“All right, it’s over now.”

Muen lifted a hand, signaling for the line of Royal Knights and makeshift soldiers beside him to fall back and make room for the former Saintess standing before them.

These people, who had just gambled away the courage of a lifetime, were still frozen in a daze. It was as if they had not yet realized what that golden curtain °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° in front of them actually meant. Only after a moment did it begin to sink in...

They did not seem to need to risk their lives anymore.

“Thank the Goddess...”

“Long live the Goddess...”

“Mother, I can go back and see you again...”

Whispers of gratitude spread through the crowd. Muen even heard choked sobs that could no longer be held back.

That burly man built like a bear was crying so hard he had folded in on himself, with not a trace left of the fearless ferocity he had shown while firing the cannons.

“Young Master Muen, are we really...”

“Go calm the troops, help the wounded, and tell them the good news.”

Muen smiled and patted Jason on the shoulder, then one man after another.

“Miss Latina and I will handle things here.”

“...Yes, sir!”

Jason straightened again, snapping back into form as he quickly directed everyone into an orderly withdrawal.

He had already recognized the identity of the woman shrouded in holy radiance, but he also knew this was not the time to burden her, so he said nothing of it. He even helped stop some of the people who wanted to step forward and offer their thanks.

These soldiers who were not truly soldiers began moving toward a safer position under the Royal Knights’ direction.

“We really owe you one.”

Muen thanked Miss Latina again.

Even though she was already the “former Saintess,” Miss Latina still carried weight far beyond that of an ordinary person. Not only was she herself a transcendent Crowned one, her appearance here also very clearly represented a certain will from the Church.

After all, under normal circumstances, the Church would not take the initiative to meddle in another nation’s affairs. It had not even interfered in the war between the Empire and the Kingdom.

But clearly, the hundreds of thousands of Kingdom troops before them, all fallen into madness, had already gone far beyond the scope of a war between two countries.

Judging by the hunger for blood-meat they had displayed, Muen had no doubt that if they were allowed to rampage unchecked, the whole north of the Empire would be stripped bare like land after a locust swarm, with all living things devastated.

The Salvation Society’s methods had already crossed one of the Life Church’s absolute lines. Naturally, the Church could not simply stand by and watch.

But...

“Beast tide?”

Muen had sharply caught those two somewhat strange words. Once the unrelated people had withdrawn, he immediately asked:

“What exactly did you mean just now, Miss Latina?”

On the other side of the golden curtain, the terrible howling, roaring, and thrashing still had not stopped. Hideous humanoid monsters continued hurling themselves at the curtain like moths into flame. The golden curtain did not budge in the slightest, while they shattered their own bones and split their own flesh against it.

Even so, with hundreds of thousands gathered together into a tide that blotted out the horizon, driven by a craving for blood-meat and twisted into shapes of madness no different from wild animals... still, no matter how one looked at it, this bloody legion was, in essence, still made up of human beings.

They had simply been turned into this state by some special method.

They should not have been called a beast tide.

“This is a beast tide.”

Latina did not bother hiding the coldness and fury in her eyes. She merely turned the edge of her gaze toward Muen and stressed the point.

“A beast tide beyond any doubt.”

“Why?”

“Do you remember that infamous beast tide incident from more than twenty years ago?”

“The beast tide incident... I remember it was also a catastrophic disaster caused by the Salvation Society. Some city in the south was attacked by a beast tide, and in order to protect the people inside, the previous... no, the Saintess before the previous one fought until her last moment in that disaster and died there.”

Muen began recalling everything he knew. After all, having gone to the Holy City with Liya, he knew at least some of the inside story.

“Yes. It was precisely because the Saintess before my predecessor... that poor girl had only sat in the Saintess’s seat for a few months before dying so tragically, that I was shoved into the role in an absurd rush.”

Latina lowered her head and looked at her smooth, fair hand, untouched by any trace of time, as though her memory had suddenly returned to more than twenty years ago.

That sudden investiture ceremony, along with a certain middle-aged man who loved wearing a ridiculous bear costume, had completely changed her life. It had taken her, the most insignificant of the last-ranked Saintess candidates, and made her the Saintess.

Looking back in a daze, this Saintess who had never been suited to becoming a Saintess had somehow remained in that position for twenty years.

Twenty years was very short—short enough that an oily, shameless middle-aged man was still an oily, shameless middle-aged man.

Twenty years was also very long—long enough that she, a former delinquent girl who used to smoke, drink, and wear tattoos, had already become a lady who unconsciously straightened her back and lowered her voice into gentle refinement whenever she stood before others.

And the beginning of those twenty years, all of it, had started from that sudden disaster—the brutal assassination aimed at the Saintess of that era.

“If it was serious enough to kill the Saintess before your predecessor, then it must have been an enormous disaster... Wait, don’t tell me you mean...”

Muen suddenly reacted, and a trace of shock surfaced on his face.

“The beast tide from more than twenty years ago was the same as this one... it was made of people too?”

“...That’s right.”

Latina gave a slight nod.

“A beast tide is a human tide. This disaster now is almost exactly the same as the one twenty years ago. Only the way it happened is a little different.”

“Why?”

Muen frowned.

“Why hide the truth? Why smear these victims... and turn them into so-called beasts? It was the same twenty years ago too, wasn’t it? Those people were only being driven by the Salvation Society...”

“Because they were beyond saving.”

Latina said, “The Church had to deal with them.”

“And what does that have to do with calling it a beast tide—”

“Was the Church supposed to announce to the world that we killed hundreds of thousands of... ordinary people?”

Latina lowered her eyes, as though trying to wipe away the reflection of those “monsters” entirely from them.

“We could not do that, could we? The Church is the light of countless believers across the continent. It is the holy ground watched over by the Goddess. How could it possibly do something so filthy? So they could only be ‘beasts.’”

“So people have to be slandered into beasts for that?”

Muen’s pupils tightened, and anger crept into his voice before he even realized it.

“Just for the Church’s reputation?”

“No. Not for reputation. For order.”

Latina shook her head lightly. Her tone remained gentle, but every word rang like steel.

“To keep the doubts of countless believers, their innocence, their kindness—and the malicious push of certain others—from tearing order apart.”

“Order is something precious in this world. It must not be shaken lightly, because destruction is always harder to mend afterward. I imagine this ‘magnificent show’ staged by the Salvation Society was meant precisely for that reason... Once order and faith are destroyed, rebuilding them takes a hundred times, a thousand times the labor.”

“I think that is also why the Saintess before my predecessor, who still had a chance to leave, ultimately chose to sacrifice herself and bury everything in the depths of history.”

“...”

Muen suddenly did not know what to say.

What could he say?

The Church had not been wrong in this. If anything, they had silently borne the weight of it.

And yet, looking at Latina’s calm face, at the way she spoke as though she were merely describing something ordinary, Muen suddenly felt a tightness in his chest, as if a breath were stuck there and would not come out.

He had once personally dealt with the souls of more than a million people. By no measure could he call himself kind. But compared to that time, this made him feel... sick in a way he could not quite name.

“Go to the rear. Liya’s there, treating the wounded.”

Latina suddenly changed the subject.

“Liya came too?” Muen blinked.

“Of course. She is the Saintess now. How could she not come in person to a scene like this?”

Latina paused, then added, “The Holy Choir has also arrived from the Holy City. Afterward, please have your men undergo some of the Holy Choir’s ‘counseling.’ After seeing something this horrifying, it would be a shame for them to be left with psychological scars.”

“...I’m more worried they’ll end up scarred by the counseling itself.”

“How could that be? The Holy Choir is professional.”

Latina gave him a “playful” blink.

“They have a one-hundred-percent satisfaction rate.”

“...”

Well, obviously.

Anyone who dealt in that kind of psychological suggestion either had a one-hundred-percent satisfaction rate—or hypnotized it into becoming one.

Muen’s cheek twitched slightly, but Latina’s sudden playfulness finally managed to thin out some of the clouds weighing on his heart.

So much so that he finally remembered another important matter.

“Right. Where did you say Liya is now?”

“In the rear.”

Latina already seemed to have anticipated his reaction. Her expression clearly said she was delighted to watch the commotion from the sidelines.

“In the carriage at the very center of the formation. There seemed to be a beautiful girl inside who looked terribly weak and in need of help, so I let Liya go assist her first... Well? Wasn’t that thoughtful of me?”

“...”

Thoughtful my ass. You just want to watch the fun.

“I’m going.”

Muen wasted no time and immediately turned to leave.

Compared to trivial matters like the destruction of the world or the collapse of order, he was far more worried that the sudden meeting of those two women in a place like this might trigger another horrifying bloodbath.

After all, this was not a bed.

He had no means of “persuading” them here.

...

“A smart, tactful good boy. No wonder so many girls like him.”

Watching Muen leave, Latina finally turned back. The anger and coldness flowing in her eyes settled once more as she gazed at the increasingly chaotic, increasingly bloody scene ahead.

“All right. The young ones have been sent away. For something this filthy and bloody, we old people will handle it for now.”

With a wave of her hand, the golden curtain blazed with light and completely sealed off the sight beyond it.

At the same time, as her slender fingertip lowered, a massive golden gate was drawn out of thin air.

Boom!

The gate flew open.

In complete contrast to the warmth of this holy radiance, a grim killing aura cold enough to make the soul tremble suddenly spilled out from within.

Hooves thundered in formation, though the warhorses themselves made no sound. A strange procession in black, peaked robes stepped out through the gate like that, carrying bloodstained scythes and massive blades. Though they stood beneath the cover of holy light, the stench of blood and the chill they gave off were even heavier than those of the hundreds of thousands of Kingdom madmen before them.

The Tribunal Sanctuary. Heretic executioners.

Boom. Boom. Boom!

The earth began to shake once more, and behind the executioners came enormous mechanical constructs.

They were huge and rectangular, like gigantic upright gravestones. But once they reached open ground, those “gravestones” suddenly split apart, and imposing humanoid mechs slowly rose from the wreckage. One magic-powered mechanical component after another unfolded outward, while scorching steam burst from the seams in the steel plating on their backs, looking almost like angelic wings.

The Nexus Sanctuary. Archangel armored corps.

“Ah, O Goddess, Your glory shines upon the world...”

Above the golden curtain, higher still, men and women dressed in pure white stood at the highest point, holding scripture in their hands and singing the praises of the great Goddess.

They seemed completely motionless, yet above the heavens, the sun, the moon, even the distant stars, were all cut off and sealed away by holy light. No one would be able to use any method to spy on even a trace of what was happening here.

The Stargazing Sanctuary. Hymnal Order.

And finally...

Latina stepped forward, crossing beyond the golden curtain as she fitted cold iron knuckles over her fingers.

“Everyone, begin.”

She spoke softly, like a gentle mother about to lull a child to sleep, yet with a casual swing of her hand, countless bodies burst apart beneath her fist.

“This cleanup operation is neither noble, nor righteous, nor even just in the slightest... and it is going to last quite a while.”

Wuuung—

As Latina’s words fell, the holy light, no longer warm, descended in a violent rush. All manner of dreadful engines of slaughter lunged at the maddened “beast horde” with even greater ferocity.

The violent machinery of the Life Church had finally bared its savage fangs here as well—

and begun its... cleanup.