The huge, savage, pitch-black monster before him matched everything the First Count Wayne knew about "evil fiends."
Yet reason told him it could not be real.
The gods had long since departed.
The Abyss had shattered.
Even the banks of the Sulfur River had dried into low-lying hollows.
Everything pointed to the passing of the age of myth.
"An illusion?"
"A remnant?"
"Or...?"
Chaotic thoughts raced through the First Count Wayne's mind, but they did not slow the renowned old man with his many identities in the slightest.
He moved as swiftly as lightning, slashing a beam of golden radiance from his hand.
It was a golden sword of light identical to the bishop's.
But it was larger and more solid.
White, gray, and green spots of light mingled with the gold, lending the otherwise imposing sword of light a strange appearance, but they did nothing to diminish its power.
Hiss!
One of the Sin Beast's heads was cleanly severed.
"Whether you're real or not, I'll make you..."
Watching the head fall, the First Count Wayne sneered, but his words cut off halfway. The fallen head was withering at a rate visible to the naked eye, while a brand-new head was taking shape on the bare neck it had left behind.
The First Count Wayne's heart lurched.
If he had harbored any doubts before about whether the monster before him was an "evil fiend," there was no longer any need to consider it.
It was an "evil fiend"!
Why were there still "evil fiends" in this age?
Why had it appeared in the guise of a divine child?
These questions sent the First Count Wayne retreating swiftly.
As a former pope of the Radiance Church, he knew perfectly well how to deal with the monster before him. But in his