Henry's face turned as white as snow -- using this ability took a great toll on him, but he didn't care. His expression became even more frenzied. Under his command, his arms crushed all of the resisting knights one after another, even the followers of the Cult and ordinary townspeople were crushed. The deformed arms absorbed all of the corpses' energy before returning to normal, and Henry's face flushed abnormally.
"This... is the power of the gods! Blasphemers! Fear and tremble before me and accept your fate!"
The priests displayed their extraordinary power and quickly swept away all the resistances in the city. They ordered all of the cult's followers to gather all heretics, and bound them in blood-red chains.
With a morbid smile, the priest addressed all the survivors, "As blasphemers, take it as your privilege to be sacrificed to the Supreme God."
The survivors wailed and begged for mercy, but the priests simply commanded the cult's followers to start building an altar.
As soon as the altar was built, the priests directed batches of villagers into the animal as if they were cordoning animals, as well as placing each villager in a specified position. With a single wave of his hand, the chains shook, and all of the villagers fell to the ground.
The chains that were connected to each other converged onto the altar, and Henry produced a snow-white cane from his robe. The cane was made of the skull and spine of a woman, and it exuded an evil and gloomy aura.
Henry descended from the sky and walked towards the centre of the altar step by step. Without any hesitation, he sliced open his palm and used his blood to draw strange patterns in the soil. The other priests converged on him and kneeled around him, and Henry stuck his cane in the ground and knelt as well.
The priests chanted an obscure spell and the villagers' life forces were being drained into the cane through the chains.
An evil aura exuded from the cane and all of the followers of the cult kissed the ground excitedly, as if their god was manifesting before them.
The bloodied fog caused by the gore spread out, entering every follower of the cult and dyeing everything around it red. As the fog touched Henry, his sliced palms were healed instantly, and all of the priests trembled.
Henry licked the remaining traces of blood away from his palm and raised his hands above his head, still kneeling, and groaned loudly, "Praise the great Supreme God, for he has bestowed us great strength!"
"Praise the Supreme God! Thank you for bestowing us great strength!"
In the next moment, a pillar of fire smited Henry, and all that remained was a white cane.
...
Before the pillar of fire.
Adam's team hovered by the sky above the village, and they saw Henry smashing the rebels into pulp with his monstrous hand.
Adam ordered everyone to stop moving. He wanted to see the process of the priests "sacrificing" for their gods.
Nobody objected to it. However, Ophelia had to perch herself on a nearby tree since she was unable to fly for a longer period of time.
"This is clearly aimed at weak-willed fools," the devil muttered with disdain. As a devil, it is only right for them to despise any figure of worship.
When William saw the priests leading the townspeople towards the altar, William couldn't help but conjure a fireball, but Adam held him back.
"Hold on."
When Henry took out the cane of bones, Adam's gaze was transfixed on it. He knew he had to get that cane, since it may be the breakthrough of this mission.
William could see the townspeople being drained of their life force, and subconsciously, fire surrounded him. Adam used his telekinesis to firmly hold William in place and warned, "Hold it, William. If you can't control yourself, I'll help you."
William's body trembled in place, unable to break free from Adam's grasp. He closed his eyes shut, not willing to witness the next scene.
"This is necessary, William," Crystal whispered in William's ear. "They need to be sacrificed so that we can save the others."
Crystal was originally the most cowardly, but soft-hearted; under the guidance of the Black Mage, she quickly adapted to the mage's way of thinking. However, William still thought like a human, unable to adapt to the indifferent nature of mages.
"That idiot is trying to find the coordinates of the Mage World," the devil said disdainfully, pointing at the priest. "He's too weak -- even if he sacrificed a hundred more times, he wouldn't be able to pinpoint the Mage World for his god."
After the sacrifice was complete, Adam found that the bloodied fog only slightly strengthened the followers of the cult, so he said, "Destroy all of them, but leave the cane intact."
The moment William was free of Adam's telekinesis, he immediately rained down a pillar of fire from the sky, instantly vaporising the priest into ash.
With a loud crash, Ophelia leapt from the tree and into the town. She raised her giant broadsword and charged straight through the crowd.
Wherever Ophelia cut through, blood flew.
Not a single person had their full limbs anymore.
This is the first time Adam witnessed Ophelia's fighting style. Thanks to his system, he could appreciate Ophelia's intricate swordsmanship. Her arms would constantly vibrate, causing her sword to vibrate at a high frequency, increasing its lethality.
Ophelia's sword was an ordinary sword, but it was enough to cut through the cult of the Supreme God. If she was able to imbue magic into her sword, she might even surpass him.
"How dare you!"
"You dare to disrupt the ceremonies of the Supreme God -- aren't you afraid of his divine intervention?!"
"Blasphemers! Sinners! Our Supreme God will end all of you!"
The devil was amused, and taunted the priests as Ophelia and William slaughtered them, "Supreme God? Tell me where he is, and we'll destroy him too!"
Adam descended to the ground, and he could tell that the priests were simply bewitched by promises of power. These people were no longer valuable to him.
Adam raised his arm gently, and with a single burst of electricity, the priests fell to the floor.
"All of you will face the Supreme God's punishment... you won't get away with this, blasphemers!"
Adam brought his hand down, smiting every single priest down with a bolt of lightning.