Chapter 178: 095. Judgement of the Heretic -1 (Part Two)
“Fuu-woo.”
I took out both Amon’s skull and the staff from my item window.
All I needed was a couple dozen seconds. If I used my relics first, then my shortcomings, my weaknesses, would no longer matter one jot.
Whether it was Kasim or King Rahamma, I was confident of stopping them dead in their tracks.
Charlotte approached me. “Your highness, please make sure not to strain yourself.”
I smiled wryly at her counsel. She wasn’t even a healer, yet it felt like she knew my current condition better than anyone.
Honestly, I was still feeling light-headed. Even if it was only for a short while, I did use these relics against Kasim, and then there was the fatigue from the long trip to consider as well.
However, I knew for sure that there wouldn’t be any problems dealing with those corrupt Priests over yonder.
“Thirty minutes.” I stared at Charlotte, Alice, and the Verdant Cross currently gathered around me. “I shall finish them off in thirty minutes.”
That was the maximum amount of time I could operate. And it’d also be ample enough time for me to completely annihilate the Church of Caiolium, too.
The Verdant Cross would come into play just in case an unseen variable reared its head, while the healers would heal me when I collapsed from the backlash of the relics afterwards.
I extracted Kasim Derian’s corpse from the item window.
Thud!
The corpse landed on the ground with a loud thud. A giant over two and half metres tall knelt down before me, his head lowered and unmoving.
I put the skull on, and then pointed the staff at Kasim’s head.
Kasim Derian. Here was a Paladin who suffered from a madness-infused overzealous devotion to his beliefs.
He’d become my new guardian, as well as my new puppet.
Divinity travelled through the staff and seeped into Kasim Derian’s dead body. The hazy strands of divinity began filling up his empty chest cavity and wrapped around his entire figure.
From now on, the Church of Caiolium would learn the bitter truth.
The truth of who they have unwisely pissed off.
“I am the legion.”
The mountain goat’s skull seemed to suck in my head and grip it tightly.
“And I am Gaia’s inheritor.”
Kasim’s closed eyes snapped open abruptly.
**
(TL: In 3rd person POV.)
The Church of Caiolium was currently mired in chaos itself.
“How does it make any sense?!”
“Assassinating the Imperial Prince?! An assassination?!”
Inside the cathedral’s humongous hall, many clergymen were roaring at their cardinal, Mikael.
He helplessly massaged his temples.
Kasim Derian’s madness turned out to be a lot worse than he bargained for.
Mikael tried to coax the golden knight to capture the Imperial Prince and bring the boy here so that he could be judged as a heretic, but the madman tried to murder the prince the moment they ran into each other.
Thanks to that, all avenues of negotiation with the Imperial Family had been severed. It was impossible to buy more time or flee from here. The moment Mikael or any of his subordinates left the church’s grounds, they would be relentlessly pursued and hunted down.
‘However, it’s still safe in here.’
The church’s grounds were his territory. One thousand-plus priests were here, and there were also the ‘Aztal’ runes belonging to the goddess inscribed on the interior of the cathedral itself. Ones installed by Mikael himself, no less.
At the very least, this cathedral was his ‘sanctuary’.
“We need to escape from here, your eminence!”
“Even if we declare our surrender and repent for our sins now, the Imperial Family will not accept it!”
That was bloody obvious. Killing the influential Imperial Prince who was destined to become the next Holy Emperor was the same thing as declaring their intentions to antagonise the whole Imperial Family.
Right now, the Church’s members were seen as rebels. They were now also labelled as traitors. The entirety of the Theocratic Empire ended up becoming the Church’s enemy in one fell swoop.
Any priest affiliated with the Church of Caiolium was now in danger of being called a heretic and persecuted by the public.
Mikael loudly spoke up, “If we decide to flee, we will not be able to shake off their pursuit.”
In order to safely seek asylum, assistance from another kingdom was a necessity. Fortunately, there was someone who could extend a helping hand toward them.
‘Indeed, there is a perfectly suitable person, isn’t there?’
Mikael pulled out a piece of communique. It contained a report concerning the whereabouts of the ringleader of the conspiracy that the Theocratic Empire was searching high and low for.
‘…Rose Darina.’
The Second Crown Princess Consort was still alive. The report said that she was nestled somewhere within the kingdom of knights, Lome, currently embroiled in a civil war that had lasted for three years already.
She was warped to Aslan, but through the timely assistance of a ‘helper’, she had safely travelled to Lome kingdom.
“For now, we must bide our time.”
The Second Crown Princess Consort and the unknown helper assisting her were the sole lifeline that could save Mikael and his cronies.
He had sent a communique to them already. Now, he was waiting for their favourable reply.
To think that he now had no choice but to rely on that insane Second Crown Princess Consort for his survival.
The priests heard Mikael and sighed helplessly.
One of them spoke up, “But your eminence, this is not a problem that being patient can resolve. We don’t know when the Imperial Family will suddenly attack…!”
“Even if the sword king himself shows up…” Mikael cut the priest off. The others flinched a little and stared at him. He continued on, “They can’t threaten me as long as I’m inside this sanctuary.”
What he said just then managed to shut the mouths of the priests present.
Mikael rolled up his sleeve and exposed the golden-coloured rune letters inscribed on the back of his hand. “The Aztal rune! Did you not all witness the might of this rune?”
This overwhelming power was even capable of subduing Archbishop Raphael.
“As long as we have this, we…!”
-Oh, ooooooooh!
The expressions of the priests and Mikael froze up instantly.
The entirety of the cathedral was resonating. The surrounding air reverberated as a divinity-laden Spirit Speech howled out from somewhere outside.
“What on earth…?!”
The Priests’ complexions grew deathly pale.
Even if the strength of divinity contained within the Spirit Speech was faint, how could it still be able to blanket the whole cathedral?!
“They’re here!”
The punitive force sent by the Imperial Family had arrived.
Cardinal Mikael gritted his teeth and hurriedly left his seat. The other priests urgently followed him from behind. They were heading to a balcony.
On the way, Mikael began biting into his nails out of anxiousness.
‘No, it’s going to be alright. I have the Aztal rune. And this place is my sanctuary. I have received the goddess’s grace. Goddess Gaia will surely protect me.’
He repeatedly chanted those thoughts in his head. He self-hypnotised himself and soothed his frayed nerves.
They eventually reached the balcony and took a good look at the front of the cathedral. Those measly Paladins from the Theocratic Empire dares to…
That’s what he initially thought.
Unfortunately…
“Uwaaaahk?!”
“What’s this?! What in the world is this?!”
“Your eminence! Cardinal-!”
The Paladins and Priests of the Church of Caiolium standing near the barricades set up outside the cathedral were currently in a full-on panic mode. Their terror-filled eyes were staring at their front.
Despite the night being pitch-black, bright light was flooding out from somewhere in the distance.
A divine army was marching forward.
The beating of the war drums that shook the listener’s heart resounded out.
A legion of heavily-armoured skeletons and dullahans wielding longswords were advancing in rank and file, their glowing eyes eerily shifting in their sockets.
Their shields were raised up and their spears were pointing forward as they relentlessly advanced.
Bone Golems and massive stone statues were also accompanying them. The ground rumbled from their steps while banshees darted in and out among the gaps of the Golems as they began nocking their arrows.
Mikael’s mouth clamped shut.
The report definitely said that the Seventh Imperial Prince was capable of summoning many holy undead creatures. It also said that all the citizens exalted him and worshipped him for it.
Even if it was for a fleeting moment, Mikael had rejected such a notion. He believed that the scale of summoning would be no greater than those feudal lords of the Aslan kingdom.
Without a doubt, the boy must’ve resorted to some other tricks.
But as it turned out, his thoughts were truly foolish.
The miracle taking place before his eyes…
The legion blessed with the greatness of the gods…
And the commander leading the legion itself…
A being outfitted in a mountain goat’s skull and a set of bone armour was riding on a skeleton horse on a hill over yonder, cold light glowing from within his eyes.
He held his head high as the aura of divine power gushed out from him.
This being and Mikael’s eyes met each other’s.
‘Oh, my goddess…’
The cardinal instinctively realised who that being was.
That man was the possessor of the Saint’s status as well as the seventh grandson of the Holy Emperor. Not to forget, someone praised by the former enemy kingdom, Aslan, as the ‘angel’ as well.
His name was Allen Olfolse.
He had personally come here to judge Mikael.
“C-Cardinal Mikael!”
Two other cardinals assisting Mikael hurriedly addressed him. The youngest of the two pointed with his trembling finger at the centre of the undead legion. More specifically, at the one leading the legion right now.
“Isn’t, isn’t that…?!”
Thirty or so Paladins wearing armour of light – holy undead knights – were marching forward as undeniable dignity oozed out from them. And there was a giant of a man wielding a massive greatsword standing before them.
-Ooooooooh!
This man howled out like a monster.
The giant was at least two and half metres tall…
A man wielding a humongous greatsword in his right hand, while his entire body was covered in radiant golden armour…
“Kasim… Derian?!”
The one Mikael had sent as a kidnapper, then turned into an assassin, had now returned as a crazed warrior.
< 095. Judgement of the Heretic -1 (Part One and Two) > Fin.
