The battle in the dead of night was drawing to an end.

The Hall of Purity had never begun this battle aiming for military victory in the first place, and the knight orders scattered throughout the city had begun to fully regain control of the chaos and counterattack.

“Remember! Oaths sworn to the twin stars of fate and infinity! The time has come to prove our words and deeds!”

Crown Prince Valherios raised his sword high, his brilliant golden hair streaming behind him.

“This light is the Empire’s light, and thus the light of the constellations! Tonight, this city shall permit darkness no longer!”

Golden sword aura reinforcement burst forth from the tip of his blade.

That light cut down mutant demonic beasts, cut down the encroached, and even cut apart the fear inside the soldiers’ hearts.

“Water is wonderful. Drink enough of it and your skin improves, and you lose weight easily too. And no matter how noisy a sinner may be, if you sink them in water, they become quiet.”

Narji, royal brother of the ruling house of Crosel, burst into laughter and raised a hand.

Buuugururur!

Water bubbles swelled larger than carriages.

The encroached trapped inside clutched their throats and writhed.

At Narji’s gesture, bloody foam burst upward, and the monsters’ groans subsided.

“O Myriad Star! Grant me your blessing! Let this servant split apart the bones and flesh of those heretics in your stead!”

Saint Deneb swung his war hammer like a pinwheel.

“I shall send them all upward, so please straighten their hearts and take only the obedient ones!”

Puk!

The encroached flew through the air with their bones shattered.

“O starlight, watch over this land. Watch over it always, again and again. And if you cannot watch over this land yourselves, then allow this servant to watch over it in your place.”

Saint Sirius solemnly recited a prayer behind them.

The divine power of a cardinal who had lived for three hundred years was overwhelming.

Woooong! Woooong! Woooong!

Whenever the starlight field swept through the crowds, people’s wounds healed and encroachment was purified.

The battle situation seemed to be stabilizing.

Citizens cried tears of relief and shouted.

“We’re saved now!”

“We won!”

“Long live Rebellion!”

Boom!

At that moment, buildings in the center of the city exploded.

At least, that was how it looked.

[“------!”]

A monster as large as a fortress burst upward through clouds of dust and into the darkness.

Its skin had been flayed away, exposing raw muscle, while white bone and bundles of nerves protruded from all across its body.

Bone tentacles branching along its spine wrapped around the mutant demonic beast’s body as they lashed through the night sky.

Whenever the grotesquely overdeveloped bone tentacles split the air, stone buildings collapsed and the earth shook as if screaming.

“We’re dead now!”

“We lost!”

“Forge the city!”

The citizens screamed in terror, while soldiers dropped their weapons and squeezed their eyes shut.

“To gather humans and shape a monster! Is this the product of intelligence they boast of! The arrogance of trying to replace the gods has instead birthed something more hideous than beasts!”

Valherios gnashed his teeth and gripped his sword.

“Blasphemy! Burn them! Burn them at the stake!”

Saint Deneb shouted while raising his blood-soaked hammer.

“O Myriad Star! This trial is burdensome enough to be almost disappointing!”

Saint Sirius burst out with the fury of a young man.

“Everything becomes quiet when submerged in water, but to drown that evil god, one would need an ocean.”

Narji let out a hollow laugh while gathering moisture from the air and raising droplets into the sky.

The faces of the Elector Princes hardened in an instant.

The bachelors and masters of the Hall of Purity also hardened their expressions.

They hardened for completely opposite reasons.

“It is the victory of intelligence!”

“Seniors! Behold that magnificent creation! Is it not the product of perfect research, forged through the union of flesh and mind?”

“Praise the wisdom of the Doctor!”

“I too shall certainly become a Doctor! I shall dig into intelligence itself and reveal the root of humanity before the entire world!”

“Volunteer for the integrated master-doctoral program!”

The bachelors of the Hall of Purity stretched their hands toward the sky and screamed.

“You who pride yourselves on being great houses, what has your contract with the constellations changed? How could false starlight ever overcome intelligence! The pulse of that monster is the pulse of truth itself!”

The masters of the Hall of Purity danced in rhythm with the writhing tentacles.

“Five doctoral candidates have become one! Fused intelligence shall no longer remain trapped within human limits! That body itself is a dissertation of wisdom, and that howl is the footnote of truth itself!”

The doctoral candidates before mutation embraced one another and shouted.

“We declare it here! We shall prove it! Ignorance is sin. Knowledge is justice itself. This blood and flesh are sacrifices carved away solely for scholarship!”

“That is truth. That is humanity’s truth!”

“We are no longer human. We are scholarship itself! One day, the dean shall summon us, and reveal truths that even the arrogant constellations cannot explain!”

The bachelors, masters, and doctoral candidates of the Hall of Purity scattered throughout the city all looked toward one place.

An encroached formed of pure white bones and crimson tentacles.

That hideous monster was their truth itself.

What the hell is that?

Kyrie looked at the “doctoral candidate” rising from the center of the city and even blinked harshly with his right eye beneath the eyepatch.

Why the hell do those bastards keep getting bigger!?

That doctoral candidate encroached was even larger and more grotesque than the skeletal overlord, the King Among Flowers.

Kyrie looked around at the people surrounding him.

About one thousand marksman school cadets, Frey, several Blue Knights, and other knights were there.

At this point, we probably won’t lose.

And there were also Andromeda’s and Erica’s armies, along with Tyren’s army.

Then they won’t need me anymore. There are this many direct-line purebloods here, so why should some red-light district bastard fight that monster?

Kyrie unnaturally slumped to the ground.

“Gghhk!”

He clutched his head with both hands.

“Of all times for neural overheating!”

“My lord! Are you all right? Please regain your senses!”

Joi bent over in panic.

“Bring holy water, holy water. My lord! Please endure just a little longer! We shall do our utmost to ensure you can return to the front lines immediately!”

“I shall attempt emergency treatment authority.”

Blue Hydrangea approached cautiously.

“No. Forget it! Save it.”

Kyrie waved his hand far too unnaturally.

“More urgent than Your Highness’s safety… Yes. Understood.”

Blue Hydrangea smiled as though she had realized something.

For someone who had spent so much time among countless cadets, it was not difficult to recognize such an obvious fake illness.

“Kiri-Kiri! I’ll protect you until you recover!”

At that moment, Frey shoved Blue Hydrangea aside and swung his greatsword, drawing a circle around Kyrie.

“Any who try to enter this circle shall lose their heads!”

His attitude was utterly serious.

Endure it, endure it, endure it.

Blue Hydrangea desperately suppressed her laughter.

The Elector Princes could not laugh.

But for reasons completely different from Blue Hydrangea’s.

Come to think of it… didn’t we do absolutely nothing tonight?

Andromeda alternated her gaze between Kyrie and the mutant demonic beast towering in the center of the city and thought that.

Who prepared suppression measures beforehand?

Kyrie.

Who began suppressing the situation once it erupted?

Kyrie.

Who gathered the great-house superhuman soldiers scattered everywhere during the crisis?

Kyrie.

At this rate, they would become not allies, but merely Kyrie and his followers.

If they were going to politically support Kyrie, then they needed military exploits of their own.

Kyrie had even shown them the method to help him.

Hey. You there, little-brother thief.

Andromeda glanced sidelong at Erica.

There is no way you are already exhausted, and even less likely that you are frightened. Which means you are surely trying to subtly tell us something.

Erica had precisely the same thought as Andromeda.

The signal was obvious from the moment he sent holy water. He was not trying to insult me, nor exclude Terra. Rather, he is naturally giving us a chance to share military exploits. He is unexpectedly deep-minded for an Astreos.

Even Tyren thought the same.

“Rest easy. Big sister will handle that. All right?”

“Do not overexert yourself. This queen shall handle it. A political marriage must benefit both sides.”

“This time, I shall show you the ‘opening’ power of the earth.”

The three turned their troops with deep gratitude for Kyrie’s consideration.

Andromeda, Andromeda. Are you seriously still not coming to your senses? You did not realize this?

How embarrassing.

The earth embraces all things. Even if someone spoon-feeds it to you, you still have to properly swallow it.

Though they felt ashamed that they had failed to realize it before being shown directly, they resolved never to miss this opportunity to earn military exploits.

What are they talking about?

Kyrie slowly rose to his feet, blinking.

When I climbed atop Rebellion’s ballista tower, the full panorama of the city spread beneath my feet.

I steadied my breathing and stared toward the center of the city.

Andromeda raised her hand toward the sky.

Flash!

Blue lightning tore through the air and descended.

The dark-red mass of tentacles shriveled, twisted, and finally tore apart.

Beside her, Erica swung her fan.

Kwakwakwakwa!

Grasp of Destruction.

A gigantic translucent hand snapped the mutant demonic beast’s bones and tore away its flesh.

Boom!

Tyren stomped heavily.

Papabababak!

The ground rippled like waves, and dozens of stone-forged spikes erupted dozens of meters into the air.

The mutant demonic beast’s legs were gruesomely shredded.

That was the true Thorn Hell.

The mutant demonic beast planted its swollen leg on the opposite side, and Tyren deployed Quagmire there.

The house-sized legs were pierced and sank, causing the mutant demonic beast’s balance to tilt.

As expected of House Terra’s wide-area techniques.

Their power truly shone not when facing one or two people, but when reshaping terrain itself.

[“-----!”]

The mutant demonic beast staggered as it tried to regain its balance.

Naturally, strength entered its body and its muscles pulled taut.

Since it had no skin, the sight was perfectly visible.

And at the point where the thickest muscle stretched the tightest, golden light suddenly flashed.

Slice!

It was Valherios.

The sword aura reinforcement erupting from his blade momentarily illuminated the city like daylight.

[“-----!?”]

The mutant demonic beast staggered while spewing an unreal amount of blood.

Not a single drop of that blood touched the ground.

Tststststs!

Instead, it mixed with clear water, rose into the sky, and swung down as blades.

Flowing Water Blades.

Krrrk!

Several more bone tentacles were severed.

Through Bio-radar, I saw Narji, royal brother of the house of currents, swinging his arms through the air.

“Huuuuup!”

The mutant demonic beast inhaled deeply as though preparing to unleash a mental wave.

It never got the chance to exhale.

Kwaaaaaang!

Saint Deneb and Saint Sirius summoned meteors.

Whether they created them through authority or truly dragged something wandering the night sky downward, I did not know.

What I did know was that masses of starlight came flying from impossibly far away at absurd speed and smashed directly into the mutant demonic beast’s maw.

Fwoooosh!

Then a wave of flame erupted.

Vicher and Vichera swung both hands.

Flames rising from a crimson sea scorched the skinless body of the monster with sizzling heat, spreading a foul smell of burnt flesh.

From atop the wall, I looked down upon the entire scene.

The authorities of every great house and faction flashed brilliantly.

This city shone like a gigantic constellation.

I thought the mutant demonic beast would soon collapse.

Everyone was displaying respectable authority, but no one was unleashing a finishing-class great authority.

No matter how large it was, they thought this much would suffice.

If one expert thought so, it would be arrogance, but if everyone thought so, it was rational judgment.

At least until the mutant demonic beast opened the new mouth growing from its abdomen and screamed.

[“■■■■■!”]

A mental wave rang throughout the entire city.

I nearly fell from the wall on the spot.

But in the end, I did not fall.

There were no grotesque hallucinations or bodily changes.

The range was simply too broad. Any great-house blood relative—or no, even an attendant-level superhuman—could withstand that wave easily.

The Blue Knights visible through my Bio-radar, and even the Elector Princes, never knelt.

Then why unleash such a mental wave?

Was it a meaningless final struggle?

No.

“L-let’s go.”

“It calls for us! Let’s go!”

The crowds hiding in the darkness far away all rose at once.

The civilians who had been fleeing in every direction suddenly charged back toward the center of the city.

They did not scream.

Nor did they cry.

They simply threw themselves toward the mutant demonic beast’s flesh.

Splaash!

Blood and bone burst apart.

The monster’s tentacles devoured human bodies.

Flesh, blood, and organs melted away and seeped into every split opening of the mutant demonic beast.

The collapsing bone pillars regained light, and severed tentacles regenerated instantly.

That mental wave had echoed throughout the entire city.

Which meant the entire city was little more than the mutant demonic beast’s lunchbox.

The population of this city was eight hundred thousand.

“This… this absurd…!”

My fingers twitched convulsively as those words burst uncontrollably from within me.

At this rate, we could not win.

To kill it, we would have to erase it in a single strike.

I knew a method to do that.

Perhaps only I could do it.

Tragically enough.

Chapter 216

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