The Slaughter

Inside a private dining room at the hotel, Rayson was eating steak when the old butler stepped up beside him and reported, "Eldest Young Master, our scouts have returned." "Speak." "Number 3-07 Apple Street is property belonging to the Adams family, as is Number 3-06 next door. Mr. Adams is Ruilan's Minister of Energy and Industrial Development. Currently, his son, Piaget, resides at 3-06, while 3-07 should be vacant. Our men confirmed this directly to Piaget's face. "However, someone is indeed living next door at 3-07. That person spent the entire afternoon standing on the second-floor balcony. Anyone driving past could see him. He is likely a lookout." "If I remember correctly, the cars belonging to my brother Gerson and his men were found at the end of Apple Street?" "Yes, Eldest Young Master. After Young Master Gerson and the others went missing, we launched an extensive search and ultimately found the two cars they had driven out at the end of Apple Street." "Wasn't Tardel heading to a psychological clinic?" Rayson asked. "Eldest Young Master, Piaget is the owner of that clinic. We now know that the traitor Tardel was influenced by the remnants of the Church of Light, but Young Master Gerson and the others did not know that at the time. "Therefore, I deduce that Young Master Gerson went to investigate Piaget's home, and in doing so, startled the Light remnants living next door. Young Master Gerson and his men were most likely murdered by that group." "A coincidence, an intrusion, and a murder?" Rayson frowned slightly. "A bit too coincidental." "Eldest Young Master, what do you mean?" The butler had been the personal attendant to the previous family head. After the former patriarch had inexplicably turned to ash inside his study, the Raphael family had fallen into internal strife. The butler had chosen to support the former patriarch's eldest son, helping him contend against the factions of his uncles, because he had always believed this young master possessed the capability to lead the Raphael family toward continued growth and glory. Naturally, he never dared treat the young master's opinions lightly. "Tardel booked an appointment at the psychological clinic, and during his defection, he headed toward the clinic. My brother pursued the lead to the clinic and went to check the owner's home, only to coincidentally startle the owner's neighbor—or rather, not even a neighbor, but Light remnants living in a vacant house owned by the man's family next door. Then those Light remnants struck and killed my brother and his men without sparing a single one. "Could this man named Piaget truly be completely uninvolved?" "This... but the report from the scouts..." Rayson said dismissively, "Even if I conducted the scout myself, I wouldn't trust my own eyes, let alone someone else's." "What about mine, then?" A cloud of black mist drifted into the private room, coalescing into Tyers's figure. Rayson immediately rose from his seat and dropped to one knee before Tyers. "My Lord." "I have seen him with my own eyes. That Piaget is merely an ordinary person. He, along with the two men beside him, are ordinary people. Furthermore..." Tyers frowned. "They are three thoroughly disgusting ordinary people." Kneeling beside Tyers, the butler seemed to catch the hidden meaning and chimed in at once: "Yes, yes! To report to Your Lordship and Young Master, Tardel does harbor inclinations of that sort. Many of his subordinates know about it." Rayson spoke up: "So Tardel took a fancy to Piaget? Their relationship was purely romantic, and this romantic involvement might have gone on for some time? "Tardel was a believer in the God of Light, so he helped arrange accommodations for that group of Light remnants. Since his own properties and residences were inconvenient for housing them, he placed them in a property owned by his lover Piaget's family? "The Light remnants even went out of their way to send someone to escort his son away, proving that in their eyes, Tardel was far more than an ordinary outer believer. "Everything makes sense now. "However..." "That is my conclusion," Tyers cut him off. Rayson had wanted to add: *However, the very claim that someone stands at the center of the vortex while every piece of evidence points to him being completely clean is inherently suspicious.* Yet Tyers had already delivered his verdict, and Rayson dared not argue further. "Have the men arrived?" "As you instructed, My Lord, I have mobilized everyone within the Raphael family at my command. They are currently assembled in the hotel lobby, ready to deploy at a moment's notice." "Then move out." "Yes, My Lord!" Tyers dissolved back into black mist and drifted out the window. The old butler stepped forward and whispered, "Eldest Young Master, those you mobilized this time are the believers of the family faith system who support you. If our losses are too severe, it will harm your plans to contend for the position of family head against your uncles." Rayson climbed up from the floor, dusted off his hands, and said, "Did I have any choice before that lord just now?" "Eldest Young Master..." "Do not worry. No matter how heavy our casualties are, there is no need to fear. As long as that lord publicly declares his support for me as the next family head, my uncles will not dare voice any objections. "In the eyes of church officials, practitioners of family faith systems like us are nothing more than bedbugs. But if we can truly win their favor, we will be the most formidable bedbug of all." "Indeed, your vision is far-reaching, Eldest Young Master. Still, I am perplexed. If this is an operation to eradicate the Light remnants, why were we asked to gather so many of our own people to take part?" "First, they need a sufficient amount of cannon fodder to test the caliber of those Light remnants. "Second, those Light remnants possess the secret of the blood spirit powder. "That lord dares not make this secret public. He is unwilling, and perhaps afraid, to request additional manpower from the Church of Order, yet his own subordinates might not be enough." "So that's why." "Once this matter is handled properly, the position of family head will be mine. Very well, pass down the orders. Move out." "Yes, Eldest Young Master!" Rayson raised a hand and gently scratched his head. *It makes no sense. Why leave intact corpses behind after killing someone, just waiting for an 'Awakening'?* *Is this an attempt to silence witnesses, or an intentional move to use the dead to pass a message?* *Yet Lord Tyers is anxious to this degree, practically losing the composure he should have. What could have driven him to become so desperate all of a sudden?* Rayson's gaze hardened slightly. *Could it be that the pig farm's true purpose was never just about blood spirit powder... Perhaps the blood spirit powder itself was merely a cover for its real objective?* *** "Is there anything else you need?" Piaget walked down the stairs carrying a medicine kit. Karen smiled. "We're already prepared more than well enough." The small wine cellar in the Adams basement was empty. Across the open area beneath the skylight stood only a single billiard table. Food and water were laid out on top of it, and Piaget placed the medicine kit beside them. "By the way, do you have any guns?" Karen asked. "No," Piaget answered. "Once this matter blows over, go get yourself a set of firearms. Prepare a set for me as well." "Understood." Piaget had also realized just how poor his self-defense capabilities were. Mr. Bede looked at Karen and said, "Our family can send some over. The kind capable of firing special rounds." His future father-in-law meant that they had plenty at home, they could easily arrange it, and there was no need to ask outsiders. "Do you remember what I told you?" Karen said. "Karen, there's no need to take it to such an extreme," Mr. Bede advised. "I've reached God's Shepherd." Mr. Bede drew a sharp breath. How long had it been since Karen left the manor, and he was already a God's Shepherd? "I see." Mr. Bede nodded. "Your path and your choices truly are correct. Once this affair is resolved and the family's matters are arranged, I plan to spend some time wandering as an artist, earning my living by selling paintings." "Mr. Bede, may I join you?" Piaget asked. Karen looked at Piaget in surprise. "You're not going to run your clinic anymore?" Piaget held out his hands and shrugged. "Once the people from the Church of Light leave, my clinic will probably fall apart entirely." It seemed Piaget had understood certain realities all along. "Why don't I give the clinic to you, and you can keep running it?" Piaget offered. Karen shook his head. "I won't have the energy for that going forward, either." Just then, a flurry of footsteps sounded from above. By standing on the billiard table, one could see the garden outside through the basement skylight. Karen stood there, and Piaget climbed up beside him. Mr. Bede, maintaining his composed demeanor, remained seated on a nearby chair, seemingly disinterested in the commotion. "Piaget, did you lock the basement door?" Karen asked. "I locked it, definitely." To avoid getting caught in the crossfire, the three of them had chosen to take refuge in the villa's basement. While they had sacrificed the best vantage point upstairs, the basement was by far the safest place. Through the skylight, they could see numerous men and women dressed in black suits appearing in the yard. Above Karen and the others, the sound of shattering windows echoed through the house. In order to surround the villa next door, the assailants would inevitably sweep through the one they currently occupied. However, they likely wouldn't bother smashing open the basement door to investigate. "The fighting is about to start," Piaget said with a hint of anticipation. Karen couldn't help but remind him, "If you pursue the path of the Church of the Mural God, you'll probably never be able to fight again. You should think it through carefully." Mr. Bede's expression remained unchanged upon hearing this. "Sometimes, the more you lose, the more you make up for it elsewhere, don't you think?" "That makes a lot of sense." A sharp whistle pierced the air from above, sounding like a horn signaling an assault. Within Karen's field of vision, many of the figures in the yard began exhibiting abilities belonging to their family faith systems. "Quite a variety," Karen remarked. Though Mr. Bede had not joined them on the billiard table, he spoke up upon hearing the commotion outside: "The Raphael family has gone all out this time. Still, they are merely being used as cannon fodder." Mr. Bede had witnessed with his own eyes how easily those Light remnants had slaughtered the Raphael family's men previously. Even though their numbers were far greater this time, numbers could hardly bridge the true disparity in quality. "If things go smoothly and everything is resolved, then the Raphael family is finished, without the Allen family even needing to lift a finger," Karen said. The premise of resolving this matter was exposing Tyers and the others, subjecting them to punishment from the Church of Order. By association, the Raphael family, having assisted Tyers's faction, would also be drawn into the circle of retribution—even if, in the eyes of a great church, they might not even qualify to be listed by name. *Boom!* A violent tremor struck. Piaget nearly tumbled off the billiard table, caught just in time by Karen. *Boom!* A second tremor shuddered through the house. The skylight shattered, sending shards of glass raining down. Plummeting along with them were two severed arms and a head. *Boom!* Yet another tremor shook the building, this time directly overhead, sounding like something smashing into the second or third floor. Karen and Piaget abandoned their spectating and hurried into the vacant wine cellar, crouching down in a corner. The previously calm Mr. Bede hunched over and followed them in. "Will the basement collapse?" Piaget asked worriedly, staring at the dust cascading from the ceiling. Karen offered reassurance: "Even if it collapses, we'll be fine. The wine racks can break the fall. It shouldn't crush us outright." "Karen, I truly never imagined coming to Wien could be so thrilling. What about you?" "Me? I came to Wien looking for thrills." "Aren't you afraid, Karen?" "In hindsight, I'm more terrified that the fellow on the second floor earlier wasn't disgusted away and had decided to stay and watch instead." "Oh, that truly would have been far more horrifying." *Boom!* Another violent shudder tore through the ceiling. "They're looking for us," Bede said. Even though the Raphael family was besieging the villa next door, the battlefield had spilled directly into this house. Someone from next door had deliberately fought their way over here, aiming to find Piaget... and Bede. However, there was nothing touching about this gesture. In fact, beyond avoiding collateral damage from the clash, another reason the three had hidden in the basement was precisely to avoid being found by the Light remnants. Though Ms. Bertha had always been polite, she had infiltrated Piaget's life from the very beginning, essentially keeping him under house arrest. Perhaps, seeing her face that so closely resembled Linda's every single day brought Piaget neither affection nor infatuation, but rather deep discomfort—even rage. Mr. Bede was in the same position. He had been required to stay here and paint alongside Piaget. An artist valued freedom above all else, yet he had been locked away. Even when the two of them had been ambushed by the Raphael family outside Piaget's door and subsequently rescued by Elder Doke and his companions, it was Bertha who had deliberately leaked the address in the first place. Dust continued to fall from above. Cracks spiderwebbed across the basement ceiling, and the wine racks warped under mounting strain, sending empty bottles rolling and shattering across the floor. No wine spilled out, however, as the empty cellar held only a few decorative bottles. "Karen, I feel like locking the door didn't make much difference. Coming in doesn't exactly require using the door." *Boom!* With that deafening tremor, the basement ceiling bulged downward. Blood dripped through the fractures, spattering into the cellar like a rain of crimson. At the same time, bursts of aura belonging to Order began flaring above. Members of the Church of Order had joined the fray. Karen's lips moved rapidly as he silently chanted: "O great and supreme God of Order, arbiter of all Order..." Karen recited the incantation continuously, like a sprinter poised at the starting line, preparing either a protective spell for the three of them or the Spear of Punishment. *The Church of Order's people are fighting above as well. If I secretly unleash a spell of Order, no one should notice, right?* Upstairs. Vernon bludgeoned a man to death with his sword. The strike carried tremendous force infused with the power of Light, virtually wringing the blood from the man's body like water squeezed from a sponge. His form was coated in a layer of glowing white armor—the Armor of Light. Protected by the Armor of Light, he enjoyed far greater combat freedom, allowing him to slaughter the swarming practitioners of family faith systems with lethal efficiency. *Hum!* Another petrified assailant was swatted away by Vernon's blade, crashing through a wall and blasting a hole in the masonry. Upon hitting the ground, the man's petrified skin and internal organs fractured simultaneously. Outside, a blinding blaze erupted. A row of men and women in suits shrieked in agony as they were engulfed by flames potent enough to scorch the soul. Helen, holding her wand, drifted downward and immediately cried out in panic: "Ah, I messed up! What if I burned them to death too!" Just then, a pitch-black figure materialized behind Helen. A leather whip lashed directly toward the back of her head. Sensing danger, Helen forgot how to respond and simply screamed: "Ahhh!" A barrier of Light's protection flared behind Helen, and the whip struck the barrier. *Smack!* The barrier shattered, and the whip rebounded. "How shameless, resorting to a sneak attack!" Vernon raised his sword to aid Helen, but a chant belonging to Order rang out: "In the name of the great Order, summon the Net of Order to bind all transgressions against Order and bring them to ruin!" "In the name of the great Order, summon the Net of Order to bind all transgressions against Order and bring them to ruin!" Eight black-robed members of a Whip of Order squad entered the fray. The moment they appeared, they wove a terrifying black grid that descended to suppress Vernon at the center. Rather than taking the grid head-on, Vernon leveled his longsword, the holy radiance across his form flaring even brighter, and charged toward one of the squad members. *Boom!* The black Net of Order struck Vernon, rapidly eroding his brilliant radiance and tearing massive gaps in his Armor of Light. Yet Vernon's blade drove straight through the chest of one squad member. Ripping the sword free, he slashed horizontally toward another member nearby. A black defense manifested on the man; since the momentum of the strike had largely been spent, the blow merely knocked the squad member off his feet without penetrating his flesh. The remaining squad members continued chanting. In this situation, they had no other choice but to maintain their formation to counter him. A second Net of Order bore down from above. Vernon had no choice but to thrust his sword upward to hold it off, while simultaneously stomping down with all his might upon the squad member he had just knocked to the floor! *Crash!* The floor caved in, and the squad member plummeted into the basement. Crashing down covered in blood, his body curled in agony—only to freeze upon spotting the three people hiding inside the empty wine cellar. Karen immediately rose to his feet: "Grant me leave to borrow Your power to punish deeds that violate Order..." The first wave of Church of Order officials to charge in had to be the ones who had murdered Mr. Pavaro. Striking them down carried not the slightest burden of conscience. Yet before Karen could finish reciting the incantation for the Spear of Punishment, Mr. Bede picked up a shard of broken glass from the floor, walked directly over to the heavily injured squad member, crouched down, and drove it straight into the man's chest. *Squelch!* With a single thrust, the squad member stiffened and then went limp, entirely dead. *Squelch!* To be safe, Mr. Bede delivered a second stab. The corpse did not react in the slightest. Immediately after, Mr. Bede reached down, pried open the corpse's mouth, pulled out the tongue, and used the glass shard to sever it, casually tossing it aside. Then, raising the shard, he drove it forcefully into both of the corpse's eyes, adding a deliberate outward gouging twist with each plunge. Having finished his work, the future father-in-law tossed the bloody shard aside, patted his hands clean, and said: "There, all done."