Free Web NovelChapter 100: Chapter 76: It Must Be the Divine Emperor’s Guidance
Imperial Knights have no need to prove their identity or status to Mortals. Even a Provincial Governor must kneel before an Angel of the Divine Emperor.
Amid gazes filled with doubt and horror,
Reinhardt strode forward with steady steps, stopping before the High Tier Cultivator who had fallen to the ground, soiling himself in terror. He looked down on the man, delivering a deathly stare.
The High Tier Cultivator’s body trembled uncontrollably as he scrambled backward in terror.
Only when an Imperial Knight stands before a traitor do they understand the meaning of true, crushing pressure.
Tear tracks still stained his wrinkled face, and a panicked cold sweat soaked his robes. His loyal followers and students tried to get between the two, hoping to prevent the impending atrocity.
But when their eyes met Reinhardt’s icy gaze—a gaze that held no regard for life—the fear of death seized them like a great hand throttling their necks, making it impossible to breathe. freёwebnovel.com
Reinhardt’s hand clamped down on the High Tier Cultivator’s head. As the onlookers watched in terror, he began dragging the man out of the Monastery’s main gate as if he were a dead dog.
The High Tier Cultivator tried to resist.
But his feeble punches and kicks could not even touch Reinhardt’s body.
"You can’t do this! I am Chad, a High Tier Cultivator! I am an Imperial Priest—! Only the Judgment Court has the right to judge me! Let me go, AHHHH—!"
After hearing Reinhardt declare his identity with his own ears, a powerful shock surged through Raphael’s veins, stunning his heart and mind, leaving his thoughts completely blank.
He couldn’t believe it. The friend he had known for four years was actually an Imperial Knight! An Angel of the Divine Emperor!
Dragon Hunter.
Death Battle Group.
These names were foreign to him, but legends of the Divine Emperor’s Radiant Angels had spread even to the most remote mountains on the Empire Border.
In fact, the very reason Imperial Knights were revered as Angels was because of the Radiant Angel Legion.
’To fight alongside the Radiant Angels...’ Raphael couldn’t imagine how exhilarating it would be, what a magnificent honor! But the screams and curses of Chad, the High Tier Cultivator, dragged his thoughts back to reality.
An apprentice of Chad’s, one of Raphael’s own colleagues, frantically grabbed his arm and pleaded, "Raphael! You’re Reinhardt’s friend! You have to step in and stop this atrocity!
Even if he’s an Imperial Knight, he can’t just condemn Lord Chad as guilty because he looked scared! It’s utterly absurd!
Even if he is guilty, only a Judge has the authority to punish a High Tier Cultivator!"
Raphael, who had been scorned at the Monastery for three long years, now stood tall. He gave his former colleague a cold glance and replied, "Before you question an Angel, you should first ask yourself if your own faith is resolute, Brother Sears."
Raphael was a fervent believer in the Divine Emperor, pure and kind-hearted by nature. But that didn’t mean he was a naive, inflexible fool.
An ordinary Priest wouldn’t have had his courage or cunning—the daring to run to the Lower City District alone to buy illegal Alchemy Potions from a Wizard.
His suspicion of the other Cultivators’ faith wasn’t born of arrogance or conceit. For years, whenever he knelt to pray before the Radiant Holy Image, he would hear unholy sounds from the depths of his soul—sounds that had no place in a Monastery.
The whispering murmurs of a Demon.
’Someone inside the Monastery is secretly speaking with a Demon!’
But his words carried little weight and he had no proof. Whenever he brought it up, the others just thought he was mad, that his words were a blasphemy against the sanctity of the Monastery.
Now, facing the complicated stares of his former colleagues, he perhaps should have felt vindicated, but his heart was calm, even a little mournful.
Raphael turned and gave a slight bow of respect toward his mentor, then roughly shoved aside the colleague blocking his path. His steps resolute, he walked to Reinhardt’s side. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm
Reinhardt ignored Chad’s curses and struggles. He tore away the man’s simple robes, and the old man’s emaciated body was suddenly exposed for all to see.
Dark crow feathers covered his chest. A red gem, like a raven’s eye, was embedded in his sternum. Mystical black smoke spread like tendrils through the veins beneath his skin...
As this blasphemous scene unfolded before their eyes,
The crowd erupted in gasps of horror!
Even the Cultivators of Caster Monastery let out cries of terrified disbelief!
"A... a Demon—!"
"This is impossible! How could Lord Chad be..."
No one could believe it. A High Tier Cultivator who worked at Caster Monastery, a man who represented the majesty of the Divine Emperor and the Empire, was in reality an evil Mage who had received the Demon’s Blessing!
Blasphemy—!
Even Raphael, who had been prepared for something like this, couldn’t help but tremble, his pupils contracting. Three years ago, he had reported to Chad that there was a traitor in the Monastery. And this very traitor had smiled, placated him, and told him he was just being paranoid!
The thought filled him not only with immense anger, but also with a chilling, retrospective fear!
Seeing his plan exposed, Chad dropped the act. He grinned, and his right hand shot out to grab Reinhardt’s arm. In an instant, an overwhelming cloud of black smoke engulfed them both!
A sinister voice echoed from within the smoke.
"Angel, if the Master hadn’t stopped me, I would have killed you long ago! Heh, the Master foresaw this day. Everything is proceeding according to our plan. Your efforts are futile."
No one had expected the High Tier Cultivator who betrayed the Divine Emperor to suddenly lash out.
His mocking voice was like a bucket of cold water dumped over the crowd. Seeing Reinhardt completely submerged in the evil Mighty Power, everyone’s hearts sank.
If the Imperial Knight were to die here, all that awaited them would be the cruel, merciless enslavement and corruption of the Demon.
But not Raphael.
He stood silently, his expression resolute.
He firmly believed that what he had seen in Reinhardt earlier was no hallucination. The vision, like an angel of slaughter, had to be a divine oracle from the Divine Emperor himself!
In the name of the Divine Emperor, this friend he had known for four years was destined to rise through slaughter.
At that moment, a long-held idea surfaced in his mind, feeling as natural and certain as guidance from the Divine Emperor.
Six years ago, he had dreamed of using his life’s learning to write a holy scroll, to spread the glory of the Divine Emperor throughout the world with his own meager power.
But he never knew where to begin.
Four years ago, he had found Reinhardt, gravely injured and near death, in the garbage heaps of the Lower City District and befriended him.
’And all of this must be the Divine Emperor’s guidance. Yes, the Divine Emperor guided an Angel to my side, guided me to write a Holy Scripture for the Empire, for this rising angel of slaughter.’
What this fanatic of the Divine Emperor was imagining, no one knew.
But Chad’s mocking voice was piercing, as if Reinhardt’s life or death rested solely on his whim.
"You’re just a lapdog for the Divine Emperor, Reinhardt. You have no idea what kind of power you’re up against. Since you’re in such a hurry to die, I—"
