No Such Thing
The mages of the Magic Tower were afraid.
They were skilled battle mages who had experienced numerous fights themselves, but even so, they had never witnessed such a horrific slaughter.
"The Princess!!"
[Kill them! Kill them all and show Dulanear that Mammon still lives!.....]
Once the flashing holy power poured down, no Abominations or black magicians were left standing.
The dense concentration of holy power burned their bodies away entirely, and their corrupted souls were so wounded that all they could do was collapse on the floor and whimper.
After Iomene's divine magic swept through the hall once like that.
"Out of my way."
It was Erpa's turn.
Her four hands moved swiftly, unleashing multiple spells at once.
With a single flick of her wand, an Abomination blessed by Mammon disintegrated on the spot. Bombs were dismantled before they could even explode and tumbled to the floor. Firearms heated up and burst. Every black magic attack aimed at her was met with a razor-sharp counterspell.
After she rampaged at the vanguard, the remaining cleanup was handled by the other battle mages and the Ketratus squad members.
"Spare me! Please, have mercy.......Aaaargh!!"
"I have no mercy to grant you. You despicable heretic."
Even that was mostly dealt with by the Ketratus soldiers who served as Iomene's escort.
Seeing them change their forms into children or women and beg with the most pitiful voices, anyone else might have flinched at least once.
The Ketratus troops crushed the pleading followers, whether they took the form of children or women, without the slightest hesitation.
How long had they pressed forward, recording such a one-sided massacre?
"Saintess!!"
As Iomene pushed forward, pouring out all manner of offensive miracles, a familiar voice reached her ears.
When she turned her head, she saw Al Madai and other Ketratus squad members running toward her, covered in blood.
"Ah! I have taught you well indeed! You are fighting so magnificently! I am in awe!!"
At Al Madai's high praise, Iomene heaved a heavy sigh and glared at him.
That was the problem with Al Madai and the Ketratus squad.
While the other Holy Knights and priests of the White Order treated her with the utmost reverence as a Saintess, those men subtly treated her like a child.
She could understand why.
To lifelong battlefield veterans like them, what would they see in a Saintess with only three months of experience who still couldn't memorize the entire Codex Proelium?
They were stubborn old mules who refused to listen, but if there was one thing Iomene acknowledged about them, it was their purity.
In ordinary times, they were thick-headed blockheads, but in those extreme situations, they were more dependable than anyone.
Because, true to their name, they were shields that would never break.
"No casualties?"
"None. Anything else would be a disgrace!"
"Send the wounded to the rear, and the rest of you guard us. Your ammunition is probably running low and you must be tired."
"Understood."
The Ketratus troops surrounded the magicians.
With their strength reinforced and solidified, the expeditionary force pushed forward relentlessly. Nothing could stop them.
"O Mammon!! Grant us your power!! Protect us!......."
A black magician summoned Corrupted Ones from beneath the earth and resisted desperately. He met his end in a blaze of glory under Iomene's shower of holy power, Erpa's magical attacks, and the pounding hammers of the Ketratus troops. With his death, the expeditionary force finally had Mammon's base right before their eyes.
As befitted a headquarters, the enemy's scale was beyond imagination.
Inside a massive underground chamber, thousands of Abominations, at least dozens of black magicians, and their followers had established a desperate defensive line.
"Enemies!! Open fire!!"
The moment the expeditionary force appeared, heavy machine-gun fire and a hail of bombs began to rain down.
"Block them! Two minutes! We only need to hold out for two more minutes!!"
The black magicians also squeezed out every last drop of their insufficient Resentment, casting all sorts of sorcery and magic at the expeditionary force.
But no matter what they tried.
They could not stop the expeditionary force.
"We'll handle the defense!!"
The mages of the Magic Tower immediately drew their wands, stepped forward, and began to defend against the incoming black magic.
"Raise your shields! Brothers!!"
The Ketratus troops moved to the front line to block the heavy machine guns and bombs.
Armed with heavy shields, immensely thick plate armor, and all manner of defensive miracles, they had little difficulty blocking the heavy machine-gun fire and bombs.
And in the meantime.
"Princess Iomene!!"
"I was ready for this!!"
Iomene's miracles and Erpa's offensive spells rained down on the enemy camp.
The Stigmata of Dulanear carved on the back of Iomene's hand shone at maximum intensity, then began to scatter a brilliant mass of light throughout the entire base.
It wasn't as bright as the Pillar of Light from the Saint on the surface, but it was more than fatal enough for the black magicians and Abominations.
"Ugh!!"
"Urk!"
The black magicians' spells and sorcery were forcibly canceled mid-cast.
The Abominations' skin began to burn as if from severe burns, and agonized screams erupted from all directions.
And in the meantime.
"It's my turn."
Erpa's hands and wands moved.
Her lower two hands formed seals to cast the Amplification Technique, while her upper two hands swung her wands to cast a spell.
Magic amplified to a monstrous degree by the Three Primary Colors Research materialized into reality in the form of lightning.
And then.
"Wh-what the hell! What kind of power is!........"
A wide-area lightning storm, large enough to blanket the entire center of the enemy camp, began to rage.
A Mammon Follower struck by the blue lightning couldn't even leave a scream behind and scattered into ashes.
The barrels of the heavy machine guns melted and warped, and the bullets in their chambers exploded from the intense heat.
Countless bombs that hadn't even been thrown yet detonated on the spot, inflicting massive damage.
The Abominations?
Though their bodies were strengthened by Mammon's blessing, they still couldn't escape the fate of being reduced to ash, just like the ordinary followers.
The black magicians were the only ones who survived.
"Uuurgh! Aaaargh!! S-such power! How can there be such power!!"
The magic displayed such otherworldly force that they had to expend most of their Resentment just to block it once.
The Ketratus troops, the mages of the Magic Tower, and Iomene all looked at Erpa with unconcealed admiration.
"Grand Master Al Madai. Shouldn't we seriously consider adding magicians to the Ketratus military branch?"
"That would be a violation of the Codex Proelium, Saintess. When we return, you will have to memorize that section thoroughly."
"......."
"However, it would certainly be very useful if the Magic Tower could provide regular support. I agree on that point."
After saying that, Al Madai surveyed the battlefield once.
Now, aside from a few black magicians, no enemies remained.
They were all roasted......no.
They were reduced to cinders, and there were no more opponents left to fight.
"Only those damnable, evil black magicians are left. Be patient, you vile wretches. I'm coming to tear you apart and kill you right now!!"
At Al Madai's shout as he raised his claymore and shield, the black magicians' expressions turned bleak.
They didn't have much Resentment left.
On top of that, Iomene. That damned Saintess of Dulanear, who deserved to be torn apart a thousand times over, was radiating light, and their already weakened magic had lost even more of its power.
There seemed to be no way to win that irrational fight.
The situation was utterly miserable, but the black magicians did not give up.
They concentrated all their remaining Resentment and cast a massive defensive magic.
"One minute. We only need to endure one more minute! Mammon's Chosen will fight for us! Do not lose your fighting spirit!!"
Hearing that, Al Madai flew into a rage and was about to charge, when.
"Stop. Al Madai."
"Pardon? But, Saintess!"
"Only magicians are left."
"........?"
"Shouldn't we let their natural predators do the hunting?"
"......Ah!"
Al Madai chuckled and stepped back.
The black magicians tilted their heads at the expeditionary force's sudden halt, but in the next moment.
"Th-the defensive magic is collapsing!"
"What is this! We can't cast spells!!"
"Aaaargh!! Aaaargh! The magic is backflowing! The spells are breaking!!"
"Where are you!! Where are you!!"
"Something is attacking me!!"
The black magicians learned firsthand why the expeditionary force had stopped attacking.
The defensive magic suddenly began to deactivate.
Spells that had been casting fine abruptly stopped working for no reason.
And something invisible began to stab into their bodies.
A black magician screaming in pain from the magic backflow had his head severed. A black magician shouting for them to stay back suddenly had a hole in his heart.
Even as the black magicians died in droves, the problem was that the enemy was invisible.
The faces of the remaining black magicians turned pale.
"The Black Fortress!!"
"It's an Anti-Magic Field!!"
"Da-damn it!! It's the Soulless Ones!!"
"Drop your wands!! Draw your pistols!! Fighting with magic is impossible!"
The bizarre spectacle of black magicians dropping their wands and shooting pistols unfolded, but it didn't change the situation.
They had to know where the enemy was to even try hitting them with a pistol.
And on top of that.
"Stay back!! Don't come!.....Why won't this thing fire!!"
[If you hold a pistol with a grip safety like that, it won't fire.]
Perhaps they hadn't received proper shooting training, as the black magicians' pistol grips and marksmanship were utterly abysmal.
They fought so poorly that the Soulless assassins slaughtering them actually offered advice. Within twenty seconds, all of them were either beheaded or lying on the ground with holes in their hearts.
It was an empty, futile conclusion.
But it wasn't an entirely hollow conclusion.
"Heh......heheh. You're one step too late. You bastards!!"
A black magician with a hole in his heart coughed up blood and, with his vision fading, looked toward the giant coffin at the center of the base.
Mammon's Chosen.
It had been a close call, but as a result of their desperate resistance until the very end.
It was finally complete.
Of course, it was certain the body would be a pitifully incomplete vessel, and having been awakened so hastily, there was a high probability its mind wouldn't be intact either. But still, a Chosen One was a Chosen One.
"The Chosen One will slaughter everyone here!! Taste his wrath!! You vermin!!"
Even on the brink of death, the black magician's furious roar was immense.
[Oh no!]
[Move! We must stop the Chosen One!]
"Move!! We have to stop him before the Chosen One awakens!!"
Hearing that, the Soulless Ones and the expeditionary force began to rush forward, but it was already too late.
The coffin lid burst open, and the being inside slowly rose to its feet.
At that sight, the final surviving black magician shed tears of emotion.
"Ooh!! Chosen One!! Chosen of Mammon!! Unleash your wrath!! Show the world the return of Greed!!"
"Assassins, fall back!! Magicians as well!! The Ketratus troops and I will handle this! None of you can afford to be hit by the black magic and sorcery that thing will scatter!!"
At Iomene's command, the assassins and magicians hastily retreated.
Meanwhile, the Ketratus troops and Iomene began sprinting toward the Chosen One.
"Do not fear death! Brothers!! The Saintess is with us!!"
"For Dulanear!!!"
The Holy Knights charged with solemn voices.
"It is the end!! It is the apocalypse!! Taste the destruction of the world at the hands of the Chosen One of Greed!!"
A single black magician, mocking them with his final breath.
"As if I would let the city Amael tried to protect be destroyed!!"
Even Iomene, running forward while summoning her holy power to an even greater degree.
All of those harried moments suddenly fell silent the instant they saw Mammon's Chosen step out of the broken coffin.
"Nngh.........uugh."
A scrawny, emaciated man limped forward.
He had no eyes, one arm was missing, and his legs were twisted this way and that, whether from a deformity.
"Hun.......gry. Hurts.......uuuugh. Father. Why!!!!"
As if his intelligence had regressed, Mammon's Chosen threw a tantrum like a child and screamed.
"Why did you........take my authority!! Father!! Why!!"
The Chosen One, who had been walking, crumpled to the ground because of his deformed leg.
No one said a word. Not the last surviving black magician. Not the Ketratus troops. Not Iomene. Not the mages of the Magic Tower.
"Waaah. Hungry. Aah. Hungry."
The black magician stared blankly for a long moment at Mammon's Chosen, who was writhing and squirming on the floor. Then, with an air of utter futility, he muttered a single line.
"Mammon......you already extracted your authority and ran away?"
The Pillar of Light had appeared, and Mammon's authority had rapidly diminished.
Judging from that, Mammon had undoubtedly suffered a massive blow to his Divinity itself because of that Pillar of Light.
Therefore, to preserve his Divinity, he had hastily reclaimed the authority granted to his Chosen One, abandoned his followers and everything else, and fled back to Hell as fast as he could.
In short, all the bitter, desperate struggles his followers had waged until now had been a complete and utter farce.
"Mammon. You absolute, motherfucking son of a bitch!......"
In the final moments of his life, the black magician cursed the Demon King he had served his entire life.
And those were his last words.
The black magician was so utterly dumbfounded that a hollow laugh escaped him, and then his breath stopped forever.
Mammon's Chosen One destroying this world? There was no such thing.
***
"Waaah! Hu-hungry. Uugh......Aaaaaargh! Aaargh!!"
Iomene approached Mammon's Chosen, whose mental age seemed severely degraded, and simply incinerated his body with holy power. The Chosen One, who had been twitching for a moment, was unable to do anything and vanished into ashes.
It was a fight that ended so simply it felt empty.
Having dispatched the Chosen One, Iomene's expression suddenly stiffened, and then immediately brightened.
"Erpa. Almene just received a report."
"A report about what......."
"The Saint has awakened."