"I understand," Melina replied.
Dead silence.
Everyone fell quiet. Then, in that eerie stillness, the clear sound of footsteps suddenly came from the stairs below.
Trina did not think much of it. She merely froze for a moment, then quickly craned her neck and looked down toward the sound.
Outside the gate at the end of the stairs, countless footsteps merged into a single clamor. Armor scraped, weapons clinked, and hundreds, even thousands of sounds rang out at once, like a long, blaring horn, making it feel as though they had stepped onto a battlefield where slaughter had just begun.
"The hosts have come in person to welcome their guests. I almost forgot the land beyond the gate of rejection is theirs too," Nolan murmured softly, then lifted his legs and began walking down, step by step.
He wore heavy iron boots, and each time they struck the ground, they gave off a clear, ringing impact that stood out sharply amid the surrounding noise.
The stairs of the Sacred Tower were long. Beneath the dim sky, the only things shining brightly were the Gentle Goddess, whose soul-light never faded, and her silver-white Lord.
He walked all the way down the stairs. At the end stood a massive metal gate, and through its frame, he could see an unmanned elevator waiting outside.
Nolan stepped on the mechanism, and the elevator began to descend. Dust that had accumulated through long disuse fell away in sheet after sheet. Looking farther down, he saw a broad, magnificent stage resembling an arena.
Cold wall lamps hung along the surrounding walls, like stars quietly emerging after nightfall. One after another, they clustered together and stretched into the endless depths of darkness, forming a mysterious passage toward an unknown world.
Nolan passed through the gatehouse and walked onto the stage. There was no confusion or hesitation in his steps. He knew who his opponent was, and he knew what would happen tonight.
He had made the decision he needed to make, but only the decision. When he set foot in the final place, the outcome would be laid before him. For now, all he had to do was kill cleanly through everything whose very existence harmed others.
At last, Nolan stepped onto that grand stage watched by all. Fire shone from within him like a blinding sun, illuminating every hideous figure hidden beneath the shadows.
"What right do you have to be angry?" Nolan's voice was not loud, yet everyone heard it clearly. "When you humiliated others and trampled lives as you pleased in the name of Faith, did you ever think they would be angry too?"
As his words fell, the surrounding space seemed to slip into some strange state, as if all of them had suddenly fallen into another world.
In an instant, every sound came to a halt. The roars of the Hornsent vanished without a trace, the Warriors' armor no longer clashed, and raised blades froze in midair.
The entire world became utterly silent, as though time had stopped and all things had fallen asleep. Only Nolan stood at the center of the stage, while everything before him lay quiet as death.
"Those sinners abandoned by the gods should have been punished and cleansed of their sins!"
Just as a trace of confusion began to rise in the young people's hearts, an old man spoke and broke the silence. In the next moment, fanaticism once again filled the entire space.
Nolan took a deep breath, carefully savoring the thrilling, invigorating air around him.
At that moment, he was like a hunter ready to strike, waiting for the hunt to begin. His whole body was taut, filled with fighting spirit and strength.
Yes. This was the ideal battlefield. There was no need to think too much. On the battlefield, blood and iron were enough. Mercy was the most useless thing of all.
The Sacred Tower was the most important holy site of the Hornsent Tribe, but their strongest fighting force was not actually inside it.
At the very least, Nolan had not seen the so-called Divine Beast Dancing Lion there.
If the Divine Beast Warriors were the finest among the Horned Warriors, then the brave warriors who formed the Divine Beast Dancing Lion were the finest among the Divine Beast Warriors.
Yet such people were not in the Sacred Tower. Most likely, when the Impenetrable Thorns sealed the Sacred Tower, those fellows had been outside and failed to return in time.
Then this battle should have slightly stronger opponents, Nolan thought.
He walked across the stage. The vast platform now seemed strangely narrow, as if it existed for him alone.
A long time passed, yet not one person dared to step forward. The Hornsent stared at that Lord, as if they had even forgotten how to control their own bodies.
Finally, when he reached the very center of the stage, Nolan stopped.
For no clear reason, he asked, "I hear that in your Faith, life is born from the Crucible of Life, and all things rise in a spiral through death and renewal. Since you have been 'living' for so long, have you ever felt 'death' for yourselves?"
His words lingered over the stage like the cold wind of a winter night, circling and echoing for a long while.
No one answered, and Nolan had no patience to keep waiting.
In truth, he was a coward. He feared the dark, feared silence, and feared having no one at his side.
If no one answered him, he would always want to make some noise. Once his vision was filled with messy, chaotic things, then no matter how loud it became, he could bear it.
At that moment, a figure to his right suddenly took a small step forward.
Nolan stood quietly in place, his gaze fixed on the person slowly emerging from the crowd.
It was a young man with a face full of terror. He wore a thick suit of leather armor, as if he were bearing a weight of a thousand pounds.
The instant the young man's eyes met Nolan's, he swallowed involuntarily, his throat making an audible gulp.
The young Hornsent lowered his head awkwardly and stared at his own feet. His body trembled slightly, as if he wanted to turn and flee back to the safety behind him at any moment.
The earth-shaking commotion that had come from within the Sacred Tower had been far too frightening, but the young man's pride told him he should not be afraid.
Soon, however, he no longer needed to consider which was the better choice, courage or cowardice.
Because in the very next instant, a beam of light pierced through his body. In the blink of an eye, a hideous, gaping blood hole opened in his chest, and blood gushed out like a spring.
As he collapsed powerlessly, the breathing that had grown heavier with fear came to an abrupt stop, like a tape suddenly jamming, or surging waves slamming into the shore. Everything froze in that heart-stopping instant.
At that moment, the entire Divine Beast Stage seemed to have every sound drawn out of it, sinking into a silence like fallen leaves in late autumn.
That deathly silence did not last long.
Boom!
A tremendous impact churned the air into violent turbulence. A lion descended from the sky, and shouts rose with it, as if that lion had brought them endless courage.
It was no lion. It was a warrior. Two brave warriors clad in the hide of a wild-horned lion had brought them the power of Faith.