Chapter 188: Promoted, Inquisitor!

Chapter 188 Promotion, Inquisitor!

Rook's eyes widened instantly, and then a faint, knowing smirk appeared on his face as he asked:

"Pavarotti?"

"It is me, and yet it is not me."

Cullen placed the Sword of Arius on the ground, gripping the hilt with both hands, and began to regulate his breathing.

"I thought you would be a rat hiding in the gutters, but I did not expect you to still command forces."

Clearly, Rook mistook Nio's group for Cullen's own faction.

The smile on his face earlier was not actually for Cullen, but for himself.

He believed it was his own initiative in making that phone call that had sealed his current fate.

He was wrong, because regardless of whether he made that call, he had long fallen into Nio's sights.

However, Cullen had no intention of explaining anything to him, for Cullen had always disliked superfluous words before a fight; this exchange was merely his final adjustment to his physical and mental state.

"I am willing to submit to you." Rook knelt before Cullen, bowing his head. "I hope you can grant me an identity, and I will offer you all my loyalty."

Rook knew he could not escape; the perimeter was already sealed, and without external reinforcements, survival was impossible.

Thus, when "Pavarotti" appeared before him, he subconsciously assumed the other party had stayed his hand earlier precisely to recruit him.

The more cautious a person is, the more they cherish their life;

And those who truly cherish their life are willing to do anything.

Yet, he was wrong again.

The previous cessation of hostility was not to recruit him, but to detain him while waiting for someone to arrive.

Now, that person had arrived, and that person had finished their preparations.

"Armor of the Sea God!"

A crystalline stream of blue water flowed from Cullen's chest, rapidly enveloping his entire body and transforming into a suit of armor that radiated a mysterious, ancient aura.

"Blade of the Dark Moon!"

The blood-colored light patterns that appeared at Cullen's wrists seemed to be drawn by the Sword of Arius, sinking directly into the blade. In the next instant, the central groove of the longsword flashed with a crimson glow.

The originally heavy Sword of Arius instantly became remarkably light. Cullen twirled his wrist, spinning the sword into a flourish before holding it upright in his hand.

The Sword of Arius was indeed a weapon tailor-made for the power of the Dark Moon.

Seeing this, a look of disbelief appeared on Rook's face, which soon turned into venomous malice as all his illusions were shattered; the opponent was clearly not here to negotiate or recruit him.

Yet he asked with his last shred of stubbornness:

"What good does killing me do you?"

Cullen smiled and said:

"The benefit is immense."

Because you are the opportunity I chose to validate my path to becoming an Inquisitor.

Cullen charged at Rook.

Rook slammed his hands onto the ground, chanting aloud:

"Order—Cage!"

Black prisms emerged beneath Cullen's feet, but Cullen's figure had already evaded them in advance.

His interactions with Gray over the past few days were not in vain.

Rook's gaze shifted toward Cullen, and the prisms appearing on the ground pursued him accordingly.

Even after pulling away horizontally for a distance, Cullen still could not shake off the prisms, but his toes tapped the ground at that moment, instantly arresting his momentum. Then, the speed enhancement from the Blade of the Dark Moon and the Armor of the Sea God was pushed to the absolute maximum as he launched a secondary charge toward Rook.

By this time, the cage was clearly too late to catch up with Cullen.

Rook instantly dissipated the cage and erected three shields before himself.

"Order—Shield of Judgment!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Swinging the Sword of Arius mid-stride, Cullen broke through two Shields of Judgment directly, consistently choosing to pierce through points with the blade's edge and then forcing his way through by relying on the Armor of the Sea God.

Facing the third Shield of Judgment, Cullen poured more Dark Moon power into the Sword of Arius. The sword's light erupted, slicing through the third Shield of Judgment while simultaneously sweeping down toward Rook.

"Clang!"

A completely pitch-black Sword of Judgment appeared before Rook, directly blocking the Sword of Arius.

The opposing forces rapidly melted into one another, and under Cullen's extremely dominant pressure, the Sword of Judgment, which was already an illusion, began to grow more transparent.

The injured Rook was greatly weakened in every aspect; he was no longer in the peak condition of a Judgment Officer.

Though, Cullen felt he must still have some trump card.

Finally, the Sword of Judgment dissipated under the continuous pressure of the Sword of Arius, and Cullen swung his sword once more, hacking toward Rook.

At that moment, Rook's eyes turned a shade of gray, and he let out a strange sound, his hands raised as if holding something to strike down at Cullen. Yet there was nothing in his hands, and no other threat before him.

But inexplicably, Cullen suddenly felt a surge of crisis.

If there was nothing in front of him, then it was... behind him!

Cullen did not bring the sword down upon Rook, but immediately twisted his body to dodge away from his spot.

"Slash!"

A tremor rippled across the back of the Armor of the Sea God, causing widespread damage that almost shattered it. Fortunately, because of his timely evasion, this attack from behind struck at an angle rather than delivering a direct, perpendicular blow, which mitigated much of the damage.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have been as simple as the Armor of the Sea God breaking once and being summoned again, because the armor could not have fully absorbed that strike, and it likely would have harmed his actual body.

After stabilizing his stance, Cullen saw a gray skeleton standing where he had been. The skeleton held a scythe, which had struck the ground, carving a corroded black line into the earth.

Rook faced Cullen, and before his chest floated a gray rag doll bristling with steel pins, its expression utterly sinister.

As for Rook himself, the gray in his eyes was swirling, while a faint radiance was gradually dissipating from his body.

Controlling this doll required the consumption of life force.

"Ambushes were laid to wound me just so you could come and kill me yourself? What do you take me for, a gift?"

Rook raised his hand, and the gray skeleton raised its scythe once more.

"Even if I cannot escape this time, I will not allow myself to accept such a humiliating end!"

The gray skeleton rushed toward Cullen with its scythe raised, swinging the blade down once more.

Cullen raised the Sword of Arius to parry, seizing the momentum to slice at the skeleton's body, but the skeleton suddenly vanished, reappearing from another direction to strike at Cullen.

Out of necessity, Cullen could only dodge again. The Armor of the Sea God was damaged once more, recovering only after a brief flicker.

"Will your men still not act? If they don't, you are going to be killed by me."

The gray skeleton charged at Cullen again. Cullen blocked the scythe with his sword once more, but during the counterattack, his blade was only halfway out when he immediately retracted it to guard above his head.

A sharp metallic clash rang out.

The skeleton reemerged behind him, but Karen managed to parry the blow aimed at his back.

Immediately after, the skeleton dissolved into the air once more, shifting angles to launch another assault. Karen was forced onto the defensive, not daring to counterattack; every strike he threw hit nothing but air, only serving to grant his foe another opening for an ambush.

Parrying and repositioning in tandem, Karen gradually altered his angle relative to Ruke.

Another sharp clash echoed through the air.

As the Sword of Arleus collided with the scythe once more, Karen lunged toward Ruke at full speed.

He didn’t necessarily have to deal with the skeleton; neutralizing the caster would yield the same result.

The grey skeleton vanished from its spot again, materializing right between Karen and Ruke. As it brought its scythe down upon the charging Karen, he pressed the Sword of Arleus downward, using the tip as a fulcrum to drop himself flush against the ground. He evaded the scythe, his momentum unbroken. With a swift twist of his body, he swung the Sword of Arleus upward, closing the distance to Ruke before thrusting it straight at the man's chest.

Yet Ruke showed no panic, even as fresh blood began to seep from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

Abruptly, the ragdoll floating before his chest—bristling with steel needles—turned a deep crimson. A blood-red skeletal phantom materialized in front of Karen, raising a matching crimson scythe to cleave him apart.

The doll was never the relic used to control the grey skeleton; its prominent placement on his chest had been a mere deception to mislead his opponent.

The Sword of Arleus pierced through the blood-red phantom, the power of the dark moon upon the blade causing the specter's lower half to warp and distort. Yet its arms remained steady, bringing the scythe down toward Karen.

A heavy thud resounded.

Karen concentrated his defense entirely upon his right shoulder, his lips churning rapidly in a whispered incantation.

In the next breath, the crimson scythe bit into his flesh, held in place and unable to sink any deeper.

But the grey skeleton reappeared, its grey scythe sweeping directly toward Karen’s throat.

"Order—Spear of Chastisement!"

A black lance of punishment manifested above Karen’s head. Instead of directing it toward a target, he chose to detonate it right then and there.

A deafening roar shook the area.

The explosion of the lance unleashed the power of chastisement, warping and paralyzing the forms of both skeletons and slowing their movements. Karen was blown backward by the blast of his own spell, rolling repeatedly across the ground before finally stabilizing himself, propping his body up with one hand while using the Sword of Arleus in his right to anchor his stance.

The Sea God’s Armor, which had been blasted to pieces, manifested over Karen’s body once more.

Purely physical attacks yielded no apparent effect against these two summoned skeletons, but the dispersion of elemental energy triggered by the exploding lance had genuinely harmed them.

The problem lay in the fact that their existence was fueled by Ruke sacrificing his own life force. As long as Ruke continued the sacrifice, their forms would rapidly mend.

Even now, the skulls of the two skeletons were already half-restored.

A mocking smile played at the corner of Ruke's mouth.

"Even if my death is certain, I will not allow myself to become a sacrifice for your amusement. If your people do not intervene, you will be buried alongside me."

To the current Ruke, survival was an impossibility, so his remaining life force was no longer a precious commodity to be hoarded.

Karen knew full well that this clash had hit a deadlock.

Ruke truly lived up to his background as an adjudicator from the Whip of Order; he was a master of combat.

"The Spear of Chastisement... you are a believer of Order as well? I am quite curious as to what realm you have truly reached."

Ruke spoke while administering the final repairs to the two skeletons under his control. He intended to kill Karen at all costs during their next exchange; it was the only pursuit left to him.

"Not yet an inquisitor."

Karen replied while soothing the turbulent spiritual energy within his body, which had been left erratic by the blast of the lance.

"Not even an inquisitor yet... What a pity. Had you reached the realm of an inquisitor, the situation would undoubtedly be different. An inquisitor represents the realization and fulfillment of everything accumulated across the three foundational stages."

"Very well, as you wish."

Karen plunged the Sword of Arleus into the ground beside him, pressing both palms flat against the earth.

A black chain manifested before him, beginning to coil and circulate around his form. It stretched longer and longer, its coverage expanding until an arc composed entirely of condensed chains of order formed a perfect circle around Karen.

Karen tilted his head up to look at Ruke, his eyes completely devoid of emotion.

Yet this gaze struck an inexplicable chill into Ruke’s heart. Though both stood within the very same factory workshop—with one kneeling and the other standing—Ruke somehow felt as though he were standing at the bottom of a precipice, while the other sat high above, looking down upon him from an immense height.

Subconsciously, he accelerated the restoration of the two skeletons. At this moment, only the sections below their knees remained incomplete, but the two scythes were already swinging through the air once more.

"The trial begins."

The toll of a bell suddenly resonated.

"Ruke, you have been accused of performing harmful rituals upon ordinary civilians. Do you confess?"

"Ruke, you have been accused of silencing colleagues and fellow believers to conceal your crimes. Do you confess?"

"Ruke, you have been accused of betraying the faith of Order and falling into corruption. Do you confess?"

Looking at Karen and listening to these words, Ruke could not help but laugh.

"Heh, have you lost your mind, or... wait?"

The black chains that had been coiling around Karen layer upon layer began to merge, forming a massive black circle.

As this black circle manifested, Karen faintly sensed a presence at the absolute zenith of existence—an infinite chain operating in cold, mechanical perpetuity, seemingly detached from time and history itself.

The sensation lingered for a mere fragment of a second before vanishing without a trace.

Karen murmured softly, "As expected, Order has always existed."

In the next instant,

Figures began to rise slowly from beneath the black circle.

From behind Karen appeared a crowd of young girls with vacant stares and numb expressions. They were mere phantoms, yet they carried the weight of tangible existence; these were the unfortunate girls who had been kept like livestock in the pens beneath the sausage factory that night.

Though they remained stationary and utterly silent upon their appearance, a wordless accusation seemed to instantly saturate the entire workshop.

Ruke’s expression contorted into agony. Behind him, another ragdoll manifested. The two dolls began to tremble violently, and the two nearly restored skeletons grew faintly unstable.

The sound of weeping and wailing now flooded Ruke’s ears, fracturing his focus and disrupting his spell.

To the left of Karen’s body, the figure of a woman materialized, her gaze serene. Her appearance was accompanied by the faint, distant sound of ocean waves—it was Madam Annie.

To the right of Karen’s body, the figure of Mr. Pavaro emerged, his gaze resolute. Upon his manifestation, a black chain appeared beneath his feet, though it dissolved into the surrounding darkness a moment later.

Karen looked at Ruke once more, issuing a stern demand:

"Ruke, do you confess to the aforementioned charges?"

"What is this, what is this? Impossible, impossible!"

Ruke had never witnessed such a phenomenon, despite having advanced from an inquisitor to an adjudicator himself.

"It is an illusion, an illusion! A delusion meant to bewitch me! Yes, it must be a delusion!"

Karen rose to his feet with deliberate slowness.

From the black circle before him,

A thick, heavy book radiating an aura of absolute majesty emerged—the Regulations of Order.

At that moment, the image of his grandfather, Dis, reciting the Regulations of Order flashed through Karen’s mind, followed by the memory of Mr. Pavaro reciting the exact same text before the livestock pens.

Karen extended his hand, placing his palm firmly upon the cover of the tome, and spoke with solemn sincerity:

"According to Chapter One, Article One of the Regulations of Order;"

"According to Section Two, Article Two of the Regulations of Order;

According to Section Three, Article Three of the Regulations of Order;"

Reading up to this point, a faint smile appeared on Karen's face; he actually remembered the specific contents of the regulations, but the Captain had once said that they would never bother memorizing them, because those facing the Judgment of Order generally would not memorize them either.

Yet Luke, as an Inquisitor of the Church of Order, was undoubtedly well-acquainted with the Regulations of Order, and Karen's citation of Section One, Article One, and Section Two, Article Two was meant solely as an act of humiliation.

Furthermore, and most importantly, when the dead plaintiffs had already "appeared," what need was there to consult any Regulations of Order?

The true purpose of turning pages was so that one day, there would be no need to turn them anymore.

"Now, in the name of the Inquisitor..."

A black inquisitorial divine robe materialized upon Karen's form, its fabric initially shimmering with a thread of gold that quickly faded back into the dark fabric upon manifestation, as if existing merely to bear witness:

It had once been there, it was meant to be there, and it was there now.

The aura surrounding Karen shifted dramatically; if previously he possessed a vast reservoir that required him to carve out a channel to draw water, now he stood directly beside the basin, casually ladling the water straight from the source.

Accumulation, comprehension, innate talent—

Everything, at this very moment, culminated into absolute fruition.

"I pronounce the verdict—you are guilty!"

Karen opened his right hand, and the Sword of Alius, which had been driven into the ground, flew into his grasp; he advanced toward Luke, the tip of the blade dragging across the floor and leaving a trail of black sparks in its wake.

Luke's eyes burned crimson as he desperately commanded the two skeletons—whose repairs were incomplete and whose control was fracturing—to launch an assault on Karen.

The twin skeletons vanished from their positions, instantly reappearing on either side of Karen with their scythes raised high!

Without casting a single glance to his left or right, Karen merely murmured: "Order—The Wall of Protection."

On either side of his body, an ancient, solemn, and unimaginably thick black wall materialized.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

The two scythes of differing hues struck the black walls, leaving nothing but faint scratches, entirely incapable of piercing through.

Karen continued to walk forward;

The twin skeletons materialized at his sides once more, but as they brought their scythes down a second time, the two black walls reappeared to intercept the blow.

Karen kept advancing, and the skeletons, driven to a frenzy, relentlessly manifested beside him, yet no matter how they struck, they could not breach the barriers before them.

In this manner, the distance between Karen and Luke narrowed steadily, while Luke's hair began to turn conspicuously white.

He chanted:

"Order—The Sword of Judgment!"

Three swords of judgment materialized before Luke and shot toward Karen instantly.

"The Spear of Punishment."

Three spears of punishment appeared before Karen, intercepting the three swords of judgment and altering their trajectories upward, piercing through the roof of the factory and into the open sky.

"Boom!"

Swaying slightly on the crane, Vanni asked subconsciously:

"Captain?"

"Maintain your vigil."

"Yes, Captain."

Anxiety showed on Vanni's face, for she knew all too well that even a severely wounded inquisitor remained an inquisitor; she worried that some mishap might befall Karen, yet during a mission, no one in the squad dared disobey the Captain's orders.

High above in the darkness,

Nio gently placed a hand against his own face:

"I thought you were just like me, but it turns out, you are different."

...

Inside the factory, Karen had reached the space directly in front of Luke.

"Order—The Cage!"

Luke unleashed a piercing shriek.

Sharp edges manifested beneath Karen's feet, transforming instantly into a cubic cage.

Karen said calmly: "Order—The Cage!"

New edges manifested beneath Karen's feet, expanding outward.

The two cages collided with terrifying force, a direct clash and consumption of spiritual power between the two men, but it was readily apparent that Luke, grievously wounded and having sacrificed so much of his vitality, no longer possessed the strength to contend in endurance with Karen, who had become an Inquisitor and realized the full extent of his accumulated power.

"Buzz!"

Luke's cage of order shattered violently, and Karen's cage expanded rapidly, sealing Luke within its confines.

"Thud!"

Luke collapsed to his knees in utter exhaustion, blood beginning to seep from every pore across his body.

"Who... exactly are you..."

This was the question Luke had asked over the phone, and it remained the answer he desperately sought now.

Karen offered no response; he simply extended his hand, pressing it against Luke's head, and rested the Sword of Alius against the man's neck.

"Splat!"

Luke's neck was severed, and Karen held the head aloft;

He turned, looking back behind him.

At the center of the black circle, the figures of everyone began to dissipate, and all the weeping, wailing, and accusations faded away into nothingness at this moment.

In the hazy space between realms, Karen seemed to see Madame Annie smiling at him, her voice echoing softly in his ears:

"Your technique is quite excellent as well, easily worth forty Reals."

Then, he also seemed to see Mr. Pavaro bowing toward him:

"Praise be to Order!"

The black circle began to vanish as well, reverting into the most primal of chains that sank back beneath Karen's feet, though a dark mark appeared within the pupil of Karen's left eye before fading from view.

Karen carelessly tossed Luke's head to the ground,

Released his grip,

And allowed the Sword of Alius to stand upright before him;

Karen brought his hands to his chest,

And spoke with utmost sincerity:

"The judgment... is concluded."