Chapter 184: The Truth

The Archbishop lay weakly on the ground, struggling painfully to catch his breath. The bright crimson blood that was gushing out from the black hole on his right chest dyed his white priest robe red, even the red carpet on the ground turned darker. Still, he did not die immediately, that old man was trembling trying to cast Theurgy on himself, attempting to stay alive for a little while longer.

After all, the heart that was being dug out was not his original heart. His own heart on the left was still beating but it was turning weaker as time passed. Yet, it was giving its all, trying to pump and do its best. It was not that the Archbishop wanted to continue to live on, in fact he had long made up his mind to give his life up today, but the main reason he was holding on was to find out why his disciple would do something like that.

Just then, chantings that he did not understand that came from the direction of an empty bench, suddenly filled the room.

“—,!” (W-W-What the hell just happened?!)

Without warning, a man dressed fully black appeared out of the thin air and walked towards him. That man lowered his head to look at his injuries before speaking to him in a familiar language, “You won’t be able to live for long. Even Theurgy could not save you now. Why don’t you tell me what’s going on instead?”

That man was none other than Baiyi. After he had reached the highest floor, he suddenly came across that bizzare scenario but when he entered the scene, both men seemed to have something on their mind so they did not notice his presence at all. So, he decided to sit down on one of the benches and watch the drama unfold before his eyes.

The Archbishop did not expected to see a third person. A glimmer of horror flashed across his face before it was quickly replaced by a look of relief. Finally, the truth had of what happened had a chance of getting out. Not giving a damn about Baiyi’s identity, he started to tell him about the whole situation using his voice that was so weak that Baiyi was afraid he would draw his last breath at any time.

“… I-I’m N-Nicholas. H-He is…”

The Archbishop cast a glance at the furnace that was still raging on fiercely. Bursts of evil laughters could be heard coming from inside.

“… H-He is Lord Haart, the C-Chief Judge”

“Are you sure he’s not called Arthas ¹ instead?” Baiyi could not stop himself. It was a good thing the Archbishop did not choke to death hearing such a ludicrous remark.

“I-I’m sorry, please go on,” Baiyi quickly waved his hand and apologized.

Then, the Archbishop proceeded to tell him the ins and outs of the entire incident. The entire story-telling process was a little bit too slow. Because the Archbishop was on the verge of dying, he could not speak fast and Baiyi was a little worried that the old man would die before he could finish the story. Not just that, a series of grotesque laughter could be heard coming out from the furnace every once a while and the whole situation appeared to be very creepy.

Fortunately, the Archbishop was still breathing and alive even after he finished his story. No monster had popped out from the furnace yet, and it left Baiyi with some time to process the whole story.

The story was, 300 years ago, the expedition to annihilate Thaas the Abyss Lord was not as successful as everyone had thought. Although his body was destroyed, his soul had hid in his own evil heart. In the end, the heart was brought back to Isythre by the Church.

The Church had came up with plenty of ways to destroy the heinous devil but no matter what they tried, they could not destroy the heart at all. After all, that was the heart that contained the entire energy of an evil devil lord. Just like that, after so many years, Thaas’s soul continued to hide inside the heart.

Hearing that, Baiyi interjected, “As far as I know, the Angels joined in that expedition as well, didn’t they? Why didn’t you asked for help from them? I’m sure your God would have a way to deal with it, right?”

The Archbishop shook his head weakly, “A-All the noble Angels were killed by that time… A-And afterwards, because of o-our arrogance and pride… W-we believed that we could settle the problem o-on our own so in the e-end, we did not notify the higher ups… a-about this problem.”

Baiyi nodded his head in understanding. Plainly put, it was a matter of pride. The higher-ups had helped you solve the biggest problem and you still could not settle one small little thing on your own? Where should you put your pride then?

The story went on.

There was nothing that the Church could do about the heart. At the same time, Thaas seemed to be unable to free himself from the heart as well. Seeing that, the Church decided to seal the heart away at the basement of the Supreme Judicial Court and let them guard it. The plan turned out to be a sucess and for many years, there were no troubles at all. Eventually, many people began to forget about it.

After 10 years, when the Judicial Judge, Nicholas, retired and became an Archbishop, and his disciple, Lord Haart took over his previous position, somebody suddenly had an interest in obtaining the heart. For that reason, multiple thefts were attempted and it had finally drawn the Archbishop’s attention back to the heart once again. Immediately, the issue about the heart was brought forth to their meeting.

In the end, it was Lord Haart who came up with the absurd idea to insert the heart into a devotee’s body and attract Thaas’ soul to come out of from the heart to take over the sacrificial soul. Then, when he had taken over the sacrificial soul, destroy the new body immediately and cast the exile spell on him to banish him into the Void and let him become Baiyi’s companion.

Without a doubt, there was only one word to describe the plan — crazy! Baiyi had to admire Lord Haart for being able to come up with such an absurd idea! What was even more ludicrous was the mindset of all those high-level Church administrators… they actually agreed to the idea! That ridiculous, outlandish idea!

There were probably two reasons why they agreed to that stupid idea.

One, from a technical point of view, the approach did indeed sound quite feasible and the Church must have discussed it thoroughly before they agreed to it. The point was, even if the plan had failed in the end, it would not matter much. After all, what was there to be afraid of? He would just be an abyss lord that had a mortal’s body.

Second, Lord Haart had won the trust of the Church since a long time ago. Although he only became the Chief Judge recently, he had managed to achieve numerous deeds of valor for the Church. Besides exterminating many cults with his own hands, he even exiled two Violators to the Void… Kashi the Painter and Xewter the Apprentice. Other than his rapid aging, he had a radiant future ahead of him. Not only was he ranked among the top great powers in the Church, he was also a potential cantidate for the next emperor in line. On top of that, his presence was so opulent that the other two Chief Judges could not even lift their heads up whenever he was present in a room. He had almost become the sole proprietor of the entire courtroom, with the right and power to influence a judgement with just one word.

Thus, the plan started to unfold. Very soon, a voluntary sacrifice was quickly found. Such a path towards salvation that fits the teaching of the scripture had no doubt attracted a great deal of devotees, of which the most powerful one was none other than the old Archbishop Nicholas himself.

Frankly, Lord Haart did not want to choose his mentor-cum-father figure to become the sacrifice. However, Nicholas actually took advantage of their relationship and ordered Lord Haart to choose him. According to Nicholas’ original idea, he would be successful in pursuing the path of salvation and Lord Haart would be able to rise and become an Archbishop. Wouldn’t it be like killing two birds with one stone?

After a series of arguments, Lord Haart finally agreed to the plan albeit unwillingly. As soon as the the heart had undergone a series of powerful sealing spells to make sure that Thaas’ soul would not leak out, it was immediately inserted into Nicholas’ chest. Other than giving the old dying Archbishop a second experience of being young again, there were no abnormalities from the enormous power of the heart.

So, the plan continued on. In order to ensure Nicholas’s body would be promptly destroyed in time after his body was taken over by Thaas, they had to choose a place that would be secure enough to carry out the feat. Without a doubt, the high-power magical furnace was clearly the best choice. The high temperature and Mana current was the most perilous environment that could be created by men.

According to the plan, after Nicholas had entered the furnace, the seal on the devil’s heart would be unlocked before the furnace starts, inducing Thaas to occupy his body. Then, the furnace would be ignited and the body would be destroyed and the soul would be exiled. Finally, the problem would be solved.

Lord Haart was the one who found out that there was an antique magical furnace being kept away in the Celestial Fortress Academy. Not only was its maximum power much higher and stronger than all the other existing ones, what was more important was the unique design that allowed a human to walk into it rather than the having to clumsily crawl in on all four limbs. Just like that, the final piece of the puzzle was now completed.

After everything was ready, they began to carry out the plan. Since it coincided with the Celestial Fortress Academy anniversary, they decided to use ‘cultural exchange’ as an excuse and entered the academy brazenly. Even the choir that was needed for the salvation could enter the academy freely. Everything was so perfect, other than the final outcome.

“Does anyone else know about this absurd plan other than you?” Baiyi asked after he had finished listening to the story.

“N-Not many…” The Archbishop answered as he was gasping for breath, “T-That demon asked us t-to act in secrecy because of the… t-the possibility of spies within the C-Church. B-Because there have been thefts and a-asaults on the heart before… a-all of us believed him. A-Apart from a few key people, not many people k-know about this at all. E-Even the children who are singing b-below have no idea who they are singing for…”

The Holy Song was sung to celebrate the birth and all the great works of God. Now, it seemed like the God had long disappeared and the monsterous laughter in the furnace was getting louder by the second, so bloodcurdling that it sent chills up the spine.

“Well, thank you for telling me so much. In return, I’ll answer the question that is in your mind now,” Looking at the poor father who was going to die soon, a sense of sympathy crept into Baiyi’s heart. Slowly, he inched closer to him and converted a tiny bit of his Mana into the Void Energy.

“You!” Nicholas’ eyes suddenly opened wide in shock, glaring at Baiyi with utter disbelief, “V-Violator!”

“As expected of a Chief Judge from the Supreme Judicial Court! You can even recognize me even when you’re on the verge of death,” Baiyi said calmly.

To his surprise, a peculiar smile suddenly appeared on Nicholas’ face before he burst out laughing, “Ha ha ha! I-I can’t believe this! The last person s-sending me away would be my biggest enemy…”

“Come on, don’t say it like that! Well, in order to let you leave with an easy heart, let me tell you another secret,” Baiyi continued before pointing his finger at the two paintings on the wall— the “Saint Joel who Walked Alone in the Deep Abyss” and “Fearless Hentai the Holy Paladin”.

“Do you still remember them? They’re with me right now.”

After listening to that sentence, a series of complicated looks appeared on the Archbishop’s face at once. Horror, doubt, astonishment and finally, a little relief?

Just like that, those looks were forever frozen on his face.

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