The falling shards of glass crashed into the floor and were further shattered. In the middle of the roaring sound created by this, Eugene was standing absentmindedly. Shards piled up on, or bounced off, his head and shoulders, and the sound was deafeningly loud, but in Eugene’s ears, there was absolute silence.

Even though tens of thousands of these glass shards were pouring down on him, they couldn’t pierce his skin or cause him to bleed, but his whole body throbbed in pain as if it was being torn to pieces with a sharp knife.

Or at least that’s how it felt. Eugene stared down at Anise’s Holy Grail that he was holding in his left hand. The afterimage of what he had seen was still lingering in his head. He saw the girls standing there with blood flowing down from them. The expressionless Anise, the crying Kristina, and the countless girls who had existed in between them.

Eugene hadn’t been able to make out those girls’ expressions clearly. He felt nauseous. The bloody smell he shouldn’t still be sensing lingered beneath his nose and refused to leave.

“...Sir Eugene?” a voice called out as Rensol and several other clerics hesitantly approached Eugene.

They were having a hard time understanding the situation. The destruction of the pillars of light, which had been the pride of this cathedral for hundreds of years, had befuddled their minds, and the presence of Eugene Lionheart in the center of this left them in even more confusion.

From how things looked… it appeared as though Eugene was the one to destroy the pillars of light.

But why in the world would he do that? What reason could there be for him to do so? Even the priests who weren’t aware of Eugene’s identity thought this way, and Rensol, who knew that Eugene was the Hero, was even more certain that Eugene had no reason to do this.

“Are you… alright?” Rensol asked tentatively. “F-for now, please come over here. We don’t know if the walls won’t continue to collapse. Staying there is far too dangerous—”

A voice was babbling nonsense at him, but Eugene could only hear the sound of his heart beating ever faster, like it was about to explode. His empty right hand was clenched tight enough that it seemed like he was trying to crush his bones. His breaths raced alongside the thumping of his heart. Eugene panted for breath as he lifted his head.

He saw the altar of the cathedral. Thanks to the shards of glass that had fallen from above, the altar and its surroundings were covered in glass fragments.

As Eugene stepped towards the altar, shards of glass cracked beneath his feet. When Eugene began to approach the altar, the bewilderment on the faces of Rensol and the other priests only mounted. They couldn’t tell what Eugene’s intentions were, but they could somewhat read the kind of atmosphere that he was giving off.

“Sir Eugene, just what in the world are you trying to do?” Rensol asked as he approached Eugene with a stiff expression.

However, Rensol could only take a few steps forward before freezing in place....