CHAPTER 53: CHAPTER 53- FIRE FESTIVAL (2)

"The village is safe from the attacks from the demons only because of the blessing of the old god of fire. He has not abandoned us, so do not take his mercy for granted. If you understand, then move".

In front of the iron clad reason and strong gaze of the villagers, Eldrin could only reluctantly leave the hand of the woman who was his wife and life partner.

"H-Husband?!!" Elina called out clutching desperately to her last saving straw. However, after seeing her husband back down, all hope left her body, and she became a lifeless doll like the others.

Back on the terrace...

"Wait a minute, so the ritual that the Toto village had been performing, the taboo that cannot be spoken out loud is...?"

The male from the panther tribe nodded his head at Reinhardt’s question.

"That right, it is this ritual. Every year, we perform this during the fire festival and send seven of our villagers to the temple of the fire god through that sacred altar. It is to safeguard us from the attacks of the forces of demons".

Finally, the entire thing made sense; the mystery of the Toto village unravelled in front of him.

"You goddamn idiots. That is no altar of the fire god, but a demonic gate that leads into a dungeon. You are simply sending seven of your tribe members to die in there," Bob roared out loud, unable to hold in his anger any longer.

The scene, actions, the ceremony, everything that he saw today was pure madness. An act so demonic and eerie that his whole body had goosebumps simply by watching it. Yet these people, these demi humans were passing it as a sacred act.

"Demons!! Do not slander our sacred ceremony. What do you even know about the culture of the demi humans?!! You are a human, a foreigner after all. Perhaps it was a mistake from the start for Chief Zerina to believe that you are different from the other humans. You are all the same... gugh"...

"This bastard" Bob lifted the panther tribe male by their collar, pointed at the demonic gate at the centre of the village square and roared.

"Open your eyes and look properly. This is no ceremony, but a ritual to summon the gates of the abyss. What you are all doing is not paying respect to the god of fire and divinity, but instead fuelling the power of the demons even more. Those people whom you all believe are serving the god of fire are all dead inside the dungeon. Their bodies played with and their soul tormented until the moment of their death!!"...

"Lie, it’s a lie... the old gods".

BANG... unable to take the other guy’s nonsense anymore, Bob planted a punch into the solar plexus of the panther male, knocking him out.

"These fools, how long will they keep on believing in the old gods? It’s time they come to terms with the reality, the old gods have all left this world, only their relics remain behind. If they were still here, humanity wouldn’t be pushed to this extent against the forces of darkness".

The demons were using this weakness of the inhabitants of this world to deceive them. Toto village was a good example, to think that they would use such a scheme against the gullible demi humans.

Bob was so angry and disgusted that he wanted to immediately charge in and slaughter those bastards. It was not only him, Karina was the same.

"I see... I understand now why Zerina brought us here"...

"Commander?" the two looked at Reinhardt waiting for his command.

"Get ready, we are charging in"...

.

.

"[Radiant Ascension]

!!"

A loud voice like thunder suddenly interjected the proceedings of the fire festival, cutting through the boisterous noise of the village square like a hot knife through butter. At the same moment, the sky suddenly started brightening like day even though it was the time of the night.

"?" Elmond covered his eyes and looked up. What was going on? Why did the sky suddenly illuminate? Before he or any of the demi human villagers could wonder what was going on, a colossal pillar of light tore through the night sky and crashed onto the village square, dyeing the place with its brilliance.

KIEEE... AHHHRAGGHH... baleful screams and wails that didn’t sound like they could come from a demi human, rang out all across the village square.

"T-This is?!"

When the white pillar of light disappeared and the people could once again see, they noticed that the village square had completely changed. Dark, ominous smokes came out from many of the demi humans, their bodies slowly integrating into ashes.

As for others, their form had morphed into a completely different race altogether. Large pointy horns, bat like wings, a long thin black tail and sharp claws. There was no one in this border town who didn’t know what this race was.

"Demons!!"...

"H-How the hell did they get inside?"...

"Everyone, get your weapons"...

As one would expect, the moment the demons were discovered, all hell broke loose in the village square and everyone started panicking from the unexpected revelation.

"Everyone calm down" A clam and collected voice that resonated with a divine energy, sounded out calming everyone down. The demi humans who were about to run around in chaos, all stopped in their tracks, their eyes focused towards the place the sound came from.

There they saw a large human wearing a resplendent platinum white armour with golden design, walking over with his knight order.

Whether it be his presence or the platoon of knights he was leading, they were so brilliant that it was like watching a beacon of light slowly magnify inside a long gruelling tunnel.

The man and the knight order making their appearance, were none other than Reinhardt and his Temple of Light.

If it were any normal day, all the demi humans would have barred their hostility at the group of knights who dared to intrude inside their village.