Chapter 182: 097. Judgement of the Heretic -3 (Part Two)
Dozens of spears shot toward the boy prince.
“Truly excellent, Cardinal Mikael.”
However, the spears of light were penetrated cleanly through by rays of light and dissipated out of existence.
Mikael’s brows shot up high as he glared at the Seventh Imperial Prince.
The twelve bone hands extending from the boy’s back held a colourful array of musket rifles, all of them trained on Mikael’s figure.
[Skill, ‘Spread Shot’ has been applied.]
[Skill, ‘Snipe’, has been applied.]
[Skill, ‘Burst Fire’ has been applied.]
Divinity swirled madly within their muzzles. Intense, eye-searing light began flooding out from the weapons.
The holy bullets pierced right through Mikael’s entire body.
“What...?!”
Almost immediately, his figure began exploding in various places. His arms and legs got blown apart, while half of his head literally disappeared without a trace.
Bloody holes pockmarked his whole body and he now resembled a torn rag.
The remaining half of his brain barely managed to function, allowing his lips to bob precariously. “Ga... Gaia... This poor lamb... Heal this... lamb!”
His exploded flesh began regenerating at a rapid pace. It was as if his cells were dividing and multiplying; bones, muscles, and skin were regenerating in the missing parts of his body.
Mikael regained his fading consciousness and gritted his teeth.
‘That was dangerous!’
No matter how stupendous the recovery ability of the rune was, it still wasn’t complete immortality.
The more his flesh was damaged, the more his mind got devastated, and eventually, his soul would become too damaged to be repaired.
If that kept up, just one slip-up could make it impossible to recover from the wounds.
Mikael looked at the Seventh Imperial Prince.
“Truly amazing, Mikael. Allow me to express my respect towards you.”
The Seventh Imperial Prince let out some words of appreciation. He even applauded sincerely. However, the baptism of holy bullets didn’t stop.
An unending series of gunshots rang out from the muskets’ muzzles.
Mikael quickly offered another prayer when more of these bullets made out of divinity flew in his way. A barrier consisting of divinity materialised before the cardinal and blocked the projectiles.
Crunch!
However, each of the holy bullets proved to be heavy, powerful. As a matter of fact, each bullet posed a similar level of threat to several years’ worth of an average priest’s divinity reserve.
The barrier gradually broke down.
‘What on earth... Just what is going on here?!’
He possessed the god’s rune, the Aztal rune, so how could he be losing like this?! Especially when his opponent was busy clapping his hands while looking so utterly relaxed and carefree?!
This... This just didn’t make any sense.
“As expected, a cardinal of the Theocratic Empire is a cut above the rest, is that it?”
Allen was feeling genuinely impressed right now, contrary to Mikael’s inner thoughts.
He was currently using two of Amon’s relics – the skull and the staff.
Even if he was merely utilising their options of greatly amplifying his divinity, Cardinal Mikael was still managing to withstand the barrage.
Sure, some part of them was due to the amazing power of the Aztal rune, but Mikael’s own strength also had shot way past the level of your average clergyman a long time ago, and had stepped up to a new realm.
Allen’s eyes narrowed to slits.
Honestly speaking, he wanted to observe for a little while longer, but he didn’t have a lot of time remaining.
“I only have around five minutes remaining, so...”
In that case...
“Why don’t I add one more thing?”
The Seventh Imperial Prince extracted Amon’s grimoire. He only activated its option of amplifying divinity and nothing else.
But that simple action was enough to boost the destructive powers of the muskets by another level.
BOOM-!
Mikael’s barrier shattered in one breath. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as the holy bullets mercilessly tore through his body.
“Ku-waaaahk?!”
His head blew up, his fingers broke into many pieces in their joints, while his upper and lower torsos actually split apart.
Flesh splattered all over the place. The rate of regeneration just couldn’t keep up, and his half-intact head fell to the ground. It landed with a meaty plop and his body began regenerating right away.
“Kuaaahk! No...! No! Not yet!”
Mikael tried to get back up on his feet, only for someone to ruthlessly stomp down on his back. It was Kasim Derian. The hulking golden knight used his knee to press down on Mikael’s back before tightly grasping the cardinal’s shoulders.
The Seventh Imperial Prince dismounted from the skeleton horse and stared at the restrained Mikael with apathetic eyes. “Finally. It’s all over for you, Cardinal Mikael.”
“All over?! Huh! What a foolish notion that is! I still have my faithful...!”
“Oh, them? They have been taken care of already.”
The Seventh Imperial Prince replied nonchalantly, causing Mikael to flinch in surprise and struggle to turn his head to look at his faithful followers.
They were currently being hacked mercilessly away by the skeletons. Their arms and legs were being severed, while spears stabbed and impaled their torsos.
Even then, the skeletons did not stop their attacks. They simply continued attacking, and attacked some more when the bodies of their victims regenerated.
This extremely powerful recovery ability meant to protect them had instead turned into a sentence of endless hell for Mikael’s followers.
The cardinal’s eyes opened incredibly wide.
This was basically the same thing as a massacre. His faithful followers were being inhumanely tortured right now.
“But, but how can this be...!”
“No matter how extreme your power of recovery is, we’re clearly a step above you in terms of skill set and the power of immortality,” said the Seventh Imperial Prince.
Mikael’s trembling eyes shifted over to the group of skeleton mages. Those things had been reconstructing the destroyed skeletons all this time.
Although both camps possessed immortality-like abilities, there was one crucial difference separating them.
And that was none other than ‘pain’, or their lack of ability to feel it.
As these undead were far more skilled, overwhelmingly so as a matter of fact, it wasn’t all that surprising to see them easily trample on the clerics of the Church of Caiolium.
Mikael gritted his teeth and glared at the Seventh Imperial Prince.
There was still a chance. The sanctuary was still in play, giving him near immortal-like vitality and an incredible power at the same time. That’s why...!
“As long as the Aztal rune is...!”
“You know, I’ve been curious about something.” The Seventh Imperial Prince stared at Mikael pinned to the ground, and smiled with his eyes under the mountain goat’s skull. “If I completely rip your body apart into pieces, which part will start regenerating first, I wonder?”
Mikael’s face hardened in an instant. “What, what are you even...”
“From now on...”
The cardinal’s eyes urgently shifted around and saw the zombies gathering all around him.
“...You will be devoured alive.”
“...!”
“The thing is, my summoned undead are somehow connected to my item window, as it turns out. So who knows what might happen?” While saying that, the Seventh Imperial Prince turned around. “As soon as my zombies devour you, that rune letters of yours might become mine.”
“W-wait! Hold on...!”
Mikael’s complexion paled instantly.
The Seventh Imperial Prince before his eyes was planning to let loose these abominable zombies on him, ending his life by turning him into a fodder for the undead!
“Are you trying to defile me too?! Just kill me by cutting my head off!”
“With this, your sins have been fully paid up, Cardinal Mikael Kastia.”
The zombies crept increasingly closer. The eerie light in their eyes glowed ominously while their maws split open so wide that their cheeks tore up and their jaw bones almost got dislocated.
“Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of the Aztal rune from now on.”
The Seventh Imperial Prince’s back grew further away in Mikael’s vision. The cardinal struggled mightily, but Kasim simply broke Mikael’s arms and legs.
A tragic scream left Mikael’s mouth, “You devil! Allen Olfolse! I... I curse you...!”
Just before he could urgently summon a spear of light as his last ditch attempt, Kasim, who was still restraining the cardinal, grabbed Mikael’s head and ruthlessly smashed it into the ground below.
His face exploded from the impact and his body convulsed violently.
He wasn’t dead yet. Unfortunately for him, though, he couldn’t form a coherent thought in his head nor could he move a muscle on his body.
Mikael’s head regenerated, only for Kasim to mercilessly burst it open over and over again.
At the same time, hundreds of zombies pounced on Mikael’s convulsing body and began ripping him apart.
The Aztal rune was shredded into pieces and entered the stomachs of the undead.
The Seventh Imperial Prince observed that scene for a little while before muttering out in a snarky tone of voice, “I pray that the blessing of Gaia be with you, Mikael Kastia. Find your happiness... in hell.”
This was the final moment of the one who schemed to be the next pope, Mikael Kastia.
**
Four days later, in the imperial palace of the Theocratic Empire.
Two pieces of news reached the Holy Emperor, Kelt Olfolse.
The first one spoke of the successful subjugation of the Church of Caiolium. As for the second news...
“Rose Darina is still alive, I see.”
It was about the survival of the Second Crown Princess Consort, Rose Darina. Not only was she alive and well, she had apparently sought asylum in another kingdom.
As for the location she was suspected to have escaped to...
It was the kingdom of the knights, a close neighbour to the empire.
The kingdom of Lome.
Kelt slowly leaned his back on the throne. “The rebels of Lome are apparently providing her with a safe haven, is that it?”
He raised his head and stared at the nobles in the imperial audience chamber before him. His eyes focused on the person standing in the middle of them, the man was currently being showered with their attention – he was the First Imperial Prince, Luan Olfolse.
As this occasion was all about having an audience with the Holy Emperor, one was expected to suppress their emotions to the best of their abilities, but at least this time, Luan remained true to his feelings.
Veins were bulging on his forehead. He was clenching his fists so hard that his nails broke the skin, and blood was seeping out.
Kelt felt reassured by that sight as he knew what Luan was going through in his mind. Since his first grandson was itching to get revenge for his mother’s death, he’d surely be able to take care of this matter properly.
“You are hereby given permission to capture her. However, if she resists, then you’re also permitted to summarily execute her. Capture her, bring her here, and then...”
Kelt stared at Luan with remote, indifferent eyes.
“...Put her under the guillotine.”
< 097. Judgement of the Heretic -3 (Part One and Two) > Fin.
(TL: next chapter will go live in one hour’s time.)
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