The bickering and fighting didn’t end there. Anne was extremely resistant, and no matter how sweet Mary acted, it only seemed to infuriate Anne too. The tension also wasn’t completely one-sided. There were tensions between the two groups of paladins. Anne hadn’t brought everyone to disappear in the dungeon, so she had a new group, and Mary had also come with her own group. These were men and women who had opposing views, and now they had been thrown together.

The paladins from the Church of the Mother looked down scornfully at the paladins from the other church, and the other church scowled right back. They were each trying to move into the church. Numerous supplies sat in various crates in front of the church going out to the street. It was enough supplies for two churches, and neither one was willing to compromise. Paladins from each group were fighting to bring their items in. This stalled when they each tried to pull a crate in, blocking each other’s path. Neither was willing to give room for the other, and their voices were becoming quite heated.

The two leaders were in just as much of an argument, so neither was watching their companions descending to the point they might draw arms. I wished I had Eliana with me. Her ability to soothe tensions could be very helpful at that moment. The only other person I knew who was as good with people was Elaya and pulling out a woman putting off waves of miasma in front of a bunch of self-righteous paladins didn’t seem like a good idea.

I lifted my hands to try to placate the two women, only for a sudden force to slam me in the back. I was thrown forward into the two women, and my arms instinctively grabbed onto the two of them. I activated several shields of defense as we collapsed to the ground. The paladins fighting over a crat had dropped one of the containers, and when it hit the ground it had exploded. The paladins had been thrown back by the force.

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“The children!” Mary pulled out of my protective grip, leaping to the children who had been thrown to the ground.

“Watch out!”

I hadn’t been using my Danger Sense, but the second I was attacked I turned it on, and it told me that there was more to it. She raised her hand and created a magical shield of her own just as several more crates exploded. The entire courtyard of the church seemed to be razed in a single moment. While shockwaves and shrapnel buffeted my shield and I held Anne protectively, I brought up my Map. Red dots appeared all around us.

I stood up and spun around, my eyes searching for the threat. The explosions had stopped, but the vast majority of the paladins were either knocked out or dead. That made it unlikely this was caused by either side. Carmine was among those in the explosion, and the only member of my party that stuck around to deal with this. She had been near the blast, but she was also extremely tough. She was working her way back to her feet just like me. She was wearing her army thankfully, and it had taken the majority of the hit. She was scratched up and covered in filth, but she was still okay.

That was when a dozen people jumped down from every side, seemingly coming from the rooftops of the adjacent buildings. They were completely covered in black fabric, and even their faces couldn’t be seen.

“Ninjas?” I frowned.

“No, Master. They’re assassins!” Carmine corrected.

I had been warned that assassins would come. I never expected it in my own city.