Less than ten steps from Demeter's group, Leon came chasing after them with a smile on his face, his arm around Persephone's shoulders.
He stole a sideways glance at Persephone, who kept her head bowed and her eyes fixed on her toes, not daring to look up. The first stirrings of smugness were shattered by a string of deafening explosions.
A chain of blasts tore across the sky one after another!
The successive detonations plunged the once-clamorous festival into dead silence. Then a tide of terrified uproar swept the whole square, screams and panicked footsteps ripping the holiday celebration apart.
Leon looked at the blinding firelight and billowing black smoke rising into the heavens, his face twisting into a dark scowl.
"Goddammit! Can't you see I'm on a date here? You had to pick now of all times. Evilus, I'm gonna make you pay!"
Ignoring her foul-mooded boyfriend, Persephone lifted her head, her expression grave, her sharp gaze locking onto the countless black-robed cultists that had poured out from the eight main avenues at some unknown point. As far as the eye could see, these people were shrieking spine-chilling slogans and hurling themselves at the festival grounds in a frenzy, and the foremost among them had already crossed blades with the military police and the Adventurers.
"Lady Demeter!"
As the Familia captain, Persephone's first instinct was to protect her own goddess.
She scanned the area and pinpointed Demeter's position in the span of a single breath. But just as she went to move, she found her hand still firmly held in Leon's grip.
She turned her head toward Leon, her cheeks faintly red, her eyes a little flustered:
"Hey, of all the times! Don't you dare pull anything!"
Whatever Persephone had imagined, Leon couldn't decide whether to laugh or sigh.
"Do I look like the kind of guy who lets the wrong head do his thinking and can't tell what matters?"
As he spoke, Leon patted the back of her hand to tell her to relax, then jutted his chin toward the front.
"What I mean is, there's no need to rush. Jeanne and the others are right there beside Demeter, aren't they? With the rest of the Familia guarding her too, unless the enemy is deliberately targeting her and goes out of their way to send in an executive, no one's going to harm a single hair on Demeter's head under that many layers of protection..."
A blade tore through flesh, cutting him off.
A dagger gleaming with a dull, dark sheen pierced clean through Leon's heart without the slightest warning.
"?"
The smile on his face froze solid, a thread of dark red blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.
Leon stiffly lowered his head, staring at the blade jutting out from his own chest. The faint green liquid smeared along the edge made his pupils contract sharply.
"...Poison?"
Beside him, Persephone watched the man who had been tenderly close to her only a moment ago now teetering on the brink of death, and the blood drained from her face.
"Leon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
She wasn't alone. Every faction maintaining order, evacuating the crowds, and preparing to meet Evilus head-on reacted in shock: Alise, Kaguya, and Ryuu of Astraea Familia; Riveria and Finn of Loki Familia; Asfi Al Andromeda of Hermes Familia; even the goddess Artemis.
"The Shadow of Sorcery got ambushed?"
"This is bad! There are assassins in the crowd too!"
"Protect the gods first!"
"Stay calm! Gather the gods together and guard them as one! Everyone else, evacuate the crowd immediately, and fire signal flares to call for aid from the Familia bases and the Guild!"
"Remaining forces, prepare to meet Evilus!"
"Hahahahaha...!!!"
"Finn~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!"
"Like my Christmas present!??"
"Hehehehehe...!"
"Hurry up and say thank you to me, you filthy, despicable little Pallum...!!!!"
On the rooftop of a building at the far end of the square, Valletta Grede, the purple-haired Arachnia, stepped forward to the edge of the eaves, her face twisting as she threw back her head and laughed wildly.
Whatever magic item she was using, her crazed voice rang out across the entire sky!
Finn looked up without changing his expression, meeting that distant black silhouette eye to eye, and gave a soft scoff:
"Valletta, I knew you'd come out to cause trouble!"
"And since I saw it coming, what makes you think I wouldn't be prepared?"
At that, Valletta gave a mocking smile:
"Oh? Is that so."
"In that case..."
She snapped her fingers.
The cultists fighting the Adventurers around the square all transformed at once, fanatical fire blazing in their eyes!
"Chaos!!!"
"Blood!!!"
"Death!!!"
A crazed, sinister will surged skyward like twisted ink and spread across the entire sky!
"Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!!"
"Grant them death and salvation!"
"Grant them death and salvation!"
"Grant them death and salvation!"
To the sound of that bone-chilling chant, the blood-eyed, fanatical cultists clamped onto the enemies before them like rabid demons, refusing to let go no matter how grievous the wounds they took!
"Return to the Heavens together with us!!!!!!!"
A series of clicks sounded.
The devices hidden beneath their cloaks were triggered all at once.
A chain of explosions erupted from every direction of the square, firelight and shredded chunks of flesh blasting upward together. The searing flames lit every face a deep crimson.
Ryuu, Kaguya, Alise, Adi, and the other members of the younger generation went pale, staring blankly at the horrific scene, their minds grinding to a halt.
Even Lyra, who hailed from the City of Chaos, was thrown for a moment by these lunatics and their unthinkable act.
The others came to their senses, the executives especially, all sucking in a sharp breath:
"A... a suicide... attack???"
Ryuu stood dazed for a moment and went cold all over.
"How... how could this be..."
"Why would they do this..."
"To throw their own lives away like this..."
Seeing Ryuu stagger, her gaze going hollow, every shred of fighting spirit drained away, a fierce glint hardened in Kaguya's eyes, and she delivered a hard slap across her friend's face!
"Ryuu Lion! Is this the time to be spacing out!"
"Pull yourself together and fight!!!!!"
"..."
"S-sorry, Kaguya."
Looking at her shaken friend, Kaguya recalled the moment Leon was killed and closed her eyes, her face darkening.
The next second...
When she opened her eyes again, beyond the cold in them there was a sliver of hatred that flickered through and vanished.
Astraea folded both hands over her chest, watching their backs with a worried face, and lowered her head in silent prayer.
Bless them, and bring them back safely.
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