Chapter 180 (2): The Winner Has the Final Say

Once he entered the Londan head office of the Church of Moonlight, Wayne’s sense of smell could no longer act as his guide. Filomina had concealed her scent, preventing him from smelling anything. He could only explore the churches at the peak of the mountain without any directions. He landed by the nearest one and turned around to make Mona take the lead.

It was something Mona had long gotten used to. She unleashed the sacred lance halfway, breaking down the front door of the church with a white pillar of light. She felt no guilt about it since it wasn’t a church of her faith.

Wayne trailed after Mona as they tore through five churches. They didn’t see a single soul.

Since the Church of Moonlight wasn’t allowed to expand its influence in the past, there were few members stationed in Londan. It made sense for their base to be quite empty, but it shouldn’t be completely so.

Boom!

From a distance came an explosive noise. The rooftop of a white church was blasted off with flames and black smoke rising into the air. Mona picked up Wayne and soared into the sky, flying to the church that had just exploded. From above, they saw the two parties confronting each other.

With guns and swords, the dozen mages of the Church of Moonlight fought the twin mages. Facing their own people, the twins were pulling their punches and struggling, while the enemies seemed to have no qualms about aiming to kill.

“What’s going on? An internal conflict?”

From above, Wayne attempted to summon fire and wind elements, but couldn’t. Although the waterfall was right beside him, the water elements were still sparse in this area. Resigned, he tried summoning vines to sweep the floor, eyes glinting with green light. Again, his magic was suppressed.

He couldn’t believe it. Even though they belonged to one alliance, the Church of Moonlight forbade the use of Nature magic in its base, wary of their allies like they were enemies. How was this disorganized band of people going to defeat the alliance of Death and Darkness?

“Mona, take them down. But go lighter and don’t kill anyone.”

“Who should I target, Boss?”

“The side with more people.”

Wayne narrowed his eyes. He had good eyesight and recognized the dozen Moonlight mages from the airport. They should’ve been Filomina’s loyal subordinates, but they turned on her for some reason.

An internal discord... had to be a demon’s doing!

Mona would attack whoever Wayne told her to attack. Holy light extended from her unfurling white wings. The feathers took concrete shapes and rained down on the mages below, the dense arrays of feathers covering every corner. The ground rumbled whenever white light struck.

The mages were all elite fighters trained by the headquarters, each with their own repertoire of skills. They conjured a barrier with joint effort and endured the relentless bombardment.

Wayne landed and walked up to the twins.

The two women usually gave him the cold shoulder. As outsiders, they could tell that Wayne wasn’t a good man, but their warnings fell on deaf ears since the High Reverend had lost herself in his sweet words, suffering from an intelligence debuff.

“Virna, Diede, why are you fighting your own people? Where’s the High Reverend?”

The twins exchanged a glance. Although they hated him, they shouldn’t ignore him when he had come all the way here to help. One of them said, “The High Reverend said that they were enthralled by a demon and told us to keep them busy. She headed to the Cathedral of Full Moon on her own.”

“Where is it?”

“The other side of the waterfall. It’s the church marked with a full moon.”

“Understood.” Wayne nodded. He sent a telepathic message to Mona, telling her to help Filomina. He would be right there after dealing with these lackeys.

Once Mona took flight and flew to the other side of the cliff, Wayne turned to one of the twins. “Virna, right? I’ll take care of everything here. Just rush forward and don’t look back.”

It was Diede.

They didn’t say anything. Since they didn’t trust Wayne, they insisted on carrying out the High Reverend’s order.

“Alright, just give me a minute.”

Wayne huffed. If he weren’t curious about the twins’ physiology and hoping to win favors so that they would let him study them, he wouldn’t have bothered with these two thick-headed women.

Boom!

He stomped on the ground and charged forward, leaving only a line of afterimages as he vanished from the twins’ sight.

After reaching Silver rank and experiencing the various ways of restricting and sealing a mage’s power, he had grown to trust his fists more and more. Mana could be limited, but not life essence. At the end of the day, a mage’s most trusted weapon was their fists!

The dozen mages sensed his approach. Charging up their gun with mana bullets, they aimed and shot at him.

The rapid-fire barrage glowed and shifted, adjusting trajectories automatically to cover the entire area Wayne occupied, preventing him from fleeing left or right. He braved the hail of bullets and kept charging. The bullets penetrated him, but his regeneration power was so potent that the bullet holes mended instantly, making it look as if he had phased through the barrage.

The twins watched in confusion. They hadn’t detected any mana disturbance from the pretty boy. If it wasn’t magic, it had to be physical power. Thus...

Is he just like us?

Ignoring the dense shots, Wayne charged into the group of enemies. The elite mages switched to their swords without hesitation.

All of them were extraordinary fighters with great battle experience and mastery over faith magic. Facing a powerful foe, they went all in, their faces gaining graceful elven features. The Life Magic enhanced their life essence, buffing their strength and speed at differing degrees.

But Wayne was faster and stronger!

Bam!

He suddenly sped up, moving ten meters with a single step. Swatting away the longsword that was slowly inching toward him with one hand, he hit a pretty elven face squarely with a charged punch.

His raw power compressed air and burst it; the resulting violent current wrinkled the elven face. Panic surfaced in the mage’s eyes, and the next second, she flew off her feet and slammed into the white church like a cannonball.

Swirling currents ran wild. In the center of the group, aerial explosions occurred in all directions. Following every rumble, broken stones scattered and fell, and human cannonballs flew into the white church one by one, without fail.

When the last elven face got disfigured by Wayne’s punch, the church finally caved under the abuse. The wall collapsed, burying the elite fighters under.

The ground around Wayne was covered in craters and rubble. Pulling his hands back, he said in a leisurely tone, “I only put them to sleep. They won’t die.”

“...”

The twins said nothing. Without thanking him or praising him, they moved around him and rushed forward.

“If you just compliment me, you may steal the High Reverend’s man. You’ll never be anything but someone’s subordinate when you don’t have any ambition,” Wayne mumbled in complaint, following right after them. Since he was new here, he let his two teammates take the lead like a gentleman.

The twins didn’t explore the churches in the area, but instead headed straight to the peak with agile steps.

The moon above was growing bigger. Wayne couldn’t help but glance at it. The fake moon was projected here by magic to amplify the faith of Moonlight. He made an educated guess that it was responsible for the restrictions on the other faith magics.

While he pondered if he should blow up the moon, the twins reached the edge of the cliff and stepped onto the bridge made of moonstones, rushing toward the cliff across the valley. Suddenly, a mage in a white robe blocked their way. It was Priestess Dorrin of the Church of Moonlight, a Gold-rank mage.

Using Life Magic to turn herself elven, she had recovered her youthful beauty. Her long blonde hair ran down her long white robe. Gentle moonlight poured down on her hair and delicate face, creating a silver rim that made her seem even more graceful and gentle.

Without wasting their breath, the twins raised their guns and opened fire.

The Gold-rank mage expanded her vitality barrier to block the mana bullets easily. With a point, she transformed flowing moonlight into cold blades, covering a large area.

Rumble!

The arched stone bridge collapsed. Wayne and the twins fell into the waterfall, the force of the currents plunging them deep into the pond.

Having dealt with the insects, Dorrin turned around and made it toward the white church. Her gaze was deep and determined, unlike that of the dozen unlucky mages enthralled by the demon.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three figures detonated mana to step on air, returning to the broken bridge. A bleeding gash was left on Virna’s face. Moonlight shone upon the wound, prompting its recovery. Meanwhile, Diede fared much worse. Her right arm had been cut off, and she didn’t have the ability to regenerate a limb. She settled for stopping the bleeding. Losing an arm was nothing!

“Here, your arm.” Wayne handed her the missing arm from behind, patting her on the chest with it. “You should take care of yourself better, Virna[1]. Don’t just jump to the conclusion that you should risk your life.”

He looked at Dorrin and said, “Leave her to me. Just charge forward and don’t look back.”

Diede thanked him quietly, putting her arm back with her older sister’s help. This time, the twins followed his instruction and headed straight to the Cathedral of Full Moon, ignoring Dorrin.

Standing before the broken bridge, Wayne frowned at Dorrin, Kristen’s adoptive mother. He could hear the rushing water behind him.

“Mr. Wayne, this is an internal affair of the Church of Moonlight. You shouldn’t get involved.”

“I’m not interested in the Church of Moonlight, but a demon...” He paused. “It’s my business!”

1. This is Wayne mistaking Diede for Virna again. ☜