When he finally came to his senses, noticing that no one was paying attention to him, Wood gritted his teeth and was about to slip away when he spotted a knight lying on the ground. As usual, he kicked him.
“Why are you lying there pretending to be dead? Hurry up and take me out!”
No one responded. Sensing something was wrong, he turned around and found them slowly standing up, looking down at the ground in front of Lucien’s shop, lined up at the back of the queue.
“Hey, hey, what are you doing? Don’t forget that you are from the Bright God Church! Sacrificing your life for the divine is your honor! Do you want me to expel you from the knights’ ranks?”
Wood had a vague feeling that the situation was slipping out of his control, and he spoke harshly.
Among the contract knights, there was a slightly younger and seemingly still naive boy who couldn’t help but shout at him, “Then go ahead and expel us! It’s better than losing our lives! The Bright God, the Bright God, always preaching this kind of ideology to us, treating us like mere vessels!”
His vitality was just beginning to recover, but the feeling of weakness, losing rationality, and helplessly watching himself approach the brink of death was overwhelming.
If it weren’t for this powerful figure, no one would have survived this time.
He bit his lip, determined not to return to the Bright God Temple.
The beautiful facade had been stripped away, revealing the cruel stench of blood beneath.
The Bright God Church had dominated the continent for many years, built on the flesh and blood of its followers, and the majestic temple had buried countless corpses.
He finally understood where his predecessors, those knights who had dedicated themselves to the people, had fallen.
They were willing to die to eradicate evil, to protect civilians, to safeguard this continent.
They had once been passionate, proud to be contract knights, but ultimately they perished at the hands of the very deity they believed in, unknown and without value.
His nose burned, and he struggled to hold back his tears.
At that moment, someone patted his shoulder, and he looked up with red-rimmed eyes.
It was the group leader.
A gust of sharp wind swept past, sending the boy’s hair flying as he slowly widened his eyes.
“Ah!!!”
The tall and burly group leader struck Wood with incredible speed, causing him to let out a pitiful scream and tremble in pain.
Punch after punch landed hard, and soon Wood’s curses turned into pleas.
“Stop hitting me… If you keep going, someone will die… Help… I was wrong…”
The group leader twisted his fist, released Wood’s collar, and turned to leave.
At this point, Wood no longer dared to stay there; he crawled into the elevator.
——
Putting aside how Wood would explain this incident to the Bishop, many people had witnessed this farce.
Word quickly spread from ten to a hundred, and soon the rumors of the Bright God Church sacrificing its followers reached all the major cities.
The speed at which these whispers traveled was astonishing, as if someone was deliberately pushing them along. The once stellar reputation of the Bright God Church began to waver.
The ten surviving contract knights were the most effective evidence, not to mention the other knights they had met in the Bright God Temple.
Even if they didn’t believe it, doubts began to creep into their minds.
Over the years, the Bright God Church had many oversights; as long as one looked closely, identifying these clues was not an issue.
At the headquarters of Calderra, the atmosphere was entirely different from the last time.
It was silent, tense, and filled with a vague sense of worry.
The lofty Bishop could no longer maintain the kindness on his face; he glared, almost roaring, “Wood, how did you manage this? You’ve just leaked a secret that has been hidden for a thousand years?!”
“I hereby strip Wood of his Cardinal status; you can just live as a commoner and reflect on your actions!”
At that moment, Wood was in a daze and didn’t even notice what the Bishop said. His entire being was focused on the black hole in his palm.
The eerily ominous black hole had now consumed his entire hand and showed signs of spreading upward.
He gripped his palm tightly; the burning pain rendered Wood unable to think rationally.
The Bishop felt ignored by Wood; he nearly wanted to choke him to death on the spot, but after what had happened, the entire continent was watching the Bright God Church’s every move. Now, if something happened to Wood, it would cast another shadow over the Church’s reputation.
He slumped down, feeling utterly defeated; it was over, completely over.
The Bishop had originally thought this was just an ordinary demon, maybe possessing something valuable.
The Bright God Church often engaged in such nefarious dealings, putting on a facade of demon-slaughtering; with gold coins gained, they also earned the faith of the common people, achieving two goals with one action.
Who would have thought that this time they would be hitting a solid wall?
Even… even that powerful individual couldn’t defeat the opponent.
Recalling how that powerful figure stumbled back to the Bright God Temple, the Bishop shuddered and felt a chill run down his back.
Chapter 21
A week later, Wood showed up. He looked terrible, with one arm severed, the black hole spreading to his upper body, and his face pale.
Wood remained silent from start to end; trembling, he handed over the gold coins before hesitantly asking Lucien, “I… did I pay? Will this cursed thing disappear?”
Lucien nodded.
A sudden wave of relief washed over him.
These past few days had been brutal for him; initially, he had no intention of paying. After the black hole spread, he even attempted to sever his own arm to protect his wealth. To his surprise, after doing that, the black hole became even more aggressive, directly consuming his body.
Finally unable to endure the fear and despair night and day, he sulkily brought the gold coins and rushed to the Abyss.
Having engaged in all kinds of filthy deeds with the backing of the Bright God Church, he now lost his Cardinal status and all the gold coins he had painstakingly acquired over the years, with one arm gone; one could only say this was karma.
Wood turned and left, his back a pitiful sight.
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