by Jason Hale
Secondly, we also have the crime of the clergy stepping in the jurisdiction of the imperial court!
Thirdly, you have been shouting in front of all present about how you needed not pay any attention to the emperor. Very well, this is the crime of contempt toward the Holy Emperor!
Fourthly, publicly threatening an imperial prince! A capital crime within the court.
Fifthly, publicly threatening a High Exarch's direct descendant! A capital crime within your church!"
Four of the five are enough for direct execution. The second one when tried will still result in your death to preserve the relationship between the church and the imperial court.
Therefore, you are five times condemned to death! I am not sure you have enough heads for what's about to befall you.
In this country, no one can save you!"
Holgren had truly gone mad with rage. In other times, he would have contained his anger and first reported to his elder brother.
However, this useless, rigged competition had almost cost his beloved little sister's life. Even if Konnor didn't pull strings, with the bishop openly berating them, how could he restrain himself?
At first, Bishop Alto was confident in suppressing dissidence with his cultivation level, but only now did he realize that there was no way for intimidation to work and that the other party wasn't in the same league as he was.
If it were just about dealing with a powerful noble, he would have no fear. The problem was that the Dowager, Holgren's grandmother, and his great uncle were both High Exarchs of the church, three ranks above him with dozens of people like him serving them.
Right now, like many of the high-ranking members of the church, they were in seclusion. However, if forced out by this matter, his life and his family's would come to a brutal end.
The instructions regarding the competition had been given by a Saint of the church. Therefore, he couldn't resist. Yet, if push came to shove, that Saint would force him to shoulder the blame and leave him no way out.
In a bind, he sought help within the eyes of his colleague who'd remained silent from the start, but there was no help to find.
The man was more astute and chose to let him deal with the whole thing right from the beginning.
Inwardly, Bishop Alto was full of grievances. It was clear someone had purposely covered the news of the real nature of the event to prevent the von Juras from becoming aware of it and still send a team.
At first, when he saw their team, he'd sent a message to his superior, but only got one answer.
"Carry on."
Therefore he couldn't exclude them.
But as he floundered and racked his brain for solutions, a frustrating noise reached his ears.
*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*
A man clapped while walking into the room.
"Who dares?! What is there to cl-?!"
Bishop Alto began, but when he turned and saw the tall, silver-haired man who'd just walked in, he realized that things had gone from bad to worse.
Besides him, his colleague included, all those present bowed and declared in unison:
"Greetings Crown Prince!"
The Crown Prince stood at around 1.85 meters with short silver hairs sitting on a finely chiseled face. As he stepped in with his perfect gait and radiant smile, the simplest way to describe him was "handsome and refined."
However, the astute could see that within those outwardly gentle eyes hid a terrifying, callous tiger.
"Dispense of ceremony. I just came to welcome back my siblings. Never did I expect that I would come across such a beautiful scene."
"Elder brother!"
Nier forgot her proper and dignified military stance to throw herself toward Elmar. He welcomed her with open arms, and gently pat her head.
As it was well-known that the ninth "prince" was the apple of the crown prince's eyes, none of the gathered individuals found anything strange with that.
"Elder brother, you must seek justice for us! We were conned into participating in this rigged competition where thousands of beasts lurked ready to slaughter us all!
Worse, an Accursed Beast appeared out of nowhere, and almost caused Nier to lose his life!"
"What?"
Bishop Alto trembled. Why was there suddenly talk of an Accursed Beast? A lie, it had to be a lie!
"Stop twisting truth and falsehood! Unless you went to the fourth level, no Accursed Beast would descend upon you!"
He howled, but undaunted, Holgren pointed his finger at those behind him.
"You can ask all those gathered. That's the reason why none of them dared stay in the third level for half a day. A few hours in, an Accursed Stolien Beast came from nowhere and began terrorizing the third level, almost causing Nier to lose his life, and injuring me in the process of escaping!"
"It's the truth! We almost became food for a rampaging Accursed Beast. To say nothing of the demonic beast horde afterward!"
Bishop Alto saw the indignity within all the contestants' eyes and knew his good days were over.
Blunder! An enormous blunder had occurred!
"Nier is this true?"
Elmar asked while still patting Nier' head.
"Yes, elder brother. It was such a close call that I was afraid I'd never see you again!"
Nier complained within Elmar's arms.
"Alright. Elder brother will give you justice."
Elmar set Nier aside and leisurely stepped toward Bishop Alto.
"Remind me, what is the empire's crown prince's status within the church?"
The imperial family and the church possessed an extremely close relationship. So close that the Holy Emperor, the Holy Empress, and the Crown Prince all possessed an equivalent rank within the church. Of course, the higher their cultivation, the better that rank would be.
Bishop Alto teetered, but still, he answered:
"A…arch-bishop."
"Good. Then as Arch-Bishop of the church and as the crown prince of this empire, on account of your five felonies, I sentence you to death."
With a backhanded slap, Elmar tore Bishop Alto's head from his neck, sending it flying across the room with a massive gush of blood.
He then pulled out a handkerchief to wipe off his hand and turned toward the remaining bishop who dropped onto his knees and kowtowed in fear.
"Your highness, mercy!"
"So your lot still knows that a prince should be referred to as -your highness.-
I thought you'd forgotten."
The contestants were terror-stricken. Although the Crown Prince's cultivation was deep and unfathomable, the sight of a Semi-Saint beheaded in a single slap was hard to accept.
Since when did Semi-Saints turn into cabbage?
"Your highness, Bishop Alto was besotted and for personal gains plotted against the imperial family. He deserved ten thousand deaths! Your highness upheld justice on behalf of the lord and deserve only praise."
That bishop didn't talk a lot, but when he did, his words didn't disappoint. Suddenly, Bishop Alto had become the sole mastermind, and his death solved everything. Was this the script from the start?
"Is that so? For this to become the official version, we will have to see your master's skills.
Now go on, carry on. I'm curious to see how many beasts remain."
Elmar had no interest in the remaining beasts. He just needed an exact number for when he submitted his report to his father the emperor.
Without delay, the bishop dived into the Prism World, and after half an hour, returned with flabbergasted eyes.
"What took you so long?"
As a Semi-Saint, Elmar was well aware that such a task should not have taken more than a few minutes. However, that bishop wasted half an hour of his time.
Was he also courting death?
But to his question, the bishop remained dazed for a few seconds, then his eyes swept the scene, going from a contestant to another as if to find the culprit of a prank played on him.
"Well? Do you ne
ed me to repeat myself?"
Elmar's voice echoed within his ears, carrying with it a pressure that brought the bishop back on earth.
"Your highness…it's…empty. The first three levels are all…empty."
Chapter 66 - Then Let's Carry On
A deathly silence fell upon the scene. Elmar included, all stared at the bishop. But even with those dozens of pairs of eyes locked upon him with confusion, he maintained his dazed, flabbergasted look.
"Empty? What do you mean by empty?"
A blinking Elmar asked, thinking that he misunderstood the statement.
"Empty…as in nothing left. Not a single beast across the three levels. They all vanished…thousands of beasts…all gone…without a trace…aargh!"
The bishop wailed. This wasn't the plan. Capturing demonic beasts en masse, even those of the lowest ranks was a challenging task because it required diving deep into the Barbarian Continent.
Even for the church, that was no small trouble, and usually, teams of Semi-Saints were dispatched to handle the poaching. Centuries ago, that bishop had been a member of the team tasked with poaching the beasts that currently composed the Prism World's forest.
Although reproduction allowed for the forest's self-sustenance, many of the Monstrous Beasts were still those creatures personally brought by his hands.
But now, Accursed Beasts aside, nothing remained!
All his hard work gone without an explanation!
How could he accept this? But that was only secondary. Those beasts were never meant for extermination. That was only a tactic used to force the contestants into either failure or surrender. No one expected them to succeed.
As for potential deaths, their group estimated that only those of viscount level houses were weak enough to lose their lives. Therefore, the deaths would be irrelevant.
The real purpose of those beasts was to fuel the development of the church's Anti Barbarian Totem weapons. But now, they were all gone!
"How is that possible?"
Elmar asked with the kind of puzzlement he had not felt in decades. As a matter of fact, in his more than two hundred years of existence, he couldn't recall coming across such an odd matter.
Could thousands of beasts disappear without a trace? Who would believe that?
However, the clear dismay within the bishop's eyes showed that this was no joke.
"I don't know! You ask me, but who am I supposed to ask to?"
The bishop almost cried, not knowing what else to say. He also wanted to know what was going on.
His neck was at stake!
Both Elmar and the bishop turned toward the contestants, their Semi-Saint eyesight seeking answers within them. However, the only things they saw were blank stares and rising astonishment.
Clearly, they also knew nothing.
However, a scant few had an idea. Both Koloman and Holgren inferred that the only variable capable of producing such a result was Konnor. As a demon, only he was equipped with the tools to possibly subdue the beasts. How he hid them, however, they couldn't comprehend. After all, the church had made sure none of them stepped into the Prism World with space treasures.
Instinctively, they were about to turn inquisitive gazes toward him when his chilling voice boomed within their minds.
"Don't look at me! Keep staring at the bishop."
The order stopped them dead in their tracks, forcing them to maintain blank stares on the bishop.
As for Konnor, he feigned the same confusion as all the others. Neither Elmar nor the bishop could find anything wrong with the contestants. However, there had to be something. Someone among them had to be guilty. Someone capable of taming those beasts and bring them away in a space treasure.
But all their cultivation levels were clear to their eyes. Therefore, unless someone powerful enough to deceive them was present, their guess made no sense.
"The only possible explanation is that among them, a barbarian Saint gifted in camouflage and space control is hiding. However, this makes even less sense. Why would that kind of powerhouse only poach the beasts beneath the Accursed Rank? He should have emptied it all."
"The matter is strange, but unless all the people present are captured, not much can be gained from it."
"What to do?"
"I need to report this matter to His Eminence, ask for punishment and listen to his instructions."
The bishop was about to excuse himself and leave the room when Elmar's voice echoed.
"Outstanding. Then let's carry on."
All trace of the initial stupor had vanished from his face. The only remaining thing being clear satisfaction.
The bishop was once again struck by confusion. Obviously, what he should now do was to cancel the competition, keep all the contestants under house arrest, and report to the higher-ups. What did Elmar mean by -carry on-?
"Your Highness, what do you mean by that? I must submit a report to my superiors and wait for orders."
Elmar turned toward the bishop with a calm, but chilling gaze.
"What do I mean? What do you mean?! Obviously, those contestants succeeded in the impossible task given to them, and we should normally carry on to the competition's next part."
Those words took the dozens of people by surprise, and they all exchanged odd glances.
They'd succeeded? Why were they not aware of that?
Hearing Elmar's words, Konnor inwardly gave him ten thousand praises.
"Outstanding! An outstanding man!"
The bishop didn't know what was going on anymore.
"Your highness what do you mean by that? There is clearly no way those contestants could h-…"
But before he could finish his words, he stopped, terrified by what he was about to admit.
"Oh? What? Were you about to say that there was no way for them to succeed? That the church purposely gave them an impossible task and caused the vain death of nobles?
Is that what you were about to say?"
Elmar inquired with a radiant smile that only brought coldness to the bishop's heart.
"O-of course not but…"
"But what? Earlier you claimed bishop Alto was the sole mastermind. However, you clearly expected to find thousands of demonic beasts inside. Meaning that you knew very well what you were throwing them into. Therefore, this should be a reasonable competition with high chances of success. Right?"
Sweat trickled on the bishop's forehead as he realized his mistake.
"Of…c-course."
He stuttered.
"Very well. The requirement from what I've been told was for them to clear the first two levels. And now the first two levels are cleared, aren't they?"
"Yes, they are."
"That being the case, they completed their task. What do you want to investigate when you should be discussing the competition's next stage?"
All the contestants awoke and cast elated gazes toward the crown prince.
"His Highness is right! Regardless of the method, we've fulfilled the requirement."
"Right, didn't you say that we would make the count after checking the two levels' condition? They are cleared. It's time for you to count and select the contenders for the next stage!"
"Right!"
"Right!"
The bishop wanted to cry but had no tears. If this weren't stopped, he would be forced to carry on with the competition.
However, the Holy Flame Baptism quota had already been reserved for someone else? How could he let this carry-on? His head would roll!
"Your highness there are many questionable parts we need to investigate."
Elmar's smile remained, but vast Semi-Holy force erupted from his body and oppressed the bishop who dropped onto his knees.
"Are you trying to argue semantics to prevent those valorous contestants from obtaining the fruit of their labor? Is it possible that you're trying to rig the competition and prevent any one of them from obtaining the quota? Was that your plan all along?"
Each word carried wit
h it immense pressure that assaulted the bishop's bones.
"I…wouldn't dare."
"Good. That being the case, what are you waiting for?"
The pressure vanished, and the inwardly wailing bishop stood up to collect the granted space treasures and check every contestant's points. Elmar stood by his side to wait for the result.