This heretic cannot be burned, he must be hung up and whipped!

"What--"

Suddenly, he felt a chill on his neck, and half his body lost consciousness. A metal claw clamped over his mouth and dragged him silently into the darkness of the church. His companions didn't even have time to turn around before they were devoured by the same fate.

...

The church has long since turned into a hell on earth.

The entrails and flesh of clergymen were hung from the reliefs like some kind of profane ornament. Many of the soldiers' heads were skewered on crosses, their eyes still open in terror. Blood pooled in streams on the marble floor, reflecting the faint moonlight filtering through the high windows.

Only a few monks remained inside the church, tied to chairs, their bodies fixed motionless. Beside them stood a number of strange figures in armor—the Death Commandos. Their armor covered their heads, and on their backs were devices with antennas that seemed to bend light, and within them, a beating heart, covered in blasphemous symbols, could be faintly seen.

In the darkness, the sentinels could only vaguely see their outlines, like ghosts walking out of a nightmare.

The heretic leader, dressed in gorgeous attire, held up a snake staff and questioned all the captives, his eyes gleaming with a chilling cruelty.

Asmodeus repeatedly cast hellish spells of torture into the monks' bodies. In just a few dozen minutes, they were tortured beyond recognition, their bodies covered in wounds and blood. Some had their eyes gouged out, their facial features shattered; others had their limbs crushed and burned by hellish flames, strange runes appearing on their skin, glowing with every breath.

Most of them were already unable to speak. To prevent their screams from prematurely exposing the Death Commandos, all the monks were injected with a drug to damage their vocal cords, and some even had their tongues removed. But even under such torture, the monks refused to surrender.

"Where's Neos?"

The Death Commandos had their tongues removed during training. They communicated with each other using complex hand gestures. Only their leader, Asmodeus, kept asking the same question, his voice like the hiss of a venomous snake:

"Where is Neos located? Point it out, and I will set you free."

A commando took the map.

Not a single monk surrendered. Some even used immense willpower to bite back the ends of their already scorched tongues, attempting suicide, only to have their jaws removed by experienced Death Commandos, who then used infernal magic to scorch the ends of their tongues again.

The entire church hall echoed with Asmodeus's repeated words and the monks' painful breathing. The air was filled with the smell of blood and burning, mixed with a sulfur smell from hell.

Asmodeus's patience was wearing thin. He cast a spell, and the air around him distorted with heat. "You foolish mortals, who do you think your silence can protect?" he roared, his voice carrying an unearthly resonance. "Your souls will burn in Hell for eternity!"

At this moment, the patrol sentry who had just been captured was thrown to the ground. This sentry was just an ordinary person in Budapest before, and he did not have the same strong faith as the monks. He was terrified by the sight of this tragic scene and trembled all over. Before the death squad could torture him, he shouted:

"City Hall! Our headquarters is in City Hall! Bishop Neos is right there! Please let me go!"

The surviving monks wore expressions of despair. The few who were still struggling to resist lowered their heads in despair after hearing the traitor's response. An elderly monk closed his eyes and prayed silently, tears streaming down his scarred cheeks.

Asmodeus nodded with satisfaction, smugly admiring the way the mortals trembled under his hands. A cruel smile curled up at the corner of his mouth, and he raised the snake staff in his hand.

"Thank you for your cooperation, mortal."

A dark red light shot out from the staff, decapitating the sentry. Blood spurted out, arcing through the air before spilling onto the floor. The sentry's head rolled to the side, its eyes still open, a look of despair frozen on its face.

"Go to the city hall," Asmodeus ordered, his voice filled with arrogance and anticipation. "I will roast this sinner who has offended my Lord in purgatory for thousands of years!"

The Death Commandos responded with gestures. Asmodeus turned to the remaining surviving monks, his eyes gleaming with malice.

"As for you..." he said softly, "I will let you witness the collapse of your faith."

He raised his staff, and a dark red light enveloped all the monks. Their bodies began to twist and deform, and something moved beneath their skin. Asmodeus watched with satisfaction, then turned and left, the Death Commandos following him, as silent as shadows.

---

Shortly after Asmodeus left, a group of soldiers who had been unable to contact the church discovered the tragic scene and immediately sounded the alarm. The scene inside the church made even the strongest soldiers feel their stomachs churn—the tortured monks had now become something between humans and monsters, with things wriggling under their skin and their eyes turned pure black.

They were all transformed into war wolf assault beasts by the magic of hell.

“Da da da da—” “Bang!” “Roar!”

"Oh my God..." a soldier shouted.

"Quick! Notify headquarters!" the squad leader shouted, "Heretics have infiltrated the city!"

But it was too late. The Death Squad had already arrived at the City Hall. Asmodeus was confident that his own forces could kill Neos directly. After all, they had used this tactic to assassinate the Holy Roman Emperor, the Pope, and the Great Prophet simultaneously over a decade ago.

The Death Commandos used silenced pistols to easily dispatch the guards guarding the gates. Their movements were swift and precise, making no sound. The guards didn't even realize what had happened before they collapsed in a pool of blood. They moved like ghosts, their cloaking generators rendering them almost completely invisible, leaving only a slight ripple in the air as they moved.

Every living person in City Hall was their target. A clerk stepped out of her office, and before she could scream, a claw emerged from thin air and slashed her throat. Blood spurted out, but there was no sound—the metal claws of the Death Commando ripped her throat with precise precision.

Soldiers from the guard battalion heard the chaos at the door and began to gather. They were fully armed, and one even drove out an S-1 Holy Inquisitor parked at the fire station next to the city hall! The tank emitted a low engine roar, and the turret slowly rotated, searching for the target.

However, facing these death squads equipped with stealth generators, the guards fell to their claws without even realizing who their enemies were. One soldier raised his gun and fired into the air, but the bullet simply passed through nothingness. The next second, his chest was pierced, blood gushing from the wound, but he didn't even see what killed him.

The surviving soldier could only vaguely see a bloody claw floating in the air under the searchlight, the blood on the claw reflecting the light. At the moment the surviving soldier was killed -

　Yi Mingni's father hissed, "Boom!"

The S-1 Inquisitor immediately opened fire. An 86mm shell impacted the ground, shattering the soldier's body. The heretic who had killed him also sustained damage to his machinery, materializing in the air. It was a humanoid creature clad in tattered armor, its face masked, revealing only a pair of glowing eyes. An arm fell to the ground, extending from it a long, blood-stained metal claw.

Seeing this, the other heretics abandoned their playful thoughts, smashing the searchlights with precision before quickly reaching the chariot. Their movements were coordinated and swift. Within seconds, every soldier on the chariot was killed, their bodies sliding from the hatches and hitting the ground with a dull thud.

After clearing the scene of the living people, the commandos quickly returned to the city hall, leaving only the S-1 Holy Inquisitor carrying the corpse of the alien C-360.

"Om——"

Who forgot to turn off the engine?

...

Neos, who was in his office at the time, had already been awakened by the chaos in City Hall and the constant calls for help on the phone. He stood by the window, brow furrowed. The searchlights outside the window had all been shattered, plunging the entire area into darkness.

All he could hear was the continuous sound of gunfire and the screams of the guard battalion outside. Occasionally, the flash of a gun would illuminate the night sky, and then it would return to darkness.

He quickly called for help, but found the line had been cut. The screams and pleas for mercy in the corridor grew fainter, and the gunfire outside gradually subsided. An ominous silence enveloped the entire city hall.

Just a few hours ago, he was still dreaming of a stalemate with the heretics for several months, but he didn't expect that he would be quickly defeated by the heretics' special forces in less than one night!

"Gu." He swallowed, took out a pistol from the drawer and loaded it.

"Click!"

The crisp clattering sound couldn't drown out the approaching footsteps in the corridor. They were unhurried, as if their owner had been waiting for Neos. The stench of blood, mixed with the stench of hell, filled the corridor.

Neos felt no fear. At that moment, his mind wasn't filled with thoughts of his homeland or those beautiful dreams. His thoughts were filled with his former comrades, those he could name, and many more he couldn't. Their voices, smiles, their beliefs, and their goals...all flooded back into Neos's mind.

Rage welled up within him, like a raging fire burning within him. He felt the psychic energy within him begin to surge, like a tide crashing through every nerve in his body.

Neos stood up and stared at the door, a pistol in one hand and a blue-white psychic spell in the other, illuminating his face. His eyes gleamed with a pale golden light.

Blood began to seep from the crack in the door, like some ominous omen. It slid down the doorframe, pooling on the floor. A suffocating, oppressive feeling hung in the air, as if something beyond human comprehension was approaching.

"Knock!" "Knock knock!" There was a knock on the door.

“Hello——” “Bang!”

There was no dialogue or verbal battle, and the response to Asmodeus's greeting was a bullet burning with a pale golden flame.

“You——” “Boom!”

A cannonball flew directly outside the window!

Neos looked back in surprise. The chariot that had driven into the yard at some point was glowing coldly in the moonlight.

PS1: 240 votes, next update 4.5k...

"Form a band? I'm also a dragon nurse!"

Xianjuan Qinyin, Xianjuan Xin's younger sister, has a secret unknown to the world—

Once the limiter is released, she will transform into the legendary Milk Dragon.

Because of this, she always felt that she had no real friends.

until--

"A band can bring smiles to everyone's faces, isn't that right?"

Rising Flames: 1914: Chapter 39 It's Your Turn Next, Neos!

"Ah-"

The smoke and dust gradually dissipated, and Neos stood in front of the ravaged table, looking back warily at the door that was blown to pieces by the shell.

The door had been reduced to dust by the shell's shockwave, and a large, human-shaped hole suddenly appeared on the blood-stained wall of the corridor. Asmodeus's snake staff was broken by the aftereffects of the shell, and the staff broke in two and rolled into the rubble, but he—

"Boom!"

The air in the office suddenly rippled under the moonlight, the peaceful space was torn apart, and several metal claws flashing with cold light emerged out of thin air and attacked Neos at lightning speed!

The Death Commandos—those hellish killing machines—had already silently slipped into the shadows of the office the moment Neos turned his head to look at the chariot in the distance. They lay dormant, like a pack of venomous snakes waiting for the slightest sign of Neos's laxity.

"Ding!"

The metal claws abruptly stopped less than a foot away from Neos. A blue-white psychic shield materialized around him, emitting a cold and resilient light, completely blocking the deadly sneak attack.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Immediately afterwards, dense gunfire erupted from all directions, countless bullets raining down, all colliding with the psychic shield. Neos's gaze narrowed slightly. He could clearly see the bullets, their heads engraved with blasphemous runes, spinning wildly on the shield's surface, unable to penetrate the psychic barrier.

"Uhhhhhhhhhh!"

A bluish-white sun appeared in the small office, its cold, blinding light making the Death Squad, equipped with cloaking generators, invisible in the air. All the heretics caught in the cold sun's light were painfully revealed, falling to the ground, twitching, and rolling around uncontrollably.

"hiss--"

The hellish metal armor of the Death Commandos emanated puffs of smoke in the light, their armor and flesh fusing into one under the dual torture of heat and extreme cold. Their tongues had long been removed by a hellish ritual, rendering them unable to utter a single sound, yet their agonized, twisted screams pierced the walls, audible even to soldiers several streets away.

Neos raised his right hand, clenched his palm slightly, and formed a large sword with his own essence, burning with golden flames. He walked forward slowly, his eyes coldly gazing at the struggling heretic at his feet.

"Pfft-"

Looking at the heretic whose armor and flesh were burned into one under the light, Neos stepped on the heretic's body and stabbed it with a sword, prying its visor off from the charred flesh amid its wailing.

Golden flames spread along the blade, instantly igniting its body. Its muscles twitched in extreme pain, and in less than three seconds, it turned into a pile of ash, leaving only a pile of twisted scrap metal.

Neos suddenly noticed the invisible generator behind it and set his sights on it, wanting to study it. He squatted down, opened the device, and unexpectedly discovered a somewhat shriveled heart hidden inside.

"This is a human heart." Neos said in a low voice. He was sure that his flames had burned away all the hellish elements in this heretic, leaving only this pure human organ.

He picked up the heart, a bluish-white light emanating from his palm. As the light touched the heart's surface, the blasphemous runes carved by Hell sizzled and were quickly purified. He raised his head, his cold eyes scanning the Death Commandos still wailing on the floor in the office, and slowly raised his greatsword.

"You damned demons!"

Neos cast a spell to seal off the building. The pale golden light in his eyes was extremely bright with anger. A cold blue-white sun was suspended above his head. The flames on his body burned quietly, but exuded a breath of destruction.

"Clap! Clap!"

He searched the corridor with an expressionless face. With each step, the golden flames in his footprints spread like a tide, burning everything tainted by the aura of hell behind him to ash. In the corridor, the bodies of the butchered Crusaders moved without a breeze, the blood fading in the flames. The hideous wounds torn by the heretics gradually healed, and their expressions of agony before death became peaceful.

"I will protect your souls," Neos whispered, a hint of mourning in his voice. He thrust his sword through the heretic hiding in the closet and lifted it aloft. Flames spread along the sword, and the heretic screamed, clawing desperately to free himself from the sword.

"Gu-ga...Woo-woo-"

"Quiet." Neos clenched his left hand, and the heretic's neck turned into charcoal along with the burning hell metal, and the struggle stopped instantly.

He continued forward with a blank expression, ferreting out the hidden Death Commandos one by one and burning them to ashes. These heretics were not without resistance. They had been trained in Hell by history's greatest killers and assassins, and traps had been crafted that could easily kill mortals.

"Ding!" A poisoned dagger stabbed from the darkness and was bounced off by the psychic shield.

"Boom!" A trip mine exploded under Neos' feet, but was swallowed by flames and did not hurt him at all.

"Bang!" A heretic jumped down from the ceiling and tried to launch a sneak attack, but was cut into two pieces by Neos' sword.

Whether it's a sneak attack, siege, or a one-on-one duel, all heretics who stand in Neos' way will only be met with a silent sword.

With just one strike, everything that stood in his way would be reduced to ash in his flames. The Death Commandos went from initially engaging in battle, to launching surprise attacks, to fleeing and hiding, fear spreading through their hearts.

To these creatures of hell, Neos has become the true god of death.

"The last one." Erling II (II) Yichanlin II

Neos stood in front of the storage room, looking at the heretic huddled in a corner, arms down, hands raised in surrender. Without hesitation, he swung his sword, and flames engulfed the heretic's body. In his final moments, a flash of understanding flashed in the heretic's eyes—he finally understood the look that had crossed the Lord of Pride's eyes when he had spoken to them about the cursed.

That's the smell of fear.

Neos took a deep breath. The cold sun above him faded, but the rage within him lingered. Sword in hand, he slowly stepped out the door, casually throwing a ball of fire behind him. The flames descended upon the fallen Crusaders and civilians, their bodies gradually emitting a soft glow. Points of light rose, merging into Neos's essence.

"From now on, I will protect their souls, and they will be with me." Neos whispered to the dark courtyard of the city hall.

"boom!!!"

At that moment, a thick, dark-red beam of light shot out from a distance without warning, carrying a destructive aura, knocking Neos and his psychic shield away! The immense force of the impact sent him crashing into the wall, piercing through several before coming to a stop.

"Cough-cough-"

Amidst the thick smoke and dust, Neos felt a sharp pain in his chest. Several ribs were broken, his throat felt sweet, and blood oozed from the corners of his mouth. The infernal spell had indeed failed to penetrate his psychic shield, but this was still reality, not the Warp, and the immense momentum he endured had caused him considerable injury.

"How's my surprise for you, Neos?"

A familiar, arrogant voice echoed from afar. Asmodeus stood on the roof of the fire station across the street, his arms folded across his chest, his robe stained with the blood of the Crusaders fluttering in the cold wind. He gazed down at Neos, who lay in the rubble, a smug smile plastered on his face.

"Your headquarters has been completely wiped out by my Death Squad, and all the clergy in the church have been transformed into War Wolf Assault Beasts using my magic. Now, those mortals who never betrayed you are probably slaughtering your people, right?