But if Archbishop Valentine joined the fight—a specialist trained specifically to kill demon lords, whose power increased tenfold against demonic targets, who’d already killed seven of her kind...

She’d lose. Definitively. Quickly.

"I’m trying to end this!" she broadcast back. "But the Heroes are stalling! They’re not trying to kill me—just delay me! I’ve killed fourteen Fallen Heroes but they keep repositioning, teleporting away from killing blows, healing each other!"

Through the network, she felt Valentine’s presence beginning to move—walking across the battlefield toward where she fought.

But Valentine was Not rushing. Just walking calmly, like someone taking pleasant stroll.

Which somehow made it more terrifying.

"You have minutes before he reaches you," Loki warned. "If he arrives before you’ve killed or disabled the Heroes, you’ll be fighting four Heroes AND Valentine simultaneously. You can’t win that fight."

"I KNOW!"

Seraphina looked at the Four Heroes—all wounded, all exhausted, but still fighting with desperate coordination.

She needed to break through their defense. Needed to kill or disable them before Valentine arrived.

She had perhaps few minutes before the Archbishop reached her position.

Five minutes to end a fight she’d been waging for nearly forty minutes already.

—-----

Valentine stopped walking for a moment, turning back to face Commander Elric.

"I will handle Seraphina personally. The Four Heroes have done excellent work containing her—I’ll finish what they started." His glowing eyes showed no emotion. "You have new objective, Commander."

"Yes, Archbishop?"

"End this war. Use the six thousand soldiers I’ve brought. Combine them with your existing forces. Crush the settlement’s resistance. Kill Demon Lord Loki. Eliminate all demon warriors, monsters, and supernatural threats. Leave no survivors except human civilians who can be ’saved’ through proper re-education."

Valentine’s casual tone made genocide sound like administrative task.

"The settlement has approximately fifteen hundred fighters remaining after Loki’s reinforcements arrived. You now command seventy-two hundred total soldiers—your twelve hundred surviving troops plus my six thousand fresh reinforcements. You have five-to-one numerical advantage plus my Holy Forcefield weakening their supernatural forces."

He smiled slightly.

"This should be straightforward military exercise, Commander. I expect the settlement broken within two hours. Can you accomplish this?"

Elric saluted. "Yes, Archbishop. Two hours maximum."

"Excellent." Valentine turned back toward where Seraphina fought. "Then I’ll see you at the victory celebration. After I’ve mounted Demon Lord Seraphina’s head on a pike for the Cathedral archives."

Golden-white light surrounded Valentine.

He teleported—not the complex spatial manipulation Mikazelle used, but simple divine transportation. One moment he was standing beside Elric. The next moment he was gone, manifesting half a mile away where the Heroes fought Seraphina.

Elric watched him go, then turned to the six thousand Cathedral soldiers awaiting orders.

He smiled—genuine satisfaction on his face for the first time in five days.

"ALL FORCES! ATTENTION!"

Six thousand fresh soldiers focused on commander Elric.

"Archbishop Valentine has deployed to eliminate Demon Lord Seraphina! Our objective: Break the settlement! Kill Demon Lord Loki! Destroy all demonic forces!"

He raised his sword.

"The Cathedral has blessed you with divine power! The settlement forces are weakened! You outnumber them five-to-one! This is not battle—this is EXECUTION!"

The six thousand Cathedral soldiers smiled—genuine anticipation of violence.

They’d trained their entire lives to fight demons and monsters. They’d joined the Cathedral military specifically to participate in righteous crusades against supernatural evil. They viewed demons the way hunters viewed dangerous animals—things to be killed for sport and glory.

"FORWARD!" Elric commanded. "KILL THEM ALL! FOR THE LIGHT! FOR THE GODDESS! FOR THE CATHEDRAL!"

"FOR THE LIGHT!" six thousand voices roared. "FOR THE GODDESS! FOR THE CATHEDRAL!"

Seven thousand two hundred soldiers—the largest force Elric had commanded this entire siege—surged toward the settlement with overwhelming momentum.

=======

At the settlement’s defensive positions, Lyra watched seven thousand soldiers advance and felt despair return.

They’d been winning. Loki’s reinforcements had turned the tide. They’d been pushing the humans back.

Then Valentine arrived with six thousand reinforcements and holy forcefield.

Now they were losing again. Badly.

"Current forces?" she asked through the network.

Loki’s voice carried grim calculation: "Approximately fourteen hundred eighty-three fighters total—your thirty-seven survivors plus my fifteen hundred reinforcements. But my forcefield reduces our effective combat power by roughly twenty-five percent. So we’re fighting with equivalent of maybe eleven hundred effective soldiers."

"Against?"

"Seven thousand two hundred humans at enhanced combat effectiveness from Valentine’s blessing. Plus the forcefield advantage."

The odds were catastrophic.

1,100 effective settlement fighters versus 7,200 blessed human soldiers.

Six-and-a-half-to-one odds.

"We can’t win this," Lyra said quietly. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"No," Loki agreed. "We can’t. Not with Valentine’s forcefield active. Every demon, every orc, every monster under my command is fighting at reduced capacity while their soldiers are enhanced. It’s... it’s designed specifically to create this scenario."

"What do we do?"

Loki was silent for a long moment.

"We run. Evacuate everyone who can move. Abandon the settlement. Flee to my kingdom while we still can."

"And Seraphina?"

"...she’s on her own. If Valentine catches her, she dies. But maybe if we run, she can escape during the chaos."

It was brutal tactical calculation. Sacrifice Seraphina—let her die fighting Valentine and the Heroes—to buy time for everyone else to escape.

Lyra hated it. But she couldn’t argue with the logic.

They couldn’t fight seven thousand blessed soldiers with Valentine’s forcefield suppressing them. Running was the only option.

"Begin evacuation," she ordered through the network. "All fighters who can move—start retreating toward the eastern settlement edge. We abandon—"

Through the network, Seraphina’s voice cut across her order with absolute authority:

"NO. No retreat. No evacuation. We FIGHT."

"Seraphina, we can’t win!" Loki replied. "Valentine’s here! His forcefield weakens everyone! We’re outnumbered six-to-one! This is tactical impossibility!"

"Then we make the impossible happen," Seraphina’s mental voice carried cold determination. "I’m not letting Valentine kill me. I’m not letting the Cathedral slaughter this settlement. And I’m DEFINITELY not running like coward,i am not leaving , i promised i would protect it until he comes back"

"What are you going to do?"

"End the Heroes. Right now. By any means necessary."