Return from the Other Shore: Quiet Awakening

Sadington City --

Today, the atmosphere here is exceptionally somber.

The sun was obscured by dark clouds, the chirping of birds and insects was inaudible, and even the air seemed to have stopped moving.

The fighting spirit emanating from this massive army was so powerful and terrifying.

Looking around, the mountains and fields were covered with dark red military uniforms, as red as blood, and faces filled with determination.

Xiao Wu, Haoyue, Yun Can, Little Ying, and the group leaders stood at the very front of the line.

Apart from Wu Yue and the other two, everyone else was wearing dark red commander uniforms.

This is a miracle.

The fact that such a large army could be assembled in such a short time after the death of the supreme leader shows that Xiao Wu and Haoyue must have put in a lot of effort.

Thankfully, it was all worth it.

"All fronts have completed their assembly!"

Little Ying reported this to the others.

"Thank you, Little Ying... Are you alright now?" Xiao Wu nodded, her tone tinged with barely perceptible concern.

"It's probably alright now... People can't be brought back to life, and if I keep crying, I'll only bring shame to my sister... So, I think I should at least be of some use!"

The purple-haired girl straightened her back, and the naivety on her beautiful face had been replaced by determination.

"Truly resilient," Xiao Wu couldn't help but admire inwardly.

To be honest, she didn't think much of Si Nan Ying at first, her impression of her was just "a capable but disobedient little girl," but now her opinion has changed. Indeed, without experiencing profound grief, some of a person's inner qualities cannot be brought to the fore.

The army has assembled.

The division and regimental commanders are in place.

Military supplies and equipment are confirmed to be in good condition.

"It's time—Operation Nid to retake the city!"

We can't delay any longer.

This unprecedentedly dangerous surprise attack must begin now.

The Vatican has already launched a campaign to suppress the remnants of the Revolutionary Army, and the Revolutionary Army in other places is on the verge of collapse due to news of the leader's misfortune. Moreover, the Vatican has probably already used all sorts of shady methods to extract most of the intelligence from Nid's mind. The longer it drags on, the more disadvantageous it will be for the Revolutionary Army.

If they simply remain stationed and try to recover their strength, they will be annihilated sooner or later.

By betting everything on this one battle, there is still a glimmer of hope.

The goal is to reclaim Nid, not to conquer Gloria; they don't believe they have the strength for that right now. The most important thing is to use the majority of their forces to tie down the Papacy's army and create chaos, while a special forces team led by Xiao Wu and Kogetsu infiltrates the enemy camp to rescue Nid.

Rescuing Ned first requires more than just his leadership skills; the most important thing is to stabilize morale. No matter how outstanding Haoyue and Saki are, their prestige cannot compare to that of Ned, who has held this position for a long time. The revolutionary army in other parts of the Western Sacred Continent has already been thrown into chaos by Ned Luoxue's death and is in danger of complete collapse at any time. Only by rescuing Ned can the situation be stabilized.

Every soldier here made a decision.

The same goes for the regimental commanders.

The commander of the Second Division, who was in charge of the overall operation, took a deep breath.

He didn't have Nid's inspiring oratory skills, so he only had one sentence to say.

"Attention all troops, proceed!"

"Report!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The shout was amplified by a special device, which interrupted the conversation.

Everyone looked up at the sky, where a large, bird-like monster was rapidly approaching. It was a flying monster bred by the Holy See and modified with divine magic; it was extremely fast and had been captured by the Revolutionary Army and assigned to the elite messengers.

"Commander of the Second Division! Something unusual has happened in the Holy City!!!"

The monster landed with a thud, and the messenger, covered in dust from the commotion, hurriedly jumped down and ran towards the leaders gathered there, his expression as if he had seen a ghost.

"What happened?"

"It's Lord Nid!!!"

The messenger, finally catching his breath, shouted:

"Lord Nid has been rescued by unidentified individuals and has fled the Holy City. The Holy See is in complete chaos!!!"

""""""--ha!?""""""

The group looked at each other in bewilderment.

Even the soldiers standing at the front were bewildered.

Haoyue was the first to react.

"What are you idiots standing there for! Get out of here and rescue your commander!!!"

Let's go back two days --

Deep within the central part of the Cathedral of the True God, a slender, black-haired girl—the Spirit Priest—is walking alone.

The layout here is extremely complex, with all sorts of branches arranged in a dazzling manner. It's less like part of a church and more like a finely decorated maze.

It's so complicated that it's completely unnecessary, which makes it somewhat suspicious.

"Take the third fork in the road to the left, then turn left..."

As the spirit carefully observed the layout of these intersecting corridors, he jotted something down in a small notebook while muttering to himself.

"We're very close... we should be nearing the barrier soon..."

My heart was pounding so fast, the once quiet space seemed to have become no longer quiet.

The spirit swallowed hard. She was almost certain that what she was looking for was hidden in these corridors, concealed by numerous well-placed barriers. The layout of these corridors cleverly followed people's psychological blind spots. If it weren't for "that thing" that she had finally found, the spirit herself would have been lost long ago.

Fortunately, there's another thing—divinely created barriers only show their power when facing the Church's enemies; their effectiveness is greatly reduced when encountering beings of extremely high divine rank. Within the entire Church's system, the three Goddess hold the highest divine rank, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they are the symbols of the Divine Law Cult. Therefore, the barrier has almost no obstruction effect on the sacrificial spirits.

Should we delve a little deeper this time?

Just as the sacrificial spirit hesitated—

"Lord Priest!? What are you doing here?"

The moment she heard the shout from behind, the spirit quickly tucked the memo into the inside of her Goddess robe, straightened her back, and pretended to be taking a normal stroll, desperately trying to calm her wildly beating heart.

Thump, thump, thump, multiple footsteps rounded a corner and quickly approached from behind. The priest prayed that his face wouldn't look too pale as he turned to face the suddenly appearing patrolmen. These patrolmen were equipped with very ordinary gear, almost like the soldiers standing guard outside the city gate, but the priest could sense how terrifying the Holy Power flowing through their equipment was.

This group of people are all the elite of the elite.

"Lord Priest, what exactly is going on here? Why are they here without any guardians...?"

The middle-aged man at the head of the group asked with concern, while the spirit priest had already prepared an excuse.

"Huh? Sorry! I suddenly had the idea to go into the church to clear my head, and before I knew it, I was here. When I came to my senses, my knights who were guarding me were all gone..."

"Lost... Is it the effect of the barrier?" the middle-aged man wondered.

As the person in charge of guarding this area, the man was far more vigilant than the other guards. Although he didn't know what secrets were hidden here, the Pope and the Cardinal Archbishop had already given them strict orders not to let their guard down.

Even so, the man lowered his guard when facing this Goddess.

He was, after all, a devout follower of the Divine Law Cult, and his only reaction to the Goddess was worship; how could he dare harbor even the slightest suspicion? Besides, as the symbol of the Divine Law Cult, how could the Goddess possibly intend to do anything harmful to the Holy See?

"Lord Priest, from here forward... because the buildings were constructed so early and there's no original floor plan, it's easy to get lost. Let me guide you out."

"Okay, thank you for your trouble."

"I am deeply honored!" The man was overjoyed; such an honor as personally escorting the Goddess was not something that happened every day.

The spirit looked towards the corridor behind it, its eyes slightly narrowed.

Next time, I must get to the bottom of this and find out the truth about the so-called God.

"So, Director, you haven't successfully extracted information about the Rebel Army Leader yet?"

"No, it's unbelievable. We've tried everything—physical torture, hypnosis, force-feeding, mental oppression... we've used every method imaginable, but still no results."

Deep beneath the Cathedral of the True God, in the room sealed with the Sin Annihilation, two members of the Inquisition were conversing quietly.

Not far from them was the large cross bound by chains, and the gray-haired girl with strange marks on her face and legs— Sin Annihilation —was sealed on it. Thick iron nails pierced her hands and feet, chains bound her body, her eyes were closed, her face was bloodless, and she wasn't breathing, like a corpse.

Although the seal on the Sin Annihilation is the most secure and has never malfunctioned in thousands of years, the Inquisition still stipulates that two specific individuals must regularly inspect the facility every day, just in case.

Unnecessary conversations during work are of course not allowed, but since the seal has never had any problems, coming here for inspections is almost a routine formality. Over time, even members of the tribunal inevitably become lax.

"What should we do then? In the end, should we still have to use divine magic to forcibly search his brain?"

"I'm afraid so, but if we want to extract everything from his brain completely, it's safest to have Lord Tianlu handle it. So, when Lord Tianlu returns from suppressing the remnants of the northern Rebel Army in a few days, that kid's life will be over."

"Ha, it's getting late. Now that the routine inspection is over, let's hurry up and get going. We have a mountain of other things to do."

"That's true, we don't have time to waste on this monster."

The two took one last look at Sin Annihilation before leaving the room.

The heavy door closed, plunging the room into complete darkness. A series of clicking sounds came from the door—the clatter of dozens of locks closing.

In the darkness, the eyelids of the Sin Annihilation, who should have been lost in a dreamless slumber, suddenly twitched.

The finest nerve endings extend from the skin, exposed to the air, directly receiving information transmitted from this dark space.

"..." Confirmed no one is present.

Sin Annihilation finally opened his eyes.

Each generation of Sin Annihilation is stronger than the previous one. Decades ago, Sin Annihilation already possessed the power to break free from the seal, but it had never revealed it, and even the Holy See was unaware of it. Moreover, although it already had the power to break free from the seal, Sin Annihilation at that time had no intention of leaving the Holy See. After all, for a monster raised in the shadows by the Holy See, any world is the same.

Monsters have no self, and therefore no desires.

But this generation of Sin Annihilation is a little different.

An encounter with someone and certain experiences led her to develop a slight sense of self.

These minor differences made her want to leave.