"Wh-why did you capture me?"
"Ah ah ah!" Sloth suddenly slammed his head against the rock wall, blood streaming down his forehead. "What a slothful question! Isn't it obvious! You have the scent of being loved!"
His neck twisted in a bizarre way, and his inverted face suddenly leaned close to Subaru: "Hey, hey... you actually know, right? About the Trial?"
"I... I really don't know!" Subaru's tears flowed uncontrollably.
"Lies! Lies!" Sloth frantically tore at his own hair. "I can smell it! This sweetness... this grace..." He suddenly knelt on the ground, starting to scratch the ground with his fingernails. "Ah ah... is this love? Is this the Trial?"
Subaru watched in horror as he left streaks of blood on the ground: "Please... let me go..." "Let you go?" Sloth's movements stopped abruptly, his entire body straightening up like a marionette. "What a... what a slothful thought! You are clearly one of us! Ah! How wonderful!...Oh, my."
Suddenly, Sloth's head snapped towards the cave entrance. The other Witch Cultists also turned their heads in unison, their movements eerily coordinated.
In the moonlight, two blue figures stepped into the cave.
"Carlisle!" Subaru's cry was tearful.
Carlisle and Rem walked steadily. The bloodstains on his Knight's uniform had not yet dried, but when he saw Subaru, his tense expression softened slightly. "Subaru, I found you."
"Ah ah ah ah–!" Sloth suddenly started flailing his arms and legs, his limbs contorting at exaggerated angles. "A Knight and a girl! They actually came! How wonderful, truly wonderful. Extremely wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, by all means, by all means, welcome, permit me to welcome, I must welcome them personally!"
Rem's Hammer was already in her hand.
Carlisle's hand rested on the hilt of his sword.
"So it's an Archbishop of Sin... I won't let you escape."
"Let her go!"
Rem roared, preparing to charge. She looked at Subaru, surrounded by Witch Cultists. She had already promised Carlisle that she would protect Subaru.
The chain of the Meteor Hammer let out a harsh clang. Just as she was about to rush out, a familiar hand pressed on her shoulder.
"Yin Sealing Technique!"
Carlisle's voice was close, yet coldly unfamiliar. Rem felt her body being pushed back by an irresistible force, and a translucent barrier suddenly glowed before her. She stumbled back two steps, that barrier completely separating her from Carlisle.
"What is this...?"
"Carlisle...!" Her voice trembled, her fingers pressed hard against the barrier. "Please... let Rem be with you..."
Carlisle didn't turn back. His voice was still gentle, but his words made Rem feel as if her heart had been pierced.
"Rem, we agreed," he said softly. "When there's danger, I must handle it. I can't... let you face an existence like an Archbishop of Sin."
Rem's lips began to tremble. She suddenly remembered that night, Carlisle had also walked alone towards the monster horde like this.
"Are you... going to bear it alone again?" Her question was tearful, her fists pounding heavily on the barrier. "Rem is clearly... clearly strong enough!"
The magical light barrier remained motionless, reflecting her distorted reflection.
Carlisle's sword finally left its sheath, and the moment the silver light cut through the darkness, Rem felt some warm liquid slide down her cheeks. She pounded the barrier like crazy, the chain coiling around her feet.
"Don't... don't exclude Rem... please..."
But Carlisle had already charged into the enemy ranks. Rem could only watch, watching the person who gently stroked her hair, once again selflessly turning himself into a wall to ward off danger.
It turned out that the most painful wound was the invisible one, when pushed away by the one you love.
"Ah ah ah ah–!"
Sloth's scream was as piercing as fingernails scraping glass.
"Diligence! Diligence! Diligence, diligence!" he repeated maniacally, spittle flying from his torn lips. "How noble! How selfless! How sickeningly self-sacrificing!"
His movements suddenly froze.
"But..." His voice suddenly deepened, with a chilling pleasure. "Heh heh heh... you are... the most slothful one."
Carlisle whispered softly in his heart.
'I'm sorry... Rem...'
His peripheral vision caught the sight of the figure desperately pounding behind the barrier, remembering how Rem had fallen in a pool of blood just moments before.
If it were ordinary cultists, it would be fine... but an Archbishop of Sin... I absolutely cannot let you be in danger again.
Carlisle felt the mana within him was drained. The magic he had overdrawn during the White Whale subjugation had not yet recovered, and the healing and defensive magic he had just cast for Rem had completely exhausted his last reserves of magic.
"This is... pathetic. But, it's enough."
The scars from the White Whale subjugation still throbbed, but at this moment, the pain became the best stimulant. Carlisle bent his knees slightly, lowering his center of gravity, just as he had demonstrated when teaching new recruits on the Knights Order training ground back then.
The purest swordsmanship, the most primitive combat. Stripped of all magical brilliance, Carlisle Eltheran at this moment returned to the most essential form of a swordsman.
Carlisle's gaze quickly swept across the battlefield. The Sloth Archbishop of Sin still stood in place, a maniacal grin on his distorted face, while over twenty Witch Cultists around him were already stirring.
Several Witch Cultists charged first, their scimitars glinting coldly in the dim cave. At the same time, the cultists in the back row raised their arms, fiery fireballs condensing in their palms.
But their movements, in Carlisle's eyes, were ridiculously slow.
Even with his magic depleted, even with his body on the verge of collapse, he was still the man known as the "Perfect Knight."
"Too slow."
Carlisle's figure suddenly blurred, his sword light cutting through the air like a silver thread.
The first person's scimitar had just been raised when their throat was pierced.
The second person's blade had not even fallen when blood bloomed in their heart.
The third person only had time to widen their eyes before the sword's edge penetrated their skull from the jaw.
In just one encounter, three cultists had fallen.
Their bodies had not even hit the ground when Carlisle had already sidestepped a fireball, the scorching wave of flames grazing his cloak and exploding behind him. He didn't even frown, flipping his wrist, his blade precisely piercing the heart of the fourth cultist.
The difference was too great.
Even without magic, even exhausted, Carlisle's sword could still easily take their lives.
Carlisle's sword edge was stained with blood, and the last Witch Cultist who charged fell, clutching their throat. He didn't pause, flipping his wrist, his blade slashing horizontally.
A fierce sword energy burst through the air, sweeping across like a silver moon, instantly cutting down the cultists in the back row who were condensing fireballs at the waist! The scorching fireballs had not yet been launched, but exploded uncontrollably in their palms, the bursting flames illuminating the entire cave.
But in that instant, Sloth moved.
Carlisle saw no trace of any attack, no blade light, no magic.
A chill rose behind Carlisle, his pupils constricted, instinctively wanting to dodge, but
"Bang–!!"
An invisible, immense force suddenly gripped his body, like an unseen giant hand, slamming him fiercely into the ground!
Rocks splintered, dust flew! Carlisle's body crashed heavily into the ground, the impact shaking the entire cave. His bones groaned under the unbearable weight, and a metallic sweetness welled up in his throat.
...
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