Chapter 11: Desperate Evil (Part 2)
Rubble flew up from beneath my feet as the wind howled through the house again. At that moment, as I closed the distance with him in an instant, the knight leader displayed his extraordinary reflexes.
This man had an impressive sense of combat awareness. With a “clang,” he drew his sword from his waist in a flash, and the blade buzzed with a sudden surge of purple light, blinding my eyes. I couldn’t remember the name of this divine miracle, but he was indeed the fastest knight I had ever seen at unleashing a dazzling purple glow. With the sword raised high, it seemed capable of cleaving the entire stone house in two.
But…
That was it.
I lifted my right hand and extended two fingers, perfectly pinching the incoming blade between them. With a “clank,” I snapped it like a twig.
The purple light vanished in an instant.
The broken blade still soared through the air, and the knight leader’s fierce face was now close enough to poke. I wouldn’t give him another opportunity to strike. When my feet hit the ground, I quickly seized his armor at the chest. With another step of the Moon Step, I crashed through the roof with a bang, sending us soaring into the higher night sky amidst a flurry of flying tiles.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—
The furious wind roared past my ears.
One hundred meters, two hundred meters… four hundred meters…
Five hundred meters.
The tower below transformed instantly into a tiny firefly in my view, while the bright lights of distant towns were almost laid bare before my eyes. The knight leader I held with one hand began to make sounds of unbearable discomfort. With a glance that sparkled blue, I summoned swirling cold mist beneath my feet, solidifying a sturdy ice platform. I gently stepped on it and then secured my footing.
“Frost… order…”
The knight leader gritted his teeth. It felt like I was holding a hefty chicken — this robust man, clad in armor weighing nearly two hundred pounds, hung there before me. I reached out, dangling his hand beyond the edge of the platform, my eyes cold as I spoke softly, “Since you’ve come this far, I have a few questions for you.”
I paused. “You’re the commander of the Sixth Knights Order of the Holy Church, right?”
In the whistling night wind, the knight leader dangled from my grip, knowing that if I were to loosen my fingers even a bit, he would plummet five hundred meters straight to the ground, splattering like a juicy tomato. Despite such a precarious situation, his calm eyes, filled with fury, never once wavered. They fixed on me unblinkingly, and although his face was slightly flushed from the strain, it showed not a hint of fear.
Hmph…
He has some backbone.
At least much more than that useless leader from the Eastern Continent.
“You… can’t even tell who I am.”
My words seemed to surprise the knight leader, leaving him feeling rather absurd. His brows furrowed as he spoke with difficulty, “But you can k*ll my men, slaughter the knights of the church, those brave warriors protecting the children of the gods, with such desperate evil and rampant cruelty… Are you truly a heretic from the Gate of Truth…?”
Before he could finish his sentence, I slapped him soundly across the face.
“Don’t say unnecessary things.”
With my cold, icy glare fixed upon him, I firmly stated, “Now I ask one question, you answer one. You know I embody desperate evil, so don’t try to lecture me about morals… What if I’m a heretic? You just need to understand that I can determine your life and d*ath, and you don’t want to d*e… at least not in such a pathetic, meaningless way, right?”
I cleared my throat.
“I could drop you from here, letting you d*e in a most disgraceful manner, without dignity or honor. All the fame, power, and position you possess would be replaced posthumously by someone perhaps unfamiliar or maybe somewhat familiar. Of course, I wouldn’t care about that, but I want to say that in the eyes of the church hierarchy, your existence may not be that significant… You’re a smart man; you know what I mean.”
The knight leader opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to retort, but I cut him off: “Shh, don’t interrupt… This is my last warning to you. I simply want to ask a few straightforward questions. These questions aren’t of paramount importance or something I’m dying to know; I’m merely a tad interested, um… just a tad.”
“After that, I can pretend none of this ever happened. As long as you answer my questions properly, I’ll ensure that you survive tonight… You must understand, this entirely depends on my mood. And my mood hinges on whether you answer me honestly, without lying or brushing me off… Because I can tell when you’re doing that. And once I see that, I might lose interest, and I despise being deceived.”
“……”
Amid the howling night wind, the knight leader’s gaze darkened as he silently listened to me speak.
“So, we have reached a consensus?” I asked him.
The man stared at me for two seconds, then slowly nodded, “Let’s see if I can answer your questions.”
“…Then, the first question.”
Under my hood, I smirked and extended a finger toward him: “Two years ago, the church and the heretics fought a fierce battle on the coast of Silgaya at Mosley Beach. As far as I know, aside from two Pope Knights and members of the Third Knights Order, there were also people from your Sixth Knights Order guarding the frontline. I want to know, when the Third Knights Order retreated to Alectine City after their defeat, where did your… your men go?”
“…You’re from the Choir of Saints, uh ah ah—!!”
The knight leader still wanted to test my identity. As soon as the words left his mouth, I struck like lightning, catching his dangling right wrist and with a “crack,” I broke it. The jagged bone jutted out from beneath his flesh, and pain changed his expression entirely.
“I thought you were smart; I take back my earlier statement; you’re actually not that smart… Did you think I was just trying to scare you?”
Crack!
I twisted his entire right arm behind his back, screwing it around like a pretzel, distorting the armor and shoulder plate, dislocating his shoulder and fracturing the bones bit by bit. His sword-wielding hand was rendered completely useless, hanging limply by his side.
Dark red bl**d flowed down from those trembling fingers into the thick, inky black night below.
“Next, if you stop rambling, I’ll ask whatever I want, and you’ll answer it honestly. Don’t say a word beyond what I want to hear, and we won’t waste each other’s time. Then perhaps… you can save that hand of yours. I bet you wouldn’t enjoy losing your right hand.”
“Y-yes… from the Holy City, it was an order…”
The knight leader gasped, his breathing shaking, his face ashen, his entire body trembling in the wind. He held back his screams, and with quivering lips, he answered my question decisively.
“I… received a secret letter from the Holy City… my men were engaged in a front-line confrontation with the heretics at sea, and then… we were ordered to withdraw, retreating back to Onstan Harbor…”
“…So, you let your men abandon the frontline and quietly run away?”
“No, it wasn’t… a retreat. My men wouldn’t flee in battle… It was just… the order from the letter required me to gather all my people, cease entanglements with the heretics, and return to Onstan Harbor, while simultaneously, in the sea, finding Archbishop Anser… that was the command from the Holy City; I couldn’t defy it.”
“Nor did you want to defy it, right?”
I mocked him coldly: “The command from the Holy City… who issued it? Was it Angel? Or the Faith Organization? Who was it that sent you the message?”
“He… like you, wore a cloak… a black cloak, a young man, his face hidden by a fox mask… I couldn’t see clearly. I didn’t know him then… and I had no interest in finding out who he was; I only recognized… the owl seal…”
