The Tirna soldiers' faces turned pale. Even they, who had received training and could respond to various situations, couldn't help but lose their composure. That's how much the area around Trinity Building was truly a hellscape.
The surrounding buildings were half-collapsed, and the paved roads were either torn up or melted down. Metal rain was falling from the sky, and bright yellow beams were cutting through the air from that building.
What burned between them were chunks of flesh emitting disgusting stench and the unrecovered corpses of those who had once been comrades.
However, they could neither pray for their fallen comrades' souls nor feel relief at having survived. It was because of the scene that came into their view.
Ooooooo.
The red angels that had grown like barnacles on the building's exterior walls had stopped their attacks and were all clasping their hands together in unison, offering prayers.
The creatures that had been shooting rays that could melt steel suddenly became docile, naturally causing tension. They wondered what those things were suddenly up to.
The same went for Eric and Daver, who were engaged in aerial combat.
"What are those monsters trying to do now?"
They had stopped shooting the spine-chilling solar rays and were offering prayers. Daver hurled a steel beam that pierced through a red angel. The creature didn't break its praying posture. There wasn't even a counterattack.That attitude of completely disregarding their retaliation made them feel not just puzzled but even a strange fear.
"Daver. I don't have a good feeling about this."
Eric said. Circling around Trinity Building, he sensed with his extraordinary intuition that something was about to happen.
But he couldn't act on his instincts. There were still brothers and sisters remaining inside that building. He couldn't retreat until he rescued his family.
"Fucking hell..."
At that moment, Daver, who had been watching Trinity Building, unconsciously let out a profanity. The same went for Eric. Though he didn't voice it, he had the same reaction internally.
The Trinity Building had changed. Currently, only the lower floors of the building were covered in flesh, revealing the inner tissue.
But now, the building has opened its eyes.
Yes, eyes. At the top floor, which could be called the building's peak, a bright yellow, enormous pupil had suddenly opened.
The sight of a gigantic eyeball over 10 meters in diameter scanning the surroundings was nothing short of bizarre. It would have been better if only the eyes had opened.
-Creak, creak.
Red tentacles reminiscent of optic nerves began protruding from various parts of the building and writhing. Some extended toward the surrounding buildings, while other tentacles writhed like heat waves.
"Damn it. This is disgustingly nauseating."
Daver said. He looked at one of the writhing tentacles. He could see it whether he wanted to or not, and he realized how it was composed.
It wasn't a simple tentacle. It had countless suckers, breathing holes, teeth, and eyeballs attached to it. Some had countless legs like those of a centipede, with blades protruding from the ends of the legs.
The moment he made eye contact with it, he felt his mind being penetrated and his head throbbed. Daver and Eric were still in relatively good condition. But the Tirna district government forces around the building were not so fortunate.
"Wh-what is that!"
"Monster! It's a monster!"
They were overwhelmed the moment they witnessed the enormous presence. Some whose mental strength had been worn down by fierce combat couldn't endure it and collapsed on the spot.
The gigantic pupil looked down below. The agents who were caught in the pupil's gaze trembled and respectfully knelt down.
"Crazy! Hey! What are you doing! Snap out of it!"
"...have to do it."
"What? What are you talking about right now...!"
"Prayer...have to pray."
Some soldiers endured it, but those whose minds had been devastated could not. They either made eye contact with the pupil or knelt down as soon as that gaze touched them. Their trembling hands came together as if in prayer.
And so they, like the red angels clinging like barnacles, offered prayers.
-Kiiiiii!
An eerie sound like a ghost's wail echoed through the air. Despite the heat still lingering from the aftermath of battle, it became as cold as if ice water had been poured down their spines.
"Gik. Gigik. Gigigik!"
A strange phenomenon occurred with the people who were praying. They shook their bodies frantically as if hit by wind. Even when nearby comrades shook their shoulders asking if they were okay, there was no response.
"Hey! I said snap out of it!"
A comrade who couldn't stand it anymore roughly shook that shoulder. He unconsciously swallowed his breath.
The comrade who had been praying began shedding tears of blood from his eyes. That wasn't all. Blood vessels bulged red and blue on his skin, and his pupils became so swollen they seemed ready to burst.
"Wh-what!"
Before he could even be shocked, the mask covering the praying soldier's mouth fell off with a thud. The bare mouth thus revealed opened to a size that shouldn't be possible given human oral structure.
The mouth, which had opened grotesquely wide, tore. Across the cheeks to below the ears. Yet the opening mouth never stopped widening.
"Kieeeeeek!"
Writhing chunks of flesh squirmed inside. A thick blood scent wafted along with the stench. It was a smell that penetrated through gas masks.
The smell reaching through the nose was so dense it seemed to melt the brain. Red mist spread around. Those who had been praying began to mutate.
"It's erosion!"
The commander shouted. They went into swift response mode. They immediately separated the infected and quickly burned them with flamethrowers.
But it wasn't easy. Due to erosion occurring everywhere, they couldn't form proper formations. Even people who had been fine would transform into corrupted beings once the building's pupil gazed at them intently.
"Everyone, don't look at the eyes!"
"Hide your bodies! It's dangerous just to be caught in its gaze!"
The surroundings became truly pandemonium. Sestain bit his lips. Just when he thought things were getting somewhat better, now the building itself had transformed into a gigantic monster.
'If dawn breaks like this.'
Then the district defense forces would use drastic measures. The baptism of fire would erase District 17 from this city forever.
'District 17 will be erased. Before that, I need to pull the troops back.'
But there was no guarantee that the monster would stay still in the meantime. Someone had to keep suppressing it to prevent it from rampaging.
Now the original operation of annihilating the heretics had changed to enduring so the situation wouldn't grow worse.
'Damn it. Should I be grateful that at least that eyeball isn't shooting those lasers?'
Sestain, who had been thinking this, couldn't help but flinch. As if his anxious imagination might become reality, it really seemed like such a thing would happen.
Sestain looked up at Trinity Building with an anxious gaze.
Just staring at that building transformed into a gigantic monster would greatly damage one's mental strength. But Sestain was Tirna's executor. His trained body and mind were now being protected by Ark Parts.
'Something's strange.'
Sestain's pupils narrowed thinly. It was because that monster, which should have been rampaging madly, was quieter than expected.
Like the calm before a storm, Sestain instinctively knew this was a prelude to something about to happen.
-Flash!
The gigantic pupil attached to the building contracted greatly. Soon, light burst forth, cutting through the center of that iris. Sestain was aghast, wondering if it was really going to shoot light. But he quickly realized it wasn't what he had been worried about.
'This light is?'
The pure white flash that burst through the eyeball shot high into the sky, then fell straight down.
-Swoosh!
From the building's ceiling to the floor. Everything caught in the trajectory of the pure white light was cut away.
"Ugh!"
As the light grazed right beside him, Sestain was startled despite himself. What was caught in the light was cut away, revealing sharp cut surfaces. The same happened to the car he was standing on. It was cut so cleanly that it seemed like it had been manufactured as two pieces from the beginning.
There were no screams from the building split in half. Just with the blinding flash, the red flesh melted away at high speed.
The split body of Red Eternity's incarnation collapsed with a thud. He reached out pitifully toward Basilio. His body decomposed as he crumbled into black ash starting from his fingertips.
"What are you looking at?"
Basilio sneered at Red Eternity. It was regrettable that he couldn't smile directly because of the mask, but if it was a transcendent being, it would have realized what he had done.
-I retreat, but I will never give up. As long as my traces remain in this world, I will not disappear.
"Oh yeah, yeah. I'm tired of the obvious words now. Just disappear already."
Red Eternity bulged his remaining eye, but that was all the emotional expression he could manage. His entire body turned to ash and scattered. Basilio watched the scattering ash powder.
At the same time, he saw the pure white light crossing the world.
"Well, I'll be."
The moment he saw that light, laughter flowed out despite himself.
"I'm really benefiting from having a good junior."
That light was so beautiful that it hotly ignited the fire in his heart that he had now forgotten.
Martinez and Malina were seeing the same scene.
"Beautiful."
Malina murmured while Martinez just watched that light silently. Look at that light in the sky, burning brilliantly alone while erasing the red from the world. How sacred and beautiful it was.
He, who believed in and followed the Father in heaven, was momentarily mesmerized.
'Brother Ossian has advanced that far ahead.'
He had thought he had caught up a little by walking hard and watching that back, but Osian was still infinitely far away. But as long as he could see that figure, this side would never stop. Martinez made a firm resolution internally.
"Good heavens. This is absurd."
Krollakia, who had recovered from her injuries, couldn't close her mouth at the scene unfolding before her eyes. The same went for the other brotherhood members.
"Hehe. Really now. A man who exceeds expectations."
Only Grace Seeker smiled faintly. She was one of the few people present who had seen through Osian's power and potential.
Then the witch Maia, who had similarly tended to her wounds, and Plimene, who was supporting her, approached.
"The situation is over. Tirna civil servant."
"I can see that too. I never thought it would really turn out like this."
Plimene watched the scattering particles of light shot up into the sky. The light rising like that would mix with the night sky and become stars that brightly illuminate the world.
"So, what do you plan to do now?"
The common enemy, Red Eternity, had disappeared. He wasn't dead, but since he couldn't interfere with this world, it was similar enough. And the Eternal Church that followed him was essentially shattered. Cardinal Zaxilos was dead, and all the archbishops were dead too. There were no bishops either, so all that remained would be insignificant ordinary believers.
Of course, they would have to thoroughly hunt them down without missing any.
What Grace was asking about was something different.
"You all are..."
Plimene gazed at Grace with a strange look. Though they had joined forces, now that Red Eternity had disappeared, they had become opposing sides again.
Plimene had a mission to arrest them. That was what she had to do.
"Hmm. This is troublesome. We've just recovered from our injuries. At this rate, if the municipal government forces come rushing in, we'll be caught without being able to do anything."
When Grace joked like this, Krollakia asked in surprise.
"No, big sister. Why are you saying such things there...!"
"So, what do you think?"
Grace stared directly at Plimene and asked but Plimene didn't answer. Instead, it was Maia, perched on Plimene's shoulder, who spoke.
"My colleagues are coming. Witches from the Tea Party. Two of them."
Despite the questioning looks about why she was suddenly bringing this up, Maia didn't react. She simply said what she had to say.
"Both are strong. If it's you all injured, it probably won't be easy to face them. So leave quickly. Right now is the only chance you can escape."
The brotherhood members' eyes widened at those words. Plimene was equally surprised.
"Maia."
"...Plimene. Don't misunderstand. This is acting according to calculations. We're also injured and it will take time for reinforcements to arrive. If those people rampage during that time, who can stop them? We've already suffered great damage. The city has too. I just thought we couldn't increase that damage further."
Grace smiled broadly.
"Thank you for saying that. Fairy young lady."
"I'm not a fairy, I'm a witch. The fairy you're talking about would probably be more suitable for my colleague who's coming now. And I don't want to talk with you anymore, so leave quickly. There's less than a minute left before my colleague arrives."
"I see. Did you all hear that? Get ready."
Grace readily agreed. At her words, everyone stood up.
"I hope to meet again next time."
"I'd rather not see you though."
Grace's group left like that and the remaining slithering sisters were the same.
"You all are... Sigh."
Maia and Plimene looked at the starfish floating in the air, unable to figure out what to say.