Free Web NovelChapter 114: Chapter 86: Omen and Vision of the Death Meteor
The death screams of his comrades wove a symphony of slaughter, echoing through the vast, empty church.
One after another, mutilated bodies crumpled to the floor.
A severed head rolled across the floor, coming to a stop at his feet. Its eyes, still holding a flicker of consciousness, stared fixedly at his face, as if to ask, ’Why didn’t you fight back? Why are you the only one alive?’
The utterly terrified new recruit cowered in a corner, clutching his head and screaming wildly.
Blood spread across the floor, soaking his clothes. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
He thought he could faintly hear the satisfied laughter of an Evil God.
He thought he heard the merciless mockery of war itself.
’No... Lies, it’s all lies—! This isn’t an opportunity for glory and honor at all. This is... this is just a one-sided slaughter!’
’Grand Lord Kles’s propaganda didn’t lie after all. The Empire’s Knights are cruel and bloodthirsty, and the Empire’s rule is oppressive and merciless!’
’That Imperial Knight... he’s nothing but a butcher spreading terror!’
But the sounds that reached his ears—the Imperial Defense Army taking a headcount and chatting idly—were utterly incongruous with the carnage that surrounded him.
"If it weren’t for Lord Reinhardt, who knows how long we’d have been hunting them in the Lower City District, or how many of our own men we’d have lost."
"Take a close look at these bodies. I heard..."
Before he could finish, the forceful, clanging sound of Steel Boots on the floor echoed into the church.
"Lord Raphael." freёweɓnovel.com
"We’ve finished counting the dead. There are..."
Raphael had no desire to hear their report. The once frail and passionate Priest now possessed an iron-blooded, cold demeanor. He warned in a low voice, "Whatever you’ve heard, you will take it to your graves. That is an order."
The status and authority of a Battle Group Priest could, at times, even exceed that of a Battle Group Commander. The Defense Army soldiers didn’t dare to object; they quickly dropped to one knee and fell silent.
After gaining the knowledge from the Mind-Stealing Gem, Raphael understood profoundly why the National Church Court would tell such barefaced lies and refuse to acknowledge the existence of Demons.
In fact, any Mortal who had seen or come into contact with a Demon would be secretly eliminated.
It was a necessary evil, done for the safety of the Empire and its people.
Within the profane knowledge he had obtained, he learned that the Four Gods’ infiltration of the Empire was all-pervasive. The shadow of the Formless Divine Monarch loomed behind the great rebellion that had fractured the Empire.
He walked over to the only survivor in the church, a young recruit, and the sight of his heavy, blood-stained Steel Boots made the boy’s thin frame tremble uncontrollably.
Raphael’s brow furrowed.
The Extraordinary Power of his Mind Connection allowed him to sense the fear and confusion in the boy’s heart.
He bent down and picked up a canteen from the floor.
The young recruit looked up at him.
Although Raphael wore a suit of standard-issue Knight’s Steel Armor, dug out from a Military Port warehouse years ago, its white paint, the scarf, and the Angel Holy Scripture fastened to his belt still retained the style of a Priest.
The Raphael of old might have saved this misguided boy out of pity, but now, his heart held nothing but the pain of eternal torment and cold indifference.
He knew why Reinhardt had left this one boy alive. Not everyone could unconditionally embrace Demon Power, especially not a poison concocted by some third-rate Mage.
Before long, the boy’s body and soul would dissolve into a pool of bloody slush under the prolonged torment of the Demon Power.
"You’re... a Priest?"
Raphael didn’t answer. He simply watched, cold and detached, as a flicker of hope ignited in the naive boy’s eyes.
He was reminded of his own reasons for first entering the Monastery.
He raised his right hand, sheathed in Steel Armor.
As the boy watched in terror, the power of a Mind Storm instantly shattered his Mind Barrier and tore his soul to shreds.
The young recruit’s body slumped to the ground, silent forever.
Before leaving the derelict church, Raphael paused at the entrance. He turned to look at the statue of the Divine Emperor, now crumbling, weathered, and covered in vines.
’O, great Divine Emperor.’
’Please forgive my weakness. A lost soul should not have to bear such suffering...’
And in that very moment, Raphael’s consciousness felt as if it shot through a bizarre, kaleidoscopic mirror. His vision rippled as if he were looking through water. He saw himself kneeling in the Desolate Wasteland Ruins, which had been turned to scorched earth.
He saw his Priest brothers from Caster Monastery die horribly before him, one by one.
He saw it all: crimson death-meteors burning the sky red, millions of inhabitants put to the Slaughter, corpses piled into mountains, and blood forming rivers.
They were here... The distorted phantoms of the enemy surrounded them. A Broadsword pierced Reinhardt’s chest. The Divine Emperor’s Angel, his life force extinguished like a candle in the wind, was left hanging from the Divine Emperor’s statue at Caster Monastery.
The enemy’s arrogant laughter echoed in his ears.
Judge Kirk knelt in a pool of blood, wailing as he clutched a woman’s corpse...
Suddenly, Raphael gasped, sucking in the filthy air of the Lower City District. By the time he came to his senses, a cold sweat had already drenched his clothes.
A Defense Army soldier, seeing Raphael suddenly turn pale and break out in a sweat, hurried over and asked with concern, "Lord Priest, are you alright?"
Raphael panted heavily and took a shaky step back.
This was the third time he had seen such a vision, and with each occurrence, the images grew more real, as if he were truly there.
’Mind Vision...’
It was a power granted to him by his Wizard Bloodline. Raphael could not yet control this ability; the visions always came to him unbidden.
And these visions... this Mind Vision... was an omen of the future.
Raphael’s brows knitted together tightly. ’No, I have to tell Reinhardt about this vision of the future immediately. I have to tell him that a disaster is about to befall this world—and befall us.’
’This is the Divine Emperor’s warning about our fate.’
Raphael turned to leave, but suddenly, a streak of dark red light illuminated the darkness of the Lower City District, flashing across the sky above him before vanishing.
This was the only spot in the Lower City District where one could see past the dense architecture of the Stereoscopic City to a sliver of the sky. And in that sliver, at that exact moment, he saw them: fiery red meteors, one after another, streaking across the sky above the Desolate Wasteland Ruins just as they had in his vision.
It felt as if a giant hand had seized his heart, making it impossible to breathe.
After a brief, heart-stopping moment, Raphael took a deep breath and shouted, "You two! Notify the Defense Army in the Lower City District! Return to the surface, now! Go—!"
The Defense Army was not the same as the Imperial Infantry Corps; they were a local militia supplied by each world’s Provincial Governor Federation. The flames of rebellion had never reached the Seventeenth, so they had no idea what these dark red meteors signified.
But an order was an order, and it had to be carried out without question.
After acknowledging the command, the two Defense Army soldiers took off, running deeper into the Lower City District and shouting Raphael’s orders as they went.
「Meanwhile.」
Raphael stood rooted to the spot. The power of his Mind Connection became a searing white light that burned in his eyes as he reached out, found Reinhardt’s location, and told him everything he had seen in his premonition...
