Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

They spread their wings, but before they could fly, they were cut into pieces by invisible blades.

The dark fingertips picked up the half-rotten bird's head and with a light squeeze, it broke into pieces.

……

As it turned out, Lunicia's judgment was accurate.

The criminal was sure that the villagers would not pay too much attention to the disappearance. The feeling of numbness and misery was almost condensed into substance. Even if a collective search could be launched, it would probably only be temporary. As for the guards stationed in the village, they could not be relied upon. I am afraid that they had no intention of intervening too much in this incident from the beginning, just like the rulers of the Principality of Mariai, the Grand Duke of the Ivanov family for generations, who were too lazy to intervene and too lazy to manage.

Not only did they not clean up the bloodstains, they didn't even bother to conceal their footprints. In the bushes by the riverbank, the knights easily found the footprints buried in the dead branches.

There were footprints of children, and it looked like there was more than one child. Besides, there were more footprints of adults. Judging from the size, they were all males. There were no traces of straw sandals, so they were probably wearing rough leather shoes. After a brief confusion, these footprints were neatly moving in the same direction.

The rough ground covered up the sound of their footsteps, and the knights, led by Lunicia, moved forward in the direction of their footsteps.

In the increasingly desolate woods, they gradually saw human figures.

A suspicious figure wearing a cloak with no visible face, and a girl who was surrounded, with her hands tied, and walking barefoot under the threat of a gun.

Chapter 4: Power from Heaven

In this world, everyone will encounter misfortune, and perhaps even worse, every day is probably surrounded by misfortune. The length of a day is the same, but the degree of misfortune varies.

And for the girl, today may be the most unfortunate day in her life.

The girl walks on the ground.

He walked barefoot without shoes or socks, allowing the sharp stones and weeds to cut his skin. His once smooth soles were now torn and bleeding.

Even so, she could only keep moving forward, even though her legs were dry and creaking from the long walk, she could only keep moving forward. Even though her feet were covered with wounds and every step she took would leave a footprint of blood, she could only keep moving forward.

The spear was pressed against his back, and if he stopped, he would be pierced.

It was just a crude weapon, much inferior to the exhibits in the blacksmith shop, simply made of sharpened iron lumps tied to wooden sticks. If a serious soldier or mercenary saw such a thing, they would probably laugh, after all, it was too unsightly.

However, even such a crude weapon can be used to kill people.

In this short journey of only a few kilometers, the two children with the girl had already died under this crude weapon. Even without much effort, as long as they pushed forward with their arms, those adults could easily use them to pierce the children's hearts and penetrate their chests.

Her coarse cloth clothes were cut by the spear and sword, and her flesh was pierced by the spear tip, bleeding, but she could only keep moving forward.

If you stop, you will die.

She is not a very important person to these people.

It can be replaced, it can be lost, even if there is not even one left, it is just a matter of making another trip.

So she could only walk forward with trembling, cracked and bleeding feet, under the pressure of spears and swords.

How far had she walked? The girl didn't have a clear idea. She only carried water and firewood on weekdays, and the farthest place she had been was the stream near the village. She had no idea where she was going after walking so far. To her, the places farther from the village were always dangerous places as adults said. Children who ran there would be taken away by wild beasts, so she couldn't go there, and couldn't even think about it.

So, where exactly is this place?

Her mind was in a mess, her legs began to tremble uncontrollably, and tears flowed from her eyes.

She did not notice that the surrounding scenery had changed long ago. The simply paved country roads had disappeared, and only bushes and woods remained. Although it was approaching winter, the branches were abnormally bearing bright red fruits. If you looked closely, you could see that the fruits were printed with dark swirls, which looked like human faces.

They opened their mouths wide and screamed silently.

The girl didn't notice that the trees had begun to become sparse, the bushes had become thinner, and even the grass had begun to become barren.

Instead, there are stones.

The remains of the buildings lay scattered on the ground, and those things that had been exposed to wind and sun and were no longer recognizable from their original state were now covered with moss and red, dry vines.

No one can tell when these buildings were built, after all, they have been worn away by time, leaving only ugly and bare surfaces. But it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, they just need to be there, or, even if they don't exist, it's completely fine.

The girl was pushed against a collapsed stone wall. Her coarse linen clothes were torn by spears and swords, turning into a pile of meaningless rags. The girl did not struggle or scream. She just trembled, watching the ropes that bound her hands being cut, watching her hands being spread out, and then, intense pain came from her wrists.

The bronze spike pierced his wrist and sank deep into the stone wall beneath him.

The girl didn't have time to pay attention to what was under her.

It's red.

A dull red color drew a human shape there.

The red color varies in shades, and the shapes drawn are large and small, layered one on top of the other.

The thing flashing with cold light gradually magnified in the girl's eyes, and gradually became the whole of this world.

That's the tip of the knife.

All the work was done in silence, including the last step. The victim's chest was cut open, and the still beating heart, gushing with hot blood, was taken out. Then it was divided and eaten as a gift to the divine being. The people in cloaks had no fear or guilt in their hearts, but were filled with satisfaction, looking forward to the upcoming sacred ceremony.

They all silently prayed in their hearts, please let us get closer to the children of the earth and the sacred community.

Then, the knife swung down——

Boom!

The roar of thunder and lightning shook the entire forest!

What a huge sword blade it was, wrapped in dazzling silver thunder, it directly cut the silent man in front of him, wearing a cloak and holding a weapon, into two halves!

No one stopped, except for the sacrificed girl. The people in cloaks were not shocked by the sight of their companions being torn into pieces and turned into charcoal by lightning. There was no verbal communication between them. They just drew their weapons in unison in silence, spears, one-handed swords, or daggers, all of which were covered with rust and gaps.

But that is not a simple weapon. If it was an ordinary rusty sword, why would mud keep dripping from the sword?

However, that figure showed no sign of retreating.

Lunicia merely stood guard in front of the girl, pointing the tip of her greatsword at the ground at an angle. The curved silver snake turned the earth into charcoal, showing off her might to those people in cloaks.

Not defending, not retreating, that is the starting point for accumulating strength and preparing for the next attack!

"All hands on deck!"

As he swung the giant sword, which was several inches taller than his body, he gave the order at the same time!

Swords, shields, guns, axes and hammers, weapons shining with sacred silver light fell from the sky at the same time. Those monsters who were slow to react were nailed to the ground by the attacks from high altitudes before they could even raise their weapons to defend themselves, and were cut in half from the top of their heads!

The Silent Ones seemed to be completely panicked. They waved their weapons in front of them randomly, but this method had no effect. For the Silver-Armored Knights who had already stood firm in front of them and were waiting in line, they only needed to simply copy the textbook movements that they had repeated countless times in their minds. They could easily block such a chaotic attack and then fight back with the sharp blades in their hands.

"How is it, are you okay?!"

Although the situation seemed to be going well, Lunicia seemed quite panicked.

She hurriedly pulled the bronze spike from the girl's hand, and then chanted beautiful words that sounded like music. She seemed to see the light gathering, one after another, emerging from the air and condensing on the girl's wrist. The blood that had been flowing out of the punctured artery stopped, the light was gradually shrinking, and the wound was scabbing over little by little.

The warm feeling is like a miracle from heaven.

The girl couldn't help but stop crying. She just stared with wide eyes at the scene she had never seen before.

Lunicia took off her helmet and threw it aside. Following the clanking sound, the girl raised her head.

There was an anxious yet beautiful female face that looked like it was about to cry.

She has a face that makes people feel immature and distant at first glance, but immediately feel gentle and concerned. She has brown eyes and smooth long black hair. She cannot be said to be stunningly beautiful, but just looking at that face seems to make people feel at ease and reliable.

"Big sister... who are you?"

Lunicia held the girl's hand. Although it was made of leather and steel, she could feel the warmth in her palm, which made her want to hold it tightly.

"My name is Lunicia..."

She seemed relieved and had an expression of "That's great".

"We are the Knights of Zelti—and we are here to help you!"

Chapter 5: A Broken Situation

Be it the knights or the woman with smooth black hair in front of her, everything looked so dazzling that even the girl's confused eyes were tinged with the color of hope.

"Report to the captain, the enemy has been suppressed!"

"here you go."

Lunicia reached out and helped the girl stand up from the ground, but she was still not completely free from fear and could only rely on Lunicia's support to avoid falling because of her weak legs. Although she was very worried about the situation here, Lunicia still cast her eyes to the other side first.

There, most of the cloaked men had been chopped down. Their movements were completely unprofessional, and they only futilely dyed the earth and the grass red with blood, making the fruits on the branches more colorful. The few who were still standing had also lost their weapons and were forced into the corner. The swords dripping with dust fell to the ground, and soon disappeared without a trace, and could not be found anywhere.

"Try to capture as many people alive as possible," Lunisia began to wave her hands and command the knights who formed the encirclement. "If they belong to a cult organization, those who are here are probably not the main members. Capture them and find the real base of the cultists."

"Yes!"

"We must not let them go!"

"Yes!!!"

Cultist - This term is generally used for pagans who believe in evil gods other than the Twelve Gods, who have evil tendencies that pollute human intelligence or have evil tendencies, and whose doctrines themselves are harmful.

In other words, except for the believers of Zelti, the main god of light and thunder, Levina, the goddess of night and tranquility, Alexander, the god of judgement and time, Hasar, the god of war and hunting, Heti, the goddess of farming and prosperity, Orion, the god of love and art, Solomon, the god of wisdom and creation, Shahar, the god of stars and destiny, Angus, the god of ocean and trade winds, Larima, the god of trade and balance, Nazar, the god of architecture and craftsmen, and Lucy, the goddess of death and ice and snow, other self-proclaimed believers can basically be directly identified as cultists.

After all, apart from these twelve gods, plus the former Origin Dragon and Giant King Osus, who have disappeared in history with the demise of the dragon and giant races, the other "gods" are either strange creatures, or some ordinary natural phenomena, or they can only be the so-called "dark gods".

The number is unknown, coming from the starry sky, the abyss or the bottom of the sea, they are indifferent to the believers themselves, and whether they appear or cast their power, they are often accompanied by madness and distortion...

Moreover, it will bring about "divine disaster".

These are the "Dark Gods" that the Twelve Gods expelled together before the fifth calendar, according to legend.

And these people right now are most likely cultists who believe in one of the dark gods. It is unreasonable and unjustifiable to be merciful to them.

After receiving the order, the knights began to narrow the encirclement more carefully than before. They did not point their weapons directly at the cloaked men. This was a measure to prevent the men from committing suicide by striking their swords, resulting in failure in the capture of prisoners.

Even though the situation was no longer reversible, the cultists still seemed to have no intention of surrendering in exchange for a reduced sentence. They simply huddled closer together as the encirclement narrowed, just like before, without speaking or talking, like a group of moving corpses.

However, they are just living people, and the corpses lying on the ground and the blood flowing from them can well prove this point.

In this strange atmosphere, even the silver-armored knights couldn't help but stop talking. They just gritted their teeth and narrowed the encirclement with a defensive posture.

The knights present had not seen much combat and had little experience. The previous wave of successful raids was only due to their advantage of being in the dark while the enemy was in the open. In addition, the cultists undoubtedly lacked combat experience. It was easy to deal with the villagers, women and children who had no ability to fight back, but it was quite difficult to defeat the knights who had at least received rigorous training.

puff--

In this strange silence, there was a sound like something breaking.

The sound was so slight that no one took it seriously, thinking it was simply the sound of someone stepping on something.

Puff——!

A cultist's cloak fluttered, then slid off his head, revealing the face beneath that was making the cracking sound.

The face had lost its original shape. The skin, which had long begun to rot and ulcerate, bulged like a balloon. Even the muscles, bones, nerves and eyeballs underneath expanded as if inflated, causing the head to swell strangely to more than twice its original size.

At this time, even the most inexperienced warrior could vaguely guess what was going to happen.

"Everyone fall down!"

Lunicia waved her hands anxiously to give orders, but it was too late.

puff--!

A sound like an arrow hitting leather pierced through the cultist's head, and then it burst like a balloon pierced by a needle!

This was not a simple suicide. Caught off guard, the knight closest to the cultist had his helmeted head pierced through by a dark green magic arrow shot from the cultist's skull. The helmet covered with refined steel did not seem to have any effect at all. It just pierced a hole as big as a bowl along with the head and fell down along with the twitching corpse.

"Willy!"

Lunicea screamed out the name of the fallen knight in pain, but it was no use, he had already turned into a corpse.

She glared at the remaining four cultists, watching their heads slowly swell up - normally, in this situation, she should have waved her hand and ordered everyone to leave no one alive, and get rid of those cultists before they self-destructed.

However, she picked up the greatsword again, tapped the ground with her feet, and although she was wearing heavy armor and holding a huge sword that was taller than her, she nimbly passed the knights and placed the greatsword horizontally in front of her like a shield.

puff! puff! puff! puff!

A sound like decaying leather came from above the cultists' heads. Dark green magic arrows like cannonballs burst out in a straight line, but were all blocked by the greatsword shining with lightning. Those arrows mixed with rotten blood and flesh were turned into charcoal by the shining lightning snakes after hitting the sword.

A person without a head cannot survive.

But she was not so sure. She twisted her wrist, tilted the sword, and then swung it with force, sweeping out a spinning slash that shone with silver light.

There was no sound of swords piercing into human bodies, but instead there was a crackling sound of burning. The four bodies were cut into two parts in an even and uniform manner. Their upper bodies fell smoothly from the burnt wounds, and their lower bodies immediately fell to the ground while twitching.

"These guys..."

She suddenly felt that she was a little too reckless. These corpses should have provided some clues, but if they were chopped in half, it seemed that the clues would be burnt along with them - but thinking about it carefully, after these cultists blew their heads off, not even their faces were left, as if there would be no clues left in the first place.

However, we did get some information.

For example, the other side should have a leader, and that leader is a very experienced spellcaster.

Strictly speaking, what happened just now was not self-destruction. It was more like someone had "planted" some seeds of evil magic in their heads in advance, which could be activated as long as certain conditions were met, or detonated manually.