"Everyone!!! Prepare yourselves!!!" the old head priest yelled outside the large city, the tip of the church in sight. Instead of a cross, there was a massive pillar that was eternally on fire no matter what, through rain, sleet, hail, day, or night.
"Phew!" Xander let out a deep breath, trying to push out his nerves with it but failing.
"Ahh, don't be so nervous. Just treat it like any other battle," Russel said to Xander, as if Xander had been in tons of battles, trying and failing to calm him down.
Xander nodded his head, 'He's right, he's right. I've been in tons of battles. I fought against the fire guy in the battle royale, I also ran from that sword guy, and I even killed the asshole who kidnapped me with Russel's help.' Xander tried to tell himself to no effect.
After a long speech about the Order's great lord that Xander had tuned out, the old head priest finally said the words Xander had been dreading, "Let's go, it's time to burn their church to the ground!!"
And off they went.
The large army of men and women, young and old, ran right up to the front gates of the church's grounds and killed their way through, blowing the front gate up in the process.
"Attack!!!" the head priest yelled once the gate was finally gone.
"Clang!!!" "Clang!!!" "Clang!!!" "Clang!!!" "Clang!!!"
"Clang!!!" "Clang!!!" "Clang!!!" "Clang!!!" "Clang!!!"
"Clang!!!" "Clang!!!" "Clang!!!" "Clang!!!" "Clang!!!"
"Clang!!!" "Clang!!!" "Clang!!!" "Clang!!!" "Clang!!!"
The loud sound of multiple bells being rung could be constantly heard as Xander ran into the grounds with his spear in hand.
The sound of the bells, instead of causing internal panic, actually managed to have a soothing effect on Xander.
'I have to do this. I have to kill for the trial. Just remember, they're not real,' Xander told himself, finally managing to somewhat calm down.
"Clang!!!" "Clang!!!" "Clang!!!" "Clang!!!" "Clang!!!"
His fear of death didn't sway, but he did manage to hop into a flow that helped him process what he was about to go through.
He ran to the left with Russel right beside him toward a small building that was already being set on fire.
He pierced forward, killing defenseless members of the church, each dressed in the same red and gold armor he remembered from before.
'1.'
'2.'
'3.'
'9.'
'17.'
After passing 25, Xander had lost track of how many people he had killed, most not even putting up a fight, just running out of the building, trying to put out the fire on themselves, and the crazier ones not even bothering to worry about their safety, just trying to make sure their church didn't burn down. Each of them ran toward the center building, the massive cathedral, like worker ants with no mind to the shoe that was about to crush them from above.
But all good things eventually had to come to an end.
"Stop it, you damn heathen!!" a man in the church's armor yelled as he watched Xander cut down another man.
'Damn it!'
Xander had hoped he would keep running into mindless drones, but he had finally met his match: a self-aware soldier of the church.
He turned around, seeing the red and gold armored man with a sword that was caught on fire in his left hand charging toward him.
[Human - G-rank - Mid]
'F***.'
Xander charged right back at him, and once he reached his mark, he thrust forward, piercing his spear right at the man's throat.
The soldier knocked his spear aside and tried to get in close to get rid of the spear's advantage, but Xander, always a quick thinker, summoned his knife that he started the trial with out of his spatial ring into his left hand and blocked the sword, being pushed back in the process but giving him the distance he craved for.
Xander once again attacked with a wide sweeping attack, going back and forth with the soldier until he was nearly out of breath.
'Come on, Xander, you have to kill this guy!' he yelled internally.
The soldier sidestepped to the right, then thrust forward. Xander, seeing his opportunity to catch the man off guard, used 'Necrotic Blast' with a thrust forward, the beam of death qi eating deep into the man's shoulder.
"Ahhhhhh!!!!" the soldier yelled in deep, agonizing pain.
The man, now on his back foot, was unprepared when Xander sliced down with 'Soul Rend,' Xander's blade not only slicing into flesh but all the way down to his very soul, killing the man instantly, putting him out of his misery.
"Phew!" Xander let out a breath.
'That was actually awesome!' Xander couldn't believe it, but he felt a small thrill on his last attack, the perfect blend of using Soul Rend to perfection while expertly slicing through his enemy's defense.
After getting used to his new high, he turned around to look for his next enemy and found Russel fighting the last enemy in close sight.
Xander charged forward, making sure to soften his steps as he snuck up behind Russel's enemy. Once he was within 10 meters, he reared back and let loose his spear that had 'Wraith's Touch' applied to the tip.
The spear pierced forward and lodged deep into the back of Russel's opponent, giving Russel the perfect opportunity to race forward using his speed trait and cut off the head of the zealot.
"Thanks, Xander!" Russel said as he tossed Xander his spear while catching his breath.
"I really needed the extra hand."
"No problem," Xander said back as he looked over the battlefield, seeing a large gathering of Order members circling around what looked to be a deadly fight with flames and earth being thrown every which way.
"Come on, Russel, it looks like this battle is about to be over," Xander said as he began to walk toward the gathering.