The Kind of Evil

‎Archbishop Pavius tried his best to assist Thalior, Xena, and the knights while at the same time keeping Novia safe. He could bless them with divine power, giving them the strength and power to fight against the Corrupted.

‎Xena and Thalior, both Swordmasters, used everything they had to get rid of the Corrupted. They stood their ground and fought the endless enemy that kept coming.

‎The battle was almost one-sided. It wasn't that they couldn't kill the Corrupted, it was because they kept coming back to life. Not only that, most of the knights had fallen and became their enemy as well because they were turned into Corrupted.

‎Xena and Thalior used everything they got and cut dozens of Corrupted into pieces in a single combo attack. They were the only ones who could prevent the Corrupted from resurrecting, and it didn't change the situation in the slightest.

‎Minutes passed, and the sound of weapons clashing became less and less. The number of knights had gone down significantly, and they were killing their brothers and sisters in arms. There was no fear in their eyes, only acceptance and commitment to fight until the very last breath.

‎"Your Grace..." Xena leaned her back against Thalior's back. She could no longer lift her sword, her eyes were barely open. "Something is off. None of them are attacking us..." She muttered as she looked at her surroundings, where the Corrupted stood still, glaring at them.

‎Thalior slowly lowered his sword and leaned his back against Xena. He noticed it as well, and then he looked at Archbishop Pavius, who was guarding Theresa's dead body, and Novia, who was unconscious.

‎"It's just like that time..." Thalior gritted his teeth in frustration. "When we went beyond the Blackcliffs to hunt down the Third Saint, the False Prophet, they spared our lives as well..." he explained to Xena, who didn't know about that story.

‎"What's going to happen to us, Your Grace? If they were going to turn us into mindless corpses, I would rather kill myself before they could do it..." Xena asked as she looked at a dozen of the Servil knights that were still alive.

‎"Life and death... they can control both, Lady Xena. It doesn't change anything if you die by their hands or your own hands..." Thalior glanced at the handful of South Neva Union knights that were still alive. "Let's group up and protect Lady Novia and His Excellency," he pushed himself up and walked toward Archbishop Pavius.

‎Xena could see it the way Thalior walked from behind, it was the walk of a man who had accepted his fate. She looked around her for one last time, and the Corrupted didn't even move a muscle. She then followed Thalior, dragging her sword because she had used all her strength.

‎All the knights looked at Thalior and Xena, and they all nodded their heads without saying a word. It was both because there was no need for words and because they didn't have enough strength to speak. They were grateful for being able to fight until the end under two great Swordmasters and leaders whom they looked up to.

"Let me heal you, Your Grace, Lady Xena," Pavius looked at both of them with a worried expression.

"Save your strength, Your Excellency," Thalior smiled weakly as he stared at Archbishop Pavius' trembling hands because he was also on the brink of collapsing. "We are fine," he assured as he gently grabbed Pavius' upper arm.

Archbishop Pavius lowered his head with understanding, and then went down to treat Novia, who was exhausted and in a Mana depletion state. Suddenly, the cold winter felt colder and fear-inducing when the cold wind blew their napes.

Everyone lifted their heads and saw the Prime Lord descend slowly as he stared down at them with his glowing red eyes. The hood that covered his head prevented anyone from seeing beyond the abyss, only the glowing eyes that they could see which terrified them.

The Prime Lord landed on the snow with his pale bare feet, staring down at Theresa's dead body in the pose of a devoted child of God, praying on her knee and hands clasped on her forehead. However, his gaze made Thalior and Xena raise their swords and block his vision from seeing Theresa. The knights stood behind them and pointed their weapons at the Prime Lord, fearlessly.

The Prime Lord raised his left hand and flicked it to the left. Everyone in front of him was pushed to the left by an unknown force. They all hit the Corrupted, and yet the Corrupted didn't attack them, only stared down at them.

Archbishop Pavius was the only one who didn't get pushed by the unknown force, standing tall in front of Theresa's dead body. He still had a bit of power within him, and he channeled his divine power into his hands. He released a divine ray toward the Prime Lord. It was enough to make the Corrupted hiss and make their skin burn because of the divine light. However, to everyone's surprise, the Prime Lord stood there, in front of Pavius, and was staring down at him, unaffected by the divine light.

"What are you..." Pavius asked, cowering in fear as he lost his strength.

The Prime Lord reached Pavius's neck and choked him with his left hand, lifting him up and suffocating him slowly. Thalior and the others were powerless, unable to move a muscle because of the unknown force.

Suddenly, Pavius's body got caught in flame, a black flame that melted his skin. He tried to scream, but nothing came out as his throat was being crushed by the Prime Lord. He tried to resist, but he was being burned alive and suffocated to death. Before he lost consciousness and accepted his death, the Prime Lord grabbed his face and crushed it like a watermelon being crushed.

"God will not embrace your soul as your soul is mine now..." The Prime Lord muttered softly as he dropped the body and let it melt.

Everyone watched Pavius's unrecognizable body turn into a lump of flesh and keep burning until it turned into ashes. The words that Prime Lord said haunted them because they realized that death wouldn't be the end of them, it would be the eternal torment that even God might not be able to save them.

"Don't... touch her..." Thalior uttered his emotion as he glared at the Prime Lord.

The Prime Lord ignored Thalior's words and reached out to Theresa's hands, lowering them gently and lifting her chin so he could see her face. He noticed the peacefulness in her expression, mixed with sadness.

"Unlike him, her soul is already up there... in a place where God has embraced her sacrifice and rewarded her with a place that only a few souls could enter. This is nothing but an empty shell..." The Prime Lord said as he kept staring at Theresa's face.

"What are you going to do to her body?" Thalior asked weakly.

"My master has been looking for a suitable replacement... they will be happy to have her body..." The Prime Lord answered calmly. "However, for you and the rest... salvation is out of reach as your God has abandoned you..." he slowly turned his head to stare at Thalior and the remaining survivors.

At that moment, Thalior recalled the helplessness when he was beyond the Blackcliffs. He was terrified, a lump stuck in his throat, unable to utter his fear. However, he never had a thought of asking forgiveness or mercy from a demon like the Prime Lord. He glanced at his surroundings, thousands of Corrupted were standing there, and he thought that he would be one of them soon.

The Prime Lord slowly approached them as a few Corrupted carried Theresa's dead body. At that moment, they realized that their time had finally come, to die and to suffer for eternity. When he lifted his left hand, everyone closed their eyes, except for Xena who kept her eyes open and ready to see what kind of pain that the Prime Lord was about to do to them.

The peaceful sky suddenly turned dark, the sky began to rumble as if the sky was furious. The Prime Lord slowly lifted his head, stared at the cloudy dark sky and flashes of lightning in the distance. He didn't know what was going on until there was one specific flash of lightning that moved from the distance and toward the sky above him. The lightning then struck him directly from above, deafening everyone's ears.

The Prime Lord was unaffected by the lightning, however, he felt the tingling feeling all over his body. He then saw a person float in the sky, wearing a robe that covered hid the face. He noticed the Mana around that person, way more than what he saw from Novia.

Without thinking for a second, the Prime Lord created a barrier made of demonic energy, forming into a massive dome that protected him and all the Corrupted. He knew that no spells made of Mana could break the barrier, but to his surprise, the barrier shattered into pieces. He turned around where he saw the source of the attack from, but before he could react, a person landed in front of him and released a powerful Aura that was enough to push him away and cut dozens of Corrupted in half.

The moment the barrier disappeared, the person in the sky released a massive bolt of lightning that moved around like a tornado rather than disappearing once it struck the ground. The bolt of lightning disintegrated hundreds of Corrupted in a matter of seconds, and then the bolt of lightning shattered and spread out, immobilizing hundreds more.

Thalior and the others were shocked by those two mysterious people. When the person landed next to the mysterious person who had just sent the Prime Lord flying, they both pulled down the hoods, revealing themselves.

"Great Sage Lenin?! And Commander Uriel?!" A knight was deeply shocked.

"Rest, and let us handle these abomination," Uriel said as she released Aura and controlled dozens of swords with it.

"Protect my disciple for me," Lenin said as she looked down at Novia who was still unconscious, and then created a powerful Mana barrier that pushed all the Corrupted away.