The ruined capital of Ashtalon had grown so eerie it almost felt like someone had picked up an inhuman hellscape and set it down exactly as it was.

“Brother, everything’s ready, so I’ll head down now.”

“Do it.”

“Yes.”

Alon was already up in the sky, mounted on a massive vessel, like when dealing with the Sin of Sloth.

He watched Radan jump down without hesitation, then looked down below.

‘Are the preparations... finished.’

The first thing he saw was—

the ground dyed red like blood, the smashed ruins of Ashtalon’s capital, and mountains of corpses.

Next—

the forces of each country, drawing a huge circle around Ashtalon. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

“Penia.”

“Yes.”

“Are the calculations perfect?”

“Yes. If they move thirty steps inward from that position, just like you said, Marquis, they’ll enter the domain.”

“The chance it’s wrong—”

“None. The moment we came up here, I recalculated just in case.”

“There won’t be any problems,” Penia said firmly.

Alon gave a small nod, let out a quiet sigh, and looked down at the sin below.

Just like before.

The sin standing there as if it were waiting for something.

Even at this moment, Alon still couldn’t grasp why the sin hadn’t taken any action like that.

But he pushed the question aside.

In the end, only two things mattered to Alon.

One was the fact that the sin had stopped like that.

The other was that, because of that behavior, Alon’s plan could be assembled successfully.

“Begin.”

“Yes.”

As Alon murmured softly, Penia poured mana into the crystal ball as if she’d been waiting.

At the same time, the soldiers began moving forward, one step at a time.

Tension and fear were visible in their eyes.

Tension toward something they couldn’t put into words.

Fear of the unknown.

Those two emotions tangled together, and the soldiers’ gaze fixed on the sin.

Their steps began to hesitate.

Hands gripping weapons drew tight.

Their hearts pounded violently.

The scenery before their eyes.

The sin before their eyes.

The imagination they themselves created—

slowly shoved the soldiers into terror.

But once the soldiers’ steps had passed twenty—

the look in their eyes began to change.

The fear hanging in their eyes gradually vanished.

The dark terror born from that fear vanished as well.

Their slow steps, as if dragged forward by the mass behind them, gradually returned to normal.

The hands gripping weapons loosened.

Their hearts gradually calmed.

And finally, when the soldiers’ steps reached thirty—

Wooooong—!!

A massive curtain began forming in front of where the soldiers were walking.

A huge hemispherical barrier.

It blocked the soldiers’ path—

“W-What is this?”

At the same time, confusion flashed across their faces.

But only for a moment.

“Take this down—!”

“If this happens, we can’t carry out the order!”

“Take it down! We can’t— we can’t kill the monster!”

“Let us through!”

“You bastard mages!!”

Curses began pouring out of the soldiers’ mouths.

Unlike before, when they’d shown fear, now they were flailing, screaming that they had to kill it, boiling with anger.

To anyone watching, it looked abnormal.

“...Just like we expected.”

“Yeah.”

Alon, however, stared down at the ground with a calm expression.

Because this entire plan had been his from the start.

‘In Psychedelia, the abilities representing the Sin of Wrath are twofold.’

[Mountain of Corpses]

[Wrath]

Mountain of Corpses was exactly what it sounded like—stacking up corpses.

The more corpses the sin piled into a mountain, the wider the range in which it would land an unavoidable status effect that no one could evade.

And the second skill, Wrath, was that the Sin of Wrath grew stronger by the number of people afflicted with the status effect.

You could sum it up as: it becomes stronger in proportion to ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) how many targets are affected.

A simple, but extremely powerful ability.

In other words, because of the troops gathered from the Allied Kingdoms, the Sin of Wrath had grown unimaginably strong.

And yet, even knowing that, the reason Alon still brought the Allied Kingdoms’ soldiers here and made them do this was because of another characteristic the Sin of Wrath possessed.

It was true this sin grew stronger by the number of people afflicted with the wrath status effect—

but its defense dropped in inverse proportion.

Which meant the Sin of Wrath’s defense had fallen drastically by now.

That was why Alon had conceived this operation.

“Blackie, I’m counting on you.”

[Kyuu-!]

Leaving the strike that would do nothing but guzzle mana to the point of panic to Blackie, Alon immediately moved his body along the magic circles Penia had drawn in advance, using the surplus mana he still had.

And then—

Wooooooong—!!!

The magic circle let out a massive activation hum and, in an instant, poured a pure white light into the barrier the mages had created on the ground.

And then—

Kwagagagak—!

The magic circle they’d spread out began forming anew.

Like nested dolls, magic circles started stacking layer upon layer.

And with that—

the sin, which up until now had not moved at all, only watching Alon carry out the plan he’d set up,

click—

raised its sword.

A worn greatsword with chipped teeth.

And then—

[This is as far as the waiting goes.]

Murmuring words Alon couldn’t understand in a quiet voice—

ts—

the sin, silent until now, vanished.

At a speed an ordinary person’s eyes couldn’t follow.

The sin reached the barrier, and in an instant raised its sword to smash it—

but at that moment—

Kwahjik—!

As if it had been waiting, a golden coffin shot out.

“!”

The sin jerked its body back and avoided the golden coffin.

And from that point on—

Kwagagagak—!!

Golden coffins that had been buried underground swarmed through the inside of the barrier in chaotic paths, targeting the sin.

The sin twisted its body and surged toward Rine, who was moving the golden coffins inside the barrier.

But—

Kkigigigik—!

The sin’s left hand, reaching Rine, was severed so absurdly easily.

“...What a shame. If you’d stepped in just a little more, I could’ve killed you in one strike.”

At the same time, what appeared was—

purple thread drawn in dizzying patterns across the golden coffins—

and Deus, stepping forward at Rine’s side.

And it wasn’t just them.

As the sin contorted its body as much as possible to avoid the thread and coffins, Seollang and Radan closed in behind it.

“Ugh—!”

Seollang’s kick and Radan’s spear missed the sin’s back by a hair.

Watching the four of them face the sin, Alon let out a small sigh.

‘Even this far, it’s according to plan.’

The Sin of Wrath’s attack power had grown so strong that no amount of reinforcement by the mages and Alon would make any real difference.

Even if they blocked an attack, they’d only manage it once at best.

That was why, instead of choosing to strengthen the barrier, Alon had asked Rine and Seollang, and also Deus and Radan—

to buy time inside the barrier for a certain period.

Of course, it was an extremely dangerous request.

But it wasn’t impossible.

Right now, the Sin of Wrath had to pay close attention to even the smallest attack.

In other words, it couldn’t ignore Rine’s golden coffins or Deus’s purple thread.

Of course, the sin could deal with the gold and purple thread by attacking them—

but that was fine too.

Because inside the barrier, it wasn’t only Rine and Deus.

Seollang and Radan were there as well.

As long as the four of them didn’t stop their assault, the Sin of Wrath—whose every hit could become a fatal blow—couldn’t easily continue attacking.

The plan progressed far more smoothly than Alon had expected.

“Hoo—”

Alon wiped the blood that had begun to run beneath his nose and looked up at the sky.

In the sky, a spell Blackie was endlessly expanding with Alon’s mana was already spread out.

The Wishful Bullet that had dealt with the Sin of Sloth.

It floated proudly in the heavens, all preparations complete.

“Ghk—!”

Alon, who had taken back control from Blackie, dropped the spell at once.

Kwagagagagak—!!!

A sphere forged of raw physical force by magic tore through the air and fell toward the sin.

Slowly.

But surely.

“Marquis!”

Penia shouted.

But Alon still didn’t answer.

Not yet.

Not yet.

Not yet.

Not yet—

...

...

...

“Penia—!”

“Yes!”

At Alon’s call, Penia—who had been measuring the timing the whole time—reactivated the crystal ball.

At the same moment, Seollang and Rine, Radan and Deus—who had been marking the sin—used pre-prepared artifacts to slip outside the barrier.

And then—

────────────!

A white light overlaid the red world.

As the burst of light that had looked like it would swallow everything only moments ago began to subside, the thought that rose in Alon’s mind was this:

‘...That easily?’

No, it hadn’t been easy.

To prepare this plan, Alon had devoted almost an entire month to it.

And every last soldier of the Allied Kingdoms had gathered for this single plan.

And yet, even knowing that, Alon felt a strange anxiety as he looked down below.

The dirt and dust that remained in place of the vanished burst of light slowly cleared, and Alon could naturally confirm the situation on the ground.

The first thing he saw was—

soldiers frowning as if they couldn’t understand what they’d just been doing.

Next were Radan and Seollang, Rine and Deus, who had escaped on time.

And last—

in the middle of a black crater, the Sin of Wrath was there.

“...!”

The sin’s condition wasn’t normal.

As if it were about to be erased at any moment, the armor—already old to begin with—

was slowly losing its color, turning a gray like ash.

And its left hand that had been attacked before was still completely severed.

And yet, the reason they were shocked despite that was—

‘...It still has a form?’

Because the sin’s form was still there.

The Sin of Sloth had also retained its form after being hit by Alon’s magic.

But that had only been possible because its defensive power as a sin had been preserved.

However, because of the Sin of Wrath’s nature, for its form—so weakened it could be heavily wounded by Deus’s thread—to remain, was something Alon found extremely strange.

And the moment that question rose in him—

“?”

Alon had landed on the ground.

It was strange.

Alon, who had been floating in the sky with Penia just moments ago, was now standing in front of the sin.

And the instant he realized that—

thud—

the sin’s faded armor, which had stood there without any reaction, began to peel away.

Like an insect molting.

Slowly.

Slowly.

The old armor fell away.

The faded helmet.

The chipped sword.

Everything.

Slowly, fell away.

And what was revealed was something in the form of an uncanny knight.

The armor covering its whole body was a pitch-black base with a dim red glow, like it had been made by melting obsidian dredged up from the abyss of night together with the Milky Way.

Across the surface of the armor were carved patterns that weren’t veins, but unknown runes, and markings that resembled red constellations.

And in the hollow center of the armor—

there was a single star.

A star infinitely close to the abyss.

And yet, unmistakably shining.

And the sin that appeared, lofty as if it had erased all sound—

no, it was—

[Can you bear the karma of sin?]

All of a sudden, it asked a question.