Chapter 106: Under the Night
It was night.
The moon hung like a crescent, and the scorching wind whistled.
Beneath the starry sky, a gloomy ancient castle stood silently in the wind. Inside the massive fortress, there were no songs, no signs of life; it resembled a desolate and lonely dead city.
However, just off to the side of this dead city, the pine forest stretched towards distant ridges, still a vibrant green. The lake outside reflected the crescent moon’s shadow, and when the wind swept over, the reflection rippled playfully. Not far from the lake, along one of the narrow paths leading to the castle, two small figures lurked in the semi-darkness of a overgrown cemetery.
This cemetery was quite grand, clearly belonging to the nobility—if one got a closer look, they would see a crooked sign by the entrance, faintly reading “Arlanst.”
The two figures stood beside a tombstone, one of them was carrying what looked like a bag. She stood a bit back from the tombstone, absently playing with an old sword, while not far from her feet, a freshly filled dirt mound suggested a recently dug grave. In front of the mound, there stood a wooden sign, clearly taken from somewhere, etched with the name: Tilya Arlanst.
It was a new grave.
Below the name, a smaller inscription read: “May you find peace in the world after your d*ath—erected by two perhaps otherworldly travelers.”
The modest little grave stood right next to a larger stone tombstone, where another name could be seen: Osalie Tia Arlanst.
The other shorter figure knelt before the larger tombstone, hands clasped in prayer for the deceased, holding that position for quite some time, murmuring softly to herself, her voice whisked away by the wind.
After a moment, she opened her eyes and gazed into the distance at the towering castle shrouded in darkness.
In the dead city, flickers of fire illuminated the night sky—what should have been the location of a small church was nearly reduced to ruin.
She stared at the plume of smoke rising up for a long time.
“Am I… doing the right thing?”
The question was less directed at the bored female swordsman beside her and more a ponderance for herself.
“What’s right or wrong, anyway?”
The swordsman sheathed her sword casually, replying without much thought, “If you want to do it, then just do it… at least you gave her a choice.”
Choice…
I lifted my head slightly, shifting my gaze from the fire to the two flawless crescent moons in the night sky, momentarily lost in thought.
Could that even be called a choice?
Did she… or he… still have a choice?
I recalled the hauntingly beautiful song sung by a girl who might no longer even be called a girl, her voice drifting in the dark.
“Silver moon… hanging over the azure lake… the pine forest at midnight… a new day… has not yet awakened…”
That melody echoed in the night.
“However…”
After a brief silence, the swordswoman couldn’t help but ask again, “What did she say to you in the end? I couldn’t quite hear your conversation… do you know her?”
The shorter swordswoman clearly had a belly-full of confusion.
But I… didn’t want to say much more.
“Let’s go.”
I waved my hand dismissively and turned toward the cemetery’s exit.
“Where to?” I heard the Sword Demon ask from behind.
“Leaving here…”
I tilted my head thoughtfully, “I’m heading home.”
“Home?”
“Yeah, home…”
Time to go home.
I had seen enough of this place, and I was somewhat tired.
“Are you coming with me?”
I asked absentmindedly, as the Sword Demon’s footsteps drew closer behind me.
“You and the Church are already enemies, right?” she said, standing by my side.
“Kinda.”
“Hmm…”
The Sword Demon nodded thoughtfully before asking, “And what about Pope Angel?”
“Yes.”
This time, I answered without hesitation.
“Oh.”
She grumbled, shifting the bag on her shoulder, fell silent, and her pace relaxed as she followed behind me.
We exited the cemetery and walked along the narrow path by the lake, strolled under the moonlight towards the distant north.
“That scythe you have…”
After walking for a bit, she spoke up again softly.
“Where on Earth did you pull that from?”
“Secret.”
“What kind of weapon is it? I’ve never seen anything like it…”
“No comment.”
“Can I see it?”
“No, why are you asking so much… quiet down, I’m trying to think.”
“Oh.”
“……”
Her voice gradually faded, disappearing into the depths of the night.
…………
Time passed without notice.
In the midnight wilderness, the lonely chirping of insects filled the air.
The distant ridges rolled on, pine needles danced in the wind, and nestled on a treetop, a six-eyed squirrel gently wiggled in its sleep, attempting to find a more comfortable position. Suddenly, a resonating “buzz” echoed from afar, accompanied by brilliant golden light that startled it awake. It sat up, ears twitching, and upon hearing footsteps, it scurried into the nearby leaves in a flash.
A second later, figures rushed by underneath the tree.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
Four cloaked figures, dressed in black, darted quickly through the night’s pine forest, making their way down the slope, running across the quiet expanse, pausing briefly at the outskirts of the Silent Fortress, and then leaping across the ruins of the surrounding tents before eventually surging up the castle wall, standing side by side atop the battlements, gazing at the far-off ruins of the once grand church, locked in a long silence.
“… d*mn it.”
Someone gritted their teeth, spitting venomous words.
It was a woman.
She was the smallest among the four, standing on the far right. Under the moonlit night, her figure was somewhat obscured, but her fiery temper was unmistakable, she turned sharply to the tall man beside her and started a verbal onslaught.
“Hey Ramiel, say something! What the hell happened?! How did things go from fine to this mess? Who the hell was it!? What do we do now? Speak up, you mute!!”
She was clearly enraged and in an awful mood, finishing one rant and pointing at the other two men, continuing her tirade, “You three big guys, why are you all silent?! Say something, d*mn it! Cook! Didn’t you just check the area here earlier and said everything was normal? Is this what you call normal?! Did your eyes grow on your backside?!”
As she continued to scream, her voice began to tremble, almost on the edge of tears; after a deep breath, she continued, “It’s all over… all of it… how many lives were lost here… it’s all for nothing… Cardinal Michel almost lost his life because of this… I shouldn’t have gone drinking tonight… how can I face him now… I…”
“Emily, how about you tone it down a bit.”
Suddenly, the man called Ramiel spoke up, his voice heavy, “You know this isn’t our fault. Why yell like this? What’s the point?”
“What’s the point?!”
The woman paused in surprise before her hysteria reignited, her emotions ignited fiercely, “Ramiel, are you telling me to shut up?!”
“I didn’t say—”
“You know how crucial this situation is!!”
“That wretched egg is almost ready to hatch! Just one or two more months!!! Cardinal Michel is lying in a sickbed, in that condition… still worrying about whether this would succeed… this was our last hope, do you even realize that? What do you intend to say to Cardinal Michel—how do I explain it to him!? How does he explain it to Pope!? You just stand there like nothing happened, Ramiel, I’ll be damned—”
“Shut up!”
One of the others couldn’t take it any longer: “You drunken madwoman! How dare you talk to Director of the Voice that way? You’ve grown up with no discipline, haven’t you? As a saint, you’ve got such a foul mouth… Did Romani Doctor teach you that?!”
“Cook—!!”
Buzz—
As soon as the words left his mouth, a divine light flared around the woman, illuminating her tear-streaked face. Her once lovely features twisted in anger; it was as if reason had flown out the window. With a piercing scream, she lunged at the man named Cook.
“I’m going to k*ll you—”
“Emily!!”
Boom!
Suddenly, with Ramiel’s shout, golden light surged anew. Three thick chains burst forth from the ground, rising up to bind Emily mid-air, no matter how fiercely she struggled, she could not escape.
“Let… me go, you b*stard Ramiel—”
“You’re just going to stay here and calm down for a bit.”
Ignoring her curses, Ramiel darkened his face, gestured to the other two, and said, “Come with me, let’s see what’s going on… if we’re lucky, we might find something of use.”
“Understood.”
With a whoosh, the three leaped into the air, allowing their bodies to fall towards the base of the castle, behind them, Emily’s heartbreaking cries echoed.
“Uhhhhhhh—!!”
But no one paid her any mind.
They landed on rooftops below the castle wall, hopping between low buildings, the dark alleys still littered with corpses, some of them glanced with somber eyes.
Soon, the ruins of the church came into view.
“Totally burned down, Ramiel…”
“It looks like… there’s nothing left…”
They landed on the street beside the ruins, looking up at the collapsed charred wood. Someone muttered, “It seems they came for us… with powerful strength… able to evade the Eye of Wisdom… it couldn’t have been just any Tom, d*ck, or Harry from outside the Church… even within the Church, very few could pull this off…”
“St. George…”
“That’s the only name I can think of…”
“Even if ten Pope Knights or even Sword Saint himself came, it wouldn’t have mattered…” another added, nodding in agreement. “Without knowing the trick, they’d all end up entrapped in illusions…”
“That sinner, he finally decided to show himself…”
“And just like that, he destroyed all our efforts… how vicious…”
The man named Ramiel listened to their chatter, not that eager to voice his own opinions. He simply gazed at the ruins for a moment, his expression darkening, when he suddenly noticed something and hurried toward the debris.
“What is this…”
He crouched in front of the ruins, reaching with his gloved right hand onto the still smoking hot rocks, the bright red surface hadn’t completely faded—the moment he touched it, the fingertip of his glove burned through with a sizzling sound.
Ramiel quickly withdrew his hand, brow furrowed, scanning the farther portions of the rubble, noting thick layers of still-liquid magma trickling through the remnants of what was left.
“This is Sin Fire…”
He quickly assessed.
Could it be the Heretics’ doing…
Are those guys still around?!
No, probably not…
He stood up, casting his gaze toward the towering city wall in the south.
There was a large breach in the wall, with part of the tower reduced to rubble, clearly made in a single strike… the terrifying destruction was not something merely conjured by miracles… it seemed there were still some glimmering traces remaining on the wall, but it was too dark and too far, Ramiel couldn’t make it out clearly.
What on Earth is that…
“Lord Ramiel.”
Someone sidled up next to him, it was Cook, who had also sensed something unusual about the ruins, “This fire melted the rocks—there’s no way the Fire Order could achieve this, it’s definitely the power of Infernal Fire… does this mean the egg has hatched?”
“It’s possible…” Ramiel responded distractedly, “But if the egg had been hatching normally, we should have sensed it through the Eye of Wisdom’s state change. We may not easily step into the illusions of the Eye of Wisdom, but if anything out of the ordinary occurs, we wouldn’t have missed it… but you’ve seen that there was no indication of change during the day.”
“None…”
“So even if it was indeed the egg hatching, something must have gone wrong… You two, go search the ruins. Whether it’s the Eye of Wisdom or the egg, if either one is still here, even if this place is destroyed… it doesn’t mean there’s no hope left. What’s urgent now is how to handle Cardinal Michel’s side…”
He waved them off, rubbing his forehead, moving toward the southern wall.
He felt something was off…
Someone had definitely come through this place…
And…
What if the intruders didn’t even bother to avoid the illusion realm of the Eye of Wisdom?
After all, only a few people within the Church could achieve that, and they would need the Divine Reliquary, “Reverse Termination” to do so—something that had always been in the hands of the Pope, there was no way anyone could have stolen it. Given the Pope’s current predicament, it was absolutely implausible for him to willingly hand it over…
At least, not right now.
And that group led by St. George, while they had yet to discover their hiding places, if they truly took action, they wouldn’t have been able to do so undetected. Those few “traitors” within the Church, who thought they had remained under the radar, were actually already being eyed by the owls…
Only he and the conductor within the Choir of Saints knew of this matter; the others were oblivious. They had immediately suspected that it could’ve been St. George’s doing, but only Ramiel knew it was unlikely to be him.
But…
If what he speculated was correct, that would be… absurd…
What kind of person could directly defeat the illusions of the Eye of Wisdom?
Although the Church was indeed disarrayed at the moment, it wasn’t to the extent where they couldn’t deploy personnel out to the Silent Fortress. The reason why no one was guarding this place, while all transport of supplies continued as usual, was to avoid stirring up trouble or letting St. George’s side catch any scent of something off… but more importantly, everyone was extremely confident in the power of the Eye of Wisdom.
Now that things had escalated to this point, maybe… just let it unfold naturally. Pretend everything here is just fine, nothing has happened, and allow the enemy lurking in the shadows deceive themselves. They could use this realm shrouded in illusion as the strongest wall, letting the egg, safely hidden underneath absolute defenses, hatch in silence—it’s undoubtedly the safest and most reliable plan…
Eventually, they would use the powers of “Reverse Termination” to break through the illusions right before the egg was about to hatch, sacrificing the out-of-control Eye of Wisdom in the process, to reclaim the egg, then find a way to regain control—plans were in place; everyone awaited their moment to act.
No one…
Would consider that someone could actually breach the illusions of the Eye of Wisdom, inadvertently discovering what was going on here…
Even if St. George himself came, without possessing “Reverse Termination”, he wouldn’t stand a chance…
It was completely impossible…
But the current reality was that the illusion realm of the Eye of Wisdom had indeed vanished… it couldn’t have been merely destruction of the “Eye”; that was the only possibility.
What truly happened…
What kind of monster emerged…
So many lives had already been sacrificed, could this truly be despair at the end of it all…
Absurd…
His mind was a jumble as a buzzing filled his ears.
Ramiel forced himself to stay calm, not to panic, as he quickly darted to the city wall, nearing the damaged area of the southern wall.
That was—
Suddenly, his eyes widened.
…Frost?
There was frost on the wall!
With a hum, Ramiel flickered onto the wall, golden light dissipating, he crouched next to the large breach, quickly removing the glove with the burnt fingertips and tossing it aside. His rough hand traced the icy surface nearby, feeling the cool water remnants. He rubbed his fingers together, then brought them to his nose to sniff.
Frost…
This place had witnessed a surge of power from the Frost Order, the wall was broken by that force…
Although that trace had likely been cleared up by someone afterward, presumably they thought it too much hassle to fully clean it up, or didn’t bother to wait until daylight for it to naturally melt…
I caught a trace!
The Frost Order…
And Infernal Fire.
It wasn’t the Heretics…
Who was it!?
Ramiel stood up, gazing out into the dark night beyond the city.
Little by little…
He thought of someone who should never have appeared here.
In that instant, he felt a rush of excitement or shock; it was as if every pore in his body opened wide, a chill rushing up his spine.
