Chapter 548: No Victor, Only Ashes (4)
"We need to move. The real battle is still raging elsewhere as we speak," Snow said, turning toward a specific direction.
"I can sense an overwhelming aura emanating from over there... most likely, our main forces are locked in a life-or-death struggle against the enemy’s leaders. I was planning to head there as soon as I’d recovered my strength, but now that you’re here, we can go together."
"Wait. If what you’re saying is true, there’s no point in bringing the others," Oliver replied, handing Sansa over to Ghost and his men.
"It’ll be just you and me."
Snow gave a slight nod.
"No objections. I think it’s better that way."
In a battle of that scale, bringing along ordinary soldiers was pointless—they’d be annihilated before they even got close.
Oliver Khan was the bare minimum in terms of strength to participate.
Once they had made their decision, they prepared to move out immediately and join that final battle.
But just as they took their first step forward, they froze.
Every single one of them felt it—an overwhelming, crushing pressure descending upon them.
Their eyes turned skyward, only to be blinded by an immense, divine light that swallowed everything in its path, heralding the beginning of the true Disaster.
...
...
...
— Frey Starlight’s Pov —
The battle had devolved into complete chaos...
Collapsed at the fringes of the destruction’s epicenter, I forced my battered body to knit itself back together, desperate to rejoin the fight as soon as possible.
Before my eyes, the fiercest battle of this entire war was unfolding.
Ser Allon.
Maekar Valerion.
Phoenix Sunlight.
Against Beatrice.
Belith, Demon of Rank 18.
Gavid Lindman.
And Mergo.
Seven SS+ monsters tearing into each other with savage abandon, destroying one another with everything they had.
Thanks to my earlier rampage against the Ultras, I had managed to heavily weaken their side, allowing ours to hold out and fight them on even terms so far.
But now... the battle’s direction had become unpredictable. There was no telling how it would end.
They had all gone mad ..striking wildly, relentlessly, without restraint.
Phoenix clashed with Belith in a contest of raw might—the demon’s overwhelming physique against Phoenix’s flames that had turned the world into an inferno.
Beatrice faced Maekar Valerion, who pursued her relentlessly, raining down thousands of colossal spears and bolts of lightning.
Meanwhile, Ser Allon fought both Gavid Lindman and Mergo alone, providing support to the others whenever he could.
The fight was pure chaos, and both sides had suffered grievous losses.
This could very well be the decisive battle between the Ultras and the Empire. Whoever emerged victorious here would shape the war’s outcome in their favor.
Knowing this, I strained every muscle, forcing my broken body forward. If I could just make it back into the fray... even a small contribution might tip the scales.
The clash had reached a level of madness I had never witnessed before.
Auras collided without pause.
The ground quaked again and again.
Blood poured in rivers—both crimson and foul black.
This was a battle to the death. There was no retreat.
Gripping the rubble for support, I dragged myself forward, step by step.
"We have to win this... no matter what it costs."
If we lost here, how could we ever hope to face those even stronger enemies lurking in the shadows?
"No matter what it takes... we must win!"
I had always trusted only in my own strength...
But for the first time in a long while, I placed my trust elsewhere ..
Maekar.
Phoenix.
Allon.
"Don’t you dare lose..."
The moment I whispered those words, it was as if they had heard me.
The battle erupted in a final, cataclysmic surge.
They all unleashed everything they had left. Until the very end, they tore into each other without mercy.
I couldn’t hear their voices, but their auras told me everything.
"Just a little longer..."
"They can’t hold out much more—just a bit longer and they’ll fall!"
"Fight! Harder! More savage!"
"Tear them apart! Kill them all!"
It was as if their thoughts and emotions were bleeding into me.
The fight had reached its absolute peak... and the result was moments away from being decided.
I couldn’t tear my gaze away. My chest burned with anticipation, desperate to see the outcome.
"Will we win? Will we lose? What’s going to happen...?"
I asked that question... and I wished I hadn’t.
At the peak of the battle—at the very final moment that was about to decide the outcome ..
Whether it was me or the seven SS+ monsters locked in combat...
We all froze in place the moment that overwhelming, suffocating pressure descended, forcing me down onto one knee.
A crushing, terrifying power that surpassed everyone present.
The sky above us blazed with light, and something ominous descended slowly from it, gazing down upon us.
"What the hell is going on?!!?"
Everyone shouted at once, staring through blood-filled eyes toward that descending figure.
"This..."
"An... angel?!!"
The word slipped from my mouth as I stared at that colossal being—eight wings unfurled, radiating a divine aura.
A white halo stretched from its back, and its skin was so pale it resembled sculpted marble.
But the pressure it exuded was no joke.
Both the Empire and the Ultras...
Each side glared at the other with bloodshot eyes, trying to figure out who was responsible for summoning such a thing.
Yet a single glance was enough to tell—the one intervening this time was a third force.
Completely separate powers.
Only a few moments passed before the voice that would answer all our questions echoed across the battlefield.
"O demons who dared defy the will of the Blessed Lord of Light... In my name and in the name of the Holy Church! I, Archbishop Joseph Blatier, hereby declare that I shall lead the purge of all our enemies!"
"Blatier?!!" Sir Alone roared in anger, as the entire world began to realize the church’s true intentions.
"They’ve been waiting for this exact moment... the moment when both sides have crushed each other to their weakest point..."
Realizing what was happening, I immediately tried to sense Blatier’s location, but he was nowhere to be found—only his voice was present, along with that ominous angel above us.
"People of the Empire, demons of the Ultras ..mark my words and engrave them in your memory, for some of you will hear them as the last thing in your lives... and for others, they will be a warning."
Across different parts of the world... flocks of strange angels emerged from nothing, flying high and releasing their ominous auras.
They were smaller than the one looming over us, but their numbers were terrifying.
Faced with this unprecedented intervention, we all stood frozen, looking up, as Blatier continued speaking.
"Number 1 on the Purge List: the Ultras."
At his words, the angels above all the Upper Blood Cities flared their eyes with light.
"Number 2 on the Purge List: the Valerion family."
Above the royal palace in Belgrad, and the command headquarters where most of the royal family ..and Ada Starlight alongside the other war leaders ..were gathered...
"Number 3 on the Purge List: the Starlight family."
Before the eastern Oklas Mountains, where the Starlight family’s main stronghold stood, and in scattered locations across the battlefield...
Those ominous angels manifested.
"By the authority granted to me by the Great Lord of Light... I sentence you to death—and to be erased from the annals of history!!"
Blatier gave the order ..and every single angel opened its mouth, a blinding light radiating from within.
Then, without warning... the catastrophe began.
From the heavens, divine shells rained down like relentless storms, annihilating everything beneath without mercy.
The royal family... the Starlight headquarters... the Upper Blood Cities...
All erased from existence by the burning fire of light.
And at the same time ..
The colossal angel above us, the strongest among them, opened its mouth wide... unleashing the very gates of hell upon us all.
With a purifying beam of light, everything turned to white and black as that devastating force swallowed us whole.
It was a calamity beyond words—one that left neither the Empire nor the Ultras as victors.
No side won that day...
We all lost ..in the most agonizing way possible.