The Kind of Evil

‎Xena and Thalior could barely stand their ground, their bodies trembling, making clanking and rattling sounds of their armor. They could barely catch a breath before an explosion shockwave knocked them down.

‎Novia was on her knees, panting and covered in sweat. Her whole body was completely numb and spent from using powerful spells. She slowly looked up and watched the knights getting bombarded by massive fireballs, killing them.

‎The knights fought until their last breath without a single regret. They were no match against the Corrupted and the revolutionary knights at the same time. The cold winter night began to bite their bones the moment they collapsed, and they slowly losing their consciousness.

‎The camp, which was covered in snow, had become a sea of blood. The ground was no longer covered in snow, it was covered in dead bodies. The night was filled with screams and growls, but it became completely silent.

‎Archbishop Theresa carefully walked toward Novia, trying so hard not to step on the corpses. She looked around, and there were only a hundred or fewer knights left while the enemy still had hundreds and close to a thousand, not to mention the Corrupted.

"Your Excellency... you need to run while you still can..." Novia said under her breath as she looked up at Theresa.

"No, it would be the greatest sin to abandon humanity, Lady Novia. I'll stay here, and I'll do my best to help," Theresa smiled as she shook her head and placed her left hand on Novia's shoulder. "I'll do something..." she muttered as she frowned and looked at the sea of corpses around her.

Novia was furious with herself for being weak and unable to live up to her master's expectations. She didn't know what Lenin would think of her when she found out that her disciple had failed to protect the people.

‎"Oh, the almighty God, please give us strength..." Archbishop Theresa clasped her hands on her knees amidst the chaos. "I'm willing to sacrifice my life for these good people. Please, protect us, God. This will be my first and last request to you, oh almighty God..." She shed tears as she pressed her hands to her forehead.

Novia turned her head to look at Theresa, clenching her fists and gritting her teeth, ashamed of her inability to protect such a person as Theresa. She slowly lowered her head, unable to watch how Theresa begged God to protect her and everyone. Suddenly, she felt a gentle breeze that wobbled her body, and when she lifted her head, she saw a white translucent barrier go through her.

‎Archbishop Pavius witnessed Theresa's power for the first time. A barrier of divine energy was released and expanded rapidly. The Corrupted were pushed away by the barrier, and they got badly injured by it.

‎Nobody knew outside the Holy Nation about Archbishop Theresa because she was born and raised in the temple. She was different from the other priests and always spent her time alone. She had no friends, but she had one close friend, and it was the Saint herself, Astrea Angelis.

‎Archbishop Pavius heard it from the Saint herself about Theresa's power. She said that Theresa could save thousands of lives, something that only a Saint could do. He finally understood why Astrea treasured Theresa so much and kept her by her side.

‎The dying knights inside the divine barrier felt the warmth seep through their bodies. The exhaustion and the wounds disappeared within their bodies. Surprised by what was happening, they all stood up to look at the barrier.

‎Novia's stamina and Mana were replenished in almost an instant. She was shocked by Theresa's power and knew that she might be able to change the tide with it. A second chance to prove to herself that she was better than before.

‎"Your Excellency! Thank you..." Novia turned around to look at Therese who was still kneeling and her hands clasped on her forehead.

‎Theresa didn't move a muscle or respond to Novia's words, which worried Novia.

‎"Your Excellency?" Novia muttered as she slowly reached her hand to Theresa's hands. However, she noticed the Mana around Theresa was thinning rapidly.

This content is taken from fгeewebnovёl.com.

‎Novia touched Theresa's hand, and she was utterly shocked when she felt the coldness in Theresa's hand. She slowly reached Theresa's wrist to check her pulse, but there was nothing. Her eyes began to water, shocked by the fact that Theresa died for her and the others.

‎"No... No!" Novia was shaken by what she had just discovered. Her eyes trembled as tears fell to her chin.

‎All the knights, including Thalior and Xena who had just recovered and healed by the divine barrier realized what had happened. The guilt and the shame were gnawing at them from within, but they knew they couldn't change the past.

‎"Brothers... Sisters..." A knight leaned down to grab his sword.

‎The knights around him slowly turned their heads toward him, both the knights from the South Neva Union and the Servil faction. They stared silently at him and waited for him to continue speaking.

‎"The moment life escapes, death will come to us again..." The knight said as he held his sword and stared at his reflection on the blade. His weary armor and blood on it reflected the pain and the fate he went through. "This second chance, we don't deserve it, and yet we can't waste it..." he muttered as he wiped the blood off the blade.

"This second chance will determine how long we will live before we embrace the cold of death once again..." The knight stared at the enemy in front of him. "Her Excellency... her body, we must protect it at all costs. Our lives belong to her now, and with that being said..." he readied his stance, gripping the sword tightly. "We will meet her and thank her for giving us such a gift..." he said as he gritted his teeth, determined to fight to the death once more.

All the knights looked at their bloody hands, and their broken armor was evidence of their inevitable death. They were brought to life, but they knew they had failed, and they resonated with the knight's words. Their lives were no longer theirs, and they couldn't escape death, only prolonged it a little bit more.

"Death..." A knight leaned down and grabbed his weapon from the ground. "We will thank Her Excellency soon, brothers, sisters..." he smiled widely as he readied his stance.

All the knights nodded and leaned down to grab their weapons, beginning to ready their stances as they stared at the enemy. They never thought to face death once again, didn't fear them, it was close to a relief, something that words couldn't describe.

Now that the dying knights had risen from their dying state, the numbers of the revolutionary knights and the two factions had become even. Although the numbers were even, the experience, the morale, and the skill of each individual outmatched the revolutionary knights.

The moment the divine barrier disappeared, the enemy charged toward them with the Corrupted. The South Neva Union and the Servil faction knights were fearless; they all laughed and smiled to welcome their enemies.

Novia flew up high into the sky and created multiple magic formations around her. She didn't have time to grieve, but she didn't try to ignore it. She mixed all the raw emotions within her to give her the strength to fight. Those raw emotions and the Mana around her turned into sparks of lightning. She then spread her arms and fingers, releasing bolts of lightning toward the enemy lines.

Each bolt of lightning was enough to kill them before they could feel the pain. She zapped dozens of knights and mages each second. She used everything she got at that moment, didn't care if she would collapse afterward, because she knew that it was the moment to determine whether they would win or lose.

The Corrupted were either exploded, disintegrated, or ripped apart by the lightning bolts. The enemy's knights were terrified by Novia's power as if they were fighting a thunder God. Not to mention, they were also facing knights who didn't fear pain or death anymore.

Thalior and Xena joined the fight from the side, ambushing the enemy line. It was a massacre, and they didn't care about anything but eliminating those who didn't belong to the South Neva Union or the Servil faction. There was no order, only soldiers who fought to cherish the second life while it lasted, which was given to them.

Novia changed her focus to the imps in the sky and began to zap them with lightning bolts. The imps couldn't cast any more fireballs as they were trying to dodge and run away from the lightning.

"Don't run you little piece of shit!" Novia shouted as she pointed her hands up into the sky.

Novia changed the calm night into a cloudy and even darker night, brewing a storm with her Mana and the lightning bolts. She then created a massive magic formation above her and turned the weather into her ally. The moment thunder rumbled, she swung her hands down, releasing the real lightning bolts down, striking the enemy lines in the distance infinitely as long as she kept feeding the magic formation with Mana.

The imps could no longer dodge the unpredictable and finally got hit until they turned into ashes.

"Just a little bit more..." Novia grunted as she watched dozens of lightning bolts strike the ground per second. " Just a little bit..." She gritted her teeth as she watched the enemy run away, retreating.

Novia could still hold it for a few more seconds, but suddenly her magic formation and the storm disappeared in a matter of seconds. She was shocked, and that was when she saw a being floating in the distance, wearing a worn-out dark gray robe with its long arms and legs.

"So you finally show your face..." Novia chuckled in disbelief. "You demon... bastard..." she muttered before she lost consciousness and free-fell.

Xena, who saw Novia, immediately ran toward her and caught her before she fell to the ground. She carefully put down Novia, and then looked up at the being in the sky as Thalior and the remaining knights gathered behind her.

"We will stand our ground here..." Thalior looked over her shoulder at Theresa's dead body, still kneeling, and her hands clasped on her forehead. "We will fight... we have no choice but to fight..." he muttered.

All the knights nodded and readied their stances with their weapons ready, staring at the being in the sky and another thousand of the Corrupted below him on the ground. The Prime Lord brought the dead back to life, turning them into Corrupted, adding more force under their command.