CHAPTER 106: NECRONOMICON [4] - CAGE

Having stopped suppressing her own power and having begun using her Devil abilities and demonic energy, Liora was easily able to deal with the remaining enemies.

With her combat experience, control over her body, and Spear of the Blighted Sun—an ability that specifically targeted everything evil—ordinary True Knights could never be her opponents.

Facing the stunned assassin—who had yet to recover from the previous sequence of events—she nailed him to the ground with a single blow, turning him into ashes and sending him to accompany his companion in the afterlife.

Then, she turned toward the Baron, and the muscles of her arms tensed as her hands fiddled with the spear, and she looked ready to strike once again.

Meeting her gaze, Baron Bloodshield’s mind froze.

The sight of his allies dying so quickly and gruesomely had more than shocked him, making Liora look like a menacing beast in his eyes.

With no hesitation, he turned around and seemed ready to flee. But his movements were easily predictable.

The next moment, Liora flashed beside him and waved the spear, targeting neither his head nor torso, but his right leg.

Though her actions were casual, the Baron had also practiced a darkness-related Knight Technique just like the assassins before him.

Thus, the moment the spear touched him, his leg was easily severed in two, like a thin piece of paper.

The demonic flames raged and pounced forward like hungry beasts, wanting to completely devour his very existence.

But just in time, Liora tightened her grip on the Spear of the Blighted Sun, restraining its flames.

To her, Baron Bloodshield was far more valuable alive than dead.

Thinking of this, she lowered her head and glanced at the Baron, who had collapsed to the ground and was trying to crawl away.

Then, she raised her right foot before striking the earth with it.

Instantly, the shadows in the surroundings followed her command and rushed toward the Baron like sinister evil spirits, covering the entirety of his body and encasing him in a thick layer of darkness.

Sensing the fluctuations of his aura grow weaker and confirming that the Baron had fallen unconscious, Liora lifted her head and inspected her surroundings.

Even though it had been fierce and dangerous, her battle with the Baron and the assassins had not lasted for long.

The battles of the Knight Apprentices were still raging not far away.

Both the Black Tulip members and the Baron’s subordinates were engaged in a fierce battle, neither party knowing that the battle of their leaders had finally come to an end.

Seeing this, Liora didn’t rush over.

A familiar dark bow appeared in one of her hands as an arrow materialized in the other, which she carefully placed on the bowstring.

With a tug of her wrist, the arrow soon soared into the sky.

Continuous banging sounds and painful cries followed as, very soon, the sky turned into a sea of arrows.

--

Liora didn’t partake in the cleaning of the battlefield.

Carrying the unconscious Baron, she found a relatively empty space and tossed him to the ground before taking her seat on a nearby raised rock.

Glancing at the Baron, whose body was sprawled across the ground, she didn’t get up, but instead opened her mouth and spoke:

"Are you going to pretend to be unconscious for long?", she asked, her cold voice echoing throughout the empty field.

Yet, her words received no response, as if she had made a mistake and was simply embarrassing herself.

Seeing this, Liora shook her head lightly.

With faint regret in her voice, she continued:

"A comatose person is of no value to me. If that’s so, please go and die."

While she was speaking, the Spear of the Blighted Sun materialized in her right hand. As if she were holding a javelin, she brought it on her shoulder and looked ready to throw it down.

The air in the field froze.

Boundless murderous intent emanated from Liora, and the temperature around her plummeted, as if the world itself was responding to her emotions.

"Cough... Cough..."

An awkward, rough voice broke the awkward atmosphere. The body of the Baron twitched and, as if he had been revived, he struggled to turn over and came face to face with Liora.

His expression was dark, not only because of the seriousness of the situation, but also because his right leg was missing. If he did not receive help in time, he would be disabled for the rest of his life.

Still, he forced himself to remain calm, displaying the abilities that he had forged over the past several decades.

"You can’t kill me.", he took a deep breath and stated.

"You must have noticed that the two assassins are members of the Necronomicon Sect. Even if you kill me, you won’t be able to destroy all the evidence. Sooner or later, the Sect will find out about their disappearance and will try to avenge them."

"You need me alive.", the Baron said with feigned certainty.

His words were plain, but if any citizen of the Iron Armor Empire were to hear them, they would be astonished.

The Baron—a renowned member of nobility and the younger brother of Earl Tulip—had actually allied himself with the fanatics of the Necronomicon Sect?

Although Liora had only recently arrived in this world, the memories of her past life had told her that knowledge was power.

Thus, one of the very first things she did was to learn information about this world and its overall history.

As such, she had a deep understanding of the Sect that the Baron had just mentioned—the Necronomicon Sect.

"In the Iron Armor Empire, the force that wields the most power is obviously the royal family. It not only possesses the combat power of several Great Knights, but also has an extensive network of subordinate forces and allies."

"Still, it’s impossible for the royal family to control everything. Over the past century, two new forces have emerged..."

"...the Holy Church and the Necronomicon Sect."

The Holy Church was a force that claimed to have received the gift of the Gods, possessing the power of Holy Light and being the sworn enemy of everything they considered evil.

On the other hand, the Necronomicon Sect was the opposite.

Its doctrine was neither grand nor complicated.

In fact, it was fairly simple: all of the Sect’s members had to do everything in their power in order to enhance their strength.

The quicker a member became stronger, the more they would be rewarded by their superiors.

The method they used to obtain that strength didn’t actually matter. Whether it was through hard work or by slaughtering hundreds of cities, they were both the same.

Exactly because of that, the Necronomicon Sect had earned a notorious reputation.

Even though both this Sect and the Holy Church had been renounced by the royal family as heretical Cults and should have been treated the same, most of the people’s hatred was focused on the former.

After all, the actions of the Necronomicon Sect’s members were truly heinous and reprehensible.

Liora was merely thinking, but the Baron took her silence as a silent agreement to his earlier words.

Seeing this, he didn’t lose his composure and become overly confident.

Instead, his voice softened:

"I understand that you may hold some preconceived notions about the Necronomicon Sect. To be honest with you, I also despise them. I became their ally because I was following the orders of my elder brother."

"My goal is to become an undercover agent so that I can report their actions to the royal family. So, you don’t have to worry. As long as I’m alive, the damned cultists will never find out what happened."

Baron Bloodshield’s tone was sincere, and the mix of hatred and disgust on his face seemed to confirm his words.

He truly seemed like a martyr.

A martyr who had sacrificed the best years of his life and potentially his reputation, only hoping to one day punish evil and deliver justice.

Just then, though, a deep crimson light flashed in the Baron’s eyes.

With a quick movement, he reached into his clothes and took out a small stone statue. An expression of yearning flashed across his face as he took a look at it, but he quickly shook his head to break out of it.

Then, he pushed his hands against the earth and launched himself forward, holding the statue and lunging at Liora with his remaining power.

"We shall shatter our mortal Cage!", his crazed voice echoed in the field, full of obsession, passion, as well as a very well-disguised hint of relief.