The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 293 On the Verge of Collapse
A soft thud came from beside my feet.

Alena looked down and saw that the arrow she had been holding had slipped from her grasp and fallen to the ground.

She didn't look a second time. When she looked up again, she found that the figure, whose body was surging with black energy, had already flashed to the other side.

With a sweeping sword strike, the black sword light rippled outwards like waves, but its speed was much faster than any ripple.

With just this one sword strike, all the demons caught in the attack were reduced to ashes; its power was astonishing.

He rushed to the other side, moving so fast that it was impossible to blink, seemingly tireless.

Alena found it increasingly familiar the more she looked at it.

That figure... was Her Highness the Holy Maiden.

boom!
Another sword light struck the city wall on this side, instantly obliterating the affected part and causing the remaining part to collapse rapidly.

Alena awoke with a start from the moment she was thrown off, and just as she was about to flee, the city wall beneath her feet collapsed. She managed to grab onto the wall beside her to avoid being flung out.

Just as things stabilized, the wall started sliding again, and Alena quickly climbed over to the still intact section.

Once she regained her footing, she turned around and saw Jia Bi and the other guards' corpses tumbling into the collapsed ruins, where they were completely buried in the ongoing collapse.

Alena opened her mouth, struggled to her feet, and looked outside. The figure had already charged towards the ruins outside the city where the demons were more concentrated.

Wherever it passed, all that remained was the roar of collapse and silent annihilation.

“Your Highness…” Alena murmured, “Is it really Your Highness…”

Before she could think for long, the city wall beneath her feet seemed to become unstable and began to shake.

Alena struggled to pull her gaze away, and scrambled and jumped along the collapsed section of the city wall to quickly descend.

The surviving monks and nuns below stared blankly at everything. Alena reminded them to leave the collapsing city wall as soon as possible.

Looking back at the plaza, several terrifyingly large cracks appeared on the ground, and all the invading demons were gone.

"Deacon Sister!"

A lady-in-waiting from the daze exclaimed, "Was that His Highness just now? It was His Highness! I saw it very clearly, that was His Highness's face! His Highness is not dead! He has come to save us!"

Alena opened her mouth, unsure how to answer.

At that moment, another figure ran out from the middle of the Holy City Square, his steps hurried, his expression fearful, yet carrying an indescribable determination.

She climbed directly up the collapsed city wall and stood on it, looking out.

"Eric—"

Alena quickly guessed who she was: Natalia, the Grand Princess of the Empire who was rumored to have died alongside Her Highness the Saintess in Castelfel.

The city wall was unstable, so Alena climbed up again, trying to get her down, but as soon as her gaze fell outside, she forgot why she had come up there in the first place.

A sword light pierced the heavens and earth, slashing forward and instantly annihilating an entire ruin along with the demons that had emerged from it, leaving only a bottomless ravine on the ground.

"Your Highness..."

Alena is now more inclined to believe the other possibility she just heard: that after Her Highness the Saintess died, she ascended to the divine realm and received power personally bestowed by the gods, returning to this world to continue the fight.

Otherwise, how could an ordinary human being possess such destructive power?
Natalia turned to look at her, then grabbed her wrist. "You're a nun here, aren't you? Her Highness the Saintess has been controlled by the Demon King's will. Can you bring her back to her senses?"

A thunderous sound went through Alena's mind; this was a possibility she could never have imagined.

"...Demon King?"

"It's the old demon king! He's resurrected and is controlling Eric through some means!" Natalia became increasingly anxious as she explained, glancing again at the figure rapidly receding into the distance outside. "Eric—"

no respond.

Or rather, that attack that almost tore through the air was his continuous response.

pat!

Another large brick suddenly fell from the city wall, making a loud noise.

Alena regained her senses, remembered her purpose for coming up there, and pulled Natalia along as they climbed back down from the city wall.

As soon as she landed, Natalia planned to rush out of the city from the other side.

Alena could only pull her back, reminding her that it was extremely dangerous outside, both by the demons and by the saintess she was trying to find.

She cast several calming spells on her, and Natalia finally calmed down a bit.

"...Is this the inner city of Lesser?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

Natalia looked around. "How could Lesel have fallen... How many demons attacked here? Eric said this place would never fall."

“Many, Your Highness.” Alena said, while searching for the surviving members of the Saintess Monastery. “The demons launched a full-scale attack on Lesel more than half a month ago. They had already occupied most of Gradia by then… hiss.”

Natalia grabbed her arm, and she then realized that she had a cut on her arm when she came down from the city wall.

"...You're saying Grandia has fallen?"

Natalia looked at her in disbelief. "How could the demons have conquered Gradia so quickly unless they were completely defenseless? They were fighting on two fronts!"

“There is almost no defense, Your Highness.” Alena pulled her hand away. “The Kingdom of Arsha is attacking Kogano and Dorne at the same time. Most of the Kogano troops originally stationed in Gladia have been transferred back to defend.”

"..."

Natalia stared at her blankly. "What are you talking about... Why would Arsha attack the Empire?"

"I don't know much, Your Highness..."

Alena began to believe that the conjecture she had just heard might be true; the two had indeed come back from the dead, otherwise the Grand Princess would have known something about them.

"I only heard that Governor Igor of Dorne sent troops to raid the Kingdom of Arsha and even sent assassins to kill the newly enthroned king. Although the king was seriously injured, his brother took control of the situation and then launched a revenge attack."

"..."

Natalia heard a buzzing sound in her ears, and then she couldn't hear anything else.

She now finally understood why the group of mages recruited from Xingyuan Academy had left Castelfel to the west.

They did go directly to the battlefield, but not to fight against the demons; rather, they went to annex the Kingdom of Arsha.

Everything had a traceable pattern, but only now did she truly understand what those odd things meant.

The worst-case scenario she and Eric had made while in the game "Magic Domain" is gradually coming true.

The empire is doomed, Natalia thought.

Her gaze fell upon the broken walls and ruins before her, and she felt a chill run through her body.

Humanity is also going to perish.

"Your Highness?"

Alena called out a few times, but seeing that Natalia was still standing there in a daze, she ignored her.

The demons that had stormed into the city had been wiped out, and she realized that they might have finally found a chance to survive. However, many people were still seriously injured and in dire need of medical attention. Alena began to gather the nuns from the monastery and had them disperse to search for any remaining survivors in the city and carry out post-battle rescue efforts.

“Sister Deacon, Leslie has fallen, we…”

“We are still alive, and Lessir has not completely fallen!” Alena said firmly. “His Highness has returned, and we still have hope.”

"I understand."

The nuns went their separate ways and dispersed throughout the city.

"Spread out, spread out quickly!"

Suddenly, a gasp rang out. Alena looked over and saw that many people were looking towards the Papal Tower.

She looked up and noticed a shocking wound on the Papal Tower, where bricks were constantly falling and the tower was on the verge of collapse.

The demons couldn't have caused that kind of destruction; it was Her Highness the Holy Maiden who carved it out...

Alena didn't know which way the Papal Tower would fall, but if it fell into the city, there would be a lot of casualties, so she quickly ordered people to move towards the St. Mary's Convent.

It's hard to say whether it's lucky or unlucky, but the Convent of Saintess was closer to the main gate of the inner city. If the demons had broken through the city through the main gate, the Convent of Saintess would have been the first to be hit. However, Lessier was ultimately breached because of the Pope and the Cardinals' attempt to break out, leaving it riddled with holes, while the Tower of Saintess and the Convent of Saintess remained standing.

With the saintess outside and the high nun buried in the ruins, Alena became the most powerful person in the convent. Under her command, the nuns moved the surviving wounded to the convent while guarding against the collapsing papal tower.

After a while of busy work, the Grand Princess of the Empire suddenly came to find her. "Are you Alena?" Natalia asked.

Alena paused, "Yes, Your Highness."

“I’ve heard Eric talk about you,” Natalia said. “Now, are you in charge here?”

Alena paused for a moment, then quickly nodded.

“I need to know what exactly happened on the mainland during the month we were gone,” Natalia said. “Where is all the intelligence you’ve obtained? I’ll go see for myself.”

Alena glanced at her and quickly said, "The compiled intelligence is all on the Saintess Tower. Your Highness, enter the Saintess Academy from that side, and you'll know how to get up when you reach the bottom of the Saintess Tower."

Natalia glanced at the Tower of Saints, then at the other side of the city wall, and quickly nodded. "I understand, thank you."

She ran toward the monastery.

Alena knew that she would rather observe the outside world from the tower.

Separated by a city wall, she could only hear the occasional rumbling from outside, sometimes near, sometimes far, as if the Holy Maiden was tireless.

The old demon king has been resurrected... and even controlled the Holy Maiden?
Alena's mind was in turmoil. She also had things she desperately wanted to know from Natalia, but looking at the mess in front of her, she held back.

"Ignore the corpses for now, save the lives first."

"But she's the High Nun..."

"...Save lives first."

"Yes."

The wounded nearby had been transferred to the St. Mary's Convent. Alena then turned her attention to the section of the city wall where the Cardinals had attempted to break out, and personally led some people there to check the situation.

"Ah! It's His Holiness the Pope!"

As soon as they reached the foot of the city wall, a sharp-eyed monk spotted the Pope lying beneath the collapsed wall.

Or rather, it was a person dressed in papal robes, because most of his body was pressed against the wall, with only half of his papal robes showing, so even if the broken wall were lifted, it would probably be impossible to recognize him.

“His Majesty is dead.” Alena glanced at the city walls and said quickly, “Never mind that for now, let’s see if there are any survivors outside the walls.”

"it is good……"

The broken wall here originally only had a gap at the top, but now there is a ravine running from top to bottom. The fallen and collapsed bricks on both sides have filled part of it, but the power of the sword light that struck here can still be seen.

Several monks passed through the city wall and came outside. On both sides of the extended ditch, there were all kinds of mutilated corpses, red-robed cardinals of the Papacy, armored knights, or the corpses of demons, piled up like mountains, with blood flowing all over the ground.

Alena also came outside. Seeing the scene before her, she paused for a moment, then joined the monks and nuns in searching through the pile of corpses for possible survivors.

"There is still a cardinal alive here!"

Two nuns found a cardinal barely clinging to life near the city walls. On the other side, beneath a pile of corpses, were several knights who were still severely wounded. Alena and the monks did their best to treat them, and then had the wounded carried to the Convent of Saints.

However, there were only a few survivors left. Before the saintess suddenly appeared, they had to escape and fight at the same time. The battle on this section of the city wall was much more intense than in other places.

Stepping onto a severed limb of a demon, Alena looked around to make sure there were no survivors, then led her people back into the city.

Are there any living mages who can build walls?

“The inner city is only inhabited by clergy, Sister Alena. As for the area outside the city… you’ve seen it yourself.”

Looking at the huge gap in the city wall in front of her, Alena looked around at other places. Everything was in ruins and could not be rebuilt by a few mages. One more gap or one less gap made no difference.

More importantly, are there any demons still able to get close to this place?

Looking at the deep marks on the ground, Alena couldn't help but think of the saintess outside.

"Let's take the injured to the monastery first, then clear the ruins and gather the bodies of the dead together."

"understood."

Alena joined them in their work, only in this way could she avoid recalling the fear of only being able to wait for death just over an hour earlier.

The wind and snow continued, gradually covering the holy city inside and out, and the sky darkened very early.

Alena did not return to the convent until it was dark.

Within the holy city, the surviving clergy, whether they previously belonged to the Convent of Saint Mary or the Papal Palace, are now gathered here.

Alena received news as soon as she entered that the cardinal they had rescued from the ruins had died more than an hour earlier.

This also means that the entire Lessian Papacy, from the Pope to the College of Cardinals, has been completely destroyed.

...No, the saintess is still alive.

Alena reminded herself again that the saint was not dead and had already returned to Leselle.

Although she still doesn't know what state the saintess is in right now.

Listening to the reports from the other nuns, Alena learned that their convent, having been forced to defend the city walls at the very end, suffered far fewer casualties than the Papal Palace. Even so, they had still lost more than forty of their sisters forever.

Just as Alena was about to say something, a devastating roar suddenly came from outside.

"what sound!"

Many people were alarmed, thinking that the demons had returned and invaded the city again.

But soon someone rushed into the church, saying that the Papal Tower had completely collapsed, and the direction it fell was towards St. John's Square. Most of the bodies they had carried out of the ruins during the day were now completely buried by the collapsed Papal Tower.

"I hope no one was hurt?... It's collapsed, so be it. We can clean it up tomorrow during the day."

After a day of anxiety and exhaustion, neither Alena herself nor the monks and nuns had the energy to care about the buried corpses anymore. Many were even asking what the point of staying there was.

The Papacy has collapsed, and the Holy City exists in name only.

“Because the Saintess Monastery is still here.” Alena rallied her spirits and said to the questioner, “Her Highness the Saintess has also returned here, so there is still hope for the Holy City.”

"Your Highness..."

Many people looked bewildered.

The saintess who suddenly appeared when the Holy City was destroyed, although she seemed obviously not quite right, single-handedly turned the tide and wiped out all the demons that had flooded into the Holy City. It can be said that they are still alive at this time, completely dependent on her.

"Where is Her Highness now?" someone asked.

Alena pursed her lips and looked outside the church. "His Highness is still out there eliminating the demons."

“Her Highness the Holy Maiden’s condition… seems a bit off,” another monk from the Apostolic Palace remarked.

Before Alena could speak, a nun from the convent shouted, "All I know is that His Highness killed the demons and saved us! Even if he betrayed the church and used some evil power, I will continue to follow His Highness!"

The survivors in the church had various expressions and were discussing among themselves.

Seeing this, Alena didn't say anything more. After dealing with these people for the time being, she remembered that there was still a guest in the Saintess Tower, so she dragged her tired body up the tower again.

Natalia sat in the saint's seat, flipping through the organized intelligence reports from various parts of the continent.

"What day is it today?" Natalia asked as soon as she came up.

Alena gave the date, and Natalia looked at her: "Then what about the intelligence here..."

“Lesser is completely surrounded by demons, Your Highness. It’s also very difficult for winged people to fly in. About seven or eight days ago, no winged people dared to try to fly in here anymore, and intelligence has been cut off,” Alena said.

Natalia slumped into the chair, breathing heavily.

Alena could almost sense the despair emanating from her, but she still couldn't help asking, "Your Highness Natalia, what has happened these past few days? Why has Her Highness the Saint become... like that?"

After a while, Natalia finally replied to her.

"We were teleported to the Demon Realm, to the old Demon King's grave, where we resurrected him."

Natalia gave a brief account of her and Eric's experiences in the Demon Realm over the past month, especially the final scene where the Demon King imposed his power on Eric and then used her to open the Gate of Redemption, throwing them back to Leslie.

Teleportation, Demon King, Gate of Redemption… Every word Natalia spoke was both familiar and strange to Alena. It was hard for her not to feel that she was telling a story from a holy book, even though she knew that Natalia was not joking with her; it could only be the truth.

"Then Your Highness is now..."

Natalia sighed deeply.

"He is now the Demon King's blade... used to deal with another Demon King."

(End of this chapter)