Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff!
Several bands of light went out and shattered in sequence. Along with the confessionals, the supplicants who had entered the Temple of the Gods vanished as well.
Soon, only a few light bands remained on the field, still pulsing and flickering.
At that moment, within the pillar of light standing at the center, moonlight flowed like water and ocean tides surged. The figure bathed in pure silver radiance stood upon the soft beach and gently extended a hand.
"Then, Alicephil von Einzbern, answer me. What do you desire?"
Clad in the Clothes of Heaven, the Saintess of Winter, holy as snow, heard the heavenly voice echoing beside her ears. Her hand instinctively pressed against her chest, touching a cool, hard, round object within her clothes. Her fingers curled tightly around it as she removed the pendant from her chest, slowly opening her outstretched right hand.
A red-and-black scale flickered faintly beneath the moonlight.
The saintess beneath the moon tilted her head and smiled, gazing at the figure dividing light from darkness from afar. Her lips moved.
"I want..."
The wind howled and the waves surged, swallowing her voice until it became increasingly faint.
The winged figure of light opposite her seemed to hear something. It swayed violently before twisting apart, shattering into specks of stardust that drifted away.
At the same time, the ancient serpent's true body beneath the Hole of Heaven slowly opened its eyes. A flash of astonishment crossed its face, then its body, together with the pillar of light surrounding Alicephil, cracked apart into motes of light and was drawn into the closing aperture of light above.
Several minutes later, silence returned to the desolate battlefield. Those who had leisurely awakened from the shattered light bands instinctively focused their eyes on the Lord