before the light. For a brief moment, he wondered if death was supposed to feel this gentle. But then, feeling the chains still binding him, Kail cautiously opened his eyes.
“Sorry, Hero.”
Standing before him was the Saintess. With pure white wings spread behind her, she glanced back at Kail with a smile, then swung her mace to shatter the chains binding his limbs.
Now free, Kail smirked as if saying “Took you long enough” and stood beside her.
“You’re late.”
“I sincerely apologize.”
“Can you block that?”
“It’s possible.”
The Saintess gestured to her glowing mace. A divine weapon imbued with holy power—a vaccine against the corrupting influence of the Evil God.
Lifting the weapon blessed by the Sovereign God’s holy power that could nullify the Evil God’s authority, the Saintess confidently flapped her wings.
“If you assist me just a little, it’ll be much easier.”
“Then do it.”
“Understood.”
The next moment, three large rings appeared before the Saintess, lined up in a row. Calmly eyeing the Evil God’s finger from in front of the massive rings, the Saintess leaped into them.
Three bursts of acceleration. Lightly surpassing the speed of sound, the Saintess shattered air resistance and reached the finger in an instant.
Seeing her approach, the finger panicked and fired a death ray, but upon touching the mace in the Saintess’s hand, it dissipated like watercolor paint in water.
“Haaaaaap-!”
The Saintess forged ahead. Following behind her, Kail realized the situation had drastically improved.
No need to dodge or block. He just had to follow and run.
Forgetting everything except cutting off that finger—Kail became nothing more than a single sword and flew forward.
“Mayer-style Eightfold Art.”
Giant God Slayer.
Swish─!
The Saintess’s mace erased all the powers coating the Evil God’s finger, and Kail’s sword, following closely behind, cleanly severed the now defenseless digit.
There was no need to worry about the blood spurting out—it was instantly sealed by the Saintess’s miracle the moment it was cut.
─■■■■■!!
Hearing a scream from beyond the spatial rift, Kail thrust his sword directly into the target hole.
Like someone startled by a needle prick pulling their hand away, the Evil God swiftly retracted its finger.
As soon as the finger fully retreated through the spatial rift, the magically opened tear in space rapidly healed itself.
“…Is it over?”
Kail looked at the Saintess as he spoke. After concentrating her holy power and surveying the area, the Saintess confirmed without hesitation that the Evil God had been defeated.
“Yes, Hero. It’s over. Victory is ours!”
The Saintess, smiling happily at their triumph, suddenly collapsed and plummeted toward the ground.
Catching the falling Saintess, who had lost her wings, Kail carefully cradled her and descended from the sky.
On the ground, the Holy Knight Order, who had come to support them, surrounded the area stained with the Evil God’s blood and prayed.
‘It’s over.’
Seeing this, Kail finally believed it. They had won. They had defeated the mentally devastating Evil God.
Though it was just a finger, defeating a god was still something to be proud of—Kail thought it was perfectly fine to feel confident.
While pondering what reward he’d receive from the awoken Saintess or what treasures he could squeeze out of Helra’s Duchess, whose city had been saved, Kail landed on the ground with a grin.
Afterward, having heard the report on the victims from the Duchess of Helra:
“Ninety percent are dead.”
“…Huh?”
Ninety percent of the duchy had perished.
In other words, tens of thousands of lives were lost.
***
We had been mistaken.
We thought stopping the Evil God Cult would be enough.
But it wasn’t.
‘Stupid… so incredibly stupid…’
From the start, we should’ve prevented them from entering the city entirely. Stopping the cult after they’d infiltrated was like trying to stop an IS member carrying a nuclear bomb in New York.
Could we have stopped them? Impossible. Once they entered the city, a nuclear attack was inevitable.
What happened in the Helra Ducal Territory was similar.
“That magic circle was the problem.”
“The magic circle?”
“That thing… the tall, black thing… the magic circle that summoned the finger.”
Seeing Izuna struggle to even say the word ‘finger,’ Kail gave a bitter smile.
Still, he easily understood what she meant. The magic circle activated by the Apostle of the Evil God Cult—the one that opened a rift to hell—that was the problem.
“All those influenced by the Evil God became sacrifices for that magic circle.”
“Influenced? Were there really that many followers of the Evil God Cult in this city?”
“Think about what we’ve been struggling with.”
“…The epidemic?”
“Exactly. That epidemic was spread by the Apostle of the Evil God Cult. In other words, the epidemic itself could be considered part of the Evil God.”
Hearing this, Kail recalled the sexually transmitted disease that had spread throughout the city. The STD spread by Lucia, the Apostle of the Evil God Cult. It had spread rapidly and resisted treatment.
He had thought it was just a fantastical plague that spread from sharing the same well—but to think it was the Evil God’s power.
At the same time, Kail realized why the Evil God had appeared so easily.
‘With so many people as sacrifices… it must’ve been easy for it to manifest.’
A magically sustained array the size of a city built over centuries.
Tens of thousands of ordinary citizens.
And the life of the Apostle closest to the Evil God.
All combined to summon the Evil God. Or rather, despite using all that, they only managed to summon a single finger.
“Because of those damn Evil God Cult bastards, I’m ruined.”
“…Senior.”
“What is all this? You said you’d handle it somehow. As a Saintess and a Swordmaster, you could’ve done something.”
Seeing Izuna look at him with accusing eyes, Kail quietly closed his mouth.
But only for a moment. Realizing her resentment wasn’t directed at Kail, she silently lowered her head.
“—What am I supposed to do now? I… I…”
She had been taught how to rule people.
But she hadn’t learned how to manage a city without them.
Especially now, when the duchy was cursed land tainted by the Evil God’s blood.
This city was abandoned.
“I…”
Izuna Hela, who had lost everything, fell into despair. The city that had always supported her, that had been her confidence, had now become the curse dragging her into hell.
