Seline, the archbishop of the White Blood Religion, swallowed nervously while looking at her arm on the ground.
‘What’s happening? Where did it go wrong?’
The moment she saw the boy, Raon, the vampiric urge that she’d been suppressing gushed out like crazy. That meant that his blood had a special power. She wanted to get stronger by drinking that blood.
Even Darigon told her to kill him if she had an opportunity, so she immediately chanted a piece of charmed sorcery and approached him.
It was perfect until that moment. He opened his arms, his eyes had lost focus.
However, the moment she tried to drive her bloody hand into his heart, a deadly light sprouted in Raon’s eyes, and he thrust his dagger at a tremendous speed.
She quickly concentrated on the bloody energy, but the dagger easily ripped past the bloody energy and severed her arm.
Drip. Drip.
The blood was flowing down from the clean cut on her forearm, but she still couldn’t understand what had happened.
“Keuh…”
Seline tightly bit her lips, which were turning white.
‘It hurts so much.’
The White Blood Religion’s cultivation technique, the White Spirit Aura, had the ability to reduce mental and physical pain—and yet, the severe pain pulsating in her head suggested that the pain reducing ability had disappeared.
“H-How did you escape from my sorcery? What have you done to me?”
“You are the one that did something to me.”
‘Is it that dagger’s doing?’
When she looked at it again, the dagger Raon was holding was storming with a violent, ghastly energy. It seemed that the energy from the dagger was disturbing her regeneration and continuously inflicting pain on her.
“That dagger released you from the sorcery.”
Seline frowned, glaring at the dagger.
“I wonder.”
Raon smiled faintly, spinning the dagger in his hand. His relaxed expression seemed to suggest that he thought it was already over.
That carefree attitude, despite facing her bloody energy, showed that he was in another dimension compared to the two idiots behind him.
“Do you think you’ve won?”
Seline caught her breath, extending her bleeding arm. The White Spirit Aura spread out like raging fire, and the severed hand flew towards her on its own, attaching itself to the arm.
Fzzt!
The severed arm started to connect, creating a white steam. It was the regeneration ability of the White Spirit Aura.
“If you let your guard down so much…”
While clenching her fist on the reattached arm, Seline’s golden eyes sparked.
“A hole will be pierced into your neck!”
* * *
Raon narrowed his eyes, while looking at Seline’s reattached arm.
‘It’s the ability of regeneration.’
The White Blood Religion’s cultivation technique, White Spirit Aura, was said to grant a regeneration surpassing that of a troll.
Considering the way she had just reattached her arm, her rank must’ve been at least that of an archbishop.
However, the color of her face suggested that she hadn’t completely recovered. The Blade of Requiem’s ghastly energy must’ve been continuously inflicting severe pain on her.
What an ugly power.
Wrath snorted scornfully.
A power that gets stronger from extorting other people’s blood. It’s dirty and crude. The King of Essence would’ve frozen her up to take out all of her filthy blood.
He tapped his wrist, telling him to remove her quickly since he didn’t want to see her anymore.
“Gasp!”
“Huh…?”
Dorian and Zatice screamed in surprise when they finally managed to wake up.
“W-White Blood Religion!”
They hurriedly stepped back, realizing that the girl in front of them was an executive of the White Blood Religion.
“V-Vice-squad leader!”
“It’s okay. Just stay back.”
Raon waved his hand at them, focusing on the White Blood Region fanatic.
“Considering the fact that you can reattach your arm, are you an archbishop or something?”
“What is that easygoing attitude, despite knowing that fact? I’ll make you regret giving me time to recover.”
“I wonder.”
The reason he wasn’t attacking was simple. It’s because the mission’s objective wasn’t to kill her, but to solve the disappearances. He needed to extort as much information as possible from her.
“I’ll kill you!”
The archbishop gathered her hands, chanting a spell in an unknown language.
Whir!
Her entire body turned white, and the intense fragrance of flowers engulfed the alley. His head started going blank the moment he inhaled the fragrance. It was a lot more powerful sorcery than the charm she used a moment before.
‘It’s pointless, though.’
The moment the rings of fire resonated, the fragrance melted away. A charming spell of that level was insignificant against him. He looked down on the archbishop with clear eyes.
“H-How did you…?”
The archbishop’s lips trembled in disbelief.
“If that charm is all you’ve got, it was meaningless for me to give you some time.”
Raon smiled coldly, holding his dagger in a reverse grip.
“Let’s finish this.”
He kicked the ground, jumping into the space that was full of bloody energy. He felt like his body was being crushed, but the Ring of Fire and the Blade of Requiem pushed back all the bloody energy.
“You bastard!”
The archbishop glared at him, thrusting her hand. The straight trajectory, despite her agitated state, showed that her Bloody Hand Technique was befitting of her rank as an archbishop.
However, it was a bit lacking compared to her sorcery. The archbishop in front of Raon seemed to be more focused on sorcery than martial arts.
Whir!
Raon rotated the Ring of Fire at full power, focusing on the Bloody Hand Technique that the archbishop was using. Since it was the fundamental martial art of the White Blood Religion’s executives, properly watching it was bound to help him.
“Die!”
The excited archbishop kept attacking him with her hand, not realizing that Raon was going easy on her.
The entire alley was bursting with the energy coming from her hand, but Raon wasn’t injured in the slightest.
‘It’s fast, strong, and wicked.’
It was simple, but that was the reason it was powerful.
“You cruel rat! How long are you planning to run around?”
“I’ll stop if you want.”
Raon applied strength to his left foot, which he was pulling back to advance instead.
“Gasp!”
He slashed down with the Blade of Requiem in his right hand, following the archbishop, who was withdrawing in a panic.
“Argh!”
The archbishop glared at him, extending her hand towards him.
Clang!
Although it was a clash between a blade and a hand, it sounded like a collision between metals.
Creak!
However, they weren’t evenly matched. The Blade of Requiem’s violent ghastly energy burned with its resentment and ripped into the archbishop’s bloody energy.
“Argh!”
The archbishop’s eyes were trembling.
‘Now is the time.’
Keeping his strength in his right hand, Raon quickly moved his left hand to put the red pin on the hem of the archbishop’s top.
Smaack!
The moment he confirmed that the pin was properly attached, he twisted his body to kick her ribs.
“Keuh!”
The archbishop groaned, slamming into the wall.
Pssh!
Without missing the opportunity, Raon dashed at her and pierced her shoulder with the Blade of Requiem. Grotesquely colored blood gushed out like a fountain.
“Kuaah!”
The archbishop tore out her own flesh from her shoulder in order to run away, escaping to the side.
“I’ll kill you!”
She straightened her finger and pointed ahead. A white light was shot like a flash from the end of her fingernail. It was the Bloody Finger Technique, which consisted of shooting an energy similar to an aura blade from the finger.
Whir!
Raon didn’t overlook the skill this time. He used the Ring of Fire to read the Bloody Finger Technique’s flow, then slashed with the Blade of Requiem.
Cling!
The blade of ghastly energy created a half circle, completely ripping the Bloody Finger Technique’s energy apart.
“It’s not over yet!”
The archbishop kept shooting lines of bloody energy as if she wanted to fight until the bitter end, but they all melted down, unable to pierce through the wall of ghastly energy spreading out from the Blade of Requiem.
“H-How…?”
The archbishop stepped back in a panic. Raon stepped forward by the same amount, as if he were oppressing her.
“Don’t come any closer!”
“Did you tell me to keep my guard up despite being so weak?”
Raon smiled coldly and tilted his head.
“Just as I suspected. The White Blood Religion is the cause of the Porvan’s disappearance incident.”
“J-Just as you suspected?”
“After all, you lot are the only ones that would do something so dirty.”
“Shut up!”
“Why did you attack me? Did you believe you could easily drink my blood?”
“I told you to shut up!”
The moment the archbishop shot her Bloody Finger Technique, Raon dashed forward. He slashed the Blade of Requiem diagonally towards her before she could pull her hand back.
Spurt!
A cut appeared from her shoulder to her waist, and murky blood covered the space.
“Kuaah!”
The archbishop screamed, covering her wound.
“Where is your branch right now? Are the kidnapped people alive?”
“Keuh…”
She faltered like a drunkard instead of answering and leaning back against a wall.
“O-Okay… Let’s see the bitter end right here. I’ll kill you no matter what.”
The archbishop’s eyes were filled with madness as she drew a triangle with her two hands.
Whir!
The spell she murmured spread throughout the space, and a crimson light radiated from the triangle as a tremendous energy started to convulse.
“Just like this… Kuk! What is this?”
Right before the energy exploded, a white hole appeared from the wall she was leaning her back against, creating a spiral whirlwind.
“Damn it! Darigon! What do you think you are doing?”
The whirlwind tucked the chanting archbishop inside, then curled itself to become smaller.
“Damn it! My name is Seline. I’ll definitely kill you, Raon Zieghart!”
The hole closed completely after Seline shouted her name and yelled at Raon.
“What? Did she run away?”
A lighthearted voice could be heard from behind them alongside a cheerful wind. It was Rimmer.
“Unfortunately, she must’ve run away after noticing the squad leader.”
Judging from the situation, it wasn’t the archbishop herself, but her companion that forced her to escape after seeing Rimmer coming her way.
“Hmm? Your face doesn’t look disappointed at all, though.”
Rimmer snickered, looking at Raon’s serious eyes.
“Is that so?”
Raon shuddered. He was right. It didn’t feel unfortunate for him at all, as he actually released her on purpose. He planned on catching something even bigger.
“V-Vice-squad leader!”
“Are you okay?”
Dorian and Zatice, who were stuck to a wall, came running at him.
“I’m okay.”
Raon waved his hand dismissively, then went to Rimmer, who was examining the traces of blood on the ground.
“As expected, the White Blood Religion was behind the incident.”
“Well, I guessed as much.”
Rimmer licked his lips, looking at the orange blood as if he knew about it already.
“This looks at least mid-level among the archbishops, but you actually overwhelmed her. Did you become even stronger?”
“She wasn’t that strong, probably because she was mostly focused on sorcery.”
Seline’s sorcery was powerful, but her martial art wasn’t anything exceptional.
“Huh…”
“That wasn’t strong?”
Dorian and Zatice dropped their jaws in bewilderment.
“You must be the only one that would describe a White Blood Religion archbishop that way.”
Rimmer chuckled, standing up.
“It’s a shame. We could’ve located their headquarters if we managed to catch her.”
“That probably wouldn’t have worked, since torture doesn’t work against them.”
Befitting their title of fanatics, members of the White Blood Religion were tenacious enough to endure any torture. In his previous life, Raon had experience torturing a White Blood Religion fanatic for several days without him ever opening his mouth.
“I guess, they are really tenacious after all. That’s why their main branch is still unidentified.”
“Indeed, we don’t know where their main branch is. However…”
Raon smiled faintly, touching the red pin on his collar.
“We might discover their Porvan branch soon enough.”
* * *
* * *
Slaam!
Seline swung her white hand. The double wall was reduced to powder and collapsed. It was a power that made it difficult to believe that Raon had easily blocked it with the Blade of Requiem.
“Daaaamn it!”
She shouted, tearing at her wound with her nails.
“It hurts! It really hurts! The pain isn’t going away!”
Although she kept using the White Spirit Aura, the pain scorching her flesh didn’t subside.
“Darigon! Do something about this!”
“Calm down a little.”
The old man, Darigon, walked up to her with a frown on his face.
“Why did you summon me? I wouldn’t have to endure this pain if I had killed him!”
“Rimmer was making his move. If you had remained there, you would’ve gotten caught.”
“Keuh…”
Seline ground her teeth and scratched at the wall, which was severed like pudding and collapsed.
“Stop destroying things. We need to keep using this room.”
Darigon clicked his tongue, examining Seline’s wound.
“It’s severe.”
Although the archbishop-class Seline’s aura should have healed all of her wounds, a strange power inside the scar was preventing the regeneration and was continuously causing her to feel burning pain.
“Ghastly energy, and a very powerful one, at that. It looks like it will take a long time to get rid of it.”
“That’s why that guy needs to be killed, at all costs!”
Enough murderous intent to give a person goosebumps burst from Seline’s eyes.
“I’ll kill him! I’ll tear his flesh, grind his bones and blood, and drink it…”
“This wound won’t disappear even if you kill Raon. It might even last forever because of the resentment. Moreover…”
He injected bloody energy inside Seline’s wound before turning around.
“They are going to arrive soon. Get yourself changed and finish your preparations.”
“Keuh, damn it! Damn it!”
Seline shouted, slamming the ground. Dragon’s office trembled to the point where it seemed like it could collapse.
“That’s why I told you to gather information first. It’s because of your gluttony…”
“Shut up! You also would’ve wanted to suck his blood before anything else if you had seen him!”
“Was he that good?”
“Haa, he’s mine. I have no intention of getting over this after all he did to me! By any means…”
“It wasn’t a complete loss.”
“What?”
“While you were getting shredded by him, the plan on my side succeeded.”
Darion snapped his fingers and the office door opened. Men wearing white robes entered to put a man and a woman, who were unconscious, down.
They were Inield and Princess Jayna, who were hospitalized in the clinic after being defeated by Raon.
“I personally went to capture them after I heard the news that they were at the clinic. If we can take these two, it’ll be extremely profitable for us. The king of Balkar is going to rampage. He might even declare war against Zieghart.”
“Didn’t Morell install magic artifacts on them?”
“Of course. I removed them all before bringing them here. Do you think I’m an amateur like you?”
Darigon’s wrinkled mouth curved into a thin, jeering smile.
“I’ll give you Inield if that person allows it, so you can drink from him and heal that wound.”
“What a sly old man.”
Seline acknowledged her defeat, then frowned. It looked like her anger had also died down, as her golden eyes turned calm.
However, none of them noticed the glowing red pins on Inield and Jayna’s clothes.
* * *
Raon abandoned his original plan of going to the thieves’ guild, instead going to the city hall with Rimmer.
He entered the conference room alongside Morell, who was staying behind, and the swordsmen and magicians that had returned.
“We managed to discover the enemy’s identity.”
Raon covered the conference room with an energy barrier so that the sound wouldn’t escape before stepping onto the platform.
“Huh?”
“Really?”
“So fast?”
“Wow!”
It wasn’t just the Light Wind—the jaws of Morell and Salaman’s magicians also dropped.
It was normal for them to be shocked, as he had discovered in a few hours something that city hall couldn’t figure out in several months.
“I’m sure many of you must’ve expected this already, but the ringleader of the disappearances is the White Blood Religion.”
He took out a cloth covered in Seline’s blood while mentioning the White Blood Religion. People’s eyes wavered upon seeing the murky light, which didn’t look like the blood of a living creature.
“Unpleasant color…”
“White Blood Religion!”
“I knew it was them.”
“Keuh…”
“Those nasty bastards!”
As expected of armed organizations of the Six Kings, the Light Wind and Salaman didn’t fear the White Blood Religion of the Five Demons. Instead, they were filled with fighting spirit.
However, one person was spreading an extremely intense murderous intent instead.
Whir!
Martha. Her black eyes glowed like the hellfire, spreading a frightening murderous intent. It was fierce enough to make everyone inside the conference room turn back to look at her.
Why is the beef girl acting like that?
‘Was it the White Blood Religion?’
Raon narrowed his eyes, looking at the vicious fire burning in Martha’s eyes.
He thought she just had a peculiar personality because she always looked angry so far, but it was apparently because she was a victim of the White Blood Religion before joining Zieghart.
“How did you get that blood, and where did you encounter the White Blood Religion?”
Morell pointed at the cloth with Seline’s blood, his eyes wide.
“Religion?”
“R-Religion, Sir? Keuh.”
Raon repeated the end of his sentence. Morell gritted his teeth and added ‘Sir’ to the end.
“On my way to the thieves’ guild…”
Raon told them everything about his fight against Seline, and about her running away.
“Y-You cut an archbishop and made her run away?”
“But he became a swordsman only recently…”
“Huh…”
Morell’s eyes were trembling in disbelief, and the magicians of Salaman were also swallowing nervously.
“Seriously, you…”
Burren also exclaimed in shock.
“……”
“White Blood Religion…”
Runaan and Martha were just staring at the bloody cloth, but their emotions were completely different. Unlike Runaan, who wasn’t really feeling anything as she looked, Martha was glaring at it as if she wanted to kill it dead immediately.
“It’s regrettable.”
Morell turned his head, sighing briefly.
“They aren’t going to reappear anymore. No matter how crazy the White Blood Religion is, they aren’t going to make their move after Zieghart and Balkar discovered their identity.”
He was right. Since they needed to take away the people they kidnapped, they should be preparing their escape.
However, it was different this time.
“This time…”
Slam!
As Raon was about to speak, the conference room’s door burst open and Zatice, who said he was going to visit the clinic, entered.
“W-We are in big trouble!”
He immediately continued, his hands trembling.
“Princess Jayna and Inield, who were in the clinic, have disappeared!”
“What?”
“Huh?”
Everyone stood up in surprise upon hearing that the princess and Inield had disappeared.
“The healers, knights, and magicians in the clinic as if they had fainted, and the princess and Inield were the only ones that disappeared completely!”
“Impossible! There was no reaction from the artifacts…”
“The artifacts were found on the beds they were in!”
Zatice raised his hand, showing them two necklaces and two rings.
“Damn it! They got us!”
“D-Damn it!”
Morell and the magicians clenched their fists, and the Light Wind swordsmen also swallowed nervously, as they didn’t expect that to happen.
Clap!
As everyone was panicking, a clapping sound snapped them out of it.
“Calm down.”
“How can I calm down right now? We have to do something! If we don’t find the princess somehow, this whole city will be enveloped in flames! Even Zieghart might get in trouble!”
“It’s okay.”
Raon faced everyone’s gazes, eyes as nonchalant as always.
“The location of where the princess and Inield have been taken.”
He took the red pin from his collar, placing it in his hand. Once he brought forth the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’s energy, the pin floated by itself and pointed in a direction.
“The location of the archbishop that ran away.”
Raon smiled faintly, looking at the people whose jaws dropped.
“I know them both.”
