Chapter 323: I Will Kill You (42K Bonus Update 108)

Radiant Shengcheng · Solantis.

As the mortal center of worship for Abertas and the site of the Sun Church's grand cathedral, this place was regarded as holy ground by countless holy knights, who longed to make the pilgrimage to the Shengcheng in their lifetime.

This was a land of no darkness, cloaked in sunlight all year round.

Suspended at the city's center, a colossal sunwheel condensed from the holy flame bestowed by the Sun God rotated without pause, day or night, so that even at night it remained forever bright.

At the same time, this was also the place that reacted most strongly to any anomaly concerning the Sun God.

It was no exaggeration to say that the Sun God's faithful were going mad.

Our Lord has sent down a miracle!

A miracle!!!

A miracle visible to the entire world!

They strode out of their places of quiet cultivation in ecstatic excitement, rushing to spread the word, puzzling together over whether the deity might be conveying something to them…

A new oracle?

A great holy war against evil is about to begin?

Our Lord can no longer endure evil?

Besides, since it happened to coincide with the Blood Moon, couldn't one ponder a little more on what that might mean?

Compared with the faithful who had already entered a state of frenzy, the Pope, in the highest sanctuary of the Shengcheng, appeared rather calm.

The elderly old man, his beard and hair all white, watched the excited, joyful children of the Shengcheng with kindly eyes, shook his head, and showed a serene smile.

"Heh heh, what a bunch of children…"

Toward their excitement, the Pope neither stopped nor scolded them, nor did he offer encouragement or stoking.

Let them be.

The old Pope had once been one of them — a zealous devotee of holy war, longing every moment to sacrifice himself for his god, for righteousness.

He had craved a chance, a chance to prove his faith to his god.

But now, he was old.

His faith had never wavered in the slightest; his belief in Abertas only grew firmer, and he was certain that only the Sun God could save this world.

Over a thousand years, he had already seen far too much.

A miracle?

Hardly worth mentioning.

Let alone a mere miracle or a god's avatar… even the true body of Miss Xie Shen herself, he had faced far, far too many times.

This generation's "Lieri Pope" had too deep a record, having endured countless trials and ordeals.

Now, he no longer needed to prove his devotion to anyone — not even to the god he had served all his life.

The Lieri Pope withdrew his gaze, turned, and walked toward the deepest part of the sanctuary, where he knelt reverently before the statue of the Sun God and closed his eyes in prayer.

"My Lord, what has happened?"

The children could only guess, but he was different.

He could simply ask.

No riddle cannot be cleared up by asking directly.

Although the Sun God, for some reason, had not answered his prayers for a long time, since an anomaly had appeared this time, He should have awoken.

At first, the Lieri Pope heard no reply; the god seemed to still be slumbering.

But he did not grow anxious, and continued to wait in silence.

After quite a while longer, just as the Lieri Pope was beginning to hesitate, he finally heard the god's reply.

In the Pope's heart, after several hundred years, rang out that voice brimming with supreme majesty: 【"Someone has attempted to steal My authority."】

The Lieri Pope's eyes flew open, and he nearly leapt straight to his feet.

What!!?

The answer he had received from the Sun God was far more explosive than anything he had imagined.

Someone is stealing My Lord's authority?

Have they lost their mind?

Exactly which madman dares to do something so suicidal?

And, judging by how things had unfolded earlier, it seemed the other party had actually succeeded? At least for a time!!?

"My Lord, this matter… should it be conveyed to the faithful?" the Lieri Pope asked tentatively.

Such a great matter — should the faithful be made aware of it?

He could already hardly imagine what would happen once this news spread… would there be a new holy war? Or would Miss Xie Shen directly launch a divine war?

This time, Lieri gave no further reply, and the radiance on the statue gradually dimmed.

The sun had set.

Abertas fell silent once more.

"…"

The Lieri Pope rose slowly, his brow deeply furrowed, unable to make out exactly what had happened.

The known facts were few; he could only speculate on his own.

"To steal a god's divine authority, one must either rely on raw power to take it by force, or use one's own domain as a springboard to filch it through cunning…"

The gods capable of wresting it from the Sun God could be counted on one hand, and none of Them would do something so mad.

Then the likeliest possibility was that someone was using their own domain as a springboard to attempt to stir the divine office.

In the latter case, the number of people capable of such a feat was far greater.

The Lieri Pope thought for a while, and in his mind's eye recalled a figure who was a highly plausible suspect.

"Is that the traitor who escaped?"

"That… the once most powerful and most favored War Angel?"

After recalling that figure, the old Pope's expression shifted slightly. He narrowed his eyes and looked toward the murals on the walls of the sanctuary.

He traced his gaze from the bottom of the mural all the way up, finally landing on the empty space beneath the deity's hand.

There, once, had been the place of that War Angel.

Supreme favor! Supreme glory!

But in the end, what it earned in return was her betrayal.

Could it be her?

"After vanishing for so many years, what does she want to do now?"

"Could she have discovered my Lord's condition and want to seize the chance to steal even more?"

The old Pope's gaze gradually grew profound. He turned and walked toward the outside of the sanctuary.

In the end, he left behind only a barely audible whisper that lingered long within the sanctuary.

"No matter what you want to do… I will absolutely not let you succeed!"

"This time, I will definitely kill you!"

……

……

"Just now, what exactly happened? Am I dreaming?"

Shi Diwen raised his head in a daze, unsure whether he had slipped into a hallucination from sheer exhaustion.

Just now, did the sun come out?

He shouldn't have gone out on a Blood Moon night, but he could no longer keep track of time.

After pushing himself for more than ten days on sheer obsession, Shi Diwen finally arrived outside the village where he had settled his daughter.

But just before he was about to return to his daughter's village, Shi Diwen actually witnessed an abnormal miracle with his own eyes.

Bathed in that sunlight for a moment, Shi Diwen felt his mind clear considerably and gave his head a hard shake.

He dragged his heavy body, released the horse — already the third one he'd gone through — and walked toward the village step by step, alone.

"…I hope Teresa is alright."

He had come here for his daughter, yet now that he truly had arrived, he felt a sudden, shy reluctance to approach.

He feared something had happened to his daughter, and feared even more seeing a look of disgust on her face.

"Should I wash up first before seeing her? Like this, wouldn't I scare her?"

Shi Diwen felt his beard, well aware that his current appearance was probably no different from a beggar's.

His heart was a tangle of feelings; for a moment he didn't know what to do.

But the instant Shi Diwen, torn, stepped into the village, the wooden tablet against his chest suddenly grew hot, jolting his whole body and pulling him out of his anxious state.

Hm!!?

Shi Diwen looked at the silent village, and his entire being tensed up.

"No, that's not right!"

Silence.

Even though the villagers all retired early at night, the animals that guarded the homes would still react.

He had swaggered right in — how could he not have heard a single bark?

No.

He hadn't even heard a single breath!

Shi Diwen swallowed uneasily, carefully suppressing his own breathing, and slowly made his way deeper into the village.

Danger? Flee?

If he were the kind to do that, he never would have risked his life to rush back here in the first place.

"Teresa, my daughter, please be alright!"

But when Shi Diwen had stealthily made his way to the center of the village, he froze, his mental defenses crumbling completely in an instant.

"No… no, this can't be real!"

There, a serpentine sculpture built from the flesh and blood of dozens of people stood in an exquisitely graceful pose.

That fallen yet sacred aura proclaimed its existence to all things under heaven.

It was a statue of a god.

An artistic creation Miss Xie Shen had molded from the flesh and blood of mortals!

And the name of that deity…

"God of Depraved Desire!"

Shi Diwen completely broke down. No longer caring about concealing himself, hot tears streamed from his eyes as he gritted his teeth and roared in an unhinged voice: "No, no, no!!!"

This place had caught the eye of the God of Depraved Desire!

He had found her after all.

Teresa had ultimately not escaped the same fate as her mother… in the end, He had still found her.

What exactly had happened to Teresa? He no longer wanted to guess…

"Damn you, Miss Xie Shen!!!"

"Aaaah!!!"

"I will kill you! I will definitely kill you!!!"

And just as Shi Diwen was roaring in his unhinged state, the flesh-and-blood idol also reacted.

Crack, crack, crack.

The idol began to move, seemingly baring a mocking smile. Its serpent tail lashed out violently, launching a spike of flesh and blood that stabbed toward his chest.

Shi Diwen had already been overdrawing his body on the way here, and with his heart now cold and despairing, he didn't even have the reaction to dodge.

He simply stared blankly at the incoming spike, murmuring in his heart: "Teresa, I'm sorry… Daddy's coming to keep you company."

And at the very last moment of his life, Shi Diwen suddenly remembered many things — the memories that had been sealed away also awakened.

He thought of the promise he had made to that lord — he had clearly promised him he would definitely come back.

"Lord Herbert, I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you… I can't go back."

Shi Diwen smiled bitterly, ashamed of breaking his word.

He had always been breaking promises to people.

He hadn't kept his promise to the one he loved, letting his daughter fall once more into Miss Xie Shen's hands.

Nor had he kept his promise to his daughter, failing to bring her a brand-new life.

And in the end, he hadn't even kept his promise to his benefactor, becoming a deserter who broke his word.

Such a failed life, ending just like this — perhaps that was a fitting outcome.

Whoosh—

And just as the flesh-and-blood idol's spike was about to touch Shi Diwen, a flash of light burst from his chest.

That seemingly ordinary wooden tag rose into the air, and a mass of shadow burst forth from it, transforming midair into a thick tendril of shadow.

Smack.

The shadow violently slapped the flesh spike away, then used the momentum to carry Shi Diwen flying backward out of the village.

……

……

Malagas.

After the embodiment of sinful desire was destroyed, Herbert regained control of his body.

The tremendous power receded like a tide, leaving only a deep emptiness within his body — how he longed to be filled by that overwhelming power once more!

And a certain Miss Xie Shen, who had been worried about herself, had successfully overcome her instinctive desire and had not taken the opportunity to seize her ally's body.

Truly a cause for celebration!

The trust between the two of them was truly moving, worthy of being recorded in great detail.

However, even though such a good thing had happened, Herbert's expression was not particularly relaxed.

Because he suddenly realized… after the evil god's embodiment was destroyed, the blood-sacrifice ritual across the entire city still showed no sign of stopping.

That power still remained, and the dead still turned into undead monsters — this was very wrong.

"What does this mean? Nie Nasha, is Its embodiment still alive?" Herbert asked in confusion.

Nie Nasha, was there a problem with how you fought this time?

Don't try to wriggle out of it — I clearly handed all control over to you just now!

However, Nie Nasha had no intention of taking the blame, and huffed: 【"How could that be~ How could I possibly miss? Its embodiment has indeed been burned to ash."】

【"But then again, that doesn't mean It has no other way of watching over this place."】

Herbert narrowed his eyes, thinking of a possibility: "In other words, there's still a vessel here? It can descend?"

【"Probably so, let me look around… oh? It's actually her?"】

"Mm?"

Just as he was about to ask, the scene before Herbert's eyes flickered, revealing that person's appearance.

Looking at that face, Herbert narrowed his eyes, took a deep breath, and muttered in his heart: "Tch, this damned fate…"

Click.

The ground split open with a crack, and Sifani led the others to Herbert's side.

"Herbert!"

The red-skinned Elisa was the first to bounce out, leaping in front of Herbert and laughing loudly: "Haha! You actually did it! Hahaha!"

The limited-edition red-skinned vampire Young Lady stood with her hands on her hips, giggling proudly — looking as if it had been her, not someone else, who had saved the city.

He's my male pet, I'm his master!

But Elisa's laughter quickly stopped, because Sifani, with a solemn face, quietly shook her head at her.

"Hahaha, haha… huh? Why aren't you happy?"

She turned her head and found that Herbert's expression held no victorious excitement — instead, he was frowning tightly as he looked at Teresa, who was hiding at the very back.

"Mm?"

Quinna noticed Herbert's gaze, unsure what he was thinking. She forced her exhausted body forward and blocked Teresa.

"Lord Herbert! Teresa is innocent — there's a reason she looks like this. Please don't act rashly… she isn't a monster, she's been cursed!"

To strengthen her persuasion, Quinna also produced an identity badge and said quickly: "I'm a cultivator from the Mist Monastery — I can vouch for her with my own identity! Teresa, she…"

Herbert shook his head, cutting her off, and said softly: "You don't need to say any more, I know who you are."

Quinna was clearly stunned: "…ah? You know me?"

Herbert nodded and said calmly: "Because I am too."

"Ah!?"

Hearing those words, Quinna, who had still had some confidence a moment ago, was now completely panicked.

He's also a cultivator from the Mist Monastery?

Then this time, everything's ruined…

As a holy knight who came from the Mist Monastery, she knew all too well how fanatical those cultivators were about exterminating other races.

No joke, every one of them's a pyromaniac.

It's over, it's over, it's over!

"Teresa."

Herbert's gaze passed over the flustered Quinna and rested on the uneasy-looking girl, and he said softly, "I'm sorry, but…"

"I will kill you."

(End of chapter)