Chapter 129: Light and Dark (Twenty-Six)
He had been planning for this day for well over a decade.
And now, all his efforts had not been in vain; all the storms had settled. Just as expected, the Black Robe dealt a heavy blow to Elizabeth at that critical moment on the city walls.
Old Leikmon, still in the dark, had, as he previously thought, led a group to attack St. Zayeir Great Cathedral—completely unaware of who the Black Robe was and entirely ignorant of the situation’s nature and consequences. He surrounded the cathedral, believing that if he was dead, the Leikmon family could escape unscathed.
What a foolish fool.
Thank him.
This grand event, which he had orchestrated and would eventually be recorded in history for later generations to savor, was now approaching its final curtain call.
It was time to draw a perfect conclusion.
And when the moment of victory arrived, his guilt would be completely washed away.
First up was the assault on the Royal City.
Of course, such an act had long since violated the rules of war, but as long as it tied in with the Black Robe, the Church wouldn’t rush to assign blame—after all, there were heretics among the city guards, and it was them who attempted to assassinate Her Majesty the Queen, not him.
The Black Robes hadn’t killed Elizabeth on the walls because she was rescued just in time by the Sword of Kanli. And the reason the Sword of Kanli made it back to the walls in time was that he’d sent someone to notify them.
Duke Lex certainly would not allow Elizabeth to d*e there without a clue.
She had to go to the church, where Old Leikmon and the Black Robe would k*ll him together.
This way, the still-blind Old Leikmon would be unable to clear his name when faced with solid evidence—he knew that Her Highness the Saint had left the Royal City with the excellent clergy and that little Pope Knight girl, and outsiders had already notified him. All that remained in the cathedral were a bunch of clueless idiots who couldn’t hope to unravel the lethal poison of the Eastern Continent; Elizabeth was doomed.
She would be murdered by Old Leikmon, colluding with the heretics, while he and the Iron Guard merely detected the clues early on and tried to rescue Her Majesty the Queen but regrettably failed… Once it was all over, he could easily whip up a dozen similar lies.
As long as he cleaned up all the Black Robes, with ironclad evidence, the Church would surely not publicize the matter to maintain the peace and prosperity of Ethanbel, just like they handled the Teresa incident.
Thus, he would have ample time to suppress the influence of this incident on the Royal City and Ethanbel, cleanse members of the royal line—and then the Church would understand.
They would grasp that after Elizabeth’s d*ath, he was the only one truly capable of managing Ethanbel.
Most importantly, Duke Lex could offer those clerics the heretics’ “goods”—he could imagine the Church going mad over that during this period, right?
The Black Robes had gone through great lengths, sacrificing Teresa to send off that “cargo.” Duke Lex knew that his assassins had already been in contact with the other side; perhaps the goods were already in hand.
With just that point, as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the Church, it was already sufficient. He believed those clever clerics knew what to do, especially… Cardinal Nero, the head of the diocesan administration.
He knew what to do.
As for the promises made to Old Leikmon… Heaven knows, Duke Lex was not lying this time. He would indeed spare him—after all, those were the Church’s sinners; he had no right to deal with them.
He was only willing to lend a small favor to the Church, to help those clerics capture people, nothing more.
The boat had sailed.
The only one capable of blocking his path, Elizabeth, had fallen; no one could stop him—until the moment a black light shot up into the sky, he thought so.
However… things took an unexpected turn.
That terrifying force descending from the heavens nearly frightened Duke Lex out of his wits.
He stood in the back of the crowd, watching in shock as Old Leikmon’s men were slaughtered like insects by the black flames, allowing the enemy to carry Elizabeth away—originally, it was supposed to be his side who notified the Sword of Kanli for an opportunity to send her out.
Despite ultimately sending Elizabeth to the church, clearly, the situation had far surpassed Duke Lex’s expectations, bringing him back to that feeling he hadn’t experienced in years—the soft legs, the panic, the soul outside his body.
Shortly after, he heard even more unbearable news—Her Highness the Saint had returned to the city early.
Her return suggested that Elizabeth might survive.
Duke Lex couldn’t sit still any longer.
He forcefully calmed Old Leikmon to keep him doing his thing, then headed straight to the south of the city—Duke Lex’s plan was for the Iron Guard to remain still until Old Leikmon destroyed the cathedral, and only after Elizabeth’s d*ath would he mobilize to break the city.
But unfortunately, the d*mn idiot hadn’t heeded his words.
By the time Duke Lex arrived, he found the city had already fallen early, with the Iron Guard rampaging and looting everywhere.
What reckless fools…
d*mn worthless sc*m.
Duke Lex nearly wanted to chop off his son’s brain on the spot. At that moment, he still hadn’t realized the gravity of the situation; he desperately wanted to find that idiot and stop his frenzied actions.
Soon enough, he found his son in the chaos.
Out of anger, Duke Lex drew his sword and put the cold blade to the idiot’s neck—he only meant to scare him, not expecting his son to take it seriously.
Then he realized that his son wasn’t a fool. He already knew the identities of the Black Robes but chose to keep it from him; he had been deceiving himself.
He’d already become part of those heretics.
He wasn’t a fool; he was a madman.
From then on, it was a nightmare.
Those loyal vassals of Duke Lex were all slain, and while he narrowly escaped with his life, facing the Iron Guards everywhere, he had nowhere to hide and fled into a house, kneeling and crying, begging the occupants to let him hide there—he hadn’t done such a humiliating thing in decades.
But as long as it meant saving his life, everything else was a trivial matter.
Just survive; he could always return later and k*ll that family.
Duke Lex eventually hid under a bed, and the Iron Guards bursting in failed to discover him. He didn’t know how long he lay there, but when he finally emerged, everything had changed.
Duke Lex prided himself on having seen it all in his life, weathering every storm.
Yet even so, he was still rendered speechless by the bizarre scene before him, his legs trembling like a leaf and nearly wetting his pants.
It was as if the apocalypse had arrived.
The Iron Guards prowling the streets appeared as if possessed by demons, turning on each other, biting each other’s faces with grotesque laughter plastered across their faces as they charged towards him on a broken leg.
Insane…
All insane…
In this moment, all his grand ambitions, conspiracies, and thoughts of Elizabeth evaporated—Duke Lex could only think of how to survive, to escape this terrifying city.
But he was old.
Despite running for his life, he couldn’t move fast anymore, his throat caught with slime, and his lungs wheezing like a broken bellows.
He swore he had never been in such a wretched state in his life.
Everything happening in this city had far exceeded Duke Lex’s imagination. He saw the dead soldiers, his Iron Guards, their bodies turned to ashes with some white light bursting forth into the sky.
Following the light, Duke Lex looked up.
He saw dim clouds above, with two figures in a fierce battle amidst flashing white light and black mist below the cloud cover. The figures intertwined in mid-air, each clash causing explosive black flames that exploded in the sky, sending shockwaves scattering.
It seemed like…
One person was fighting something.
And that power… was the same source that had slaughtered the garrison…
What could it be…
He felt his mind spinning.
Moments later, he saw the smaller figure seemingly gripping the strange creature tightly, fearsome fire raging in the sky, and a bizarre roar echoed through the clouds, filling Duke Lex’s ears with a “buzzing” sound.
In the next moment, the rapid “boom boom boom” of explosions approached, sweeping past him while toppling a tall tower.
Duke Lex was scared out of his mind.
He desperately tried to flee, but his body wouldn’t obey; his legs felt heavier than lead with each slow step.
He couldn’t run anymore.
He needed to hide…
Duke Lex glanced around, swiftly darting into a narrow alley, stabbing a bloodied Iron Guard with a sword before sitting next to a pile of filthy garbage, leaning against the wall to catch his breath.
The black flames whooshed overhead, followed by another dull sound of buildings collapsing in the distance.
He did his best to suppress his breathing, remaining utterly still for ages until he could no longer hear that terrible noise, beginning to feel somewhat safe before attempting to stand up slowly.
Must get out of the city quickly…
With that thought, Duke Lex grit his teeth and continued to run for his life through two alleys, heading toward the city walls.
But just as he turned out of the third alley, a sight before him suddenly made him stop dead in his tracks, a chilling sensation rushing up his spine.
A small girl stood on the street not far away.
The frail girl he had seen at the banquet earlier.
Though she was clad in pitch-black armor stained with bl**d, Duke Lex recognized her instantly—this was the little princess of Shanter Castle, looking nothing at all like a Pope Knight; it was Silvya.
And lying at her feet was a strange creature that Duke Lex had never seen; its massive body was collapsing into countless tiny ashes, scattering in the wind and cloaking the girl’s tiny frame in wisps of black mist. The scene somehow gave Duke Lex a bizarrely aesthetic feeling.
He was lost in that bizarre image for half a second before snapping back to reality.
She killed that monster…
Duke Lex swore he had never been so terrified in his life.
