Chapter 142: The Fall of the Grand Cathedral

In the capital of the Thetor Kingdom "blam, blam, blam" the soldier golems fired in rhythmic succession directly into the barrier, cutting down the swelling waves of undead that swarmed thicker and thicker by the minute, desperate to breach the magical shield. The marksman golems laid down relentless covering fire from behind the frontline infantry while waiting for their shoulder-mounted cannons to cool down for the next synchronized volley.

Evelyn stood anxiously behind the golem line alongside her knights, glancing upward. The airship that had arrived earlier still hovered overhead, occasionally dropping heavy crates packed with explosives right into the heart of the sealed cathedral compound. She then peered back inside the barrier, watching the endless tide of undead churning and surging forward to attack, seemingly appearing from nowhere.

"We can’t keep going like this... We’re just holding out while they keep pressing the assault. Someone has to go inside and wipe out the source," Evelyn thought to herself, her fists clenched in frustration.

"Your Highness, look!"

One of the knights pointed toward the sky. Evelyn whipped her head around and spotted a second airship flying quite low, preparing to touch down.

"Clear the way, everyone! Give them room to land!" Evelyn ordered.

The knights scrambled back, reforming their ranks behind Evelyn as the zeppelin descended vertically with a slow, controlled grace before settling onto the cobblestones. The deck doors swung open, and the boarding ramp lowered. One hundred samurai warriors marched down in rigid formation, followed immediately by fifty battle mages who hurried over to reinforce the circle of holy mages, instantly swelling the barrier back to its original strength and making it sturdier than before.

Finally, Johan, Astrid, and Takeshi stepped down from the ramp. They approached Evelyn, who stood before the knights with a visible look of relief.

"How is the situation, Your Highness?" Johan asked.

"Grim. The undead inside are endless, pouring out to attack without a single pause. Any knights who pushed inside were slaughtered and converted into zombies alongside the rest of the horde. We’re barely holding the line out here thanks to the barrier enclosing the grand cathedral and the golem reinforcements," Evelyn answered grimly.

"Hmm... Interesting. Let me try heading inside," Takeshi offered, stroking his beard thoughtfully.

"No, Lord Makoto, it’s far too dangerous for you to go in alone," Astrid intervened instantly.

"It’s fine. Allow me and my hundred men to push inside; we’ll hunt down the source and shatter this undead tide," Takeshi insisted. He then turned his sharp gaze to Evelyn. "You have no objections, Your Highness, First Princess of the Thetor Kingdom?"

"You’re... Ah, I remember now. You’re Lord Makoto Takeshi of Eredor... The legendary swordsman whose exploits are sung by bards in every major city," Evelyn recognized aloud.

"Pay no mind to those bards; they always exaggerate... Well, Princess? Do you grant me permission to enter with my men?" Takeshi asked, his tone dead serious.

Evelyn fell silent. She knew of Takeshi’s monumental, legendary prowess, but she also understood that he was still flesh and blood, and conquering a supernatural undead infestation took more than just a sword. Her expression twisted as she wrestled with the heavy decision before giving her answer. After a long moment of hesitation, she looked him straight in the eye.

"Very well, Lord Makoto. But I am coming inside with you," Evelyn declared.

"Wait... Your Highness?!" her chief knight gasped in horror.

"You cannot do that, Princess. It’s far too reckless. Let me accompany Lord Makoto instead," Johan added quickly.

"That’s right, Your Highness. You carry the weight of this entire kingdom; if we fail, you are the last bastion keeping this city alive," Astrid urged.

"We?" Johan echoed, glancing sideways at his wife.

"Do you really think I’d let you walk in there alone? Drop it, Johan," Astrid shot back flatly.

"So what will it be, Princess? Frankly, I don’t care who tags along, I’m heading in with my men, with or without your blessing," Takeshi stated, turning his back and raising a fist to signal the line of samurai waiting behind him.

"Hold on, Lord Makoto," Evelyn tried to stop him.

Suddenly groaaaaar! every head whipped upward toward the grand cathedral. A massive black dragon soared directly above the complex, hovering right over the dome enclosed by the half-circle barrier. The eyes of Takeshi, Evelyn, Johan, and Astrid went wide as saucers the moment they recognized the beast.

A flash of dark, reddish-black light erupted around the dragon, and crash! the beast tucked its wings and plunged straight downward, diving through the barrier and smashing right through the cathedral roof, its sweeping wing completely obliterating one of the cathedral’s towering spires.

"Could it be... Dion, Aria, Gina?!" Evelyn cried out in shock.

"Oho... Fascinating. I take back what I said; our king is hardly weak. He just unleashed an extraordinary aura and barged straight in without asking for anyone’s permission... I’m getting more and more interested in getting to know him," Takeshi murmured, a wide grin spreading across his face as he watched Dion, Aria, and Gina vanish into the ruins.

Meanwhile, Johan and Astrid stood frozen in stunned silence beside Evelyn, who remained equally paralyzed, still trying to process the sheer audacity of what had just unfolded.

***

Inside the compound boom! Dion, having already activated his Berserk Monk persona, leaped down while shielding Aria, landing firmly on the ground as the massive form of Gina touched down right behind him.

Graaaaaah!

Hundreds of ghouls and zombies swarmed toward them in a frenzied charge. A blinding white light wrapped around Aria as multiple dimensional vortexes tore open in midair, thrusting heavy cannon barrels outward.

Blam!

Massive energy beams erupted from the ten cannons, instantly obliterating the entire vanguard of zombies and ghouls. At the same time, Gina swept her head around, unleashing a torrent of cleansing flames to incinerate the stragglers, while Dion compressed his internal Ki and detonated a shockwave of raw energy that blew away every remaining undead charging toward his position.

Aria scanned the chaos and spotted a floating undead monstrosity hovering high above the courtyard. The creature wore the tattered vestments of a high priest, but its entire body was a stark white skeleton wreathed in roaring, crimson-red flames.

"Dion, look!" Aria yelled, pointing upward.

Dion whipped his head up, locking eyes with the hovering abomination, which seemed to be staring down at them with a mocking grin.

"Damn it... That’s a Vengeful Hell Acolyte, rank SS... No wonder the undead inside this place never run out," Dion cursed.

"That’s not all... Look!"

Both of them glanced around the courtyard. The shattered remains of the zombies and ghouls, torn apart by Aria’s cannons, scorched by Gina’s flames, and pulverized by Dion’s shockwaves, were rapidly reconstituting, their scattered bone and flesh dragging themselves back together to rise once more as fresh undead ready to attack.

Without a second thought, Dion vaulted high into the air, driving his foot downward to strike the monster with a flying kick, but his attack bounced off a translucent, fiery red holographic barrier that pulsed with overwhelming defensive power, completely impenetrable to physical strikes alone.

Dion spun through the air, dropping gracefully back to the courtyard right beside Aria. Upon landing, a sweeping roundhouse kick sent a shockwave slicing through the surrounding undead, blasting them far away and carving a wide clearing in their ranks.

"Aria, try sniping that monster!" Dion shouted over the din.

"Got it!" Aria replied.

In a blur of light, her weapon reconfigured into a heavy sniper rifle. Dropping to one knee, she locked her crosshairs onto the floating priest.

Psiuuu!

A concentrated beam of light shrieked from the barrel straight toward the abomination, but, trang! the energy shot deflected harmlessly downward off the shield, crashing into the ground below and detonating among the advancing horde.

"No good... It’s got a barrier protecting it. From what I read in the academy archives, that kind of shield can only be nullified by high-level magic... Too bad Cleo isn’t here," Aria gritted her teeth.

"Right. Leave it to me, I’ve got a backup plan. Hop on Aria, we’re pulling back!" Dion ordered.

"Understood!"

They scrambled back onto Gina’s massive back. With a thunderous roar, the dragon whipped around, smashing away incoming undead with a heavy sweep of her tail before rocketing straight up toward the jagged hole they had blasted in the roof moments earlier. Bursting out into the open air, they hovered safely above the protective dome of the barrier.

"What’s the plan?" Aria asked anxiously.

Dion didn’t answer. He brought up his Recall holographic interface and tapped the icon for the Ancient One persona. Shifting into his Ancient One form, he hovered beside Gina and looked down at the dragon and Aria.

"Gina, carry Aria down and land her safely near Evelyn over there... Fast," Dion instructed.

"Wait... What are you planning to do, Diooooooon?!" Aria screamed in terror.

Before Aria could finish, Gina banked hard and dove straight down toward the front courtyard where the allied defense forces were gathered. Dion hovered alone above the apex of the barrier dome, looking down at the swarming nightmare below.

"All right... Let’s get started," he muttered to himself, a grim smile touching his lips.

Dion closed his eyes and swept both hands outward. "All Elemental Barrier!"

Instantly, the half-dome shield flared to life, thickening tenfold and shining with a brilliant, multifaceted spectrum of light that left the frontline mages below completely baffled and overwhelmed. Opening his eyes, Dion descended right through the protective dome, drifting down into the center of the courtyard before extending his palm directly toward the massive cathedral building.

"Atomic Nova."

A brilliant orb of pure white light materialized above his hand, drifting downward with agonizing slowness toward the cathedral’s central courtyard. But a split second later, booom! the entire compound flashed blinding white, detonating with the force of ten atomic bombs packed into a single instant.

Aria, who had just landed safely, with a tiny Gina perched atop her head, stood frozen alongside Evelyn, Takeshi, Johan, Astrid, the entire host of knights, samurai, zeppelin crewmen, and battle mages from both Thetor and Mageford. They stared with dropped jaws and wide, unblinking eyes at the colossal, blinding pillar of light that raged with earth-shattering energy, completely contained within the reinforced barrier dome.

Even far away on the palace balcony, King Lamberd, his arm still wrapped in heavy medical bandages, watched the brilliant white flash bloom across the city skyline, his face draining to a sheet of absolute white.