Witch Redemption

Ivan wasn't interested, but what would he do if it were true?

Looking back now, it's clear that he did indeed have the idea of ​​sacrificing his daughter Lachesis to establish a theocratic state.

Quietly concealing his inner turmoil, Ivan Hank gradually regained his usual seriousness and composure. "Lachish is indeed in a bit of trouble right now; we might need to trouble Dr. Roman to take a look."

"Oh?"

Sure enough, something happened to Lachesis!

Li Lan's expression darkened slightly, and she felt a pang of self-reproach.

"Come with me, but who is this...?"

Ivan recognized Yu Hui's identity as a little loli. Yu Hui was still the same as usual. The god imprisoned in her body had gone to sleep again, and for now, he wouldn't come out to cause trouble, which was a good thing.

“Mira Elf, my other daughter, previously had her identity registered with the help of Viscount Ivan.”

"I see, I remember now."

Ivan Hank couldn't help but glance at the little guy a few more times, only to see Mira hiding her face in the shadow of her hood, remaining silent. "White hair? It seems her features are somewhat similar to this witch lady's, and a bit gloomy. No, this guy isn't gloomy like a witch, but more like..."

Autism.

Yes, it's autism.

Mira's first impression on Ivan Hank was that of a quiet, withdrawn girl, who also gave off a very dangerous vibe.

Now that he knew they were all on his side, Ivan didn't waste any more words and started walking.

Unexpectedly, a young man dressed in the distinctive uniform of the Bay City Chamber of Commerce hurriedly stepped out of the entrance hall and immediately exclaimed upon seeing Ivan Hank stepping out of the study, "Viscount! Something terrible has happened!"

"what?"

"Second Young Master Sago Hank and his private guard have completely disappeared. Lord Connie Dick, sent by the royal family, was confirmed dead this morning on North 17th Street, along with a large number of people on North 17th Street. The Sixteenth Prince also disappeared without a trace after leaving this area this morning..."

The young man recounted a series of major events that had recently occurred, his face full of worry.

"I understand. You can organize people to search for them for now. If you can't find them, just assume they're dead. I will report this to the higher-ups."

Ivan gave the witch beside him a meaningful look. It was obvious that Ivan had already done a preliminary investigation into what had happened last night.

...... ...... ......

Under the dim light of the magic crystal lamp, a mangled human figure could be seen lying on the antique bed. The flesh was slowly writhing and emitting a putrid stench.

The moment that startling figure rushed into Li Lan's field of vision, he simply couldn't believe that this disgusting monster was actually Lachesis.

What kind of joke is this?

The usually expressionless beauty is actually a terrifying monster in her true form?

This is utterly spiritual pollution!

"This is... Lachesis?" Li Lan finally confirmed, asking in a deep voice.

"Yes."

Ivan Hank approached his daughter, looking at the unconscious "monster" with a hint of doting affection.

"Twenty-three years ago, my fiancée Vanessa died, carrying Lachesis's baby. At that time, I felt like the whole world had lost its color. In my grief, I began to violate the taboos of the theocracy, and began to secretly pray to the Goddess of Darkness and perform a flesh and blood sacrifice."

"Fortunately, the descending goddess of darkness gave me hope for survival, allowing Lachesis to come back to life and become the non-human being 'Black Goat's Egg'. The goddess of darkness granted Lachesis near-immortality, but also stripped her of her human body."

"The consequence is that if Lachesis's thoughts are to appear in a human form, she must be instilled with the idea that she is a human from a young age, subtly changing her mindset and allowing her to evolve on her own. Unfortunately, an accident happened last night; Lachesis was killed. Although this triggered her resurrection mechanism, it also reset her body to its current state."

Li Lan's expression changed upon hearing this. At that moment, he wondered if he had fallen into some kind of conspiracy by sending Lachesis away last night.

"She was..."

“Killed by the bodyguard of the Sixteenth Prince Randall Richard, the Sword Saint Conniedick. Don’t worry, Conniedick is dead now. The most urgent thing is to find a way to awaken Lachesis and restore her past cognition.”

After briefly explaining the series of unexpected events that happened last night, Ivan was extremely frustrated. "In the past, I could help Lachesis by praying to the Goddess of Darkness, but last night was different from usual. The Goddess of Darkness did not respond to my prayers, so I was at a loss."

"..."

You don't need to pray anymore, this guy is sleeping like a pig inside Yu Hui right now.

Li Lan was truly surprised by the coincidence. She kept quiet about the whole affair and focused her attention on Lachesis, saying, "Let me give it a try."

It's unclear whether the Elven priests can use "First Aid" to bring Lachesis back to life; for now, they can only try anything as a last resort.

If all else fails, we can privately interrogate the guy inside Yu Hui again; we might find a way.

...... ...... ......

The capital of the theocratic Viana.

The council chamber, filled with high-ranking officials, was currently in complete chaos, the noise accompanied by a sense of despair akin to the impending apocalypse.

"Cornetic is dead because of this foolish plan devised by your royal family! How dare you offend this supreme being, and now you've even implicated our Dark Order!"

The old man, dressed in a long white religious robe, let out a sharp voice, a voice filled with intense fear.

“Archbishop Franks, don’t think your order bears no responsibility. Why didn’t you stop it before it happened? Our noble lineage was able to get the information, how could you not know?”

"Because we didn't expect that the royal family's incompetent officials would actually be so radical and take action directly!"

"Is this your excuse? Are you trying to shirk responsibility?"

"What do you mean by this?" The old man was so shocked and furious that he was about to blurt out, "This responsibility should not be borne by the Order! The Order will always be loyal to the Goddess of Darkness and would never do anything as treasonous as the royal family!"

It's unclear how long the commotion lasted, but most of the royal family, nobles, and high-ranking members of the religious order gathered there were shirking responsibility, behaving in an extremely unpleasant manner.

"Silence! Silence!"

The king of the theocratic state, who was already in his seventies, had white hair and beard. He kept uttering the syllable "Oh!" "Oh!" for silence, until finally, when he could no longer bear it, he raised his rough and old right hand and slammed it heavily on the parliament table.

After the loud noise subsided, the noisy scene finally quieted down.

"Don't waste time on pointless arguments! Instead of making such a fool of yourself by shirking responsibility, you should immediately consider how to deal with the crisis!"

"Let's confirm a few things first. First, Conedik is dead, and he died without any chance to fight back. This means that the great deity protecting our country needs to reassess its strength. Second, the royal family invested in a sealed artifact, the Book of Puppet Control, in this plan. This sealed artifact has been completely destroyed by the Goddess of Darkness, which means that the Goddess of Darkness is probably not afraid of the witch's restraint."

This is the most terrifying thing. Everyone vaguely guessed that the Goddess of Darkness should be an ancient extraterrestrial evil god. They originally hoped to resist these extraterrestrial evil gods by relying on "witch summoning", but now it seems that this is not the case.

Moreover, last night's series of plans were all or nothing, and now they have probably completely offended this deity. If this deity is angry and wants to destroy the entire divine kingdom, the consequences will be unimaginable.

"Thirdly, the Goddess of Darkness probably won't continue to retaliate against the Divine Kingdom. If this supreme god really wanted to retaliate, she could have done so last night. It's already 1 p.m. now."

The aged king, while sharing his speculations, finally turned to the most serious matter at hand: "The fourth and most important matter is that our country was originally within the goddess's protected domain, a domain that separated life and death, allowing many dead souls to linger on our land. These souls would be under our control, the foundation upon which our descendants would grow stronger. However, now the goddess of darkness has likely departed in anger, and this domain that belonged to her has vanished, probably never to reappear. This is the real problem!"

This means that it will be very difficult for the natives of all theocratic states to become stronger, because there will no longer be a large number of vengeful spirits for them to control, and their strength will inevitably be greatly reduced in the future.

Soon, under the king's direction, the lively discussion continued for another three hours.

During this period, a small number of high-ranking officials with real decision-making power remained silent, as if they were thinking about what to do next. For example, the female archbishop who had once faced off against the sixth apostle, Carametti, did not utter a word from beginning to end.

It wasn't until almost time that she began to suggest, "The departure of a god may not necessarily be a good thing. There are many ways to obtain the missing souls; we can use living people as substitutes. There are two ways to resolve the crisis right now. One is to inform the major powers about the information about the Goddess of Darkness; it is necessary to share relevant information. The second is that the temple left behind by the Goddess of the Underworld must continue to be experimented with. It would be best if it could be opened, but if it cannot be opened, mastering the summoning of witches would also be the best outcome."

"But, the Empire's..."

“Eliminate them, leave no one alive. Moreover, the theocracy should not be the one to eliminate them; other forces should be employed.”

"But what if the Empire investigates further, or sends even stronger forces..."

"This is indeed a problem, so we need to plan ahead in this regard. But one thing is certain: we urgently need to break through this barrier!"

The temple ruins where the Forest of Giants of Olmar meets the Dark Swamp hold secrets unknown to all!

"How about entrusting this matter to Grand Duke James Richard, who is currently away, and Archbishop Laurent Rison?"

"But these two are related to Viscount Ivan Hank..."

"It's alright. Since we've already lost the protection of the Goddess of Darkness, there's no need to worry about the face of this little viscount. Let's find an excuse to get rid of him. As for the vessel of the Goddess of Darkness, there's no need to keep it any longer."

With just one simple sentence, the countdown to Ivan Hank's death officially began!

Chapter 57 Lachesis Awakens

Second floor of the shop where Major General Arnold Hopkins of the Empire works, 12th Street, South Kobe City.

Sixteenth Prince Randall Richard sat anxiously on the sofa, his face pale.

Even now, he still can't believe that his bodyguard, Koenig, is dead, and he has no idea what caused Koenig's death.

Furthermore, Sago Hank, with whom he had previously made a deal, had vanished without a trace along with a large group of guards. At this point, he was still constantly wondering if all of this was a setup by Ivan Hank.

But then he thought again, and wondered if this was too suspicious. With Conedict's strength, how could he have died so easily? Conedict was a legendary adventurer known as the "Sword Saint." He had taught them, the princes, swordsmanship and was very easy to talk to. As long as they didn't go too far, this powerful man would generally not interfere.

Randall still vividly remembered that this incredibly powerful bodyguard could enslave thousands of vengeful spirits, and when he unleashed his sword skills, the sky was filled with dark ghostly figures, and the sword energy created by magic was unstoppable.

However, Koenig was indeed dead, leaving behind a vast and horrific ruin before his death, taking countless people with him in his grave.

"Please have a glass of water first, Your Highness."

Arnold placed a beautiful crystal glass on the guest table, sat up straight, and observed the prince's apprehensive expression.

To be honest, Arnold had a terrible first impression of the prince. He was an arrogant and selfish man who liked to play tricks and showed no sense of responsibility when it mattered most.

Not only that, this guy also had a strange sense of superiority, as if he was so arrogant because he had royal blood. After his former swordsmanship instructor, Connie Dick, became his personal bodyguard, he immediately started ordering him around, which was truly despicable.

Arnold even suspected that Koenig was doing this for some deeper purpose in becoming the bodyguard of such a scoundrel.

Sure enough, through last night's events, he may have already grasped some general intelligence leads.

Koenidick's real purpose was not to protect the prince, but to protect Ivan Hank's adopted daughter, Lachesis Wagner.

"Th...thank you..."

Randall took a sip, hesitated, and fidgeted.

"What brings the prince here today?"

Seeing that the prince's emotions had calmed down, Arnold asked.

Since refusing to cooperate with the theocracy and killing Ivan Hank some time ago, his connection with the prince has been almost completely severed.

Our meeting today was unexpected.

"I hope the Empire can protect me. Viscount Ivan is all-powerful in Kobe City. He's already killed Conidick, and he'll definitely be next..."

Arnold immediately raised his hand to signal the prince to stop talking. "Unfortunately, Connie Dick was not killed by Ivan Hank. You'll know the details once you return to the royal family."

Last night, countless forces were watching the entire city of Kobe. Whether it was the reappearance of the Sixth Apostle, Karamit, or Conedict's risky move that triggered the descent of the Goddess of Darkness, intending to use a sealed artifact to seize the Goddess of Darkness's power, all of this was witnessed by many powerful figures.

It must be said that the moment the Goddess of Darkness descended, almost every intelligent being in the entire Viana Divine Kingdom felt a suffocating sense of oppression, as if their souls were being pulled out of their bodies, a terrifying experience beyond compare.

The feeling was like a kitten facing a gigantic beast—an instinctive, dimensional fear.