After being forced to step down, the once-annoying nun eloped with me.

If their morale collapses, it will trigger a chain reaction. To avoid this, Cecilia must take the time to use divine magic to suppress their impulse to escape.

This was a test for Cecilia, who was already multitasking—but she persevered. While simultaneously shooting down skeletal demons, ensuring light on the battlefield, and maintaining command, Cecilia cast a Tranquility spell on her own soldiers.

The saintess's powerful calming spell immediately brought the previously agitated conscripts, who were on the verge of collapse due to the demonic attack, into a state of tranquility. Unable to feel fear or anger, the calmed conscripts began to diligently perform their duties under the nun's orders, preparing to meet the impending onslaught.

Tranquility is a divine spell that exists widely but is rarely used—most priests treat it as a trick to fool the common people, but for Cecilia and Priscilla, it is a divine skill on the battlefield.

The Protestant conscripts were not well-trained or well-equipped, and their only chance of defeating the Catholic army lay in their strong enough morale.

It's impossible to instill strong morale in a group of new recruits—but conversely, it's possible to force them to grow faster in the short term.

The Art of Tranquility works like this. By specifically eliminating the emotions of fear and anger, even the weakest person can carry out their orders without fear, and will almost never run away when facing a powerful enemy.

Of course, this is just a premise.

Those who retreat will die!

The presence of a group of nuns supervising the battle from the rear was the most crucial guarantee that allowed the Protestant conscripts to remain on the front lines. For the conscripts, whether the Old Church stormed the fortress or retreated, they would die anyway. Since death was inevitable either way, why not place their hopes on a possible victory?

And so, the Protestant conscripts returned to their posts and performed their duties diligently, but their brief period of spiritual resilience could not compensate for the vast material disparities.

Thanks to the efforts of the ascetics, although the number of skeletal demons had been reduced to single digits, six skeletal demons still crashed into the earthen mound.

Their impact caused a small earthquake for Cecilia and the others. As the earthen ramparts cracked, the first skeletal demon climbed the already low curtain wall, creating a steep slope beneath itself for people to climb, and began to wreak havoc on the Protestant army.

Its bulky body couldn't stop its inhuman agility. It spun like a top, its shield and sword constantly turning Protestant conscripts into mangled pieces.

They moved very fast, and almost every skeletal demon that landed created a gap more than three meters wide at its landing point—but they were just too fast.

This caught the Protestants off guard and also separated their formation too far from the main force of the Old Church army. So Cecilia made a quick decision: after sending some of the nuns to deal with the skeletal demons that had already reached the rear of her lines, she ordered the conscripts to immediately fill the gaps and try to block the Old Church soldiers at the six steep slope gaps.

Although steep slopes are easier to climb than vertical walls, most people cannot block spears thrust at them while climbing. Furthermore, she deliberately created two constantly flashing light sources behind the gaps.

The Protestant warriors, with their backs to the light source, were almost unaffected by the flash, but for the Older Christians who had to climb towards the light, they had no choice but to proceed with their eyes closed, but whether that would actually work... that was another good question.

While the skeletal demons wreaked havoc in the rear, the conscripts at the front were regrouping with the help of the Tranquility spell. The Protestants had lost hundreds in the skeletal demon raids, but the casualties were immediately halted after they broke into the rear and the penitents hunted them down.

"Without intelligence, the once terrifying war machines can only be used as one-off breakthrough weapons, and they even became separated from the main force..."

It seems the God of Light is far weaker than we imagined. Even if he personally controlled a skeletal demon to launch the attack, we still couldn't have so easily defeated what appeared to be the most terrifying enemy.

The Night Witch glanced at the Old Cult army that wouldn't arrive at the front lines for at least two more minutes and curled her lip.

At first, the skeletal demons were not far from the Old Cult army, but after being attacked and accelerated, their advance became faster and faster.

The Old Cult soldiers maintained a steady pace, trying to keep up with the skeletal demons, but how could two-legged people outrun a construct with more legs than a spider?

They ran breathlessly, but the skeletal demons continued to recede further and further away. Even after creating six gaps, the Old Cult soldiers could only watch helplessly from afar. To avoid being too exhausted to climb the earthen walls before reaching the front lines, they even had to slow their pace and walk slowly.

If the God of Light had personally controlled a skeletal demon, allowing it to nimbly dodge attacks while waiting for the Old Cult's army to catch up, the Protestant Church wouldn't have created the advantageous battlefield where the skeletal demon was separated from ordinary soldiers... In a sense, the God of Light personally sacrificed his greatest fighting force. This is truly unprecedented!

But more than being happy, Priscilla was worried that Bishop Peter might take advantage of the situation... Bishop Peter wasn't as foolish as the God of Light. He was a truly capable leader, and although greedy, he was at least Roman's first... or second, in matters of intrigue and scheming.

He deliberately let his army die; he must have had his reasons. But what those reasons were... Priscilla didn't know. All she could do was increase precautions.

Cecilia simply nodded twice in response to Priscilla's words, then stopped paying attention to the skeletal demons raging behind her.

The demons will be dealt with by the nuns sooner or later. The focus now is on how to withstand the Old Cult's attack.

“If I can hold out until dawn… so that I no longer need to maintain the Light spell across the entire battlefield…” the saint murmured, “I will have a way to unleash forbidden magic against the Old Cult’s forces… Maintaining the Light spell is too much of a burden for me right now. But we cannot lose it now.”

“If you give up the lighting, the nun behind you won’t even be able to see where the skeletal demon is, and our conscripts might even slip and fall straight down—so you’d better think it over.”

"Can't you help me out?"

"The area's magic power is almost exhausted. I can only kill enemies with the least amount of magic power I have left. Are you really sure you want me to use the little magic power I have left for lighting?"

"..."

The disadvantages of mages in regions lacking magical resources are laid bare. This is the most important reason why Priscilla can only talk the talk but not walk the walk—it's not that she doesn't want to help Cecilia shoulder this second heaviest burden, but that she truly can't help.

She also needs to reserve enough magic to wipe out the first wave of Old Cult soldiers climbing the earthen ramparts! In this situation, you expect a mage to waste regional magic just to create light? Impossible...

Cecilia could only continue to maintain the Light and Tranquility spells. Then, gritting her teeth, she transformed the Light Spear she had been holding into countless fragments of Light Rain, which she then hurled fiercely at the approaching array of the Old Cult in the distance.

The fact that the skeletal demons possessed extremely high resistance to divine power did not mean that Peter the Elder's army also had extremely high resistance to divine power. They were ultimately mortal beings, and under the saint's attack, the ranks at the forefront fell with cries of agony, while their comrades behind them carelessly trampled over their bodies and continued their advance.

Saint Cecilia's attack did not strike at the heart of the Old Cult—under the witch's watchful eye, the few elite troops of Chief Peter in the rear maintained high morale and a near-unscathed formation. They used the cheap followers at the front as a shield, a methodical and troublesome tactic.

Priscilla didn't expect Cecilia to be the best, but at least the witch could try to help.

"Although I can't use my magic reserves at will, the things I've prepared these past few days can finally come in handy..."

She muttered to herself, then took a scroll out of her pocket. The scroll was painted with a large number of fireballs, and the runes on the edges were shining brightly, indicating that the magic was abundant.

This is a reusable, rechargeable magic scroll that Priscilla created through his research and experience over this period of time. It only needs to be charged with magic to store power, and then released all at once at the crucial moment.

But Priscilla didn't intend to use it now. After taking it out and preparing it, she called out to Cecilia beside her:

“Cecilia! I’m going to use my Night Magic in a bit—but I’ll be useless for a long time afterward, understand?!”

“I know! So... use your experience to judge, don’t be afraid.”

"...call."

The magic scroll in Priscilla's hand contained a basic spell called "Fireball," which all mages learn when they begin their training.

A fireball the size of a fist that causes a violent explosion and burning effect upon contact with a target. It is extremely lethal to unarmored units, but its threat to armored units is not high; a hit on armor may not even be fatal. It is a beginner spell for beginners.

But no matter what, it is still fire. To all intelligent beings, fire is not only sacred, but also...awe-inspiring.

Flames can burn away people's will to fight. Only the strongest warriors can advance under the scorching heat of the flames. In the records of the Roman Empire, no soldier has ever been able to charge through the flames. Naturally, no matter how powerful the Old Church's protectors are, they are still just mortals.

Fire could bring them chaos, but chaos alone was not enough—so Priscilla decided to use his proudest night magic, combining the two to see if he could plunge the Old Cult army into prolonged chaos.

...But this is on the premise that the skeletal demons in the rear are not directly controlled by the God of Light...and that the nuns are able to kill the demons in the rear.

The Night Witch took a deep breath, watching the Old Cult's army draw ever closer. She held her scroll in one hand and raised her staff high in the other. Gathering the magic of the region, she concentrated almost all of it into a completely opaque black sphere. Then she recalled the impact she had had on the barbarians when she first used this spell.

Back then, the barbarians who were charging forward suddenly lost all sight and fell into chaos. In the process of trampling each other and fleeing in all directions, they ran into the trap set by the former king and were completely annihilated by the Roman army.

What now?

"...Charge!"

The Night Witch murmured.

During the era of cold light weapons, the army was in a state of utter chaos when it launched its charge.

Officers' orders were barely being relayed, and the ranks began to crack. Everyone was advancing in the same direction, and those who fell were trampled to death by their comrades behind them. Everyone was rushing forward like madmen, seeing almost nothing but a dense mass of heads and raised weapons.

During their charge, they would be in disarray, and their best way of gathering information about their surroundings was to observe the movements of friendly forces and listen for any possible clues amidst the noise.

in other words...

"Waaaaaaahh ...

Once they are deprived of sight during their charge.

Then, they will be thrown into chaos during the charge because their vision suddenly goes black.

"...Let darkness descend."

Looking at the army of old Christian believers charging forward with wild shouts in front of them.

The Night Witch sent the black ball on her staff toward their path.

The black sphere wasn't moving fast; it was just a black sphere, and under Cecilia's light magic, it was too conspicuous and menacing, which also made the soldiers of the Old Cult notice the anomaly.

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"

The soldier at the front screamed, but those on either side of him remained motionless, like an iron wall. He tried to retreat, but the people behind him kept pushing forward. With the option of being pushed to the ground and trampled to death if he tried to retreat, he could only be pushed forward, his face contorted, towards the point where the black ball would land.

Then—

He couldn't see anything anymore.

Everything went completely black. No matter how hard he tried to open his eyes, all he could see was emptiness and darkness. It was as if a thick layer of black smoke had obscured his vision; he couldn't see anything at all.

"Ah?! My eyes, I can't see anything! The enemy, where is the enemy?!"

The blind soldier screamed, wildly swinging his weapon. He felt as if he had struck something, and warm blood splattered all over his face.

With his vision gone, the soldier's other senses were greatly amplified. Whether it was the rough texture of the weapon handle in his hand, the metallic smell of blood in his nose, or the ear-piercing screams of his comrades and the thrusting force from behind—he gained many things after losing his sight, but these things served no purpose other than to intensify his fear.

Who am I? Where am I? Which way should I go now?

The soldier spun around blindly, trying to move towards the area with the loudest friendly voices, but he was pushed to the ground while spinning.

"I fell down!" he screamed. "Pull me up, pull me up—Aaaaaah?! It's so hot?! So hot!"

An astonishing heat surged through his body, igniting his leather armor and scorching his skin and muscles. Finally, the intense heat brought on an unbearable pain.

The soldier who fell to the ground writhed in agony, but he was quickly trampled down by his equally blind comrade.

"Aaaaaahh ...

The screams were incessant.

This unfortunate soldier was not one of the few, but rather one of the majority under the influence of Priscilla's magic.

After the night magic successfully blinded the vanguard of the Protestant army, Priscilla immediately used up all the magic stored in the fireball scroll in her hand. A large number of fireballs appeared above the Protestant mound, crashing into the chaotic crowd of Protestants and igniting their flesh and blood.

Fire has brought both hope and disaster to humankind. It can provide light, but it can also make humans aware of its terrifying nature through direct contact with its intense heat and pain.

But in their blindness, the only way the Catholic soldiers could feel the fire was through direct contact—they couldn't avoid it visually, much less issue a clear order to stop it in the chaos.

More and more soldiers were thrown into chaos as they caught fire. They ran and crawled haphazardly, spreading the chaos to more blind soldiers and causing the entire front to break apart.

In the chaos, some of the Old Church soldiers rushed to the base of the earthen rampart, only to have their skulls pierced by the Protestant conscripts above.

Some of the old cult soldiers managed to escape to the rear, out of the influence of the night magic. Now, they are sweating profusely and panting heavily, unable to extricate themselves from the hellish scene that befell their comrades.

More Catholic soldiers fell into chaos. They trampled each other, running wildly in the darkness, brandishing their weapons in a desperate attempt to survive. Flames spread among them, and a few lucky ones escaped the scorching heat only to be tripped up by their comrades, ultimately dying a more agonizing death beneath their boots.

The Night Witch stared palely at the scene before her. She was exhausted from expending too much magic. Gasping for breath, she glanced back at the skeletal demons that the ascetic had almost completely cleared away, and then relaxed.

Because as long as this continues... as long as the morale of the Old Cult army is directly crushed during the duration of the Night Magic, then this Old Cult invasion will end in failure.

Unless Peter the Great has a powerful backup plan, we are close to winning!

As Priscilla watched the brilliant light gradually emanating from behind the old church, she took a deep breath.

Dawn is just around the corner—

"Ah...ah...Priscilla?"

But just then, Priscilla, who was watching the dawn slowly appear in the east, heard Cecilia's terrified and trembling cry.