Chapter 717 : Crimson Assault

As the boundless radiance gradually faded and the thunder of destruction slowly quieted, the colorless world—bathed in searing light—began to regain its hues. Yet once the world’s color returned, nothing was as it had been before.

After the white brilliance that lit up the night vanished, darkness once again enveloped the desert of Busalet. The green spore mist that had once blanketed the land like a sea of clouds was now gone—along with the tide-like swarm of insects, all reduced to ash.

With the dispersal of the spores, the desolate earth revealed itself again beneath the stars and moonlight. But the land, no longer shrouded in fog, no longer looked the same. A massive crater over 200 meters in diameter and dozens of meters deep had been blasted into the desert floor. The blast radius stretched several kilometers beyond the crater’s edge, marked by rippling waves of sand and stone. The inner walls of the crater still glowed red-hot with heat. Molten fluid pooled throughout—untouched by cooling. The entire pit resembled a cauldron of hell.

Around and above this terrifying inferno, no sign of life could be seen. In utter silence, only the wind stirred—and the faint crackling of molten rock. The only motion in this dead zone was a lone eagle soaring high above, circling the devastation below.

“Purifying Light of Sin Annihilation… Bombardment Mode, huh? I didn’t expect that iron-clad nun to have so many settings on her main cannon,”

thought Dorothy from a distant sand dune, observing the aftermath through the eyes of a corpse marionette.

“Compared to the previous roasting mode, this bombardment setting is far more focused in energy release—turning area-wide incineration into a pinpoint explosion. Though the blast radius is smaller, its power is much more concentrated. It not only obliterated Amuyaba’s surface hive but also destroyed the underground nest. The heat roasted all the insects alive, and the shockwave scattered the spore clouds. That power… honestly, it might even surpass Aurum Gargoyle’s berserk self-detonation…”

Dorothy silently marveled. Before witnessing this strike, the largest explosion she’d seen in this world had been Federico’s self-destruction. But this blast from Ivy’s main cannon surpassed even that, far beyond the reach of any conventional weapon from her original world.

That one cannon blast from Ivy had annihilated more than 99% of the massive insect swarm Amuyaba had spawned with its vast spiritual reserves. The reason Amuyaba had hidden so well before was that it had discovered a network of deep natural caverns underground, perfect for breeding. Now, without such natural shelters, it had to dig manually—only managing a few dozen meters. And thus, both the surface and subterranean layers of its nest were wiped out in one strike.

“Still… even such overwhelming bombardment didn’t completely kill that bug. It had been cautious—laying escape plans in advance. While most of those escape bugs were neutralized by Vania, a few still slipped through... But it doesn’t matter. With Vania here, it can’t escape. Not with a Crimson-rank Lantern and a temple backing her…”

So thought Dorothy as she glanced toward the distant sky—far beyond the range of her gaze, where the steel warship still hovered in the air.

…

Over the vast desert under night’s veil, amid endless barrenness, a giant grotesque insect buzzed its wings furiously, fleeing with all its strength. Amid the humming air vibrations, Amuyaba was in a desperate struggle for survival.

“Faster… faster… faster…”

This was the only thought in its mind. It knew the battle was lost. It had no way to oppose the overwhelming power of the Radiance Church. It had to flee—no matter the cost.

“Why… why were they able to break the Sacred Plague? Why did it suddenly fail?! What did they do?! If the Sacred Plague was still active, I couldn’t possibly have lost!”

Amuyaba was consumed with confusion. But there was no time to dwell on answers. For the ominous star of doom was about to descend upon its head.

As it fled, Amuyaba constantly heard thunderous rumbles in the distance. Beams of light fell from the sky, each explosion blasting into the earth with force.

Each time one erupted, Amuyaba felt a piece of its consciousness vanish. Every sky-borne strike eliminated one of its remaining escape bugs—each one a fragment of itself. Of the few that escaped before the purifying light was fired, over half had already been wiped out.

Now, only one escape bug remained.

Just as this final piece of Amuyaba was desperately clinging to life, a sudden whistling tore through the air. Then—a massive explosion thundered nearby.

BOOM!

A shell came screaming down from above, striking the ground near Amuyaba with pinpoint accuracy. Fire and smoke billowed from the blast, and the resulting shockwave slammed into its fleeing form. The lone insect was flung violently through the air and crashed hard into the desert. The concussive force ruptured its internal organs, leaving it almost completely incapacitated.

“D-damn it…”

Lying broken on the ground, Amuyaba writhed, trying to lift off again. But the internal damage was too severe. No matter how it struggled, it couldn’t fly again. It twitched on the sand, spewing green fluid, its life clearly nearing its end.

Once Amuyaba lost the ability to flee, the massive steel warship high above ceased its bombardment. Slowly, it descended, lowering altitude and approaching the downed insect.

After destroying Amuyaba’s nest, Ivy had immediately begun tracking down the escaped fragments. Guided by Vania’s powerful biological radar, she quickly locked onto all thirty-four targets—eliminating thirty-three in a relentless chase.

When only one remained, Ivy deliberately had her shell detonate slightly off-target—injuring but not destroying it, leaving it alive yet immobilized.

After all, for a Crimson-rank entity, capturing it alive was far more valuable than simply killing it.

Ivy descended until the ship hovered around 400–500 meters above the ground. Then, a white figure gently floated down from the ship and touched down.

With Dorothy’s assistance, Vania had left Ivy’s hull and landed before the struggling, meter-long insect. She stood silently before it. Her task now was to personally capture Amuyaba.

“It doesn’t look like you’re doing too well…”

Vania murmured, watching the bug tremble and flail. She had already used her power to suppress its regenerative abilities. Though Amuyaba still had some spirituality left, it could no longer use it to heal.

“That’s only natural. The shell I fired just now wasn’t exactly weak. Even without a direct hit, the shockwave was enough to inflict major trauma. It's lucky it didn’t fall apart on the spot.”

At that moment, beside Vania, Ivy’s translucent projection gradually materialized and spoke coldly. Then she shifted her gaze to Vania and continued.

“Now, contain it completely. Strip it of all motor function, Sister Vania.”

“…Alright.”

After listening to Ivy, Vania nodded, then reached out her hand to seize Amuyaba once and for all. But just as she did, Amuyaba, as if sensing something, trembled and suddenly opened its mandibles, releasing a piercing and grotesque screech.

“——!”

Vania paused slightly at the harsh and strange shriek, her brows furrowing instinctively. She was just about to speak when a familiar voice interrupted.

“Too shrill, Amuyaba… You should mind your manners in front of important members of the Church.”

Hearing that voice, Vania froze in place and immediately turned her head to look toward the source. What she saw was a tall figure walking slowly across the distant dunes.

It was the silhouette of a woman, clad in a modified black-gray close-fitting nun’s outfit, highlighting a proud and striking figure. Her skin was fair, with slightly curled hair peeking out from under her veil. Her brown eyes were fixed ahead, her lips curled into a subtle smile.

“You’re… Sister Faith?! What are you doing here?”

Recognizing the familiar figure walking toward her, Vania spoke in shock. Her expression clearly showed astonishment—not just at the sudden appearance of someone who once claimed to be an intelligence nun of the Church, but more so because she hadn’t sensed her arrival at all.

And Vania was no ordinary individual now—she was a Crimson-rank Lantern Beyonder, with extremely keen life-sensing abilities. Yet even so, she hadn’t detected Faith’s presence.

“Who exactly is this so-called Sister Faith!?”

“Stop! Not another step!”

Seeing Faith approach, Ivy’s projection floating nearby shouted sternly. But Faith didn’t stop at all—she simply smiled and continued forward.

Seeing her utterly ignore the warning, Ivy gave up on words. She immediately activated the main body of her warship hovering in the sky. The turrets turned and fired a shell directly at Faith.

The shell struck, erupting with an overwhelming explosion. Fire and dust surged skyward, and the shockwave was so strong it made even Vania stagger. Amuyaba, caught in the blast once again, shrieked in agony.

After the blast, thick dust veiled the entire area where Faith had stood. Vania, shielding her eyes, looked forward again and saw a towering wall of sand and smoke.

“Is she dead...?”

That thought briefly crossed Vania’s mind. But then, a voice drifted out from the dust—and froze her blood.

“You’re as direct as ever, Ivy Emmerigo... It’s been over 400 years, and you haven’t changed a bit.”

Then, from the great wall of dust, a figure emerged—completely unharmed. Faith stepped out of the heart of the explosion as if nothing had happened. Her expression calm, her body untouched—not even a wrinkle on her garment.

“No way…”

Vania murmured in disbelief. Beside her, even Ivy—rarely shaken—widened her eyes in astonishment. But the surprise wasn’t just that Faith had survived a cannon blast unscathed.

“Who are you?! How do you know my name?!”

Ivy questioned sternly. Faith simply waved her hand and spoke softly:

“Four centuries ago, the Church’s Second Crusade Battalion—the Order of the Cleansing Blade—had a very famous commander. The ‘Iron-Bound Nun’ was a well-known name. How could I not have heard of you? You were one of the most renowned heroes of Radiance in that war…”

She looked at Ivy calmly as she spoke. At these words, the astonishment in Ivy’s eyes deepened.

“You…”

“Mother of Flesh above! Gracious Mother! I am here! O Great Mother… please save me!”

Before Ivy could continue, the insectoid form of Amuyaba—still writhing on the ground—suddenly let out a sharp cry in human speech. Vania and Ivy both turned toward it.

Sensing something was wrong, Vania abandoned the idea of capturing it alive. She immediately used her Wound Amplification ability, massively worsening Amuyaba’s already severe internal and external injuries. Under her interference, the entire insect exploded—flesh and green fluid splattering everywhere.

Ivy showed no mercy either. She fired a searing beam of light onto the remains, aiming to annihilate every last trace of vitality.

“It’s pointless… No matter when or where, you cannot kill Amuyaba. Because I am here.”

Faith laughed softly as she watched their efforts. Then, with a casual wave of her hand, a small object flew out from within Ivy’s beam. Upon closer inspection, it was a charred lump of flesh wrapped in red-glowing spiritual light—still pulsating with life.

That piece of Amuyaba’s body floated toward Faith. As it landed in her hand, it liquefied into red fluid and seeped into her palm without leaving a trace.

Seeing this, Ivy and Vania both prepared to attack—but at that moment, Dorothy’s urgent voice suddenly rang in Vania’s mind.

“Run! That woman is the Matron of the Afterbirth Cult’s Grand Synod! She’s likely a top leader of the entire cult! You can’t fight her! Suppress her with fire while retreating!”

Dorothy’s voice came through both Vania’s spiritual channel and the mouth of the corpse marionette aboard Ivy’s vessel.

Upon hearing this, both Ivy and Vania’s hearts clenched—and they acted without hesitation.

As Ivy began boosting her propulsion systems to retreat, several scorching beams of light rained down on Faith, engulfing her instantly. Her entire body was subjected to temperatures over 5,000 degrees.

As Faith was swallowed by the light, Vania—under the aid of Dorothy’s magnetic support—lifted off the ground and soared back toward the warship. All the while, she extended her hand, using her abilities to magnify Faith’s wounds and disrupt her regeneration—doing everything in her power to help Ivy suppress their overwhelming foe.

The more Vania directed her abilities toward Faith, the grimmer her expression became—as if she had sensed something utterly terrifying.

“This… this is impossible… Impossible… How can such regeneration speed exist…? How can such a reconstitution ability exist…? Is this even still considered… ‘life’?”

Her voice trembled slightly. Vania’s eyes widened in disbelief. And at the center of those searing beams of blazing light, a faint, ethereal voice echoed—somewhere between illusion and reality.

“Ah… the long-lost purifying flame… Though not one-tenth of the divine brilliance Phaethon wielded… it still stirs nostalgia.”

The moment the voice faded within the light, something anomalous occurred. The desert earth beneath the focused radiance began to darken—dyed a blood-red hue, as if soaked in gore. Starting from the epicenter of the beam’s impact, this crimson rapidly expanded outward. In the blink of an eye, the sands within a thousand-meter radius were drenched in blood.

Then the crimson sands began to pulse rhythmically. A disturbing thumping sound echoed through the air, like a colossal heart beating beneath the ground. As the earth heaved with that eerie heartbeat, the blood-soaked sands congealed into living flesh. The barren desert swiftly transformed into a writhing landscape of bloody tissue.

Across the vast flesh-covered terrain, thick blue veins and countless strands of spreading blood vessels emerged. As the tissue swelled, massive fissures tore open—and within them, gigantic eyeballs, seven to eight meters wide, and gaping maws lined with fangs, ten to twenty meters across, began to open.

From above, the landscape now resembled a pulsating field of monstrous eyes and mouths, grotesquely shifting with the churn of the meat-earth.

“What the hell is this?!”

Dorothy thought in alarm from afar.

Ivy, witnessing the transformation, wasted no time. She immediately trained all her turrets on the grotesque landscape and unleashed a full barrage.

“Be destroyed—foul abomination!”

A deafening symphony of cannon fire erupted. Countless steel shells and energy rounds poured downward in a fiery rain.

But to their shock, as soon as Ivy’s solid shells neared the flesh-earth, they began to mutate. The superheated metal shells turned into pliable crimson skin. Eyes sprouted from their sides, and grotesque bat-like wings unfolded from their tops.

Her energy rounds did strike the flesh—splashing blood—but the wounds immediately regenerated. The mutated “cone-shaped monsters” bounced off the ground and flapped toward Ivy’s warship in the sky.

She reacted quickly, activating close-in defense. The intercepted mutants exploded violently midair.

As Ivy fended off her own mutating ammunition, the monstrous mouths below began to gag—retching up thick, muscular arms. These malformed limbs, stripped of skin, with either too many or too few fingers, erupted from the ground mouths and reached skyward.

Thousands—tens of thousands—of grotesque arms surged upward, pushing through Ivy’s defenses. Her steel hull was grabbed and dragged downward by overwhelming force.

“What… Damn it!”

Caught mid-realignment, Ivy’s ship trembled as it was seized.

Vania, too, was suddenly restrained. She hadn’t even registered the attack before dozens of arms ensnared her. No matter how she struggled, she couldn’t break free.

“Ugh… what is this…?”

Meanwhile, Ivy’s cannon systems could no longer aim. And as the light from her purifying beams faded, Faith reappeared, seemingly untouched—her original clothes gone, but her body completely unharmed.

As several deformed arms lifted Faith from the flesh-earth, threads of blood wove themselves through the air—forming a new red nun’s habit that clothed her anew. As the fabric settled, the vivid crimson deepened into a dark maroon.

Draped in her new "habit" and supported by the monstrous hands, Faith now hovered before the bound Vania. She studied her curiously, noting her flustered yet composed expression.

“What… are you staring at?”

Vania asked, frowning sternly.

Faith continued gazing, replying softly.

“At you… I wanted to take a closer look. The young talent Olivia valued most in the past few centuries… what kind of existence she truly is.”

As she whispered, Faith ran her hand along Vania’s body, her expression unreadable.

Vania’s tone hardened.

“You’ve watched me from the camp for so long… and you still don’t know?”

“Of course not… Otherwise, I wouldn’t still be wondering how you managed to reprogram the Sacred Plague at such a scale, in an instant… You carry more than just Olivia’s legacy—there’s more for me to uncover…”

As Faith spoke, her hand caressed Vania’s cheek. Vania’s eyes widened with restrained fury.

Then—suddenly—the heavens cracked with thunder. Lightning rained down, striking at Faith. She merely raised her countless underground arms in response—sacrificing one hand after another to absorb the bolts. With endless limbs, she could afford to lose them.

“Even the ancient Thunder of Revelation favors you… Vania Chafferon. Just what kind of charm do you possess to earn so much divine attention? I must examine you more thoroughly…”

As divine lightning split the sky and struck down, Faith leaned in close—whispering near Vania’s cheek. Then she placed a hand upon Vania’s chest.

In Vania’s fearful eyes, that hand suddenly tensed—and pierced.

With a cry of agony, Vania’s body spasmed as Faith's hand plunged into her chest. Blood spurted—but at that moment, from beneath her clothes, a modest holy pendant—an icon of the Holy Mother—burst into radiant light.

The holy glow pierced Vania’s clothes, illuminating the night.

“What—!?”

The light struck Faith, and she recoiled violently, shielding her eyes and retreating several steps. The arms binding Vania immediately released and withdrew. Faith clutched her face and backed away.

“Olivia… I didn’t expect you to treasure her to this extent…”

With her face still covered, Faith looked at Vania with clear surprise. Under the glow, her skin began to melt—revealing a different face beneath.

And when Ivy, now moving to retrieve Vania, saw that face, her expression froze.

Then it twisted into fury.

“Unina Dottina!!!”