I Am a Heroic Spirit

The diocesan bishop shouted loudly to Black Joan of Arc, and the priests behind him chanted hymns devoutly. A dazzling but not blinding holy light rose from their bodies and condensed into the image of a two-winged angel in mid-air.

Brilliant holy light emanated from the two-winged angel, triggering the magic circle in the church. Bright rays of light emerged on the walls and ground of the church. The dove symbolizing the Holy Spirit, the rose symbolizing the Virgin Mary, and the cross symbolizing the Son of God emerged from the walls, turning the church into a heavenly scene.

"Simon carries the cross of the Son of God!"

The diocesan bishop did not dare to be careless. After activating the magic circle, he immediately continued to chant the spell.

The angel in mid-air raised the cross, then swung it heavily. A heavy high pressure covered the church like an overturned sea.

"Well!"

The two strong men groaned, and the sound of bones being squeezed and twisted came from their bodies. The intense pain made the two strong men faint.

"Uh uh uh……"

Father Jamie was also pressed to the ground. Black mist rose from his body, the black texture on his skin began to fade, and he let out a painful groan.

However, Black Jeanne d'Arc, who was the main target, was not affected at all.

"Hehehe..." Black Jeanne lowered her head and chuckled through her nose. A faint shadow of flames surrounded her body, burning violently. A heart-pounding aura emanated from her body. "Evil witch? How interesting! This is the second time I've heard this."

The bishop of the diocese had no intention of investigating the identity of Joan of Arc or the meaning of her words. Instead, he looked at Joan of Arc with a pale face and a sinking heart.

He knew that Jeanne d'Arc was very powerful. After all, being able to reflect light spears was nothing, but he had only seen one person who could reverse the nature of holy light, and that was the Lord of Hell who was sealed ten years ago.

Therefore, the diocesan bishop directly used the most powerful means he could use, the church magic circle and the cross ritual.

The church's magic circle is one of the church's most powerful, and the cross spell is also a rare high-level spell in the church. The two, when combined, create a greater-than-average effect. Ten years ago, the Pope, along with fifteen bishops, used this magic circle and the cross spell to suppress the Hell Lord for half an hour, until the Hell Lord was imprisoned in a cabin in the forest, where he did not break free.

Six months ago, the church spent nearly half a year re-optimizing this magic circle based on the Saint George Domain. However, it had never been used because, with the exception of Japan, there were no dark creatures worthy of the church's magic circle. However, there was no doubt that this magic circle was far superior to the original one. ...

However, when I used it for the first time today, it did not have the desired effect.

"The cross shows the rejection of evil, and the weight of the cross corrects pride."

The parish bishop cast two spells in succession and devoutly called upon the name of the Saint.

"Holy, holy, holy, holy, Saint Simon, Saint Christopher, Saint Lucia, Saint Margaret, please bring your power here to suppress the evil witch!"

The two-winged angel moved again, and the cross condensed by holy light became like a solid entity, becoming larger and larger. In just a blink of an eye, it was already thicker than the pillars of the church.

The angel with two wings threw the cross from his hands. The cross kept growing in the air and fell towards Joan of Arc quickly and accurately.

Black Joan of Arc slowly raised her head and looked at the cross falling from mid-air, with a harsh sneer on her face. She inserted the magic sword into the ground, then raised her hand nonchalantly, and the cross fell into Black Joan of Arc's hand just right.

"boom!"

With a dull thud, spider-web-like cracks appeared under Joan of Arc's feet, and her feet sank completely into the cracked ground.

The bishop of the diocese opened his mouth in disbelief, because apart from the fact that her feet sank a little, Joan of Arc was not affected at all. She stood proudly, and the cross raised in one hand did not make her bend over at all.

"It truly brings back memories. It was in this very same St. Pierre Cathedral, and the same diocesan bishop led forty-four priests in judging me on behalf of the Lord. It's a shame I was so foolish back then that I didn't even resist. But do you think I'm still so foolish now that I wouldn't resist? You think you can suppress me with just a cross? Who do you think you are? Jesus Christ?"

Black Joan of Arc sneered at the pale-faced bishop and priests of the diocese, and began to exert force with her palms, causing cracks in the huge cross. Although the power of light was causing pain to her palms all the time, Black Joan of Arc did not hesitate at all until the huge cross was finally crushed by her, and the pure white light drifted away in Black Joan of Arc's hands like smoke and dust.

"puff……"

The forcible destruction of the cross caused severe backlash to the clergy. Everyone vomited scarlet blood from their mouths, and one priest even fell to the ground and fainted. The shadow of the two-winged angel in the air also shook for a while, but it did not dissipate after all.

"In this Cathedral of Saint-Pierre, there was only one person who was tried by a diocesan bishop and a panel of forty-four priests..."

The bishop's expression changed dramatically. He hadn't noticed it at first, but now he realized that in the history of the church, there had been people who had been treated this way. If he remembered correctly, and if the church's records hadn't been distorted, then... could this person before him... be...

"That's right! That's me, the one who was betrayed by France, the church, and Jesus Christ. I'm Joan of Arc Alter, whose job title is Avenger." Black Joan of Arc stepped onto the altar and said coldly.

Upon hearing this, everyone's expression dropped. They should have realized that Joan of Arc, the hero who had once saved France, then been betrayed by France, condemned as a witch by the bishop of the church, and burned alive, only to be canonized as a saint seventy years ago, five hundred years later, was more qualified than anyone else to become a Heroic Spirit. And as an avenger, she had more reason and more right than anyone else to seek revenge against Saint-Pierre Cathedral, and even France and the church.

At this moment, an ominous black magical energy surged into the church. The church's magic circle became eerie and distorted, the holy white textures turning scarlet. The walls seemed to become dynamic, twisting erratically. The doves and roses that had transformed into holy light became disgusting tentacles and monsters that swayed and danced in the air. The angels on both wings also twisted in the black and scarlet colors. Under the erosion and contamination of some force, the bodies composed of holy light gradually became monstrous, eventually transforming into something indescribable, evil and ugly, a completely different existence from the original angels.

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In an instant, the church, once awash in light, became a pitch-black, eerie place. The priests' minds were tainted by the backlash, and their bodies began to mutate. Scales and tentacles enveloped their bodies, transforming them into veritable monsters.

With the exception of the diocesan bishop, who had practiced arduously for more than forty years and with the help of the church's holy relics, he had barely managed to retain his sanity amidst the evil god's contamination, and had neither turned into a monster nor died.

"My dear Joan of Arc, I finally see you. You finally wake up." Stepping on the twisted shadows, a magician with a weird face walked in from outside the church. The human skin book in his arms exuded filthy magic power, polluting the church of Jesus Christ.

"Ah, Jill is here, haha, the place is full of the smell of Jesus Christ, it's really nauseating, but it's a little better with you around." Black Joan of Arc said with a smile.

"Jill? You are Baron Gilles de Rais, the black wizard Bluebeard!" Through the identity of Black Joan of Arc and the conversation between the two, the parish bishop quickly figured out the magician's true identity.

"That's right, it's none other than me, the most reliable comrade-in-arms of Saint Joan of Arc, Gilles de Rais of Bluebeard, a caster." Giles said excitedly with his eyes wide open and his arms spread out.

Although the diocesan bishop was not seriously injured, his face turned pale and he looked panic-stricken.

Joan of Arc, whose job title is Avenger, and the famous Gilles Bluebeard, what exactly do these two want to do when they get together?

"What... do you want to do?" Thinking this in his mind, the diocesan bishop actually asked it.

"Isn't it obvious, Bishop? Didn't I make my point clear?" Jeanne d'Arc sneered, "Isn't my job description obvious? Avenger. Revenge on France! Revenge on Christianity! Revenge on the God of that day!"

The bishop of the diocese was horrified and shouted to Joan of Arc: "No! How could you do this! Saint! Please calm your anger. France and the Church, after five hundred years, should not bear your wrath!"

"What delusions are you talking about? My hatred and resentment cannot be easily quelled." Black Joan of Arc sneered at the bishop of the diocese.

"Okay, what are you going to do now, Cardinal? Joan of Arc, the witch denounced as a heretic, is right here. Can you not hold a cross and pray to the gods? Can you not insult, mock, trample, and ravage me while shouting that evil Joan of Arc is here? Can you not roar like a brave lion? Come on, come on, come on!"

Hatred and resentment surged in her heart at this moment. Joan of Arc plunged her sword into the altar dedicated to Jesus Christ, and her eyes seemed to be burning with the flames of hell.

Hearing the roar of Black Joan of Arc, the bishop of the diocese suddenly knelt on the ground, crying silently with tears streaming down his face, and his heart was extremely sad.

How can one not feel sad that the French hero who was canonized as a saint by the church, after becoming a heroic spirit, took on the role of an avenger and prepared to take revenge on France and the church.

"cut!"

Seeing the diocesan bishop lying on the ground crying, Joan of Arc was bored and had no interest in talking to him. She waved her hand and a flag appeared in her hand.

There was a black dragon pattern painted on the flag. As the flag fluttered, traces of the dragon's fangs and claws could be faintly seen. Black Joan of Arc exerted force in her hands and inserted the flag into the altar. The tyrannical magic power spread out in all directions with the flag as the center. More than 20 two-legged flying dragons were summoned under the influence of the magic power. For a moment, the church was shrouded in the dragon's might, and the evil power spread, turning the church into a dragon's lair.

"Evil dragon, ravage like a harvest, starting with the much-missed Orleans. Let this land, brimming with spring, return to the wilderness. Without distinction between sex, age, or pagan, grant equal death to all. This is the only command I, your summoner, give you. As the judge of this world, bring judgment. Humans who cannot prove the Lord's love have no value in existence. This is a horrifying sin. All humans, good and evil alike, are equal. So slay them all, and do not allow even one to escape."

Black Joan of Arc held the dragon flag in her hand and laughed wildly. The shadow of a black dragon rose from behind her, twisting its evil body as the dragon flag flew.

More than twenty wyverns howled and obeyed Black Joan of Arc's orders, flying into the sky. Their huge bodies knocked open the dome of the church and flew towards Orleans, France, carrying evil and disaster.

The flying dragon flags summoned more wyverns. Hundreds of wyverns spread their wings and flew high, covering the sky of the city.

Watching the scene before him, Giles raised his hands and shouted enthusiastically: "Oh... Oh! This is so powerful...! This is the truth without pretense! This is the saint who saved the nation! You are the only saint recognized by God and who forgives people! My light... has returned... You are truly reborn, Joan of Arc! Then I will fight once again as a marshal!"

As he spoke, a thick book materialized in his hands. The cover was damp and gleaming. Attached to it was a piece of human skin. To the naked eye, it appeared to be an ordinary book, but even the diocesan bishop could sense a vast evil power surging from within it, spreading outward. Without a doubt, it was Giles's Noble Phantasm.

Giles bit his finger hard, then bit it open. As blood began to flow from his finger, Giles quickly smeared the blood on his hand on the dirty church floor.

Almost instantly, countless small summoning circles lit up one after another. Then, monsters emerged from these summoning circles one after another.

These monsters, all roughly the same size, lacked limbs or a torso, defying description. Countless tentacles formed a ring-shaped mouth at their base. That mouth, like a shark's, contained teeth as sharp as razor blades. While their origins were unknown, they were definitely not creatures of nature. They might be beings from another world, one that didn't abide by the laws of nature.

Although they were not very powerful monsters, let alone Heroic Spirits, even an ordinary priest could kill one or two alone. However, judging from the number of monsters that emerged from the summoning circle in just a short period of time, it would only take two to three hours. Even if all the members of the church were dispatched, they might not be able to wipe out all the monsters.

"This is a magic book left to me by my ally. With it, I gained the spell to command the demon army. How is it? Is there any army that can match the might of the demon army?"

Giles had a crazy smile on his face and spoke to Black Jeanne as if he was presenting a treasure.

Black Jeanne laughed wildly. "Very good. With these dragons and monsters as our army, we will completely burn everything in this world. Oh, and by the way, there's one more order. Let's laugh together, hum happily from the bottom of our hearts... Hehe, hehe, Ahahahahahahaha! Ahahahahahahaha!! Happy, so happy, Jill. This may be the first time I've been so happy since I was born!!"

Giles happily agreed, "Yeah, yeah, that's right. That's all that's right. You've been raised by the people, used as a banner, used by them, and then abandoned. So, you're right. Who, what, in this land can dictate your true feelings?"

Black Jeanne said matter-of-factly, "That's right. Whether it's dragons or monsters, go forth, destroy and kill. That's my order. If there's a street full of spring, destroy it to your heart's content. If there's a village singing the praises of spring, ravage it to your heart's content. No matter how evil, no matter how cruel, God will surely forgive it all. Even if punishment is bestowed upon you, that's fine. Because that's the only way to prove God's existence and demonstrate His mercy."

Amid the wild laughter and facial expressions of Jeanne d'Arc and Gilles, countless monsters poured out from the church door. A huge dragon flapped its wings and flew out from the sky. The monsters, symbolizing disaster, covered France like the shadow of death.

"can not be like this!"

The scream of the parish bishop interrupted the laughter of Joan of Arc and Giles. The parish bishop struggled to crawl to the altar, stretched out his hands to hug Joan of Arc's legs, begged bitterly, his face still covered with tears.

"Please! I beg you! Please don't do this! The French of this era have never done anything to wrong you. France vindicated you hundreds of years ago, and even decades ago, the Church canonized you as a saint. Please don't implicate innocent people! Your Highness Joan of Arc! Have mercy! Your Highness the Saint!"

The bishop of the diocese hugged Black Jeanne's legs tightly, crying and shouting. He knew how powerful Black Jeanne was, and although he was very close to her, he did not dare to do anything rash. He just kept crying and complaining, hoping to awaken Black Jeanne's kindness.

However, the bishop's crying did not change Joan of Arc's mind. Instead, her tearful appearance made her angry.

Do I need you to tell me what to do? Don't I know it myself? Do you really think I don't know that you informed the church as early as when you activated the church magic circle? By now, your colleagues are probably halfway there.

Black Jeanne frowned, unleashing force with her legs, and with disgust, she kicked the bishop away, sending him crashing into a row of chairs. If Black Jeanne hadn't stopped short of killing him, a single kick of her A-level strength would have been enough to kill an ordinary monster, let alone a human.

"You are so stupid and ignorant. Not only can you not see the situation clearly, you can't even see yourself clearly. If I hadn't asked you to pass on the message, do you think you could still remain normal? You actually dared to beg me, humph!"

Black Jeanne looked down at the diocesan bishop with disdain. The diocesan bishop stood up from his fallen chair and looked at Black Jeanne with a blank and helpless look.

"Listen! Tell my words to those who want to stop us! Those who intend to reverse the fate of the destruction of all mankind! Come! Stop us! We will devour your souls! Tear your bodies into pieces! Suck your blood like the hot spring of life! Completely destroy your will! Let you know! All your efforts are in vain! You have only one fate! That is to face the final judgment brought by us!"

"This is our declaration. Spread it to those who want to engage in meaningless resistance. Then, face despair."

……

Compared with what happened to the United States, France suffered a much worse fate. As a dark and evil force, Black Joan of Arc never showed mercy. Although Zhang Luo had explained that there would not be large-scale indiscriminate killing of civilians, that was all.

Since Black Joan of Arc arrived in France, she first killed two strong men, and then Giles contaminated forty-five priests and turned them into monsters.

These were nothing, but the wyverns summoned by Black Jeanne and the monsters summoned by Giles caused hundreds of casualties in just half an hour.

It was not until the arrival of the Church and French forces that the situation subsided.

Half an hour ago, Vatican Cathedral.

On the ceiling, nine large religious story paintings, including "God Divides Light and Darkness", "Creation of the Sun, Moon, and Plants", "God Divides Land and Water", "Creation of Adam", "Creation of Eve", "Temptation and Expulsion from Paradise", "Sacrifice of Noah", "Flood", and "Drunkenness of Noah", appear magnificent and rigorous, rich and solemn in the holy light.

Under the magnificent Genesis, facing the cross and praying silently, is the Pope of the Catholic Church. He is wearing a holy robe, a crown of thorns that pierces the skin, a golden scarab resting on his shoulder, and a slightly old Bible in his hand. He has a frown on his face, mutters to himself, and looks fully armed.

At this moment, accompanied by the clattering sound of armor, a knight rushed in from outside the church door in panic.

The Pope stopped praying, turned around silently, and thought to himself: Has the unknown evil finally arrived?

Clearly, the Pope, fully armed and adorned with various Christian relics, whose power already surpassed that of a second-rate Heroic Spirit, had long sensed a foreboding premonition and had made preparations in advance, awaiting only concrete intelligence reports.

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"It's bad, Your Majesty. The Cathedral of Saint-Pierre in Beauvais, France has been attacked. According to the holy power of the local bishop, it was a dark creature at the level of the Lord of Hell." The knight stopped in front of the Pope, knelt on one knee, his face panicked, and spoke rapidly.

"I already know. It turns out it was in Beauvais, France?" The Pope nodded and responded in a deep voice, but the declarative sentence was a response to the knight's second sentence, and the interrogative sentence was a response to the first sentence.

He had long sensed a strong sense of crisis, a level of crisis he had only experienced ten years ago when the Lord of Hell appeared in the human world, but he had never been able to determine his specific location.

"Ring the holy bell, summon all the bishops, and convey the news to the French government." The Pope calmly assigned the tasks.

"Yes." Hearing the Pope's steady voice, the knight's mood eased a little. He responded to the Pope's orders respectfully, then strode out of the cathedral.

"Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!"

The low and slow bell sounds, like the long-lasting Buddhist chants floating from the distant sky, echoed in the Vatican, sacred and solemn.

"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen!"

The clergy and believers who heard the voice couldn't help but stop, with solemn expressions, tapping their foreheads, hearts, left shoulders and right shoulders with their fingers, then clenched their fists and prayed devoutly.

Compared with ordinary clergy and ordinary believers, the expressions of the bishops and priests were completely different, and their eyes were full of fear and anxiety.

The Holy Bell is different from ordinary bronze bells. It is usually used for warnings. Generally speaking, the Holy Bell is rung because a powerful monster has been born.

For example, when Count Dracula was born two hundred years ago, the holy bell rang three times. The church at that time sent Van Helsing, who had the power of Gabriel, to defeat Count Dracula. Then, a panel of judges consisting of twenty-five archbishops and three archbishops sent Count Dracula to hell.

One hundred years ago, when Count Dracula returned to the world from hell, the holy bell rang four times. The church sent a panel of judges consisting of three cardinals, five archbishops, fifty metropolitan bishops and Van Helsing, as well as the entire Inquisition, to seal Count Dracula in a cabin in the woods.

The reason for this is that after Van Helsing's reincarnation, his strength was less than half of his last reincarnation, while after Count Dracula returned from hell, his strength was twice as strong as the last time. In order to establish prestige and seal Count Dracula as quickly as possible, the church sent out such a large-scale lineup.

The holy bell rang five times. It was ten years ago when the Lord of Hell entered the human world through the passage left by Count Dracula and caused chaos. That time, it was the Pope who personally took action and led fifteen cardinals to suppress the Lord of Hell in one fell swoop and took him to the sealed place.

Now, the holy bell rang again, and five times, and no one dared to relax at all.

The Vatican's thirty cardinals, fifty archbishops, seventy metropolitans, and forty judges of the Inquisition, the church's ultimate fighting force, enough to launch a small war, rushed to the Papal Palace at the fastest speed.

During this period, the Pope also carried with him holy objects such as the Shroud of Turin, the Lance of Longinus, the Three Holy Nails, the Holy Scarf of Veronica, the True Cross, and the Scepter of Aaron.

"For our Lord, let's go to battle, everyone. May the glory of the Lord shine upon us forever. Hallelujah!"

The Pope turned around, facing the top fighters of the church who were ready for battle, raised Aaron's Scepter and shouted loudly.

"May the glory of the Lord shine upon us forever, Hallelujah."

The clergy responded in a firm tone.

While the Pope was flying to Beauvais with 90% of the church's combat power, France also received the news. Unlike the church, which only knew that a monster comparable to the lord of hell had appeared in Beauvais, France immediately discovered the flying dragon flying over Beauvais through satellite monitoring.

For a moment, the expressions of the French high-ranking officials changed drastically, simply because those large numbers of flying dragons could not be the monsters that the church said. This meant that the monster that was comparable to the Lord of Hell had the power to summon flying dragons.