"Damnit! Why are you all so hard to kill!"

At least that's what Verity had said around four minutes ago.

But now, without even having to do anything, the demon's body was crumbling and their form was blurring. She was dying.

Verity could not understand what had happened. All he noticed was an expression of… regret on the demon's face. Without making a sound, after inflicting a few wounds upon Verity, the demon simply died and vanished.

Verity scratched his head. "...Weird." he muttered. "I'll file that under 'deal with it later'."

In the next instant, he tried to forget about it. He understood quickly that it wasn't something he could make sense of on his own. He could only exhale sharply and make his way to where he had been separated from his companions.

There were quite a few strange things happening, but Verity decided he would focus on surviving for now, and worry about it all later.

He passed through many alleys, roads, turned several corners, but somehow, he was unable to find the place where he and the others had been separated. No matter how far he ran, everything remained empty, silent, untouched. It was like the city was hiding something from him.

A faint sense of unease was steadily growing within Verity. Was he under the effect of a spell?

'But demons don't use magic…Right?'

His sense of direction had never exactly been terrible, so this was strange. He was certain that he should have reached his destination by now, but no matter how much he ran, he did not feel that he was making any progress.

Eventually, he chanced upon a garden he did not recognize. He was still within Colosseo, that he was certain, but the garden was unlike anything he'd seen during his stay in this place.

It was encased by obsidian fences with the flowers growing within it partitioned irregularly. Not all were of the same height nor width and there was no pattern to the way they'd been arranged.

It was as though no effort had been put into making the display appealing, and yet… somehow, Verity felt that this garden was incredibly beautiful. The dim sunlight reflecting off of the flower's crimson petals and the soft enticing scent that entered his nostrils made Verity's head hazy.

He slapped his cheeks with both hands.

He then recognized the flower populating this garden. Only a single flower.

The Thorn of Sin.

A garden of demons

And in the center, there was a man who turned away from Verity. A man with long hair that was neither white nor black. The best way to describe it was grey, but that also did not feel like the right word.

Ash.

His hair looked like ashes.

Verity blinked, attempting to snap back to reality.

The being turned to look at Verity who was standing at the entrance of the garden without saying anything.

—

At the top of the wall, Virgo exhaled sharply as he opened his eyes.

He was ashamed. Ashamed to have been hit, and ashamed that he could not stop this madness sooner. While he was healing, as long as they were devoted to Terras, Virgo could hear every single cry for help, every moment of pleading, despair, and acceptance.

He grit his teeth until blood dripped from them, and he stood up.

Truly, he was ashamed.

Near him, three guards stopped firing their mana cannons toward the approaching monster horde. Without even transforming, demonic energy surged from them, and every single one of them detonated all seven of their cores to produce the greatest burst of power possible.

One of the demons sneered as he lunged toward Virgo. 'Sevrin's arrow was able to pierce him, which means his defenses aren't that great. If all three of us stake our lives on it… we can kill him!'

Virgo's face hardened. Now more than ashamed, he was angry. So angry he could not contain himself. His lips parted as the three demons charged at him. It was all happening so fast that even the other soldiers surrounding them had yet to notice the turn of events.

"You filthy things are… arrogant."

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Did they think that just because Sevrin was able to stop Virgo for a few minutes, that they could kill him?

Virgo was a Transcendental, and not just any Transcendental. He was one of the six most powerful existences on the continent. Of course, if they were caught in their sleep, even a novice could hypothetically kill a Swordmaster, but if they were prepared… that could never happen.

A Demon Lord could never harm, much less kill, a Transcendental like Virgo with a head on assault.

Virgo's eyes shone with a bright white light, and though his purple hands had long lost the ability to raise in prayer, any who looked at him would feel as though he had done that very thing.

"O Goddess who fertilizes our crops, Goddess who creates the soils beneath our unworthy feet, Goddess who gives us the strength to persist in this world

O terras, grant your devotee this Miracle.

Purify the evil before me."

A wave of divine light spread outward from where Virgo stood, and as soon as it touched them, all three demons disappeared. Without any resistance, they simply died, without leaving anything behind. The wave did not burn or explode. It unwrote the demonic essence, as though reality itself rejected their existence.

The wave continued spreading outward, into the city, upon the battlefield ahead, further and further, until it covered the horizon.

Every single demon within Colosseo perished without so much a chance to defend themselves. Every last monster who had been under the demon's control was freed, returning to their natural ways. Unfortunately, some chose to keep fighting the humans, but most fled, or began fighting their natural enemies. The battlefield turned into utter chaos, but the pressure was undeniably alleviated.

A demon far beyond the city wall protected itself against the purifying wave and she clicked her tongue. "...Centuries of preparation, three– no four demon lords sacrificing their lives, and the best we could do was stop him for about sixteen minutes." She smirked. "Not bad!"

She then looked to her right. "Report."

A young demon with a single cross on its forehead stumbled forward. "Y-Yes princess! Around half were inconclusive but of those who reached an outcome, the ambushes were mostly successful with a win ratio of around seven to three! This was a crushing victory!"

The demon princess, Asmodea, licked her lips. "That's much, much better than expected!...How come?"

The young demon hid behind her device. "W-well… Lady Maelle made the decision to disobey orders and confirm the kills of those who had failed… and others followed her lead, which turned out to be surprisingly helpful!"

Asmodea chuckled. "Oh~ Do you think my orders were wrong then, little one?"

The young demon straightened. "No! Never! Absolutely not!"

"Then what is the punishment for disobeying orders?"

"...Execution."

"Indeed." She licked her long nails with her purple tongue. "But… Maelle, was it? I like her now. Tell her to come find me when this is done, if she survives."

The young demon bowed until his head hit the floor and he was dismissed.

Asmodea smiled and leaned back in her chair. "Just a few more… a few more and this will all be over."

—

As the second phase of the demon's plan was underway, there were two major changes on the battlefield. First, every single monster before the gates of Colosseo dropped dead, their bodies hitting the ground with a thud.

Now that they were no longer under control, the demonic high command had deemed them useless. An eerie calm now filled the air. There was no more ringing of swords or shouts for glory.

Instead, five figures descended into the fray.

Five of the thirteen demon princes and princesses were now here, and they were looking directly at the transcendentals present.

Evangelina frowned. "You come out now? Shouldn't you have attacked while we were busy with the monsters?"

A demoness with black hair styled in two braided ponytails and extremely long claws smiled. "That isn't necessary. Isn't old age catching up to you, Evangelina?" She said, pointing to her own head with a sneer.

Evangelina's foot sunk into the ground. "Asmodea… I should have just killed you back then."

Asmodea clutched her stomach as she laughed hysterically. "What did I say back then!? 'You think I want to do this!?? I have no choice!! We demons just want to live, same as you humans!!' HAHAHAH and you fell for it!!"

Gerard laughed loudly as he stared down a demon with a similar stature to his. "I may not have a heart anymore, but this is making my blood boil with anticipation!" He exclaimed.

Senna remained silent, unsheathed her sword, and immediately launched a strike. A demon with spiked white hair transformed his right into a blade and deflected it effortlessly. Senna smiled. "Ah~ I remember you. Didn't I kill your master the last time we met? Too bad I couldn't get to you in time, but it looks like you've at least reached a level that'll make slicing you apart amusing!"

Aurelius, who could not speak, instead glanced behind him, and his expression grew somber.

This was the second part of the demon's phase two.

Every single demon they had planted within Colosseo was now revealing themselves, and at a glance, it appeared that at least… a third of Colosseo was composed of demons. This was a disaster. A massacre was sure to unfold.

Virgo clicked his tongue. "I think I understand why we couldn't sense them before… These people are, or rather, were human, until they weren't ... .But I'm not even sure if that makes any sense."

Virgo clicked his tongue again. Putting aside this strange demon technique, or spell, it really seemed as though the demons had done their homework on him. Miracles weren't like skills or spells. It took time to be granted grace by a Goddess and Virgo couldn't use the same miracle twice in rapid succession..

This meant he couldn't do away with the demons all at once, for now.

Still, there were other things he could do.

"My Goddess, light the fire within our souls."

Instantly, all those who believed in Terras felt their power surge. The weaker one was, the more substantial the increase in power was, and since virtually everyone within the empire believed in Terras, heaps of civilians, soldiers, and Knights alike felt their strength swell.

Virgo sighed. This wouldn't be enough, but it would mitigate the damage.

'I still don't fully understand what they're trying to do…' Virgo thought. He couldn't make sense of why exactly they'd attacked Colosseo. At first he thought it was to use them as a negative energy generator, but now he felt that this was not the main part of their plan.

The Princes and Princesses were strong, certainly, but not stronger than the Transcendentals before them, especially now that they received no power boost.

Virgo knew that they were aware of that, but this begged the question, what was their plan?

Were they stalling…? But for what?

There were too many questions with no answers.

As the gears in his head turned, Virgo felt a hand land on his shoulder.

"For now the Master says to focus on what's in front of us! In front of us!" A bird cawed loudly in his ear.

Virgo looked up at Aurelius, and he shook the tall man's hand off his shoulder. "Don't tell me something I already know," he spat, before directing his attention ahead.

Aurelius scoffed and he flew into the air.

The battle of the truly mighty thus started.

—

"So you have found this place. This also must be within Their hand." The demon with ash gray hair whispered.

Verity raised his spear. 'A demon? I don't feel anything from him though… Is he weak?'

In the next moment, the demon was right in front of him, and Verity strained his neck to look up at the towering figure.

The demon's hand softly landed on Verity's head. "What is your name?"

Normally, verity would have responded with a snarky quip, or he would have mocked the demon, but this time, he felt compelled to answer. It wasn't fear, or a supernatural ability.

"...Verity?" He said, unsure himself why he'd answered.

"Hm. I see. You are not the one I am waiting for."

[You are engaging in a challenge with odds that are impossible to overcome.]

[Experience is withheld due to null chances of success.]

"Eh–"

CRACK

Verity died.

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