Adriana was taken away by the Nameless Monastery.
To be precise, by Riverrier Lanze.
First and foremost, Riverrier Lanze aimed for the jackpot by having Olivia Lanze as his defender, and secondly, he sought to make Olivia Lanze a mascot that would represent his own desires.
Riverrier Lanze had originally intended to make Olivia the next commander of the Holy Knight Order. It was likely that the plan for the Holy Empire had already been laid out as well.
Due to an unforeseen variable called dethronement, Riverrier Lanze had adopted the strategy of creating a secret religious organization.
Riverrier Lanze's dethronement had caused a backlash within the religious circles, and as a result, he still held influence there, which was growing ever larger.
Adriana's departure from the temple had, in fact, an adverse effect on her safety.
Riverrier Lanze would try to lure Olivia in.
And Olivia would have no choice but to accept the deal involving Adriana's life.
There was no option to forfeit, as in the final match against Lydia Schmitt.
As long as Adriana was held hostage, Olivia would become Riverrier Lanze's puppet.
The sun had set, and it was already night.
I saw Lydia Schmitt, tied up and hanging her head inside Eleris's shop.
Today, Lydia Schmitt had suddenly used a dangerous power called Berserk in the final match.
And she had continually tried to persuade Olivia to return to the embrace of the divine. However, in the end, Olivia had forfeited.
It seemed like a clumsy plan even to me.
Moreover, Lydia Schmitt had repeatedly warned Olivia that something more tragic would happen if things continued as they were.
I thought it was the nonsense of a madwoman.
She had been continually warning that Adriana would be hurt if Olivia didn't obediently return.
As the saying goes, "The arm bends inward."
Lydia Schmitt had used such a desperate method to persuade Olivia because she didn't want Adriana, a fellow member of the Five Great Holy Religions, to be hurt.
And that she had tried to kill me as well.
I wasn't a member of the Five Great Holy Religions, and I must have been considered the mastermind behind Olivia's corruption.
She had judged that it would be better for me to die than Adriana.
That was why this bizarre incident had occurred today.
Adriana was in danger as things stood.
I had to act as quickly as possible.
"Riverrier Lanze, where is he?"
"…"
The revolutionary forces were already somewhat late, but the nameless monastery order created after Riverrier Lanze's dethronement was still not very large.
If it wasn't crushed at this stage, something uncontrollable would happen.
Lydia Schmitt believed that I was an extremely dangerous and evil existence, the extent of which she couldn't comprehend.
She might think that Riverrier Lanze would be killed by me, so she couldn't say anything.
But if she didn't speak, there was a way to force her to open her mouth.
Tears welled up in Lydia Schmitt's eyes.
"Please... Please..."
Unable to say the words asking to be released or that she couldn't speak, she began to sob.
"Just... please kill me..."
She yearned for death instead. Knowing that we would not simply kill her, she believed that the best choice for her at this moment was for us to grant her the mercy of death.
"Please, please... death, a clean death... please..."
The moment she revealed Riverrier Lanze's location, it would be a grave act of betrayal, something she couldn't bear.
But becoming a vampire was also unbearable for her.
That's why Lydia Schmitt begged us, the two wicked beings, for death. In front of Lydia Schmitt, who was tied up and pleading for death, I crouched down.
"Why are you crying?"
I brought my hand to the weeping Lydia Schmitt's cheek and gently wiped away her tears.
"Why is this a betrayal? I don't understand."
"I am the Champion of Tu'an, so all my actions should represent the will of Tu'an more than anything else. Rather than Riverrier Lanze, who was expelled from the position of Holy Knight Commander and created a faction within the Five Great Holy Religions out of lust for power, shouldn't my actions align with the will of God?"
"Hu, hu-hu... ugh..."
At my argument, Lydia Schmitt's sobbing grew even heavier.
"God is omnipotent."
"Even though I may be a wicked being in your eyes, if I were someone who shouldn't control Tiamata, then I couldn't have become its master. Whether I meet a miserable end or a greater hero appears to take Tiamata away from me, all of that would be part of Tu'an's plan until it happens, wouldn't it? Isn't that right?"
"God is omnipotent."
"Exactly. Therefore, no matter what happens to me, as part of the plan of an omnipotent being, my actions should align more with the will of God than someone like Riverrier Lanze. Isn't that right?"
"Thus, if my will is the will of God, then what Tu'an wants is happening right now."
"The Nameless Monastery is heresy."
"So, it must disappear."
"Now, senior, don't cry. There's no need to cry."
"Senior, you're following the blindly obedient will of God."
"Senior, right now, you're not cooperating with some evil, mysterious being but with the Champion of Tu'an. How is this a betrayal?"
Holding Lydia Schmitt's face in both hands, I smiled at her. Despair was etched into her eyes.
"Senior, you can now follow the right path. You just strayed from it for a while. So, this isn't betrayal."
My words were being denied internally, but the desire to believe them was all too apparent.
Why on earth is this betrayal?
It's not just something I'm saying; I genuinely believe it.
"Repent."
Repent.
Come back to the right path now.
Why is it an act of disloyalty to escape the clutches of the false prophet Riverrier Lanze and join the Champion of Tu'an?
The seeming contradiction of a champion of the Goddess of Purity controlling a vampire, her very antithesis, didn't matter much anymore.
Once one accepts that everything is by divine will, it becomes easier.
If all of this is part of the plan devised by the gods.
If one accepts that.
Then becoming a vampire isn't out of the question.
In fact, it could be considered even more glorious.
"I… really… is it… is it really like that…?"
Lydia Schmitt looks at me with tearful eyes, desperate for an answer.
This isn't persuasion.
She has collapsed.
"Trust me, senior."
She replaces her former fanaticism with a new one.
"Trusting me is no different from serving the gods."
Fear drives people mad.
And the madness is no different for someone who has already gone mad.
If Lydia Schmitt submits to me, she will fabricate any logic to justify me.
Every suspicion and doubt I possess. All of it will be shoved aside under the belief that everything is because I am the champion of the gods, and it is all part of their divine will.
"All of this… is really part of the gods' plan…"
Yes.
I am a god more powerful than the Five Great Deities.
So trusting me is no different from serving the gods.
I gently stroked the head of Lydia Schmitt, who sobbed and knelt before me.
I gritted my teeth.
I had hoped for a day without any trouble.
At least for today.
But now, I have somewhere I must go.
In front of the weeping Lydia Schmitt, I turn my head and look at Eleris.
"Call Sarkegaar and Loyar."
This is not something I can handle alone.
Even if I could, it's not something I should do alone.
It's not just a matter of the nameless monastery.
Signs of division are spreading in all directions.
The empire must not crumble.
"We all go together."
"Yes."
This incident must happen under the name of Valier, not Reinhardt.
The enemy of humanity must appear again.
Miss Temple Contest participants' waiting room.
Ellen was receiving her final check while dressed in her gown.
"You look great."
"…I'm relieved."
The Miss Temple Contest was drawing closer. The contest was held in a much larger venue and on a different scale compared to the cross-dressing competition.
Though it wasn't the main stadium where the tournament finals took place, the contest was held in an enormous concert hall.
Liana had been watching Cliffman's side until now but came over to Ellen.
"But I don't see your senior anywhere."
Liana tilted her head while fixing Ellen's makeup.
"…She'll come."
Either she had already arrived and she hadn't seen her, or she was running late. It had to be one or the other. Ellen was more worried about something else.
Reinhardt had left the dormitory in the morning and hadn't been seen all day.
When she left, not only most of the A-class members but also the B-class guys saw her off. They would almost all come to watch the contest.
But Reinhardt wasn't there.
"..."
"What has Reinhardt been doing all day? I haven't seen him at all."
Liana grumbled.
"Well, it's his loss if he can't see you."
Liana had eagerly helped Ellen with her makeup, saying that missing out on seeing Ellen's beautiful appearance would be a loss in itself.
Ellen clenched the hem of her dress.
There's no way he won't come.
She knew that, but still, a strange uneasiness kept tickling her heart.
He must come.
She even told him to make sure he came.
There's no way he won't.
To calm her anxious heart, Ellen took several deep breaths.
Everyone was gathered.
Eleris, Sarkegaar, and even Loyar.
We moved through Eleris's mass teleport.
Since we were wearing our temple uniforms, we changed into our casual clothes left at Eleris's house.
-Flash!
The location was the outer area of the southern part of the Royal Road, a place quite far south of the Royal Road.
The place we arrived at was a small village set up in the southern part of the Royal Road.
The village was more like a few households living by farming in the outer area, with less than twenty households in total.
It was just one of many ordinary neighborhoods in the suburban area.
We teleported to a hillside in the outer area, which led to the crossroads of that neighborhood.
"Ma... mass teleport..."
Lydia Schmitt trembled after experiencing the mass teleport.
"…Will you be all right?"
At Loyar's question, I nodded with a stern expression.
I hadn't explained the situation in detail yet. I only mentioned that a big battle was coming, and we needed them.
Even if they find out later, Sarkegaar might not understand why I'm risking everything to prevent the spark of the empire's division, but I decided to trust Sarkegaar.
Above all, Sarkegaar is most needed right now.
Lydia Schmitt didn't know that Loyar and Sarkegaar still existed, so she was trembling in fear. She would think of them as terrifying entities, similar to Eleris.
Anyway, our target isn't that village.
"Beyond that hill… there's an abandoned monastery. There…"
"That's where the Nameless Monastery Order's temporary base is, right?"
"Yes."
Although they are an internal religious community, they ultimately cannot hold public gatherings. So for now, their regular meetings will be held in such outskirts until they have formed enough power.
They might have official gatherings once they grow larger in scale or begin to stand out in the religious world, but they haven't reached that point yet.
It's about killing a growing monster before it becomes unmanageable.
Lydia Schmitt had finally submitted, fearing what would happen if they refused to obey me.
Become a vampire or not.
Would she consider this God's will, too?
I possessed Tiamata, which served as an excellent tool for Lydia Schmitt to rationalize her actions.
Lydia Schmitt's disposal would have to wait until the matters concerning the Nameless Monastery and the Riverrier Lanze were resolved.
"Is Adriana held captive in the monastery?"
"Yes, that's correct. I can't remember the exact location, but it was definitely there."
Adriana was the bait to lure out Olivia.
Lydia Schmitt had tried to attack me, believing it would be better for me—an unbeliever and the main culprit behind Olivia's fall—to die rather than deceive Olivia with Adriana's life at stake.
It was unlikely that all members of the Nameless Order were in the abandoned monastery, but the key figures would be residing there.
Riverrier Lanze.
I had to kill Riverrier Lanze, the core of this entire mess, no matter what.
Whether that would resolve everything was uncertain. But one thing remained constant: it was something I had to do right now.
"What is their strength?"
"There are around twenty high-ranking knights in residence...”
"And their abilities?"
"All of them participated in the Demon War... They are the closest aides of the leader... Ah, no. Riverrier Lanze... They resigned with him when he stepped down as the leader..."
If they were Riverrier Lanze's closest aides, they would be the veterans of veterans who had experienced the Demon War together.
There would be other forces as well, but twenty high-ranking knights who had been through thick and thin, plus Riverrier Lanze...
Eleris was a powerful mage but also a vampire. It would undoubtedly be challenging to fight against the knights.
Our plan was not to engage in a head-on collision.
"Alright, the plan isn't too complicated."
First, we had to get Adriana out of there.
"Sarkegaar, infiltrate and locate Adriana. If you can sneak her out, do so."
Sarkegaar would first use his infiltration skills to determine Adriana's whereabouts.
"Come back if you can't bring her out. If you can't get her out, you can disguise yourself as Riverrier Lanze later and extract her."
Lydia Schmitt likely didn't understand what I was saying, but there was no time to explain.
"If we can safely bring Adriana out, Eleris will use large-scale destructive magic to annihilate the monastery. It would be great if we could kill them all at once, but that might not be possible. From there, it will be a battle."
Securing Adriana was the top priority.
The rest would be a massacre.
Eleris clenched her fists.
She didn't utter words like "I can't do it," and it wasn't the time for that.
It was evident that leaving the situation alone would lead to greater sacrifices.
Eleris had to agree that action had to be taken now.
"And, I need to show them."
"Show them what...?"
It was crucial to show whose actions these were.
The events today could not be kept secret.
Fortunately, this area was on the outskirts of the Imperial Domain. Even if a disturbance occurred, the royal family wouldn't be able to respond immediately. Because Lydia Schmitt was present, I refrained from making direct statements.
“Let us show our existence with certainty."
Remnants of the Demon Clan.
Their existence is revealed.
The revolutionary forces, the dissatisfaction of the Five Great Religions. The appearance of a common enemy temporarily mends the rift within the empire.
Sarkegaar still seemed clueless.
"Why on earth..."
"Wait."
As Sarkegaar began to express his doubts, Loyar suddenly raised his hand to stop him from speaking.
Loyar pointed down the hill.
"Someone is coming."
There was a road leading into the village.
"Olivia...!"
Lydia Schmitt's eyes widened, and I was just as shocked.
Olivia is coming.
She must have been lured to come here using Adriana. Olivia, with a desperate expression on her face, was running at a terrifying speed, heading somewhere.
Olivia gets involved as well.
There's no more time to waste.
"Sarkegaar, not just Adriana, but get that person too. Go in right now."
"...Yes, understood."
Sarkegaar transformed into a sparrow and darted across the night sky.
My heart raced like mad.
Adriana and Olivia.
Neither of them should be involved in this battle.
