As soon as Simon fled, the Priest and Gamma burst into the study.
"Mr. Kyle!"
Gamma imdiately spotted the shrunken corpse slumped over the desk. He cried out in agony and lunged forward, his face twisted with grief. "The people from the City Lord’s Mansion are so brutal, Priest! You must avenge Mr. Kyle!"
The Priest looked down at the desiccated corpse, his brow furrowed and suspicion clouding his eyes. "Are you sure this was the City Lord’s Mansion?"
"I’m certain!" Gamma nodded firmly. "I fought Simon but couldn’t win, so I fled. The first thing I did was co for your help. And look at Mr. Kyle’s body—it’s obvious a vampire drained every drop of blood and flesh from him."
The Priest circled the corpse but still remained suspicious. "Why would Lord Lucas attack you?"
"How else could it be? His daughter’s identity has been exposed!" Gamma’s voice was thick with grief and righteous anger. "Priest, you can’t ignore this. Tonight they killed Mr. Kyle; tomorrow night they might co for you!"
The Priest gave him a cold, indifferent glance and said nothing.
To be honest, he didn’t really care about the City Lord’s Mansion. What truly scared him was Allen, the Heaven-Cursed, who could unleash Forbidden Spells without limit.
He had already sent word out, but it would take at least half a month for reinforcents to arrive. For now, he couldn’t afford any more trouble.
The Priest looked at Gamma and said, "I will investigate this. Keep your mouths shut. Pretend nothing happened so as not to ruin the upcoming Academy Tournant."
With that, he and his n turned and left.
"What is going on?" Gamma stared at the departing Priest, confused. "Haven’t the Church of Light always wanted to crush the City Lord’s Mansion? This was a perfect chance."
Kyle’s death was ant to fra the City Lord’s Mansion, forcing a bloody war between them and the Church of Light.
But Gamma hadn’t expected the Priest to choose restraint.
"Fortunately, My Lord has other plans," Gamma muttered. He spotted a faint trail of blood near the bookshelf. "Clean up the room," he ordered his n. "Bury Kyle properly, but keep it quiet."
...
anwhile, Simon had returned to the City Lord’s Mansion. His first command was to put the guards on high alert and prepare for battle imdiately.
Lucas, seeing his grim expression, asked suspiciously, "Did you fail?"
Simon nodded, then shook his head. "Kyle is dead, but I didn’t kill him. Gamma recognized , and then people from the Church of Light showed up."
"Wait." Lucas frowned deeply. "Kyle was already dead before you made your move? Then the Church of Light arrived?"
Simon knew his doubts. He described Kyle’s horrific death in detail and offered his theory: "I suspect Gamma colluded with the Church of Light. He betrayed Kyle to fra the City Lord’s Mansion."
"That doesn’t make sense," Lucas shook his head slightly. "Kyle has done a lot for the Church of Light. Plus, if he beca City Lord, he would be even easier for them to control. They would have no reason to kill him."
"Maybe Kyle knew so dark secret about the Church of Light?" Simon admitted this seed unlikely too, but it was the only logical explanation.
Lucas dismissed it again. "Those two are birds of a feather. There’s no conflict between them, and the Church of Light has no motive to kill Kyle."
"City Lord, Simon," Raven suddenly appeared, bowing respectfully. "The Priest has returned to the Church of Light. Everything there is quiet; it doesn’t look like they plan to attack us."
His words only confird Lucas’s suspicions.
Kyle’s death had nothing to do with the Church of Light.
But who, then, was the killer?
"Could there be other vampires from Blackspire hiding among us?" Simon guessed. "Kyle was drained of blood and flesh. That’s a classic vampire signature."
Lucas felt completely lost, as if he was missing a crucial piece of information. He shook his head and said, "If that’s true, Blackspire might be hiding an unknown faction. If they’re moving against the Church of Light, it’s to stop the plan from getting more complicated. We can’t afford to let the situation drag on."
Simon nodded in agreent. For the City Lord’s Mansion, the Church of Light remained the biggest threat.
Especially since the Priest now knew the secrets of Allen and Lilia.
"I’ve been exposed," Simon continued. "Let handle this one."
"Fine." Lucas hesitated for a mont before nodding. "Find the Elf Saintess tonight, and we launch the operation tomorrow morning."
"No problem," Simon replied. "You handle the City Lord’s Mansion side; I’ll take care of the outside world." With that warning, he turned and vanished into the night.
Lucas imdiately went to find Allen and Lilia, who was still pouting.
The operation the next day required both of them. Lucas briefly explained the plan.
"Dad, do you want to poison the Priest? Make him a vampire? But I don’t know how to do that."
Lilia looked utterly confused. Even though she was a vampire, she didn’t know how to turn soone else.
"It’s simple," Lucas explained. "Your saliva and blood carry the vampiric curse. As soon as soone gets a drop of it on them, they’re infected."
Hearing this, Allen jumped. Lilia had already drunk his blood, so they must have shared saliva.
"You won’t get infected," Lucas said calmly, reading his mind. "Your bloodline is even stronger than Lilia’s."
"Good." Allen let out a sigh of relief. He had been genuinely afraid of turning into a vampire. Then his brow furrowed again. "Wait, how do you know my bloodline is that strong?"
Lucas realized he had slipped up. He quickly changed the subject. "Allen, you need to help with tomorrow’s operation too. And most importantly, protect Lilia."
"Dad, I’m strong. I don’t need his protection," Lilia protested.
Lucas ignored her and carefully explained the plan for tomorrow to both of them. There could be no mistakes.
"Don’t worry, City Lord. I promise to complete the mission and protect Lilia," Allen assured him.
The Priest and the Church of Light were not good people. Dealing with such enemies was sothing Allen would never refuse.
...
As dawn broke, news began to spread across Blackspire.
"The Elf Saintess has been spotted in the forest outside the city!"
This news reached the Priest first.
"The Elf Saintess really ca to Blackspire!"
The Priest was overjoyed. The order to hunt her had co directly from the Pope. If the Priest could capture her, he might be promoted to the Church’s headquarters, or even beco a Cardinal Bishop.
"William!"
The Priest summoned William, the commander of the Knights of Light. "Gather all your knights. We are leaving the city now. Take the Elf Saintess alive."
"Yes," William replied and imdiately withdrew to carry out the order.
Five hundred Bright Knights from the Church went out in full force, led personally by the Priest, heading straight for the forest.
All of their movents were being watched by the City Lord’s Mansion’s Shadow Guards. They imdiately passed the news to Lucas.
...
Outside the city, the sound of fighting echoed through the air.
"Quick! The Elf Saintess is in Tusked Wild Boar territory!" The chatter was loud and chaotic.
The Elf Saintess’s appearance hadn’t first alard the Church of Light. It had caught the attention of the Assassins’ Guild’s Killers first.
Many Killers had taken on this bounty.
A group of them was currently surrounding a young girl.
Allen and his group hid in the bushes in the distance, watching the battle unfold.
"Is this Elf Saintess not that strong?"
Allen felt suspicious. The girl was only showing power at Stage 3. How could soone so weak manage to escape so many Killers and make it all the way to Blackspire?
Simon glanced at him and explained, "The Elf Saintess has a unique identity. Like you, she wields a Forbidden Spell called ’Wrath of Nature.’ When she uses it at full power, even a Stage 6 expert can’t stop her."
"Really?" Allen asked, surprised. A Forbidden Spell usually requires breaking through to Stage 9, reaching the Legendary King Tier, to be cast.
Of course, his status as a Child of the Heaven-Cursed was an exception.
He had never heard that anyone other than a Child of the Heaven-Cursed could master a Forbidden Spell below the King Tier.
"Simon, aren’t we going to act yet?" Lilia asked eagerly.
"Not yet. The real target hasn’t shown up," Simon said calmly. He glanced at Annie, who was being surrounded, with no sign of worry about her safety.
Clomp, clomp...
Suddenly, the sound of hooves echoed. A white torrent of cavalry rushed toward them from the city gate.
It was the Knights of Light from the Church of Light, led by the Priest.
"He’s here!" Simon’s eyes lit up. He turned to Allen and Lilia and instructed, "Form a party. Don’t make a move yet."
"Got it." Allen didn’t hesitate, imdiately grouping everyone together.
Besides Simon and Lilia, the team included seven powerful Shadow Guards, all at Stage 5.This was their strategy, planned the night before: Allen would use Misting Art to cover the battlefield and confuse the enemies.
While he and his teammates would remain completely unaffected.
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