Chapter 329: Conspiracy and Mutation
Drip... Drip...
Fresh blood dripped onto the floorboards.
The surrounding walls gradually aged, and the light outside the window also dimmed.
Two different timelines finally overlapped into one.
Mia and Simon also witnessed this bloody scene.
The latter's injuries had already been treated, and he was currently leaning in a corner.
Upon seeing this scene, Simon quietly turned on the video camera.
At this moment, Kerson's condition was extremely critical. Not only was the aura on his body rapidly weakening, but even if he went to the hospital now, it would be far too late.
Unless there was a Holy Clergy Member skilled in healing like Sid, there might still be a chance to keep him alive.
Therefore, for Kerson... death was already predetermined.
He kept his gaze fixed on William, his eyes seemingly holding many regrets.
But none of this mattered anymore.
Before long, Kerson's head drooped completely.
William secretly clenched his fists, then looked at the person behind Kerson: "Your eyes tell me that you don't have a grudge against him."
"Then I can only assume... you did this for the Priest Order position."
"Hmph, you're very smart," Ambo curled his lips upward. "It seems you also expected this inwardly."
William spread his hands: "It's obvious."
"On the day of the Rookie Ceremony, everyone around was talking about you as if you were already the Vice Commander. I was even certain you would come find me that very day."
"Shouldn't they? Anyone could tell that position belonged to me!" Ambo gritted his teeth, his emotions suddenly becoming agitated.
"But that person pretended not to see! For so many years, I went from an ordinary..."
"Alright, alright." William raised his hand to interrupt the other party.
"Perhaps you've experienced many hardships and made many sacrifices, but after you attack a comrade, these will only be seen as excuses for sophistry."
Ambo narrowed his eyes, clearly displeased about being interrupted: "Then they will also sleep eternally beneath the earth."
William didn't care about these threatening words; instead, he changed the subject: "There is something I am very curious about."
"From our limited encounters, you don't seem like a reckless person. Since that's the case, your current behavior seems somewhat unjustifiable."
"Hehe... you're very perceptive. I guess I can understand why Jolan chose you..."
William merely looked at him calmly.
"Correct, someone indeed authorized this operation, but this is also something I am happy to see." Ambo smiled slightly.
"Oh? To assassinate a member of the Vatican's Priest Order and defy the orders of Archbishop Jolan... Who has that kind of guts?" William asked.
"What Archbishop! He's just a guy with better luck." Ambo spat on the floor.
"As for the person who authorized this behind the scenes, hehe... do you think I would tell you this?"
"Once you admitted this wasn't a personal grudge, this matter became not that hard to guess," William stated.
Ambo narrowed his eyes tightly.
"Jolan and the members of the Priest Order—these two carry enough weight. To say who would dare make a move against them, it could only be figures of similar status, for example... the Holy Clans."
Ambo took a deep look at William: "You are very different from other Holy Clergy Members. I heard you also come from a lower-level diocese. What a pity..."
He sighed: "If this were any other occasion, perhaps we could have gotten along very well."
"Save the meaningless words." William subtly slipped his hand into his robe pocket.
"You should know, for those Holy Clans to do this, they are clearly just using you as a pawn. Aren't you afraid of being discarded afterward?"
Hearing this, Ambo let out a light chuckle: "Hmph, only those with value can be utilized, otherwise, one can only stay at the foot of the mountain forever. I merely seized the opportunity that belonged to me."
Subsequently, his tone shifted.
"Listening to your attitude toward Jolan... it seems you are also dissatisfied with him? If you can publicly stand up and oppose him, it's not impossible for me to recommend you to the people above."
This time, it was William's turn to show disdain in his eyes.
"A person who can't even tolerate having a position snatched away actually expects others to believe he would sincerely offer a recommendation?"
"For you to resort to such a clumsy trick, could it be... you're not confident you can take me down alone?"
Ambo remained silent. Before coming, he had indeed gathered intelligence on William's actions in the Land of the Holy War.
And all results indicated—this person was very difficult to deal with.
Seeing the other party remain silent, William spoke again: "If that's the case, why did you sneak attack Kerson just now?"
"After all, the person who assigned the Vice Commander is Jolan, and the one who took over the position is me. Could it be... you can't beat the two of us, so you vented your anger on someone else?"
"Hmph, when facing unequal numbers, naturally, one must defeat them one by one." Ambo withdrew his hand from Kerson's body.
"You say I'm not confident I can take you down alone, then why don't we test that theory."
As soon as his voice fell, three circles of golden patterns instantly surfaced in Ambo's eyes.
William immediately felt his body's movements become sluggish, and the nearby spirit particle runes felt like glue.
He did not panic. Golden patterns similarly surfaced in his eyes, and subsequently, the spirit particle runes before his eyes were tinged with different colors.
"There's a flaw here."
William locked his gaze on a spot in mid-air to the side, then released a massive amount of Holy Power from his eyes.
Following a crisp sound, he regained his freedom.
"How is this possible!" Opposite him, Ambo looked surprised.
"To actually decipher the structure of spirit particles in an instant... Could it be... you've achieved Holy Art Insight?"
William narrowed his eyes, forming guesses inwardly.
But outwardly, he showed no anomaly: "It's too late to back out now."
"Hmph, arrogant fool." Ambo suddenly crouched on the floor, and immediately after, dabbed his hand in blood to rapidly smear a few special characters on the ground.
"Swearing by blood, I pray for holy power, to drive the world's evil beyond the boundaries..."
As soon as his voice fell, the blood on Kerson's body seemed to come alive, transforming into two blood pillars that flew toward William.
"Categorizing me directly as evil, huh..." William narrowed his eyes, then raised his hand.
The next moment, a pure white barrier flew out from his body, rapidly expanding in all directions.
"Sanctuary!" Ambo's eyes went wide.
"Impossible... in the Land of the Holy War, he clearly could only project it two or three meters."
His intelligence wasn't wrong, but it was somewhat outdated.
Since returning from the Land of the Holy War, William had been conducting in-depth research on his new discoveries regarding Holy Arts back then. Coupled with the assistance of his panel, his progress had long surpassed what it was at that time.
"It seems you know quite a lot about me, so you definitely know this, right?"
As William spoke, he tossed out a few holy artifacts, and an isolation magic array subsequently appeared around Ambo.
Immediately after, he raised his hand again and pointed at the latter's forehead.
Drifting there were several auras of bright red, gray, and other colors—this was the power of emotions.
The next moment, the gray aura suddenly surged, gradually evolving into the shape of chains, tightly binding Ambo.
Thump!
The latter crashed heavily onto the floor.
Mia huddled behind an overturned table, her eyes filled with shock, not even daring to breathe too loudly.
What was happening right now far exceeded her comprehension; these two in front of her were practically like supermen.
Simon aside felt the same.
Every time he filmed for a while, he would flip the camera lens to show his own face and his watch within the frame, attempting to prove that this footage was not fabricated.
"If this is all you are capable of, then your previous words truly make one laugh," William said coldly.
Ambo frowned tightly.
At this moment, he indeed felt somewhat aggrieved. Who would have thought that a member newly joining the Holy See's Priest Order from a lower-level church could actually use so many high-level Holy Arts?
Moreover, the transitions between them were fluid, showing absolutely no concern about depleting his power in a short time.
"Is this guy made of Holy Power..." Ambo gritted his teeth inwardly.
But then, he actually smiled again.
William immediately narrowed his eyes.
"Detestable guy... didn't you ask just now why I killed Kerson first?" Ambo raised his head as he spoke.
William immediately looked toward the corpse, but there were no anomalies there.
"He's a sacrifice," Ambo suddenly stated.
As soon as his voice fell, everything in the room suddenly slowed down.
William turned his head, only to see Kayako crouching in the corner of the wall.
It held that glass bottle in its arms, pressing the pads of its fingers together as if performing some kind of ritual.
Such a scene, when performed by a ghost brimming with monstrous resentment, was simply bizarre in the extreme.
William instantly had a bad premonition.
Earlier, when the sacrifice exhibited an anomaly, Kayako was also swept up in it. Because he had been entirely focused on dealing with Ambo, William didn't deal with it immediately.
At this time, an anomaly occurred on Kayako again.
Pitch-black strands of hair suddenly lifted from the back of its head. Immediately after, the hair intertwined with each other, quickly forming several clumps of black hair.
These things hovered in mid-air, like balloons.
At the same time, Kerson's corpse suddenly moved.
He "picked up" his own heart and stumbled toward Kayako.
Mia and Simon instantly widened their eyes.
William immediately tossed a bottle of Holy Water. No matter what the other side was planning, it wouldn't be good for him.
But the next second, the Holy Water bottle flying in mid-air suddenly dropped to the floor.
"Hehehe..."
Ambo suddenly regained his mobility, pointing at William and laughing maniacally: "As a member of the Priest Order, to publicly set up an evil ritual and even use a companion's body as a sacrifice..."
William's gaze was calm; he understood the other party's intentions.
At this time, Kerson's heart suddenly exploded.
Flesh and blood filled the air, emitting a thick, bloody stench.
And at this moment, the entire house suddenly became abnormally quiet.
William raised an eyebrow.
From his perspective, Ambo was still laughing maniacally, but the sound coming from the other party seemed to have been silenced.
At the same time, a dazzling sphere of light appeared out of thin air.
Hum—
A halo of light expanded in all directions.
William immediately contracted his Holy Light barrier, blocking it out.
But this power was exceptionally strong, actually managing to penetrate directly inside, and simultaneously, a complex whispering suddenly rang in his ears.
Without any hesitation, William immediately set up multiple layers of magic arrays around himself while taking out a hundred-year vintage holy artifact.
Under the dazzling golden light, this sound finally faded gradually.
Immediately after, he activated [Missionary], wanting to see what that cluster of light actually was.
"Don't!"
At this time, another exclamation rang in his ear again.
William whipped his head around, only to find the space beside him completely empty.
And not far away.
Mia's eyes were blurry. She was clutching her chest, repeatedly bowing to empty air, looking quite excited.
Simon had both hands raised in the air, grinning foolishly, the shape of his hands looking as if he were holding a video camera. But the actual video camera was currently sitting on the floor, pointed right at William's direction.
"Whose voice was that..." William narrowed his eyes tightly.
The other party seemed to not want him to activate [Missionary].
"Could there be something wrong with that cluster of light... Wait!"
William's eyes suddenly lit up. He had seen this cluster of light before, exactly during that Philadelphia Anniversary.
At that time, those guys from the Wings of Vengeance had set up some kind of ritual, sucking everyone in the venue into an anomalous space.
"Back then, there were many empty bottles as props at the venue..."
"We will eventually become one," a shrill female voice suddenly rang out.
William looked in that direction, only to see Kayako had stood up.
No!
More accurately... it was a hybrid of Kayako and Kerson.
At this moment, Kerson's limbs had been severed and inserted vertically into Kayako's shoulders, while his brain was embedded in the ghost's abdomen.
"We meet again, cunning human." It raised its head.
"You are truly surprising, to actually recognize this ancient existence," Ambo also spoke up.
"But this perfectly solidifies the title of 'colluding with evil,' doesn't it?"
He pulled an old metal chalice from his robes, which instantly emitted an extremely powerful force, enveloping Ambo within it.
William evaluated both sides.
"An ancient existence and... an ancient holy relic. It seems that sacrifice should be some kind of vessel capable of summoning evil thoughts," he pondered inwardly.
But outwardly, William still showed no panic: "As a Holy Clergy Member, summoning evil, do you not know that the 'Lord' is watching from Heaven?"
"Of course the Lord is omniscient and omnipotent," Ambo's expression was excited. "But since He hasn't come out to stop this now, doesn't this exactly prove that this is His guidance!"
"Disputes are meaningless. We are originally one, you all should return," the Kayako hybrid opened its arms.
Immediately after, a terrifying aura suddenly descended upon the room.
Gloomy, ancient, mysterious.
The holy relic in Ambo's hand bloomed with light, keeping these things at bay.
Mia and Simon also collapsed on the floor.
For a moment, William seemed to have fallen into danger.
At this time, he took an ancient black leather-bound book from his bag.
Subsequently, the book actually began to turn its pages automatically, stopping at a specific map where a certain spot was radiating a dazzling light.
"What is this!" Ambo narrowed his eyes.
He actually instinctively felt fear toward that book, yet he had never seen a book-type holy relic before.
William glanced at the other party: "Do you think I would tell you such a thing?"
"Hmph! No matter what it is, it will be mine after you die," Ambo said viciously.
But the Kayako hybrid aside cried out in alarm: "The Book of the World! How could you, a mere human, possess this thing!"
"The Book of the World..." Doubt flashed in Ambo's eyes.
He had coincidentally heard this name when meeting with those Holy Clans.
"This seems to be what the Cardinal Council is looking for." Ambo's eyes became fervent.
"Since you know this thing, then you must be clear on its function," William smiled slightly.
"No! No! Wait, I can help you kill this human, as long as you stop what you're doing!" The Kayako hybrid's attitude suddenly shifted.
"Too late to say that now." William immediately tossed out the Book of the World.
He saw the black book fly into mid-air. Immediately after, with it as the center, the surrounding evil aura began to gather rapidly.
The objects in the room instantly flew everywhere in chaos.
"Damn human! No! No!"
The Kayako hybrid instantly dropped to its knees, the chunks of flesh on its body continuously flying toward the black leather book, shrinking a massive size in an instant.
Seeing this scene, Ambo completely froze on the spot.
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