"Your tactical report mentioned she nearly killed all four Heroes yesterday?" Valentine asked, his glowing eyes focusing on Elric with perfect attention.

"Yes, Archbishop. She engaged them while suppressed to one-tenth power by Gattychan’s Villain’s Bane and still nearly executed him. Only the Fallen Heroes’ interruption saved them."

"Impressive. She’s been alive for a long time —she has combat experience our young Heroes simply can’t match." Valentine smiled slightly. "But experience only matters if you can bring that power to bear. Against me..."

He didn’t finish the sentence. Didn’t need to.

The implication was clear: Seraphina’s centuries of experience wouldn’t save her.

Valentine began walking forward slowly, his white robes somehow remaining pristine despite the blood-soaked battlefield.

He raised one hand, and divine power manifested—not aggressively, not violently, but with the inexorable certainty of dawn breaking.

Holy Forcefield - Domain of Divine Judgment

Golden-white light expanded from Valentine’s position in a perfect sphere, growing rapidly until it encompassed the entire settlement and surrounding battlefield.

The effect was immediate and devastating for anything demonic or monstrous.

—-------------------

Settlement Perspective

At the settlement’s defensive positions, every demon, every orc, every goblin, every serpentfolk felt the holy forcefield wash over them like wave of crushing pressure.

Demon warriors gasped as their supernatural strength drained—not gone entirely, but reduced. Muscles that could bend steel now struggled with iron. Speed that exceeded human perception now merely matched it.

Kael’mor, the senior demon warrior, felt his power drop by approximately thirty percent. His corruption magic flickered weakly. His demonic vitality that allowed him to fight through wounds was suppressed.

"What... what is this?" a younger demon asked, his voice showing fear.

"Cathedral magic," Kael’mor replied grimly. "Archbishop-level divine power. It creates a field that weakens anything non-human, anything supernatural, anything touched by demonic energy."

The orcs felt it too—their natural strength diminishing, their berserker rage becoming harder to access, their combat endurance draining.

Gruk clutched his war axe, feeling the weapon grow heavier in his hands. "I feel... weak. Like I’m fighting underwater."

The goblins—normally agile and quick—found their movements sluggish, their reflexes delayed.

Kress tried to nock an arrow and fumbled it, his small hands suddenly clumsy. "My coordination... it’s gone!"

The serpentfolk felt their natural speed reduced, their flexibility becoming ordinary rather than supernatural.

Vess’thara tried to move with her usual serpentine quickness and stumbled. "My speed... I’ve lost my advantage!"

Even Loki’s reinforcements—the fifteen hundred fresh troops who’d been winning decisively moments ago—suddenly found themselves weakened.

But the human soldiers felt the opposite.

Elric’s exhausted, bloodied troops suddenly felt divine blessing flowing through them. Minor wounds closed. Exhaustion faded. Strength returned.

A human soldier who’d been fighting for twenty-five minutes straight, whose arms ached from swinging his sword, whose legs trembled from exhaustion—suddenly felt as fresh as if he’d just woken from full night’s rest.

"The... the Archbishop’s blessing!" a sergeant shouted. "I feel it! Divine power!"

Morale, which had been crumbling when Loki’s reinforcements arrived, surged back with overwhelming force.

The tactical situation had shifted again.

Before Valentine’s Forcefield:

Settlement forces (weakened): 1,483 fighters at reduced effectivenessHuman forces (strengthened): 1,186 soldiers at enhanced effectiveness

After Valentine’s Forcefield:

Settlement forces effectively reduced to maybe 1,100 equivalent combat powerHuman forces effectively increased to maybe 1,400 equivalent combat power

The odds had flipped back in the humans’ favor.

—-----------------

Loki stood at the settlement’s command position, his nine-foot demonic frame suddenly feeling the holy forcefield pressing down on him like mountain.

His power didn’t diminish as much as his troops’—demon lord vitality resisted the suppression better than regular demons. But he still felt it. His strength dropped by perhaps fifteen percent. His magic became more difficult to channel.

And he recognized the divine signature immediately.

"Impossible," he whispered, his voice carrying disbelief and genuine fear—an emotion Demon Lord Loki rarely felt. "What is HE doing here?"

Lyra asked him through seraphina connection "You know who that is?"

"Archbishop Valentine. Second in command of the entire Church. The Pope’s right hand. And the single most dangerous opponent demons can face."

"More dangerous than the Four Heroes?"

"The Heroes are powerful against everything," Loki explained, his orange-gold eyes fixed on the distant figure in white robes. "They’re generalists—strong against demons, strong against monsters, strong against human enemies. Balanced power across all situations."

He clenched his fists.

"But Valentine is specialist. His divine gifts, his training, his natural talents—everything about him is optimized specifically for fighting demons and monsters. Against regular human opponents, he’s actually relatively weak. A skilled knight could potentially defeat him in single combat. But against demons, against monsters, against anything supernatural..."

Loki’s voice dropped.

"...he becomes overwhelmingly powerful. His abilities are boosted when facing demonic targets. His holy magic is amplified. His physical capabilities increase. It’s like he has a permanent version of Gattychan’s Villain’s Bane, except instead of reducing demon power to one-tenth, he increases his OWN power to ten times normal when fighting demons."

Lyra felt ice run through her veins. "That’s... that’s specifically designed to counter demon lords."

"Yes. The Church created the Archbishop position specifically as demon lord hunters. They train for it their entire lives. Valentine has been Archbishop for forty-three years. He’s hunted and killed seven demon lords during that time." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Seven. Seven top demon executives died to this one human.

Through Seraphina’s telepathic network, Loki broadcast urgently:

"Seraphina! Valentine is here! Archbishop Valentine! You need to end the Heroes fight NOW! Before he joins them!"

Half a mile away, Seraphina felt the holy forcefield press down on her and recognized the signature with horror.

"Valentine? Here? Why would the Cathedral deploy their Archbishop for a settlement siege?"

"Because you’re here!" Loki’s mental voice carried urgent warning. "They’ve been hunting you for decades! This siege was just opportunity! They deployed Valentine specifically to kill you!"

Seraphina felt the tactical situation crystallizing with terrible clarity.

She’d been fighting the Four Heroes—young, inexperienced, but divinely summoned champions with good instincts.

Against the Heroes alone, she could eventually win despite being suppressed by Villain’s Bane. Her centuries of combat experience gave her decisive edge.