The entire situation was finally starting to meet its end.
Reinhold knew that during a war a soldier wouldn’t go out of his way into enemy territory without any kind of plan unless he was suicidal. Yio’s call for help was expected. The only unknown factor was how much battle strength Gerald’s reinforcement and Yio’s reinforcements had.
Considering the time difference in the distance of the mansion Reinhold came from to Green City, it took at least twelve hours. These twelve hours should be the safest period for Reinhold to finish up. Using that as a basis for how long Yio and Higher Deacon Raxor had to defend for, Reinhold was beginning to ease up, there was more than enough leeway to end it all.
Twelve hours later, whose reinforcements come first would be irrelevant as Reinhold would’ve been long gone by then. From Gerald’s one sentence back then, Reinhold knew that for some reason Gerald was acting on behalf of humanity so leaving everything here for him to take care of was enough.
Reinhold had to increase the pressure on his enemies, make them hesitate, make them delusional, and make them suffer.
“Hannah.”
“Yes, Rei?”
“They’ll start using bodies to cover it up soon. Douse the bodies in the streets in oil and help them out.”
“As you command.”
Higher Deacon Raxor and Yio were suffering from too much pressure right now. The next attack came at random intervals, sometimes it only took a few seconds in between, and sometimes it went up to half an hour. The consistent shots were more bearable to handle but the ones that take up so much time in between really made them suffer.
Put yourselves in their shoes, having to carefully look in front and behind every moment just to make sure you haven’t missed out on anything. Trying to get any semblance of a hint to figure out where they’ll strike next. It was enough to drive someone mad, especially if your life is on the line.
Yio, after striking down an arrow Higher Deacon Raxor missed, shouted out, “Devout followers of our lord! Protect his effigy! We cannot let these disgusting heretics blaspheme our faith!”
Without hesitation, the inquisitors started to line up. The doubt and fears they had were immediately erased as if they were being held together by their conviction. There was no need to hold morale anymore, they just needed to hold the line.
An arrow passed through an inquisitor’s heart and caused him to fall. The arrow lodged in his chest was pushed out on the other side, showing itself. Countless normal inquisitors began to fumble, and their bodies started to pile up in front of the effigy, creating a wall made from corpses.
Seeing this, Yio and Higher Deacon Raxor sighed in relief, thinking that this was finally a moment where they can recover. Unfortunately for them, Hannah showed up outside, alongside a few mercenaries also dragging bodies alongside them.
Arrows were still shot out toward the wall of bodies, this time there was something different about them. Instead of the usual arrow metal head, it was all wooden, even worse, it had an oil pouch strapped to it. Countless of these kinds of arrows were piercing limbs, chests, stomachs, and heads of the people who were used as a wall.
“You smell that?” a random inquisitor said.
“Yeah… it smells like… oil?” another inquisitor replied.
They both looked at each other in realization, but before they could warn everyone, disaster struck.
A soft voice rang out, “Go!”
All of a sudden, numerous bodies were thrown out to add to the mountain of corpses already piled up. These newly added corpses were doused in oil and were extremely flammable.
Reinhold showed up just outside the continuously rising pile of bodies, he was still using his crutch to move around. Yio and Higher Deacon Raxor were surprised by their enemies’ actions. In the end, they were just helping them build up their defenses.
Reinhold took out a scroll from his hands.
“I have always wondered why these scrolls worked while the laws that people had were suppressed. It was really weird,” Reinhold started to monologue.
“These scrolls were made with nothing more than using innate core concepts of laws to mimic certain phenomena. So, I decided to research it, and you know what I found out?”
Reinhold took out a small fragment of a tattered page, it was already inscribed with the very same symbol that the Scroll of Fire had. He mentally recited the activation for this specific scroll.
This was the core result of his experimentation and research for these ever since the beginning.
An inch-wide and inch-tall square piece of paper in Reinhold’s hand started to glow. A red-light mist started to envelop the piece of paper, it was initially a golden-red mist that formed only to be quickly taken over by an orange-red color.
“The material the inscription is on is what gives these symbols their power. Different materials have different laws that are contained within them. Further research led me to understand something about this world.”
The piece of paper finally finished gathering up all the mist. Beads of sweat ran down Reinhold’s forehead, the heat was starting to affect him. Oddly enough, it was worse for everyone else around him. The archers started to back off when their arrows started to catch on fire, the other mercenaries felt their beards suffocate them, Houston and the Fanged Lioness used their own laws to combat the innate heat that was generated from Reinhold’s conjuration. Hannah tried to stay by Reinhold’s side but she couldn’t handle it and ran away.
“Ever since time immemorial, gods have always been the personification of laws. Being the foundation of reality, their laws could only be fought against with another god’s law. A long time ago, only gods could control laws.”
The mist turned into a small orb, purely smooth and clean. The orange-red orb slowly levitated in front of Reinhold as it slowly drifted towards the mountain of corpses.
“But people can now control laws themselves. It was extremely odd. I asked Houston a lot of things about this world, but I wasn’t satisfied. I researched this world more and I found that everything was extremely corrupted with so many laws intertwined with each other. That part wasn’t a surprise, what surprised me though was these symbols fed on these laws and your God’s Domain to power themselves. A tiny bit but it genuinely ate these laws up.”
The oil on the corpses’ bodies started to bubble yet they did not combust into flames. Everything in the vicinity was acting as if they were burning yet they weren’t. This was an extremely terrifying scene, as if an invisible fire was raging at everything around it with no one being able to see it.
Reinhold’s lips cracked as if all the moisture in his body was stolen, “My father’s book contained the laws of countless gods themselves. I wondered what would happen if a page was used, containing the laws of multiple gods, to create fire, alongside its odd property to consume laws.”
This orb was leaning in closer, surprisingly, the pavement started to scorch itself black. Cement was turning into ash. Flesh and meat were melting down into a grotesque liquid puddle.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“I guess I’m about to find out,” Reinhold walked away, his gaze beyond the horizon. His crutch was burned into ashes a long time ago, and Houston had to help Reinhold walk.
The orb of pure dense power finally touched a corpse’s hand. Visible fire sprouted out from the point of contact. Except for the extreme heat, there was nothing notable from the fire.
Yio and Higher Deacon Raxor both heard Reinhold’s words but they didn’t dare move out. Even if they burned the wall of flesh, Higher Deacon Raxor could just hold out by himself. This would actually be more beneficial for both of them due to how his power works.
He could just isolate the fire within his grasp, and it’ll put itself out. The threat of fire wouldn’t have been anything at all. This, of course, only applies to normal fire.
They didn’t even bother taking Reinhold’s words to heart. It wasn’t that they were too tired nor his voice was too weak but rather he was talking like a madman.
This Holy Fire started to trace the oil-covered corpses and proceeded to raze these bodies into dust. Soon enough, the inquisitors, Yio, and Higher Deacon Raxor were surrounded by a raging wall of holy fire. They were now trapped, the only way out was through this scorching fire that signified the walls of hell.
Higher Deacon Raxor began to put out the fire. He conjured up multiple seven-fingered hands to swipe away the burning meat. Everything was going well at first, every time Higher Deacon Raxor padded away the fire from one area, it would quickly be replaced. Still, they weren’t in severe danger they couldn’t escape from. Higher Deacon Raxor was being empowered by the God’s Domain to have enough strength to keep the Holy Fire at bay, for now.
The smell of burning rot started to fill the inside of the wall of flesh. Adding on to the fact that the temperature was constantly increasing, the normal inquisitors were struggling to even breathe. The Gifted inquisitors, Yio, and Higher Deacon Raxor were still fine, just uncomfortable.
Higher Deacon Raxor continued to pad out the fire even more, but he finally realized an extremely grim aspect of this fire. He realized why Reinhold was being so confident. The fire… was burning his laws away.
At first, he didn’t notice due to how solidified his laws were, but time eventually took its toll.
Everyone knew the existence of these scrolls that could only be used for party tricks, completely inferior to a normal Gifted’s inherent laws. But the combination of these symbols’ properties and the amount of laws contained within Reinhold’s book was the deadly combination that sealed his coffin.
“Higher Deacon Raxor! Keep going! Hahaha! These heretics dare think that this is enough to sway our faith?” Fools!” Yio encouraged Higher Deacon Raxor, little did he know that their hopeless situation was turning into a death sentence.
Higher Deacon Raxor’s face remained stoic, he had to find out a way to get out of this situation. His laws were burning away, and the power he gained from the citizens and mercenaries finishing their trials was also burning away.
Higher Deacon Raxor decided on a desperate play, he will have to deal with the fire as it comes. He had to endure the suffering and agony of losing everything he gained. This was his only way out.
Higher Deacon Raxor thought to himself, “The bodies will turn into ashes soon enough, at that point I’ll have to run away with Yio and the effigy. The rest are deadweight!”
Time passed, and Higher Deacon Raxor finally saw a small gap in the mountain of bodies finally turn into ash. He was about to run towards there when he saw a body thrown in, filling in the gap once more.
He screamed out in anger. They were now being forced to be burned alive. Seeing how hopeless it was, Higher Deacon Raxor brought Yio beside him.
“Yio, I need you to smother the fire.”
“Higher Deacon Raxor? I still need to-“
“I don’t care! We’ll die if you don’t do something!”
“This may look bad right now, but you can still hold out until reinforcements come. The God’s Domain should’ve been strengthened alongside your laws so it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“That fire’s eating away at my laws! It’s Holy Fire!”
Yio’s eyes widened in shock, he never expected Holy Fire to exist in such a weak city. This was an extremely dangerous fire that burns away at one’s laws. To create Holy Fire, it was beyond difficult, to put it out, it was even harder.
If what Higher Deacon Raxor said was true, then they need to get out of there as soon as possible. They were being smothered to death by their enemies with barely any way out.
Yio screamed out, “Red eyes! You psychopath! You’re going to burn your city to cinders!”
The red-eyed man's ramblings turned out to be real.
Reinhold heard Yio’s word using the God’s Domain to communicate with everyone. He simply replied with silence. Reinhold didn’t know what he created, he only realized that this would be a good card to use against his enemies, so he did.
He was threatening them from multiple fronts, if they let go of their position and let the fire consume the effigy then it would react with the burning environment outside and serve as a catalyst to create a natural domain, smashing the God of Trial’s artificial domain with ease. If they decided to stay, they would be burned alive with holy fire, leaving them nothing but dust.
Reinhold didn’t expect such efficacy from his research but as far as he was concerned, it served its purpose. It was doing its job well enough, all he needed was for Yio to die or have his God’s Domain shatter. If this happened, he could just run away immediately, everyone else could fend for themselves but the people he cared about were ready to leave at a moment’s notice.
The people left inside the city were someone else’s problem, he already did what he could for them, and doing more was too much. Although Gerald might not come and they might suffer even greater than in the hands of Yio’s reinforcements, this was better than certain demise.
Cinder started to fall down beside the inquisitors, for some reason, it seemed as if the wall of flesh surrounding them was closing in on them. Another body was thrown into the pile but missed, the inquisitor’s corpse was thrown further in than expected and its burning body hit three inquisitors that were huddled together, their demise was imminent. Higher Deacon Raxor was losing his grip on the situation.
“Yio! Do it! Half of my laws have been burned! I’m as weak as I was when I started out!”
The empowerment he received from the successful trials was now rendered null. With this weakening, his solidified hands could exert less force, he could conjure fewer hands, and his grasp of its precision was diminishing.
Yio who was still uninjured, gritted his teeth. He was being forced once more yet he couldn’t talk back. This was getting too much for him. Even though no mortal ability was able to kill him, Holy Fire was no mortal commodity.
Higher Deacon Raxor glared at Yio even more, he knew that Yio has one trick left up his sleeve. He still had one vital trump card that could help them all out.
“Yio! I swear, if you don’t do it right now I’m going to kill you myself!” Higher Deacon Raxor’s stoic expression finally faded, it was fully replaced with anger and spite.
He had been struggling for an hour already against this Holy Fire that kept inching closer toward them. His power was diminishing yet his ally was doing nothing but spout useless nonsense. He had been keeping up appearances for far too long now, there was too much danger here to be this lenient.
Yio was taken aback by Higher Deacon Raxor’s ruthless words. It was the first time he saw him this agitated.
“Fine!” Yio finally gave in.
He removed the golden armor he was wearing. His armor had partially melted due to the heat. He then took out a pouch strapped to his chest, it was filled with metal coins, within the coins was a symbol of a cross piercing a circle. In the middle of these coins were multiple colors, as colorful as they were there wasn’t a single red coin.
Yio proceeded to kneel in front of the effigy to pray. Projecting his own wishes toward it.
“Lord Hyuo’in, I beg thee. Smolder the Holy Fire that’s presented before us.”
A very cold feeling appeared from the void. Reinhold felt goosebumps on his skin, his legs collapsed from this terrifying feeling. Good thing that Houston was still supporting Reinhold otherwise he would’ve fallen.
The scorching heat from the Holy Fire and the shiveringly cold chill in his bones made for a very uncomfortable feeling.
No one could feel this specific chill, only Reinhold.
“It’s that creature again…” Reinhold subconsciously looked away.
It was that creature that he met in the mansion-like labyrinth. The very same creature took its toll and blocked one strike from an extremely strong Gifted. He didn’t know just how formidable Androc’s strike was, but it was definitely of a higher caliber than what the Fanged Lioness, Aya, Houston, and the empowered Higher Deacon Raxor’s strength combined could show.
Reinhold knew just how heavy that strike was, it was as if the entire world was falling down on him. If one coin could block such a monstrosity’s strike, how much more power could more coins show?
“Everyone, fall back! To the edges of the city! Quick!” Reinhold didn’t hesitate to shout out his orders. Forget holding Yio and Higher Deacon Raxor back, it was already a blessing if they didn’t immediately die.
The Fanged Lioness didn’t know why Reinhold was acting like this but instinctively she followed suit.
“Men! Fall back! Burn everything and run!” the Fanged Lioness didn’t hesitate to run away.
Some mercenaries immediately followed her orders but others didn’t listen since they didn’t feel the danger. For the people who ignored their leader’s orders, it would be the last time they did so.
“Lord, blow away the Holy Fire surrounding us,” Yio softly spoke, whisper-like even.
The extremely terrifying sensation made even Higher Deacon Raxor tremble a bit. He felt that this was something that shouldn’t have existed.
Yio was kneeling down and biting his lip, he was going to lose years of resources for this one insignificant trip. Blood started to drip down from his mouth as he felt the coins in his pouch disappear one by one.
This creature, no, this sensation of fear, came from the skies. A light breeze bellowed from above but once it hit the flames, they spread out, with Yio as the center. Holy Fire started to seep out, spreading from one house to another. The once-contained fire was now spreading throughout the city.
Ten hours remain before reinforcements come.