Chapter 234: Chapter 197: The Last Ordeal (1)

Lately, Archbishop Luminol’s day had rarely started off well.

If he were to say what was the reason for that, a certain bastard would come to his mind.

…That fucking bastard…

He was already frowning, but when he recalled the guy he saw at the Hero Selection Ordeal a while ago, his frown grew deeper.

Dowd Campbell.

That was the name of the person who greatly contributed to his deteriorating quality of life.

It was to the point that he couldn’t even concentrate facing the mountains of documents that he had to work on.

Where did such a ridiculous punk pop out from…?

He was already aware that Dowd was someone that even the Pope was keeping an eye on, but he didn’t expect him to be this unpredictable.

The punk’s resilience always left him dumbfounded—giving him the impression that the punk would survive no matter what kind of situation he was forced to be in.

The Last Ordeal is going to start soon…

Actually, calling it an ordeal didn’t really sound right.

Because all they had to do was to let the people who had proven themselves capable in the previous ordeals to grab the Holy Sword.

Ironically though, this was the most dangerous ordeal among them all.

The Holy Sword.

It was the weapon that was dubbed as the most powerful Holy Relic in human history.

The weapon that the First Hero used when he sealed the Devils ‘bodies’ in the Void Zone. An extremely dangerous item that could kill anyone who touched it if it were to deem them unqualified.

“...”

In other words, they had to let Lana touch it once.

Though his dear daughter had an unusual constitution that would prevent her from dying no matter what, as a father, he still didn’t want to witness that spectacle.

“Father, are you there?”

As he was pondering such thoughts, a cheerful voice called out to him from outside the office.

Hearing that voice, Archbishop Luminol unconsciously let out a soft smile.

It was his daughter’s voice. His purpose for living, the sole reason that pushed him to make the world a better place to live, even if only slightly.

“Welcome, Lana—”

He was about to greet her when his words were suddenly interrupted.

“Mm, is that all, Mr. Dowd? Just like we agreed on, I brought you here to meet my father in private…”

“Yes, thank you, Lana.”

“Then, as promised, you have to buy me that popular huge cake in Holy City later! Promise me!”

“I’ll buy as many as you want.”

While he was his daughter and all, he still thought that she really had a lot of nerve.

How could she introduce the very same person who had put her in a dangerous situation so nonchalantly like this?

As the Archbishop thought so while trembling, Lana left the office and the other man strode towards him.

Without waiting for his permission, the punk pulled the chair across his desk and sat on it as if he was at his own home.

No manners nor respect were shown.

“Nice to meet you, Archbishop Luminol.”

“...Tell me a reason I shouldn’t use Offensive Miracle against you here.”

“Here, it’s the confession I got from the assassins you sent to me. I’ve recorded it.”

“...”

“They said that you are their client, and the reason why they sneaked into the Hero Selection Ordeal was to assassinate me. Say, if I were to leak out this recording to the public, a great chaos would ensue, don’t you think?”

“...”

Refusing to believe him, Archbishop Luminol grabbed the crystal.

And he found out that the punk was telling the truth.

In the recording, the assassins confessed everything with drowsy eyes—from the details of their plan to the ‘evidence’ that he was indeed the one who hired them.

“...”

Just like that, Archbishop Luminol’s face turned pale.

How?

More than anyone, he knew that those assassins were trained professionals. The kind of people who’d rather bite their tongues and kill themselves instead of disclosing such crucial information like that.

As he pondered so, he suddenly noticed something.

There was a white aura in their eyes.

Though their eyes had lost their focus, he could feel their ‘desire’ for someone.

As if they were captivated by that someone.

“...”

The reason why the Archbishop of the Holy Land even entrusted those people with this job was because he deemed them as trustworthy.

They were able to bounce off any kind of Mental Magic. Not only that, the equipment they were provided with was among the best of the best.

“...You.”

Despite all that, they still ended up in this state. If there was a mental-related ability that could do this, it would be…

“Did you use a Devil’s Authority?”

“Well…”

“...”

Prior to this, the Pope certainly had warned him that this bastard in front of him might do something like this.

But, it was only a ‘might’. He never expected that the bastard was able to use it so freely like this!

…Monster…!

It was simply unbelievable that the bastard could use a Devil’s Authority by ‘controlling’ them. No one in history could ever accomplish that.

Because if there really was someone who could do that in the past, an upheaval that would have changed the way the history book was written would have happened.

“Don’t worry, I’m just here to have a ‘conversation’ with you.”

“I don’t have any shit to talk with y—”

“No, you do.”

Dowd cut off Archbishop Luminol’s words.

“If you don’t want your shady shit to be exposed in front of your precious daughter in detail, that is.”

“...”

“Sending assassins to kill me shouldn’t be everything that you did. With the way the Holy Land works, you definitely have done a lot of dirty things to work your way up to your current position, right?”

Hearing his words, Archbishop Luminol instantly became nervous, his body stiffened.

“...You, how much do you know?”

“Hm?”

Dowd replied indifferently.

His attitude was still calm and collected.

“Well, that depends on your attitude from now on, don’t you think?”

“...”

Meanwhile, the two Souls were watching him from inside the Soul Linker.

They rarely had the chance to encounter each other, but they’d try to meet ‘face to face’ like this whenever the opportunity came up.

In other words, they were able to look at each other’s slightly concerned faces when they witnessed the sight of Dowd Campbell making Archbishop Luminol’s face go pale like this.

Threatening someone to control the situation to his advantage was something this man had done several times before.

However, now…

Compared to before, his current action bore a different ‘feeling’.

“...What’s going on?”

Valkasus asked with a complicated feeling while sweeping his hair back.

It was the first time the two of them had met in the Image World, but as soon as they saw each other’s faces, they immediately knew what kind of topic that they would talk about.

“Let’s have an honest talk here, Boy King.”

And the topic that Caliban brought up wasn’t much different from what Valkasus expected.

“Has that punk ever been that evil?”

“...”

To that question, Valkasus didn’t answer and just let out a frown.

His gaze was fixed on Archbishop Luminol, who was breaking in a cold sweat.

Then, he shifted his gaze to Dowd Campbell, who was looking at the Archbishop with an expressionless face.

“...”

Valkasus spent most of his time sleeping in the Soul Linker, so he didn’t know the details, but he managed to get the gist of what was happening to that man recently.

From what he heard, the man had been growing further from being a human after asking the Gray Devil to give him the Fallen’s Seal.

…He’s the person who saved my Kingdom, the person who had granted my wish.

The Boy King remembered…

Of the day he was ‘locked up’ by him.

The day he saved his people and promised him to complete the revenge Valkasus himself couldn’t achieve.

What did he say back then?

“...”

He said that they were similar…

And that he wanted to show him such kindness because he resembled him…

Someone with such a nature…

The person who was so humane…

…Had changed into that.

Seeing it did not evoke any pleasant emotion in him.

“I can’t believe he’s using his daughter to threaten that guy. No matter how bad of a person he is, don’t you think he’s being out of line?”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“...”

“And there’s also the thing he did to that Tatiana woman.”

“...Chief Priest Tatiana has committed something undeniably evil. That’s for sure.”

“All the more reason for him to not act like someone like her, am I wrong?”

“...”

“I think that punk doesn’t seem that different from that woman now.”

Valkasus went silent at that, meanwhile Caliban continued in a somber voice.

“That bastard is changing faster than I thought.”

He went on.

“That punk tends to look at things as a big lump—he’d plan in advance with the upcoming result in mind and work to achieve that using any means possible.”

“...That’s just how he is, no?”

“But, he never did anything that crossed the line.”

After hearing Valkasus’ reply, Caliban refuted in a sharp voice.

“What I’m trying to say is that his way of thinking had changed in such a way that he ended up not caring about the means that he chose to achieve his goals.”

“...And what do you think we should do, then?”

This was something that Dowd himself was already aware of as well.

And yet it was him who pushed himself deeper in that direction.

“It’s a trap of goodwill.”

Valkasus let out a sigh.

“He must be thinking that such a self-destructive sacrifice is good for himself too.”

What an idiot.

How could he try to save everyone yet doesn’t care about being buried there?

Valkasus could tell it better than anyone since they resembled each other.

As someone who once held the funeral for everyone who used to serve him, he could understand ‘why’ Dowd was going this far.

It was like Dowd was afraid.

While Valkasus didn’t know the details…

He was sure that Dowd must have once lost someone that was precious to him right before his eyes.

And that experience left a terrible trauma in his heart and mind, to the point where this kind of defense mechanism was established.

If that was really the reason why he was doing all this, then, whatever words they were going to tell him, it would never work..

“No. There’s a way.”

As Valkasus pondered such thoughts, Caliban said those words.

“You see, that guy needs to keep his word.”

“...Hm? What do you mean?”

Hearing that question, a smile formed on Caliban’s face.

“That guy asked Iliya to help him to get a grip if it seemed like he was about to cross the line.”

“...”

“So, what we need to do is to create the opportunity for that to happen.”

“...”

Valkasus suspected that his eyes were playing tricks on him, but…

There was this joyful look on Caliban's face.

As if he was enjoying the fact that he could bully Dowd Campbell for once.

“...So, how do we do it?”

“You know, I’ve been a little frustrated with that guy lately.”

The punk always got swayed by the women he could not deal well with.

And yet, even though he was the one who said that those women were dangerous, he still tried to protect them.

Ignoring how much he got hurt, how much he became tattered in the process.

So…

There was one thing they needed to show him at this point.

“Honestly, I think he needs to put himself in others’ shoes.”

“...What do you mean by that?”

“We just need to let him know for sure that as much as he wants to protect the others, they also hate to see him getting hurt.”

He continued.

“In other words, let’s show him how much he’s ‘loved’ by those women around him.”

“...”

“And show him that he doesn’t always need to deal with everything by himself.”

Indeed, that was a plausible plan.

But, for some reason, Valkasus had a terrible premonition about it.

“You only need to do one thing, Boy King.”

“What is it?”

“Please contact the Devil’s Vessels I have in mind. One of them is, hm…”

A certain someone came to Caliban’s mind as he let out a smile.

“...I don’t think she’s in her right mind now because of the guilt, but you should be able to reach her somehow using your Forbidden Sorcery, even in your Spirit Form.”

That was indeed something that Valkasus might be able to do.

Because, even when he was only sleeping inside the Soul Linker without communicating with anyone, including Dowd, his Forbidden Sorcery was growing stronger.

He was now able to convey his thoughts autonomously even when he was in Spirit Form without having to go through his ‘self’.

The problem here was…

Why should he do that?

“Don’t worry and just leave it to me.”

To that, Caliban only replied as such with a grin on his face.

“...You, I don’t know if you’d like it if I were to tell you about this or not, but…”

Narrowing his eyes, Valkasus continued.

“Don’t you feel that you somehow are becoming more and more like him?”

“...”

“From your bizarre way of thinking to that sly smile… You’re exactly like him…”

It didn’t take long for Caliban’s face to stiffen up.

He looked as if he had heard an offensive /genesisforsaken