His Majesty the Emperor was always surrounded by elite warriors. One of them, and perhaps the most notable, was the Hammer of Judgement, Klyde Spauser, who was also known as the Hammer of the Empire.

He was a Knight who, although much younger, possessed strength that had reached the heights of the other six strongest of the continent.

However, even with him there, judging by the look on his attendant's face, Alarion might have been somewhat worried. She was experienced, and she had served him for decades, which meant she had seen much more than anyone could dare claim.

If such a dark expression covered her face, then it meant that the situation was truly grave. He exhaled sharply, and he asked her. "What is the estimate?"

His attendant clutched her hair, tears welling up in her eyes. Her lips trembled as the words left her mouth. "I… At least a million monsters of all races… certainly more… The wave is coming from the south and the guards on the wall claim that the horde extends past what the eye can see…!!"

The Emperor scoffed. "So they've finally made their move," if this had been any other instance, he really might have been worried.

But not today, not now.

The monsters had dug their own grave by coming here.

As the Emperor had said, this place was the safest on the entire continent. Not because of his preparations, not because of Colosseo's inherent design as a city meant to endure a siege.

No, it was because the six strongest of the continent were all here. Beings who transcended reason and held power that could affect the fate of the entire world. A single transcendental was someone that mortal logic could not be applied to, and six of them were gathered here today.

Indeed, the monsters had made a mistake they would come to regret dearly.

Gerard stood up. "Good! Good! I needed to stretch these old bones!!"

Senna frowned. "Strange… this seems like a targeted assault…I'm not receiving any distress signal from the Forest of Dreams."

"Neither am I. My Duchy is unscathed." Evangelina added.

Virgo stroked his chin. "The Holy Capital seems to be fine as well…"

"It's one of two things then...." Klyde continued. "Either the target is the Emperor, or…"

"We are! We are!" The bird on Aurelius' shoulder screeched, breaking the tension.

They all smirked.

They were being underestimated.

"The master says he will take care of this alone! Alone!!"

Gerard sprung up. "What!? No! Leave some for me!!"

But Aurelius had already disappeared with the wind.

"Aurelius you bastard!!!" Gerard shouted as he ran after him.

At the city wall, the guards who had either fallen to despair, or trembled as they prepared to activate the city's defense mechanisms, gasped when they saw a man in white and golden robes appear out of thin air.

The chief guard who was in charge of anti-siege defense bowed respectfully, his complexion pale and his speech meek. "We… greet the sage of four elements." He then looked up with a grim expression. "But we urge you to evacuate… or find shelter. We cannot lose you here."

Aurelius laughed wholeheartedly, though no sound came out. He patted the guard's head as an old man would a child.

"The master says not to worry! Everything will be alright!"

With that, Aurelius rose into the air, against the guard's pleas, and he took a good look at the scenery before him.

The Sage of Four Elements stroked his chin. 'Ten million at the very least… isn't that excessive for a city with a hundred thousand warriors and mages at most…? There must be some sort of ulterior motive… a distraction maybe?'

He ultimately shrugged. So what if it was a distraction? Regardless, the monsters would have to be exterminated one way or another.

The city guards looked up at him. None had any hope in their eyes.

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"Even if it's the Sage… this is too much. I shouldn't have… I shouldn't have had that argument with my wife this morning."

Another retrieved a picture of his daughter from his breastplate. "Please be safe..."

The chief guard barked orders, commanding his subordinates to ready the mana cannons.

Meanwhile, Aurelius could only sigh.

Did they have so little faith in him?

He supposed it was easy to forget his power since he'd been mostly inactive for decades.

But even so. He was still a Sage. Didn't that mean anything?

He could solve this situation, well perhaps two tenths of it, using a Meteor or two, but Aurelius shook his head. He needed to show these soldiers hope.

He'd make an effort today.

He waved his wand once. The mana in the air twisted to a degree that even those who were not-mana sensitive could feel it. The world itself was shifting. Aurelius waved his wand again and his eyes began to glow a deep blue hue.

He waved his wand a third time and the winds rose. Just the lingering gusts of wind were strong enough to push a seasoned guard to the ground, but the main power of the spell all gathered in one place.

The center of the approaching monster horde.

"Grand Magic - Tempest!"

Tornadoes the size of mountains began shredding through the monsters.

The chief guard's eyes widened as he struggled to remain standing. He was speechless.

Aurelius waved his wand again. The ground trembled and the earth split open. Monsters fell into the abyss below, and those who did not were taken by the merciless winds.

"Grand Magic - Cataclysm!"

Once more, Aurelius waved his wand. The air dried up, the skins of those near him began to crack. Moisture evaporated and the temperature increased to unbearable levels.

From the cracks in the ground, flames hot enough to melt the most refined of steel erupted. It burned the creatures who fell to ashes before they hit any solid ground, and it merged with the tornadoes to create flaming whirlwinds.

"Grand Magic - Hellfire!"

One last time, Aurelius waved his wand, and ever so slightly thin trickle of blood escaped his nostril.

The blood of the monsters who had burned to a crisp created water vapor, and as his last spell, Aurelius made use of it. He used that great mass of water vapor, cooled it, and turned it to ice. What had risen to the sky, fell back to the ground, only to be burned again, rise, and return to the ground.

"Grand Magic - Continuous Ice Rain!"

All this to create–

"Absolute Magic - Apocalypse!"

The scene almost resembled a painting. A cruel, dreadful and bloody one. The horizon became a wheel of fire and ice, spinning, churning, devouring all that lived within it.

The chief guard fell, both hands pressed to the ground. "Haha… this…Is this what Hell looks like..?"

The other guards followed suit. They stopped charging the cannons, they stopped equipping their weapons, and some even forgot to breathe.

This wasn't even a massacre. That word was not strong enough. In a few seconds, more than half of the monster force had been decimated, and the spell had only just begun.

It was… rare for someone to lower the morale of his own allies, but with this display, Aurelius had managed to do so.

They all thought the same thing as they watched the scene.

If they were human, then a transcendental was not a human. They were something else entirely. Worse than a force of nature, much worse.

Gerard, who had already arrived at the wall some time ago, scratched his head. "Seriously!? Did you really have to do this much!! There's nothing for me to do!!"

Virgo scoffed. "...Magic is ridiculous."

Senna sheathed her sword. "Mmm. You rarely ever used this one, so I had forgotten about it."

Evangelina leaned against her spear and sighed. "Show off."

But before Aurelius could reply, all five of their expressions hardened.

'Something' was seeping out of the dead monsters. A black mass of smoke that evoked strange emotions in those who could gaze at it.

It was negative energy, a natural phenomenon, but it had somehow been immediately converted into miasma.

And this could only mean one thing.

Demons.

This energy that followed death did not exist because of Demons, but only they could make use of it in such a way, and to guide that much energy, it meant that a substantial number of demons had gathered, or that an especially powerful one was present.

At the very least a Demon Lord, a Septis. A demon four whole ranks higher than Azazel, the Triune who had struck fear into Verity and his comrades and who had gone toe to toe with Erilsa.

Virgo rolled his eyes. "I had suspected as much. There was really no other explanation."

Divine power began to surge from him. "Whatever you planned to do with that energy, sorry to say I won't let it happen."

Even the Holy Pope would not be able to purify this mass of energy, but thankfully, someone above him was here.

The white haired man closed his eyes. "O great mother that enriches the soil beneath our feet. Mother of strength, of Resilience, grant this lowly one a Miracle. I beseech you, purify this land."

The fourth skill of the Priest class, Miracle.

Having received permission, Virgo opened his eyes, and prepared to release an astonishing amount of Divine power, but—

"Do it."

A young archer, far, far away, let out a long sigh, and he smiled. His hair grew, it turned pure black, and a golden sigil began glowing on his forehead. The sigil was in the shape of a heptagram. "Ahh~ It was a good life. The tournament was fun too."

Then, Sevrin the demon lord who had been playing human for twenty three years, crushed all of his seven cores, and sent the refined miasma to his arrow. He spoke as black blood seeped from his mouth. "Pierce" "Conceal" "Accelerate" "Indestructible"

A split second decision. It had only made possible by the unthinkable sacrifice of a Demon Lord level demon, and in the instant where Virgo was casting one of the largest purification Miracles ever performed.

In any other case, the arrow would have lacked the power to destroy the protective barrier that always covered Virgo, and it wouldn't have made it past the other four transcendentals around him either.

But in this moment where they were all distracted, it worked.

Virgo stopped mid-purification. He spit blood, and he fell to one knee. He brought a hand to his chest. It was quickly covered in blood. "...What?"

He spit more blood. His heart had been pierced, and as he saw the blood coming out of him blacken, he realized it was no ordinary arrow.

Senna, Evangelina, Aurelius, and Gerard rushed to his side, but he pushed them away, closing his eyes and focusing on recovery.

The black mass of energy continued travelling as intended. In the sky, it parted into multiple strings, and each flew to a different corner of the world. All of the energy that continued to rise due to the innumerable deaths did the same.

Evangelina looked up at Aurelius. "Cancel the spell. If anything, we should slow down the accumulation of that energy."

Senna unsheathed her sword. "But the monsters still need to be held back."

Gerard cupped his fist in his palm. "That's where we come in!! Haha!!"

The two leaped from the city wall without a moment's hesitation, and with a sigh, Evangelina followed suit.

As she fell toward the ground, Evangelina clicked her tongue, and her spear twirled in her hands. "Millions of deaths worth of miasma…. Just where is that going…?"

She assessed the situation as she fell. 'We've been had… The demons must have known Aurelius would be here, and they forced him to massacre an innumerable number of monsters. Somehow… they were able to convert the mass of energy into miasma…and they've even accounted for Virgo's intervention. Tsk.'

She had a really bad feeling about all of it. She could only hope 'a bad feeling' would be all it amounted to.

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