At the same time, in Cherwood Borough, at Mr. X's hideout.
The battlefield had been split into two fronts, one inside the house and one outside.
Inside, Leonard and Ms. Daly were locked in combat with Mr. X, Lewis Wien. Outside, Saint Tenebrous and the Aurora Order members under his command were fighting the Red Gloves.
"Boom!"
The armored giant, standing more than six feet tall, swung his massive black sword with brutal force.
The gale unleashed by the blade ripped apart everything in its path. Behind his pitch-black visor, Saint Tenebrous's eyes burned with a terrifying red glow.
"Foolish hounds!"
Kisma roared, his voice seething with rage. "You have obstructed the Lord's will. You will all be punished!"
Beneath his feet, a thick, pitch-black shadow rapidly spread across the street, swallowing one residential building after another.
The darkness was saturated with horrifying corruption.
Every living creature caught within it would instantly transform into a twisted, deranged Monster and attack the Red Gloves without distinction.
Cherwood Borough was densely populated. Saint Tenebrous Kisma knew perfectly well that once he used this ability, countless innocent residents would be corrupted and turned into Monsters. The Red Gloves' numerical advantage would immediately be turned against them.
As for the ordinary people dragged into the battle, they should consider it an honor to bask in the Lord's glory...
Beneath his helmet, Kisma smiled coldly. He was about to activate his ability and corrupt the residents into Monsters.
At that very moment, however, the entire world changed.
Pale.
Lifeless.
It was as if a strange filter had suddenly settled over everything. All color drained from the world, leaving it hollow and unreal.
Inside the surrounding buildings, the residents still looked human and behaved like ordinary people, but they gave off none of the colors associated with auras or emotions... In other words, they were nothing more than empty shells wearing human faces.
They were merely illusions.
The only figures in this world who still retained vivid colors were the Red Gloves of the Church of the Evernight Goddess and the believers of the Aurora Order.
These Beyonders were the only living beings left in the entire world.
In other words, Kisma's plan had failed.
And this... was undoubtedly the work of the Church of the Evernight Goddess!
"Damn you!"
He roared in a towering fury. His massive sword swept through a wide arc as it cleaved toward the man standing opposite him.
"Click. Click."
Silas calmly watched the Cull of Spiritual Flesh while turning the peculiar pocket watch in his hand.
"Boom!"
A gigantic magma sword wreathed in deep-blue flames formed in his hand.
He raised it vertically to meet the Cull of Spiritual Flesh. With a deafening crash, the Sequence 3-level magma sword blocked the devastating strike.
"Your Excellency Ishmael, the Sealed Artifact is active!"
Soest shouted to Silas from across the street.
"Well done."
Silas put more strength into his arm and knocked Kisma's massive sword aside. Then he raised his voice and gave an order.
"Take the rest of the team and capture the remaining Aurora Order believers... I promised His Grace the archbishop that not a single pest would escape this encirclement."
They could do nothing to help in a battle between demigods. It was better for them to keep their distance and reduce unnecessary casualties.
"Servant of an evil god!"
Kisma's roar thundered across the area. The shadow beneath him had already spread over a vast distance.
Churning violently with his rage, it surged backward like a raging tide and transformed into an enormous net. It closed in from every direction and swallowed Silas in an instant.
Everyone watched as the senior deacon was completely engulfed by the dense darkness before he could react.
"Heh..."
A grim smile crossed Kisma's face.
The shadow flowed like liquid, shrinking and tightening around its captive, leaving him no chance to escape.
Submerged in such a corrupt and terrifying black fluid, it was surely only a matter of time before the senior deacon succumbed to corruption...
But Kisma's smile quickly vanished.
Light appeared.
Golden, clear, and perfectly pure beams pierced through the black sphere of shadow like sharp swords and descended upon the world.
Then came a second beam, followed by a third... More and more golden rays broke through the darkness, turning the black sphere into a golden hedgehog.
Countless ripples spread across its surface. Finally...
"Boom!"
The sphere could no longer hold its shape. The scorching, dazzling light within tore through it completely.
The pale world was instantly bathed in gold. It was as if a new sun had risen in this place, with Silas floating calmly at its center.
Sunlight was especially effective against shadows and corruption, and it dealt Saint Tenebrous Kisma a devastating blow.
Whoosh!
Silas raised his right hand. Pure, immaculate light immediately gathered in his palm, forming a golden spear in the blink of an eye. He gripped it and casually hurled it at the giant in black armor.
The spear moved as fast as lightning. It had barely left an afterimage in Kisma's vision before it was already upon him.
Kisma raised his head and saw searing light expanding endlessly before his eyes, as though a True God had sent down divine punishment.
"Boom!"
An earth-shaking roar, accompanied by overwhelming light and heat, rippled through the gray-white world, leaving the distant Red Gloves deeply shaken.
When the light finally faded, Kisma appeared at the center of the explosion.
His pitch-black armor had absorbed most of the damage. Even so, he had been reduced to a mass of scorched flesh, sizzling against the blackened ground.
However, wounds of this severity meant little to a Black Knight. Compared to the destruction of his body, the damage to his mind was far worse.
"Lord... My Lord..."
Saint Tenebrous's face emerged from the mass of flesh. He prayed in agony and struggled as the remnants of pure light spread through the gaps between his flesh and shadows.
The Sun Pathway's power of purification was nothing less than a deadly curse to someone who embodied darkness and corruption.
"Great Lord, You are beside me..."
Fortunately, as a believer of the True Creator, Kisma had long since lost his sanity. The damage to his mind could not shake his faith in the evil god.
Despite the unbearable pain, he continued praising the True Creator with devout, fanatical fervor.
Silas looked down at him with contempt, his gaze fixed on Kisma's fervent expression.
"You should shout a little louder."
His tone was indifferent.
"That lord of yours spends all day hanging upside down. With all the blood rushing to His head, His ears must be ringing nonstop. Unless you raise your voice, He probably can't hear you."
"Blasphemer!"
Kisma flew into a rage. His body swiftly pulled itself free from the shadows.
Beside him appeared a fully released lamb. It radiated immense spirituality and seemed to contain the soul of a demigod!