The two brothers, who had spent almost their entire lives side by side, now stood on opposite ends.
Brother Elias had hoped—truly hoped—to persuade him, but his senior brother's sharp rebuttal, spoken as if he were some dark villain, cut off any chance of that.
He sighed quietly, realizing that today would mark the end of their brotherhood.
"Such a waste of talent," the abbot leader said coldly. "The monastery raised you well, yet you choose to side with abominations. Tsk, and this is how you repay them?"
Brother Elias chuckled softly. "For that, I am forever grateful. I used to believe every command from the monastery was righteous, so I never questioned anything. But this task… it's just as absurd as the one from twenty years ago."
For years, he had carried out every mission involving supernatural anomalies—never questioning, always trusting the monastery's claim that everything was done for the sake of the world.
