Chapter 295: Chapter 140: Dawn, Sacrifice
"Don’t move, don’t move now, your head’s about to fall off..."
Under the despairing gaze of the Guardian Knight, the Demon Clown gave his hands a seemingly accidental shake and plucked the man’s head off. "Sorry, so sorry. I’ll put it right back on for you, I..."
THUD.
He watched the Guardian Knights fall limply, their heads rolling far away. An expression of chagrin appeared on his face. He cradled the head in his hands, pressing his cheek against it, and said apologetically, "You... you won’t hold this against me, will you?"
"God, please send down divine punishment and kill that heretic!"
"He deserves to die!"
"..."
Without Tina holding them back, the halos of light above the Holy Professionals’ heads faded. They glared at the Demon Clown’s chilling form, each one wishing they could flay him alive.
"Holy!"
"Dawn!"
"Purify!"
One after another, beams of Dawn Holy Light shot toward the Demon Clown, seeking to purify him completely.
They all knew that neither the Power of Faith nor Extraordinary Power was likely to have any effect on a taboo item, but with their comrades sacrificed, they just wanted to vent the fury in their hearts.
"Oh? Such beautiful light. Interesting. It would look wonderful as a decoration for the theater..."
The Demon Clown narrowed his eyes. His mouth split open again into a horrifying grin as he danced, continuously closing the distance between himself and the Holy Professionals.
Anyone he got close to was irresistibly decapitated, turned into a corpse.
"Sacrifice!"
At that moment, a cold voice rang out before them, and a massive arc of black light from a sword slashed down at the Demon Clown.
"Hm?"
The Demon Clown noticed the attack. A flicker of realization passed through his blood-red eyes, and for the first time, he dodged, avoiding the slash and fixing his gaze on the newcomer.
"Sacrifice... What an unpleasant ability..."
Kali’s figure appeared before the Holy Professionals, her black Two-Handed Greatsword held defensively in front of her.
"Your Holiness?"
"Her Holiness the Candidacy Saintess?"
"Her Holiness Kali!"
Seeing her, a look of joy spread across the faces of all the Holy Professionals, as if they had just seen a glimmer of hope.
"I’m sorry I’m late."
Kali glanced back over her shoulder at the heavily wounded and fallen Guardian Knights. "Leave the rest of the fight to me. But I’ll need your help..."
"Your Holiness, please, tell us what to do."
"I need some people," Kali said, lowering her head slightly, a faint smile playing on her lips, "to willingly return to the embrace of the Dawn!"
"Return?"
"This sacrifice?"
None of the Holy Professionals could believe their ears. Looking at Kali, they felt for the first time that Her Holiness the Candidacy Saintess was a stranger.
To willingly return... wasn’t that just voluntary sacrifice?
"I don’t understand, Your Holiness. Why?" a man in heavy armor, the Guardian Knight Commander, asked in a low voice from the crowd.
"I’m sorry. To obtain the power needed to defeat our enemy, some must make a sacrifice."
"But..." The Knight Commander looked hesitantly at the Holy Professionals around him. Voluntary sacrifice and being killed were two entirely different things, especially under such confusing circumstances.
"Hee hee ha ha... This so-called ’sacrifice’ just means offering everything you poor insects have to the Dawn, doesn’t it?" The Demon Clown wagged a finger, laughing playfully. "That includes sacrificing both your lives and your faith."
"Is that true, Your Holiness?"
Hearing his words, the expressions of the Holy Professionals changed slightly. ’Could such a bizarre ability really be part of the Dawn faith’s system?’
"Yes!" Kali nodded coldly. "Only by offering everything, by sacrificing everything, can we reignite the Dawn Radiance!"
This was the power of the Saintess’s authority she had come to understand—sacrifice, and offering. Perhaps the word "Dawn" should be added before them.
"Decide. If you’re unwilling, then retreat from Caster. Krimms Cathedral is about to fall..."
"I am willing!" The Guardian Knight Commander’s gaze swept around, finally resting on the thousands of Guardian Knight corpses killed by the Demon Clown and Tina. He spoke in a solemn voice, "If it can protect everyone, I am willing to make the sacrifice!"
"I’m willing too!"
"And me..."
In the distance, the smile on the Demon Clown’s face didn’t falter, as if he had long anticipated the choice of these Dawn Church believers. "What a touching scene. I wonder if that bastard Orpheus would jump for joy if he found out."
"But come, hurry up and come! The stage is set, and all that’s missing are you lovely audience members. Hmm, a performance with the theme of ’sacrifice’... what a wonderful idea!"
Kali ignored the Demon Clown’s taunts, turning to nod at the Holy Professionals. "Trust me. I will lead you to victory over all our enemies."
In truth, even though she had only grasped a portion of her authority’s power, she could still use it to select any Dawn Saint to be offered up to the great Dawn.
’Kali could have avoided explaining all this, but she still wanted to see what choice these Dawn Believers would make. Would they choose to flee, or would they, like her teacher, choose to face death willingly to resist evil...’
"There isn’t much time. After we repel him, we must quickly rescue the believers inside the Cathedral and then evacuate the Caster City State. What’s happening here has already exceeded our capabilities..."
"We will follow all of Your Holiness’s decisions!"
With Candidacy Saintess Kali present, the Holy Professionals seemed to have found their backbone. Even though it would require sacrificing some of their own, her presence still put them at ease.
Kali hesitated no longer, swinging her black greatsword as she charged toward the Demon Clown.
The golden radiance was gone from her body. All that remained was a blackness like calamitous lightning, but upon closer inspection, faint glimmers of blood-red could be seen within the dark.
"Hee hee ha ha... Here she comes, here she comes! Wonderful! I’m so looking forward to this performance..."
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