“Don’t worry, since we are already here, we couldn’t let such an important enemy just walk away,” Isabella said while spreading out her hands. “As for the trial… there is nothing I can do to stop her. How about, you can just act as the audience, it won’t take them that long anyway.”
“The same as before?”
“Well, the rules will be basically the same,” she laughed, “Zero really likes this kind of game.”
“If it’s like that then quickly get started.” Damn it! Even though Mayne’s face became expressionless, inwardly he was burning with anger. Speaking of this judgement game, it would be more appropriate to look at it as a cat playing with a mouse. The captives had to escape a predefined range or defeat the witch, only by doing this could they obtain a slim chance of survival — and this chance to live was extremely slim, but the bait was still good enough to lure out the mouse. It already seemed difficult to achieve, but in fact, it was something they would never be able to reach.
The reason for scattering the Judges who were responsible for safeguarding and monitoring the Purifieds was that the upcoming process couldn’t be considered as entirely fair or just. The other’s action wasn’t in accordance with the behavior of Purified, so seeing this, he was afraid that it might waver their faith in the Church.
Just wait until I take over the position of the Pope, at that time I will have to teach them the importance of obediently following orders.
At this moment, Zero had already freed the prisoners from the ropes and spread out her hands to show that she wasn’t wearing any weapon on her body. While in front of the prisoners there laid a sword, a machete, and a light crossbow.
“Come on, fight or run, just follow your hearts,” Zero said with a gentle tone. “Only God can issue a ruling.”
One of them clenched his teeth then suddenly picked up the crossbow from the ground and directly shot an arrow at the Purified. Not even looking whether he had hit, his other hand had already taken hold of the sword as he tried to seize the opportunity to rush forward and chop out horizontally. This whole set of actions were executed in one smooth movement, clearly a skill that was impossible for militia.
However, the captive cut through nothing but empty air. The Purified had simply taken two steps back and easily avoided the surprise attack. When the captive came to a stop and raised his head, he couldn’t suppress a short flicker of surprise when he saw that the other was holding the arrow with her teeth, as if she was chewing on a harmless branch.
Zero spit out the arrow, waved at the captive, and with a smile, she said, “Please, carry on.”
The captive stared blankly at her, his hands trembling slightly. Mayne could see that all the courage he’d gathered with such difficulty had already left him again, even if the fight were to continue, it would only for last for one more exchange.
Sure enough, after hesitating for a moment, the captive raised his head and roared like a wild boar. Then raised his sword and darted toward the unarmed woman.
But this attempt was too stiff, even with closed eyes, Mayne could guess at the result — just within his half a lunar cycle long contact with Zero, Mayne had already become aware that her powers were almost limitless. Even though she wasn’t an extraordinary, she still possessed innate battle skills not inferior to them. These skills weren’t in her supernatural strength or resistance, but rather in her extremely skillful technique.
Even if she couldn’t use any magic, she was still a dreadful enough soldier.
The witch moved her body slightly to the side, easily avoiding the opponent’s hack. Then her pair of seemingly fragile hands clamped the prisoner’s head, and using his forward momentum, she softly moved it. This slight flick only released a light cracking sound, but as if the other side had suddenly lost all the bones in his body, he immediately became limp and fell to the ground.
She turned her head and looked to the two remaining captives then said, “Now, it’s your turn.”
Chapter 311 War of Mortals (Part 1)
Seeing this scene, one of the other prisoners turned and ran away which caused Zero to look somewhat disappointed.
She turned into a ray of light and entered the fleeing captive’s body, who immediately stopped his steps. The captive’s eyes turned white, and his body began to undergo strange changes — this wasn’t Mayne’s first time seeing such a scene, but no matter how often he saw it, he couldn’t prevent a chill from arising within his heart.
A dim ray of light burst out from within the captive’s body and his body began to twist and deform until finally changed into the very appearance of the Purified who had entered him.
He knew that this wasn’t a simple act of replacing and slaughtering, but what exactly happened during this transformation process, Mayne was afraid that only the Pope or the people involved could fully understand.
Zero took a deep breath and went back to the last prisoner.
He was the youngest of three captured spies, probably only fourteen to fifteen years old. His young and inexperienced eyes were filled with shock and fear, unable to accept what had happened just now.
“Now, you’re the only one left,” she whispered, “Eyre.”
Hearing these words, the trembling boy who had originally wanted to pick up the machete froze in shock and started to stammer, “H-how…”
“God told me everything. Actually, you were merely a farmer’s child living in the outskirts, but because of the Wolf King’s order, you and the other village people were forced to move into the city, and became responsible for repairing the city walls, creating the military supplies, transporting the army’s provision and so on. In other words, forced labor. Instead of letting you go because of your young age, they rather decided to recruit you into the investigation troops. In reality they’ve planned for you to emerge and perish on your own,” she reached out and touched his cheeks, “The best evidence for this is that at the time you sent back the intelligence about the large military operation of the Church, the captain of the guards didn’t even let you enter the camp. Instead, after listening to your report he immediately sent you back to us, right?”
“I…” Eyre opened his mouth, but couldn’t find any words.
“Of course, they couldn’t let you enter, because your family had already ceased to exist. Your parents were accepted, while your brother was the same as you, merely consumables for the Wolf King. So, if you were allowed to return, wouldn’t it make all the other scouts know about it?” Zero said, “Your father fell to his death while trying to fill a gap in the wall. Your mother, trying to find the workplace overseer had to suffer punishment with a whip and is now on the verge of death. In a world where God doesn’t examine everything, evil always wantonly flows around like sewage. Are you sure you really want to fight for such a ruler?”
The young boy stared with wide eyes at her, unable to mask his sorrow, “This… is impossible, you’re lying to me!”
“God never lies,” the Purified shook her head. “And in the bottom of your heart, you know that I’m telling the truth. The root of all this evil is the nobility. They never regarded you as one of their own kind, they merely see you as livestock. What the Church is trying to do is to put an end to all this evil and injustice, they want to build a new world under the care and watchful eyes of God.”
With a plopping sound, Eyre sank to his knees, lowered his head and began to cry bitterly, “What should I do?”