Little Tyrant Doesn’t Want to Meet with a Bad End

nd mustered his determination.

“Hold on till I return.
Warriors of Goddess Sia, may luck be on your side!”

With those words, Roel pulled the reins of his steed and galloped into the depths of Tark Prairie.

…

Roel knew that this was a mission he couldn’t afford to fail.

Nora was the only successor left in the Xeclyde Royal Family.
Her position was so important that it could sway the future of humankind.

The Theocracy was hardly as stable as it looked on the surface.
Should Prince Kane and Nora meet with a mishap, the Elrics would immediately step forward and rally all of those ambitious nobles to his side to confront the greatly weakened royal faction.

It was unlikely that the Elrics would blatantly stage a rebellion under the looming threat of the deviants and the powerful influence of the Xeclydes, but the fragmented Theocracy would become fraught with infighting.
The cracks would continue to deepen till Holy Eminence John departed from the world.

With the extinction of the Xeclydes and the emptying of the throne, the Elrics could finally remove all their shackles and start an internal war.

A fight would inevitably break out between the Ascarts and the Elrics.
The Genesis Goddess Church would likely back the Ascarts, but the Elrics would also be supported by the evil cults.
No matter who won in this battle of good and evil, all semblance of order would be eroded.

With most resources depleted from the infighting, it would be hard for the Theocracy to put up a strong defense at Tark Prairie.
If the deviants were to launch a large-scale invasion as they had on four previous occasions at that moment, there was no guarantee that humankind would be able to withstand the onslaught.

That was the conclusion Roel arrived at with just a bit of guesswork.

It was a grim future that he mustn’t allow to be realized, but that wasn’t what he was the most concerned about.
There was only one thing in his mind now that terrified him, and that was the possibility that Nora might disappear.

Several days had passed since Nora’s degree of Seraphication reached its peak.
Nora was only barely holding on with her own willpower, but her father, Kane, had suddenly disappeared together with Tark Stronghold at this crucial juncture.
That would have come as a devastating shock to her.

Roel didn’t know if Nora was aware of the disaster that had befallen Tark Stronghold, but he prayed for her to remain ignorant.
If he could conceal this matter from her till her condition stabilized, all would be all good.

He continued to gallop forth under the vague guidance of Ascendwing.
After he had traveled for several hours, he started noticing bizarre piles ahead of him that caused his complexion to turn grave.

He wasn’t certain at first, but the overpowering stench became apparent as he got closer.
A scenery of hell unfolded before Roel’s eyes.

It was a mountain of carcasses formed by hundreds of deviants stacked on top of one another.

The rotting stench could be smelled even from a thousand meters away, causing one’s stomach to churn with revulsion.
Blood flowed away from the mountain like many little tributaries diverging away from its source, dyeing the ground red.
Crows and hawks circled persistently in the sky.

This hyperrealistic scene felt like some sort of warped gorish artwork.

Roel felt his heart falling into the abyss as he stared at the mountain of carcasses.
He galloped forward to check on the mutilated carcasses, and his face paled when he sensed familiar mana from them.

It really is her.

The violent mutilation of those carcasses was at odds with the kind and righteous woman Roel remembered, but his logical mind told him that there was no mistake here.

He stood in the midst of this hellish scenery for a brief moment before he focused his attention on the guidance of Ascendwing once more.
He decided to turn his eyes away from the brutality and continue his journey.

Such sights continued as he ventured further into Tark Prairie.
By sunset, he had already encountered three such mountains of carcasses.

The setting sun shrouded his body in an ominous blood glow.
He could feel the guidance from Ascendwing slowly growing stronger.

At the same time, in a faraway hill stained with flesh and blood, a woman bearing majestic light wings slowly raised her head to direct an emotionless gaze westward.