Chapter 915: The Newspaper
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 915: The Newspaper
The flames raged, and the pungent stench of char combined with the searing heat made every breath a struggle.
Muen looked out, trying to discern the scale of this sea of fire—this apocalyptic vision—but the complex layout of the buildings and the uneven terrain obstructed his view.
This ancient royal city was not like Belland, which was neatly planned and flat. Several overlapping slopes gave the city a sense of verticality, but they also made it impossible to see the entire urban expanse at a single glance.
Even so, the atmosphere of despair, the shrieks of agony, and the images of destruction swept over him like a tsunami. They pricked at Muen’s nerves every second, forcing him to feel the sheer weight of the disaster currently ravaging the city.
"Has the Salvation Society truly destroyed Saint Bran Phazesia? Or is the city currently in the process of being destroyed, and the peaceful city I saw before was merely an illusion they built over the ruins?"
Muen felt a sense of bewilderment.
The scene before his eyes provided one answer, yet logical reasoning made it seem utterly inconceivable.
Yes, from a certain perspective, if Saint Bran Phazesia was already on the brink of destruction, it would explain why the Repentant Witch could act so brazenly.
But what about everything else?
As Muen had calculated before, what about the most important factor—time? What about the powerful experts stationed here? How could the Salvation Society have pulled this off?
This wasn't some minor town; this was Saint Bran Phazesia, a majestic city with centuries, even millennia, of history! It was the kingdom's vital capital!
It housed a population of millions, the branch offices and even headquarters of numerous organizations, the Kingdom’s Royal Guard, the powerful figures who served the nation, and even one of the Nine Great Temples that served as the Church’s foundation in the mortal world!
When Muen had seen that peaceful, harmonious city earlier, he knew some sort of abnormality had occurred, but he never imagined that the city’s "abnormality" could be equated with the word "destruction."
The Salvation Society was formidable, and they might truly be capable of destroying this city, but it was impossible for them to do so in such a short time, without alerting anyone outside, and without a single omen of warning.
To achieve all those conditions, let alone the Salvation Society, even the Church itself likely couldn't manage it.
It was like murder. Killing a person was easy; killing a person without leaving a single trace was a difficulty on an entirely different level.
Furthermore, Muen felt that for the Salvation Society to accomplish this was infinitely harder than a traceless murder.
Because if the scene before him was the "truth," then they were currently murdering the people of an entire city without leaving a trace!
"No, I can't jump to conclusions so easily."
Muen slapped his forehead hard, forcing his mentally exhausted self to calm down.
Before seeing the full picture, making assumptions was a cardinal sin; it was far too easy to lead oneself into a trap.
The most important thing now was to gather intelligence. At the very least... he needed to know to what extent the Saint Bran Phazesia he was currently in had been "eroded" by destruction.
"The damage here is severe..."
Muen scanned his surroundings. It was difficult to glean any useful information from the houses that were already teetering on the verge of collapse from the fire. Thus, he decisively chose to move toward the city center.
Still not daring to expose himself, he moved rapidly through the cramped, narrow spaces between the buildings.
Muen moved with extreme caution, and it seemed he hadn't yet drawn the Repentant Witch's attention. However, before he could get very far, he was forced to stop again.
"This is..."
Muen’s brow furrowed, his expression turning solemn.
Before him lay a multitude of charred corpses.
Under normal circumstances, these bodies wouldn't have made him stop while facing the risk of a Crown Bearer’s attack at any moment; after all, charred corpses were scattered everywhere amidst the flames and ruins.
But these were clearly different.
Because these corpses... were all children.
In a spacious room that looked like a classroom, dozens of small corpses were huddled tightly together, as if they had been trying their best to hide from something terrifying in their final moments.
But clearly, they had failed. The tongues of fire had ruthlessly licked across their tender bodies, leaving behind nothing but black desolation.
"Those bastards... they really didn't even spare the children... Huh?"
As his gaze swept over this heart-wrenching tragedy, Muen suppressed the fury in his heart. Suddenly, his eyes fell upon a figure that looked somewhat familiar.
It was also a child. Due to the burns, he looked no different from the other poor children in outward appearance.
However, his curled posture was the most peculiar. Instead of huddling with the others for warmth and shivering in the final moments of death, he was curled into a ball, tightly protecting something in his arms.
"It couldn't be..."
Muen leaned down and carefully pried open the child’s stiff, charred arms. To avoid damaging the integrity of the child's body, even with Muen’s level of control over his strength, it took him two or three minutes to retrieve the object the child had been clutching so tightly to his chest.
It was a banknote.
A banknote that, despite the massive fire, still retained about half of its form, allowing Muen to clearly distinguish its denomination.
One hundred Emiel.
To Muen, this amount was trivial, but to this child, it was immeasurably large.
So large that even in the final moments of death, he had to protect it in his embrace.
"It really is him."
Muen took a deep breath, a young face he had only seen once flashing through his mind.
When he had first entered the city, in order to gather information, he had spent one hundred Emiel to buy a two-Emiel newspaper from a boy selling them.
He had thought it was just a fleeting encounter and that he would never see the brat again, but he hadn't expected...
"Is this... some kind of ridiculous karmic bond?"
Muen gave a silent, bitter smile, pulled out a fresh large-denomination bill, and placed it in the child’s hand.
After offering a prayer to the Goddess, hoping these poor souls could find peace, Muen quickly stood up and moved to the other side of the room.
He roughly recognized this as an orphanage that took in many lonely orphans. It was precisely because of his tragic background and the independence he had forged early on that the boy had been out selling newspapers in the rain.
In the kingdom, most orphanages were funded and established by the Church, which meant...
Muen looked out through a crack in the wall. The terrain in this part of the city was significantly less complex, and the visibility was much better. Consequently, Muen immediately spotted the building with the circular dome and the exquisite statue of the Goddess.
The Cathedral.
"I didn't expect to be near the Cathedral."
Amidst the billowing smoke, the Goddess’s face remained compassionate and holy, as if she were grieving over the internecine slaughter of humanity.
However, the focus of Muen’s attention wasn't the statue, but...
"The Cathedral is actually intact?"
While the surrounding blocks were engulfed in a sea of fire and countless innocent people—even children—were dying in this disaster, the Saint Bran Phazesia Cathedral, a symbol of one of the Life Church’s nine sacred seats, was completely unscathed.
By all logic, shouldn't that have been the Salvation Society's first target?
In his confusion, Muen narrowed his eyes and observed closely, but he couldn't find a single trace of any clergy within the Cathedral.
Where were the people?
Had they all been sacrificed?
Or was it...
No, no, it was too early to draw conclusions. The distance was still a bit far; the details inside couldn't be confirmed just by looking from afar.
To know the current state of the Cathedral, he had to get closer.
"The Cathedral might be the breakthrough for this convoluted situation."
Muen quickly made up his mind and estimated the distance from his current position to the Cathedral.
Although there was a stretch of open, unsheltered ground between them that was extremely dangerous... it was worth the gamble.
"I hope that crazy woman isn't too obsessed with a little ant like me. Please, go do something more important. As the Third Seat of the Salvation Society, dedicated to the arrival of a New World, how can you be so entangled with a pretty boy like me who has nothing going for him but his face?"
Muen took another deep breath.
Fighting Spirit.
Mana.
Spiritual Power.
He rapidly brought himself to his peak state.
Then, without hesitation.
Muen crouched slightly, and in an instant, he launched himself forward like a cannonball!
Time Dilation.
Hundred Stacks.
Shadow Step!
Muen utilized every means at his disposal to increase his speed, pushing his already peerless god-like speed beyond even his own limits!
Within the dilated time, the Cathedral drew closer and closer. Muen continued to estimate the distance in his mind.
Five hundred meters...
Two hundred meters...
One hundred meters...
Fifty meters...
Finally... ten meters.
The grieving face of the Goddess was clearly visible. Muen had seemingly transformed into a silent, formless shadow. In less than a heartbeat, he would successfully enter the Cathedral without alerting anyone.
He was about to succeed.
Almost there.
However, unfortunately.
Fate never seemed to let the yellow-haired villain it despised have things so easy.
"Heh."
At the final moment, Muen finally heard that sneer.
Immediately following... crack.
All around Muen, and even on the final few meters of the path ahead, cracks suddenly appeared!
"Dammit!"
Muen nearly ground his teeth to dust, wishing he could use every curse word he knew to greet that old woman’s entire family tree.
If you like handsome, dashing, cheerful young men like me so much, go find a damn gigolo! I’m a respectable man, I’m not interested!
Muen reacted instantly, twisting his body.
Before taking his first step, he had anticipated this possibility, so he was naturally prepared for the Repentant Witch’s intervention.
Muen’s pupils suddenly turned pitch black.
His spiritual power was overextended once again, but in exchange, he summoned an unprecedented, roaring blaze of pitch-black flames!
This time, the flames did not spread outward; instead, they coated the dual daggers in Muen’s hands.
Muen gripped the daggers tight, and as his body spun, the blades whirled violently.
Recalling the techniques he had practiced so hard, the blade-light connected, growing deeper and darker, until it transformed into a black sun before him!
"Flame Flash: Eclipse!"
The black sun ground forward, swallowing everything in Muen’s path, including those invisible cracks.
Everything seemed to turn into void; all things ended in the dead silence of the black sun, and even the light of heaven seemed to be devoured by it.
Under this strike, which Muen had poured everything into, even the blockade of a Crown Bearer was completely severed!
The path forward was no longer obstructed!
"To hell with your Crown Bearer status, you think I'm afraid of you?"
Muen spat, a grin spreading across his face as he strode forward, finally successfully entering the Cathedral’s grounds!
So what if she was a Crown Bearer? It wasn't like he hadn't beaten one before!
Even if that had been limited to specific circumstances, now, Muen Campbell could finally hold his head high and loudly declare that he was someone even a Crown Bearer couldn't do anything about...
"Heh."
The sneer rang out again.
It seemed to mock his useless struggle and ridiculous delusions.
The smile that had just begun to form on Muen’s face froze. His pupils shrank, and his heart nearly stopped.
"What?"
He murmured blankly, his entire being plummeting from the heights into an abyss.
Because right in front of him, not far away, right beneath that statue of the Goddess...
An elegant woman stood quietly, holding an umbrella.
The Repentant Witch.
She wasn't far away at all; she was right there!
Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit!
It’s one thing for a Crown Bearer to relentlessly pursue a little bug, but you actually came here in person?
Are you a stalker?
Muen felt the hair on his body stand on end. His blood froze, and his death premonition wailed like a banshee.
It was over.
Muen lamented in his heart.
Against a Crown Bearer at such close range, he didn't have any chance to react.
He didn't even... have time to call the Black Book for help.
"Die."
Without any superfluous pleasantries or movements.
Muen saw the Repentant Witch raise her hand again and point a finger at him.
In an instant, heaven and earth collapsed.
...
...
"Big brother, big brother..."
The rain fell in a light drizzle.
Water droplets landed on Muen’s face. Even through his disguise mask, he could still feel the chill of late autumn.
Dong—
A bell tower somewhere chimed, adding a touch of mystery to the rain and the city.
Muen opened his eyes, staring at the dim light struggling to break through the heavy dark clouds.
The breeze brushed his face; the light entered his eyes.
It felt so real.
"I... I'm still alive?"
Muen struggled to raise his hand and felt himself over, confirming that no parts were missing.
Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
It seemed he really was alive.
And he wasn't the only one.
Muen turned his head to look to the side.
A familiar brat was squatting beside him, holding a stack of newspapers and waving them.
"Big brother, big brother, why are you sleeping here?"
"I..."
Muen’s lips moved, but he couldn't find a reason, nor did he know the cause.
He didn't even know why he was sleeping here himself.
"I get it, you're one of those poor homeless people too, right!"
The brat slapped his palm, sounding certain.
"..." Muen glanced at his tattered clothes and couldn't argue.
"It's so cold, you'll catch a cold."
The brat leaned in with a worried expression. Just as Muen thought he was about to show some compassion...
"Do you want some newspapers?"
The brat practically shoved the newspapers into Muen’s face, saying expectantly:
"If you cover yourself with my newspapers, it's very warm!"
"..."