states. Pools of blood dotted the ground, some of them so large that they were like veritable swamps. The viscous, red liquid resembled overripe berry jam. These pools had once been members of the three races; they were the remains from where they'd been crushed by the massive feet and axes. If you looked closer, you could make out flattened bones and armor sitting in them. They were too misshapen to even be called "corpses." Now then, what to do. Kaito pondered the issue. If he joined the fray, then things would undoubtedly take a turn for the better. However, he was also the sole person who had the power to topple the Diablo pillar. He couldn't let it notice him until he was right up next to it. After all, it was impossible to know how intelligently it would react. There was a chance that it would put its preparations for the sixth wave on hold and intercept the armies' attack by deploying any finished underlings it had. If that happened, the three races would be annihilated, and Kaito's ability to arrive at the pillar in time would be jeopardized. Consequently, he continued facing forward and asked a question. "Can you handle it, Hina?" "Of course. As your heart desires." She didn't want to separate from him. However, she left that part unsaid. The hem of Kaito's black long coat waved about as he turned around. Behind him, his bride was standing with her halberd at the ready. Parting here would mean she wouldn't be able to participate in his plans for when he reached the pillar. Yet even so, she offered no objections. She just smiled the same way as always. And that precisely was why Kaito was able to fully entrust her with his brief order. "Then I leave it to you, my love." "And I serve with great pleasure." With that, Hina turned on her heel and unhesitatingly leaped off the black dog's back. The air resistance caused her frilly skirt to billow up. The ribbon on her back fluttered as she descended straight down. Hell lay beneath her. The saints' bombardment was falling behind schedule. However, the titans' ranks were only swelling. By now, there was enough blood to fill a lake. "Don't stop moving! Spread out andâ€”" At that moment, Valisisa noticed the falling object. She frantically grabbed her telescope. She quickly realized it was one of the Mad King's allies, but she let out a dissatisfied murmur all the same. "A...maid?" And so the maid landed on the battlefield. The soldiers around her stared, their mouths agape. Hina paid them no heed. She took off at a run, her explosive burst of speed propelling her toward a titan. It raised its foot, then brought it down hard. The moment before its sole made impact, Hina leaped. In doing so, she was able to avoid the effects of the ground-shaking tremor. Then she brought her halberd down on the titan's foot. *** With an earsplitting battle cry, she buried her blade in its body, slicing through bundles of vines. The shock wave rippled through the titan and caused bones to fly out its backside. Unable to withstand the weight of its body, its severed foot started snapping and tearing. Then the titan toppled over, taking the one on its right down with it. A thunderous echo filled the air. Then the battlefield grew silent. As countless gazes landed on her, Hina wrenched out her halberd and murmured: "Send as many as you please. Here, I shall display my devotion. Here, I shall display my love. Here, I shall vent my rage." A loud cry of joy rose up. The tide of battle shifted once more. As the black titans walked, two maidens wove between their earthshaking feet at top speed. One was swinging her ax about wildly and using its recoil to fling herself through the air, and the other was whittling away at the ice while skating atop it with her insectile, sicklelike legs. Their appearances differed greatly, but both their legs were mechanical in nature. One was a maid. The other was a paladin with over half her body mechanized. Hina and Izabella's movements surpassed anything a human could muster. "I'm grateful you came! On my own, I had my hands completely full just guarding the saints and guiding the soldiers to cover. They're large, sluggish... Jeanne might refer to them as big ol' good-for-nothings, perhaps." "I concur! When it comes to mobility, we're second to none! All we need to do is chip away at them without slowing down!" As they ran, the two of them plunged their blades into the titans' legs, then continued dashing past them. Their weapons moved in tandem, slicing through the vines. The blows they dealt weren't fatal, but they were able to avoid pursuing any one target too hard. The two of them took an intentionally intricate path and circled their way between a number of their foes. Eventually, the vines reached their limit, and they loudly snapped. Thanks to Hina and Izabella's valiant efforts, the titans' advance slowed to a crawl. Their bodies may have been suited for crushing soldiers flat, but making tight turns wasn't exactly in their wheelhouse. The soldiers began their advance between the titans' crippled legs, rushing past them as though the limbs were large trees in a vast forest. "Make haste! Don't look up at them and don't hesitate!" "Go! The titans are all gathered together! Let's leave them in our dust!" At the moment, the bulk of the soldiers were riding astride the beasts their mages had summoned, without regard for what race their seatmates were. While Hina and Izabella had been fighting, the soldiers had been gathering up the titans' mana-rich bones, which the beastfolk then used to craft into magic tools. Meanwhile, the mages from the Capital had been investigating what summoned beasts could still act at the World's End. Thanks to their combined efforts, they'd been able to draw up summoning circles and call the beasts forth en masse. One of the elderly merchants gave a boisterous laugh. "Ha-ha-ha! I love it! It's not every day that such vast riches pile themselves up on your doorstep for free!" The creatures, which looked like crosses between lizards and horses, gripped the ice tightly with their claws as they galloped atop it. Eventually, they managed to leave the titans behind entirely. They'd gotten close to the Diablo pillar. The monstrosity that had loomed over them from afar was nearly at hand. Unnoticed, Kaito's team had quietly drawn near it as well. Perhaps sensing the titans were at a disadvantage, the Diablo pillar had stopped birthing new ones. Everything looked to be going well. However, Vlad suddenly crossed his arms. He spoke matter-of-factly as he reported on the situation. "Hmm, it seems our smooth ride is nearing its end." "Yeah. The enemy has a plan." And just as they'd said, the Diablo pillar began undergoing another transformation. The rose petals closed tight, then spun as their buds reopened. Something came pouring out, along with a shower of nectar. It called to mind an image of mantises hatching. One after another, they plopped down onto the frozen earth. After falling vertically, the "women" stood on their own two legs. The space in front of the pillar was packed to the brim with their pale, naked bodies. The "women" were like a human wall. Vlad let out a small laugh. "I see, I see. The bishops, then." "...Elisabeth? No, no, that's not right." "So quick to retract your words, my dear successor. I think the resemblance is rather notable, myself. Although, I'll admit it's a bit mixed." The things' appearances looked a bit like Elisabeth. They were extraordinarily beautiful. However, their skeletal structures differed from hers. Overall, they were thinner than Elisabeth, and they looked to have an unstable, ephemeral quality to them. Kaito's conclusion, although he knew it would have incited Elisabeth's wrath, was that the Saint's form had been mixed in as well. More than anything, though, there was just something different about them, something that made it impossible to think of them as human. Something about them was overwhelmingly different. Their very existences seemed off. Their bodies were completely devoid of pigmentation. They looked like snow sculptures, or perhaps carved ice or glass. Their bodies were impossibly smooth and white. Their faces weren't covered in skin, but they didn't look like they were covered in raw flesh, either. Given the current situation, though, the strangest thing about them was the fact that they seemed to lack any body parts specialized for combat. Suddenly, Kaito was struck by an ominous premonition. An image shot through his brain like a bolt of lightning. Back when we were fighting the three fused demons at the Capitalâ€” What happened then? Thanks to La Mules's bombardment, the mass of flesh had incurred severe damages. Its wounds had frothed like they were boiling, and body parts had smoothly protruded out from them. After they'd healed, a man's flaccid face had appeared in the muscle tissue. He'd opened his thick lips, then emitted a gray roar. As a result, the Church's strongest fixed battery, La Mules, had killed herself. Due to the demon's mental attack. "Hina!" "Everyone, please, you mustn't look them in the eyes!" Hina's response to his warning from on high was immediate. She shouted. But she was too late. All at once, the "women" had opened their eyes. Their eyes, like black pearls, swept over the soldiers. The darkness that had been hidden behind their ivory eyelids took on an unnatural light. Even though he wasn't looking at them directly, Kaito could tell. Reflected in them were two things: a turbulent rainbow, like a piece of the universe had been carved away, and a multitude of unborn possibilities. They blinked, and the darkness returned. All at once, the army froze. A great silence swept over the area. It was a stillness that was incompatible with a battlefield. The silence was broken in the worst way imaginable. A strange laughter had broken out from here and there. """Hee-hee. Hee-hee-hee. Hee-hee-hee-hee. Heh-heh. Heh-heh-heh-heh-heh.""" The saints were laughing like children. The man with the fish in his belly, in particular, seemed pleased. He had immediately moved to cover the girl, and she was wriggling about in his arms. She shouted with her eyes shut tight. "What, what, what is it? Hey, what happened, hey?" That's bad. Kaito gulped. The vast majority of the saints held severe trauma deep in their hearts. If nothing else, their deep connections with God had shattered their minds. Even though some of them had managed to maintain their sanity, who knew what would happen if their memories from before they'd reached that state were returned to them? Kaito was reminded of La Mules's death. In an act of pure innocence, she'd bitten off her own tongue. After the saints, the soldiers began moving as well. Over the past few days, the constant battles had stretched their nerves to the breaking point. Many of the militia, in particular, had lost not just their families, but all their relatives as well. They took their swords in hand and turned them on themselves. Tears flooded from their wide-open eyes. *** Kaito couldn't think of any way to stop them. He raised his hand, planning on at least giving them a sudden shock. The moment he did, though, a terrible roar shook the air. "Whaâ€”?" Naturally, Kaito's eyes went wide. Cannonball after cannonball after cannonball had crashed into the women. At first, they didn't seem to have caused any change. Gradually, though, cracks began splintering across the women's bodies. Before long, they shattered. Eyeballs, which were perhaps their true forms, spilled out, screamed, and vanished. Immediately thereafter, the cannons turned on the summoned beasts the soldiers were mounted on. The creatures let out pitiful screams, and the vast majority of their riders were