Chapter 279: The Torment of Light and Order

Chapter 279: The Torment of Light and Order

From the moment he awoke until now, Bernard had carried himself with the utmost humility.

There was no other choice, for the instant his eyes opened, he found himself bound by an array of intricate formations, leaving his very existence suspended upon his captor's whim.

On this shaky foundation, Bernard had played his part flawlessly, clinging to the hope of survival, of defusing the situation, of outlasting the wait for the promise he so desperately anticipated.

Yet only now did clarity pierce through Bernard's mind: he was wrong, egregiously and utterly wrong.

Perhaps this submissive act would have borne fruit against anyone else but the youth standing before him.

"You dare not tell me your name, hahaha! You dare not tell me your name! Are you afraid? Oh, no, you are not afraid of me. You are afraid that what you are doing here today will be known to the outside world! No, you are afraid that your actions today will become known to that secret of mine, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Since you know fear, you should understand what a terrifying secret that is, and you should stop right now."

"Do you know why you are absolutely doomed? It is precisely because I am truly afraid. The more afraid I am, the more you must die."

"You are not like Philias."

"I just said so."

"Philias was a true believer of the Light, but you are not."

"You should have seen it just now; my faith lies in Order."

"You are nothing but a remnant of the Light hiding within the ranks of Order! Someone like you dares to claim faith in Order? Heh, this is exactly why the remnants of the Light can never be thoroughly purged. You people are too good at hiding, like maggots in a public latrine—looking white and tender, yet always able to lurk in the filthiest corners! Ah!!!"

The agonizing searing of his soul began to make Bernard's words increasingly radical. He was like a drowning man constantly bobbing up and down, capable only of rushing out what he wanted to say without any time to polish it in his mind.

"State your conditions! Whatever I can give, I will give to you!"

Karen spoke: "What you cannot possess, I already have."

Bernard’s face had already begun to turn a sallow yellow. A soul was not a liquid, yet it seemed capable of being evaporated. Bernard was drawing closer and closer to death, enduring a agony that defied verbal description.

From another perspective, his will to survive was indeed remarkably formidable.

Karen felt that if he were the one lying there facing this situation, he would have already erupted into a torrent of abuse, letting out all sorts of vile words just to have a final release before death, regardless of the language.

But Bernard did not.

Yet the more Bernard acted this way, the more it proved that the method of punishment Karen had chosen was correct.

Karen reached out, using his fingertips to gently nudge the lantern flame upon Bernard's chest. It was so lovely.

"I don't believe Miss Purr would ever willingly be with you. She has absolutely no interest in men!"

"You cannot speak for all men."

"She is merely a woman who purely pursues adventure!"

"She gets tired too."

"She would never endure the boredom of being left alone at home!"

"Right now, she can bear loneliness better than anyone."

After all, having been a cat in the Inmeles household for so long without going mad, while still maintaining her demeanor as a young lady of noble birth, this ability to endure loneliness was something Karen himself felt inferior to.

"What kind of food does she like to eat?"

"She likes to eat fish."

"I thought she had long grown sick of seafood. She was never very satisfied with anything I made."

"Seafood from Dark Moon Island? I have tasted it, and it is truly wretched."

"I love her."

"I know."

"Every time she rejected me, it made my heart surge with excitement."

"I understand."

"After each rejection, I only wanted to possess her even more!"

"I comprehend."

"If it weren't for her formidable strength, she would have become the mistress of Dark Moon Island long ago."

"I am aware."

Karen never doubted Purr's strength back in the day. Sitty had once had a grievance with Purr, which led Grandfather, during the negotiations with the Church of Order at the cathedral before his slumber, to deliberately hang Sitty on a cross to let the wind blow on her.

To be able to have a grievance with an Elder of the Pantheon was enough to illustrate Purr's strength and status back then.

After all, she had once lamented that had she known, she wouldn't have chosen the family's belief system, never expecting the First Ancestor to be so weak.

Entering Dark Moon Island and more clearly understanding Bernard’s almost pathological possessiveness only made it clearer that if not for Purr's own strength back then, what she would have faced was not a tirelesly devoted lapdog, but a starved wolf baring its fangs.

"She is very beautiful, isn't she?"

"Yes."

"What do you like about her? If you are unwilling, you don't have to tell me these things."

"Her figure. I do not like women who are too thin, and her figure is just right."

"I..."

"And her temper. She might be unpleasant to you, but she often acts coquettishly with me. Sometimes when she knows she has said the wrong thing, she will deliberately come to comfort me and give me a hug."

"Her temper..."

"Do you know? Every time I watch her eat, I find her so adorable. She is such an easily satisfied person. A bag of coffee beans that costs only five Order Vouchers can make her happy for an entire afternoon."

"Go to hell! Go to hell!!!!!!!"

Bernard went completely mad, the restrictions upon his body manifesting once more to suppress him.

Karen really did not mind saying these things, because he knew that saying them would bring Bernard greater torment.

This was not a lack of respect for Purr either; if Purr were here, she would only urge him to say a little more, say a little more, to make him die in greater agony!

Most importantly, Karen had always known that the dark moon rim deep within Bernard's eyes had never dissipated.

He knew that what he was saying was the absolute truth.

Unfortunately, Bernard did not know that the current Purr was a cat.

Even in his struggles, Bernard retained a final shred of restraint. If he attempted to strike at Karen, the two backup arrays arranged by Mr. Eisen would instantly annihilate his soul.

This made Karen realize once again that the Guman family's method of array control was truly useful.

Mr. Hoffen had given him a wealth of array theories and illustrations. If he could further master the practical array methods of the Guman family, his future achievements in arrays would be unimaginable.

As it happened, he himself possessed the bloodline of the Guman family.

Dis had not told him about the Guman family. Although Purr knew, she hadn't deliberately told him early on either, which meant that in their eyes, the Guman family was not an entity to be entirely trusted.

It was somewhat better here with Mr. Eisen, but the reason it was better was also because of his illness...

A sick member of the Guman family was more worthy of trust.

Therefore, the problem should lie with Old Man Delon. He was certainly different from Dis; he should be purely loyal to Order.

However, his maternal grandmother did not seem to be this way.

She recognized him, seemed to know of his existence, and would even take the initiative to help keep his secret.

Dis had once used a clone to come to Wien. Aside from killing that little fly, had he also gone to see certain people?

Bernard finally calmed down, and then he saw that Karen was lost in thought!

He was actually, while torturing him, lost in thought!

A violent wave of humiliation and resentment flooded Bernard’s heart, and he wanted to let out another roar, yet he sensed a deep exhaustion stemming from his soul.

"I can tell you that secret."

"Oh, I'm sorry, what did you just say?"

Bernard: "..."

Karen responded with a smile.

"Even if you are Light, you still have no right to judge me, because back then, Philias did not believe in Light at all—he was a rebel against Light!

Ever since I knew him, through all their years on the island, I never once heard them praise the God of Light; they praised only the light, but never the God of Light!

My killing them was not an act of enmity against the Church of Light; I was purging rebels for the Church of Light!

Therefore, you have no right to judge me, no right at all!"

"Then do you remember that what I praised just now was also only light, without mentioning God?"

Bernard: "..."

"There are certain things you cannot understand, nor can you comprehend; even if I explained it to you with absolute clarity, you would still fail to perceive and comprehend it clearly."

"So, you really are the same kind of person as Philias?"

"Yes."

"Then you are in danger."

"I conceal myself within Order."

"Hahahahaha, you are baiting me for information, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"But let me tell you, it is useless; you have no idea how terrifying they truly are, nor do you know what price they would be willing to pay to kill you just as they killed Philias!"

"Yes, very terrifying. The lamp oil is nearly burned out."

Bernard’s soul was on the verge of being scorched dry.

"Release me, and I will tell you everything; otherwise, no matter how well you hide, someone will come to investigate the cause of my death. I have a pact with them!"

"Speak first."

"You will not keep your word!"

"Yes, I won't."

"They allow people who question God to exist, they even allow priests who question God to exist, but they will never allow anyone with the ability to replace them to walk the same path they did!

Quick, extinguish it, and I will tell you everything!"

"Keep talking, say as much as you can."

"The one who ordered me to kill Philias and the others was Light!"

"And the suffix?"

"Extinguish it, I'm telling you, I'm almost finished!"

"I won't extinguish it."

"God has always existed!"

"Yes, I know."

"God has always been watching the mortal world!"

"You can go on with your nonsense."

"The gods shall descend!"

Karen’s gaze shifted slightly; this was a prophecy, but Bernard belonged to a century ago, and he had known of this prophecy ahead of time.

"It was Light who came before me, ordering me to kill Philias and the rest, promising me that when the gods descend, the Dark Moon shall merge into Light, and I shall become an Elder of Light!

Quick, extinguish it, extinguish it, I am willing to yield this position of mine to you, to you! I can tell you the time and the place, it is not just me alone, there are others who received the promise as well!

Quickly extinguish it, extinguish it, and I will tell you everything!

Otherwise,

you will never be able to know this secret, I will carry it with me into death!"

Karen remained unmoved.

Exerting the very last of his strength, Bernard screamed: "You beast!!!"

The flames went out—not because Karen had extinguished them, but because Bernard's soul had been thoroughly scorched to the point of dissipation. Everything returned to tranquility.

"Sigh."

Karen let out a sigh and stood up, the Divine Robe of Light upon his body vanishing.

He reached out his hand, pointing at Bernard lying within the coffin; in his left eye, the profundity of Order swirled, and a black chain extended from beneath Karen's feet, enveloping Bernard's corpse.

"Order—Awaken!"

The last time he attempted "Awakening," it had failed, because Bernard was not dead.

This time when he attempted "Awakening," it succeeded, because Bernard was dead.

Karen sensed the spiritual energy within his own body being drawn away; gradually, Bernard opened his eyes.

He looked around in utter disbelief, then looked at Karen. One had to understand that his strength was equivalent to the ninth rank of other family belief systems; awakening him would exact a terrifyingly dreadful price, and it was not merely a matter of the price, but required an immense realm of attainment.

Yet Karen had actually succeeded in performing the Awakening upon him!

How could this be possible!

This was no longer something that Light could accomplish, absolutely not!

"You... who on earth are you?"

Karen extended his left hand to pick up that stone lamp, and snapped his fingers with his right hand. A cluster of black flames of Order appeared at his fingertips, which he brought over to ignite the stone lamp.

Promptly after, Karen tilted the lamp to the side, and the black flame of Order, which relied on the burning of spiritual energy for sustenance, poured down onto the center of Bernard’s chest.

Karen set the lamp aside, leaned back against the edge of the stone sarcophagus to sit down once more, and clapped his hands:

"Alright, let us continue."

Bernard: "..."

———

For the next chapter, I need to contemplate and deliberate on the plot a bit more, so the writing will be very slow. Everyone should read it after waking up tomorrow morning, do not stay up late waiting. Lastly, asking for monthly tickets!