Starting from the altar before Loren, the light began to vanish, the area instantly expanding to cover the entire village, and everyone immediately lost their sight.
Sounds of panic rose one after another, the recent events shattering the villagers’ worldview. Although they had worshiped the Dusk Crow, they had never actually experienced what losing light felt like.
Even at night where they lived, there was still some light.
Loren simply closed his eyes and used his Intuition to sense everything around him.
The Angel, having lost its authority, also lost the ability to fly and plummeted from the sky.
It had been flying very high before, and now it fell terribly, the impact on the ground loud. At the same time Loren could feel its life force draining away rapidly.
This situation differed from the previous Confused Angel. That one only had its authority to use temporarily revoked; this Light Angel had completely lost all authority.
Angels are unlike the Orthodox Gods, they can only possess a single authority, so now it only needed the light authority stripped away.
It had already been heavily wounded before; if not for the authority’s protection, Loren’s first Blood Moon Condensed Light would have reduced it to ashes.
Loren walked up to the Angel. It could no longer move. Loren finished it off with a single Crimson Blade, and the corpse was cleaned away by Return to Earth.
They could not leave an Angel’s corpse behind; if the authority returned, it might rise again.
Even if its soul had been scattered, the Orthodox Gods could still potentially manipulate its body.
“Handled.”
Loren’s level rose by one again, indicating the Angel had been slain by him.
After allocating the extra attribute point into Intelligence, Loren’s Intelligence reached fifty-seven.
Loren’s stat allocation was deliberate: Strength and Intelligence roughly correspond to physical and special attack. Maximizing one is enough—dual-wielding both is a waste of resources.
Besides, Loren had several ways to convert Intelligence into physical damage.
Relying on memory, Loren went to the ritual site. After interrupting the ritual, he picked up the feather at its center.
The feather was just a medium, reusable.
Once the ritual was broken, light returned to this time, and people could see clearly again.
“Where’s that Angel?”
Naclis found Loren immediately and asked. After all, the Angel had been a Light Angel, and her greatest enemy was also a Light Angel, so her attention to Angels was natural.
“Dead, I blew the ashes away.”
Loren calmly patted Naclis’s hair, as if what he had just done were nothing significant.
At the same time he replayed the fight in his head. Outwardly the Witches had the upper hand, but there remained a considerable gap between them and the Angel.
Their advantage came mainly from having the first strike. At the start of the fight, the Angel was stunned by Loren’s two big moves.
Before it could react, the Witches swarmed it. Though the barrage looked fierce, the actual damage they inflicted was not as great as Loren’s initial Blood Moon Condensed Light.
If the Angel had been given time to adjust its state, the Witches would not have fared well.
Fortunately, before it could counterattack, Loren finished the ritual and executed it completely.
Anna also came over. She held her knife with both hands behind her back and leaned her head close to Loren. Loren casually stroked her hair:
“You all did very well.”
The Witches had already performed admirably, and Loren was pleased.
This was in the absence of truly desperate danger; the Witches’ heart-based powers behaved like those of hot-blooded protagonists—when protecting someone they could suddenly unleash tremendous strength. The more perilous the situation, the greater their burst.
But most Witches had self-destructive tendencies and would not use that power to protect themselves, which is why the Church persecuted them so wantonly.
Their true power only erupts when they encounter someone they want to protect.
“What about these people?”
As Loren pondered, Laila suddenly reminded him.
Right now many people had gathered around them; these were the local residents. With such a commotion, of course they would come to see what was happening.
Loren had subconsciously ignored them earlier. Now that the Angel was dealt with, he realized the problem.
“We actually haven’t exposed anything, and they don’t know who we are.
“Even if they’ve heard my name, they don’t know my face, and besides, they live cut off from the world…”
Loren lowered his voice and spoke with Laila and the others:
“They’ve always lived here, untouched by the Orthodox Church, so they don’t hate Witches… but…”
He left the rest unsaid. Leaving them be carried low risk, but risk nonetheless.
There was a simple way to completely eliminate the risk…
Laila understood Loren’s implication and fell silent instantly.
If it were just her, she wouldn’t care—exposure would mean going on the run alone. But it was different now; she had Loren and family.
Moreover, what they were doing had become more serious. Witches were already persecuted for merely threatening the Orthodox Gods; Loren had just truly stripped an authority, making them a real threat.
“I’ll do it.”
While Loren hesitated, Cecelia suddenly stepped forward. She had said nothing along the way and barely registered; Loren had even subconsciously overlooked her.
“I can change their cognition, make them completely loyal to you.
“After my Arcane Ability affects them, their perceptions and thoughts will match mine completely, so even if they die later, they won’t do anything to threaten you.”
“All right, then do it.”
He had thought of a compromise but it was troublesome. If Cecelia could do it, that would be ideal.
Cecelia stood before Loren. By now the villagers had scattered and hidden inside their houses.
They knew houses could not stop an attack, but this was the only thing they could do in the face of danger.
The village’s strongest people had gone to sea and had been killed.
Only the wandering-soul girl whom Loren had controlled earlier remained outside.
“Y—You… what are you going to do?”
She was a little panicked. She could not resist Loren, but she still worried about the villagers.
During this time she had witnessed how outsiders behaved, and most she had seen were pirates.
Loren did not answer her; he only watched Cecelia.
She opened her mouth and delivered a wave of soprano. Immediately, sounds of turmoil came from the houses in the village.
“Done.”
Cecelia said calmly, and the fanatical villagers poured out of their homes. The eyes they turned on Loren were filled with zeal.
“I think we should hurry and leave…”
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