Chapter 299: Dekan Starts Calling the Mole |
In the dim Royal Capital, apart from the intermittent audio and video from broken screens on the streets, accompanied by crackling sounds, there was the occasional faint glow from distant fires of war.
A black shadow streaked across a street, appearing exceptionally eerie in the faint light, as dangerous and deadly as a venomous snake that had already locked onto its target and was striking directly.
This was the Falsehood Bishop Carlos, who had completely shaken off his pursuers.
At this moment, he was not far from the arena.
And according to Carlos' distance perception, the two 8th-rank experts from the Kingdom Federation chasing him had no chance of catching up.
Just a moment ago, the Pontiff had issued a directive to all Bishops through his authority.
He ordered them to rush to the Filowen Arena at top speed and destroy the Artificial Shadow World Activator!
All the Bishops also understood what had happened in the arena.
The Pontiff had been trapped inside the Kingdom Federation's greatest achievement in magical engineering research.
However, he was almost there.
The Finality Bishop was also on the verge of breaking free.
Just as Carlos could see the iconic building of the Filowen Royal Capital in the distance—the Filowen Arena.
Without any warning, Carlos felt his heart tremble, and his entire body was instantly enveloped in a strange black aura.
This black aura was actually curse power so strong it had materialized. It emanated from Carlos' own body, shrouding him completely…
While advancing, Carlos suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood and crashed violently to the ground, tumbling several times before coming to a stop.
Lying on the ground, Carlos' eyes were wide open, his face a mask of disbelief.
Although he had immediately used Purify to remove the curse and defensively activated 【Pain Shielding】, this sudden, deadly attack had still managed to hit him!
It was not physical damage.
It was an extremely potent curse of pain!
Only after a moment did Carlos shakily stand up.
It was as if he had used tremendous willpower just to keep from falling again.
"The Lord of Calamity...?!"
Carlos was all too familiar with this feeling.
But this time, the intensity of the curse was thousands of times stronger than any he had endured before!
For a moment, he felt as if he had run headfirst into a wall. His vision swam with stars, and he nearly fainted.
Previously, the Lord of Calamity had targeted him for a long time.
Every day, at a randomly chosen lucky hour, he would be cursed.
Carlos, who was already managing the church on behalf of the Pontiff and dealing with all sorts of frustrations from Clay, had become somewhat withdrawn due to the Lord of Calamity's targeting.
Fortunately, Carlos possessed exceptionally high mental strength, allowing him to endure it with relative ease and purify the curses himself.
It was only some time ago that Carlos was finally freed from the Lord of Calamity's torment.
But.
Hadn't the Lord of Calamity been defeated?
Moreover, the Lord of Calamity couldn't possibly cast a curse of this magnitude without paying a price! Why would he help the Kingdom Federation?
Wait.
The one who defeated the Lord of Calamity was... Dekan.
And the current defense commander of the Filowen Royal Capital was also Dekan!
Could it be that... he was behind it all, a self-scripted, self-directed play?!
In that instant, it was as if everything clicked into place for Carlos.
In Carlos' mind, roles like the Pontiff and the Bishops were the ones who orchestrated things from behind the scenes.
But now that he thought about it carefully, Dekan seemed more like a true mastermind than any of them!
Originally, Carlos was certain that this plan was foolproof, that today would be the day the Kingdom Federation collapsed.
But at this moment, an unsettling premonition gradually crept into his heart.
Carlos quickly shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.
The Pontiff was not that simple.
He was a bottomlessly deep... creature.
The more contact Carlos had with the Pontiff, the more certain he became that there were things about him that should not be investigated.
And even if Sheen could use the power of the Phantom Canyon's barrier to force the Pontiff to use his trump card, that moment would also be the time of the Kingdom Federation's true demise!
In this short time, the two 8th-rank experts who had been pursuing Carlos caught up.
When they saw the pale-faced Carlos, whose once-immaculate clothes were now covered in dust, they knew they had to seize the opportunity, even if they didn't know what had happened.
One of the two Kingdom 8th-rank experts, an assassin, closed in with a silver dagger emanating an aura of death, seemingly determined to finish Carlos off with a single stab!
Although Carlos was dizzy from Dekan's unexpected, over-the-horizon strike, his physical condition was fine, and his mental state was rapidly recovering.
Seeing the enemy close in, he immediately understood their intentions.
The rage in Carlos' heart seemed to have finally found an outlet.
Without a word, he trapped the approaching assassin in his 【Void Illusionary World】 and began to annihilate him with magic!
"Your luck is terrible. I'm in a very bad mood right now!"
Then he stared at the other enemy, raised a finger with a grim expression, and began a new round of spellcasting, filled with killing intent.
The entire quaint street of the Royal Capital was once again transformed into a bizarre and dangerous psychedelic world!
***
In the Filowen Arena.
Dekan leaned against the Artificial Shadow World Activator, holding a grimoire that radiated an ominous aura. His entire being seemed to have transformed into a divine statue of judgment, holding power over life and death.
More than what Dekan had done, everyone's attention was drawn to the dark grimoire in his hands.
The aura it emitted was unlike any normal magic book. It felt like an object that should not exist in this world, one that recorded forbidden truths that humanity was never meant to discover!
The moment Dekan activated it, the entire book was swept up by a gale, its pages flipping rapidly!
Following that, a bizarre black aura erupted from the pages like a runaway storm, threatening to engulf Dekan in an instant.
The black aura dissipated.
Dekan's figure gradually became clear again.
His body swayed precariously, like a feather.
"Huff... huff..."
Dekan's vision went black. If he hadn't been leaning against the massive magical apparatus behind him, he truly would have collapsed.
His condition was probably even worse than Carlos'.
But to take Carlos down from such a distance, he had to give it his all.
Dekan had never attempted to use his curse at maximum power.
That one cast had nearly depleted his mana, and the backlash almost made him pass out.
If Shijiang hadn't taken over his body and shared the backlash with him, Dekan might have already lost consciousness.
"Talomati, I'm sorry..." Dekan said guiltily to Shijiang, whose magical fluctuations had become exceptionally weak.
Shijiang, who was already in a residual soul state, would probably take a long time to recover after sharing the backlash with him.
"I can't help you with the rest... Protect yourself..."
With Shijiang's faint mental voice, he seemed to fall into a deep slumber the next second.
"The immediate danger has been dealt with for now. The rest is about calling for reinforcements..."
He could tell from his city defense command bracelet that Falsehood Bishop Carlos had been successfully intercepted by the Kingdom Federation's pursuit team.
Regardless, that front could be held for a while longer.
PART 2
The problem now was the Finality Bishop.
Nightmare Bishop Alina, without her trump card, plus Holy Knight Commander Argel, were completely unable to stop the Finality Bishop.
Unless, another Bishop could help them intercept the Finality Bishop!
Dekan leaned on the 【Sword of Bachel’s Despair】, his face pale. It seemed he had some difficulty even standing steady.
He had truly overstepped his limits by far.
This was the first time Dekan had ever felt so powerless.
Fortunately, his partners were reliable enough.
Whether it was the profiteer who always managed to screw him over unexpectedly, or the recently acquainted anti-fan astrologer, both had done everything they could to the absolute limit at the critical moment.
They both trusted Dekan completely, willing to live or die with him.
Therefore, Dekan would also do his utmost to repay their trust.
Since the Resurrection Church wanted a decisive battle, he would give them one!
"Do you think dragging this out will do you any good?!"
Adair was still taunting Dekan, trying to shake his resolve, as he looked to be in a bad state.
Although he didn't know what Dekan had done, Adair could roughly guess.
Carlos had been affected by Dekan's strange black book.
Dekan had indeed, as he said when assigning tasks at the beginning, been able to deal with the threat from Carlos' side!
But all of Dekan's actions were merely patching up a large hole in a sinking ship.
He was only slowing down the rate of collapse.
As it stood, a Bishop would still arrive before Sheen could defeat the Pontiff in the Phantom Canyon!
Feeling a bit weary, Dekan used a 【Mute Spell】 on Adair.
He no longer wanted to hear the clown's voice.
Adair's shouting instantly turned into an unwilling whimper.
Facing the 【Nightmare Puppet】, which was essentially a replica of the Nightmare Bishop's power, Adair dared not use 【Purify】 on a non-combat negative status like 【Mute Spell】.
But this single 【Mute Spell】 made the previously smug Adair feel as if ants were crawling all over him!
He was being dominated by a ridiculously cheap ability!
Morion let out a snort and, in a barely audible voice, cursed Adair as an "imperial idiot."
It was as if he was mocking Adair for still fantasizing about messing with Dekan's mind.
Humiliated and unable to retort, Adair's face turned red with anger once again.
This dodging acrobat in front of him, whom he couldn't hit no matter how hard he tried, was also incredibly annoying!
But Adair's expression quickly turned cold again as he focused on the battle before him.
He refused to believe that Dekan, already at the end of his rope, could continue to turn the situation around.
Not far away, Dekan leaned against the Shadow World Activator, supporting his head with extreme fatigue.
Then, without a word, he took out his 【Bishop of Agony’s Certificate】.
He looked at the seal he had desperately tried to hide before and smiled with a sense of release.
He never thought that one day, he would be able to take it out in front of everyone.
Next, it was time to take the step that would truly reverse the situation.
Some time ago, after the Pontiff sealed all the privileges of Dekan's Bishop's Certificate, it had become almost useless.
Dekan could neither attend regular meetings nor privately message any Bishop.
However, the Pontiff could only seal a Bishop's general privileges.
He could not seal high-level privileges like those related to a 【Bishop’s Duel】!
Dekan focused his mana and spiritual sense on the 【Bishop of Agony’s Certificate】.
He was now going to activate a supreme ritual of the Resurrection Church, aside from the 【Bishop’s Duel】—the 【Bishop Vote】!
Unlike ordinary meetings, the 【Bishop Vote】 was a general meeting of all Bishops used to impeach the Pontiff!
The voting period was 10 minutes. Once all Bishops had voted or the time was up, the results would be calculated.
If, in this special Bishop's meeting, the number of "ayes" was higher than the "nays," the Pontiff could be directly removed from office.
Then, a new Pontiff would be elected.
The opportunity to initiate such a mandatory meeting was extremely precious!
Each Bishop could only use it once in their lifetime.
Of course, if one dared to initiate such a vote and failed, they would normally be killed by the Pontiff.
「Who initiated the Bishop Vote?」
「Dekan? What are you trying to do?」
「It's meaningless. To impeach the Pontiff, you'll need to kill several more Bishops, assuming you even can.」
After the meeting began, a series of mocking and questioning thoughts from the other Bishops instantly came through.
Dekan simply sent out this thought:
「Spy! Go help me intercept the Finality Bishop. State your code name, and I will immediately withdraw the forces blocking you!」
Dekan's purpose in initiating the 【Bishop Vote】 was not to expel the Pontiff at all.
It was to use this mandatory meeting to connect with the Kingdom Federation's highest-level spy and exchange passwords!
Now, Dekan could only hope that "Unicorn" would respond quickly!
「Heh, trying to play mind games and make us suspect each other?」
「Too bad you're too late. Nightmare Bishop, that big mole who was always obsessed with money, has already revealed herself. Do you really think there are any other Bishops willing to help you?」
All the Bishops could sense and transmit their thoughts, but no one voted.
It seemed that the battle was too intense, and they couldn't spare a hand to touch their Bishop's Certificate to cast a vote.
「Who is it?! Respond quickly!」
A minute passed without a response, and Dekan began to panic.
Even though confirming a vote required taking out the 【Bishop’s Certificate】 and concentrating, transmitting thoughts in this mandatory meeting only required a single thought!
The spy must have received his message.
As long as the other party could say the word "Unicorn" and match the password with Dekan, he would immediately withdraw the 8th-rank experts blockading that Bishop!
Then, that Bishop could go and support the Holy Knight Commander and the Nightmare Bishop against the Finality Bishop.
And the 8th-rank expert who was originally blocking him could be sent to deal with the Falsehood Bishop.
The situation would be broken wide open!
However, in the Bishop's meeting, apart from mocking Dekan, no one answered with the three-word code name!
It was as if "Unicorn" didn't exist in this meeting at all!
Dekan anxiously clenched the Bishop's Certificate, unwilling to believe this fact.
What was going on?!
Sheen couldn't have lied to him!
This spy was one of Sheen's greatest sources of confidence!
Besides, the other Bishops should all be in this meeting!
...Wait.
Cold sweat began to form on Dekan's forehead.
He suddenly remembered someone he had lost contact with...
"Damn it... Don't tell me..."