My dear witch, please turn evil according to the script!

Chapter 197 Half-Body of an Evil God
Roland fainted, but the situation at the scene did not allow anyone else to be distracted.

After Delan helped Nash move Roland to a safe position, Suren continued his chanting.

Roland did indeed prevent something from happening.

That aura, whose mere presence was enough to nearly shatter one's soul...

Grandpa, was this the kind of being you were fighting against back then?
Suren gritted his teeth and then led the judges in chanting.

"We will fight alongside the divine punishment, and protect ourselves with the holy shield of the gods!"

"We know nothing of cowardice! Our courage comes from the supreme gods!"

"Death will be our eternal creed!"

"An inexhaustible war is our destiny!"

"When the evil god raises its ineffable head, we are the sword that cuts it down!"

"When the kingdom of evil gods invades our homeland, they will eventually be defeated and driven away by us!"

"The terror spread by the evil god cannot withstand our indomitable rage!"

"We will prevail through unwavering courage! We will not be defeated by secret arts and evil spells!"

"All unclean acts will be punished!"

"All acts of blasphemy must be atoned for!"

Nothing can escape our purifying fire!

"We are the sacred blade of humanity!"

"May God's blessing descend upon me!"

The lengthy ceremonial address finally came to an end.

Meanwhile, Cellina, who had been fighting for a long time against the writhing shadow that had swelled to three meters tall and taken on a human form, also felt a wave of fatigue.

Each time she fought against the being before her, a strange mental pollution would emanate from her twin swords, inevitably causing her to fall into a state of disorientation.

If it weren't for the wooden spear that Roland had thrown still sticking out of the monster's chest, which seemed to greatly restrict the monster's movement and strength, coupled with the protection given to it by the primordial runestone...

She felt like she was being mentally corrupted into an indescribable monster.

Fortunately, after such a long delay, Suren and the others finally finished chanting.

She saw Suren's small figure dart out in an instant, flying past her.

She flew past the corpses of the old judge who still stood in the same spot and the agent from the Inspectorate, and swung her sword forward.

She was surrounded by the fire of faith and protected by the divine light.

The monster formed from the shadow let out a hoarse roar, the explosive sound waves of which were unbearable.

Flam waved her staff, the forbidden spell already formed in her hand.

If things become impossible, she will use a world-destroying forbidden spell to solve the immediate problem.

For example, artificially creating a giant magic storm.

This is a forbidden spell that can only be used smoothly on the Stormy Ocean, without having to worry about the range of its effects.

Now, however, she wanted to see if these young people could suppress the half-body of the evil god before them.

Yes, the humanoid monster formed by the twisted shadows standing on that stage is the half-body of the evil god.

That's true at least in terms of its nature.

The Demon King's suggestion worked, and the evil god descended halfway through the ritual.

But it didn't have time to bestow much power upon the half-body.

The spear made from the branches of the World Tree that Roland threw anchored the cause and effect of this ritual.

This divine descent ritual has been conceptually permanently terminated.

This ceremony could no longer be completed in any form.

Even God cannot do that.

The demigod has still descended, but its current strength might not even be enough to defeat Cellina in a one-on-one fight.

It's even less likely that they could defeat Suren, who has now completed the ritual, been blessed by the gods, and been empowered by the exorcism spell.

Flam could never understand the strange magic and rituals of the Papacy.

That was not magic.

It's more like... an optimized form of communication magic.

Believers can use this method to contact the divine, through which the divine bestows power.

This is the truth about magic and rituals within the Papacy.

Although it's just a general metaphor, that's the effect it achieves.

Divine magic is performed by an individual, but not everyone can learn it.

To put it simply... this person has a better signal and can connect directly to the gods.

The ritual is performed by a group of people, and anyone can learn it, but it must be performed in a team.

Simply put, if one person's signal strength is not strong enough, then forming a group of several people will strengthen the signal and allow them to make contact.

That's exactly what Suren is going through right now.

With the support of her teammates' signals, the gods bestowed their power upon her, and she took over.

Cellina wielded her twin swords, while Suren controlled the burning of the flames of faith.

In an instant, the evil god's half-body was banished, leaving only black embers.

As the half-body of the evil god was banished and destroyed, a bronze cup engraved with strange patterns fell to the ground.

The cup made a crisp sound when it hit the ground.

Suren tried to bend down to pick up the cup, but before her hand could touch it, it was bound by a bunch of emerald green branches and torn to pieces on the ground.

All that remained was a gray gemstone, artificially cut into a teardrop shape, shimmering with an ominous black light.

Suren tried to reach for the gem again, but the branches tightly wrapped it up, refusing to let Suren touch it.

Suren: "..."

Suren stared resentfully at the branches sprouting from the wooden spear for a while, and after fuming for a moment, she walked toward her grandfather, who had begun to dissipate into specks of magical energy.

His name was not restored after the incident ended.

Everything has a price.

It is by no means easy for a mortal to stop a god from descending.

But he held onto what he was supposed to hold onto.

All that's left is for her to bring her grandfather's story back to the Vatican; even if he remains nameless... his deeds should be remembered. Meanwhile, Delan walked to the body of the Inspector General's agent.

After the evil god's half was banished, the effect of stasis also ended.

Time began to flow through his body again.

Blood began to flow again, and the breath of life began to fade away rapidly.

Yes, the breath of life.

Although there is absolutely no chance of survival with such injuries.

But at least... his will still remains at this moment.

When the agent saw the hatter's uniform on Delan, the anger in his eyes dissipated, and in an instant, he went from being shocked to relieved.

Delan said nothing, but simply gripped his hand tightly and watched the agent breathe his last.

And the other side.

Cellina stood silently beside Natalia's body.

Unlike the agent who, despite being seriously injured, continued fighting until the very end.

Natalia is indeed dead, or frozen in the last second before her death.

She fired that static arrow with her gun before she died.

Otherwise, nothing can be discussed.

That was what Cellina originally thought.

But at this moment, while she was in amplified state, she keenly noticed that Natalia's head seemed to shake slightly.

When she realized this and looked into her old friend's eyes, she met her friend's last look.

The last vestiges of life drained from Natalia's body.

But when she saw Celinina, she smiled with relief.

This was the only thing this old friend left for Cellina, besides the gun.

After being unconscious for a few minutes, Roland also woke up.

He felt terrible at that moment.

It's one thing to have all the magic power in his body depleted, but he's also experienced having his mana bar empty before.

However, his mental energy was also drained. This was the main reason why he fainted.

Even the energy that should have been plentiful had vanished without a trace.

To put it bluntly, if Roland were to fight Nashgan bare-handed at this moment...

That might not be enough to beat Nash.

He practically screams "weak" on his face right now.

He looked around and saw the crowd already cleaning up the scene, and he knew that the matter was over.

Sure enough... the hardest thing was finding the destination.

After finding it, it seems... there weren't many difficulties.

Moreover, just now, for a fleeting moment, Roland felt some strange changes occurring within himself.

He couldn't quite put his finger on it.

But it seems... that he has formed a further connection with the World Tree, or more precisely, with the sapling that the World Tree itself left in Roland's consciousness.

Just as Roland was about to take a closer look, he was suddenly lifted up from the ground.

Are you alright, Roland?

Feeling the pressure on his head and face, Roland tried to find some light to observe the owner of the voice.

Although he had already recognized that it was Celinina's voice.

"...It's nothing. But Cellina, don't you think it's a bit inappropriate for you to be hugging me like this?"

"Really? Oh... If you feel uncomfortable, I can find you a place to lie down for a while."

"No, it's quite comfortable, let's just hold each other like this."

As soon as Roland finished speaking, Fram's voice followed: "The wooden spear you just threw... a branch broke off and damaged the artifacts used for the divine descent ritual."

"However, one of the gems on top was retained."

"If I'm not mistaken, that gem is the culprit."

"Also... are you really going to stay in this position? Roland, you should be able to stand up, right?"

Seeing the slightly disdainful look that Frum gave her, Cherlinina felt somewhat confused.

Is there anything wrong with my posture?

It was just about picking Roland up in a princess carry.
Could it be... some unspoken rule of humanity that I'm unaware of?

After a moment's hesitation, and considering Roland's own choice, Cellina decided to let Roland go.

However, he still didn't forget to help Roland.

Seeing Roland land, Flam said, "Remember to bring back that gem, and don't let anyone touch that spear you threw."

"I went to help dispose of the body..."

Frum was silent for a moment, then said, as if to herself, "I will take them all back."

Roland didn't say anything, but sighed and looked at Cellina beside him, who was also in a bad mood: "Aren't you going to see your friend off on his final journey?"

“…No.” Cherlinina lowered her eyes. “Anyway, I don’t know what to do.”

After saying this, Cellina fell silent for a while before explaining, "Demons... do not have the concept of 'mourning' like humans."

"Death is the end of everything."

"And... Natalia was the first human friend of mine to die."

Roland laughed: "Is that so? If I die one day, how will you react?"

Cellina frowned: "Why are you suddenly bringing this up?"

“Just pure curiosity,” Roland said with a laugh. “After all… no one can see what will happen at their own funeral, right? Unless it’s just a prank.”

Cellina didn't answer, but instead angrily "attacked" Roland.

A light but firm slap landed on the back of Roland's neck.

"Don't say things like that if there's nothing wrong."

Roland turned around, clutching his neck, and saw Cellina, whose anger was written all over her face.

(End of this chapter)