Watching Henry soar into the night, Todd, who had been shaped into the church deacon Felice Child, found his pre-arranged baggage and mount in a nearby abandoned warehouse.
He put on a large black robe, put the string of silver crosses from the Felicidade in his pocket around his neck, then mounted his horse and galloped off toward the gates of the Holy Guard.
Along the way, weeds grew rampant on both sides of the road, and scattered white bones and ownerless debris could be seen everywhere.
Less than a kilometer from St. Victory, Todd saw outside the city walls, hundreds of people gathered around a huge bonfire, loudly reciting prayers.
A priest stood atop a crate, holding a Bible in one hand and a cross aloft in the other, proclaiming, "Almighty and merciful Father! We, your humble servants, take Your holy word as our precept and hunt down all the evil in the world!"
Several wooden crosses were erected at the foot of the city wall. At the priest's command, dozens of torches were thrown from the hands of the onlookers, igniting the pile of firewood beneath the crosses.
Not only adult men, but also the screams of several women and children could be heard coming from the raging fire.
"The heretics are the reason the Father is angry with the believers! They are the source of all misfortune and disaster!" The priest raised his hands toward the sky: "Only by burning all the heretics can the crops in the fields grow again, and only then will rain fall from above to irrigate the parched earth!"
Todd frowned and rode his horse through the crowd.
These people from St. Victory, with sunken eyes and emaciated bodies, had difficulty even walking due to chronic food shortages. But in this scene, the priest's simple, seductive words had rendered them devoid of reason, leaving only fanaticism and obsession with religion.
"Burn the aliens!"
"Burn the alien species."
"Burn the alien species to death..."
With a solemn expression, Todd rode his horse far away, but he could still smell the stench of burning flesh and blood in the air and hear the frantic roars of the people behind him.
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