Chapter 330 – Shining (5)

A large pit had been created from her attack.

"Ahhh! The explosion-!"

The ground of the plaza shot out debris as it crumbled.
People tried to cover their faces with both of their arms in order to protect themselves from the gust of wind and the debris.

Flap.

"…Priest-nim?"

However, they did not need to do that.

Priests in white robes who suddenly appeared in front of the citizens opened up their arms to block the debris.
One of the citizens who had been blankly standing there with his bag in his arms made eye contact with the priestess who turned around.

It was a middle-aged woman with a gentle appearance.

"May the light be with you."
"Ah."

The citizen started to frown after hearing what the priestess had to say. He could see the explosion dying down behind the priestess's shoulder.

Things were clearly visible now.

"…Holy Maiden-nim."

The woman who had been the future of the Church of the Sun God along with Saint Jack.
Hannah, the Holy Maiden.

She was covered in gold and black light with a sword as long as a spear in her hand.

"…Sword master."

His gaze headed toward Hannah's face. It then headed toward Hannah's hand. Both of them were covered in black veins that looked like spiderwebs.

'…Necromancer.'

Anybody could tell that this was the appearance that was characteristic of a necromancer.
So how could a necromancer use an aura that had gold light mixed in with it?

"My goodness-"

However, he could only slowly step backward after seeing something else.

Crackle, sizzle-

Hannah's aura was crackling like an electric current as it tried to eat up its enemy.
However, there was someone defending against her violent aura.

The backstepping citizen plopped down on the ground after seeing who it was.

"Sir Bernard's h, hand is-"

A hand covered in black mana was defending against Hannah's aura.

"Hehe."

Hannah looked at the person in front of her as she laughed.

"Wow, Sir Bernard. Are you not going to use your sword?"
"…Holy Maiden."

Sir Bernard stood there with a stoic expression as the black mana continued to surround his hand.

The benign expression disappeared from the old knight's face and was replaced with coldness. His hand clashed around Hannah's sword.

"How interesting. I knew about you latching onto Cale Henituse, but…"

A smirk appeared on Bernard's face.

"I didn't expect for the Holy Maiden to have dead mana-"

It was at that moment.
A loud voice echoed inside the plaza.

"Support the Holy Maiden-nim against the bastard who poisoned her!"

Clang, clang clang!
Many attacks were launched toward Sir Bernard.

It was Rex who had shouted that Bernard was the one to poison the Holy Maiden.
The people wearing the white priest robes had launched attacks as well.

Hannah started to laugh.

"Support? Who needs support?"

Craaaaaackle.
Her gold aura started to rumble.
Sir Bernard could see the craziness within Hannah's eyes.

"I will kill all of you myself."
"Damn it."

Sir Bernard cursed as he let go of the sword in his hand. He then stepped back.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The attacks landed in the spot where he had just been standing.
The sword master Hannah took a step back at the same time.

"Step back."

Hannah looked toward her older brother Jack and told him to step back. However, Hannah could not help but chuckle after seeing Jack walk up next to her instead of stepping back.

"Cale Henituse must have put something in the water."
"…Hannah."

Crack, crack.
Hannah didn't seem to hear her brother as she moved her neck around to do some stretching.

"Use your divine powers to help others without hitting me. That is the best way you can support me."

Saint Jack started to smile. It seemed to be a sad smile. Jack's divine powers were poison to Hannah. He responded to Hannah.

"I'll use it against the enemies too. It is poison to them."

Hannah's smile became wider.
She knew her only family member well.

Hannah and Jack.
Jack and Hannah.

The two of them were actually quite similar.
People just didn't know about it.

Ooooooong-

Saint Jack's sleeves started to flutter. The power of the sun that was full of healing abilities started to surround his body.
Holy Maiden Hannah pointed her sword forward at the same time.

"Now everybody should be able to see it. Sir Bernard's hand is full of dead mana."

Silence filled the area for a different reason this time.
Anything could probably set this tense situation off.

The tense atmosphere kept the plaza in a moment of silence.
However, the citizens of the Empire were soon full of anxiety and fear.

Sir Bernard, who was known as an expert swordsman, was handling dead mana.
Furthermore, his hand had turned black after his clash with Saint Jack.

'What is going on?'

The citizens of the Empire slowly started to find the answer even in their chaotic state. It could not be helped.

"Ha, hahaha-"

Sir Bernard was laughing.
The Empire's knights and alchemists surrounded him and raised their weapons toward Saint Jack's side. Furthermore, the person who was known as the Tower Master walked up to Sir Bernard and started to speak.

"What nonsense is this?! I am the Tower Master!"

There was anger visible on his stubborn face.
The person wearing the Tower Master robe pointed to the Sun God twins and Rex.

"Who would believe the words of criminals like the three of you who are responsible for destroying the Church of the Sun God and attempted to destroy the palace?!"

There were veins showing on his wrinkled face as if he was really angry.

"How dare you put such false accusations toward the Empire's Guardian Sword and the Tower Master of the Empire's Alchemists' Bell Tower-"

Pat.
A hand patted the Tower Master on the shoulder.
The old man wearing the Tower Master robe turned his head.

"That's enough."

It was Sir Bernard.

"Look around."

The old man in the Tower Master robe looked around.
He could see people stepping back as they made eye contact with him. He could also see soldiers holding their weapons up even as they curled up in fear.

He then heard Saint Jack's voice.

"Everybody saw Sir Bernard's hand and the dead mana around it. There is nobody here who would still believe you."

The old man wearing the Tower Master's robe started to frown. His pupils were shaking.

He could feel the atmosphere around him.
He could tell that people were paying more attention to what the Saint had to say than before.

The old man slowly turned his head. He then started to mumble in a quiet voice that only Sir Bernard could hear.

"…Master."

He was Bernard's disciple.
Sir Bernard started to smile.
He slowly started to walk.

"Sir Bernard-"
"Captain-nim."

The knights and alchemists stood in front of Sir Bernard in order to stop him, however, he waved his hand.

"Move."

He then slowly started to walk forward. Someone else was walking toward him as well.

Tap. Tap.
Tap. Tap.

Bernard and Hannah.
The two of them were walking toward each other.
Hannah smiled as she asked a question.

"Are you going to fight?"

She could see Bernard stop walking as she said that.

Sir Bernard.

He slightly turned his head toward the Alchemists' Bell Tower behind Hannah. His two hands slowly raised upward.

Ooooooong-

Black mana covered both of his hands.
Hannah soon became alert and a cold aura soon covered the tip of her sword.

Bernard started to speak at that moment.

"I understand. My liege."

'…What?'

Bernard heard a voice in his head as Hannah started to frown.

– I leave it to you, Bernard.

It was a gentle yet bland voice.

One thousand years.
Bernard's liege had been his light for that long period of time.

The White Star.

Bernard started to smile.

"What-"

Hannah who was about to charge toward him in annoyance stopped. She heard a voice in her mind.

She was not the only one to hear the voice.
All of Cale's group heard a voice in their minds.

– A presence is approaching. A strong presence is coming.

It was the ancient Dragon Eruhaben's voice.
Choi Han, who had been quickly moving through the Alchemists' Bell Tower with Tasha, stopped moving.

'A strong presence?
What is strong enough for a Dragon to call strong?'

– I am not sure what it is. I will need to investigate it.

He continued to hear Eruhaben's voice.
Choi Han started to move in a different direction.

Screeeech.

He opened one of the windows in the Bell Tower.
He could see what was going on in the plaza after forcing open the window that was destroyed during the battle. Choi Han heard Sir Bernard's voice at that moment.

His voice was loud enough to be heard throughout the capital.

"Throw away what is useless."

Choi Han flinched.

Throw away what is useless.
That was talking about himself.

It was talking about how he had thrown away half of his despair and filled it with hope.

Choi Han turned his body again.

– Hurry! Choi Han, the human says to move quickly! He has a bad feeling about this.

Choi Han quickly started to run toward the first floor of the Alchemists' Bell Tower after Raon relayed Cale's will.
Sir Bernard's voice continued to echo in the area.

"I was unable to throw it away, but that esteemed person was able to do so and has perfection in front of his eyes."

Bernard turned his head to the side.

"…Sir Bernard?"
"Captain-nim?"

Some of the soldiers and knights were looking at him with shaking pupils.

'What is going on?'

They were the gazes of the people who did not know the truth.
The rest of the Empire's group were looking at him with anticipation.

'You're going to do something, right?'

Bernard could see his liege through those humans.

– Throw it away.

Throw the useless things away.
Only then can you move forward and fill it up again.

His liege had said that to him many times.
It was now time to throw things away.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

Bernard smiled and responded to the sword master Hannah who was charging toward him.

"Throw the Empire away."

'Throw it away?
Throw the Empire away?'

It was the moment that these shocking words that made even Hannah stop running filled the capital. Bernard's two hands pointed to the ground.

Ooooooong-

The ground continued to shake.
A black presence quickly started to flow out of Sir Bernard. Hannah flinched at that presence.

She was used to it. It was similar to someone else.
She heard a screech-like voice at that moment.

"No! This, this is a terrible presence!"

It was her brother Jack. Hannah turned her head.
Saint Jack had fear and anger visible on his face as he shook his head side to side and called forth his healing powers.

"…Oppa?"
"Hannah! We need to stop him! I don't know what it is, but I know that it is terrible!"

Boom!

Hannah turned her head after hearing a noise.
She could see that the door to the palace behind the Empire's knights had opened.

"…Huh?"

The black mana that Sir Bernard had sent down to the ground had disappeared.

"Hahaha, hahaha- this is the result of a significant amount of time."

Hannah could see something odd as Sir Bernard continued to laugh.

"Ugh!"
"Ugh!"

The knights and alchemists around Sir Bernard curled forward as they groaned.

"S, Sir Bernard?"
"Why, why would you do this to me?"

Hannah could see the eyes of the people around Sir Bernard start to become dyed black. Even the old man wearing the Tower Master's robe suffered the same fate.

"…Master-"

Bernard patted the head of his disciple who had been a puppet Tower Master.

"A puppet will always be a puppet. It is good to be used for the benefit of my liege's world."

Shouts started to be heard from multiple places.

"Gasp!"
"Aaaaaah!"

All of the knights around the capital who were wearing armor with the royal crest groaned as their eyes became dyed black.

They then started to move with stoic expressions on their faces.

The knights with black pupils gathered behind Bernard. They were moving like dolls as they got in formation behind Bernard.

"T, the palace-!"

The citizens pointed toward the palace door.
They could see it through the open door.

Many people with eyes dyed black were heading toward the plaza with weapons in their hands.

The Empire's knights.
The Empire's nobles and their knights.
Alchemists and mages.

They were the leaders who had escaped from the Whipper Kingdom battle, their subordinates, as well as the royal family's forces. They all had black eyes as they charged toward the citizens.

"Control, they are being controlled. This is black magic."

Saint Jack, whose instincts told him what was going on, started to shake.
Eyes dyed black.

Bernard's eyes were being dyed black as well. It was the strong uncomfortable feeling that the Dragon had mentioned and that he had personally felt. That had appeared in front of his eyes.

"…Black magic controls the living!"

Jack started to frown.
Kill the living and control the living.

The Saint's hand started to shake after realizing the abilities of black magic.

Why?

It was because they had to fight against them.
They had to defend against the controlled people and suppress them.
There were bound to be innocent people within that group as well.
Jack's heart was shaking.

It was at that moment.

"Ca, young master!"

He heard Sir Rex's voice.
Jack raised his head.

Someone wearing a regular robe unlike himself was slowly descending from the top of the Bell Tower.

It was Cale.

Jack tried to walk over before stopping himself.

Cale was not coming alone.
He lowered the person in his arms to the ground.

That person was the shortest person around them.
The white robe was dragging on the ground and it was too large such that the person was not visible at all.

"…Miss Mary."

The necromancer, Mary.
Jack was at a loss for words the moment he saw her. He could see Mary walk past him.

"We just need to purify it."

Mary was confident and did not seem to be hesitating at all.

"It is possible for you, Jack-nim."

Jack's body twitched once more.

Purify.

'Purify who?'

His gaze headed to the people with black eyes.
Jack could see Mary start to walk as he turned his head. She opened her mouth to speak.

"Is it my turn now?"

She heard a calm voice behind her.

"Yes."

It was Cale's voice.

"Do whatever you want."

Mary smiled before she stopped walking. She was standing in front of Hannah as she reached both hands out of the robe.
These hands were covered in black veins unlike Sir Bernard's smooth hands.

Those hands were pointed forward.
The Empire's forces, nobles, the nobles' subordinates, and the alchemists. They were all in formation, creating an army of sorts.

Sir Bernard was standing in front of that army.
Sir Bernard and Mary made eye contact.

Sir Bernard started to speak.

"So you managed to survive, final necromancer."

Mary started to speak at that moment.

"I will destroy it."
"What?"

Bernard's response was drowned out.

Flap. Flap.

The sleeves of the white robe started to flutter.
A presence darker than the night started to come out of Mary's body.

"…It's strong."

Jack's eyes clouded over as he mumbled to himself.
A power of darkness as strong as the one that came out of Sir Bernard surrounded him.

'We just need to purify it.'

Jack raised his head as he thought about what Mary just said.

Screech- screech-

The white skeleton birds descended close to the ground. The Holy Knights in the sky opened up their spatial pocket bags in the air.

Riiiiiip-

No, they ripped them.
White things started to fall out of them.
These white things were bones.

They started to move as if they were alive as Mary's black presence touched them.
Mary started to speak. Her gaze was focused only on Sir Bernard.

"I will destroy it."

A large White Bone Dragon appeared above the Empire's capital at that moment.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Yu Ryeo Han]

[Translator – Anowa]

[Proofreader – Rai_Mayank]