Chapter 148

“How did he summon the Avatar…!”

Amidst the gathering of the Shadow’s enemies, the crimson and the white, Dale finally revealed his armor.

The avatar of the Shadow Lord, armed with the Armor of the Dark Cavern.

Unfolding the avatar does not directly reveal that Dale is the ‘Shadow Lord’. Just as the world of ideas Dale unfolds is not directly linked to the identity of the hero.

Nevertheless, the significance of that act itself could never be diminished. It was the realm of the Irregular, unimaginable to ordinary mages.

A mage possessing a world of thought, simultaneously armed with the armor of thought.

“The avatar of the grimoire…”

Lady Scarlet murmured softly as she observed the sight. As a high-ranking mage, discerning the true nature of Dale’s abilities was by no means difficult.

“Indeed, it wouldn’t be fitting for the empire’s foremost genius to be anything less.”

He couldn’t hide his amusement, seeming rather pleased.

“It’s almost pitiful how Ray can’t hide his jealousy after hearing of the ‘Black Prince’s’ fame and talent already.”

Ray Yuris, the future enemy I will face as the successor of the Crimson Magic Tower.

“Ugh…”

And equally shocked by this situation was Borennus, the White Mage of the 7th Circle, who was no exception.

“Ugh, the incarnation of evil!”

Borennus began pointing at Dale with a voice tinged with madness.

That is undoubtedly the armor of an apostate who has forsaken the sister goddesses’ benevolence and mercy! An unforgivable evil! At this very moment…!

Simultaneously, as a high elder of the White Mage Tower, the seven circles encircling his heart began to spin. Ready to uproot this vile evil at any moment and purify it with the goddess’s light.

It was at that very moment.

Whoosh!

A few steps ahead of Borennus’s surging white magic, flames engulfed the entire area.

The scene of the Great Demon Clan Alliance’s leadership gathered in the tent warped, signifying only one thing.

The world of ideas.

“Ah, the Maiden of the White Magic Tower speaks with such eloquence.”

Proclaiming herself the goddess of that very world, Lady Scarlet spoke. As a high elder of the Crimson Magic Tower and an empire’s powerhouse possessing ‘secrets’ beyond that.

“Were we not in the midst of a martyr’s duel to heed the ‘will of the goddess’?”

“And yet, Lady Scarlet, you dare utter the word ‘martyr’ after seeing that sight!”

Borenus, the White Mage of the 7th Circle, raised his voice as if he could not lose.

“It seems you still haven’t grasped the situation.”

“Lady Scarlet, the Crimson Witch! Even as the Empire’s proxy, there are things that cannot be tolerated!”

It was at that very moment.

Plop.

Within Scarlet’s world, something fell toward Dale’s head. It was a few drops of liquid.

Plop.

And soon, that liquid began pouring down like a sudden downpour. In the silence, Dale raised his head.

Blood was pouring down like rain.

Pieces of meat, stripped of skin and with flesh and bone exposed, hung from iron hooks on the ceiling. At first glance, I thought they were cattle like cows or pigs. A slaughterhouse. No. I soon realized.

They were human.

People hung on iron hooks, bleeding endlessly, staining her world crimson.

A world of fire and blood.

“You said it was unacceptable?”

Lady Scarlet’s world, that flower of blood and flesh, cruel beyond compare, enveloped the entire area.

“How dare you, you pig of the White Tower, spout such nonsense.”

The empire is ruled by beings that cannot be called human. And to those very beings, humans are no different in any sense from cattle or pigs. Just as humans hunt beasts for their flesh…

Lady Scarlet smiled coldly. A fang glinted blue-black from the corner of her mouth. At that threat, the Seventh Circle white mage Borennus swallowed hard. Even if their circle ranks were equal, that did not mean they were equals as mages.

“Well then, with everyone present here… let us begin the duel between these two martyrs.”

Lady Scarlet smiled.

“Nothing will change, Brother Borennus.”

It was at that very moment.

Master Templar drew his sword, his white surcoat fluttering.

“The sister goddess’s benevolence and mercy are with us, and I have no doubt our goddess will unleash her wrath upon the wicked ‘Black Prince’.”

“The spirit of Lü, Lüjinyang…!”

“The Goddess wills it.”

The Master Templar made the sign of the cross and unleashed the aura surging within him.

Within the Colosseum erected by Lady Scarlet, the two Avatar masters faced each other, their standoff beginning.

Light swirled violently. After the whirlwind, the Master Templar’s avatar finally revealed itself.

“Kill them all.”

It was blood-red armor. A knight drenched in blood from head to toe. At first, it seemed like the blood was merely splattered over the armor.

“The goddess will discern her own people.”

It wasn’t. The mass of blood itself, writhing like liquid, was coagulating into the form of armor.

Swoosh!

Simultaneously, two crimson wings began unfurling from the Master Templar’s back.

The knight, literally made of blood, was re-gripping his sword.

Master Templar, the creed of the Templar Order.

“Whenever my sacred armor and wings are defiled by the filthy blood of these vile heretics…”

The blood of the heretics layered over their pure white.

“My spirit and flesh, devoted to the Goddess, shall become ever more pure, clean, and noble.”

The Master Templar murmured softly.

“What truly matters is the purity of the spirit, not the purity of the flesh. The more my armor and flesh are defiled and made hideous by the blood of apostates, the more I should rejoice that my spirit grows purer.”

Blood built the knights, and blood itself formed their very ideology.

An avatar of cruelty utterly unthinkable as the White Mage Tower or the Church’s sword. At the same time, that was precisely the essence of the ideology held by their Templar Order.

Fanatics who believed without doubt that even the blood and ugliness that would stain their hands were part of their faith directed toward the goddess.

“Heh heh, what a truly beautiful and nauseating sight.”

Lady Scarlet let out a cold, mocking laugh at the sight.

Armor of Blood.

And the armor of Black Blood.

“They say the wheel of history rolls only on blood. Ah, what a truly beautiful and utterly enchanting sight!”

Lady Scarlet murmured in rapture as she watched them.

At the same time, several witnesses from the alliance observing their martyr’s duel could no longer contain their revulsion and began to retch.

The Blood Knight struck the ground. Similarly, toward the Shadow Lord, whose body was also wrapped in black blood.

Kaang!

Dale drew the pitch-black demon sword ‘Hunger’ and met his strike head-on. Simultaneously, the dark blood armor began to surge upward, writhing like liquid metal. The sharply protruding spikes plunged straight toward the Master Templar.

Simultaneously, the blood armor enveloping the Master Templar also began to move.

Like a mirror to Dale.

‘Hoo.’

Clang!

The blades formed of blood crossed, instantly creating distance. Simultaneously, the wings of blood that had risen behind the Master Templar spread wide.

Whoosh!

Along the spread wings of blood, spikes began to erupt, hardened like liquid metal. They were blades of blood, plunging down like a hail of arrows.

Dale stamped the ground, confronting the swirling blades of blood.

“Blood, blood! Each time the blood of heretics defiles my flesh, my spirit shall become ever more noble and pure!”

The ideology of the Master Templar, built upon spilling the blood of heretics. The fanatic’s conviction, justifying immeasurable bloodshed in the name of the Goddess.

“Shed blood! Kill them all! The Goddess will sort out her own!”

Now, watching the Master Templar, drenched in blood, spewing it as he screams in fanatical rage…

He thought absentmindedly.

Then what, exactly, was this dark armor enveloping Dale?

Why did the ‘Book of the Black Goat’ wrap its tentacles around Dale’s body and provide an avatar of this form? Why did he think to call this avatar the ‘Shadow Lord’s Armor’?

What exactly does this black blood signify?

Dale asked himself.

It was by no means a trivial question.

Even if it borrowed the power of the grimoire, even if the avatar now enveloping Dale’s body is not ‘Dale’s thoughts’, the meaning imbued within this armor made of black blood.

“What is blood?”

Thus the Shadow Lord asked in return.

People in this world each hold their own beliefs about ‘blood’. Now, this armor Dale is clad in is surely no exception.

“It is the oil that turns the wheel of history.”

Lady Scarlet answered.

“And if you were to ask the people of the Church, they would say it is the symbol of life given to us by the Goddess.”

After hearing her words, Dale silently closed his mouth.

After closing his mouth, he burst into silent laughter.

“What is so amusing, Saxon apostate?”

The Master Templar, drenched in blood, spoke. Behind the armor of blood enveloping his body.

Dale finally understood the meaning of the black blood enveloping him.

Blood gains its ‘blood-red’ hue when red blood cells bind with oxygen.

Oxygen, an indispensable substance in the atmosphere for living beings to survive.

To live, one must breathe, and it is precisely through the binding of that oxygen to red blood cells in the blood that the ‘blood red’ color exists.

And when oxygen fails to be properly supplied to the blood within the body, only then does the blood turn black.

Therefore, black blood signified only one thing.

The death of blood. The absence of life.

Black Death.

That was the very end of the world and life, dwelling within this armor of dark blood.

─ You finally understand?

It was at that very moment.

A voice… was heard.

Behind Dale, a girl with goat horns revealed herself.

“I knew it, I knew it all along, you Saxon apostate!”

Seeing this, the Master Templar could not hide his rage.

“Disgusting! Disgusting and utterly repulsive! I can barely stand it! The filthy scum clinging to your soul makes me want to vomit!”

Blood surged like a raging torrent, and the Master Templar gripped his sword hilt tighter.

“Mad bastard.”

Seeing this, Dale sneered as if it were someone else’s affair.

Aware of the ‘Black Death Armor’ enveloping his flesh, the Shadow Lord stretched out his arm in a low, measured motion.

The dark armor of the Black Plague began to spread, enveloping his body.