Runiar fell silent and wiped a smear of blood from his chin. His account of the failed mission hung in the air like smoke.
Yohan stared at the colossal monstrosity that dominated the skyline. The creature was a mountain of mismatched limbs and weeping sores that towered over the ruins of Nesbeth.
"So…" Yohan gripped his sword until his leather gloves creaked. "That thing is Provost Lamar?"
"It was," Runiar corrected him bleakly. "Now it is just a vessel."
"GRAAAAAAAH!"
The beast roared. The sound was not merely loud; it was a physical force that rattled the tiles beneath their boots. Its chest cavity expanded, and the many mouths fused along its torso opened in unison.
Violet light gathered in its gullet.
"Move!" Fennalin shouted.
She grabbed Yohan's collar and hurled herself to the left. Runiar scrambled to the right and dove behind a crumbling chimney.
VZZZZT!
A beam of concentrated energy erupted from the monster's mouth. It vaporized the section of the roof where they had stood a heartbeat before. Molten stone dripped from the edges of the blast zone and hissed as it cooled in the wind.
Fennalin rolled to her feet and dusted off her armour. She looked at the beast, which was already preparing for another assault.
"Look at it." She pointed to a spot on the creature's flank where she had struck it earlier with the golden giant. "It doesn't even have a scratch. I hit it with everything I had, yet it regenerated instantly."
She spat on the roof tiles. "As expected of a Tumor possessing a Provost. A Priest's body, especially one as strong as Lamar's, acts like a super-battery for these parasites. It makes them stronger than anything nature intended."
Yohan stepped forward and raised his shield. "How do we beat that thing? Its defensive pressure is off the charts."
Runiar peeked out from behind the chimney. His face was pale and sweat matted his hair.
"We don't." Runiar trembled. "I told you, Yohan. I tried everything. Fire, steel, prayer… nothing works. The connection to the Sarx Effigy makes it immortal."
He stood up and gestured frantically toward the city gates. "We need to leave. Now. The beast is massive, but it is slow. If we gather the surviving members of our Church, we can outrun it."
Yohan turned slowly. His blue eyes were cold as they locked onto Runiar.
"Are you insane? Do you wish to abandon your duty as a Priest? There are civilians trapped in the barrier! There are injured brothers and sisters down there!"
"We can't save them if we're dead!" Runiar yelled back. "Look at us! Fennalin is out of gas. You are barely standing. I am wounded. Staying here is suicide!"
"It is the Creed!" Yohan shouted. He pointed his sword at Runiar's chest. "We do not run! We are the wall that stands between humanity and the darkness! If we break, Nesbeth falls!"
"To hell with the Creed!" Runiar snarled. "I joined the Convent to kill monsters, not to feed them my own flesh in a hopeless battle!"
While they argued, the monster shifted its stance.
SQUELCH. CRUNCH.
A grotesque sound of tearing meat drew their attention. The beast raised its right arm toward the heavens. Flesh bubbled and reshaped itself rapidly. Bone pushed through skin and elongated. Within seconds, the limb transformed into a colossal blade of fused muscle and sharpened bone; a Meat Sword that was fifty feet long.
The weapon pulsed with a sickly red light that mimicked the rhythm of a beating heart.
Yohan froze. He traced the trajectory of the blade. The monster was not aiming at them. It was looking past the rooftops, down toward the town square.
"No…" Yohan gasped.
His gaze snapped to the transparent dome in the distance where Provost Joseph and the survivors huddled.
"It's targeting the shelter!" Yohan screamed. "It knows! It knows that is where the food is!"
He turned to the others. "We have to stop that sword! If that thing connects, the barrier will shatter!"
Fennalin clenched her fists but her golden aura did not flare. "I… I can't. My Gospel is burned out. I need at least an hour to recharge."
"Runiar!" Yohan barked.
"Don't look at me!" Runiar backed away. "I'm a mid-range fighter! I can't stop a siege weapon like that!"
"Useless!" Yohan hissed.
He tightened his grip on his shield and bent his knees.
"Prayer Art No. 1: Divine Standing!"
White light enveloped his body. He launched himself into the air like a silver bullet. He placed himself directly in the path of the descending Meat Sword.
"I will stop it!"
BOOM!
The collision shook the sky. Yohan slammed his shield against the massive edge of the bone blade. For a second, he held it. But the weight was too great.
CRACK!
The force swatted him out of the air like a fly. He plummeted and crashed onto the roof tiles hard enough to splinter the wood beneath.
"Gah!" Yohan coughed blood.
The Meat Sword continued its descent without pausing.
"I told you!" Runiar shouted from his cover. "It's physics, you idiot! You can't block a mountain with a dinner plate!"
"Shut up!" Yohan yelled.
He forced himself up. His left arm hung limp at his side, likely broken, but his right hand still gripped his sword.
Fennalin watched him with wide eyes. "Yohan, don't! You'll kill yourself!"
Yohan ignored her. He looked at the falling blade and then closed his eyes for a fraction of a second.
"If I can't deflect it," he whispered, and his eyes snapped open with blue fire, "then I'll cut it apart!"
He leaped upward again.
"Gospel Release: Gladius Mille Vultuum!"
[Translation: Sword of a Thousand Faces]
Space distorted behind him. The air shimmered and split open. Dozens, then hundreds of spectral broadswords manifested from the void. They floated in a halo of steel around him.
"GO!"
Yohan thrust his own blade upward. The spectral swords followed his command. They shot toward the Meat Sword like a swarm of angry hornets.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
The phantom blades carved into the fused flesh. Chunks of mutated meat rained down on Nesbeth like hail. Blood sprayed in torrential sheets.
Down in the square, Provost Joseph looked up at the sky. He saw the massive blade descending through the rain of blood.
"It's not enough," Joseph murmured. "He can't stop the momentum."
Joseph looked at the terrified faces of the mothers and children behind him. He looked at his exhausted brethren.
"Brace yourselves!" Joseph commanded.
He slammed his palms together. The air around him grew heavy and still.
"Prayer Art No. 4: Daos Seal!"
HUMMMMMM.
A deep, resonant vibration filled the square. A wave of emerald green energy radiated from Joseph's body. It expanded outward and fused with the existing barrier. Geometric symbols of light etched themselves into the air to form a second, thicker layer of defence that resembled a solid Buddhist mandala.
"I won't let you kill them!" Joseph hollered. Blood trickled from his nose as he poured his life force into the seal.
The civilians screamed and huddled together.
High above, Yohan spat a mouthful of teeth. He was falling again, his energy spent, but he kept his eyes on the target.
"Break! Damn you, break!"
He conjured more swords, but the Meat Sword was too thick. It was a guillotine dropping on a neck.
"Yohan!" Fennalin leaped and caught him in mid-air before he hit the ground.
"My arm…" Yohan wheezed. "I couldn't… cut it all…"
The massive blade struck.
KABOOOOM!
The impact was deafening. The Meat Sword slammed into Joseph's Daos Seal. The ground rippled like water. Shockwaves tore through the surrounding streets and levelled every building within a hundred-meter radius.
Dust engulfed the square.
"Did it hold?" Runiar asked. He poked his head out, fearing the worst.
The dust cloud slowly drifted away.
The barrier was cracked. Spiderweb fractures covered every inch of the green mandala. But it stood. The Meat Sword had been stopped inches from the pavement.
"It held!" Fennalin cheered.
But her joy was short-lived.
CRACK. TINK.
The barrier shattered. It dissolved into millions of particles of green light.
Provost Joseph collapsed. He vomited a massive amount of blood onto his white robes. The other Priests who had been supporting the barrier fell unconscious.
"No…" Yohan whispered.
The monster roared in frustration. It lifted the Meat Sword high into the air again. The blade was tattered and bleeding from Yohan's attack, but it was still heavy enough to crush everyone below.
The civilians looked up at death. They were too paralyzed to scream.
The monster began its second swing.
"It's over," Runiar said.
Yohan tried to stand, but his legs failed him. "Move! Get out of there!"
The wind pressure alone began to peel the roofs off the remaining houses.
"Careful!"
Runiar moved. He didn't run away. He leaped toward Yohan and Fennalin.
"Gospel Release: Follicle Bastion!"
His hair exploded outward. It grew rapidly and wove itself into a thick, steel-hard cocoon that wrapped around the three of them.
"This will protect us from the shockwave!" Runiar yelled from inside the dark sphere.
"But the people!" Yohan cried. "The sword is going to hit!"
The Meat Sword descended. Gravity and malice accelerated it toward the defenceless crowd.
Suddenly.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A series of violent explosions racked the length of the Meat Sword.
The massive blade didn't just break; it detonated. Chunks of flesh and bone erupted outward in a shower of gore. The force of the blast knocked the monster backward. It staggered and roared in confusion.
"What?" Yohan gasped.
Runiar unravelled the cocoon. They looked up.
A shadow fell over the square. But it was not the shadow of death.
A massive bird, comprised entirely of glowing white scripture, descended from the smoke. It hovered silently above the carnage.
Perched on the bird's back was a short figure clad in the black and white uniform of the elite.
The figure stood with casual arrogance. He held a Kusarigama—a sickle attached to a long chain—in one hand. The blade of the sickle dripped with the monster's blood.
He reached up and slowly peeled his black mask back. Smoke drifted from his mouth as if he had a fire burning in his throat.
His piercing grey eyes locked onto the Beast Tumor.
"Badge number nine…" Yohan breathed. "That's…"
Provost Kirill swung the chain of his weapon in a lazy circle.
"Sorry I'm late. Traffic was murder."