Chapter 188: Betrayer

A blonde girl, playing on a green meadow, giggles as she looks at her.

‘Sister!’

The girl who looked just like her was named Reina.

The only precious family she had left in this world.

But at some point, she grew distant and then reappeared with a blood-stained face.

‘Sister. It hurts. It hurts so much! Save me!’

Her naked body, with her clothes all torn and ripped, was covered in all sorts of wounds.

‘Reina! What happened!’

‘S-sister…… hic!’

‘Who did this! Whose doing this is!’

Reina, who was crying tears of blood, embraces her.

And then she whispers softly in her ear.

‘……Me.’

‘What?’

‘It was me. Me.’

The face of Reina, whom she looked at in surprise, was grinning a bizarre smile with the corners of her mouth torn up to her ears.

‘Kihihihit!’

She mutilated her own body with her long nails.

Without caring that her skin was being peeled off and blood was splattering everywhere.

‘Kihihit! It was me! It was me who did it, sister!’

Soon, her voice was heard from all directions.

Sister? Sister? Sister? Sister? Sister?

Sister? Sister? Sister? Sister? Sister?

Sister? Sister? Sister? Sister? Sister?

Sister? Sister? Sister? Sister? Sister?

‘Answer me, Rachel─!’

Kyaaaaaaak──

With a bloodcurdling scream as the last, Rachel’s eyes shot open.

“Heok! Heok!”

A rough breath explodes out with a dry heave.

Her clothes were already damp with sweat that had poured like rain, and dried tears were stuck to her bloodshot eyes.

It was a nightmare.

A nightmare where her precious sister turns into a demon.

But it was also reality.

Because the Reina she had briefly met in the room was not the kind sister she had known.

The proof was the scarlet stab wound that ran down her back.

The battle that had started with a surprise attack from the High Cleric, Loki, who had been hiding behind the dormitory door.

At that time, Reina had intervened and wounded her, and in the ensuing attack, Rachel was helplessly subdued.

Just before she fainted, Reina’s bright question pierced Rachel’s ear.

‘Hmm. Can’t I just kill her?’

‘No. The Bishop’s order was to find out the location of Shadow.’

Her sister, whom she thought was dead, is alive.

But that sister is not the sister she knew.

‘The demon Lilith.’

Nevertheless, Rachel was grateful.

That she was alive.

‘There must be a way to turn her back. For sure.’

At the same time, a person flashes in her mind.

‘That person will know the way.’

So, she had to go to the Academy.

She didn’t know what the demon, wearing her sister’s shell, would do.

Before she caused a big accident, she had to hurry and turn her back to her original self.

‘First, I have to get out of here.’

Rachel was sitting with her arms and legs bound.

It was a sealed room without a single window and on the only table, there was only a single communication device installed for contact.

The cult’s communication post.

All of the cult’s communication posts were cleverly set up in the city.

In other words, this was the city.

She hoped it was still Icata, but she didn’t know how long she had been unconscious, so it was hard to judge accurately.

Rachel moved her body here and there.

Her arms, tied behind the back of the chair, seemed to have been tied at the wrists and the entire forearms, as they had no intention of moving.

The same went for her legs.

The rope tying both her feet was so thick that the blade of a sword would likely break if she tried to cut it.

‘What should I do…….’

There seemed to be no physical way.

It was then.

“I came in because the struggling sound had stopped, and you’re awake after all.”

The door opened, and a man as thin as a tree branch came into the room where she was.

The Darkness High Cleric, Loki.

A man known within the cult as Bishop Lutus’s shadow.

It was the first time Rachel had met him in person as well.

“Did you have a nightmare?”

“……Do I have to tell you?”

He let out a small laugh and put the bag he was holding on the floor.

Thump.

Inside the bag was a full set of tools that looked like torture instruments.

“You don’t have to tell me about your dream, but you’d better answer what I ask from now on.”

“Hey. Loki. Torturing me right now isn’t the problem. There’s a more serious problem. A demon. A demon has returned.”

“So?”

“So? Are you saying that because you don’t know what will happen if it’s released into this world? I have to go. Untie me right now.”

Loki laughed, “keuk keuk”.

“Are you talking about that twin sister of yours? I’ve heard the story. So. What will change if you go? What can you do?”

“If even a little of my sister’s reason remains and she recognizes me, there might be a way.”

“Puhehehe. You’re having a pretty ambitious dream, even though your back was turned into a rag by your own sister. Is it because you’re a girl? Your sensibility is very rich!”

Rachel frowned at Loki’s sarcasm.

“……There’s no time for jokes, Loki. We don’t have much time.”

“Right. We don’t have time.”

Loki rummaged through his bag and picked up a small pair of pliers and scissors.

“You must think I don’t know that you’re trying to trick me into running away, but Bishop Lutus is in perfect control of the demon, so don’t worry about useless things and worry about yourself.”

Rachel’s face hardened.

“……What do you mean? Control a demon?”

“Just as you heard.”

“Do you think a human can control a demon? He’s just pretending to be used!”

“Hoo. Is that so? Then that’s even better. If a true demon awakens in this world, she will lead us! Uh-hehe.”

Rachel made a disgusted face at Loki’s half-crazed answer.

Right.

This is what the Beltus Cult was.

Crazy pseudo-believers who worship demons and want to offer the world to evil.

“Now. Shall we start by simply cutting off a finger.”

The pliers, which were slowly getting closer.

Rachel, who was quickly racking her brain, decided to change her method.

“……Right. That’s also good. Because we worship demons. But is that what Bishop Lutus thinks too?”

“Hehe. Seeing you spout nonsense, you must be in a hurry.”

“He is a betrayer.”

“Aren’t you the betrayer?”

“No. I am the judge.”

Thud, the pliers that were raising her finger stopped.

“What?”

“Didn’t you hear? I am the cult’s judge. I came under him to catch Bishop Lutus’s act of betrayal.”

Judge.

They, who hide their identity and infiltrate the cult to find and judge those who have broken the cult’s rules, are the Archpontiff’s swords.

Because they are so secretive, no one knows their identity.

The only ones who know are the Archpontiffs, the heads of each council.

“I am under the orders of Archpontiff Sran. He told me to investigate Bishop Lutus’s back, as his actions seemed suspicious.”

“……”

There was no answer.

But Rachel saw it.

Loki’s pupils trembled for a brief moment.

Soon, those pupils were filled with displeasure and anger.

“This arrogant bitch is pulling all sorts of shit because she wants to live. What? A judge? Investigating Bishop Lutus?”

“The evidence is in my bosom.”

“……!”

He paused again.

Loki’s eyes were darting here and there, his expression lost in conflict.

“Think about it, Loki. Isn’t it strange? Why did he have to drag me all the way here for you to torture me? It would have been a piece of cake if he had just left it to the Death Council.”

“……”

“With their sorcery, they would have been able to find out not only the location of Shadow, but also how many people I’ve slept with. Why did you have to waste your energy torturing me?”

“That is…… because the information would be shared with the Death Council. That’s why I don’t like it.”

He was right.

But Rachel was not stupid enough to admit that in this situation.

She pressed Loki even more.

“Is that really so?”

“……”

“Bishop Lutus is a meticulous man. But after spending a long time as his daughter and investigating him, I was able to catch his tail a while ago. That data is inside me. What did he say he would do with me after extracting the information about Shadow?”

“Kill you……”

“Huhu. Of course, he would. But…… it won’t be too late to carry it out after you check the data in my bosom. Right?”

Loki hesitated for a moment.

But having heard this much, there was only one choice he could make.

“Which side is it on?”

“Right breast, inner pocket.”

The data that came out of there was the evidence that Rachel had obtained to give to Gerard.

In the hideout guarded by Jack of the Sawtooth, Lutus had been secretly communicating with someone.

That communication record and coordinates were now in Loki’s hand.

“……Where did you find this, you bitch?”

Loki asked, his expression heavy as he read through the long communication record.

“Mount Kretan.”

“The central mountain range.”

“What. You know something too?”

“……”

Although he didn’t answer, Rachel, who had noticed something from Loki’s reaction, cheered inwardly.

“But what about this? Can you prove Bishop Lutus’s act of betrayal with this?”

“There are the coordinates of the other party in the communication there. If you trace those coordinates, you can find out who he was communicating with.”

“Who did he do it with?”

“How would I know? I was caught right before I could find out. I’ll probably be dead at your hands in a little while.”

Rachel continued to speak.

“Now you know, right? Why Bishop Lutus didn’t leave the work to the Death Council. He doesn’t dislike sharing information with the Death Council and Shadow. He’s afraid that his secret will be revealed. That’s why he entrusted the torture to you.”

“……”

“Now. It’s time for you to choose, Loki.”

Are you a cleric of the cult?

Or are you a dog that follows a betrayer?

At Rachel’s low and clear question, Loki looked back and forth between the data in his hand and her face.

After contemplating for a few minutes.

He finally seemed to have made up his mind and opened his mouth with a curse, ‘Damn it’.

“Wait a minute.”

“What? Why?”

“I have to trace the coordinates. It’ll be over soon.”

Loki strode over to the communication device on the table, turned on the power, and soon contacted someone.

“Well, alright.”

Although she answered leisurely, Rachel was also nervous on the inside and swallowed hard.

‘What if it’s not a big deal?’

From the circumstances, there was a high probability that it was the Frey Royal Empire.

However, it was literally a guess based on the circumstances.

Since she hadn’t checked the location of those coordinates herself, if it turned out to be somewhere else, there would be no situation more disastrous than that.

‘Please.’

It was when she was looking at Loki’s communication with trembling eyes.

“Did you find out?”

[Yes. As a result of tracing the coordinates you gave me, the location is…….]

The answer from the other side of the terminal.

Immediately after, the communication post was engulfed in a heavy silence for a moment.

[High Cleric? What’s wrong?]

“It’s nothing. W-where did you say it was?”

[It is the Frey Royal Empire’s royal palace.]

“Alright. Thank you.”

Loki put down the terminal.

A grinding sound came from his jaw, the sound of his molars breaking.

He had clenched it so tightly that the metal terminal was half bent.

‘Lutus. This betraying bastard…….’

Loki, who had suppressed his anger with a deep breath, hurriedly contacted another place.

Above all, it was a priority to report this grave fact to the other bishops.

Just then, Rachel called him from behind.

“Hey! What are you doing? Untie me quickly!”

“Shut up.”

“……What? I believe I told you? I am a judge under the orders of Archpontiff Sran. Show some respect!”

“That’s something we don’t know yet. I’ll find out, so just wait quietly…… hmm?”

It was then.

Whoosh!

A suddenly soaring flame swallowed the communication device.

It was when the startled Loki hurriedly took off his robe and was about to put out the flames.

“What is this all of a sud…… Keoheok!”

A sword that had popped out from the side pierced his throat.

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