Chapter 50
By the time the underground plaza had been somewhat cleared and Bishop Fabricio had been captured, the Saintess had been indulging in her gruesome bath all alone—unaware, even in her dreams, of the battle raging beneath.
“Hmm?”
Lost in the aroma for a long moment, she eventually snapped back to attention at the unmistakable, alien movement coming from the first floor.
‘It wasn’t Fabricio or anyone else…’
After having washed herself in the bath, she put her clothes back on and left her room. At that exact moment, her door was opened and a group of people entered her chamber.
“How dare anyone barge into the Saintess’ private quarters!”
The one who spoke up with such a sharp tone was none other than Karl.
“It’s all over…”
“What do you mean? What exactly has ended?”
“All that you have done, everything that happened here in the underground has been exposed.”
“I don’t understand. What exactly are you saying?”
She wore an expression as if she knew nothing at all. Ignoring her confusion, Karl simply walked over to a secret door on one side of the room—a door leading to a hidden bath.
“….”
The moment that door, sealed by a special mechanism, swung open, a deep stench of blood immediately filled the room.
Bishop Godfrey and the Holy Knights who had followed him witnessed the horrible scene inside, their eyes bulging red.
“Bishop Fabricio has confessed. That is the end of it.”
“Ah… To think that such unspeakable deeds were being committed here… I know nothing! Someone must be out to slander me.”
Despite the secret bath being exposed, the Saintess continued to spout her lies as if nothing had changed.
At that moment, among the knights, Brother Marco could be seen, having been captured.
“This man, too, has testified to all of your misdeeds.”
“…I shall clear my name before the Vatican.”
“Do so. I’ve been meaning to see to that anyway.”
For a brief moment, she glared at Karl with a hateful expression that could have brought the world to its knees.
“….”
But Karl, as if finding her words unworthy of reply, merely turned away without another word.
[Quest: Front and Back, Black and White. Completed]
[A random reward box will be given as compensation.]
***
[Random Reward Box: A box whose contents are utterly unpredictable]
While returning to the Vatican with the bound Saintess and Bishop Fabricio, Karl spent a long while staring at the reward box he had received for completing the quest.
‘A random reward, huh.’
After a brief moment of contemplation, Karl decided to open the box. The instant a faint light flickered from within, the box vanished, leaving behind an old-looking book.
[Diary of the First Knight.]
‘The First Knight, huh…’
Although he initially wondered what could possibly be inside the diary of the First Knight, Karl slowly opened the book and began to read its contents. It wasn’t written with the refined hand of a trained scholar—the handwriting was rough.
“My speed increased. There exists within the human body a potential of force unknown to most.”
“My dearest companion, the one with whom I shared everything, Sibylla, has died. I have resolved to avenge her. The one I must cut down is not human. Yet I will, without fail, slay that being.”
“If one wishes to cut, one can cut anything. There is not a sliver of doubt in that thought. And before I knew it, I had gained the power to cut anything. I have come to call this… Qi.”
“I believed Qi to be the aggregate of one’s will to cut. But that was my mistake. I was always accompanied by Qi. Qi, after all, is simply energy—the very energy every person possesses. What we call Qi is merely the concentration, magnification, and direction of that energy. Therefore, Qi is the power of conviction. Since it manifests by drawing in and materializing that energy, Qi is the very process of one’s training and lived experiences.”
“Only in my old age did I come to understand its true meaning. Everything we do is imbued with Qi. It is just that its magnitude may not be visible. Being able to control energy is synonymous with controlling Qi. We merely do not know the qualitative differences.”
Despite the rough phrasing, the message was clear. When the final chapter ended, Karl couldn’t help but let out a long, deep sigh.
“I realized that Qi had always been with me.”
A chill ran down Karl’s spine. Nothing seemed drastically different, yet he clearly felt that one thing had changed.
‘Qi exists in everyone. That means…’
It implied that he, too, was using Aura—only, it was not as pronounced in his case.
He had always thought of Qi and energy as entirely different forces. Karl had assumed that he was yet to be granted Qi.
But that wasn’t the case. Just that, now, his face wore a deep, satisfied smile. It was a smile of utmost contentment.
[Partial Qi usage unlocked.]
A message appeared before his eyes as he smiled.
“…?”
In the resting quarters, Isabel—who had been resting—noticed Karl reading the old book and laughing like a madman. Considering that he was normally one to hardly laugh, her curiosity was piqued.
“Why are you laughing so?”
Startled by Karl’s unusual demeanor, Isabel inadvertently asked.
“There was something that happened.”
“Is that so? You seem a bit different.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I feel… more natural somehow.”
“More natural, you say…?”
Karl, his expression still unreadable, simply nodded quietly.
“Perhaps.”
“You seem better than before.”
Hearing Isabel’s remark, Karl allowed a faint smile to break through. Without another word, Isabel gathered her things.
And so, the group returned to the Vatican.
***
“Things feel odd upon our return.”
“What do you mean, Cardinal Richelieu?”
“Thomas has summoned the Inquisitors from across the continent, and I heard that not long ago, they even went outside the Vatican together with that foreign knight.”
Those gathered outside the mansion, where the power centers of the Church resided, were the cardinals.
Out of the approximately 30 cardinals representing the entire West Continent, no fewer than 10 were present here.
Many of them represented their local dioceses. Ordinarily, they possessed the power to elect a new Pope, so it was unusual for them to act so collectively.
“We must change the Pope.”
“But… if His Holiness were ever to reappear… then we would all be finished.”
“It has been over five years since he last appeared. Either he has a reason not to come forth… or it is only natural to assume he is dead?”
Cardinal Richelieu’s severe words—which carried the weight of the Church’s core power—left the other cardinals in stunned silence. Although they had the right to vote, replacing the Pope was no simple matter.
The term of the elected Pope continued until he voluntarily stepped down or, supposedly, was called upon by God. In the case of the current Pope, he had vanished without a trace five years ago.
“If His Holiness should ever show his face, none of us would escape death.”
“Yet even as things stand, it is the same. Honestly, every one of us here bears at least one unforgivable sin. If we were to see a new Pope elected, the former one would have no means to punish us.”
“Cardinal Richelieu, ever since His Holiness vanished, I have spent every night trembling in fear.”
Pope Benedict had been a figure who shed more blood than any of his predecessors during the Continent-Uniting War of the former Emperor.
His disappearance, it was said, was born from his remorse for the countless lives stained with his blood.
And at the heart of all that corruption were the very cardinals seated here—dealing in human trafficking and turning a blind eye to the Saintess’ atrocities.
They had clutched the vulnerable Saintess tightly in public while exploiting her behind the scenes for their own gain, amassing fortunes and indulging in decadence with the riches they earned.
“So… how do you propose we enthrone a new Pope? Do you not know that 21 out of 30 votes are required?”
“We must bring in the Holy Knights.”
“By what means? No knight moves solely by a cardinal’s orders.”
“Is there not a single band of Holy Knights who haven’t been paid off?”
Richelieu was there. The very reason for the Church’s expansion and prosperity was due to him. Some would say that a bit of profit-making was essential for the Church’s survival.
Otherwise, how could such a vast and flourishing institution exist? In the process, countless members within the Church had received their share of the spoils.
“Even if only half of the knights follow our will…”
“Mm…”
Richelieu, one of the relatively younger cardinals, despised the older ones. He questioned why, after enjoying privileges together in the past, they now only sulked away. If they couldn’t win, they would all lose their heads—but still, they hadn’t understood yet.
“The one who strikes first is destined to win. If you do not intend to join me, you may leave this room now.”
When Richelieu spoke with grim determination, the cardinals seated there flinched, but none dared to leave. Leaving now would not grant them any advantage anyway.
At that moment, the door to the silent conference room burst open, and someone rushed in, shouting urgently:
“Saintess and Bishop Fabricio have been forcibly captured by an Inquisitor!”
Upon hearing the news, Cardinal Richelieu’s face twisted in agony, more than ever before.
***
Cardinal Thomas’ order for the Inquisitors to assemble had brought together Inquisitors from across the continent, gathered in an open space.
Their council was held in this empty field. Although not all had arrived, their numbers reached at least a hundred.
“Have you all been well?”
Cardinal Thomas’ resonant greeting drew laughter from the assembled Inquisitors. All of those present had been thoroughly cleared of any suspicion in his widespread investigations.
“The reason I have gathered you, busy as you all are with maintaining order and keeping watch for demons across the continent, is to excise the rotten flesh from our Church.”
His opening statement was chilling.
“For too long, we have ignored the misdeeds within our very ranks. And yet we have preached morality to the people of the West, have we not?”
The Inquisitors, who also served as Church inspectors, could not deny that they had largely neglected internal oversight.
They had allowed many sins to pass unchallenged. In truth, even if someone attempted to expose them, it usually only scratched the surface.
“But now, things have changed. Not long ago, it was confirmed with undeniable evidence that the one falsely hailed as Saintess had bathed in human blood, killed innocent children, and drank their blood. It is said that Bishop Fabricio amassed funds through trafficking in human lives.”
“…!”
The Inquisitors were shocked by these revelations. It was beyond simple forgiveness.
“What do you mean? I have witnessed the healing light bestowed by the Saintess!”
Their reaction was natural.
How could a demon who bathed in human blood ever be granted the sacred light of Essus?
“That is correct. Tragically, despite committing these heinous acts, the Saintess still manifests a light brighter than anyone else’s.”
“This is impossible! How can Essus grant His light to such a depraved wretch?”
“Dame Isabel, will you come forward?”
“Yes.”
At Thomas’ request, Isabel ascended the podium.
“I am Inquisitor Isabel. I stand before you all to declare what I witnessed with my own eyes.”
They all knew Isabel well. Among the Inquisitors, she was renowned as someone who refused all compromise and upheld only principle and truth—so much so that her testimony was regarded as even more credible than that of Cardinal Thomas.
“Not long ago, when I went to inspect the conduct of Inquisitor Del Maria, I witnessed with my own eyes that she tortured and massacred innocent, upstanding citizens in manners unthinkable by Church law, and drank their blood. Yet she enveloped herself in a light more radiant than any I have ever seen, brandishing her weapon against me.”
A murmur swept through the Inquisitors.
The power of the so-called divine light was meant to resonate with their faith. But if one who had committed evil could shine brighter than the rest, what did that truly mean?
“Silence!”
Though Cardinal Thomas shouted, his command barely quelled the rising clamor among the Inquisitors.
“Moreover, Inquisitor Isabel, along with twenty Holy Knights, Captain Godfrey, Brother Marco of the Vatican Saintess Ward, and the esteemed Free Knight Karl—all witnessed it, and their testimonies are completely consistent. There is not an iota of doubt that Sabrina bathed herself in blood by hanging people from the bathroom ceiling, extracted the hearts of children, and squeezed their blood out to drink.”
The shock of her revelations left the Inquisitors—and even other priests who had come seeking answers—with wide eyes.
“Yet still, she radiates a brilliance beyond anyone else.”
“Ah… Lord above…!”
Some fell to their knees in prayer with cries of despair. They were overwhelmed by chaos.
Unlike Earth—where one might blindly revere the unseen—a power called divine light was tangible in this world, making it easier to approach faith.
But if one who commits demonic deeds still wields divine power, can that really be called the light of a benevolent God? Their very faith was being torn asunder.
“How can we believe such words!”
“Indeed! How can we believe that the Saintess… that the Saintess could commit such appalling acts! Then, from whom do we receive this light we call divine?”
They erupted in protest.
“It is like a shrieking troop of baboons!”
Amid the uproar, Karl stepped forward. His voice was not loud, but it clearly carried to the far end of the open space. Almost a hundred pairs of eyes fixed on him.