Under the attentive gaze of the crowd, the guard broke the royal seal and carefully unfolded the parchment.
The parchment contained an account of Bartholomew’s sins, validated by the Queen’s Court.
It detailed how Bartholomew had looted the dignity of young devotees and blackmailed them to keep quiet and if that didn’t work, he killed them and threw their corpses in the forest for the wolves to eat. He only targeted orphans who had no one to look out for them.
There was also a detailed account of how Asmadeus found out about his crimes and instead of having him apprehended blackmailed him into administering a deadly poison to Val so that he can take his revenge against Joshua. The Queen might’ve taken Asmadeus’s side in her court, but that didn’t mean it was because she believed his nonsense. She knew he was behind it. But she didn’t act against him as she didn’t want to start a fight with her minister. However, she was quite angry at him. Thus, she didn’t hesitate to smear his name with shit. If he ever dared to come to the outer region of the kingdom, he would be in a world of hurt!
“These are all the crimes he has committed.”
After the guard read aloud the contents of the parchment, the crowd fell into a stunned silence. The reality of the situation struck them with the force of a thunderbolt. The accusations leveled against their pastor, a man they had held in reverence, were not baseless, as it was validated by the Queen’s court!
People stared at Bartholomew, their eyes filled with a mix of anger, disgust, and betrayal.
Some who were ardent supporters of the priest looked as if they were on the verge of tears. Even those who had questioned Val’s words before had their objections silenced by the stark reality unveiled before them. It was like a cold splash of water, shattering their illusions and dragging them into the harsh reality.
And just like Val had intended, the image of Bartholomew the people of the Ironspire stronghold held in their minds had been shattered, replaced by the visage of a devil in a priest’s guise.
Internally smiling and outwardly exposing a cold look, he said, “A man can only descend to such depravity if he’s possessed by the devil. I will do the God of Light a favor, and exorcise this demon.”
With a final, contemptuous look at the trembling priest, Val raised the blade high above his head. The sun gleamed off the steel, casting long, dreadful shadows on the priest.
“Please… spare me.” the priest begged him.
This will be the last time it would be begging in this life.
Val brought his lips closer to Bartholomew’s ears and whispered, “No, I won’t. Fuck you and the god that did nothing when you abused the authority he had granted you to ruin young lives. Fuck you both.”
Bartholomew looked at him with bulging eyes.
Devil!
Val was the Devil they had been warned about.
But before he could make this knowledge public, Val silenced him forever.
He brought the blade down with a swift, unerring motion, severing the priest’s head from his body!
[Ding! You’ve killed a level 3 Priest. You get +90 EXP.]
[By killing the servant of god in broad daylight, you’ve committed an atrocious act!]
[You’ve been granted +500 Mad Points]
It seemed like killing God’s servants was really beneficial!
‘What a bountiful harvest. Maybe I should look for more bastards like these and deal with them in the same way.’ Val chuckled to himself and then returned home.
The day was slowly surrendering to the embrace of the evening. It was a magical hour when the vibrant tapestry of daylight intertwined with the serene allure of twilight.
As evening approached, the air grew crisp and cool, and the skies adorned themselves with a breathtaking palette, as if a celestial artist had brushed fiery strokes of orange and red across the western horizon, blending harmoniously with the gentle hues of red, blue and purple that heralded the approaching night.
In this breathtaking moment of transition, Val stood at the edge of the Whitemore Manor’s training grounds, the Body Strengthening manual in his hands.
His eyes roamed over the detailed sketches and meticulous instructions they held. It was instructed that each posture mentioned in the manual only be practiced under the embrace of the evening sun otherwise there would be no benefit and one would only be wasting their time.
“Amazing,” Val whispered to himself, awe-struck by the knowledge held within the manual.
The manual’s text promised that practicing these specific poses under the twilight glow would lead to significant enhancement in one’s abilities in a matter of minutes. This synergy of twilight’s sun rays and the unique postures could result in a notable increase in a bloodline user’s strength and speed.
Val was enticed by the prospect. 𝑶𝐯𝑙xt.𝗇𝓔t
He stepped in into the Whitemore Manor’s training grounds to begin training.
Unbeknownst to Val, trouble was out to get him!
Lurking in the corner of the training ground, shaded by towering oak trees and seated on weathered sandstone benches, Elias watched Val with a hawk-like gaze filled with envy.
Elias was a broad-shouldered man with an angular face, hawk-like eyes, and a perpetual sneer on his lips. He was dressed in a typical bloodline warrior’s garb, a tight-fitting vest highlighting his muscular frame, and loose trousers designed for ease of movement.
There were a lot of things he hated, and one of them was Val.
He was plagued by an intense inferiority complex when it came to Val.
Before the revelation of Val’s bloodline status, he had been the darling of the Ironspire stronghold. He was the golden boy whose praises echoed in every conversation, whose accomplishments were the standards against which others were measured, including Elias.
Elias’s parents were no exception. They too had fallen under Val’s charismatic charm, often comparing Elias to him and hinting that Elias should strive to be more like Val.
As if this wasn’t enough, in the past, Elias had to watch the girls he fancied flock to Val, using him as a messenger to deliver their love letters to Val.
The sting of these experiences had always gnawed at Elias, fuelling his inferiority complex and transforming his dislike for Val into a deep-seated hatred.
“Ah, how the mighty have fallen,” Elias murmured to himself, a smirk of triumph playing on his lips. “Val once hailed as the golden boy, is nothing more than a mere normie now. His gleaming reputation? Tarnished, faded like old rust. And here I am, a Level 1 Bloodline User. Suddenly, I’m the one standing above him, not the other way around.”
A gleam of maliciousness sparked in Elias’s eyes.
“This… this is the divine retribution I’ve been waiting for, my chance to finally suppress him and show the world who is superior between us. I won’t let this opportunity slip away. Not in a million years.”
A cruel smile crept onto his face as he left the comfort of his seat in the training ground that was in a secluded corner, striding purposefully towards Val.