"You place chains upon the truth—then claim that the chains are its holy garments."
A young yet commanding voice rang out across the square.
Then, four small, slender figures—each with pointed ears—descended from the sky, coming to a stop at the four corners of the execution platform.
They radiated pure, unrestrained power.
Their psychic pressure crashed upon the crowd like a tidal wave, making every priest and knight of the Church feel as if their hearts were being gripped by an invisible hand.
Moments later, six fourth-tier knight puppets and sixty third-tier puppets surrounded the area, swiftly subduing all of Orad's men.
Then—the massive gates of Heim Castle creaked open.
Hel emerged first, her expression calm and cold.
Behind her stood her two lieutenants, Arwin and Sebas, followed by Lily and the others.
And at the rear—ranks of the Heim Knight Order, fully armored and ready for battle.
At this moment, aside from Niv—who stood on the city wall, maintaining psychic pressure on Orad—Hel had brought out every ounce of power she could openly display.
"Fifth-tier… elves?"
Tonyo, pinned to the ground by spiritual force, stared wide-eyed.
He could hardly believe what he was seeing.
Hel—a mere count—had a fifth-tier powerhouse hidden under her command?!
If he had known that earlier, he would've never followed Orad here.
This was suicide.
While Tonyo trembled, the four-tier priest Hobert at least tried to maintain some dignity.
He had seen fifth-tier beings before—the Church had many.
But for a mere noble family to command so many of them… that was not normal.
He forced his voice to sound steady, though his heart quaked.
"Count Hel, I advise you not to act rashly.
To attack members of the Holy Church is a grave crime!
Even if you have some patron among the crowned, your actions will bring judgment upon you—and upon them!"
"Doesn't matter."
Hel ascended the wooden steps of the platform, her boots tapping lightly on the blood-stained planks.
She ignored the trembling priests and knights as she walked to the cross.
Vivian hung there, her head bowed, her face still serene even in death.
Hel's expression softened.
"Last night, I had a dream," she said softly.
But the magic woven into her words carried them clearly to every ear in the square.
"In my dream, a pure and holy angel came to me in tears.
She told me that, under my rule, a cunning devil had crept into my lands—
one who sought to overthrow the Lord of Light's dominion in Heim,
who tempted my people to turn their faith toward darkness.
And that same devil… sought to harm the angel's descendant.
He dared to brand her—a child of light—as a heretic, using the Church's own name."
"You—! Lies! She clearly—"
Even under Niv's psychic restraint, Orad still gritted his teeth and tried to speak.
But before he could finish—
A pale, delicate hand pierced straight into his chest.
"Y—you…"
His pupils shrank in disbelief.
He hadn't even seen her move.
He hadn't seen when she appeared before him, or how her hand drove clean through his ribs.
For something like this to happen—there was only one explanation:
the opponent's strength was so far beyond his own that he couldn't even perceive it.
But that was impossible.
He was a fourth-tier peak clergyman!
Who could possibly overpower him to this degree? A fifth-tier pinnacle being?
That couldn't be.
A child like Hel couldn't possibly…
"Honestly," Hel murmured, her hand buried in his chest, fingers searching calmly.
"I didn't want to handle things this way."
Her voice was soft, almost regretful.
"But your arrogance blinded you.
You ignored my warnings—and you dared to harm my people.
So now, I have no choice but to flip the table."
Orlad's eyes widened.
His lips trembled—
Then his gaze went blank.
Even in death, he didn't understand what sort of monster he had provoked.
Hel's fingers brushed something hard within his chest.
Normally, a fourth-tier priest of the Light would have a crystal core of the Holy element within his heart—his life's condensed essence.
And yet—
Hel's lips curved faintly.
Her fingertip glowed as she tapped the core.
Orlad's soul tore free from his body, drawn into her hand, while his crystal core slipped neatly into her spatial ring.
When she withdrew her hand, a dark violet-black crystal pulsed between her fingers.
"Th—that's impossible!"
Hobert was the first to speak, his voice cracking.
He'd just returned from the capital—he knew exactly what that meant.
That color—
that energy—
It wasn't the Light.
It was Abyssal.
Orad… had fallen.
He wasn't human anymore.
He had become one of the Devil's servants—a minion of the Lord of Corruption, an advance agent of Hell itself.
The realization hit like a divine thunderbolt.
The Church of Light had—unknowingly—appointed a devil as the new archbishop of Mandrake.
For a noble or a king to fall into darkness—that was one thing.
But for a cleric, one sworn to the Light, to become a devil?
Unthinkable.
Unforgivable.
This was a scandal of apocalyptic proportions.
If the truth got out, the Church's very authority would crumble overnight.
Hobert's face went pale.
He knew instantly what this meant:
They were all doomed.
Not just him.
Not just the priests.
Not just Count Hel.
Everyone in Heim City would die to silence this.
The Church would never allow such a humiliation to leak.
But—if he tried to hide it, if the truth spread later, his entire bloodline would be condemned alongside him.
So—he made his choice.
Quietly, Hobert activated a small alchemical device hidden in his robes.
It was an encrypted communication tool—one granted only to the Church's senior hierarchy for transmitting high-level intelligence.
He'd only obtained one thanks to his family's influence.
In a trembling whisper, he encoded and sent every detail of what had transpired in Heim.
The moment the signal left his device, the message began its deadly journey—
from priest to bishop, from bishop to cardinal—
until, finally, it reached the hands of the Archbishop of the Knight Empire, an aged man whose eyes were clouded yet sharp as blades.
When he read the report, the old man's pupils contracted.
A terrifying light gleamed in his gaze.
Without hesitation, he issued a single, chilling command—
"Erase Heim City."
The order was relayed instantly to several sealed monarch-level combatants stationed nearest to the city.
They would obliterate Heim from the face of the world—and afterward, the Church would place the blame squarely upon the advancing beastmen armies.