A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 251 The Holy Sword Turns into an Evil Sword

The matter with Deplesi was not over yet. As soon as the secretary left, a second visitor barged into the office.

"Your Majesty, how was your day?"

Charles XVI wiped his sweat with a velvet cloth: "In this weather, neither people nor animals want to meet, so I can only return empty-handed! Lord Deplesie, how are the people below reacting? Have those judges realized their mistake?"

"I'm afraid not, Your Majesty. I suggest you prepare for both possibilities." The Prime Minister's advice to the King was completely opposite to his advice to the Auditor: "In addition to organizing a new Grand Justice, you should assemble your musketeers and trained knights, ready to support the local authorities should any unrest occur in the northern region."

"Can those judges really incite the people?" Although Duplessie didn't say it directly, Charles XVI understood the implication. The Chancellor didn't allow local officials to mobilize their own troops, partly to avoid provoking a public reaction, but also because he didn't trust the local armies!

Because of insufficient provisions, the only reliable force is the military force directly under His Majesty the King. At least the King's Guard and Knights are well-fed and clothed, and have a full complement of horses and armor.

"The situation is not out of control; I'm just reminding you, just in case."

"Oh, I understand." The king dismissed his nervousness. "Good, but as you know, my purse has been empty again since Necker left! And now there's that annoying cousin of mine in the mint targeting me. The troop movements must be handled with care, just as you said."

Finally, the King left the office, tentatively saying before departing, "Actually, Necker has done a pretty good job in office, hasn't he? Have you read his new book?"

"If I have time, I'd be happy to read it." Deplesie saw Charlie Sixteen off with a dark expression.

The third visitor arrives, and the Prime Minister feels as if he is on a theater stage, with actors coming and going one by one. Unfortunately, he is performing what appears to be a farce.

The visitor was Priest Joseph; thankfully, he was a respectable man.

"Priest Joseph, shouldn't you be in the church?"

"You should be in the church, Your Excellency," Joseph, dressed in grey, said with a rare look of worry. "The heretical ideas of Wigram are still surging within the church; we must stop our brother from going astray."

"Has that evil artifact been moved?"

Joseph nodded: "We'll be there soon."

"Okay, starting tomorrow, no, tonight, I will be stationed at St. Miller's Cathedral."

Joseph said with a heavy heart, "That's great." Only the priest can summon Deplesie now.

With the deity no longer frequently responding to believers, people in the church naturally began to have doubts. There were generally two attitudes towards this matter:

One faction felt liberated, with no divine constraints, and everyone was having a blast! The bigger and more luxurious the church, the better! They ate and drank to their hearts' content—didn't they understand the prestige of the continent's premier church? What, no money? Tithes, collect! Indulgences, sell!

Another faction adhered to a life of poverty and purity, proclaiming that God's silence was a test for believers, and that they should be even more devout when God was not present. This idea was popular in the southern part of the kingdom.

Of course, from the pope to the bishops to the lowest monks, all claim to agree with the latter's ideas, but over the centuries the churches have only become more and more magnificent.

Then an extremist group emerged, proposing the "judgment theory": when the Lord of Order returns to the continent, he will settle this long trial and conduct a great judgment on all the sins in the world. Only the followers of the Holy Son and those who maintain a pure heart can be forgiven.

The most extreme of all is to call on our God to wake Him up now and let Him see how you people who claim to be gods are indulging in pleasure and depravity, so that the Great Judgment can be brought forward and you all die!

Church leaders expressed their "hatred" and quickly labeled the most extreme of the extremes as heresy.

The "heretics" had been almost completely wiped out until they encountered the "Mother Earth" cult, and a few months ago they unearthed a "relic" from the wreckage of an underground battle.

It was the sword of the Odysseus brothers, and the golden crystal still exists. It once carried the power of the gods and gave many brothers in the order hope for the coming of the Lord.

However, the holy light slowly faded from the sword's blade, revealing traces of defilement. The priests judged it to be remnants of evil forces, but they could not imagine what defilement the Lord's radiance could not dispel.

"The Lord's radiance can certainly cleanse all evil. The stains on the sword are merely traces of battle. The power of our Lord still surges within it. This is an undeniable sacred object. What is there for anyone to doubt?"

Among the Grey Knights, a monk named Wigram began to preach the theory of the "Great Judgment." He discovered that when he held a sword, the Lord's radiance would be stronger, suppressing the corruption of evil. Thus, a "judgment ritual" began to spread among the Grey Knights, in which the brothers would each hold a sword hilt and compare who could best inspire the Lord's power, and take pride in doing so.

Since the Lord's power could respond to his brothers, Wigram believed this was a bridge to communicate with the Lord of Order. He gradually contacted more paladins and clergy, hoping that more people would come to be "judged," and attempted to organize rituals centered around the "Holy Sword."

Numerous ceremonies have been held over the past few months, and the "Sword of Judgment Order" has even been established.

Many colleagues thought this guy was out of his mind after hearing about it. He hadn't even figured out the nature of the contamination on the sword before making these wild prayers. Who would be responsible if something went wrong? So finally someone reported this dangerous attempt to Joseph and Deplecy.

However, both were very busy people, and by the time Priest Joseph himself stumbled upon the ceremony, it was too late. A bishop who had come to attend a meeting of dignitaries and was resting in the church afterward was semi-forced to undergo "trial" by the cannons and paladins.

The moment this bloated, fat man touched the hilt of the sword, he let out a pig-like wail. His hand seemed to be burned and welded to the "holy sword." The holy light completely disappeared, and a terrifying dark green evil aura took over, extending all the way to the bishop's hand.

The high-ranking clergyman began to melt, his flesh and blood being used to reconstruct something extremely disgusting, leaving only fragmented monologues of "I am guilty" and "choir boys" echoing at the ceremony.

"So God had such a villain among his men! Now he's finally being judged by the Holy Sword!" Wigram hadn't realized the gravity of the situation yet, but his brothers had already turned pale, realizing the extent of the mess this idiot had made.

When Joseph arrived, the grey-robed paladins spontaneously split into two groups. One group seized "the heretic Wigram" on the spot and brought him before the priest, while the rest tried to suppress the fusion of the evil sword and the bishop's flesh and blood.

The battle was short-lived. In the end, Joseph's right hand condensed into a completely golden layer of light, and he took the initiative to grasp the out-of-control greatsword. In an instant, the evil power was evaporated by the radiance once again, just like returning to the night when the Odysseus brothers sacrificed themselves.

However, the entire sword had turned a dull, dark green, losing all its luster. Joseph attempted to destroy and purify it, but found his power insufficient to expel the evil.

"Immediately seal this evil object away, and investigate everyone who participated in the ritual!"

Joseph's plan was to move the evil to the largest church in the kingdom, St. Miller's Church, and hold a Mass to draw out enough holy light to completely purify it.

(End of this chapter)