So I end up telling Mericel a quick version of what happened to me. I try to keep it short so we can get to work but she just keeps asking questions. At least the story and questions distracted her from worrying about the plan and when she finally runs out of questions she leads Bones off to do their part.

This leaves me free to head to the main doors of the church, time for these fake priests to get what they deserve. I really wish I had time to make them suffer, but I will count on Krenocia to make sure they get everything they have earned. When I reach the main doors I decide to do it the fun way and instead of opening the doors I kick them as hard as I can.

The left door flies back and slams into the wall before hanging drunkenly off one hinge, the right door slams to the ground and skids across the floor. Of course all eyes in the room are focused on me, this should be plenty of distraction to make sure Bones and Mericel get in easily. I need to buy them enough time to deal with the guards and get ready to defend the prisoners.

High Priest says "How dare you! You dare to go against the church?!"

Before answering I take a careful look around, the fifty soldiers are different, they are wearing full plate armor and from the aura it looks to be enchanted. Other than that I realize I don't need to worry about the acolytes, their auras are clean, although they look to have been abused as well. They are all beautiful women and their auras actually bear Seronia's mark, so I need to keep them alive.

The priests on the other hand are all scum and do not have the mark so they will all die here. I get the feeling the soldiers, or should I say church knights, are going to be the only real problem for me. I guess I should chat with them a bit to buy some time.

"As fake priests your death has been ordered by Krenocia and Seronia!"

High Priest says "Who cares! Power is all that matters in this world and the goddesses are weak! We have more power now than we ever did when we served them!"

"What power? You are all dead men!"

High Priest says "Enough of this! Whoever kills him can keep the king's reward!"

With that the greed of the knights spurs them into action, they charge at me recklessly trying to overwhelm me with numbers. As the first one reaches me I swing Blitz normally to test the armor of the knights. As I expected Blitz can't cut through magical armor, however the force of the strike sends the knight flying into a group of his friends.

When the next knight reaches me I try using pierce form on him, the strike goes through his armor and impales him completely. I pull Blitz back and kick the corpse out of my way to give me room to ready pierce again. The fact that I killed the knight in one blow makes his comrades pause, no one wants to be the next one to reach me.

High Priest says "What are you doing? Kill him already!"

With that a group gathers their courage and rushes at me, there are five of them grouped together, if I use pierce I can kill one but the other four will hit me. So instead I use a two-handed grip and swing at their necks. Even if the armor can stop it they should still take some damage.

What I am not expecting is that the neck piece of the armor isn't enchanted. So instead of knocking them back I end up decapitating three of them. The last two don't lose their heads but take heavy damage and fall to the ground.

Now that I know their weakness I charge into the remaining knights swinging at their necks. As I am busy cutting down the knights the high priest gathers the other priests and they start chanting a spell. Since they can't hurt me as far as I know I ignore them and keep killing the knights.

Thankfully the acolytes have all moved to the very back of the chapel out of harm's way. The knights have realized I am targeting their necks and have gotten harder to kill. Those with enchanted shields are blocking my swings even though it costs them broken bones to do so.

The knights keep yelling for the priests to heal them, but the priests are still chanting a spell in a circle around the altar. Without healing the knight's wounds are adding up, they won't be able to keep blocking me for long. But what spell are the priests casting, it is taking a long time and they are ignoring the knights.

The priests must have something up their sleeves, but I can't interrupt the spell with the knights keeping me busy. All I can do is try to finish the remaining knights before the priests finish whatever spell they are casting. So I focus my attention and redouble my efforts to cut down the knights.

Each time I cut down one of the knights with an enchanted shield another knight will pick up the shield. It is taking me much longer than I want it to, to cut down the knights. At this rate the priests are sure to finish whatever major spell they are casting.

What spell could take a circle of ten priests and over five minutes of casting time? I know they can't be calling on Seronia for their power, so they must have found some other source of power. Before I kill them all I should really ask them, it might be something that the goddesses need to know.

Now that there are less knights I can use pierce form again without getting mobbed. The knights are just focusing on defense and are too scared to really attack me. Even the enchanted shields can't stop my pierce form, and after a few attacks the shields break so I can kill them faster again.

'Hey Drog, do you know what spell those priests are casting?'

Drog 'Not specifically, but it seems to be some type of summoning spell.'

'What? Priests can summon?'

Drog 'Not normally, but this is ritual magic the same rules don't apply.'

If they are summoning maybe I should let them finish, it might be a demon I can eat. My curiosity is piqued so when I finish the last knight I just stand and wait to see what they summon. The chanting is reaching the peak, I shouldn't have to wait too much longer.

Am I seeing things? The priests suddenly look a lot older than they did when I first came in. As I watch they continue aging at a rapid pace until one by one all but the high priest falls down dead.

High Priest yells "Summon Angel!!"