Chapter 141: He’s Not Dead Yet

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“Heh heh heh…”

At the center of the raging Fire of Sin, a muscular figure struggled to his feet, letting out a raspy, sinister laugh.

Several merchants standing close to him had dark flames crawling up their bodies, burning hotter by the second. Some of them should have been able to escape, but the Holy Bell miracle had them locked in place, all they could do was scream and collapse, waiting to die.

The temperature of those flames was simply too intense. The Swords of Kanri paced anxiously on the rooftops, unable to get anywhere near. The hook-nosed man let out a sharp cry and conjured a chunk of earth and stone the size of a human head, sending it hurtling into the flames. It struck the muscular man and made him stagger, but he planted his feet and steadied himself almost immediately.

He flicked his hand, and the fire twisted, lunging toward the hook-nosed man. The hook-nosed man barely dodged in time, eyes going wide with shock.

And at that moment, I was still a short distance away from them.

The woman had started smoking. She clenched her teeth and trembled, holding the child tightly in her arms, squeezing her eyes shut as if she had already resigned herself to her fate.

Too late… too late…

I couldn’t use any wide-range attacks to freeze or blast the muscular man, that would definitely catch everyone around him in the crossfire. Ice spikes though… would only make the Fire of Sin burn hotter.

Whoooosh—

The wind roared in my ears. I pushed my dash speed to the absolute limit, my small figure moving so fast it was nearly invisible to the naked eye, and even then, I couldn’t outpace the spreading flames. I watched helplessly as the fire crept toward the woman’s defenseless body, on the verge of swallowing her whole, and then, a graceful silhouette suddenly appeared in my field of vision.

After a split second of stunned disbelief, I recognized who it was. Theresa.

Without a second thought for the scorching heat that seemed capable of melting everything it touched, she swiftly scooped up the woman who had collapsed to her knees. The nun’s habit she wore cracked loudly in the blazing heat, and black smoke began rising from the fabric.

“Sylvia!”

Theresa’s shout rang in my ears, and my eyes went wide.

In the next instant, she spun around, and hurled the woman, child still in arms, straight toward me.

Never mind the fact that Theresa was still under the strain of the Holy Bell, the woman she had just thrown was taller and more solidly built than Theresa herself. And yet she had managed that throw regardless… just how immense was her Body Refinement Power!

A flicker of awe crossed my mind, but I couldn’t afford to stop moving. I shifted my footing in an instant and leapt into the air, caught the screaming woman mid-flight, landed softly, then shoved her behind me without even looking.

“Sister Theresa!” I called out in a panic.

The graceful figure in the nun’s habit flickered in and out of sight through the flames, her condition impossible to make out.

My heart seized.

“Ahhh—!”

The wind howled past my ears, a ferocious torrent of air blasting against me, whipping my hair straight back and sending my skirt snapping like a crack of thunder.

A blue glow ignited in my eyes.

I had never felt myself move this fast. I shot forward like a bolt of lightning, so unstoppable it seemed even the flames parted for me, and slammed headlong into the muscular man’s massive frame.

Bam—!

“Ugh!” A muffled grunt.

The muscular man went flying, the Fire of Sin blazing all around him. He twisted and contorted through the air, limbs flopping like they had no bones in them, like a flag snapping in the wind, and then he crashed headfirst into a pile of junk at the side of the alley and went still.

The Holy Bell above still hadn’t faded, and I could feel the pressure pressing down on me, but it was nothing compared to the robed elder’s from back then. It wasn’t nearly enough to restrict my movement.

“Wow, impressive.”

Theresa’s trademark gentle voice rang out. I let out a long breath, rubbing my shoulder that had gone sore from the impact, and turned to look at her.

“Are you alright, Sister?”

“I’m fine.” She gave me a small smile. “This Fire of Sin… is nothing special, really.”

But she didn’t look nearly as composed as she sounded.

Her headpiece had fallen to the ground and was already burning. Her nun’s habit was riddled with holes and burns, the once-white sleeves charred black and trailing little sparks, her white hair spilling loose in a tangled, scorched mess. The moment our eyes met, Theresa quickly tucked her hands behind her back.

But I had already seen them, the ugly blisters, big and small, scattered all across her fair arms.

I knew that had to hurt badly.

“Sister, you’re injured…”

“Just a scratch.” Seeing the worry in my eyes, Theresa shook her head with a smile. “It’s nothing.”

She looked composed enough… but she had been completely engulfed by the Fire of Sin just moments ago. What kind of miracle had she used to survive that?

Either way, thank goodness she was alright.

After I sent the muscular man flying, the temperature around us dropped noticeably, but the fire was still burning. The few merchants who had been set alight at the very beginning were long reduced to charred husks, their remains scattered across the ground at our feet.

The Swords of Kanri leapt down from the rooftops one after another and quickly herded the remaining merchants to one side of the road.

“Be careful, they could all be heretics.”

The woman who had been addressed as vice-captain issued the warning, and the merchants immediately erupted into frightened panic. Faces drained of color, bodies shaking uncontrollably, they babbled in incoherent fragments.

“What… what heretics…”

“What’s going on… this is… what’s happening…”

“We’re just merchants trying to make a living, we’re not heretics… never even heard the word…”

I spotted the top-hat man among them.

The moment the flames erupted, he had tried to bolt, scrambling and crawling to escape, but the Swords of Kanri had grabbed him early, and now he stood among the merchants looking completely hollowed out, muttering something under his breath over and over, his hat nowhere to be seen.

“Save first, kill after. Clean and simple.” The vice-captain sauntered over to my side, her slender waist swaying, and gave me a round of applause. “You two are both people worth admiring.”

Then she shifted her gaze to Theresa’s face. “And the Church, how are you planning to handle these people?”

Before Theresa could answer, I gave them both a small shake of my head.

“That can wait.” I turned my eyes toward where the muscular man had fallen. “It’s not over yet.”

The vice-captain looked taken aback. “You mean…”

“He’s not dead yet.”

As if to confirm my words, crimson flames erupted again from the wreckage in the distance, and we could faintly hear the muscular man’s furious, beast-like roar.

“Even after that… he won’t die…” Theresa murmured.

I tilted my head and thought for a moment, then asked, “Does anyone live around here?”

The sudden question confused everyone. The vice-captain looked at me with a puzzled expression. “…No. This whole area is a redevelopment zone, every resident from the surrounding streets was relocated over half a year ago. These heretics wouldn’t have chosen this place for their dealings otherwise. Those 2 children earlier must have just wandered in by chance…”

“Good.” I gave her a short nod.

I didn’t need to hear the rest.

“Miss Sylvia, what are you planning to do?”

What am I planning?

Well, obviously…

I started walking toward where the flames had erupted again.

“Leave the rest to me.”

Boom—

With a thunderous crash, the muscular man hauled himself upright once more. Blood poured from his mouth and nose, and fragments of ruptured organs still clung to his chest. His face was as pale as a corpse, and he didn’t care one bit. He reached back and drew the red-hot sword at his waist, then turned the blade on himself, dragging it swiftly across his chest, his arms, even his cheeks, cut after cut after cut.

“Little girl… little girl!”

Blood drenched half his body in an instant, feeding the Fire of Sin. The sword in his hand couldn’t withstand its own heat any longer, the blade slowly melting into red liquid.

“HAHAHA—!”

He laughed like a madman, flung away the hilt, and lunged at me in a headlong dive.

“I’m going to kill—”

I didn’t give him the chance to finish his threat. My small body blazed with a blinding blue light, and an intensely frigid ice fog surged and churned outward, the air that had been scorched red-hot by the Fire of Sin turned ice-cold in an instant. I raised my small hand high above my head… then snapped it down.

Crack.

Crack crack crack crack crack—!!

Countless massive, razor-sharp Ice Spikes swallowed everything in sight.

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