Within the burning ruins of the manor, a terrifying aura of forbidden magic continued to spread outward.
At this moment, Ansu saw that Celia's demon characteristics were fully revealed. Half of her arm had blackened into a demonic claw, and those demon blood-red eyes stared indifferently at the terrified soldiers.
She slaughtered freely under the siege of the Imperial Army and the Church. Wherever she struck, clouds of blood mist erupted. The area outside the winery had turned into a literal slaughterhouse.
She was in a complete killing frenzy...
Ansu couldn't even count how many people Celia had killed. Mangled remains were scattered everywhere, and the thick scent of blood was nauseating.
The soldiers surrounding the area were so intimidated by this female god of slaughter that they didn't dare to approach any further.
They could only scatter and hide nearby, not even daring to peek out to fire their weapons.
"Reinforcements! We need reinforcements!!"
Seeing the situation spiraling out of control, an officer turned back and roared in panic.
But in the next second, the back of his head was pierced by a shadow magic spell, and his gruesome corpse fell backward onto the ground.
Ansu also noticed that, aside from Celia and three cult elders wearing gold masks, all the other cultists were dead.
These four had already carved a path of blood through the ruins and were breaking out in his direction.
Taking advantage of the moment when the soldiers blocking him had scattered, Ansu immediately rushed forward to regroup with her.
A wave of heat hit him in the face, and the surrounding smoke made him cough repeatedly.
Just then, a terrifying pressure suddenly locked onto him.
Ansu's heart rate spiked, and the breath of death felt as if it were right in front of him.
But a second later, the pressure vanished instantly.
"Ansu?"
A hoarse and surprised female voice reached him.
Ansu looked at Celia, who was walking quickly toward him, covered in blood.
When she saw him appear, a flash of joy appeared in her dark red eyes, but it quickly turned into frustration.
"Why are you here? I told you not to come!"
Celia scolded him angrily.
"I came to save you," Ansu said.
"Save me?" Celia was stunned, then laughed out of pure frustration. "Save me with what? With your strength, isn't coming here just looking for death?"
"No!" Ansu said with a firm tone. "I really will save you."
As he spoke, he instinctively looked at the countless corpses of soldiers around them.
Fortunately, this was in a simulation. If she really killed this many soldiers from the Imperial Army, she would never be able to turn back.
Ansu didn't want her to walk a path that only led to darkness; he wanted Celia to change.
In fact, because of his existence, Celia had indeed changed significantly compared to the 【World Ending Witch】 in the original plot.
Because it was still three years prior, many irreparable events had not yet happened. Even that 'cult sacrifice case' had been perfectly resolved through his efforts.
Ansu was confident he could do more.
While it was completely impossible to make Celia 'see the error of her ways' and become a partner of justice or even join the Chosen faction, he felt that the world wasn't just black and white. Becoming a subtle shade of gray would be quite good as well...
If he and Celia could lead the cult, the Echoes of Truth could just focus on magic research. As for reviving the 'Great Magic Empire' and making the whole world regress, they could forget about that.
"Fine, fine... stop boasting."
Celia naturally didn't know the deeper meaning behind Ansu's words. She gave him an annoyed glare before looking back at the three cult elders.
"Before the Imperial Army reinforcements arrive, hurry and cast the teleportation circle. I'll hold the line for you!"
The three Gold Mask Elders nodded immediately. They looked around warily and then began performing a lengthy magic ritual on the spot.
"I have a feeling we won't make it..." Ansu looked toward the hillside. A large number of Imperial Army soldiers were rushing over in the distance, and they had even used mule teams to bring in over a dozen large-caliber cannons.
As he spoke, he looked back urgently at the teleportation circle of the three Gold Mask Elders.
The more people this circle carried, the slower it took to activate. At this point, only a faint ring of magic runes had appeared on the ground, and there was no telling when it would be finished...
"There's no other way, we have to take them with us." Seeing Ansu's urgency, Celia sighed.
"They are all my teacher's confidants. She worked so hard to suppress the Restorationist faction and ascend to the position of Cult Leader. If these supporters die, the balance of power might tip again..."
"You work so hard for Samantha, but she puts you in danger without a second thought!" Ansu's voice was suppressed with anger. "You really are the most useful blade in her hand..."
"This is what I owe her..." Celia shook her head.
Ansu became even more frustrated. "You don't owe her anything. You've worked for her for so many years; you've long since repaid whatever debt you had."
Furthermore, when the other woman had first picked her up and brought her into the cult, she hadn't had any good intentions.
But he had no way of speaking this truth directly.
Ansu suppressed the frustration in his heart. Fortunately, there was still time. He would gradually guide Celia to see her teacher's true face...
The gunfire around them suddenly became much denser. Bullets tore through the air, falling like raindrops on their position.
Celia's thick mana surged constantly. A Shield spell with a much larger range than Ansu's blocked all the incoming fire. Brass bullets hit the translucent blue shield, leaving behind a series of sizzling sounds.
"Celia!" Seeing the artillery group in the distance stop, seemingly adjusting their firing data, Ansu quickly asked, "How was the cult stronghold exposed? It wasn't a leak from a mole in the Restorationist faction, was it?"
The purpose of this simulation, besides observing the future, was to understand the sequence of events.
This joint operation by the Church of Holy Light and the Imperial Army against the cult was extremely successful. Things definitely weren't that simple.
"It wasn't a leak from a cult member." Celia shook her head. "At a time like this, continuing internal strife is just asking for death. The Restorationist faction isn't that stupid..."
Seeing Ansu staring at her, Celia continued:
"It started with a collaboration between the cult and a demihuman resistance organization called the 'Squirrel Party.' Because a high-ranking member of the Squirrel Party was arrested, almost the entire resistance organization was uprooted, and it ended up implicating us as well..."
"So that's how it was?" Hearing the name Squirrel Party, Ansu immediately began to think.
The demihuman resistance organization—the Squirrel Party—had always been dedicated to overthrowing human nations and frequently carried out terrorist attacks within the Empire. Although they weren't as famous as the Echoes of Truth, their methods were also very extreme.
Besides knowing about this hidden power, Ansu also knew that the Squirrel Party was actually funded by the remnants of the demon army. Their actions could basically be seen as the will of another major villain, the Shadow King - Barcas.
"A tavern in the Black Harbor District was secretly operated by the Squirrel Party. Our people originally intended to go there to discuss cooperation, but because the Imperial authorities conducted a surprise inspection and found a large amount of explosives, both groups were caught red-handed."
Celia said helplessly, "After three of our cult executors were interrogated using some unknown method, the Empire followed the clues and found the cult's headquarters at the seaside winery. Then everything that followed happened..."
Interrogated using an unknown method? Ansu instinctively thought of the vile witch's Soul Dominion, or perhaps some other similar black magic.
Probably only transcendent power in that direction could pry open the mouths of the cult executors. Other transcendent organizations in the Empire should be capable of it.
Otherwise, Ansu found it hard to imagine that the fanatics who were always ready to commit suicide for the Echoes of Truth would ever have a day where they confessed...
"At a time like this, couldn't Samantha be a bit more low-key..." Ansu's face was full of speechlessness. This group of cultists really loved to cause trouble, and when they messed up, that old hag still had to send Celia to clean up the mess...
"So, where was the location?" Ansu asked again. "At which tavern were the two sides meeting?"
"It's already happened. What's the use of asking this now?" Celia looked at Ansu suspiciously.
"Of course it's useful!" Ansu gave a confident smile.
Because it hasn't actually happened yet!
Rate on N.U.
