"An evil existence?"
Duke Auston Corvinus chewed on those four words, his weather-beaten face clouded over.
As a military giant of the Silver Moon Kingdom, he naturally knew how deep the waters of the Eternal Night Peninsula ran.
It was not only a paradise for monsters but also a gathering place for countless vicious criminals exiled by the kingdom.
For a waste whose legs had been broken to survive there, the only possibility was...
To sell his soul.
"It seems my dear son has completely fallen in order to stay alive."
The duke's voice was cold, devoid of any emotion.
In his eyes, Victor was no longer his son, but a stain that had defiled the family honor and had to be erased.
"Father."
Lancelot snapped back from his initial shock, his handsome face once again wearing that gentle and confident smile.
Only deep within that smile, there was a hidden trace of imperceptible spite and jealousy.
"Since Victor is no longer a member of our family, there's no need for us to waste the family's precious military strength on him."
"Oh? And what good idea do you have?" The duke raised an eyebrow.
"Kill with a borrowed knife."
Lancelot slowly spat out those words, his eyes flashing with a viper-like light.
"Since he has turned to evil, then naturally... there are messengers of justice who will go to sanction him."
...
Half an hour later.
The royal capital, the Holy Light Cathedral.
This was the most sacred and solemn place in the entire Silver Moon Kingdom.
On the high dome, murals depicted the battle between angels and demons.
Beneath the massive stained-glass windows, devout believers knelt on the ground, whispering prayers.
The air was thick with the scent of holy incense and a faint, lingering smell of power.
"Master Lancelot, what brings you to my humble abode?"
Inside a confessional deep within the cathedral.
An old man dressed in magnificent red robes, fat as a pig with fingers covered in gemstone rings, was smiling at the young noble before him.
Cardinal Mel.
The head of the Holy Light Church in the capital and a notoriously greedy man.
"Good day, Cardinal Mel."
Lancelot gave an elegant salute, his face wearing a perfect, flawless smile.
"I have come today for a matter of... great importance concerning the safety of the kingdom and the glory of the Holy Light."
"Oh?"
The fat on Mel's face shook, and a glint of shrewdness flashed in his cloudy little eyes.
He knew that every time this young lord used such a tone, it meant...
A big business deal had arrived.
"Please, speak."
"Your Eminence, have you heard of... the disturbances in the Eternal Night Peninsula?"
Lancelot didn't beat around the bush and cut straight to the chase.
"The Eternal Night Peninsula?" Mel frowned. "That cursed wilderness? Besides monsters and exiles, what else is there?"
"There wasn't much before, but there is now."
Lancelot's voice dropped low, filled with solemnity.
"According to my family's scouts who risked their lives to investigate, an extremely dangerous heretic has appeared there!"
"A heretic?"
Upon hearing this word, the smile on Cardinal Mel's face vanished instantly, replaced by a cold sternness.
To the Holy Light Church, the word 'heretic' was synonymous with 'mortal enemy'.
"Indeed."
Lancelot continued to add fuel to the fire, telling the lies he had prepared long ago.
"That heretic is none other than my brother, Victor Corvinus."
"After being exiled by the family for a grave crime, he harbored deep resentment and actually fell to darkness in the Eternal Night Peninsula, consorting with the undead!"
"He has built a black castle, calling himself the 'Director,' using evil magic to revive the dead and assemble an army of the undead!"
"He has even enslaved a legendary vampire queen, turning her into his servant!"
As Lancelot spoke, he pulled a stack of 'evidence' from his cloak.
They were extremely realistic portraits painted with magic.
In the portraits, a man in a bloodstained white robe, holding a chainsaw with eight tentacles growing from his back, stood atop a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, grinning savagely.
At his feet knelt crowds of skeleton soldiers, zombies, and even a fiery red-haired woman.
These portraits, of course, were forged overnight by palace painters commissioned by Lancelot.
Although the details wouldn't hold up to scrutiny, the overwhelming aura of evil was more than enough for the act.
"This... is this true?!"
Cardinal Mel looked at those blasphemous images, his fat body beginning to tremble.
Reviving the dead!
Enslaving a vampire!
And tentacles growing from his back!
This was practically a textbook, standard, quintessential set of traits for a major villain!
"It is absolutely true."
Lancelot put on a look of deep sorrow.
"The knight order my family sent to persuade him to return to the path of righteousness has... been completely wiped out."
"This is the only token they brought back."
As he spoke, he produced a fragment of a Blade of Judgment covered in dark blood (which was actually pig's blood).
"Your Eminence, Victor has completely lost his mind."
"He has even threatened to lead his undead army out of the Eternal Night Peninsula to shroud the entire kingdom in the shadow of death!"
"This is a blatant provocation to the Holy Light! A defiance of divine authority!"
"As the heir to the Corvinus family and a devout believer in the Holy Light, I cannot stand by and do nothing!"
"Therefore, I have come today to humbly entreat the Church..."
Lancelot gave a deep bow to Cardinal Mel.
"To bring down divine punishment!"
"Dispatch the Templar Knights to completely purify that tainted land!"
"For the peace of the kingdom, for the glory of the Holy Light!"
His words were impassioned and filled with righteous indignation.
If one didn't know his filthy motives, even Victor himself might have believed him.
Cardinal Mel looked at the young lord who was acting so convincingly, his cloudy eyes flickering with calculating light.
Send troops?
That was the Eternal Night Peninsula.
Though the Church was powerful, it would not easily step into such a forbidden zone.
If they suffered heavy losses, he, as a cardinal, could not bear the responsibility.
However...
The 'heretic' bait Lancelot threw out was far too tempting.
You had to know that every time a powerful heretic was purified, the Church gained a massive amount of believers and wealth.
Not to mention that 'evil god' who supposedly enslaved a vampire queen.
If he could be captured and sacrificed to His Holiness the Pope...
That would be a monumental achievement!
"Master Lancelot, your devotion is noted. May the Holy Light be with you."
Cardinal Mel pondered for a moment before his face broke into a hypocritical smile once more.
"However, mobilizing the Templar Knights is a grave matter that requires the personal approval of His Holiness."
"Furthermore, these portraits alone are not enough to..."
"I understand."
Lancelot caught the hint immediately.
He pulled out a heavy magic crystal card from his cloak and quietly slipped it into Cardinal Mel's voluminous sleeve.
"Your Eminence works tirelessly day and night for the cause of the Holy Light. It must be exhausting."
"This is a small token of respect from our Corvinus family. Please do not take offense."
"A mere one hundred thousand gold coins. I hope Your Eminence... will not disdain it."
Mel felt the weight in his sleeve, and the smile on his face instantly grew ten times brighter.
"Oh my, Master Lancelot is far too kind!"
"Purifying heretics is, after all, the unshakable responsibility of our Church!"
He calmly tucked away the crystal card and then said with a serious expression:
"The matter is of great importance, so we must act with caution."
"How about this."
Mel's eyes darted around as he thought of a foolproof plan.
"I will immediately report to the Holy See and apply for a 'Holy Light Detection' of the Eternal Night Peninsula."
"Meanwhile, to confirm the truth of the intelligence, I will first send an elite scout to infiltrate and investigate."
He looked at Lancelot with a meaningful gaze.
"The scouts of our Church are all specially trained and possess the Eye of Truth, capable of seeing through all illusions and disguises."
"If the intelligence he brings back confirms your claims..."
Cardinal Mel's face twisted into a cruel smile.
"Then, what awaits that fallen one will be—"
"A Holy War."
"Thank you, Your Eminence!"
Lancelot was overjoyed and bowed deeply once more.
He knew that his plan was already half successful.
As long as that scout went in and saw the true state of that ghost of a place...
Even if it was only a tenth as terrifying as what Gareth had seen...
It would be enough to make those fanatics in the Church go completely berserk.
Victor...
My dear brother.
This time, I'll see how you escape with your life!
...
Half an hour later.
A pitch-black raven, its eyes flashing with a holy golden light, soared into the sky from the spire of the Holy Light Cathedral.
Its speed was like a bolt of lightning as it silently merged into the clouds, racing toward the Eternal Night Peninsula.
And on the back of the raven...
A scout, completely shrouded in a grey cloak with an aura that blended perfectly with the surroundings, sat with his eyes closed, resting.
His codename was 'Holy Eye'.
The Church's top reconnaissance expert.
It was said that his eyes could even see the color of a person's soul.
"Heretic..."
"Evil god..."
"I hope this target... can bring me a little surprise."
The scout murmured to himself, a cold arc curling at the corner of his mouth.
He did not know.
The 'surprise' he was about to face...
Would be so large that it would...
Completely crush all the faith and reason he had built over the past decades.
Rate on N.U.
