Chapter 429: Karen, Learn From This

Chapter 429: Karen, Watch and Learn

The Lura specter coiled dynamically about the bodies of the master and mistress of the house, drawing up intertwined mists of crimson and blue that rose from their flesh before being devoured by the phantom.

Priests, as ever, were the ultimate nourishment.

If ordinary men were but grain in a field, the purified vessels of priests and their faith-endowed souls were like a steaming, fragrant feast set squarely upon the dining table.

Yet, for most demonic entities, the preference was to gnaw on the raw grain rather than feast on what was already prepared; they understood well enough the choice between a steady ration and a single, final banquet.

In truth, the Lura specter took no pleasure in restoring herself by such desperate means, particularly here in Wien, the traditional domain of the Church of Order, where the dragnet outside had long since deployed, leaving her in constant peril of capture and eradication.

But she had no choice; she was bound to Madame Cidra, and Madame Cidra, consumed by vengeance, fed her nothing but priests of Order.

To the Lura specter, each current meal was a rapturous delight, for she treated every single one as her last supper.

Madame Cidra sat upon the steps, her two children laid flat behind her; she did not look at them, nor did she display any token of maternal tenderness, her gaze fixed with a resolute, unwavering emptiness.

Just then, a ring of light manifested in the drawing-room.

The Lura specter instantly abandoned her feast and lunged toward the radiance, but Madame Cidra stepped ahead, placing herself before the circle; seeing this, the specter knew it was no enemy and turned back to resume her feeding.

From within the halo emerged a figure shrouded in a black robe, his face utterly lost beneath his hood.

"You are insane."

Madame Cidra opened her hands and said, "As you see."

"The mere venting of fury yields not a shred of meaning; its end is inevitably a profound, absolute vacuum."

Madame Cidra looked as though she had heard a jest,

And pointing to herself, she said:

"Do you know how I loathe such rhetoric? I am already reduced to this, yet you stand there telling me to be rational?"

"Should you not be?"

"Can this world no longer turn if it loses its reason?"

"It can, but only on the condition that you possess the right to be willful after abandoning it. When your temper flares, you must truly be capable of overturning the table before you, rather than merely slashing aimlessly at your own wrists with a dinner knife—that only appears ridiculous."

"Thomas, did you come here to lecture me?"

"My presence here means your position has already been discovered; I have risked the exposure of my own identity to buy you a little more time."

Hearing this, the Lura specter fell to her devouring with even greater frenzy, knowing well that relocation was imminent.

Madame Cidra looked puzzled. "Why help me? I did attend your organization's reading circle, but I made it clear that I harbored no interest in your theories or direction. Now, I stand entirely opposed to the Church of Order."

"The Professor learned of your plight."

"The Professor..." The image of a masked man surfaced in Madame Cidra's mind; she felt a deep gratitude toward him, for his words and consolation had once brought her immense solace, though she had never known his identity, discerning only that beneath the mask, his features did not seem to belong to a youth matching his stature. "Did the Professor send you?"

"The Professor said he understands your wrath and views it as your form of resistance; he also said the origin of this entire affair stems from the deification movement born of the collaboration between the Church of Order and the Church of Principles.

Have you not realized? What we oppose is precisely what enrages you now; all these calamities arise because the current hierarchy of Order has abandoned the original intent of the God of Order."

"What else... did the Professor say?"

"You can join us; we can resist together, strategically achieving our aims to sweep away the corrupted dust from Order. That is the only effective path."

Madame Cidra pointed to herself, then looked at the Lura specter performing her final consumption:

"But I have no way to stop now."

"The Professor says he has a way."

Hearing this, the Lura specter spun around in sudden, suspicious alarm.

"Mother, do you wish to abandon me?"

Thomas looked at the specter and spoke: "I imagine you have no desire to die here either. If you are willing to submit for a time, we can return you to the Gansen Peninsula, allowing you to rejoin the totem of the Lura tribe."

The specter sneered, "Is this a form of exploitation? I cannot trust your promises."

Thomas nodded and said, "I know, but you desire even less to remain here, sharing her madness until a swift end finds you."

"You speak truly. I am willing, but first you must alter my mother's mind."

Thomas turned to Madame Cidra: "Madame, let me take you from this place."

Madame Cidra raised both hands and said, "From the very beginning until now, I have known what you wish to do. I comprehend your goals, I comprehend your philosophy, but since I refused to join you then, it is even more impossible for me to consent now.

You wish to change the Church; you hope it will become the righteous entity of your ideals.

As for me, I no longer possess the will to change it; I have grown numb to it, and to it... I am indifferent.

Standing by the shore, I have cast off my shoes, discarded my hairpin, and walked into the sea. I care not if the clothes upon my back are drenched, for I never intended to return to land."

"Very well, Madame, but I have one suggestion, and that is..."

Thomas's voice ceased abruptly; with a sweep of his palm, a chain of Order manifested and lashed toward the curtains.

"Snap!"

The curtains burst apart, revealing Neo's figure. He reached out and grasped the chain, ignoring the fire of Order clinging to it that seared his palm, and merely frowned slightly as he surveyed the two figures and the single specter in the drawing-room:

"There shouldn't have been a second person."

Instantly, Neo fixed his gaze on Thomas and demanded, "Were you tipping them off? Is that why the reinforcements are arriving later than I anticipated?

Oh, how intriguing. I originally surmised that some stray colleague within the Church was killing out of vengeance, but I truly did not expect it to involve others. Are you an organization?

Conducting experiments? Researching a thesis?

Playing such a grand game, and in York City of all places?"

Neo's scent for things had always been sharp; but for exceptional circumstances, he would not have lingered so long in Sompu City.

"Madame, leave quickly; I shall hold him for you."

With that, Thomas faced Neo and spoke: "I shall keep you company here for ten minutes; after ten minutes, we shall each depart, and I shall pay you fifty thousand Order notes."

"Regrettably, if one of my subordinates weren't trapped in an eternal slumber, I think I might have agreed. But now... it is impossible."

In the next breath,

The Lura specter retreated into Madame Cidra's body, and the woman's form dissolved directly into black mist, vanishing away.

Neo did not immediately pursue Madame Cidra, but charged instead at Thomas.

Thomas stepped aside, offering no resistance whatsoever, ceding the way with open grace.

His strike thus avoided, Neo halted his advance and glared at Thomas:

"Are you not comrades?" Neo asked.

"I invited her, but she refused; therefore, we are not comrades. I was even quite anxious just now that you might accept; I am truly loath to expend fifty thousand Order notes on someone who is not a comrade. It would break my heart."

Neo nodded and said, "I understand."

"So, will you pursue me or her? If you pursue me, once we clear this sector, I can simply discard my disguise and reveal my true identity; without evidence, you cannot convict me. Indeed, I could even claim that you were that lady's accomplice and that I came to apprehend you.

I already know your identity, whereas mine remains unknown to you. Which do you choose?"

"You speak with great sense. I shall pursue her. Yet, instinct tells me I shall capture you eventually."

"For the sake of that subordinate who cannot wake?"

"No, because the tone you just used made me highly uncomfortable, and crushing someone like you into the dirt beneath the heel of my boot would undoubtedly bring immense satisfaction to body and mind."

"I understand, heh."

In the very next heartbeat, Neo and Thomas bolted in opposite directions.

Charging out of the building, Neo immediately received a transmission from Vanny: "Captain, the target is moving fast! Wind and Peggy have already given chase—southwest!"

At that moment, Vanny stood atop a distant skyscraper, her left hand gripping her pistol while her right pressed a seashell to her ear.

Previously, to avoid alerting the killer inside, Neo had not ordered his subordinates to set up a perimeter at close range; besides, if a matter could be resolved by summoning reinforcements, why sacrifice his own people?

But when the promised reinforcements delayed, Neo instantly realized something was amiss and entered the fray himself.

Consequently, when Madame Sidra made her escape, the rest of the squad simply had no time to intercept her and could only choose to pursue.

"Vanny, report to the higher-ups for me. Tell them this killer has an inside informant, and that informant can influence the deployment of reinforcements."

"Yes, Captain!"

Neo pushed his speed to its absolute limit.

Before long, he caught up to Peggy.

"You can stop the chase. I will leave markers behind; go receive the reinforcements and follow the signs I leave."

"Yes, Captain!"

A quarter of an hour later, Neo caught up to Wind. Wind was naturally renowned for his speed within the Hound Squad, and he had been the one clinging closest to Madame Sidra's trail.

Only now, blood was trickling from the corner of Wind's mouth, clearly the result of a retaliatory strike from Madame Sidra during the pursuit.

"Will you die?" Neo asked coldrife.

"No, Captain. I managed to sprinkle scent powder on her."

"Well done. Stop and rest."

"Captain, she is far more powerful than I imagined, so..."

Neo let out a short laugh,

and said:

"What a coincidence. So am I."

...

"Mother, let's just leave this place entirely. Let's leave a place as dangerous as York City."

"You underestimate the power of the Church of Order. We can only hide by relying on the dense population of the city. Once we leave, we will be locked onto very quickly."

"Mother, there is still someone pursuing us from behind."

"Conceal your aura."

"Understood, Mother."

Madame Sidra's figure descended, and under the shroud of the Lura evil spirit, she transformed into the guise of a streetwalker. Madame Sidra walked at a normal pace, yet to outsiders, she appeared to be a red-haired prostitute swaying unsteadily with a cigarette between her fingers and the stench of alcohol on her breath.

The black mist that Neo had transformed into was currently drifting across the area. At this moment, he lost the perception of the scent, but he was certain that the place where the odor vanished was right here.

"Tsk, playing hide-and-seek? How entertaining."

Neo's gaze swept across the surroundings, and then the black mist he had become drifted past the streetwalker on the highway, vanishing at the end of the street.

"Mother, he missed us. Let's find a place to sleep comfortably; I need to digest."

"Very well."

The "streetwalker" turned toward the side alley.

Right at that moment, six flames of order manifested above, crashing down toward Madame Sidra from different directions.

Madame Sidra took a step forward, stomping her foot onto a manhole cover, and plummeted straight through, simultaneously waving her hand to deflect all the flames of order away.

Beneath lay the heating pipes, offering a spacious expanse; in winter, this was a place vagrants fought tooth and nail over.

Madame Sidra moved swiftly through the space, but before she could displace herself very far, the manhole cover ahead fell with a resounding crash, and Neo's figure materialized.

"Madame, this is an industrial zone. How could the residents living here ever afford your services?"

Madame Sidra did not answer. A yellow light flared in her eyes, and as she clapped her hands together, a surge of energy erupted before her. Immediately afterward, vegetation rapidly sprouted from the walls that were originally built of concrete bricks, growing frantically as it swarmed toward Neo.

Once they constricted Neo's room to maneuver, every leaf and branch of the plants secreted a terrifying, corrosive venom. In an instant, this section of the pipe wall was pitted and scarred by corrosion, and even more venom transformed into a toxic mist, compressing toward Neo.

Neo twisted his neck, raised his hand, and said in a deep voice:

"Light—Incinerate."

Flames of light swept out from beneath Neo's feet, rapidly spreading to the surroundings, baking and dissipating the toxic mist and the vegetation entirely.

"Mother, the power of Light!"

"Who on earth are you?"

Neo did not answer her question. After revealing the trump card he absolutely should not have shown without a hint of hesitation, his right hand swept horizontally, and a great sword of light coalesced into form.

Anyone who dares to cripple my people will pay with their life!

"Hum!"

Neo appeared directly before Madame Sidra. The brilliance within Madame Sidra's eyes began to swirl, her lips parting slightly as a terrifying murmur instantly flooded Neo's mind.

Yet, the anticipated hesitation did not manifest. The man before her did not even change his expression, and that sword of light slashed down in an instant!

"Pfft!"

Madame Sidra's figure retreated, but a wound was still gouged across her chest.

A spiritual attack, and a "confusing" spiritual attack at that, was utterly useless against Neo. After all, he had lived through almost all these years in such a state. Now that he had lost Philias to chat with, leaving only the bloodthirsty aberrant demon ancestor old man, he actually felt a bit lonely and bored.

"Mother, I will help you!"

The power of the evil spirit rapidly neutralized the spread of the Light energy at the wound, suppressing the injury.

Neo continued his advance. The woman before him possessed decent strength to begin with, and with the empowerment of the evil spirit that had devoured so much blood and so many souls of the priests, her power was even greater.

However, she had not yet learned to master this power skillfully. This sensation felt very familiar to Neo, because it frequently manifested in Karen.

"Are you a remnant of the Light?" Madame Sidra asked once more.

What answered her was another downward slash from Neo's sword.

"Since you are a believer of the Light, why are you hunting me down?"

"The one I believe in is Order!"

"Do you believe that? You call this believing in Order?"

"I believe it, and Order believes it too."

With several successive sword slashes raining down, Madame Sidra began to retreat rapidly, but she suddenly realized that her retreat had already fallen into the opponent's rhythm. Though the opponent had not managed to injure her further for the moment, the auras between the two sides had completely intertwined.

In other words, the opponent could anticipate every single one of her next moves; he could suppress her step by step, a situation that would only grow more severe with time.

"Mother, we must break his rhythm, or we are finished!"

Madame Sidra opened her mouth and let out a low growl. Her skin took on the texture and hue of elm bark, and her overall speed and power received a further boost at this moment. Yet, she did not choose to seize this moment of transformation to attack Neo; instead, she sought to flee.

Neo pressed forward ruthlessly, but in that very instant, the woman he was bearing down upon suddenly dissolved, scattering into a flurry of fallen leaves and withered twigs.

Behind Neo, Madam Sidlaf’s figure materialized with an uncanny, grotesque grace, a wooden sword clutched in her grasp that appeared crude, as though freshly whittled in haste, yet its edge gleamed with a biting, murderous frost.

Neo smiled, making no attempt to turn back—there was no time—and instead performed a single maneuver: he shifted the precise location of his heart.

Splat!

The wooden sword skewered Neo’s chest, shredding his "heart" to pieces.

Neo gripped the Sword of Light with both hands and plunged it backward, straight into the open wound in his own chest!

Splat! Splat!

The Sword of Light transfixed Neo’s torso and driven deep into Madam Sidlaf’s breast as well.

"Mama, is he a demon?!"

"You..."

Evidently, neither the evil spirit Rula nor Madam Sidlaf had ever anticipated Neo would launch an assault of this nature.

A remnant of the Light masquerading as a Cleric of Order, while hunting down a killer of his own kind, had chosen mutual destruction from the very first strike!

Even the most devout Cleric of Order wouldn't have made such a suicidal decision with this degree of cheerful alacrity.

Neo’s eyes turned a pristine, blinding white as his jaw dropped open, a dense, roaring blaze of Holy Light congealing within his mouth.

Then,

he twisted his neck.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The bones in his neck snapped completely.

Neo’s face now looked directly behind him, locking eyes with Madam Sidlaf, and he even offered her a playful wink.

Immediately following,

the fire of the Light erupted from Neo's mouth, completely engulfing Madam Sidlaf's body.

"Ah, what a magnificent teaching moment, a pity you aren't here to see it, Kaelen."

—

Read the next chapter when you wake up in the morning, I'll take my time writing it.