Once they destroyed the machine, both Rory and Serket started to immediately retreat. Neither of them wanted to be overwhelmed by the numbers. Their aggressive and brutal attacks were to shock the soldiers and made them weaker than they should be, but what would happen when they get over the shock?

The two knew the answer and immediately retreated. There was also a eerie feeling that they’ve been getting from the moment they destroyed the machine. They couldn’t afford to be careless.

They immediately used their anima techniques and left as fast as they came.

“Boss, they destroyed the machine.”

Not too far away, a group watched everything played out with smiles on their faces.

“I believe they took less than five minutes, it’s my win.”

Said one of the soldiers in this group. They all wore white like everyone else, but they wore white masks with gold decorations and blue Seven point star on their clothes. These people belong to the church’s dark group, Aficionado.

“Eleleth, do you real intend for the boss to pay you?”

Asked one of the soldiers.

“Of course. We made a bet and he lost, isn’t it common sense for him to pay?”

Eleleth asked, who seemed to be a woman from her voice and figure.

“She’s right, Harut. The boss lost, so he should pay up. You’re babying him too much.”

Said the shortest of the four.

“Marut, how can you say that? We should respect our boss and show leniency to a mere bet.”

Said the biggest of the four.

“You mean favoritism.”

Eleleth replied.

“Either way, we should do something. We just lost a very expensive tool you know.”

Said Marut.

“What should we do, Boss? Should we start our counterattack?”

He asked the one who they’ve been referring to as boss over and over again. He was normal build and gave off the smallest impression of the group.

“Let’s see, a counterattack now would do good.”

He said.

“Where is the priest that control the church here? Timothy was it?”

He asked.

“He’s on stand by with Dex.”

Answered the big Harut.

“I remember he said that he had a secret weapon. I believe he was referring to a survivor of the Ultimate Believer project, right?”

Eleleth nodded.

“He’s pretty strange, but he’s very powerful.”

She said.

“Good, tell them to get ready.”

Said the boss.

“We’re using them?”

Marut asked with an amused tone.

“Of course. No one eats for free, everyone has to work. That includes us too.”

The boss then relayed an order.

“March forward and cleanse this world of the two who just slaughtered our god’s children!”

“Yes, Lord Dumah!”

The army responded to their leader, to Dumah’s command. And it was like this, the Sacred church truly started to move.

“Oh, boss. I still want my money though.”

Eleleth said with a laugh.

Serket and Rory had quickly returned to the city. Once they returned they received the praises of those who watched them fight.

“That was amazing!”

Said Amelia.

“You guys were unstoppable.”

Said Christi.

Despite being praised, the two didn’t show any signs of pride or even arrogance. All that could be seen on their faces were caution.

“Something doesn’t feel right.”

Rory said.

As if to respond to his suspicions, the beating of a drum suddenly resounded.

*Bam!*

The number of beating drums suddenly started to increase by the second. The two recognized these as war drums.

“They’re going to attack, with no hesitation at all?”

Everyone thought that the army would panic after losing their precious machine, but instead of panic they were charging towards their enemy not long after.

“Was this influence by rage? If so, then we’re fine. If not, we might’ve underestimate the one leading them.”

Said Serket.

At that moment, the ground started shaking. Rory checked the cause with his Sensor and frowned.

“This isn’t good.”

The moment he said that, the sky was filled with people carrying all kinds of weapons.

“They have a squad that consist of people with Flying Type Animus.”

Everyone then saw a group of soldiers lifting cannons while flying in the air. These cannons needed several people to man, and possessed unbelievable firepower. Of course, they all had people manning them, while being lifted into the air with the cannons.

“Take cover!”

As if that shout was a signal, the people with the machine guns started raining bullets down on the city. As if that wasn’t enough, the cannons also started firing at the city.

*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*

The city was immediately set ablaze by the flames from the Cannon fire, while soldiers were mowed down by bullets by the hundreds.

It was like hell on earth.

“Fuck!”

Xavier and the others immediately started to scatter to avoid the gunfire. At the same time, the soldiers on the ground started to invade the city while firing their own weapons at city’s forces.

They were being attacked from air and ground. The death toll immediately skyrocketed.

“Hahahaha!”

That’s when the laughing voice could be heard coming from within the hell that was once the city.

“Roar!”

Suddenly a gigantic 8-headed black dragon rose from the flames with Rory standing on it.

“This is how it should be Sacred Church!”

Rory waved his hand and the dragon began spitting black flames and lightning at those in the sky.

*Bam!*

Dozens of people were turned into ash, while dozens more fell out of the sky screaming in agony.

“Let’s see which one of us will survive this time!”

He jumped in the air and swung his fist to the side.

*Bam!*

Suddenly it was like he hit an invisible wall as shockwaves could been seen in the air.

*Bam!*

An instant later, everything that was in the direction he swung his hand, started emitting cracking sounds. Weapons broke apart, while persons’ bodies began moving stiffly before being forcibly bent out off shape, which shouldn’t have been possible for the human body.

Whether it be weapons or people, they all fell broken from the sky.

“Did he just transferred a Quake Fist through the air itself and hit his opponents with a power rivaling an earthquake?”

Reina who had just arrived after racing over, was shocked out of her mind after seeing what Rory did.

“I’ve never seen such high level Anima control in my life.”

Even Xavier was impressed.

“Roar!”

Rory’s Black Orochi continued to caused destruction to the church forces. One started to wonder if he could fight the war by himself.

“That idiot!”

Serket on the other hand wasn’t pleased with Rory’s performance.

“He’s so caught up in battle that he forgot that he can’t control himself that well!”

She wanted to do something, but before she could she felt a strong gaze on her body.

“Who?!”

She turned around and saw a group of masked people walking into the city. She immediately recognized their uniform.

“The Aficionado?”

She then squinted her eyes as if to get a better look at them.

“?!”

She was immediately shocked when she sensed a strong holy power residing in all four of them.

“Sacred Kin?!”

As if they heard her voice, they all looked in her direction. Even though they were behind masks, she felt like they were all smiling at her.

“For the Aficionado to send Sacred Kin to the front lines, that means that they really came with the intention of destroying Rory and this kingdom.”

She said.

“The one at the front seems extremely dangerous. He must be the one leading this crusade.”

She said while look at Dumah, who lifted his hand into the air.

*Rumble!*

The entire city then started to shake as it was covered by an invisible pressure.

“Wha?!”

Everyone who felt it were shocked beyond their minds. It felt like a god had descended upon the earth.

“Hm?”

Rory frowned when he felt like his body was being pressured. He looked down and immediately spotted the Aficionado members. He stared specifically at Dumah.

“This is Heavenly Suppression, a high level Sacred Anima technique. If I remember correctly, all in a certain distance will feel natural fear and reverence towards the user. It’s been so long since I’ve last seen it being used.”

He nodded as if understanding something.

“So a Seraph has grace us with his presence. No, maybe he’s a Cherub from the level his Heavenly Suppression is at?”

He said as if he wasn’t sure.

“Either way, he’s a part of the heavenly order.”

While Rory was talking to himself, he felt like the area had suddenly became hotter. He looked up and his eyes widened when he did.

He saw a pillar of fire descending from the sky at an alarming rate. The pillar was so big that it looked like it could devoured a football field.

“This bastard! He’s trying to destroy the city in one go!”

Rory shouted. In an instant, he was face to face with flames. He immediately controlled his Black Orochi to intercept it.

*Bam!*

The Black Orochi clashed head on with the flames and caused an explosive sound to ring out in the air. Everyone’s attention was drawn to the battle in the air. Before their eyes, the Black Orochi started to crumble as if it couldn’t handle the immense power of the flames.

*Bam!*

And then it suddenly collapsed and the flames hit Rory head on. It immediately forced him out of the air and he crashed into the ground.

The flames suddenly spread like tidal waves once they hit the ground devouring countless people and buildings, completely destroying them. This time the city really looked like a sea of flames.

*Bam!*

Suddenly a gigantic scorpion emerge from the sea of flames. This scorpion was maybe from red Wild Anima. This scorpion contained the entirety of the army of the royal faction. Even people from the rebel army were in it.

This scorpion was obviously made by Serket. Everyone was surprised to be alive after seeing the flames surrounding them. They once again recognized the power of the queen.

“Richard!”

At Serket’s shout, Richard appeared standing on the sea of flames completely unaffected.

“You called, Madam?”

Richard asked.

“Get rid of this fire and those rude bastards by extension!”

Serket shouted. It was obvious that she was angry.

“As you wish.”

As he was about to carry out Serket’s order, Richard’s arm was grabbed by a hand. This hand came from underneath the flames he was standing on. Before long someone crawled out of the flames like it was water and stand on it like it was earth.

This person was Rory who’s entire body was on fire.

“Ha..Ha…hahaha.”

He then slowly started to laugh. It was a low but eerie laugh. Whoever heard it felt like it came from the pits of hell.

After a while he finally stopped laughing. He then looked at the masked Aficionado members and smiled.

“Fire huh? I can guess that to you fire burns away contamination.”

He lifted his hand in front of him. He clenched his fist and in an instant the sea of flames was extinguished. Even so, Rory’s body was still in fire.

“Any evil hit by that flame will be burnt until they’ve been cleansed.”

Dumah suddenly said, as if he wanted to explain why Rory’s body was still burning.

“Thanks for the info.”

Rory showed a bright smile.

“Here’s a show of gratitude.”

*Bam!*

The ground under Rory cracked open and dark anima started flowing out of his body in waves. Everyone around him felt like they were being slowly dragged to darkest pits of hell. Even the Aficionado reacted with shock after witnessing the sinister anima.

“What the hell? The Devil King is supposed to be human right? Then why does his dark anima rivals that of a Night Kin.”

Asked Eleleth.

“He doesn’t look like a Night Kin, and we couldn’t sense any darkness that a Night Kin had before this….So he should be human?”

Not even Marut was sure if what he said was right. All they knew was that Rory’s anima wasn’t something a human should be able to produce. The entire ordeal confused them.

“He’s coming.”

Dumah alerted his comrades when he saw Rory take a step forward. The ground underneath him started to dry up like it was dying. In fact, everything around him looked like they were having their life sucked out them.

“All of you will die!”

Rory spoke with a coarse voice and bloodshot eyes, before leaping forward.

“Calm down!”

*Bam!*

However, he couldn’t reach the targets of his fury. Serket intercepted him and slammed her fist on his face. His entire upper body was immediately buried underground. This action came as a shock to everyone, whether friend or foe.

“You idiot! Are you planning on destroying everything and then yourself in a fit of rage?!”

She shouted at Rory. However, she didn’t receive an answer because Rory was no longer conscious. Even his anima disappeared.

She dragged him from underground by his leg and threw him towards Richard.

“Take care of him. It’s your job to begin with, so stop neglecting it.”

She said angrily.

Richard nodded and then brought Rory away. Seeing that Serket faced the church forces.

‘Rory completely lost control of himself back there. If he had pushed a bit further then he would revert to the him of the past.’

As Serket thought that, she remembered the cold, emotionless eyes of a young boy who held everything in contempt. Things like compassion, ideals, and morals meant nothing to that boy. He was truly a heartless monster of child.

‘Once he was done killing the church army, he would mostly like turn his attention to his allies and start killing them too.’

Serket clicked her tongue in irritation.

“Even after a century, I’m still babysitting him. Also, taking him out will weaken our forces.”

She then made a decision and clenched her fists.

“Guess I have no choice but to fight in his stead. I’ll have to trouble that person if they can vouch for me with Sacred Army if things go south.”

She then spoke so that those behind her could hear.

“Although I can’t push it too far or the Sacred Army will come looking for me if I killed Sacred Kin, I’ll help you guys.”

She turned and faced everyone else.

“Time to win back your country!”