The effect of Holy Light was not weakened, but her own condition was rapidly deteriorating. The cost felt far heavier than usual, draining her faster with each use.
Once she was too dizzy to continue, she was pulled aside to drink recovery potions. Even then, she felt little relief, like carrying heavy cement up dozens of floors again and again. It was not just physical exhaustion, but mental strain.
"At least I healed most of them. Things should get better now, right?" "As long as we hold until reinforcements arrive, we will be fine."
Then everyone, including the two little girls, could be saved. The crisis looked terrifying, but it felt like it could still be endured.
"Boom!" Her body was thrown into the air by a violent explosion.
She flew like a rag doll, her organs shaking as broken limbs and debris filled the air. She was not reduced to a Shard only because her equipment was good.
When she hit the ground, she spat blood and forced herself to use Holy Light to recover a bit. Only then did she understand what had happened.
The forward position had been completely erased by a powerful Magic from nowhere. All the Warrior she had just seen were now scattered pieces.
Including all the wounded she had just healed. Some barely had half a body left, lying on the ground without the strength to even groan.
Why did this happen. She had tried so hard, yet it still ended like this.
Her head spun as someone lifted it and poured more healing potion into her mouth. Coughing as she came to, Alba saw it was Elvin.
Elvin was covered in wounds, half her face burned and blown apart, blood spilling as she coughed. Alba instinctively wanted to use Holy Light, but the pain in her head left her unable to do so.
"Can you still move? Can you run?" She nodded weakly.
Raina, who had lost an arm and was in even worse shape, stepped over. "Good. We only have one spatial Teleportation item left. We will send you out. Run in any direction, just escape."
"What?" Alba stared at them. "What about you?"
"We will hold them back. Taking one more person out is already a gain," Raina said calmly. "The item does not need White Tier, so consider it advance payment."
With her remaining hand, Raina pulled Alba up and tore a necklace from her own neck, stuffing it into her arms. Alba was too weak to resist.
Elvin said nothing more. They could not escape. After fighting on the front line for so long, both of them were already marked as priority targets.
Only Alba had a chance. Without Magic, she could not be directly detected, and that might let her slip away. If she escaped, she could still be useful to the Church of Holy Light.
"Remember to call for reinforcements if you get out. We can hold a bit longer," Elvin said. "Goodbye."
With a wave, Alba appeared in a dark corner beneath the city wall. This was a pre-arranged Spatial Teleportation Array location, and it had not been destroyed inside.
Falling from several meters up hurt badly, but the potions were already working. Alba hurriedly used Holy Light to heal the remaining wounds, though her headache worsened.
"I cannot just leave. I have to go back and save people." She forced herself up, but while she could run, proper movement was difficult.
After stumbling a few steps and seeing distant firelight and shouts, she stopped. Going back would change nothing.
She sat down in the corner, adjusting her breathing to feel slightly better. The Abyss Cultists did not search this area, likely because it had already been cleared. Everyone nearby, except her, was dead.
That was why she heard the voices next.
"It is still not enough. A few million lambs cannot bring down our the Lord, not even a projection." "So even sacrificing all of Cathedral City is not enough. Then inform our brethren to mark one third of the Diocese and slaughter them all. That should let the will of the Lord descend."
"How annoying. Why will these lambs not offer their flesh and souls quietly? This is unavoidable Fate, so why struggle."
She heard blades cutting through air and flesh, followed by screams and heavy objects hitting the ground. Heads struck the earth, one after another.
More screams followed, along with Maniacal Laughter. Guards, civilians, old and young alike all fell, their voices different but ending the same way.
Alba curled in the corner, listening and counting until there were too many to count. She did not want to hear it anymore.
"Elvin, Raina, I am sorry." She stood up, a hammer appearing in her hand, barely coated with Holy Light, and rushed out.
By sheer luck, there was one right at the corner. She swung the hammer down hard, smashing his head and drawing attention from dozens of Abyss Cultists, along with bound captives on the ground.
"There is still someone here throwing their life away." "Good. Let these lambs watch how she dies."
They advanced eagerly, seeing Alba as nothing more than a toy. She looked like an untrained civilian, while they had numbers on their side.
The first few rushed in and were beaten to death as her equipment barely held. Archers behind fired chain-linked bolts.
Her hand, knee, and shoulder were pierced, and the impact pinned her to the wall. The bloodied hammer slipped from her grasp, and she coughed up more blood.
"At least I still have one hand," she muttered. With one hand able to move, she could still do something simple.
She never thought she would use it, but now there was no other choice. She did not know the result, but she no longer cared.
"Is this Fate, or is this the choice you gave me?" "I do not care anymore. If it can save others, save Elvin and Raina, take my soul if you want. I should have died long ago."
She struggled to pull out the Black Book from her chest. Opening it with one hand failed, and it slipped to the ground.
The Abyss Cultists ignored the book. Seeing it was blank, they kicked it aside in contempt.
Alba did not speak. In the next moment, her throat was pierced, and her artery was cut open, sending blockbuster of blood spraying out.
The blood spilled onto the black, wordless book. The stains slowly became clear and bright, faintly glowing without anyone noticing.
"…Activate summoning function?" "…" "Forget it. I will use it anyway. You have no objection, and if I wait any longer, I will be dead."
"Boring."
After seeing that the person only twitched a few times before going completely still, the Abyss Cultists felt a wave of disappointment. This toy was far too fragile to be fun. One of them laughed and chatted casually, treating the body like a broken object rather than a person.
"Should I cut off the head? Or just nail it here, that works too." "I think skinning her and using her own blood and brain matter to paint her death would be better."
A grinning Abyss Cultists gestured with a knife at the body nailed to the wall, the so called corpse giving another faint twitch. He did not care at all, since he had killed too many people to find this strange. In his mind, it was just a normal reaction after death, and the earlier struggle had been mildly amusing at best.
What truly mattered was what would happen next. The great the Lord that had existed only in his faith might finally descend. The thought made his eyes burn with excitement.
This was a grand arrival ritual guided by countless Priests and the mighty Cult Leader. Using millions, nearly a hundred million Sacrificial Lambs to call down the consciousness of the Lord was glorious beyond words. His body trembled as tears ran down his face, overwhelmed by devotion.
Soon, those Sacrificial Lambs nearby would understand how honorable it was to offer themselves to the Lord. Even if there were misunderstandings now, even if their cause was scorned, none of it mattered. One day, when all gathered in the supreme True Kingdom of the Lord, all would forgive each other.
With that reverent thought, he stopped paying attention to the body nailed to the wall and left it there as a warning. He turned his head to glance at the group of Sacrificial Lambs, then frowned slightly. Something felt off.
There were no visible abnormalities. The Sacrificial Lambs were still properly bound, the Ritual Array Node under his charge showed no issues, and a headcount revealed nothing missing or out of place. Everything looked normal.
So what was wrong?
He stared at the fire pit formed from piled corpses, the flames still flickering. It took him five full seconds to raise his hand to his chin, and his mind jolted with sudden clarity. Something was definitely wrong.
"Am I slower?"
He realized that simply lifting his hand had taken five seconds. Looking again at the fire, he saw that it too seemed to be burning more slowly. No, it was not just that.
"Wait. Is everything slowing down?"
He abruptly noticed that not just his hand, but his entire body was moving at an illogical, unnatural slowness. There was no resistance, just pure delay. Sound, flames, drifting dust, all of it slowed together.