Fanaticism

Dark brown snowflakes drifted slowly down from the sky, crimson flames began burning from within the houses, and everything started from that moment...

"Big Sister Fanafuna..." Leichina dragged his weakening body out of his room. Thick smoke obscured his world; his nasal passages burned, his lungs felt ready to burst, and violent coughing wracked his body.

"Big Sister Fanafuna... why... why did you do this..." Smoke and fire stole Leichina's sight, while pain, scorching heat, and numbness slowly devoured what remained of the boy's senses.

"Big Sister Fanafuna..." In the final moment before his death, Leichina saw Fanafuna vanish beyond the sea of flames.

"Ah—"

The yellow-green sludge began to blacken. The undead crawling out of the mud gradually stopped moving as flames began burning from within the swamp, and endless sinister power started spreading throughout the city.

"More or less..." Eliyi smiled faintly as he watched the distant scene.

The barrier set up by the witches had expired. Countless Lower District residents began flooding madly into the Upper District, while the tide of undead started to recede.

"Th-these monsters... are they... leaving?" Mr. Latopia asked tremblingly from within the black cage of light.

"L-looks like it..." The people around him all agreed.

"May the High God bless us—" Cardinal Labrador cried from the high platform. "Our devotion must have moved the High God—may the High God bless Canfor—"

"More or less..." Grand Duke Viel Nas, the Forest Elf, found it rather boring. He adjusted the beret on his head and said, "It is about time for me to leave. Staying here any longer would only make me a burial offering for this city..."

"Get lost... bastard..." Yetara merely cast Viel Nas a contemptuous glance before continuing to savor his wine.

"Farewell~ I hope we meet again someday~" Viel Nas slowly vanished within his magic circle.

"The time has come, everyone~" Grand Duke Viel Nas's butler strode openly into Tiadam's room. "If you wait any longer, you will miss the ride out of here."

"A ride... out of here?" Tiadam asked involuntarily. "You... are leaving this place?"

"That is correct—" The butler bowed to Tiadam. "Since my master is leaving this city, we must accompany and serve him, so we will be following him out."

"If you are leaving, then why did you trap me here?" Tiadam's voice carried some anger. "If you are leaving, just leave. No one can stop your mage master anyway, can they?"

"Mr. Robber, allow me to correct several of your mistakes." The butler's smile looked like a mask. "First, our master is not a mage, but a Forest Elf grand duke. You were mistaken on that point."

"That noble girl from yesterday?" Tiadam said.

"Second, keeping you here was not my master's intention... it was my own suggestion..." the butler said slowly. "It was not out of any ill will toward a robber hero such as yourself. It was merely to make my master's later retreat more convenient."

"What do you mean by that?" Freed by the maids, Tiadam stretched a little. His stiff joints crackled.

"Isn't that obvious?" The butler's smile became even more rigid. His narrowed smiling eyes and upturned lips resembled a Noh mask carved dead into place. "If a hero like you had entered the fray too early and then been defeated, the Upper District residents would have immediately rioted. In such chaos, my master's departure would have become rather troublesome..."

"Oh~" Tiadam sneered. "You have worked hard for your master's safety, as befits a lapdog."

"Thank you for the compliment. But as a hero, you should be able to gain some benefits from this as well, shouldn't you~" The butler and the maids vanished down the end of the hotel corridor.

"I can benefit too?" Tiadam muttered to himself.

"Tap—"

"Tap—"

Two pebbles fell through the window into Tiadam's room. He then stuck his head out, only to see hundreds of people gathered below the inn with torches and weapons. They held pebbles, eggs, and rotten vegetables in their hands.

"Damn robber—you bastard, what kind of savior are you—" An egg flew up from below at Tiadam without warning.

"Damn robber—when those monsters broke into Canfor, why were you hiding here? Do you know how many people died? You do not deserve the title of hero!" As they spoke, another rotten egg was thrown from below.

"Damn robber—"

"Damn bastard—" Incited by others, the rest of the crowd began hurling the stones in their hands at Tiadam as well.

"From the fourth floor, no less. You people really managed to throw eggs all the way up here..." Tiadam brushed through his short red hair. The stench of egg liquid smelled like a sewer. "If these people dare come and throw rotten eggs at me now, then the monsters in Canfor should have already been dealt with. In that case, it is not too bad... At most, people will curse me for a while longer..."

"May the High God protect us. We shall serve You forever... Angels sing the immortal hymn, wielding swords that banish evil... Endless glory belongs to the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords..."

At this moment, Cardinal Labrador was praying in his private confessional within Salat Church. The scripture recited by the benevolent old man came from Chapter Twenty, Verse One of the High God's Canon. It was the passage where Mi'erqila, the six-winged angel who played the song of the High God, was wounded by demons and hurriedly led the angels back to the divine kingdom.

"May the High God soothe our bodies and souls—" After Cardinal Labrador finished reciting the entire chapter, a golden, warm, benevolent light enveloped the nearly ninety-year-old man. This miracle, known as Saint's Protection, was a teleportation array exclusive to the Church.

"——" Outside Salat Church, countless believers and priests loudly praised the divine power of the new angel. Not a single one noticed Cardinal Labrador's quiet departure along with a million gold coins.

"It was *** who drove back the many monsters invading Canfor—it was *** who saved our city from countless monsters—it was *** who protected our lives from the claws of the undead—"

"It must have been—it must have been—the miracle of ***—"

"May *** be forever blessed—***—immortal—"

Amid the cries of countless believers in Canfor's Upper District, Mr. Latopia stepped into a place that had never belonged to him. The miracle that happened to *** was just like the miracles the High God had bestowed upon other priests.

A vast sea of people surged toward this new spiritual leader. Denolan, lost amid the crowd, sat alone in a corner of the street. Watching the people rush toward him, Denolan felt repulsed. That feeling seemed like doubt, yet also like fear.

"Should I follow that... *** with them?" Denolan muttered. "I was never a believer to begin with... I simply wanted to do something... I do not want to die while monsters tear me apart, nor do I want to burn myself to death alongside the people in my village... I want... I want to live... I want to change... I want to control my own destiny—I want to become king—"

"Then change it—" An old woman beside Denolan said. "Since you want to change... then take your first step..."

"The first step..." Denolan seemed to remember something. The Twin Lantern at his waist began to emit a faint glow, its twin snakes entwining like a spiral of destiny.

"This lamp may be a piece of junk... but it can still be useful now and then..." The old woman's face appeared in the firelight held by the residents.

"Granny Rosa..."

"Kid, make up your mind already. If you do not hurry, that little bastard's second wave of attacks will be here—" Rosa Kevin said.

"Second wave of attacks?"

"Boom—" Before Denolan could finish speaking, a massive dead creature rose from the muddy swamp in the south of the city. This undead monster was formed from the corpses of those who had died under the Rosakavin Curse over the past ten years.

"Death—death—" Sinister energy drifted from the dead creature's body, while decayed power swirled around the giant zombie.

"Tap—tap—" Buildings were trampled into powder one after another. The aura of decay gradually corroded the residents standing at Canfor's outermost edge into undead.

"Help... help..." Hundreds of people began wailing. Festering lumps grew from their hands, and yellow-green fluid flowed from filthy blisters.

"High God—***—please—save us—" As devout believers, even at the moment of death, they should seek the protection of their god...

"Wh-what exactly... is that... monster..."

The crowd that had been standing below the inn demanding payment from Tiadam all dropped to their knees the instant they saw the gigantic dead creature.

"Tiadam—you are the incarnation of the High God—you are the Holy Son—you are the Holy Father—you are the King of Kings—" The sudden change in attitude below caught Tiadam's attention, and he rose from his bed.

"No egg-throwing, no stone-throwing... then it seems... the undead monster problem has not been resolved yet..." Tiadam stuck his head out the window. The short blade in his hand trembled faintly. "What... is that monster..."

That monster's body was far taller than the nearby Barrier mountain peak. Hatred for the living coiled in its eyes, while the suffering it had endured in life had become evil flames burning over its skin and bones.