Chapter 441: Grace and disgrace. (End of Volume. 5)

Monica exhaled deeply as she looked up at the steam that came out of her mouth as the heavy blizzard hit the Monastery. The weather in the North Neva had worsened as it was already winter, and they called it the silent death season because any animals or humans would die from freezing at that time of the season. There was only silence and the sound of the robes that people wore, rubbing against each other because of the strong freezing wind. She anxiously waited and stared at the distance even though she could barely see anything that was a dozen meters ahead of her.

Suddenly the sound of horses neighing could be heard and the sound of the steel gate in the distance. Monica hurriedly walked toward the gate with Maximilian and a few Paladins that were ordered to stay behind and protect both of them. They both looked anxious as they narrowed their eyes, trying to see through the thick blizzard.

Everyone waited for the first figure to walk through the gate with their hands clasped together in front of their mouths, praying. When they saw Moriganne riding her horse then followed by Lazarus, Arthor, and Sanya, they sighed in relief because those figures were their only hope. However, that relief changed into something devastating when they realized the army had lost half of its force.

The knights and the soldiers approached the mothers, wives, and siblings of the fallen soldiers, giving them the bad news. The weather was so cold that to let out a single tear was merely impossible. Even the Paladins of the Sancticus and the Snowvein family members, which was a branch of the Sancticus family had lost a few of their bloodlines.

That wasn’t their first battle they had lost, it wasn’t the second nor the third, it was the only thing that had been happening in the past month ever since that red sky phenomenon they saw. They had never achieved a single victory even after the Orthias had decided to join hand to fight evil.

From all those figures, the one that made the blizzard pale in comparison to the coldness that person exuded was Sanya. She had always put that warm, gentle, and a bit of mystery written on her face, but this time there was only coldness and how her blue eyes glowed in that thick blizzard like a beacon. Even Lazarus, the man that transcended swordsmanship and the one that Arandil himself admitted to be nowhere near him chose to distance himself from Sanya out of fear of danger, who rode her white horse.

There was only the sound of blizzard with the scream and sob as the background. There was no exchanging of words as the soldiers were either injured, exhausted, devastated, or completely terrified. They all had something in common, and that was the desire to just be left alone.

“It’s cold out here, please get back inside because the blizzard will get harsher from now on,” Moriganne finally spoke loudly as she looked at the people who were still mourning. “Pack your things because by the morning, all of you will be leaving this place, this continent,” she said with a serious expression before she got off her horse and walked into the temple.

The priests and the refugees were confused but deep down they knew that there was no future in North Neva anymore. They didn’t know what to do but to follow Moriganne’s words and to grieve on their own.

Monica and Maximilian followed Moriganne and the others into the temple because they wanted to know what had happened that made Sanya, the oldest Orthias to make such an expression. However, they didn’t dare to say a word because of the heavy atmosphere around them and chose to keep following where they went.

When they entered the meeting room, Sanya walked ahead of the others and stood in front of the window. She stared at the heavy blizzard with her glowing blue eyes and immediately the blizzard became heavier to the point that the only thing she could see was the whiteness of the snow that had been blown by the wind.

“Lady Sanya, please, there are people out there…” Moriganne pleaded. A saint of the North to plea like that was unheard of, and her words filled with fear and anxiety.

Sanya didn’t even bother to listen to Moriganne’s plea, and the blizzard had gotten worse where the glass windows had froze and cracked by the extreme cold. Suddenly the blizzard stopped when the glasses were about to shatter, and at that moment they all realized that the blizzard was Sanya’s doing all along, expressing her emotion.

“Mother…” Monica muttered, her voice barely above a whisper with a hint of fear and worry in it.

Moriganne only raised her hand at Monica, signaling her to be quiet for a moment. Monica nodded and lowered her head, worrying about what had happened that could cause Sanya to lose her composure, a being who never got affected by emotions.

“You humans should leave this place immediately. None of you are useful or even have any chance to win against them,” Sanya said, her voice cold and monotone. “The more lives they take, the more powerful they become. Right now, all you did was feeding them and nothing else,” she glanced over her shoulder at Moriganne and the other powerful figures behind her.

Sanya’s words cut through everyone’s chest and felt guilty for being both useless and caused the enemy to gain more power. Nobody knew that in those few past battles, Sanya and her army of Orthias were the ones that prevented them from being annihilated. There were mistakes that the humans made that caused Sanya and her people to protect the humans rather than defeat the enemy.

“Not to mention your divine power is no longer useful because of that human woman you call the False Prophet, the fake Saint. What can you do now when you realize that even demons get protected by divine power?” Sanya asked, staring right into Moriganne’s eyes. “You can do nothing, you have no purpose here because you can’t even protect your own people anymore,” she added as she turned around to look at all of them in the eyes.

“Then… what about you, Lady Sanya? If those demons and their master chose to hunt the Orthias, wouldn’t that make things even worse. Not to mention, the one that we fought earlier was that same Orthias who got corrupted during our expedition beyond the Blackcliffs,” Moriganne asked.

The moment Sanya heard those words coming out of Moriganne’s mouth, Sanya stared right into Moriganne’s eyes with her shrinking pupils like a dragon’s eyes. That was when the blizzard appeared out of nowhere and shattered the windows. The cold reached through everyone’s bones and collapsed as their bodies stiffened. They couldn’t use Aura or Divine power as if their bodies were being sealed by the cold.

“If it wasn’t because of you humans, Illidan wouldn’t have become a vessel for a demon. You dare to speak of it when you know it was your fault? Don’t make me do things that will cause humankind to extinct,” Sanya threatened as she stared down at those powerful figures being helpless in her presence.

Everyone curled up on the cobblestone floor that slowly got devoured by the frost. If they didn’t try to stand up, soon enough,they would be devoured by frostbite and would die in just a matter of seconds.

“P-please…” Moriganne spoke with her shivering mouth.

“Leave this continent and never come back. By the morning if any of you still here, don’t blame me for dying by the cold,” Sanya said in a soft and yet cold tone as she blocked the open windows with ice, preventing the cold from entering. “From this day onward, you’re forbidden to touch your foot to this continent,” she warned and then walked away, leaving the room.

Everyone could finally stand up, but their fingers were stiff and hard to move. They looked at each other and knew they had no choice but to listen to Sanya’s threats and warnings. They immediately informed everyone to prepare to leave because they knew that Sanya would let the cold kill them all by the morning.

Satan looked through the eyes of human soldiers that didn’t know they had been marked. She listened and watched them prepare to leave with ships and blimps, abandoning the north. She closed her eyes and opened them again to see through her own eyes, seeing the Fallen Watchers, Illidan, and Ermaine staring at her, who was sitting on the frozen and broken throne.

“One continent is down, four more to go,” Satan smiled eerily as she stood up from the throne and walked down the stairs.

“Master, we still have Orthias to deal with,” Yaza said as he watched Satan walk past him.

“Oh, they won’t make a move, and we won’t make a move on them either because we both don’t know each other’s true power. They’re ready to war if we choose to fight them, so it’s better to not do anything, at least for now,” Satan muttered as she left the throne room that went straight to the outside world because the castle had been completely destroyed. “Now that I have free time, I think I’m going to visit an old friend,” she smirked.

“Master, you’re going to Central Neva?” A Fallen Watcher asked.

“Yes, and I’m going on my own. All of you stay here,” Satan commanded as she stared at the blizzard. “I also want to see that man, Rasmus Blackheart, the one that God chose,” she grinned widely before she spread her beautiful black with gold highlights when light shone on her feather wings. Her beautiful black long hair that reached the ground along with her black long gown that got dragged to the ground along with her hair making her look magnificent, nothing like an angel or a demon.

All the Fallen Watchers kneeled and lowered their heads, overjoyed by seeing the glimpse of their Master’s true form. The being that didn’t stand beneath God but stood beside God who followed in order to test humankind, to punish those who failed to follow God’s words. A being that was chosen by God as adversary and accuser of Humankind, the one and only, Satan.

Satan flew and disappeared in the blink of an eye without a trace or sound.

Rasmus stood in front of Aris and showed Aristoria’s sword to her, presenting the sword to her. Aris looked at the magnificent sword, a sword that looked so perfect that the swords she had seen that were made by Master Orthias to fall pale in comparison.

“Take it, you want this, don’t you?” Rasmus offered the sword to Aris.

Aris reached out to the sword’s handle until suddenly her hand stopped from grabbing the handle. She hesitated, staring at it for a moment before she let her hand fall to her side as she shook her head.

“No, I don’t think I can bear this power and responsibility alone, Rasmus. What you said about my fate, I don’t know if taking the sword or rejecting the sword will lead me to that future, but I do know that I don’t want to accept this sword,” Aris said and admired the beautiful greatsword on Rasmus’ hands. “I want you to share this burden with me,” she stared into Rasmus’ eyes.

Rullein appeared from a puff of black smoke behind Rasmus and immediately placed her long fingers and nails on his shoulder. Rasmus glanced at Rullein’s hand and nails before he glanced over his shoulder at her.

“You have trained to wield that sword, why do you want to give it away?” Rullein asked with her brows raised, her soothing whisper making Rasmus reconsider it. “If I can be honest, I think you might need that sword more than Aris. A hunch that you might need that sword very soon,” she added with a mischievous smile on her face.

Rasmus looked at the sword and then looked at Aris’ face. The moment Aris nodded, agreeing with what Rullein said, Rasmus pulled the sword away from Aris’ face and held it with one hand before he stored it in the spatial ring.

“Very well,” Rasmus nodded with understanding, agreeing with Aris’ wish to share the burden.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep