Chapter 204

Empire Engulfed (V)

Addrel had never seen anything quite like it, and never wanted to see it again. The blood in his veins was frozen and his mind was having trouble processing what it was seeing. Yet, regardless of his inner storms, the man completely ignored it and grabbed him by the collar with some invisible magic, yanking him over to the carriage where the familiar face of the Princess appeared. She, much like him, had a wide-eyed expression -- partly one of horror, for certain, but unlike with him... there was also some mixed joy in there, as though she’d discovered a mine of gold underneath her burned house.

The fires began to simmer down, but the gruesome aftermath remained, as though on purpose -- a grim reminder of the man’s capacity. He leaned on the carriage and took out a strange-looking, metallic bowl of sorts that he began to drink out of while staring at him emptily.

“This... this...” the Princess mumbled half-witted; the other two left the carriage as well just after, floored by the infernal and hellish sight that awaited them. It was beyond anything they’d ever seen, and even if not as brutal and raw as some executions can be... it was on an unprecedented scale.

“Princess,” Addrel spoke out suddenly. “You’ve made a deal with the devil!!”

“Huh? A devil?” the man scoffed from the side before suddenly slamming his foot into Addrel’s nose. “I don’t remember giving you the permission to even speak let alone call me a devil. Tsk, the devil. Just ‘cause you lot were as weak as fuckin’ children you get off on calling me the devil to cover up for your shattered pride. Shit, now I’m getting pissed off. Anyway, you three interrogate him and try to learn from him as much as you can. I’m gonna go and cool off; otherwise, I might just lose my shit and cut his head off on accident.”

After setting the mood, Cain casually withdrew behind one of the tall cliff sides before suddenly stopping, his twitching lips spreading out into a creepy smile. Hoooooly shit that was awesome!! he could barely stop himself from shouting it out loud. I knew the combo would be amazing, but my God it’s even better than that!! It’s practically a tactical nuke for a mid-sized battlefield!

Just thinking back at the scene sent shivers down his spine and reaffirmed that having the massive arsenal of skills was the right choice. He sunk and sat down, leaning against the rock and looking up with a sigh. As he suspected, ‘SSS’ quest would test every aspect of their strength, and likely his more so than anyone else’s.

It was still strange, though, how quickly they became trusting; in any normal framework, it was physically impossible for that happen. The only explanation, Cain knew, was the Tower’s interference -- the system, the God, or whatever it was -- helping him propel the ‘story’, augmenting the reality so that it never stops spinning with him at the very eye of it.

This life... was decidedly different. It wasn’t as though he had some dreams of having a very smooth sailing, but he never expected it to feel almost themepark-like. While he reserved some agency, it also felt as though things would always happen around him and because of him, as long as he continued venturing into the Tower. The sheer abundance of ‘S’ and up difficulty quests appearing spoke volumes to that; after all, it wasn’t as though they were like apples in an orchard. They were extremely rare and beyond difficult to trigger, yet, despite that, ‘S’ and up quests have been raining on him and his party ever since he first stepped foot into the Tower.

Sighing again, he stood up and turned the corner, returning to the carriage. He was slightly surprised to find the headless corpse of the man he left alive by the wayside, with gloomy expressions of all three looming above, especially that of the Princess.

“A-ah, Sire,” the trio got startled out of their stupor as Cain stopped by them. “I... I apologize--sir Addrel insulted me, and Sebas--”

“Princess, don’t apologize! It was my fault!”

“What fault?” Cain quizzed, tilting his head.

“Uh... didn’t... didn’t you leave him alive for some purpose?”

“Oh, that. I mean, I guess,” Cain shrugged. “Did you get to learn anything from him before offing him? I mean, if not, it’s cool. It should be relatively easy to figure it out after investigating a bit.”

“... uh... may... may I ask you something?” the Princess mumbled, tightly gripping her gown.

“Didn’t you already?” Cain grinned playfully. “Alright, let me answer the questions: no, I’m not the devil; no, I did not make a contract with one; no, I’m not an angel either; no, I’m not super-powerful ancestor watching over the Kingdom and resurfacing now that it’s in danger; no, I’m not doing this for free; no, my friends aren’t as strong as me; no, I will not marry you since I’m already married; no, I---hmm, I guess... that’s it? If I missed something, feel free to ask.”

“...”

“...”

“I... I was simply... simply going to ask you whether you could clean the place up...” the Princess swiftly looked away as her cheeks flushed red, prompting Cain to chuckle awkwardly.

“Aaa, my bad, my bad; sure thing,” Cain quickly utilized ‘Space’ to create a simple skill that ‘buried’ all the charred corpses underground by teleporting them ten feet downward. Seeing every corpse vanish as though it was never there was surprising, yet not nearly as much as everything else. “Though we’ve taken care of this batch, I can’t imagine it will end with them.”

“... they were sent by the Moongod’s Children.” Sebas said, recovering first and taking a deep breath. He didn’t care who the man was or what his story was or how he got that power; all that mattered to him was that the man used that power to protect the Princess. If it meant saving her life, Sebas would happily accept the man even if he was the devil.

“By... moon’s-what-now?”

“Moongod’s Children.” Sebas elaborated. “They’re a long-standing religion of the Kingdom. For the longest while they’ve been mostly minor and insignificant, based on the old records of the ‘Lunar Stone’ fixing the Kingdom’s ills. Every new ‘Father’, their religious leader, would prophesize of the ‘Stone’s’ return... and, well, it all changed when the Stone actually appeared. They’ve grown immensely and quickly, and even managed to pull a few Royalbloods into their ranks. One of the Young Princess’ prime targets during the dinner were precisely them. She called them a ‘cult’ and ‘power-grubbing fanatics’. So, when the Princess helped the Young one escape... they must have switched their targets.”

“...” The shit? A religion based around some fucking rock that’s gonna be phased out by 15th floor? Wait--it’s not like I’m in the position to judge. There were people praying to non-existing fuckin’ aliens and shit. Wait--people in the Tower are basically aliens... won’t... won’t those religions skyrocket?! Shit! “’s that so?” on the surface, however, he maintained an indifferent expression.

“Those bastards,” Sebas gritted his teeth and snapped his jaw angrily, his eyes aflame. “We should have culled them the moment the Stone appeared.”

“That would have only fanned their flames further,” Cain said. “Besides, ‘culling’ isn’t really the way you deal with religious sects. After all, all you do is produce martyrs that they’ll be singing songs about and drawing more people in over.”

“E-eh? Sir... Sir knows a way?” the Princess asked, excited.

“--think of it simply: what is the cornerstone of their belief? The fundamental aspect that ties everything together?”

“The... Lunar Stone?”

“Yes,” Cain nodded. “It’s a mystifying object only spoken of in legends... that appeared suddenly, out of nowhere. It gives them validity. Since you only have ancient records of the material, and all they say is ‘the stone saved the Kingdom’, they can make up whatever fantasies they want over the stone and people would listen. All you have to do... is break that framework.”

“Destroy the Stone?!” Sebas asked in horror.

“What? No,” Cain sighed, shaking his head. “Demystify the stone. Mine it and prove to the world that, at best, it’s just a slightly better material. If anything, it’s even worse than onyx stone, and nobody’s worshipin’ that, right?”

“How... how do you know?” the Princess asked with some suspicion in her voice.

“Where I’m from,” Cain quickly made up a lie, straight-faced. “Lunar Stones aren’t rare. While certainly beautiful and spectacular to look at, I’d rather my weapon be made of normal iron, since ‘Lunar Stones’ have a remarkable weakness.”

“... a... remarkable weakness?”

“Sun.”

“H-huh?”

“Why do you think they only ever appear hundreds of feet underground at minimum?” Cain said. “That’s because they can’t ever survive anywhere the sun even remotely touches. So... all we gotta do is pour a bit of sunshine on it... and watch it melt like the faces of those worshiping a goddamn stone.” Cain’s evil grin startled the three for a moment as they realized something: the man in front of them... was an eccentric. And those folk... those folk were always best left alone.