Ch. 73 - Sacrifice

“If we kill them under the guise of the gods killing them, the mages would not care about them,” Viscount Brown giggled. “When we obtain this mystical strength, we can kill the apprentices, then kill the gods who bestowed it with this power and we’ll be unstoppable.”

The knights couldn’t differentiate between apprentice and mage, but Commander Kyle advised Viscount Brown, “Lord Brown, how could you possibly guarantee that their deaths will not alert the mages?”

“Enough, Kyle,” Viscount Brown interrupted. “My son, Quentin Brown, was an apprentice as well. His murderer stood right before me today.”

Commander Kyle took a deep breath. He finally knew why Viscount Brown was having such delusions of grandeur.

“Mages will never be able to relate to us – our lives are nothing to them, including the lives of apprentices! That bastard was able to admit emotionlessly to me that he murdered my son!” Viscount Brown rambled, not caring that his fingernails were drawing blood on his skin.

Viscount Brown didn’t take into account that mages didn’t care for nobility either.

“Don’t you want to change your destiny?” Viscount Brown said, his eyes laced with delusions. “The Supreme God managed to conquer the west of Madeira Island in less than two years – with the powers bestowed upon them, even Duke Reed couldn’t resist them. Don’t you want to be equal? Don’t you want power?”

Some knights were moved, but some of them were skeptical as well, “Wasn’t a priest killed by Duke Alfred?”

Viscount Brown’s breath hitched, but he hurriedly recovered himself and said, “My dear knights, remember my words – those gods are mere invaders of this world, bestowing their powers upon mortals. Did you see how badly Duke Alfred was wounded? Don’t you want power?”

“There are four of those mage apprentices… I don’t know…”

“And how many years has the Duke practiced as an apprentice?” Viscount Brown retorted.

There was no answer.

“That’s right, the time when he practiced is longer than the combined life expectancy of the four of them,” Viscount Brown chuckled. “Think about it, how could those four young brats face against gods?”

“Join me! We will become the masters of this continent!” Viscount Brown shouted, raising his hands in the air in mock worship.

Commander Kyle frowned, his years in battle giving him the much needed wisdom to know that this was a bad idea.

“Sorry, but I don’t think this is a good idea.”

Viscount Brown froze, “Are you betraying me? My personal knight commander?”

“I didn’t swear allegiance to you,” Commander Kyle scoffed, grabbing his spear. “This isn’t a betrayal. Don’t stop me from leaving.”

Viscount Brown’s eyes were red with anger, and he ordered, “Kill this old fool! And join me!”

Not a single knight was willing, but Viscount Brown was blinded with rage and charged towards Commander Kyle, “Kill him! For strength! For glory! For wealth!”

…

After having breakfast the next morning, Adam’s team walked out of the Duke’s mansion together. The mission was of utmost importance, so they had no time to dally around.

William was tired; he was unable to teach Adam’s meditation method to his father. He didn’t want to bother Adam either, fully knowing that Adam isn’t going to accommodate his father.

On the contrary, the Duke didn’t really care. William’s gesture was enough.

“William, I have prepared mounts for all of you, and a team of 100 knights,” the Duke said, patting William’s shoulder.

The Duke had no other way of supporting William, so he could only send knights to ensure their safety.

William glanced at Adam, awaiting his orders.

“No need,” Adam replied.

After a private conversation with William last night, the Duke knew how lucky he was to address Adam as “child.” He learnt that Adam was strong enough to reject becoming an antimage, and was pleasantly surprised that William was stronger than himself. The Duke couldn’t believe it when William said that he was the weakest among the four.

“Mr. Adam,” the Duke paused. “Although knights may be useless to mages, they can at least act as bait. After all, there are only four of you.”

The devil popped out and mimicked Adam’s appearance and tone, saying, “They’re useless to us!”

The Duke stared blankly at the two Adams standing before him and muttered, “Contracted creatures…?”

“Hello, Duke Alfred,” the devil mocked. “You may call me Archduke Garfield.”

Adam raised his finger, sending a jolt of electricity towards the devil. The devil immediately yelped in pain, morphing between Adam and their original form rapidly. “My apologies,” Adam muttered. “But my devil tells the truth. These knights will only be a burden to us; the mount too.”

Crystal nodded in agreement.

Ophelia agreed as well.

“The mounts are too slow, Father,” William explained.

The Duke, although disappointed, was relieved. “It seems that you have far surpassed me, my child. I wish for your triumphant return.”

Adam took the lead and flew straight to the west, followed by Crystal and William. Ophelia stomped the ground heavily and darted forward – every time she landed on the ground, she would condense the air with magic, sending her flying forward again, as if she was skipping on air.

As soon as Adam’s team left, Commander Kyle stumbled into the city, littered with bruises and scars. He limped towards the Duke’s mansion and shouted, “Lord Brown, he- the Viscount betrayed all of mankind, taking his knights to the west to surrender to the Church. He wants to kill the apprentices!”

“You made a wise choice, Commander, but your news is of little value to me. However, I must reward you – how about joining my order of knights?”

The Duke immediately ordered a servant to help Commander Kyle to treat his wounds.

Commander Kyle couldn’t believe that the Duke was treating him as if he was a friend, “Lord Duke, I don’t understand…”

“Vulnerable,” the Duke answered, the devil’s words ringing in his head.

…

Adam’s team was incredibly fast, leaving the south in just a few hours.

They found that as they got further away from the city, the worse the situation below them – people were fleeing for their lives, every man for himself.

Adam’s team did not land to save them, though. Their mission was to destroy the cult and obtain the medium used to channel the god.

The other three silently flew behind Adam. After two hours of flight, Adam stopped suddenly and raised his arms, signalling them to stop.

“Come out,” Adam ordered.

The devil reluctantly popped out of Adam’s mind and pointed to a location not far away, “Evil energies lurk there.”

Everyone landed near the ground where the devil pointed.

“My god…” William muttered.

The village in front of them was truly dead.

Although the huts were intact, the walls and soil were stained red with blood; the disgusting smell of rotten flesh and blood permeated through the air. Judging by the smell, a massacre happened not long ago. It was obvious that the cult had carried out a mass sacrifice.

The remaining bones pointed towards a hole, and Adam deduces that an offering was placed there.

“There is no presence of magic here, nor is there any negative magic. This type of energy is unheard of to me, could this be the power of the gods?” Adam muttered to himself.

A breeze blew, blowing away the bloodied fog. Crystal suddenly pointed to the distance and said, “There are people there! No – it’s not human, it’s a monster!”

William immediately shot out a huge fireball.

Then, they saw the monster.

It was a pile of broken arms and stumps, wiggling. Some were bodies, some had arms, some were thighs, some were heads that eternally screamed. This mass of flesh and muscle was still alive, constantly tearing apart at each other and devouring themselves.

Crystal gagged at the sight, conjuring a tornado of tiny wind blades.

“Hold your fire.”

Adam and Ophelia spoke at the same time. This creature before them was integral to their research, so it would be a pity if it was destroyed.

Adam stepped back and gestured Ophelia forward.

Ophelia walked in front of the monster – under her magical power, the creature stayed in place, obedient. She pushed her arm forward and crushed an arm emerging from the mass, and tasted a bit of the flesh, muttering, “Same root. Same origin.”

“So, is this the result of the priests offering sacrifices to the same alien god?” William inquired.

“It might be a coincidence. Perhaps only one god is trying to invade our world.”

Crystal held the tornado in her hands, “Can I destroy it yet?”

Adam stopped her again, then said to Ophelia, “I need some samples. Can you extract it from their bodies?”

Ophelia nodded, drawing blood from her finger by wiping her finger across the sharp end of her sword. When a drop of her blood fell, the monsters in contact with her blood immediately condensed into a large sphere of meat that constantly wriggled.

Ophelia flicked the sphere suspended in front of her gently. In an instant, the sphere shattered, but there was no gore splattered around. The mass of flesh simply withered rapidly, leaving only a drop of blood surrounded by a trace of alien energy.

Ophelia’s acts could be considered eviler than the god trying to invade the Mage World.

“Miss Ophelia…” Crystal frowned, unsure why Ophelia would choose such a path. Having to surround yourself in gore is incredibly evil.

“What is it?” Ophelia smiled inexplicably before flicking the drop of blood towards Adam.

Adam was interested in Ophelia’s abilities and her knowledge, but they were running short on time. Adam caught the drop of blood with his telekinesis, then forcibly summoned the devil and ordered them to swallow it.

“Master, you can’t do this to me. It’s disgusting! You shouldn’t feed your prized devil with such low-levelled food!”

“Low-level, you say?”

“That’s right! I can’t imagine why the stupid god would ever use this low-levelled energy when we have ether scattered all over the void! Magic drawn from flesh and blood is useless!”

“Flesh and blood?” Adam inquired.

“This evil god must use a medium to digest the flesh and blood of humans,” Ophelia hypothesised. “It then converts the energy into low-level energy, which, like your devil said, is incredibly weak.”

Adam’s eyes lit up. Even though it may be weak, it is valuable for research. It was a pity he can’t travel through worlds yet.

Adam recorded the information in his system mentally while forcing the devil to swallow the energy. The devil immediately took Ophelia’s form and retched out the drop of blood.

Adam ignored the exaggerated actions of the devil and ordered once again, “Take us to the source of this energy.”

The devil wanted to object, but heard Adam’s cold voice ordering, “Don’t be troublesome. I know you are able to do this.”

The devil morphed back into Adam’s appearance, leading them towards the source of the energy.

Before leaving, Crystal threw the tornado out, engulfing the entire town. Adam pointed at the tornado, zapping the tornado with electricity. The tornado soon became violent, and the only thing left of the village was a giant pothole.

The devil shuddered and thought to themselves, “This monster of a master has become stronger again.”

Adam felt that his mana was recovering much slower compared to when he was in the Mage Continent. He took a large amount of power stones from his portable space and divided them into three, distributing them to his team. He wasn’t used to accommodating his teammates, but since he was the person in charge, he had the responsibility to do so.

After flying for less than an hour, the devil stopped and warned, “Right up ahead!”

…

“Kill all heretics who do not believe in our Supreme God; sacrifice the heretic and receive the blessings of our Supreme God!”

“Kill all heretics, and use their flesh to make an altar to commune with our Supreme God! Welcome our god, and our god will spread his gospel over this ignorant world!”

A young man wearing a pure white robe was suspended in the air, shouting in a fanatical tone. Several people were dressed like him, and at their feet were creatures once known as humans, clawing at the priests. The voice of the priests held great power, causing the creatures to be more frenzied, slaughtering their kin without hesitation.

The young man was satisfied – not long ago, he was a slave, but when he heard the gospel of the Supreme God, he felt that he had the power to approach him. The Supreme God’s power blessed him, and power surged through his body.

“Great Priest, Henry, there are a few knights in the city violating the will of our Supreme God!” a white-robed priest alerted.

Henry turned his head and looked at the few knights, “Heretics, be damned!” He raised his right hand and chanted an obscure incantation. His right hand grew larger and larger, instantly crushing the group of knights into a puddle of muscles and blood.

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