Chapter 496

Chapter 119 My Sister Will Win

The holy light rained down from the sky, illuminating the battlefield that sprawled across much of the open wilderness.

Outside Aletheon City, the large-scale battle was nearing its end. Where the heretics once stood, blood and fire raged amidst thick smoke. Corpses of men and horned horses littered the slopes, with blood flowing down to the canals. At the edge of the rear valley, a few remaining heretics were still resisting or had been encircled from behind, smashed by divine miracles until they were torn apart and slaughtered. Finally, some began to kneel in surrender.

On the grasslands and high ridges, cheers erupted intermittently. Clerics and nuns moved toward the most intense battles to perform miraculous healings on severely injured knights. Horned horses ran across the wilderness, chasing fleeing heretics. When they stopped, the golden-armored knights also removed their blood-soaked helmets, joining in the warriors’ cheers.

The traces of corpses and war permeated everywhere, leaving a scene of desolation. Below the hill, William’s团长’s body, hanging from the flagpole, was taken down. The knights wrapped his corpse in a large cross flag, and passing warriors paid their respects.

Not far outside the city walls, chaotic footprints were everywhere. Over a thousand heretics were evacuating through gaps and gates, while hundreds of elite cavalry were pursuing them from different directions. Pope Angel stood atop a hill, watching the scene from afar, listening to the cheers echoing across the wilderness, his fingers tapping lightly on the saddle, head slightly tilted as if deep in thought.

“Call back the elite cavalry ahead… stay alert, have Isaac and Sylvia lead the infantry and cavalry to break through the walls… we haven’t won yet, we cannot afford to be careless…”

The heretics outside the city were defeated.

But those left inside, conservatively estimated at least five thousand members of the Gate of Truth, would soon regroup and defend the walls. By then, defeating the heretics would require sacrificing even more lives. Angel actually didn’t know much about warfare, so he didn’t interfere with the details, trusting that orders would be carried out properly.

Soon, the messengers began rushing across the wilderness. Hundreds of elite cavalry charged towards the city walls and then turned back. Gradually, the knights regrouped outside the city, readying for another charge under Isaac’s leadership. Behind them, the faith groups displayed sins and feather-fall miracles. Figures gathered on the walls, the stench of the wilderness wind blowing over. I stood before the formation, beside Isaac, the bald man’s blood still fresh. He turned to me and asked, “Did you see the one who released the fog escape into the city?”

“Yes,” I nodded.

“Little one, did you see it with your own eyes?”

“No.”

Isaac rubbed his head, his thick eyebrows furrowing. “Then…”

“It was my bird. It saw him.”

I pointed upwards, as if in response. A goat cheese, hidden in the night sky, flapped its wings and let out a hoarse cry, circling in Isaac’s gaze before landing on my shoulder.

“Pepé! City, city—”

It turned its head, its crimson eye looking at me, then at Isaac, before opening its beak and squawking loudly.

I patted its head. “Take me, find him.”

“Ga—”

Goat cheese smoothed its feathers, flapping its wings and flying up again.

“…Is a raven really that smart?”

A man’s voice came from beside me, filled with surprise.

“…Actually, I share the same doubt.”

Before I could respond, Isaac turned to the knights behind him. “Inform the faith groups, the fog may appear again. Have them prepare for it.”

“Yes.”

That knight turned and walked away, and Isaac turned back. “Since that’s the case, Little one, the guy is in your hands.”

“Alright.”

Of course, you don’t need to tell me that.

“Please do something for me, Isaac.”

“I understand, help you find someone, right?”

“Mm-hm.”

I nodded. “You, and your knights. After entering the city, look out for someone named Barry. He’s a bit older than me, a new knight in the Third Order.”

“No problem.”

The bald man, his head still bloody, spoke decisively, then asked, “But are you sure he’s still alive?”

“He’s alive.”

I stared at the flames rising from the walls ahead, my gaze firm.

But in truth, I wasn’t entirely convinced. The battle was so fierce; Barry had only joined the knights for less than a year, perhaps not even good with a sword. It was hard to imagine him surviving among this group of madmen…

Yet, I could only believe so, repeatedly telling myself that Barry was still alive.

…I knew I was avoiding something.

But I truly couldn’t bear to imagine what would happen if he died. I couldn’t bear to imagine how heartbroken Grandma Claire would be. The indescribable emotions in my heart couldn’t be shared with anyone. I could only hope that he would survive the brutal war, just as I said…

Only hoping…

That no more people would die.

Now…

Let everything end quickly.

The cold blood on my body was slowly solidifying in the wind, sticky and dry, quite disgusting. But I deliberately ignored these feelings, my eyes flickering as I looked forward at the massive city. Inside, the fires still raged, spreading, with faint cries隐约传来。

Sound.

There are still living knights out there…

There must be…

Under the dim night sky, the wind howled and blew towards the brownish plain stained with blood and fire. Arrows of fire shot from the wall downwards, golden halos quietly blooming. Soon after, fierce shouts erupted again in the silent battlefield.

…

“Huff—huff—”

The young knight named Barry leaned against the wall of a dark alley, his face covered in blood, panting heavily. The burns on his arm had transitioned from pain to numbness; blisters had formed on his neck and face. He felt utterly exhausted, his legs trembling uncontrollably.

Beside him, a disheveled woman knelt in the mud, gently wiping the pus and blood from his wounds with a dirty white cloth. She wept softly as she cleaned, muttering, “Barry… Are you still in pain… Will you be okay… What should we do…”

The young knight looked up at the sky, his gaze lost, not responding.

He was too tired.

“The knight order has been defeated… Father, brother… They might all be dead… Demons are everywhere in the north of the city, we… can’t escape… We’ll be captured… Barry, I don’t want to be captured… If only…”

“It won’t happen.”

Barry sighed deeply, comforting her: “The reinforcements have arrived, fighting the heathens outside the city. They will win, drive those demons away, and you won’t be captured.”

The woman looked at him, murmuring, “Really… Really, they can win…”

Before the fierce battle for the city began, all the citizens and soldiers of Aletheon, if not full of confidence, at least stayed within the walls, believing they wouldn’t lose. Back then, the Third Knight Order had just withdrawn from the Mosli coast, and his father and others had even held a welcoming banquet that night.

Despite General Williams repeatedly emphasizing the terror of the heathens in the pre-battle mobilization, Lilith still heard her father’s boastful words after drinking, saying he would tear apart those Eastern dogs when they came, and so on. He had great confidence in his hammer army, but unexpectedly, on the first day of the battle, the northern gate was breached once by the enemy.

Everyone was stunned by the fanatical offensive tactics of those madmen; they possessed the power to burn everything. Unprotected warriors, even in heavy armor, struggled to resist, being burnt beyond recognition and fleeing in defeat. Not long after, the hammer army erupted into internal strife, with some soldiers defecting to the terrifying heathens.

In the following days, the city defense battle was fought fiercely. People no longer felt safe, trying every means to escape the city, many dying outside. Even his mother told him to hide in the bunker. But his father and brother were on the wall. Lilith didn’t want to believe that such powerful people could lose, yet she felt extremely anxious.

As the daughter of the city lord, she thought she should do something during the critical moment of the city’s survival, but she didn’t know what she could do. She couldn’t use a sword. After much contemplation, she finally gathered her courage and volunteered to go to the infirmary for the brave soldiers, contributing her small part.

Then, she saw what war and death truly were.

Horrible burns, dark brown blood, severed limbs, soldiers dying in agony, terrifying fireballs smashing down with loud explosions. Lilith woke and slept to the sound of these explosions every night, until she stopped sleeping altogether.

Having grown up in privilege, everyone treated her politely, speaking kindly to her. Living in such an environment, she believed the world was like this, until these terrible demons attacked. Lilith saw their power and the gruesome deaths of countless people she believed were strong. At that moment, her world crumbled under an unbearable shock.

This was a war beyond her comprehension, a conflict between faith and deities. Aletheon faced the most cruel and terrifying enemies in the world, beyond the imagination of ordinary people like her.

Even her strongest father had no resistance against such overwhelming power…

After the city fell, those demons rushed in. Even though the powerful Church knights fought desperately, they couldn’t stop that power. Many died… countless people died… At this moment, Lilith almost fell into despair. She couldn’t imagine what kind of person could stop the atrocities of these demons.

She didn’t believe, and didn’t dare to believe, that anyone could defeat these terrifying demons. Even though reinforcements seemed to have arrived outside the city, the intense fighting hadn’t ceased. She and the injured knight hid in a dark alley in the north of the city, listening faintly, as if in a dream.

Then, she saw the young knight lower his head, uttering weak but resolute words.

“We will win…”

The knight named Barry muttered these words, seemingly to comfort the woman, or perhaps himself: “My sister is among the reinforcements… She will win. Those demons aren’t her match… She will definitely win…”

Lilith was stunned: “Your… sister?”

“My sister, she is a Papal Knight… Sylvieja.”