Kill Him!

When things were done too deliberately, they often backfired. Take slinging mud, for example. If a person was dressed in fine clothes with immaculate hair, and a single patch of black mud appeared on his face or body, anyone with eyes could see he had been smeared on purpose. Yet if he was caked in grime from head to toe, then no matter how desperately he cried that he had been framed, people would instinctively suspect that he must have been filthy to begin with. Besides, in high-level power struggles and factional politics, the truth was rarely the top priority. The bishops of the York City Region all knew Vicolai and knew full well what kind of people the Norton family were. Yet when facing an assault from the Whip of Order, they still had to stand in the same trench to apply pressure and run interference. Could the Whip of Order not do the exact same thing? Whether you were truly involved no longer mattered when all the evidence pointed directly at you. And whether that Light remnant was intentionally muddying your name didn't matter either—everyone knew Light remnants were madmen, so who could say this elder wasn't just acting out of sheer spite? Since one's stance dictated the "truth," everyone was free to play their own tricks. The more ammunition one held, the better. As for Neo... Karen suspected Neo hadn't thought that far ahead at all. He just wanted to be happy, he just wanted to play, and he simply found it amusing. Besides, why should you be allowed to use underhanded methods against us, while we were forbidden from paying you back in kind? In this world, honest men like Pavaro and powerful figures mindful of the bigger picture like Delon were the rarest of the rare. Using those tactics against people like them might work, but against us? We'd sound the horns, beat the drums, and drag everyone down together! The core of Lord Theisen's teachings on Fire Island hadn't been about specific "methods," but rather about "attitude." When one had the courage to confront the enemy, one shouldn't be bound by rigid methods. Flanking, penetrating, dividing—all were fair game. There was no need to blindly preach righteous decorum without considering the practical reality. Through his reflections over the past few days, Karen had gradually stepped out of the haze of indecision and established a new personal guideline: Despise the enemy strategically, but take the enemy seriously tactically. Right now, unlike the flashy but impractical spells Neo had conjured when sparring with Karen earlier, the Tower of Light was one of the truly solid, foundational pillars of the Light magic system. If Bishop Dolph of the Norton family wasn't home today, if Deputy Director Terisen Norton wasn't home, and if no other powerful figures were present, Neo's spell alone would likely reduce the Norton family villa to dust. The Norton family members inside... would probably meet their end right here. Yet none of that was Neo's concern. He couldn't very well knock on the door, ask if the bishop or the deputy director was in, and wait for confirmation before casting his spell. He was currently playing the role of an exploited Light elder. He had supposedly been hired in the name of the Whip of Order, only to discover his employers weren't from the Whip at all. What was wrong with taking revenge? Upon realizing he had been double-crossed, was it not perfectly natural for an elder of the Light remnants to retaliate against your whole family? They were an evil cult now, after all. As for how he found out the mastermind was the Norton family—that wasn't important. Just tell me whether it was you or not! Karen stopped in place, quietly observing the effect of the radiant tower. Just as the Tower of Light, radiating its sacred aura, was about to crash down, a silhouette shot out from the villa. He held a long spear, its tip thrusting straight into the underside of the Tower of Light. In an instant, a curtain of black light unfolded, halting the entire radiant tower in midair. Terisen's face was grim. He was the man in charge of tonight's operation, but the night's events had clearly spiraled far beyond his control, escalating into an irreparable mess. The hired Light remnant elder had actually brought the light straight to his doorstep! Seeing someone step up to intercept him, Neo broke into a gleeful grin behind his mask. Come on, hurry up and fight! I just killed an Enforcement Department director today. Thrilling as it was, the thrill was far too brief, and I have to sustain it on the aftertaste alone. Now another one has come out. Come on, let's go! I want to see how much of a gap still lies between me and a department director. With a flick of Terisen's spear tip, the Tower of Light was hurled upward. Because Neo hadn't continued pouring the power of Light into it, nor had he attempted to detonate it, this imposing spell was neutralized by Terisen just like that. Yet in the very next moment, Neo materialized right before Terisen, sweeping his greatsword of Light directly toward Terisen's neck. Terisen held his spear horizontally to parry the strike. At the same time, the aura of Order surged rapidly around him, and the spear seemed to come alive, letting out a roar akin to a ravenous beast as it thrust straight back at Neo. Neo shifted his body aside to dodge the spear, but in his vision, it was as if a colossal black bear had materialized, swatting a massive paw toward his head. *Bam!* Neo began to fall, staggered by the mental attack imbued within the spear. Watching from a distance, Karen frowned slightly. The records on the Norton family clearly stated that Terisen had served in the knight order. Instead of serving until retirement, he had completed his regular enlistment, and rather than advancing within the garrison, he chose to return to the region and transfer to a departmental role. Like the Whip of Order, the Order Knight Order was an excellent crucible for tempering the descendants of prominent families. But unlike the Whip of Order, anyone who managed to thrive in the knight order rarely bothered to leave. After all, the knight orders had always been a force directly subordinate to the Holy See, and the Temple placed tremendous importance on their development. During the previous First Day War, whenever a knight order deployed, at least one Temple Elder accompanied them. The Norton family was clearly an exception. Thanks to Dolph's connections, Terisen could secure an even better career path after leaving the knight order. This uncle was truly different from his nephew Vicolai. Vicolai was completely inept, the kind who could be pummeled to the ground by an array master like Richard, but Deputy Director Terisen possessed formidable personal combat strength. Moreover, according to the files, Dolph himself had also served in the knight order in his youth. It made sense. For an arrogant and foolish patriarch to sit in the position of bishop, he had to possess undeniable, genuine strength. Terisen thrust his spear downward at Neo, intending to impale him in the fall. Yet mid-descent, Neo suddenly snapped his eyes open and spread his arms. With him at the center, a gigantic starlight array of Light flared into existence. Mental attacks rarely had much effect on Neo. Terisen drove his spear down with his left hand while clenching his right fist. The surrounding air felt as though it were instantly vacuumed away. As fiery dragons surged out of Neo's starlight array, Terisen punched down, blasting a void right before him. The spear accelerated, piercing clean into Neo's chest. Both men plummeted rapidly. Behind Neo, however, the phantom of the Mad Pope of Light reappeared, howling silently as pure white radiance bloomed in Neo's eyes. A look of confusion flickered across Terisen's face, and the aura of Order around him instantly grew chaotic. Seizing the opening, Neo grabbed the spear with one hand. Instead of pulling away, he pulled himself upward along the shaft, letting it pierce deeper through his body just to close the distance. With his right hand, he whipped out a dagger and slashed directly toward Terisen's throat. A black sheen erupted across Terisen's body. Neo's dagger merely broke through his defense, unable to inflict further harm in time. "Die!" Terisen roared, and a terrifying black energy began coursing through the spear, threatening to blow Neo's body apart from the inside. Behind Neo, the phantom of the Mad Pope launched into an even more hysterical, silent roar. "Argh!" Terisen let go of the spear and retreated in haste. Strands of Order aura darted erratically across his body; he was actually struggling to keep his own power in check. Neo pulled the spear out of his chest, a hint of greed flashing in his eyes. This was a fine weapon, exceptionally high in quality. Gray used to fight with a spear. While Gray was gravely injured and unlikely to stand again, that wasn't the main point—the point was that when Gray used to spar with Karen, he had used a spear. Neo also knew Karen had no particular attachment to weapons anyway; whatever he wielded, his first instinct was always defense, so Karen could probably make use of it. Hadn't Karen's sword just broken? That stingy brat hadn't bothered to buy a replacement for days, even though I already covered your renovation fees! After a moment's thought, Neo tossed the spear onto the ground. He couldn't take the weapon right now; doing so would only complicate things. Better to leave it here and retrieve it later when they raided the Norton family. It would just require an internal redemption procedure, at a price far below any public auction, let alone the so-called market price. It could be considered an internal perk, much like the customary kickbacks accepted when taking on protection missions—an unspoken tacit understanding. Neo looked at Terisen and chuckled. "Know why believers lose their way? Your faith isn't steadfast enough, and you can't master your own power. Heh." Terisen raised his hand and cast a purification spell on his chest, suppressing the assault from the phantom behind Neo. Clarity finally returned to his gaze. "Isn't bewitchment what you Light remnants do best? Even aberrant demons don't have as much experience beguiling minds as you lot." "Believe what you like," Neo shrugged. By now, he noticed more and more people converging on the area. Several figures had also emerged from the Norton family villa to surround him. In the distance, three powerful consciousnesses were sweeping toward the scene. *Phew...* It had to be said, surviving as a Light remnant in a region where the Church of Order held absolute dominance like Yorktown was truly an uphill battle. "Speak! Who sent you to frame my Norton family?!" "What an idiotic question. No, your entire family is an embarrassment of idiots." Neo began to pull back. He had to slip away now; any later, and escape would become impossible. In fact, getting away was already difficult enough. Seeing him retreat, Terisen gave chase immediately. The phantom of the Mad Pope behind Neo began a silent chant, and Neo chanted along with it. The tip of a spire materialized before Neo, followed by a new Tower of Light forming beneath him. This was an exceedingly rare, inverted method of casting. Normally, towers were manifested from the base up—just as Karen always laid the foundation first when summoning the Black Prison Castle. Yet this spell held an extraordinary significance for Neo—or more precisely, for the Mad Pope behind him. The most striking mark that figure had left in church history was standing atop the spire and shouting: *"I do not believe there is a God of Light in this world!"* If the Tower of Light Neo had conjured before was the standard version, then the one he manifested now alongside the Mad Pope's phantom was a custom edition. This newly formed Tower of Light was neither radiant nor rich with sacred aura. Instead, it exuded profound decay and heavy desolation. It brought not the hope of light, but the despair of eternal damnation. Terisen hesitated for a fraction of a second before continuing his pursuit. The safest course of action was to kill this Light remnant before the rest of the church forces arrived. Above all, he could not allow the regional guardians to capture him alive. That would invite endless trouble, especially since this man seemed utterly convinced that his family was the mastermind. From below, Karen watched Terisen close the distance on Neo. All around, silhouettes of Whip of Order squads appeared, while priests from other departments approached from the outer perimeter. The three formidable consciousnesses seemed to reach a tacit understanding, tightening their sweep in a triangular formation. They intended to lock onto Neo directly. Once pinned down by their awareness, it could easily turn into a repeat of being relentlessly tracked by the Church of Principles' puppets, for no one knew what powerful sacred artifacts they held, or what permissions tied to divine artifacts they possessed. When that happened, merely altering one's aura wouldn't be enough to hide. Right then, however, Neo's eyes turned pitch-black before slowly closing. His clothes caught fire and disintegrated, and all vitality seemed to drain completely from his body. In an instant, Karen could no longer sense any sign of life from Neo. It wasn't just Karen; every priest in the vicinity felt the same. Terisen, being the closest to Neo, almost believed that the man before him was merely a puppet whose true consciousness had already fled. The phantom of the Mad Pope behind Neo mirrored his stillness. The entity that had just been frantically destabilizing Terisen's faith now looked as serene as a sleeping old man. Yet this stillness was destined to be fleeting. In a flash, Neo and the Mad Pope's phantom snapped their eyes open at the same time. Both pairs of eyes were pitch-black, and then a sliver of radiance seeped out from within. *True light exists only in the dark of night.* Inside the Tower of Light, a spark of brightness flared as well. *Hum!* A point of light appeared, and then darkness exploded outward, expanding with astonishing speed! In that instant, it was as if a black hole had emerged, swallowing sight, sound, smell, and even spiritual perception, plunging everything around into absolute silence and void. Then, the nearby lamplight and the moonlight above suddenly struck their senses, triggering intense dizziness. The faint light felt blindingly unbearable all at once, jarring their very souls. The aura of Light swirled in Karen's eyes, making him the least affected person in the vicinity. He watched as Neo glided through the air and began to fall. He wasn't gliding toward Karen's position. Rather, having just unleashed that spell, Neo seemed to have lost his own sense of direction. "Thousand Phantoms, hurry!" A pair of black wings unfurled behind Karen once more. One could feel Thousand Phantoms straining under the burden, as Karen was still under the effect of a restriction scroll, but it exerted all the strength it had had since it was little... eating dead souls, forcibly carrying Karen into the air. Karen caught Neo mid-fall and brought him down into a flowerbed below. He immediately began slipping a clerical robe over him. Fortunately, the director had the foresight to burn away his own clothes beforehand, making the wardrobe change quite convenient. Just then, Neo opened his eyes and looked at Karen. *Phew, thank goodness, he's still conscious.* "Not wounded enough..." "I understand." Karen instantly gathered a trace of Light power on his fingertips. The scale of power he could summon was small right now, but for close-range "carving," it was more than enough. He began adding injuries to Neo's body—slashing a few cuts here, poking a few holes there—and even thoughtfully snapped a few of his ribs. "Good enough?" "Not wounded enough..." Karen had no choice but to stab near some of Neo's vital spots. He had considered stabbing the chest, but momentarily wondered whether Neo had put his heart back yet. Stabbing the wrong spot would be bad, but stabbing the *right* spot would be downright absurd. Left with no other option, Karen made an incision across Neo's abdomen and pulled out a bit of his intestines. Having worked at a funeral parlor and observed Aunt Mary and Mrs. Lake at their craft, Karen was thoroughly familiar with human anatomy. "Not wounded enough..." "Still not enough?" "Not wounded enough... yours." "*My* wounds aren't enough? Oh, sorry, my bad." Respecting the "professional's" opinion, Karen hardened his heart and began inflicting wounds on himself, grumbling as he worked, "Don't blame me for this. Who told you to use inverted sentences at a time like this?" Neo rolled his eyes at him. Once the "makeup" was complete, Karen helped Neo up, and the two walked out, running right into a Whip of Order squad. Farther away, a colossal phantom avatar towered over the area, its expression visibly fraught with bewilderment. At that moment, Neo seemed to find a second wind. Supporting his spilled intestines with his left hand, he pointed around with his right and roared at the Whip of Order squad ahead: "Are you a bunch of pigs?! What are you standing around for? Go find him! He's definitely hiding nearby! "He dared to hurt me like this! I swear, when we find him, I'm going to kill him!"