Release That Witch

Having seen what had happened, a remaining captive immediately turned around to escape, which disappointed Zero.     

She transformed into a beam of dim light and entered the captive. He stopped running and rolled his eyes at once. It was not the first time for Mayne to witness this uncanny ability, but every time he saw it, he could not help but get cold feet.     

As the dim light shone out of the captive's body, his image was twisted and distorted. In the end, he changed into Zero.     

Mayne could tell that this was not possessing or killing, but as for what had happened exactly in the process, he thought that only the pope and those people who had experienced it had a clear idea.     

Zero took a deep breath and then walked to the last captive.     

At the age of 14 or 15, he was the youngest among all the three captives. With the panic in his clear eyes, this boy clearly could not believe what he had seen.     

"Now, you're all alone, Al," Zero whispered.     

Hearing this, the boy who was trying to pick up the bent blade with trembling hands was stunned. "Wh-Why..."     

"Deities have told me everything. You're a farmer's child living in the suburbs, but the King of Wolfheart forced all the people in your village to move into the city to repair the city wall, make military supplies and deliver food for the army. They didn't treat a young boy like you differently. They grabbed you for military service in the scouts team and then abandoned you to your fate." She reached out her hand to touch his cheek. "The best evidence of this is the fact that you weren't allowed into the city by the guards the first time you went back to report. You delivered to them the information about our actions, but the captain of the guards just asked you to leave and to follow us again, after hearing your report, right?"     

"I..." He opened his mouth but failed to say anything.     

"They would never let you in, because all the people in your family, your parents and brothers, were dead at that time. They were just like you, being enslaved and abandoned by the king. If the guards let you in, the whole scouts team would know those bad, disgusting deeds. When your father was mending a breach in the city wall, he fell down from it and died. Your mother went to the supervision team to ask for a reason, but only received a flogging punishment. Because of this, now her life is hung by a thread. Without deities, this world will remain to be evil and ugly. Are you sure you still want to serve such a lord?" Zero said.     

Al's eyes widened in shock. Unable to resist the grief, he cried, "It's... impossible. You're lying!"     

"Deities never lie." the pure witch shook her head. "You know in the bottom of your heart that what I said is true. You know that your tragedy is caused by the fact that the noble would never regard you as equals and would treat you like their livestock. We, the church, however, want to end this kind of tragedies and build a new world which is under the supervision and protection of deities."     

Al fell heavily onto his knees and dropped his head, wailing. "Wh-What should I do?"     

"Follow your own heart. Only deities can make a decision."     

The boy sobbed. "I was wrong. I'll tell you everything I know. I'll do anything as long as I can save my mother."     

"Good boy." Zero patted his head. She took a plant which was full of slender leaves out of her pocket and handed it to him. "Eat this and have a good sleep first. It'll stabilize your emotions." She tore off half a leaf and chewed it in her mouth. "Eat it just like me. When we occupy Wolfheart City tomorrow, you'll probably meet your mother again."     

Mayne frowned when he recognized the plant. It was sleeping fern used to made Dreamland Water. It did no harm to a witch, but could violently poison and kill a common person. Only coltsfoot could neutralize its toxicity. As he expected, quickly after the young boy ate it, his face turned green. He gripped his own throat and looked at the smiling pure witch in disbelief. He hissed and scratched his skin with his nails. Soon his blood spilled out, covering his neck. After struggling for nearly 7 minutes, he went limp and stopped breathing.     

"It's a pity that deities don't forgive your sins." Zero smiled and walked to the archbishop. She bowed and said, "Your Eminence, what do you think of this trial? Did I act like Her Eminence Heather?"     

"Why did you delude him to eat sleeping ferns?" Mayne asked in a deep voice. "If it was Heather, we would get one more devout believer instead of a dead body. Why did you put this lost sheep that you brought back to death?"     

"If his family members did die as what I've said, he'll become a pious believer. Unfortunately, I didn't know what happened to them. I made up the story to deceive him." Zero shrugged, showing no emotion. "Once he found out the truth, it wouldn't be a good thing for the church. That's why I must kill him. Trust me. I serve the church wholeheartedly."     

"If you do, you should wait for orders inside your tent." Mayne retorted inwardly. Not wanting to get involved in this trial thing any longer, he turned his head and said, "We're about to attack. You two should get ready at once. According to our plan, the King of Wolfheart and the Queen of Clearwater..."     

"Must die, Your Eminence." The pure witch interrupted with a smile. "I may not be able to complete such a task alone, but now that Isabella is here, none of them can escape from the Kingdom of Wolfheart."     

***************     

"Woo, Woo...!"     

The attacking horn resounded to the skies. Under black clouds, the church launched the second siege battle in the rustling autumn wind.     

Over 1,000 meters away from the city, the spear holders of the "Siege Beasts" started to shine with magic power. When they shone like the glaring sun, a spear was thrown out with a deafening roar, looking as if it were hurled out by a giant. It flew toward the city wall at such a high speed that the human eyes were unable to capture it.     

After traveling a long distance, the iron spear still maintained its momentum. It smashed into the snow stone city wall and continued to knock down the militia soldiers hiding behind it. Three rounds of spear shooting shattered the city gate and heavily damaged the wall area near it.     

Working at a similar speed to a catapult, the demons' siege weapons could shoot several times farther than the man-made armament. As the city's defending soldiers were unable to see the moving trails of the extremely fast spears, they had no idea where they were going to attack. Given that, they did not know how to fight back, either. Before the church's army came to the city, its outer defense line was already teetering on the brink of collapse.     

In a sudden, an earth-shattering boom reverberated somewhere behind the city wall.     

A huge fire ball shot up into the sky. All the soldiers nearby felt the vibration under their feet, and then the section of wall tumbled down in the fire and black smoke, leaving a gap in this mottled city wall.     

Hearing the quick sounds of the horn, Judgement Army and God's Punishment Army started to charge toward the city wall. They looked like golden and red waves, remorselessly swamping all the enemies who dare to stand in front of them.     

Being only flesh and blood, the defenders of Wolfheart now had to fight against those unearthly soldiers.