Chapter 15: Cruelty of Fate

Augros dashed forward, leaving Fiorelle and Zarria behind. They watched as he swiftly defeated several monsters with ease.

His form was perfect, not a single wasted movement with his flawless technique. He quickly learned the behavior of the monsters and adjusted his fighting style accordingly.

When fighting savage, violent monsters, the simple but precise counterattacks worked best. That was exactly what Augros did. Just like Zarria did, he defeated each of them with one hit.

It wasn’t that he was as powerful as Zarria. He was just that good at understanding the science of combat that he was able to accomplish the same things as her even without any divine providence.

Despite all that, the Uthalonicas possessed extraordinarily strong bodies. These genetically gifted people stood at the top as the physically strongest humans on earth, an anomaly in their species.

Zarria took a deep breath and then looked at Fiorelle.

Augros was right. If they weren’t sure about what to do for now, they should always prioritize saving lives over protecting their own morals and conscience from making the wrong decision.

And so, the two also joined the battle.

With lightning speed and surgical precision, Zarria, Fiorelle and Augros sweeped the slums of the deadly creatures. Thorny vines impaled the monsters while the gentler ones took the civilians to safety. Augros moved efficiently, making sure any monsters that tried to escape were slashed into pieces.

After killing dozens of monsters herself, Zarria ended up on the rooftop of the tallest building in the slums, which was not that high compared to the ones in the outskirts much less the imperial capital.

But it was good enough for what she planned to do.

Amidst the chaos, Zarria recited a silent prayer.

“Heavenly tears, grace the land. Cleanse us of our imperfections.”

High above the sky, a magic circle, as wide as the entire slums suddenly appeared. What looked like human-sized raindrops started falling from it.

They were beautiful crystal rods falling directly to the ground. But as it met the earth, these crystals turned out to be sharp blades, striking all that Zarria wished to be struck.

Nothing was safe. Even when the monsters moved, the crystal blades hit them as though they were sentient and had already determined where their target was going to be.

After the raining blades, Zarria jumped down the rooftop and then continued fighting on the ground. Every monster she met was crushed or decimated. Fiorelle prioritized protecting the people while Augros acted as a barrier between the slums and the outside world. With the three working together, they managed to minimize the civilian casualties.

The battle continued like that. The three did everything in their power to protect the human lives.

Among the few hundred people that lived in the slums, around less than half had turned into monsters. Those who stayed normal didn’t know where to go, putting themselves in danger’s way.

Fiorelle had already taken note of this, and asked the great spirit of wisdom for help. It had showed her a detailed blueprint on how to organize hundreds of random people using the resources she currently had, and direct them so that they were all in one place, making them easier to defend.

Augros cooperated, making sure that everything went according to her plan. He also played a huge part in making the people feel safe and protected.

When Fiorelle and Augros succeeded in this operation, the creatures were also led to gather in one herd, running in the same direction: towards Zarria.

Almost half of the population of the slums had suddenly turned into these nightmarish creatures which had no other desire than to slaughter. The few hundred abominations ran like a stampede of darkness. Marching like an army of bloodthirsty hounds, anything that stood in their way were sure to be ripped to shreds.

“O, Xantheus, god of the roaring skies,” Zarria whispered.

The army of abominations were running at full speed towards her, but she fearlessly walked forward, meeting the adversity in the middle.

“…bless me with the power which you have given to the mighty storms…”

She then stopped, closed her eyes and then extended her arms forward, aimed at the charging creatures.

“…to wash the earth of its impurities and flood the old sins, so that the beautiful world may start anew!”

In front of her, a portal leading to a higher dimension had opened, ripping space and time. And from it, an overwhelming, destructive power of raw energy burst forth, obliterating the hundreds of monsters standing in her way. They weren’t burnt, they weren’t crushed. Everything in the path of the attack got destroyed by this mysterious beam of energy.

And then, after a few seconds, the portal closed, stopping the intense beam of energy from leaking out.

The aftermath showed a terrifying scene of destruction. The force which did this was so foreign, no one in history ever understood how it worked.

Perhaps, such is the trait of the divine.

Before Zarria could collapse, Augros caught her. She immediately gritted her teeth, shook her head and forced herself to stand up.

She always felt an overwhelming urge to sleep after using this prayer. That was why she rarely did it.

“Is it…” she couldn’t stop yawning, “over?”

The three looked around. Augros had also confirmed that that was the last of the monsters.

“Looks like it,” he replied.

Everything seemed to be calming down until once again, they heard those eerie screams. It woke Zarria’s system up completely as the loud, disturbing cries of pain filled the silence.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” she muttered.

What was the condition to turn a human into that creature? Did the people injest something that allowed the perpetrator to turn them into monsters at will?

Whoever was behind this, one thing was certain. The Divinity Clan and Princess Shina were involved.

The other half of the slum’s population, except for a small fraction for some reason, had turned into monsters.

They saved and protected them for nothing, it turns out.

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