Beryl and the Pope were focused on their attack on the Royal Castle. Currently, they were stalemating the Royal Army, not being able to push them back, but not being pushed back themselves.
Then it happened. A loud boom rocked their ears, shook the ground, and the sky split open as a volley of laser beams rained down onto the land.
Everyone paused, whether it was the royal army or the church of Arion, nobody moved, and simply watched how each beam of light completely decimated their intended targets.
It didn’t take long for the Pope to catch on to what those targets were. "No...It can’t be! This...This has to be a dream!"
But reality offered no mercy. He could only watch in helpless horror as the beam of light tore through the barrier he had personally woven around the church, shattering it like glass. A heartbeat later, a thunderous explosion engulfed the sacred ground, and the house of his god was consumed in fire, the blast rippling across that corner of the kingdom like a judgment from the heavens.
Every single member of the church stood there, eyes wide as they watched their church burn. They couldn’t move. How could they? Everything they stood for and the place where they worshiped was completely destroyed. That would send anyone into shock.
"How could this have happened?"
"Did...Did we do something wrong? Are we sinners?"
"Why was our sacred grounds destroyed by the heavens themselves?"
Everyone lost their morale, their will to fight. They dropped their weapons and fell to their knees. They prayed, begged, and pleaded for answers. Why were they abandoned? What did they do to deserve this? They asked those questions, but no answer arrived.
The pope was furious. His hands were shaking, and his face was blood red. He clenched his fists while gritting his teeth, and he mumbled something under his breath. "Zion!" He growled.
He knew he wasn’t abandoned. He knew his god wouldn’t forget all the things he did in Arion’s name. But because of the war, he had put Zion’s presence to the back of his mind, not thinking he would do something .
"That fucking bastard!" He yelled.
"P-Pope! What happened? Why was the church destroyed?" Beryl asked, worried that the church might have angered Arion.
"Zion! That’s what happened. He did this! I’m certain of it!"
Before Beryl could respond, he and the pope heard their men getting slaughtered like animals.
Since they had lost their morale, the Royal Army took the opportunity to wipe them out once and for all. They spared no one and were completely brutal.
The church members barely fought back. Some accepted their deaths, while others clung on to the hope that they wouldn’t be abandoned and forgotten by their god. But at the end of the day, it was futile.
After an hour, 95 percent of the Church’s forces were completely wiped out.
"We have to retreat!" The pope yelled, stabbing a knight in the chest with a blade of silver holy power.
"What? Hell no! If we retreat, then I’ll basically be forfeiting myself from this war! I won’t be able to claim the throne!" Beryl argued
"Dammit boy! Can’t you see that we’ve lost?! At this rate, we’ll die!"
"I’d rather die than retreat like a coward!"
’Then you can die here alone.’ The pope thought to himself angrily. ’I’ll survive, make my way to the Valkoria Kingdom, where the Divine Apostle of Arion is. I’ll inform him about Zion and make a plan to kill that bastard!’
Just as the pope was about to make his move for an escape, golden light rained down on the remaining Arion members, killing them all in one swift blow.
"Well, this is a good look on you." Zion smiled as he floated in the air, slowly making his way onto the ground.
"You!" The pope gnarled in anger. "You did this, didn’t you?! You’re the one who destroyed our church!"
Zion didn’t even deny it. "Sure did. Decided to do a bit of remodeling. How do you like what I’ve done with the place? I think it looks great. Gold is way better than silver, am I right?"
"I’ll fucking kill you!" The pope launched himself at Zion only to get bitch-slapped back to the ground.
"I wish I could see the look on your face after I turn this kingdom into a heaven for Luminera. But knowing that you’ll be tortured in hell does make me feel a bit relieved. Well, nice chat. You can die now."
The pope tried to get one last word in, but it was too late by then. A golden spear made of holy power pierced right through his neck. He didn’t die instantly, but a slow, painful death. He tried to reach out to Zion, tried to use his power to get one last hit in, but his arms betrayed him, and after a bit, he died, not even having the luxury of his eyes closing.
"Z-Zion." Beryl gulped, slowly backing away.
"Huh? Oh, I forgot you were here. You’re coming with me. I already know Crystal will want to take her anger out on you."
"What are you-" Golden light wrapped around Beryl’s body, including his mouth, and he collapsed to the ground.
Zion then turned his attention to the commander of the Royal Army. "You can go ahead and tell Amber what transpired here. I’m sure she will be curious to know why this battle ended rather quickly, not that she would complain about it."
"Y-Yes, sir." The commander turned to his men. "All troops, rejoice! We’ve won today’s battle!"
Leaving the Castle, Zion started flying back to his house while carrying Beryl using his aura force.
’Zion.’ Luminera called out.
"What’s up?" He answered.
’Place a holy barrier around the capital.’
And so he did. Entering his Apostle form, he raised his hand, pouring every ounce of holy power into it, and directed it to the sky.
Once the light reached a certain altitude, it expanded, drooped downward, and after a few minutes, a holy barrier was erected around the kingdom’s capital city.