In the name of the true god

November 1, 419th year of the Divine Calendar.

The border of the Kingdom of Nordonia, the Black Ridge Mountains.

Beneath the steep mountain ridges rising abruptly from the ground, smoke rises from an inconspicuous, dilapidated wooden cabin.

Inside the wooden house.

Six poorly dressed men and women sat around a fire, warming themselves by the fire while roasting small, blackened potatoes.

"They're done." The woman with frostbite on her nose used a stick to pick the charred potatoes out of the fire.

"Hiss... hiss..." Another hungry man grabbed a scalding hot potato, clumsily peeling off the skin, then handed it to the blond man beside him. "Edmund, here."

"You guys eat first." Edmund glanced up, then focused on taking notes in his notebook.

"What are you doing?" The man initially thought Edmund was drawing a map, but upon closer inspection, he discovered the notebook was filled with dates—

【419.10.1（448.10.29）、419.11.1（448.11.5）、419.12.1（448.11.12）、420.1.1（448.11.19）、420.2.1（448.11.26）……】

"It's nothing." Edmund didn't reveal that he was trying to figure out the timing of his meetings with Jude. "Everyone, finish your meal and get some rest. We'll set off as soon as it's light tomorrow and try to get to Veria as quickly as possible."

"Perhaps... we should hide in the mountains for now," the eldest man in the group said hesitantly. "The priests of the Church of Earth shouldn't be able to find us. We're safe enough already..."

Edmund paused, then closed his notebook and looked at the crowd.

The other five involved wizards and resonance sorcerers, besides him, all showed signs of exhaustion.

Thinking back to the prison break he'd just completed, when he'd had over twenty like-minded men with him, and now, after their escape, only five were willing to continue following him, he couldn't help but snort and ask earnestly, "Do you want to hide in the mountains for the rest of your life?"

"I……"

"Hiding and running, barely surviving, living only to escape, and escaping only to live... what is the meaning of such a life?"

"Isn't this the fate of heretics...?"

"No," Edmund retorted, enunciating each word clearly. "The laws of contact and similarity will never disappear. After we die, new entanglement wizards and resonance sorcerers will appear. After they die, there will still be endless successors bearing the same fate. We have been at the mercy of others for over four hundred years; there is no reason to let this tragedy continue."

The five wizards and resonance sorcerers silently ate their potatoes.

They were desperate.

They are numb.

They were confused.

Despised and hated by the common people, pursued, imprisoned, and executed by the church...

As a "heretic," what is the purpose of living?

With their lives hanging in the balance, no one knew the answer.

Edmund was not affected by his depressed mood. On the contrary, he led by example, inspiring those around him to regain their fighting spirit: "We must rebel and overturn fate. No one has the right to define our lives for us."

"Edmund..." the woman, who kept picking potatoes out of the fire, asked hoarsely, "Can we succeed?"

"It's not a question of whether it will succeed," Edmund corrected. "It's the only way we can do it."

"So... what exactly are we going to do in Viria?"

"To save more of our kind, until all the involved wizards and resonators are united," Edmund said. "Then we will find out the truth, and live openly in the sunlight, like normal people, living the lives we want to live."

-

October 29, 448 (Monday), early morning.

"Jude, wake up."

On the watchtower of the inner ring of the capital's heavy prison, Allen shook Jude awake.

Jude, who had left the mysterious space and had let Allen take over his shift, opened his eyes and looked groggily at the still somewhat dark sky: "It's 7:30?"

"No, look!" Allen called him over.

"What's wrong?" Jude saw that Allen looked nervous and immediately became more alert, getting up and coming to his side.

"They're about to make their move," Allen said, pointing to the special prison building.

In front of the special prison building.

The church-affiliated deputy warden Chambers, the first-class warden Connor who oversees the heretical ward, and a dozen priests are lined up.

Four trucks were parked on one side of them.

Dozens of people dressed in prison uniforms and carrying firearms boarded the train car one by one.

"That's... a prison guard?" Jude vaguely recognized a familiar colleague among the dozens of people in prison uniforms.

"That's right!" Allen gripped the railing tightly. "You're right! They're putting on an act, trying to trick the chairman into a rescue!"

Jude glanced at the time.

It's 6:30 in the morning, and there's still an hour before my shift starts.

They staged a fake transfer before the shift rotation, presumably because they were worried that there might be 'heretic' moles among the current prison guards on duty.

Only by settling everything before the rotation can we prevent undercover agents from sneaking out and reporting ahead of time.

Even to ensure that nothing goes wrong.

These prison guards posing as "heretics" were probably given orders on short notice.

"Thank goodness..." Jude breathed a sigh of relief. "We missed our target this time, so the church faction should be quiet for a while."

"Yes," Allen agreed, "but with just a dozen or so priests, if they really wanted to move our kind, they might actually succeed in their attack."

"What you can think of, the Church has certainly thought of as well." Jude did not underestimate the Church's plans. "I suspect there are quite a few priests lurking in the shadows."

"Too……"

soon.

Dozens of armed prison guards disguised as prisoners boarded the vehicle.

Deputy Warden Chambers and Chief Warden Connor, along with more than ten priests, escorted four trucks out of the prison.

Watching the convoy pass through the administration building and gradually leave the prison, Jude's gaze returned to the special ward building.

Of the seven priests originally stationed in the prison, five should have left, leaving only two to oversee the heretical prison area.

In addition, most of the armed prison guards had left, and the rotating guards were in low spirits after a long day.

If Chairman Frost were to take advantage of the situation now...

No.

Jude abandoned the idea.

The Holy Church must have deployed a large number of priests to lie in ambush in the suburbs. Even if they miss the target, they will be able to arrive at the scene sooner than normal support once they hear the commotion at the prison.

Ok……

The feasibility of a forced prison break is still too low...

Otherwise, someone should have put it into practice long ago...

"Do you want to sleep a little longer?" After a moment of thought, Jude stretched his body, no longer feeling sleepy.

"It's too uncomfortable to sleep here, I'd better wait until I get back—"

"Bang bang bang!!"

"Bang bang bang bang bang!!!"

Before Allen could finish speaking, a burst of gunfire suddenly rang out in the distance from the prison.

The two were immediately startled, exchanged an incredulous glance, and then looked into the distance.

Gunshots are not hard to distinguish.

It came from the direction the prison convoy had left!