546

kophzi

After the cathedral hall was filled to the brim, and the rustling and shuffling noises finally settled down into their own quiet prayers, the temperature of the hall seemed to drop, quite drastically at that. And whilst none of the late arrivals physically touched the four at all, a slow and penetrative cold breeze slathered upon the backs of their necks, chilling them and causing them to squirm.

"Jack? Jack is that you? What are you doing? We have to go! Get up!"

Hearing the familiar voice, the templar situated at the rear faltered, his mind went blank in confusion as he failed to recall the scripture. "D-Daniel?" Unable to prevent himself from slipping, he just about mumbled his companion's name in surprise and confusion.

"Yes! It's me! What are you doing? Get up!"

Within the templar's mind, as if it were yesterday, he recalled the death of a man who had been through years of training alongside him, a brother in arms who was cleaved in two, during the last defensive siege. 

"My sweet little baby! Help me! Help me please!"

"Son!? Answer your mother this bloody instant! NOW!"

As he refused to answer the voices, more and more familiar voices began to drum away at him from all directions, making it increasingly hard to focus upon praying. And whilst he knew that them being here was nigh impossible, as one was dead, another was long since missing, another was supposed to be living in safety back in the capital city of Del Lagos, Einhoren. He failed to keep his curiosity in check, peeping open a single eye to peek, to observe his surroundings.

One thousand humans, dressed in gothic black veils, robes and capes, were all staring right back at him, meeting his gaze with their own lifeless and soulless eyes. Cold shivers assaulted his back as the voices that surrounded him halted abruptly, filling the hall with a deafening silence. All one thousand of them, with bony-cheeks, dark-black eyebags and deathly-pale skin, began to smile, revealing the rotting and decaying set of teeth they all sported.

Their lips stretched further than humanly possible, tearing through their skin like tissue. Their brows dipped as if the templar had spoken words blasphemous to their religion and beliefs, fury and wrath leaked from their soulless-eyes as black-tears. Their shoulders shivered in both rage and excitement, bones crackling and jittering as their breathing intensified.

Frozen in fear, terror flooded the templar's mind, as he found himself unable to close his eyes, let alone blink. The gentle embrace of golden light began to fade from his lone position, feeling the deathly-cold trickle across his skin, the smell of rot and decay filling his lungs, he almost called out to both his captain and the saintess for help, but found himself without a voice.

The very instant the golden pillar of light died, leaving him to only the dim illumination afforded by the remaining three, he launched himself down to pluck up the dagger, only to have his hand caught by a child that crushed his wrist as if it were a mere child's game. Laughing and giggling, watching as the others instantly swarmed his position like locusts, yanking his shoulders back and upon the bench, locking his arms in position as teeth, tongue, fingers and nails partook of his flesh. Delivering a slow and agonizing death as life left him like a candle light upon meeting a sudden gale.

His very last second, he could only wish that it could've been spent looking at the saintess.

..

After a series of weird noises, the shuffling, the screeching and mumbling that utilized words alien to them, the remaining three of the party were none the wiser. Having returned to their seats, the one thousand entities resumed their individual prayers as if they were religiously devoted, whilst occasionally peeping their own eyes open and checking upon the remaining three humans. Desperate for their smell, the sound of their beating heart beat, to partake of their flesh and the drinking of their essence.

"Robin!? What are you doing? I found the prince, let's go!"

Robin Sol's pointy ears twitched and perked up as she heard the familiar voice. Almost reacting to the warm and tender voice, she rose from her position of prayer, but kept her eyes closed as she awaited for further instructions.

"What are you doing? This is no time to rest, I've got the prince, let's get out of here prompto!"

Whilst she couldn't see it, the half-elf's face was just inches away from an entity that was licking and slathering its saliva upon the golden pillar of light that separated the living from the dead. As if it could taste her scent, the carbon dioxide she breathed out, it kept licking and kissing the shiny barrier as others began to join him from all directions. Climbing over the benches, climbing upon each other, uncaring of their crooked spines as they all endeavoured to get a taste of the half-elf who continued to twitch her ears in patience.

She couldn't understand it, the voice sounded exactly just as Asai's would, but something felt amiss.

..

"Istvan Deuce, by the heavens! I knew you would somehow escape and come to my rescue! You were always the most capable and reliable of my men! Well done!"

Istvan choked upon his prayers, having been intently focused on the scriptures he had spoken upon a daily basis, he felt extremely confused as he cocked his neck up.

"Istvan, what are you doing? Let us leave this place at once! We have enemies to defeat, allies to save, and a kingdom to return to."

"M-my prince!?" The voice sounded exactly like Victor Del Lagos', but something was amis. The man's heart wasn't pulling him onwards like prior, which only left him with more unanswered questions.

"Yes, my knight. It is I. Stop wasting time, get up!"

"Your Highness, what is the code we decided upon? Before we were separated." The templar waited patiently, trying to ignore the thumping of his heart, as he prayed and hoped that the voice speaking to him was genuine.

"Goddess Loha wills it."

Silence prevailed for a while, before Istvan responded.

"There was no such code. Your Highness..."

Ignoring the fake, Istvan resumed his prayers as dozens of entities bashed, clawed, kicked and bit at the golden-barrier that protected him.

..

As for the third templar, who was still miraculously alive. He was shivering within his seat as he ignored the voices that tempted him, that enticed him into joining them. The screams, the shouts, the pleas and the cries, he ignored them all as his nails dug into his skin, reminding him that he was still alive, retaining both his mind and faith as he continued to believe in the goddess.

kophzi

So, I revisited the pre-100 chapters, and many readers were vocal about having Victor Del Lagos instantly die, do you guys still feel that way? (I feel like they wanted the typical trope of a random noble antagonizing/angering our MC, and instantly dying to show how amazing and OP the MC is.)

And whilst I think that Asai's climb to power was too rushed/too fast, apparently it was still too slow? And people wanted him to advance much quicker and just become OP, and one shot everything? (That's the comments/messages I'm getting.)

Someone give me their opinion please.