People, at times, simply couldn't resist playing a little prank.
Since there was no direct benefit in it, yet you were asked to leave your name, why not leave someone else's? And that someone had to be the person who occupied your mind the most.
Under identical circumstances, Neo was certain Karen would have also left behind a single line: "My name is Neo."
Just like that pastry shop street in Yorktown, where the most resounding name belonged to "Master Aisen."
It had nothing to do with personal gain, and even less to do with calculated schemes; it all stemmed from a sudden spark of inspiration in that fleeting moment.
Yet it was precisely this spark that sparked trouble.
At the end of the day, due to a severe lack of information, Neo had no idea how sensitive the name "Karen" was in this place.
Correspondingly, that skeleton had calculated everything and deliberately laid a trap here, showering Karen with exaggerated praise before Morindi to set him up for a fall. Never did it foresee that someone from the Church of Order would run in here and yell:
"My name is Karen!"
If the skeleton knew of the current situation, it might cough up a mouthful of blood and take another hard look at why its schemes regarding Karen went awry every single time.
Right now, having heard this name, no matter how many reasons she had to doubt, Morindi could no longer let Neo leave.
She raised her hand. Foden blocked Neo's path, dense fractures appearing in his eyes. All around, spiderweb-like cracks spread swiftly, sealing off the direction of the exit.
Neo turned his head toward Morindi and immediately realized:
The name "Karen" was toxic!
Foden spread his hands, and the massive spiderweb peeled away, turning three-dimensional. A suffocating pressure bore down, prepared specifically to counter Neo's agility.
Before this, Neo had relied on his bloodkin agility techniques to slip out of danger time and again.
Facing this "Whip-Wielder" before him, Neo truly felt a headache coming on. For as long as he could remember, at comparable levels of strength, he was almost always the one doing the suppressing. Yet against this "Whip-Wielder," even with greater strength and freedom of action, he was the one being suppressed.
From this alone, one could see just how exceptional the circle surrounding High Priest Norton had been in the previous era.
In truth, with undead summons like this, unless affection and trust had reached an extraordinary depth, the person in question would never actively help the necromancer craft one.
Beyond engraving their spell models, they likely had to infuse their own soul power, blood, and more. The cost was immense.
Moreover, once such a thing was created, for the original individual back then, it was equivalent to handing out a copy of themselves. If anyone wanted to study them or plot against them, they could use this duplicate for practice.
Everyone wished to keep their trump cards hidden, to keep their fighting style shrouded in mystery—it was the most primal requirement for survival. Karen had been analyzed far too thoroughly by the skeleton, making him profoundly uncomfortable during their two clashes.
However, because Morindi had been imprisoned here for decades, her former companions had undoubtedly advanced in strength and realm far beyond their past selves, naturally diminishing the analytical value of such "copies."
Most importantly, they now held exalted stations. Take Foden, for instance: kicking up a tornado on the highway outside Rojia City to halt those Order priests intending to enter and pursue assassins was practically the only time he had cast a spell in public in recent years.
If the Church of Order still needed someone of the Whip-Wielder's stature to fight on the front lines in person, it would mean the Church was not far from ruin.
Neo had once envied Karen for having Rasma personally conduct a sparring lesson for him back in Rojia City. Now, he was receiving the exact same treatment.
The difference was that he didn't have a grandfather sleeping beside him, forcing Rasma to handle him with kid gloves. Thus, this instructional session of his could very well turn into a fatal training mishap.
"You cannot leave," Morindi said placidly.
The moment the words left her mouth, a beam of black light shot out from the massive heart beneath her feet and struck Foden, causing his aura to surge noticeably.
The next moment, Foden spread his palm, and the spectral image of a leather whip manifested. Though it remained motionless, crisp snaps echoed relentlessly in Neo's ears, as if imbued with a peculiar vitality that tugged at anything possessing soul attributes.
"How can you go back on your word?" Neo raised both hands, signaling he had no intention of clashing again. "I believe there may be a slight misunderstanding between us. We should clear it up—for instance, the matter of the name."
"What? Now you don't admit to being Karen?"
"Yeah, I retract it. Of course I'm not Karen."
He had no desire to follow the script of a theater tragedy, nor did he intend to keep using Karen's name to die in his stead just to achieve some utterly meaningless gesture of sentimentality.
"Even if you wish to change your name now, I still cannot let you leave. This is my resting place, my home. You trespassed without permission, and I have the right to punish you."
"Of course, that is your right. But what I want to tell you is, if you harbor hatred toward the actual bearer of the name 'Karen,' or wish him dead for any other reason, and you continue attacking me or imprison me here...
"I can only say, you will lose the chance to truly deal with Karen."
Neo pointed upward as he spoke.
"Karen himself is waiting outside the cavern right now. I came down to scout the way. If I don't go back up, he will know the danger level down here is immense, and he won't come down."
"You mean you'll lure him down for me?"
"Yes, exactly. If you trust me, I'll head up right now and trick him into coming down. Then you can torture and slaughter him down here to your heart's content."
"Do you take me for a fool?"
"This is the most direct and effective method. What you don't know is that I've been sick of that fellow Karen for ages. He always behaves so impeccably with everyone and everything. The more he acts like that, the more I want to tear him apart. Do you know that feeling?
"I can stand on your side, truly. Not long ago, he even snatched my position and my office! I loathe him to death!"
"If you die, he will come down."
"He won't!"
"You are companions."
"There's only mutual benefit between us, no camaraderie! Why did he force me down here to scout? Because he wanted a convenient excuse to get me killed! Please believe me!"
"I don't believe you."
"You ought to reflect a bit more on human nature. Look at you, always so kind-hearted—that's why you ended up imprisoned here."
"Heh." Morindi smiled. "If you truly aren't Karen, then the more you talk like this, the more it proves how close your bond is."
Neo: "..."
A look of reminiscence showed in Morindi's eyes. "Only true companions ever harbor feelings like that."
"You really should listen to the actual words I'm saying, Milady."
"No need. The feeling is already there."
"Isn't that a bit too subjective and irresponsible? Give me a chance, and I'll deliver the real Karen to you."
"No need. My intuition tells me that if you die here, he will definitely come down looking for you."
"Argh!"
Neo let out an exasperated roar. He couldn't stand this woman any longer.
At the same time, Foden closed the distance and lashed his whip straight at Neo.
*Buzz!*
The whip struck empty air; the roaring Neo was merely an afterimage.
In a flash, Neo appeared behind Morindi. A black rose flew from his chest and drifted forward, beginning to wither between himself and Morindi as an intense aura of purification suddenly surged.
Yet right before it could detonate completely, a slit opened on Morindi's back, and a hand reached out to seize the mostly withered black rose, instantly cutting short the magical tool's release of purifying energy.
"Quite an exquisite sacred artifact," Morindi remarked with admiration.
As for Neo, having his sneak attack forcibly aborted gave him a tearing, twisting agony, as if his vas deferens had been clamped shut right mid-discharge.
From his consciousness to his physical body, his whole being began to violently tremble and spasm.
Foden flew over. Morindi cast a glance at him, and he stopped in the distance.
More than a dozen tendrils sprouted from the giant heart, coiling around Neo and piercing into his body to bind his soul.
Neo's face twitched. In a strained, trembling voice, he choked out:
"I don't... want to... die."
Inwardly, Neo was shouting: *Talk some more, say a few more words! I'm already under your control anyway. Let those tendrils burrow a bit deeper into my body, and I can use the Fire of Light to blast this necromantic filth to hell!*
Morindi did not disappoint him. Turning around to look at Neo, she said, "In truth, I really do not wish to kill you. I cannot bear to slay any follower of Order."
"Aren't you... an apostate...?"
Hearing this, Morindi sighed. She had never betrayed the Church of Order; she had betrayed only the High Priest.
She refused to accept the identity of an apostate. She believed she remained a true champion of Order. She worshipped the God of Order, and believed that only the return of the God of Order could truly ensure the Church of Order's continued survival.
Without the God of Order's protection, no matter how powerful the Church of Order grew, it would eventually be torn apart and devoured by the gods.
However, she had no desire to explain these things in detail to the man before her. She merely remarked with emotion:
"Pure slaughter is devoid of meaning."
Upon hearing this, Neo's internal reaction was: *Huh? An apostate with such lofty pursuits?!*
"You're right... simply killing a few priests... serves no real purpose... So if you want to achieve your goal... I think you need to look at the bigger picture..."
"Hehehe..." Morindi was amused. "Do you even know what you're saying?"
"I do... I just want to tell you... that I won't end up like you..."
Morindi furrowed her brows. "Oh?"
"Your mistake... was being too naive... What meaning is there... in being imprisoned here? What can it change?"
"What are you trying to say?"
"What I'm trying to say is..."
Right then, intense array fluctuations suddenly surged all around them. The confinement array began to activate.
Morindi looked up.
"Is it Karen? Seeing you've been down here so long without returning, he's begun trying to activate the confinement array. Daan gave him the blueprints, didn't he? But Daan doesn't know that someone helped me seize reverse control of this array long ago.
"Fine then. I'll lure him down by making him think he's already succeeded."
Bound where he was, Neo blinked. *Actually, the folks up there already know you can control this confinement array, because we've got an evil god on our team.*
Next, crimson threads began to manifest within the cavern, crisscrossing and shearing against one another, every thread carrying a terrifying severing force.
Morindi opened her palm, condensing a mass of fresh blood. From the heart below, a dense wisp of necromantic aura rose.
Morindi fused the two together. When she cast the mass of blood outward, it splashed into a dark red puddle, from which a woman nearly identical to Morindi slowly emerged.
The surrounding red threads seemed to instantly locate their target and swarmed around the woman in a relentless onslaught of strangulation and slicing. Her body was shredded again and again, yet she rose from the puddle time after time.
All Morindi needed to do was add a bit more blood to the puddle every now and then, letting whoever controlled the array perceive that they were crushing and executing the prisoner with the array.
Morindi chuckled. "Heh, so foolish."
Neo thought to himself: *Yes, so foolish.*
...
Cube turning in his left hand, array shifting in his right, Karen effortlessly manipulated the confinement array to strangle and eliminate the target.
Then he spoke calmly:
"The array is running far too smoothly. The other party is luring us down. Indirectly, this suggests that something has happened to Neo."
Alfred asked, "Young Master, what do you plan to do next?"
Karen's gaze narrowed slightly. "Sell him out."
Alfred deliberately didn't respond, knowing his young master all too well.
Karen continued, "Given Neo's experience and vigilance, for him to be unable to return after scouting, while the other side can still play at fishing down there, proves their strength is far greater than we anticipated."
Ventura said, "I'm sure the Head of Investigation will understand."
Philomena nodded.
Kevin glanced left and right, having no intention of barking. His relationship with Neo was good; if he were still Raniedal, he most likely wouldn't sit by and watch the only little bat in the crowd who showed him proper respect go to his death. But right now, he was merely a dog.
How could a dog have a say in major matters?
"Woof, woof, woof!"
Kevin: "..."
Everyone habitually turned their eyes to Kevin first, leaving the golden retriever looking thoroughly embarrassed.
Immediately afterward, their gazes shifted to Kanna, who had made the barking sounds.
Karen said, "Can you guarantee that the one who created you won't kill a follower of Order?"
Kanna nodded and spoke, "She... to Order... to them... very, very good."
"Devout?" Karen asked.
"Mm. With those... of the Church of the Crypt... no, compared to them... more, more real."
Ventura asked, "But she's an apostate."
Kanna shook her head, indicating she didn't understand the concept.
Alfred understood. He turned to Ventura and asked, "Then what about us? Do we count as apostates?"
"Of course not," Ventura replied as if it were obvious. "We are loyal to true Order."
Alfred shrugged. "Then why can't others be just like us? Walking in the same direction, merely choosing different paths to get there."
Philomena said, "So that means the Head of Investigation won't die?"
Karen nodded. He trusted Kanna's judgment. Though her verbal expression was poor, her sensitivity in certain areas often yielded the most truthful information.
Alfred said, "If our Head of Investigation truly is a devout believer of Order, then that apostate shouldn't kill him."
Pausing for a moment,
Alfred added,
"Assuming he is."
...
*Snap!*
Morindi's duplicate in the puddle shattered completely.
Morindi herself smiled faintly. "Next, Karen should be coming down to check my corpse."
Neo could hold it in no longer and asked, "Milady, may I ask you a question?"
"Ask."
"If we were confident we could kill you using this confinement array, why send me down to scout in the first place?"
"Is there a contradiction?"
"Isn't there? Why wouldn't we first activate the confinement array to crush and kill you, and only then send me down to check whether you're dead and gone?"
"Didn't you say you and Karen were at odds?"
"Now you believe it again?"
"What else?" Morindi looked at Neo. "Did he know all along that he could take control of the confinement array?"
"Yes."
"Then his purpose in running this array was..."
"To confirm whether something really happened to me. By now, those up top have probably confirmed it: I ran into trouble. So they won't come down anymore, because they trust my experience and strength, which indirectly allowed them to gauge yours.
"If you don't believe me, just wait and see. They won't come down. In ten years or so, maybe they'll come avenge me."
"Such scheming minds."
"It's just that you're naive."
"Are you mocking me?" Morindi asked.
However, she wasn't angry. In the past, her companions, including the High Priest, had always teased her about how adorably naive she was.
It had been a long time since anyone had described her that way, stirring up old memories once more.
Because of this, she actually felt a slight fondness toward the fellow firmly under her control, and her intent to kill diminished considerably.
For the tendrils extending from her heart into his body had already measured his skeletal age; his age was definitely not that of Karen.
"That's merely my impression. Please don't take offense, Milady; I meant no disrespect. I even feel that after being imprisoned here for so many years, you don't seem to harbor much resentment in your heart."
"Even if I threw a fit and cursed him a myriad of times down here, it wouldn't curse the High Priest to death."
*Whoa, does your resentment toward the Church of Order really run that deep?*
Morindi decided to wait a little longer, giving those above some time. If Karen and the others truly didn't come down, it seemed she really had no need to kill this fellow before her. He was clever, and quite amusing.
She genuinely regarded the Church of Order as something worthy of defending with her freedom and her life, yearning to protect its every blade of grass and tree.
However, Morindi recalled their conversation from before the confinement array was activated. She asked, "You seemed to have left something unsaid earlier. You mentioned that if you were me, what would you do?"
Neo immediately answered, "Yes. If I were you, I would never let myself end up in this state. I would conceal my true intentions thoroughly, climb to a high position, amass power, endure and endure again, waiting for the right moment to overthrow the Church of Order!"
Morindi froze for a moment, a bewildered look appearing on her face.
"You are..."
"Yes. Just like you, I am an apostate of Order!"
Chapter 638