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While talking, Khaleed unleashed a kick wrapped in yellow light. The woman lightly twisted her body and avoided it.

The pronunciation was a little different, but the sound of the words Khaleed used for his Martial Art was almost identical to Japanese. Whether it was martial techniques or magic, it seemed the activation phrases could be pretty much anything.

Since my primary language is Japanese, I end up converting things into Japanese in my head first. That’s why I found the names of the Art he just used oddly familiar.

“‘Raging Sword’! ‘Round Saber’!”
“How barbaric.”

The woman had just slipped past him, but Langbert was already charging again, his body blazing with emerald light. Using the momentum from his thrust, he pivoted on his planted foot and spun, swinging his sword.

But the woman avoided it all effortlessly, as if she could read his movements.

“You’re relying too much on your Arts, Langbert.”
“I know!”

Khaleed was extremely strong, and Langbert could keep up with him. And yet the enemy still had room to spare. On top of that, a critical situation was approaching.

“Men! Get the children to the back!”
“Understood!”
“No.”

I cut off one of the knights who nodded at Langbert’s order. Sorry, but we can no longer leave this place.

With a loud boom, the wall at the end of the corridor leading further inside was suddenly blown apart, and something came crashing into the room.

“What?!”

From within the swirling dust emerged a full suit of armor, gleaming silver and adorned with beautiful engravings. It was over two meters tall, and from its presence alone, it clearly wasn’t human.

Its sound was wrong too—no heartbeat, no breathing.

“Gh…!”
“Sister, nya?!”

At Noche’s shout, I glanced toward the groan and saw the battered Sister trying to stand, using her mace as a cane.

Taking an attack powerful enough to smash through a solid wall and still getting back up… impressive, I thought idly, even as I couldn’t take my eyes off the armored knight.

“A heretic who still dares to speak of the Light God—what a base sow. She would even resist the judgment of a Divine Soldier granted by the Light God? How irreverent.”
“Cough… everyone, take the children and run from here immediately! That thing is dangerous!”

The Sister shouted as she glared at the silver armored knight.

“Hm, that’s the main force of the assault, then?”
“That exalted one is a Divine Soldier, the sacred sword of justice sent by the Light God. First we shall strike down every heretic, then we shall purify the monsters infesting this city.”
“You mad woman, you’d even send in something like that. Is Bayer seriously trying to start a war?”
“That’s not—! Cough—!”

It was the Sister herself who denied Langbert’s angry words.

“Bayer assailants were all killed by them!”
“What?!”
“They succumbed to heresy. That means siding with evil faiths and falling into monsters. I granted them salvation so they could remain human.”

Even as she was accused of killing her own side, the woman replied in a calm tone.

Things called “Unknowns” often had the effect of eroding a person’s sanity. I’d seen countless cases where perfectly normal people were exposed to them and eventually swallowed by madness.

Having lived in a facility filled with such things, forced to maintain sanity while watching others fall into madness, there was something I could understand.

What filled this woman was unwavering conviction and a sense of justice.

With pure faith, she crushed doubt and contradiction, clinging to the justice she’d been given with chains of belief.

This woman was what you’d call a zealot.

“The Divine Soldier has declared that evil runs rampant in this city! In the name of the Light God, for the future of those who suffer, evil must be eradicated! I have come to deliver justice!”
“Don’t be ridiculous! There are plenty of Light God followers in this city!”
“They are all heretics who wag their tails at agents of evil faiths and allow monsters into the city. They are no different from monsters themselves. True followers of the Light God would never do such things.”

It was the Sister who bit back at the woman’s confident declaration.

“A method that only excludes others will never succeed! Have you forgotten why the Luminism Faith began to be rejected by the people?!”
“Because the people forgot the greatness of the Light God and succumbed to the temptations brought by the monsters of evil faiths. How lamentable.”

“No! The great founders earned the trust of the people through blood and sweat! But those who grew arrogant on that authority foolishly used the name of God to oppress and exploit others! That’s why the people lost faith!”
“Heretic! Even now you dare mock the teachings of the Light God?!”
“Which one of us are mocking them?! Why can’t you see the contradiction in a god who is meant to protect the weak allowing the torment of others just because their doctrine differs?!”

“‘People’ means us! The noble citizens of Zergia, the devout followers of the Light God—the humans! That is common sense! Sister Anansha, you have been poisoned by the thoughts of an evil god. I cannot comprehend why someone as wicked as you was chosen by the Shield of Devotion. The children here must be tainted as well—we should have culled them before such foolish ideas could spread.”
“Don’t be absurd! The oath to protect all life! The faith for the Light! There is no way it would ever condone judging people by their birth or upbringing!”

After the heated exchange, both the Sister and the woman raised their weapons, their fighting spirit intensifying as they faced each other.

“…you.”

While paying attention to the zealot woman and the Sister, I also kept my eyes on the armored knight—and then, suddenly, an unpleasant sound reached my ears.

The Divine Soldier…the armored knight called as such, raised the broad sword at its waist, holding it vertically in front of its body.

“I am the sword of justice sent by God (Finally I found you), I shall now carry out divine punishment (the Key of Pithos).”
“…huh?”

Sufi, Noche, and the knights all raised their weapons toward the Divine Soldier.

The voice sounded doubled. One was a clear young man’s voice, the other like that of a rasping old man.

“Now (Come to me), accept this purification (dear Beloved Child).”

Maybe it was just my imagination, but I felt like I’d heard the same kind of line, in the same kind of voice, somewhere before.

I still didn’t understand what was going on—but the answer I had for both of those overlapping voices was the same.

“—No thanks, a̲s̲s̲h̲o̲l̲e̲.”