When Jeanne and Patriot escorted the battered Emperor's Blade back to the village, the first thing they saw was a circle drawn with Holy Water on the outskirts of the settlement.
Trapped inside were two Emperor's Blades who looked as if they had been blasted by ten thousand firecrackers. Even the masks on their faces had been knocked flying, revealing faces so swollen they were barely recognizable as human.
It seemed the Shieldguards and the Yeti Squad had not held back in the slightest! Jeanne could see residual traces of fire and frost, and even several distinct bullet holes... Wait, where did the bullet holes come from?
Jeanne looked at Talulah in surprise, and Talulah pointed toward two Sankta who were happily chatting with Alina nearby. One of them, a Laterano girl with pink-purple hair, was looking enviously at the red garment Alina was wearing—the clothes made from the Shroud that Jeanne had gifted her.
But how did they find this place? And judging by the scene, how had they managed to win Alina's trust in such a short amount of time?
Frostnova, however, seemed to have taken a stray hit; she was currently hiding off to the side, glowing after drinking some Holy Water. Aside from her white rabbit ears looking a bit limp, Jeanne couldn't see any actual injuries.
The Emperor's Blade being escorted looked at the circle in front of him. When he saw the black mist leaking from the two trapped agents vanish the moment it touched the ring of light, he couldn't help but gulp.
I'll die, won't I? If they throw me in there, I'll die instantly! Under the agent's intense protest, the group had no choice but to draw a separate circle for him.
"What happened to you two?" Number Seven asked. "Even if the Shieldguards suppressed you using the terrain, you should have been able to escape, right? How did you end up getting pinned to the ground and beaten like this?"
The two trapped agents glanced at him, exhaling a breath of smoke that looked like they had just puffed through five cigars at once. A raspy, ill-tempered voice spat out: "Shut up. Get as far away from us as possible!"
They were beyond furious. Why had they listened to his nonsense and come to this village to fight? Do you have any idea what we just went through? Was the Intel Department lying to them?
During the battle, they had vaguely heard the "Demons" inside them screaming that they were lunatics. Even now, those entities that should have been suppressed were instinctively cursing in their minds.
"Greetings, Lady Saintess. We represent Laterano in offering you our highest respects."
Upon seeing Jeanne arrive, Lemuen and Executor immediately bowed to her. At that moment, they felt as if they were surrounded by the power of God. They were certain that the young girl before them was the one they were looking for.
"You don't need to call me Saintess. Just call me Jeanne. No need for such trouble, and I'm not really a Saintess... But, how exactly did you find this place?"
In response to Jeanne's question, the two provided an explanation. It turned out they had followed the scent of the Divine to reach this location...
The timeline went back to when Jeanne was fighting her own Emperor's Blade. On a whim, Alina had used Holy Water to bless the shields of the Shieldguards. Under everyone's gaze, the shields emitted a dazzling light. Suddenly, the shields that were on the verge of breaking were reborn.
By sheer accident, Alina had blessed the shields, drastically increasing their resistance to Originium Arts. As for most "evil" types of power, they couldn't even dent the defense formed by the Shieldguards. If the Shieldguards could form a large enough phalanx, they might even dare to do battle with true Demons.
"Hey, Executor. Do you feel that? The power radiating from ahead is the same as what we feel in our home city! It's even more concentrated than back there!"
Because Alina hadn't hidden the power, Lemuen and the others sensitively detected the obvious fluctuations of Holy Light. To Laterano, this level of light was like a candle flame to a moth in the endless darkness. They hurried toward the source, certain that it was a lead related to the Saintess.
Meanwhile, the Emperor's Blades approaching the village heard voices in their ears: "Are you f***ing kidding me?" "I'm not here to die with you!" "I hope you replace that mask with a green one in the future!"
They felt extremely strange. After all, this was just demonic flesh; since when did meat start cursing after leaving the body?
The two agents exchanged a glance. From beginning to end, this mission felt abnormal, but it was their duty. They didn't have the right to choose.
"You go first, I'll scout the surroundings. You draw their attention, and I'll ambush their commander to end the fight," Number Seventeen said before vanishing. Number Forty-one could only silently endure this bullying from his senior.
Among the Emperor's Blades, the serial number reflected the year they joined. While there was no political infighting, there was an unwritten rule: higher numbers generally commanded the lower ones. It was a learning process; senior agents were more experienced and could solve problems using that expertise.
However, the closer Forty-one got to the village, the smaller the Demon's influence became. Correspondingly, his control over the demonic power weakened. He wasn't like the single-digit "Fused" agents who had completely turned their bodies into Demons and could use their power at will.
On the other side, the buffed Shieldguards prepared to fight to the death, only to see a single figure drifting toward them, radiating an ominous aura.
"Alert! Maintain formation! It's only one Emperor's Blade. As long as we don't break the line, we can handle him!"
The veteran Shieldguards knew the terror of these men, but with their resistance plus the Originium Arts of Talulah and Frostnova, they believed they had the ability to face one. They stood outside the village to engage. Even though they knew the village's barrier would suppress the agent, they chose to put themselves in danger for the sake of the villagers' safety.
"Shieldguards... to think the most elite units of Ursus have fallen to walking with the Infected... what a disgrace to our people! You should surrender immediately and take your own lives."
As the demonic power within him shrank and the cursing in his mind intensified, even his professional training couldn't keep his temper in check. Seeing these Shieldguards, his frustration turned to rage. He decided to simply open his "Dominion" and erase them all.
He swung his blade, sending a black arc of energy toward the formation.
"Shields up! Defend! This is an Emperor's Blade, unlike our previous enemies—wait, what?"
The Shieldguards looked at the agent with curiosity. What's wrong, little brother? How did the Emperor's Blades become so weak after a few years? This strength wasn't just blockable; he probably couldn't even break their defense if they just stood there and let him hack at them. Was he a fan of the Captain (Patriot) who didn't want to kill them and was just putting on a show?
The agent was equally embarrassed. He dodged the attacks from Talulah and Frostnova, unable to understand why his strength had plummeted. He locked his gaze onto Alina, who hadn't made a move yet, suspecting this Elafia was the source of the trouble.
At that moment, the hidden Seventeen also saw Alina's uniqueness. He found the right moment to lunge at her, activating his Dominion. In a full release, the black mist finally swallowed Alina and two others. He believed he had won!
But in the next instant, to the agent's shock, a piercing light broke through the black mist and expanded. The Dominion vanished into thin air.
Simultaneously, Executor and his companion finally reached the village. Lemuen looked at the settlement hidden by Holy Light and sighed with envy.
"What a waste! This amount of Holy Water is enough for all the mobile cities in the capital to use for two years. This must be where the Saintess lives; otherwise, it couldn't be this luxurious!"
Even the Pope didn't have the luxury of such an environment.
"Miss Exuvia, I must correct you," Executor said while aiming his weapon at the enemies on the battlefield. "The villagers likely do not understand the true value of this Holy Water; otherwise, they would have sold it for money long ago."
"Emperor's Blades... I didn't expect it to really be them! It seems the Bishop's intuition was correct; Ursus has an operation targeting the Saintess! We must report this immediately!"
He used a special Notarial Hall method to report the situation. In the next moment, all members of the Laterano Gun-Lance Knights near Ursus began to stand ready, prepared for battle at any time.
If Executor's protection mission failed, they were prepared to risk the existence of Laterano itself to invade the Ursus border, even if every last one of them perished.
Because the enemy was the enemy of the Saintess, the enemy of the Lord! Even if they were wiped out, they would buy time for the Saintess to escape. No matter the outcome, as long as the Saintess was safe, even if they died for it, they would see their God again.