Chapter 58 Voice(1)

Translator: BaeBae Editor: BaeBae

Our emperor who came down in human form.

Our emperor who filled the glasses with the blood of our enemies and their flesh.

Our emperor who is our beacon of hope, even through death.

Amongst the screams and rising smoke, Rieto was on his knees, citing prayer after prayer without skipping a beat.

It felt uncomfortable for those listening, to hear three similar voices come from a single mouth.

Camille could feel an inscrutable itch inside her. However, unlike her inner feelings, her energy level was starting to feel better.

So this is the emperors grace

It was different to the power of the grace that was bestowed upon her during her Paladin ceremony. Common graces like stronger physical and mental fortitude, and a few magical graces were given upon being made a Paladin.

However, priests were granted the ability to grant higher levels of grace when they saw fit. And for bishops, they had the ability to bestow grace that were comparable to miracles.

My emperor, Kenosis. You that reside in the souls and body of everyone. May you allow your power and body to be granted to our less fortunate servants

Even those that were burnt, cut or hearts ripped out would not die for they had close to infinite lives.

Upon giving bishop level grace to Paladins that were already powerful from being bestowed the common graces, it made them no different from an immortal army.

The reason why Ethan went offensive on the city without much thought was because of Bishop Rieto.

Apart from urgent situations, these direct confrontations were normally avoided.

Laying a siege to a whole city required a substantial force to overpower the opponent. This was dangerous as it didnt always go as the church thought it would. Even the Pope wouldnt have agreed to Ethans plan.

If not Bishop Rieto, it would have been impossible to get the support needed for the attack.

Bishop Rieto was famous for his broken mind. Most of the time, he was anything but an ordinary bishop but from time to time, he had a frighteningly keen insight that no one else could detect.

He always firmly believed that he was right, which is why he was supporting the White crow knights at this present time.

By coincidence, the Hugin knights had showed up while he was at Hiveden for business.

No, was it really a coincidence?

Camille doubted herself. She looked at Rieto with a sense of awe. One way or another, today a legend would fall.

The White crow knights will be the hands that killed the legend and Bishop Rieto will be the eyes and mouth that supported the downfall.

If Lars Raude is really in the city, he will for sure die tonight.

*****

Juan looked around.

It wasnt the best of situations. Their plan had failed, the Paladins knights were all grouped together and theyd just found out that they couldnt be hurt or killed.

The Hugin knights did have the undead knights in their ranks, but they werent invincible against Paladins. The grace found on a Paladins sword had the power to vanquish the undead knights.

The fire that had started to spread also didnt help create an environment for an undead knight to be in.

Ethan walked through the flames. His leg turned into ash and crumbled.

But instantly, it reformed and again it started to burn.

While the healing process looked impressive, the pain looked extremely excruciating. But even so, Ethan was smiling.

Kid, so this is your version of hell? Its nothing much.

Ethan swung his sword around him.

A strong gust of wind blew towards the flames, extinguishing most of the fire inside the alleyway.

The Paladins that were on fire had their armors in blazing red after the fire had subsided.

Their expressions on their face told of their pain, but they still made the way across, joining their fellow Paladins.

Youll need to bring something worse than hell if you want to kill me.

Ethan ran at Juan. Juan managed to avoid his sword just in time.

Youre boasting when this is not even your power..

Nonetheless, Juan could not help but acknowledge that his situation wasnt good.

The blessing that the Paladins were receiving was his own mana. It was most certainly this. grace thing that Anya had mentioned.

If the power of this grace was what he expected it to be, the Hugin knights had no chance of winning unless Lars intervened.

For now, Juan decided to back off from fighting Ethan. Ethan didnt follow him. There were plenty of Hugin knights around him that he needed to kill.

My knights, lift your swords! For our emperor resides inside you!

For the emperor!

With a deafening cry, the Paladins ran at the Hugin knights aggressively.

Although they came into the city without a plan and the Laus scouts, it was almost certain that they held the advantage. Ethan jumped into the action and immediately chopped off a Hugin knights head.

Continuing his strikes, Ethan turned his head as something grabbed his attention. A giant hammer whiskered past from where he just stood. Ethan smiled wickedly upon seeing the hammer.

Thought youd only show yourself after Id finished killing all your ravens.

White haired elderly knight, blacksmith Dilmond Debussy was glaring at him.

The elderly knight laughed as he accepted Ethans provocation.

Youre tongue is too long for you, baby. Beings your age are more skilled with their tongue than a sword, so instead of staying on a battlefield, how about you run along to your mothers bottom side and do your duty?

In a fit of anger, Ethan ran wildly at Dilmond. What really angered Ethan was how Dilmond classified him as a certain type.

Dilmond moaned as a powerful shock hit his shield.

Ethan tried to get through his shield with powerful strikes.

Even though Dilmond had never been lazy in his training, he could not help but feel Ethans powerful strength a bit frightening.

Dilmond bitterly resented the strength and grace that Ethan was blessed with. But still, he never thought that he would fail his assignment. He heard a voice from behind that hed waited for.

Knights, forward!

With Anyas voice, the undead knights revealed themselves. They had been waiting for the Paladins that had been burning in the alleyway to move towards the back of the group.

As the undead knights revealed themselves, a cold air swept through the area, while a burning heat existed behind the Paladins. Ethan looked at the undead knights and smiled.

Although we were the ones that had killed them, it seems like they ate each others eyes and flesh. No wonder you lot are called ravens.

Well Ill be happy to rip and eat that smile off your face.

With his undead knights, Dilmond charged forward.

*****

Anya, can you tell me the current state of the fight?

Juan asked Anya what the situation was like. Having just slain a Paladin knight, she was wearing blood all over herself. Tiredness had engulfed her face as well.

Someone of bishop class is raining down a blessing to the Paladins in the city. The only Bishops close by would be..Bishop Karl and Rieto, but theres no way that pig Karl would put himself in danger, so its most likely Rieto. There was talks of him coming to get something from Hiveden as well.

Yeah, he was coming to get the indeterminate polyhydron. So thats the bastard thats keeping these Paladins alive.

Yes. This couldnt be achieved with any ordinary grace. Especially as burns are normally hard to recover from but if its bishop level

[Anya, Juan.]

They could suddenly hear a voice inside their heads. It was Lars.

[Im sending you voices created in my head. I apologise if youve found it unpleasant. Im heading there now.]

Huh? What are you saying! No!

Anya shouted in panic. Lars replied as if he could hear what they were saying.

[Ive got a grasp of whats happening. And the sun is up, so like me, the undead knights wont be at their full strength. I have to join in order to turn the situation around.]

Stay still Lars. Youll only create more worry for the rest of us.

[Juan.]

I said no.

[My knights, my friends are dying. I cant just stay put.]

Youre already plenty useful by summoning the undead knights. If you continue to argue, Anya will come and break your legs.

Juan replied with a crude feeling.

Lars had already used too much of his negative energy. If hed use more strength in his current state, there was a high possibility that the indeterminate polyhydron wouldnt be enough to keep his sanity.

Youre the only one who can summon and control the undead knights. Anya can only control the knights that are summoned. If you die here, the undead knights will disappear and the hugin knights will be no more. Is that what you want?

[..]

Dont worry. Ive got a plan.

Juan turned towards Anya.

Anya, so let me be clear. If I can kill this bishop, then this godforsaken situation can be won, right?

Uh, yes. Of course. But therell be paladins guarding this bishop, and hell be blessing himself with the same grace as well. Itd be almost impossible to kill..

I still have to try. Meanwhile, stop Lars from joining the fight.

As Juan faced towards the Paladin camp outside the city, he turned around.

Before he left, he stopped and looked at Anya. Anyas pupils were wet with anxiety. Juan said to Anya as if he was trying to calm her down.

Dont die.

*****

Sinas face darkened seeing Bishop Rieto furiously continue his prayer.

Asking for the emperors power to kill the emperors people.

The Paladins were slaughtering civilians and destroying Hiveden.

It was hard for Sina to stay still while she watched on, but she couldnt do much as her body had been restrained tight.

Camille!

Sina shouted to Camille who was standing next to bishop Rieto, guarding him. Camille glanced towards her. Her expression faltered upon seeing Sinas fierce eyes.

Is this what you want? To help instigate a slaughter? Do you think the emperor would have stood for this?

We are not the emperor.

Camille replied with a stern face.

We are not great like him. We cannot think the same way as him. We are only but listening to his words, spreading his worth across the empire.

Youre spreading his worth by killing unarmed civilians?

Eliminating his enemies is a part of it. We are the emperors spear, so it cant be helped that we are viewed in that light.

Instead of pointing your weapon at the innocent weak, couldnt you stop other swords that need to be stopped? Wouldnt that be closer to what you are trying to achieve?

Camille declined to reply. Her lips were tightly squeezed and she avoided Sinas eyes.

She of course knew full well that these actions were wrong and that Sinas words were completely right.

However, having spent all those years as a member of the White crow knights, she felt like it was her duty to go against her feelings.

Like Ethan said, maybe the only way to truly escape from their shackles as White crow knights was to kill Lars.

At least for today, Camille decided to throw away any sentiments.

And at that precise moment, Bishop Rietos prayers suddenly stopped.

Upon looking, Camille noticed a trembling Bishop Rieto as he looked somewhere towards the east.

His face was distorted in anger and confusion.