"If you get the chance, you might see the power of machinery for yourself."
As Nome said this, Joey could clearly see wariness and fear in his eyes.
He seemed to be suppressing his emotions, his voice slightly hoarse.
"It was ten years ago. No... to be precise, it was when I was still a Sequence 7 Waltzer. A clash broke out between the Church of Light and the Mechanical Church."
Joey turned his head to meet Nome's gaze and said:
"The churches of the Seven Gods fight all the time. That's normal. Did... things get out of hand?"
"No..." Nome stopped walking, his expression turning utterly strange. It was terror suppressed to its limit, as though a nightmare buried deep in his memories had resurfaced. His breathing gradually quickened.
If things didn't get out of hand, why that expression?
Joey looked at him doubtfully.
Nome drew a deep breath, reined in his emotions, and steadied himself. He raised his eyes slightly, as if recalling the past.
"That clash never had a chance to escalate. In a single instant, we all lost. We didn't even have a chance to resist. Fifteen men, an entire Knights Templar unit, utterly defeated."
"What happened? Was the enemy that strong?"
Nome shook his head. "There was only one man."
Joey shrank back a little and remarked, "Your squad really had rotten luck, running into a Demigod."
Under the Church of Light's organizational structure, the Captain of a fifteen-man squad had to be at least Sequence 5.
A squad led by a Sequence 5 Captain being defeated in an instant could mean only one thing: the enemy was a Demigod.
Nome fell silent for a while, then slowly turned and continued walking. "One man, and he was only Sequence 7."
Watching Nome's retreating figure, Joey