Crimson Blood

Etoris tore open his robes and removed his armor. The powerful physique of a Mixed-blood, along with the vitality he had gained after Bai Cangshu had injected him with several doses of blood medicine, allowed even a chest-splitting wound to heal rapidly after being bandaged.

Of course, surviving a blow from a pure-blooded giant dragon was mainly thanks to His Excellency Seraphina’s blood.

Etoris looked up at the sky. The bronze-colored vortex had already taken up a quarter of the heavens, and flames occasionally flew from it, crashing down somewhere like meteors.

"Your Excellency Seraphina, are you all right?"

Etoris wiped the sweat from his body and looked worriedly at the Saintess, whose white robes were nearly soaked through.

The Dragon King was about to awaken, and the temperature of the world kept rising. Under normal circumstances, slight changes in temperature did not seem particularly dangerous, but now he could clearly feel that someone like the Saintess, who lacked a Dragon Bloodline, was probably already extremely weak.

If the temperature continued to rise, His Excellency Seraphina might not be able to hold on much longer.

He subconsciously looked at the proud, powerful man at the front of the group. The other man was strong enough to overwhelmingly defeat a Second Generation dragon and Alice, the leader of the Hymn Choir, all by himself. Aside from His Excellency Lawrence, he had never seen anyone with such power.

"Heh, that’s why I said I should just carry you and fly directly to that so-called Holy City. In your current condition, if the temperature rises any further, you’ll probably die of dehydration~"

Etoris saw His Excellency Mercenary Tao turn around at that moment and frivolously mock Seraphina. The Saintess’s cheeks were already flushed an unnatural red, yet she still shook her head.

"This is the last time I will walk upon this land. If I fly away directly, many people waiting along the road, hoping I can cleanse their ominous bloodlines, will return disappointed."

"Hope left unfulfilled, disappointment at yearning for the light only to be abandoned in the end, despair that slowly strips away one’s sanity until one becomes a beast…"

The girl spoke softly, but every word was clear. She looked no more than fifteen or sixteen, yet her sea-blue eyes were filled with warmth and contemplation.

"Tch~"

Bai Cangshu clicked his tongue inwardly and turned away with a cold smile.

He was not mocking Seraphina. Under the coverage of Mantra, someone at her level simply could not lie or conceal her thoughts from him.

There was not the slightest falsehood in this woman. She did not fear the Crimson Pope Lawrence, nor was she afraid of him, even though not long ago he had pressed a sword stained with dragon blood against her heart.

She merely regretted that she did not have more time to completely cure everyone affected by Beastification Disease.

She was like a true saint walking upon the earth, utterly out of place in this miserable, twisted world.

Once again, she cut open her wrist and held it out toward a man wrapped in a black robe by the roadside.

Bai Cangshu could even read the thoughts of this girl who bore the title of Saintess.

Ah, it hurts so much. If only my wounds wouldn’t heal so quickly~

She did not care about the weakness caused by continuously giving blood. Instead, because she feared pain, she was thinking that it would be better if the wound did not heal.

The corner of Bai Cangshu’s mouth curled upward. He suddenly felt the urge to use Omen of the Evil God: Blade of Tyranny, an ability he rarely used, to cut open her arm.

He wanted to see whether this naive girl would be at a loss when faced with a wound that truly could not heal.

"Saint… Your Excellency Seraphina, forgive us. We came too late…"

A group of tall humans concealed beneath gray robes emerged from the alleys of the ruined town and approached Seraphina.

Etoris stood protectively beside the red-haired girl. He recognized the group giving off a beastly aura—they were the Ash Hunters, who hid in the darkness and fought the Church of Healing without end.

Not long ago, it had been the desperate resistance of these people against the Hymn Choir that had held out until His Excellency Mercenary Tao and he arrived.

Seraphina watched as the woman beneath the black robes returned to human form. A natural smile rested on her face as she raised her hand, blood still dripping from her wrist.

"You should be healed as well."

The lead Hunter froze for a moment. The gray-robed Hunters behind him murmured among themselves before finally shaking their heads.

"Your Excellency Seraphina, your holy blood should not be spilled in a place like this."

The smile vanished from Seraphina’s face. She frowned. She did not know how many times she had heard such words.

Your blood should not be spilled in a place like this.

Your holy blood should be reserved for more important people.

Lowly people like us are not worthy of your salvation.

Whether it was His Excellency Lawrence, the knights of the Hymn Choir, the great pioneers of the Church of Healing, or the Hunters she encountered afterward, those Mixed-bloods with Dragon Clan blood flowing through their veins…

No one seemed to want her to use her blood to save ordinary people. They did not even want her to save other Hunters or holy knights.

Everyone possessed a system of value she could not understand. In that system, human lives were not equal, so they asked her to abandon those deemed less valuable…

Seraphina lowered her sea-blue gaze and turned to look at the gaunt woman. She knew full well that, in trying to control the beastification process, the woman could barely even obtain food.

Yet even so, she had not been corrupted by that power.

Her withered body was proof of her noble soul. Did such a person not deserve to be saved?

Bai Cangshu saw through both sides completely. Such questions rooted in humanity appeared even more agonizing in this twisted, despairing world.

Perhaps neither side was wrong. One side hoped that this girl with her special constitution could preserve herself and become a true saint capable of saving the world.

The other merely wished to do everything in her power to heal the suffering humans of this gray, ruined world.

He turned to look outside the town. There, another question of the same kind was unfolding.

On one side was a large group of ordinary people in black robes, enduring the corruption of Blood Therapy. They did not wish to fall into beasts and harm others, so they had come by reputation, hoping to receive purification from Saint Seraphina.

Blocking them outside the town were several men and women dressed in aristocratic clothing. Their expressions were cold, and terrifying auras radiated from their bodies.

They were a group of Mixed-bloods who operated secretly throughout the world. They had traveled tirelessly from place to place, serving as holy knights and Hunters, banding together because they all sought to eliminate the Dragon Clan hidden within the human world.

In the future, this group would likely establish an organization called the Secret Party.

"His Excellency Seraphina’s blood cannot continue to be wasted on people like you."

The leader spoke, his eyes turning golden as a powerful pressure erupted, making the black-robed Beastification Disease patients instinctively retreat.

Before long, the verbal dispute became a bloody conflict. One side upheld the greater good, while the other bore the misery and despair of desperately clinging to their humanity. Neither had a path of retreat, and slaughter erupted at the entrance to the town.

The commotion reached Seraphina and the others. The girl immediately turned to run toward the town entrance, but the seasoned Hunters and Etoris used their bodies to block her path.

Etoris lifted his head, not daring to look at the expression on her face. He could only repeat himself over and over.

"There are too many of them. You’ll die, Your Excellency Seraphina… You cannot die…"

Seraphina tried several times, but the strong men blocked her each time. In the end, she turned to look at the few people standing apart as if none of this concerned them.

The tall, long-haired Eastern man wore an amused expression, as though he were watching an interesting play.

The female knight in black armor remained silent, watching coldly. Only the black-haired woman seemed to want to speak but hesitated.

Step by step, the girl walked over the filthy ground. Muddy water mixed with excrement splashed onto her white robes.

"Your Excellency Mercenary Tao, you want something from me, don’t you?"

The girl lifted her head, her sea-blue eyes shimmering like rippling water.

"I’ll give it to you. No matter what it is—my heart, my blood… I’ll give it to you."

"But before that, I want to… live freely!"

"I want to save them."

With a sound as faint as a finger poking through a thin sheet of paper, several wounds appeared across the girl’s body. The next moment, she felt the blood flowing from her wrist begin to accelerate.

Bai Cangshu withdrew his hand and placed his finger in his mouth. Intense vitality radiated from that drop of blood.

You used Crimson Blood (Misc.). Vitality slightly increased.

He used Logic to forcibly stimulate the girl’s blood-producing functions. For a short period of time, her bodily vitality would increase, but in the long term, her lifespan would be affected.

However, neither he nor she seemed to care.

Then, having received Bai Cangshu’s command, Artoria drew her sword and guarded the girl as they walked toward the entrance of the town. There, he would likely witness the "charity" of this world’s last saint.