Staring at the image captured by one of the scouts of the Catholic faction, the Supreme Pontiff Israfel slightly narrowed his eyes as a sign that his mood was not good.

Seeing this, Matthew and the others present straightened their postures. Some more anxious ones couldn’t help but caress the body of their magic staffs or the hilt of their swords while the more bloodthirsty ones directly smiled in their hearts knowing that something really interesting would happen soon.

“Inky black wings of flesh, monstrous tail, goat horns… and those strange pink pupils.” Israfel murmured with a composed and indifferent expression, “Judging by the pink aura coming from its body and assimilating it with the records of the Sacred Library I fear this creature is a vile demon master of charm, a succubus.”

The Sacred Library was the library that was hidden along with other things in the subway part of the headquarters of the Catholic Church. This library was simply too old to try to identify how old the books there were, however, the truth was that the Sacred Library was protected by very strong runes even before Israfel or the Supreme Pontiffs of the past knew of the existence of the Soul Record.

There, not only were there hundreds of valuable books that taught simple spells but there were also books that taught how to minimally use the mana that was already on Earth but was sleeping deeply. Not to mention the overwhelming amount of information and knowledge passed down from ancient eras.

It was thanks to the great and long legacy of the Catholic Church that they managed to easily suppress all their enemies at the beginning and then during the apocalypse, the Sacred Library being one of the most important.

Supreme Pontiff Israfel slowly stood up and took two steps forward. The sound of his footsteps was inaudible, as his shoes were just a pair of objects that seemed to be made of old, dry straw.

“Get everything ready to return…” Israfel formed a cross in the air using his right hand in a smooth motion before sighing, “The demons of hell believe our humanity is weak, little do they know that the Lord God has granted us the power to wipe them out once and for all.”

* * *

-Some days before the battle between Bai Zemin and the 9-Headed Immortal Dragon ended.

While the Chinese faction was at peace after experiencing a long road of constant bumps which produced no soul evolvers or survivors to rest in peace, the American faction was experiencing the baptism of fire and magic from the fierce dragons.

However, the American continent was not the only one that was strangely suffering from the baptism of a race of enemies that apparently came out from under the stones.

The faction composed of the Catholic Church was basically the ruler of all of Italy in addition to the Vatican, as they had even entered into an alliance with a Fourth Order Zombie Leader who in the past turned out to be a tremendously Catholic person. 

In fact, had it not been for unforeseen problems that arose at the last minute the Supreme Pontiff and the Legion of Holy Knights would probably have regained part of Sweden a week ago.

A week had passed since the Supreme Pontiff Israfel withdrew the Legion of Holy Knights, the strongest and considered invincible legion, back to Italy. 

It took them approximately 4 days to reach the first base in the City of Tuscany, and it was right at that moment that the demons attacked; almost as if they had been waiting for the arrival of the brightest and most powerful.

The battlefield was unleashed in Livorno, the seaside town located on the central coast of Tuscany City, Italy. 

The survivors of the base stationed in Livorno lived quite comfortable lives in the past. Under the blessing of God and the protection of his serfs, they all worked and strived to improve themselves day by day while contributing part of their passion to bring the human race back to what it once was.

They were all religious, and even the most unbelieving and atheistic of them all began to believe at least a little bit in the Lord of Heaven after the holy mages promulgated the word of God as well as the exploits of the Supreme Pontiff and the rest of the Lord’s closest serfs; this kind of approach proved to be very good for the Catholic Church faction, it was practically a kind of brainwashing of utmost effectiveness.

With unstoppable and overwhelming victories since Day 1, taking back territory after territory while driving out vile creatures and saving innocents, the survivors of each of the Catholic Church’s bases were fully confident in their hearts that they would be fine as long as they put their faith and heart in the Lord.

However, that blinding and unwavering faith showed cracks for the first time when the race of demons attacked.

From the island over 400 kilometers off the coast with Livorno, the demons used their wings or unnaturally advanced ships to cross the ocean. They charged toward the mainland with seemingly unmatched confidence. 

The troops of the Catholic Church were naturally not intimidated by the bloodthirsty thrust with which their enemies appeared. They had been preparing for this moment for the past few days, so the demons could not surprise them but were greeted with magic and sharp blades.

The legion stationed there was composed not only of troops from the main Livorno base but also 20% of the troops from 5 other surrounding bases. Totaling over 80.000 soul evolvers and approximately 270.000 military troops armed to the teeth with state-of-the-art technology, fighting against the vile demons for 3-4 days would be a piece of cake.

Everyone was sure that the Catholic Church troops would withstand the demons’ assault for the few days that the Legion of Holy Knights needed to arrive with the strongest soul evolvers of the entire faction, which would lead without major inconveniences to the crushing defeat of the demons.

Or so the Catholic Church, including the Supreme Pontiff Israfel, thought.

However, the reality was cruel.

In less than 24 hours, the 80.000 soul evolvers among which there were 2 Third Order powers and over 5000 Second Order powerhouses were slaughtered until not a single one of them was left standing. Approximately 80% of the armed soldiers fell into pools of blood or exploded without leaving a trace behind, and the other 20% were sent to the island where the demons came from using a large transport ship.

The survivors of the base closest to the battlefield were still waiting for the announcement of victory as they continued with their Cotian lives as if nothing had happened, but when the first magical explosion caused by the shot from one of the cannons stationed on the wall resounded it was as if the waltz of death was finally unleashed upon them.

No one knew who was the first to scream at the appearance of a blue-skinned demon with goat’s legs and a horse’s tail suspended in the sky with wings of flesh, but everyone remembered until the last second the merciless smile of the demon as it swooped down to the ground and began his massacre.

One… two… three… In a matter of minutes, the entire base was plagued by the laughing demons as humans ran for their lives and the few soul evolvers left behind to maintain order were slaughtered.

It was a total bloodbath, one that until now many survivors were only seeing for the first time as thanks to the swift reaction of the mighty warriors of the catholic church they did not have to suffer at the beginning of the end of the world as it was known.

However, this was not the true end, because even before the news of the fall of the front line army as well as the fall of the first fortress of Livorno could spread outward from the town to other parts of Tuscany, the demons moved with lightning speed and as if they already knew where all the human bases were they launched attack after attack; base after base.

With most of Livorno’s troops stationed on the coast and falling back against the demons, the other bases that did not expect such an ending suffered much more miserable fates than the first. 

It was much easier for the demons to crush the other human bases, and in only three days they had not only completely demolished Livorno but also 80% of the bases in Pisa, and 60% of the human bases stationed in Grosseto.

Such news was impossible to hide, so when other survivors learned of the continuing defeats the Catholic Church was suffering they naturally began to stop praying. Some of them protested silently, others did so verbally, while the most afflicted or frightened ended up being thrown into the dungeon or burned alive in bonfires as they were apparently possessed by the darkness of demons.

However, faith was a truly powerful source of power to control the masses; this was proven in the past, and in this new era it happened again.

After a whole week of traveling practically without any rest from Sweden to Tuscany, the Legion of Holy Knights that was composed of the strongest soul evolvers of all the other legions that made up the main force of the Catholic Church finally made their first contact with the demon race.

The first clash between the demons and the Legion of Holy Knights helped the terrified and shaken upper-echelon survivors calm down a bit, but what restored much of those cracks that had spread over the faith of all of them was a high-definition video recorded by one of the soul evolvers on the battlefield.

* * * * * * *

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