CHAPTER 69: DON’T BE NERVOUS, OR THE SOUL WILL SOUR

Moonlight shone upon the knight in the silent darkness. It was so quiet that the mages could hear each other’s accelerating heartbeats. It felt as if an icy skeletal claw had gripped their heart; each beat brought searing pain, and each wave of pain made their hearts race faster.

Gazing at the Death Knight who had come out of nowhere, Priestess Simone felt an indescribable fear rising from the depths of her soul. Her thoughts spiraled out of control as her sanity slowly got devoured. The world spun around her, and she looked around to find herself under an overcast sky and misty rain. She and her team seemed transported to the realm of death itself, where tombstones of different shapes stretched endlessly into the distance.

Will-o’-wisps danced in the air as the cold mist twisted into shadows, brandishing their claws and slowly advancing towards them. Simone felt bound by an invisible force, unable to move or speak. She tried to channel her mana, only to find emptiness within.

She realized suddenly that she was no longer in the Chosen Land. She had been banished to the realm of death by Shadow Nightmare.

It was Death’s divine kingdom!

According to the records kept by the Church of Nature, anyone slain by the Death Knight’s sword would have their soul damaged and banished to Death’s kingdom to be sealed eternally. That was exactly what was happening to her.

Am I dead? When? When did the Death Knight draw his sword?

The terror of death intensified and crashed into her like a massive tide. The blood flowing through her veins chilled until it became ice and froze her pounding heart. The ghostly shadows passed through her team and took away their numb-looking souls one by one. She saw a spectral claw slowly approach, coming to rest on her forehead.

She knew there was no escape. She and her teammates would be forever imprisoned in Death’s realm. Suffocating darkness engulfed her. Her terror peaked at that moment, her sanity crumbling. With a piercing scream, she collapsed.

In the real world, Wayne looked speechlessly at her prone form. What was this? The priestess fainted from a simple illusion? If she was so afraid of ghosts, why did she come to the cemetery at night?

Reputation could intimidate on its own, and the Death Knight had quite a reputation.

Simone was a white collar leader who rarely left her office, and thinking she had encountered the real Death Knight, she fainted from the shock, not realizing that she was seeing a basic illusion. Her experience in combat was pathetically lacking. She had no business being on the front lines.

In contrast, the elites of the surgical unit fared admirably well. Though briefly caught in the illusion, they quickly escaped without suffering lasting effects. Facing the Death Knight, however, they couldn’t escape the looming fear despite their professional training to maintain composure against any enemy.

“Muhahaha—”

Wayne laughed heartily, eyeing the mages. “Don’t be nervous, or your soul will sour. I don’t fancy souls that have wet themselves.”

The skeletal knight’s voice was bone-chillingly cold like an ice blade piercing straight through their heart. Under the enormous pressure, the elite Scalpels made the split-second decision to attack preemptively.

They knew that once the Death Knight made his move, they were unlikely to have a chance to fight back.

Cross stars intersected to form a protective barrier that rose from the ground; it wasn’t meant for defense, but for containment. In the blink of an eye, the seal emerged to trap the Death Knight and his undead warhorse. Do roared furiously, but Wayne calmed her down with a wave. He curiously inspected the green fortress-like barrier and went up to touch it.

He was testing the capabilities of the Death Knight’s skin.

Although Julia had praised her master to cloud nine and claimed him to be omnipotent, he couldn’t just believe her without checking. Anyone could boast. To tell an undead horse from an undead mule, the simplest way would be to ride it.

Sparring partners had conveniently shown up free of charge, and they looked quite capable. This was his chance for a test ride.

He scattered a cloud of grey mist. Death collided with nature’s vitality, and the opposing forces clashed violently. After a brief stalemate, death gained the clear upper hand. Nature’s vitality withered away as death corroded the green barrier and left a massive hole.

The Scalpels immediately launched a counterattack, unleashing advanced magic from the Church of Nature such as Natural Fluctuation, Contracted Life, Guarding Barrier, and Universal Ritual.

Powerful mana waves rewrote reality, creating a lush magical forest in the barren wasteland. Ten minds worked in concert, reshaping the forest and summoning spirits of nature to erase the concept of death.

The grey mist surrounding Wayne scattered the green at contact, erasing the concept of the spirits of nature in turn. The gap between their powers was so great that the greater number could not overcome the disparity.

The Death Knight easily rode his warhorse out of the magical forest. He drew his sword and slashed through the air, severing the ten mental connections attached to the magical forest and interrupting the spellcasting. That one strike was a heavy blow to the ten Scalpels, leaving them pale and unable to continue fighting.

Wayne was disappointed that he couldn’t test the upper limits of this persona, but he still had to keep up the act. He stared at the ten Scalpels and asked, “Who’s the captain? Step forward.”

None said anything.

“Ha, I thought you were all fearless heroes willing to sacrifice yourselves based on your earlier actions, but when death comes knocking, you cower. Nature’s followers are nothing special after all.” He scoffed. “I’ll give you another chance. Who’s the captain? As long as they step forward, I’ll spare the rest of you.”

They were still silent.

Their nominal captain lay unconscious on the ground. They agonized over whether they should wake her up.

“How tedious. Your cowardice and fear have left me disinterested in drawing my sword. Get lost. Your souls are too worthless to die by this blade.” Wayne sheathed his sword and rode the horse away. At his whistle, Do leaped over the elite Scalpels and caught up with her master, wagging her tail. Together, they vanished into the thick fog.

The Scalpels were relieved to narrowly escape death, but also humiliated. They shifted their dissatisfied gazes to Simone. The priestess was far too weak. She had no combat experience and couldn’t even lead or adapt well. Worst of all, she had no courage. She fell unconscious from fear.

The church had been disgraced today, mocked by the Death Knight. She bore full responsibility.

“Help Priestess Simone up and report to the High Reverend truthfully...”

***

Wayne walked the dog in the cemetery during the first half of the night and walked the horse in the sewers in the latter half, during which he found time to trigger an elemental collapse. His nightlife was exciting and thoroughly fulfilling.

Other than his life essence stagnating at 95% with negligible growth, everything was great.

He was happy!

According to the law of conservation of happiness, the total amount of happiness in the world remained constant. It didn’t disappear, simply transferring from one person to another. If one were suffering, it would be because someone else was having a grand time at their expense.

High Reverend Silvia, for example, was feeling quite miserable.

Not long ago, she had taken down Sidney by leveraging the Geocentrism Sect, breaking the clique to establish herself and reclaim the authority of a High Reverend. Two days ago, she pulled another trick to pressure the remaining three priests, thus securing Simone’s submission.

Silvia had been a combatant active on the frontlines. She believed that only with great power could one exert great authority, and Simone didn’t fit her criteria. However, she couldn’t afford to be picky when she was short on support, and she did need to set an example. Thus, she gave Simone a chance. As long as she didn’t make mistakes, she would get to keep her post as a priest.

However, the plan was thrown into disarray by the Death Knight’s showing his hand. Simone embarrassed herself so thoroughly that the news reached the enemy camp, too. She proved herself incapable of her duties and unfit for her status.

Rubbing her forehead, Silvia addressed the timid Simone, “Submit a list of three candidates you recommend. From now on, you’ll... work in the office. I recall you being a good administrator.”

Simone thanked her with a bitter smile before taking her leave. Rotten luck would make sure one got kicked in the heel on the way down as they jumped off a building. High Reverend had given her a chance, but she couldn’t seize it. The Death Knight had seized her instead.

At least she came back alive. She couldn’t ask for more.

“Oh, and based on the Scalpels’ report, I’d suggest you seek out counseling. Please submit your evaluation as soon as possible,” Silvia added matter-of-factly.

Simone paused, finally breathing a sigh of relief. It was fine as long as she wasn’t being sent directly to the Red Leaf Asylum. She offered her thanks and hastened her retreat.

Silvia watched the incompetent priestess go with resignation. She had wanted to set an example for the onlookers, but she had only brought about a complete farce. Those who didn’t know better might even think she had done it on purpose.

She could foresee the others labeling her a dictator with no mercy, eliminating every potential threat, no matter if they submitted or rebelled. Unable to recruit subordinates, she wouldn’t be able to cultivate her own loyal following, and her power would be unstable.

The Darkness Knight’s rampage had caused heavy losses to the Windsor Branch of the Church of Nature. The surviving elites were only decent in competence. From a political standpoint, they were all lucky survivors picking up the fruit of victory after it had fallen. None were capable enough to carry out their duties.

It was unrealistic to restore the Windsor Branch to full strength in the short term, but it was possible to strengthen the Londan base first. Silvia’s first thought was Palis, where she had both loyal followers and talented subordinates. Since she couldn’t cultivate her people internally at the moment, one option was to transfer fresh blood from an external source.

She picked up the phone with a brewing headache, but then thought better of it. Given Windsor and Franc’s century-long “friendship”, it would be unwise to introduce new blood from Franc. Take her as an example, the church wouldn’t have assigned her the High Reverend if she weren’t a Londan native.

This was such a serious mess that Silvia found herself at wits’ end. After much deliberation, she finally called headquarters.

The Death Knight appeared in Londan and one-sidedly defeated a local priestess and the elite Scalpels she led. Combined with the Darkness Knight lurking in the shadows and making moves every once in a while, the Londan base was in grave danger. To ensure the church’s interests in the Kingdom of Windsor, they should send elite reinforcements over.

The headquarters were skeptical. The Death Knight couldn’t be in Londan and Palis at the same time, meaning one of them had to be fake. Given the gravity of the matter, they decided to send a group of elites to Londan to assist Silvia in the investigation.

It was everyone’s understanding that the Death Knight never left the underground catacombs in Palis, so the one in Londan was likely a fake. Death and Darkness were playing games. They had to be plotting something.

It could very well be a malicious scheme of the evil alliance to shift the Church of Nature’s attention to Londan before launching a massive invasion in Palis, claiming the entire Republic of Franc as their territory.

***

Meanwhile, Lawrence and Dane doubled over with laughter when they heard about Simone’s punishment.

“What did I say before? That woman will never spare any of us.” Lawrence scoffed at his former colleague. Her naivety led to her downfall. The fool deserved no sympathy.”

“She thought she won, but she got kicked out in less than ten days.” Dane burst out laughing.

They had continued to visit Sidney and ask him to make a move against Silvia, but nothing came out of their afternoon teas for three consecutive days. They could more or less guess what Sidney was planning.

With the Darkness Knight’s lingering threat and the Death Knight rearing his ugly head, the newly appointed High Reverend would be caught between them. She would lose her power and title if she were lucky, and die at one of the knights’ blades if unlucky. Sidney didn’t have to do anything but wait.

However, while Sidney could afford to wait, they couldn’t. Once the ten-day deadline arrived, they would have to pack and leave.

To protect their power, they decided to seek out the Darkness Knight and guide him to confront Silvia. The Death Knight would do, too. They weren’t picky.

“So, where do we look?”

“Find those who follow Death and Darkness first. They have been active recently and surely know something.”

“Alright. I’ll look for Death, and you take Darkness.”

“Deal. As long as one of us succeeds, we can drive that woman out of Londan.”

“Actually, there’s another way. We can kidnap her husband. I remember her having a daughter, too...” Lawrence suggested.

Dane frowned. “Forget it. The Lando family has connections with the Free Mage Alliance, and there are far more mages serving them than Death or Darkness.”

Moreover, the Lando family was one of the fourteen Tulip Families, making them deeply involved with the royal family. They were a landmine that shouldn’t be touched.

Many believed that Windsor was now under the control of the cabinet, and the Queen was merely a figurehead, but in reality, the Queen was still in power.

Not using her power and not having power were two different things. The Church of Nature was able to establish a base in Londan very much because the royal family had allowed them to. It happened a long time ago, when the Church of Heavenly Father reigned supreme and encompassed all other faiths in the Chosen Land.

The overbearing religious authority weakened the imperial power. Royal families across nations expressed their dissatisfaction. Then, the Windsor royal family did something quite unthinkable: they supported the forces of the Church of Heavenly Father within Windsor and encouraged them to go independent from the central church, tempting them by promising to make them the national church.

The involvement of the different factions prevented the Windsor royal family’s plan from succeeding, but the Church of Heavenly Father did become much less influential in Windsor in the end, paving the way for other faiths to rise. The Chosen Land entered an era of coexisting beliefs.

Having weathered countless storms and remained standing, the Windsor royal family was far from what they appeared to be. One could call the Queen a figurehead, but one shouldn’t see her as only that.

With a foundation cultivated throughout the years, what power did the royal family possess? Perhaps only the gods would know.