"
Leilin lounged in his recliner, speaking in a leisurely manner.
"Mm! Thank you so much!"
"Come to think of it — this 'tea,' what exactly is it? Some kind of potion?"
Belinda asked with some confusion, her heart already overflowing with gratitude toward Leilin. She simply assumed that Leilin had been cultivating the little tree entirely for the purpose of treating Sophia, and of course Leilin had no intention of dispelling this pleasant misunderstanding.
"Oh! It's just the name of a beverage from my homeland. It also extracts essence from plant leaves, so it's somewhat similar…"
Leilin clearly didn't want to say much more.
"The customs of some faraway island? I really wish I could travel there with you someday…" Belinda's eyes seemed to glisten with tears.
"Well, there'll always be a chance!"
Leilin let out a yawn, looking rather lacking in energy.
"All right, Sophia, what good stories did you bring for Grandpa Nick today?"
Leilin looked over at Sophia, who had by now finished every last drop of the tea in her hands.
"Oh! I heard from Agnes that the
"And… the Holy City has gone into full lockdown now. They're even planning to consolidate all the residents and put them under unified management!"
……
"That Thomas was really so stupid! I just acted a little coy and he spilled all sorts of valuable intel. Aren't I amazing?"
Sophia raised her head proudly, a sly gleam of amusement in her eyes.
"Mm! Sophia, you're the best!"
Leilin nodded in quiet approval. Through listening to her daily reports, information about every aspect of the Holy City was converging before his eyes.
However, as Sophia continued her account, his head sank lower and lower. By the end, his eyes had closed entirely, as though he had fallen into a deep sleep.
Seeing this, Sophia immediately stopped speaking, her eyes rimming slightly red.
"Let's go," Belinda said, her voice choked with emotion. She draped a leather coat over Leilin and led Sophia out of the room.
Both of them were extremely busy these days, with very little free time to spare.
Perhaps it was also because they couldn't bear to watch Leilin like this.
Yet, after they left, Leilin opened his eyes. A brilliant light blazed within his pupils. "It's already come to this, has it? The final battle seems imminent. Then it's time to set my plan in motion!"
"And while I'm at it… a few rats need to be dealt with as well!"
Leilin's gaze drifted to the side, as if piercing straight through the wall to another location entirely.
Then he closed his eyes once more, sinking into a heavy slumber like some frail, exhausted old man.
……
*Crash!* An exquisite crystal bottle was swept off the table, shattering across the floor in a spray of glittering shards.
"In times like this, I—blood of the noble Steward lineage—am being sent to the battlefield, and he just sits there comfortably! I can't for the life of me understand what my sister is thinking!"
Thomas panted heavily, his armor spattered with blood.
"Young Master Thomas! Our Steward family has been the Holy City's hereditary defenders for generations. Defending it is our sacred duty. As for him, he's merely a commoner…"
A middle-aged steward with white hair stood beside him. One of his eyes had been completely lost, leaving a deep, hollow socket. He spoke in a placating tone.
"Moreover, the Eldest Miss surely recognized some hidden trump card of his. That's why she ordered us not to offend him. With the Eldest Miss's judgment, she would never be mistaken about someone!"
"But… but I can't stand it! And those two sluts—not just Sophia, even Belinda keeps running over to visit him! What do they take our Steward family for?!"
Thomas was shouting now, while the steward across from him silently sighed.
The man was a commoner, and Belinda had even volunteered to help defend the Holy City. Now she was merely visiting a friend from time to time. There was absolutely no grounds for reproach—not that this young master would listen to reason anyway.
"I can't take it! I can't take it! Manbas! We have to find a way to make that Nick disappear for good! During wartime, it should be simple enough!"
Thomas's face darkened, a killing intent flickering in his eyes.
"As you command, my noble young master! Your will is our mission! But right now the Second Elder is preparing to lead the Punishment Legion in a counterattack. Please, bear with it just a little longer…"
The old steward bowed again, bending a full ninety degrees.
"I know! I know — damn the bigger picture!" Thomas muttered unhappily, but he didn't argue back, which put the old steward's mind at ease.
But what he failed to notice was that at the bottom of Thomas's eyes, that glimmer of killing intent had not faded — if anything, it burned ever brighter…
Night fell. At this hour, Agnes stood clad in crystal armor atop the walls of the Holy City, her gaze piercing through the Triumphal Arch to the vast, densely packed army of
Corrupted by the Rule of Gluttony, these beasts had become so distorted that their original forms were nearly unrecognizable. What they all shared was the terrifying, powerful fluctuation of energy radiating from their bodies — and an insatiable hunger for flesh that made even Agnes's blood run cold.
In the Purgatory World, daylight was brief, so nighttime was when most creatures became active.
The Gluttony Beasts rarely rested. When exhaustion set in, they simply devoured their fallen comrades from earlier sieges, leaving them looking even more invigorated.
The result was a situation far more dire than anything they faced during the day.
Watching the Beast line stir and shift not far away, the battle-hardened Agnes recognized it immediately — a signal that an assault was about to begin.
She spun around sharply, looking at the defenders lining the wall.
Most of these defenders were garrison troops under the command of her Stewart clan. The rest were volunteers and conscripted laborers.
"By the great Supreme Mother! My blood-bound brothers and sisters! Shall we allow those filthy, wretched beasts to set foot in the Holy City and profane the glory of the Holy Mother Supreme?!"
Agnes drew a deep breath, her voice ringing out across the entire battle line.
"We shall not!" "We shall not!" "We shall not!"
At this moment, every soul within the Holy City was a fanatical devotee of the Mother of All Serpents, and they roared their answer without hesitation.
"Excellent! Tear them to shreds! This battle — the Holy City shall prevail!"
Agnes brandished her nine-segment snake-head whip and let out a thunderous roar.
"Victory!" "Victory!" "Long live Stewart!" "Long live Stewart!"
A mass of guards roared in unison, the atmosphere reaching a fever pitch.
Once Agnes was satisfied that the guards' spirits had been sufficiently stoked, she finally allowed herself a breath of relief and stepped back from the ramparts.
"You did wonderfully, Agnes!"
Belinda approached in full battle armor.
"Did I? I still don't think it's nearly enough." Agnes gave a bitter smile and draped an arm around Belinda's shoulder. "How are the Second Elder and the Punishment Corps?"
"Everything is prepared. We can deploy at any moment." Belinda didn't pull away, her voice calm and steady. "If all goes well, after this operation succeeds, we may be able to push the front line back toward Crescent Lake..."
"Ha... if all goes well?"
Agnes chuckled softly, then leaned in and pressed her lips close to Belinda's ear, her voice dropping to barely a whisper. "Belinda, you need to leave! Take Sophia — and that Nick if you can — get as far from here as possible!"
"Why?" Belinda was visibly shocked, and the warm breath against her ear left the skin flushed and tingling.
"Do you have so little faith in the Holy City?"
"If my enemies were the legions of some other Supreme One, I wouldn't fear them even if they besieged us. But..." Agnes shook her head. "You know the nature of these Gluttony Beasts, don't you, Belinda? What makes them truly terrifying isn't their strength — it's the contagion! In the fighting so far, I've already had dozens of our Fourth-Rank kin corrupted by the power of Gluttony... To prevent the contamination from spreading further, we've had no choice but to 'dispose' of them outright."
"That's—" Belinda's eyes went wide, her shock unmistakable.
"As long as that damned Gluttony Lord isn't killed, there is no scenario in which these Gluttony Beasts can be defeated. Do you understand now?"
Agnes casually lifted Belinda's chin with one finger.
"Then come with me!"
Belinda gritted her teeth. After all, Agnes had treated both her and Sophia well enough — she couldn't bear to watch her die here.
"Ha... you can all leave. I'm the only one who can't go." Agnes smiled, though the smile carried an unmistakable note of foreboding.
"For the family?" Belinda's expression grew complicated.
"Yes. The Stewart family has been charged with guarding the Holy City for generations. As the heir, how could I possibly abandon it now?"
With a wild laugh, Agnes shoved Belinda away. "Go! Go chase your freedom!"
"Such an ominous feeling!"
Belinda's eyes reddened, nearly spilling with tears. The sheer volume of recent events had nearly overwhelmed even this strong-willed girl.
"Great Mother of Dominion! Please bestow your mercy upon us! Save all of this!"
Gazing up at the towering statue at the heart of the Holy City, Belinda sank to her knees in devout reverence, praying with solemn sincerity.
The great statue of the Myriad Serpens gazed down upon it all, expressionless, as though it had already seen through everything — bearing a knowing smile of total composure, and yet seemingly unchanged in the slightest.
A gentle breeze swept past, sending a chill through Belinda's body and leaving behind a lingering sense of dread.