Chapter 169: “Stop the heretic!”

“Stop the heretic!”

“Kill them all!”

Bang!

The bullet flew past Yuri’s shoulder. Because of the distance between them, their weapon was not very accurate. So all it did was cut her skin a little.

‘Hm?’

But at that moment, Yuri felt something was off and her eyes narrowed.

The place where she was injured by the gun was not healing naturally.

‘This might be a little dangerous.’

She glanced at Odin, but he seemed to be doing a good job at dodging the flying bullets agilely.

Then again, the number of attacks flying his way was considerably lower than the ones concentrated on Yuri.

It seemed the people on the ground didn’t think of Odin as a heretic. But he had completely transformed into a crow so that made sense. Furthermore, since Odin was now a crow, his body was smaller than Yuri’s which meant he was less likely to be exposed to danger.

This is why Yuri instructed Leo to remain as he was, instead of enlarging when they stepped into the fray.

If Leo transformed, his body would immediately a beehive riddled with bullets.

Of course, if they were normal weapons, they wouldn’t be able to make a scratch on Leo’s enlarged body, but weapons made with alchemy seemed to be an exception.

“Capture Dominic Crawford!”

While listening to the shouting coming from below, Yuri avoided another bullet and checked out the situation.

On the other side of the field, she could see the Salvatore Head and Tatiana trying to capture Dominic Crawford, the culprit behind this incident.

Because of this, many of the knights who were attacking Yuri changed directions to protect their liege.

Bang! Baang!

Loud noises burst through the area, but the Salvatore Head and Tatiana seemed relatively unharmed. This seemed to be because of the alchemy-made protective devices that they were both carrying.

At any rate, it became easier for Yuri to move while they were attacking each other.

Shuuu!

Yuri lightly threw herself down and landed on the platform.

“It’s a heretic! Don’t let them escape!”

She was currently wearing a mask to cover a face since someone, like Kalian, might recognize her. Nevertheless, it was still dangerous to clash against them directly.

Pak!

Yuri bent to avoid the sword swing her way then she shot out a thread from her fingertips.

“Don’t shoot!”

Someone yelled towards one of their fellow guards with a gun.

There was one thing that became easier once she moved to the platform. Since Yuri was the middle of the knights, they could no longer use their guns. Because there was a very high chance of hitting an ally when they shot.

“Ack!”

Clatter!

One knight had their back to Yuri because they were dealing with the Salvatore soldiers and while they were off their guard, their sword was caught in Yuri’s thread and dragged towards her.

Yuri grabbed the sword and ran to the cage Leo was locked in.

Caw! Caw!

“Argh!”

Meanwhile, Odin flew with his crows and threw feathers all over to cover for Yuri.

“A-Arachne!”

“Get back!”

Leo was quick on the uptake and moved to the back of the cage.

Yuri immediately brought down the sword in her hand.

Clang!

Sparks flew from where the hit connected.

Yuri furrowed her brows.

Judging from what she saw last time, she figured it could be damaged by similar alchemy weapons but…perhaps that was only possible because Kalian was the person wielding the weapon.

The iron bars of the cage were only scratched instead of broken.

Yuri’s gaze turned to the guns.

Baang!

Right then, a bullet flew past Yuri from someone who was seemingly trying to shoot her and it hit the lock of Leo’s cage.

Yuri paused for a moment.

Creak.

Sure enough, the bullet was strong. Of course, this bullet wasn’t the same as the bullet considered general knowledge in her previous life.

The lock broke and the door squeaked open.

“Kying!”

Leo jumped out of the cage.

“Leo, leave first!”

Yuri squeezed the sword that she was just about to throw away. Then while avoiding the knights, she began to break the chains to the other mutants who were trembling in a corner on the platform.

Crackle! Thud!

“The heretics are escaping! Catch them!”

At that moment, a beautiful song from somewhere began to fill the air.

~Lalalala~

Those who heard it suddenly lose all the strength in their body.

Clatter!

Some let go of their weapons as their bodies relaxed with comfort.

The effect of Siren’s song was the same on mutants like Yuri, but they still had more freedom to move than normal humans.

Swish!

Yuri capitalized on the opportunity and threw a net towards the group of mutants.

The crows flying in the sky grabbed that net in their mouths.

The net carrying mutants was raised into the air as the crows began to carry it away.

Right then, a knight, who had been trying to shoot Yuri, lost power in his legs and stumbled. Then he pulled the trigger by mistake and a scream rang out over his head.

“Kyaaa!”

Bang!

The direction of the bullet was changed due to wind and flew straight at Yuri. Yuri also felt the wind and turned around to look.

* * *

~Lalalala~

Meanwhile, Siren was diligently singing while hidden from sight.

Her song had the ability to cause a spike in the listener’s combat ability or relax in tension in their mind and body.

However, the length of time in which she could input her ruin’s power into a song was very short. In addition, she was limited in how often she could use it because of the aftereffects.

Because of this, Siren normally didn’t like this ability. But she was ready to endure any aftereffects as long as she could help Arachne.

~Lalalala~

If Siren had things her way, she would have loved to move alongside Arachne, but combat was not her specialty.

So she was left with singing while hiding in the square’s clock tower.

Step.

“…!”

Right then, she suddenly felt a presence behind her. Siren spun around, so startled that her heart almost popped out of her chest.

“La-Lakis Avalon?”

A man had appeared behind Siren at some point in time, and stood there, his golden hair fluttering in the wind.

He looked down at Siren with blue eyes akin to a cold winter lake then he said something Siren didn’t understand.

“It should be right about now.”

“Huh, what…a, aaaaah!”

Lakis suddenly picked Siren up by her dress and threw her out of the clock tower.

“Kyaaa!”

Da-da-da!

Siren screamed as she fell then she spread her wings and tried to center herself.

Baang!

While she was surprised by the sound, the bullet which changed directions brushed past Yuri.

Yuri reflexively dodged the bullet, then she stepped on something slippery and momentarily lost her balance. Her hands fell to the floor and got stained with sticky blood.

The blood Yuri was stepping in and slipped in seemed to belong to someone else.

But maybe she was too focused on dodging the bullet because she knew that any scratch from it would not heal easily. After all, she didn’t realize that her mask had been blown off by the wind.

Fortunately though, people were distracted by Siren who suddenly appeared from the sky, so they did not see her.

“A-Angel?”

Siren’s appearance with the dazzling sun behind her made it seem like there was a halo over her head. Her pure-white feathers fell gently from the sky.

The scene truly looked like the divine descent of an angel.

Yuri couldn’t figure out why Siren suddenly appeared herself. Siren was taken aback in many ways.

At that very moment, something strange happened

“Wha, What is that…!”

While everyone was entranced by the descent of the angel, someone suddenly screamed in a horrified tone.

People’s gazes shifted in their direction.

And everyone who witnessed what the first person saw, gasped.

Dominic’s appearance was changing on the stage. His skin gurgled like it was melting away and a woman with a completely different appearance stood in his place.

“W-What the hell? What just happened?”

“Where did Dominic Crawford go?”

Everyone was taken aback and looked around themselves. Right then, his body swelled with a gurgle and changed again. This time, a man with an unfamiliar face stood in his place.

“Sho…ot…”

He slowly recited the words from Dominic’s order earlier in a dreary tone like his vocal cords were melted.

Gurgle.

Then once again, someone with a new face appeared in his place.

“M-Monster…!”

The horrified people screamed at the top of their lungs and began to run away.

Right then, Kalian appeared.

Kalian came leading his men then he pointed at the man whose appearance was changing on the platform and yelled.

“Arrest that person immediately! The person on the stage is not the Crawford Head!”

The situation began to flow in an unexpected direction.

“The search division has just found the real Dominic Crawford who was imprisoned by this fake!”

People’s mouths fell open at those shocking words.

“Capture this criminal who has disrupted public order and dares to pretend to be the ruler of the East!”

Upon receiving that command, Kalian’s men moved in unison and rushed onto the platform.

The man, who had been wearing Dominic Crawford’s appearance earlier, stopped transformed and stayed in a half-melted state like his function was broken.

“Siren!”

Yuri called out to Siren while people’s attention was elsewhere. Her voice was very soft, but it was enough for Siren to hear since she had a keen sense of hearing.

Siren came to her senses with a start. It was around time for her aftereffects to appear.

Her feathers began to fall one by one, scattering in the air. Instantly, people noticed the oddity.

“Over there…!”

The angel who stood before the sun disappeared in the blink of an eye. It was as if the body she had used to descend into the human world scattered into feathers seeped with divine white light.

“It’s an angel…”

Soft, immaculate white feathers scattered all over the platform.

“The angel exposed the devil who was trying to devour the East!”

One citizen who was particularly devoted cried out upon seeing this scene.

“Woohoo!”

The crowd who was quiet began to scream after a while.

This was after Yuri and all the other heretics had safely disappeared.

The monster pretending to be Dominic Crawford was arrested by Kalian, the hero of the East.

And thus, the stormy praying ceremony came to an end as fast as it began.