indianbanksassociation Chapter 167 : Imminent (1)
Chapter 167 : Imminent (1)
Chapter 167: Imminent (1)
The tempting words flowing into his ears nearly caused his consciousness to completely fade away.
But Abel barely managed to regain his senses.
It was only then that he realized the other party had done something to him.
“Kuheok…!”
Suddenly, it felt as though his breathing had stopped.
Breaking free from the sofa, he glared toward his opponent, only to find Charlotte tilting her head as if surprised.
“You’re surprisingly persistent. To resist the Evil Eye of Corruption to this extent. As expected of the Imperial Family’s direct bloodline—even rotten blood still possesses innate resistance against demonic influence.”
“W-What… did you do to me…?!”
“Well. Even if I explained it, you probably wouldn’t understand.”
She no longer had any intention of hiding it.
When Charlotte stretched out her left hand, five or six purple tentacles burst from her fingertips and instantly wrapped around Abel’s face.
“Mmph! Kghhh!!”
He struggled desperately and swung his sword wildly, but the blade, completely devoid of concentrated mana, was dull and ineffective.
“I had intended to use mental erosion on someone else… but this can’t be helped. It’s rare to find someone whose inner self is as rotten as yours.”
The overwhelming mana pouring from her body flowed directly into Abel’s.
His screams and struggling movements rapidly subsided.
The tentacles casually tossed Abel’s limp body onto the floor.
At some point, a red cross-shaped brand had appeared upon his forehead.
Not long afterward, it faded without leaving even a trace behind.
And since that meant her operation had succeeded—
Charlotte smiled in satisfaction as she rose from her seat.
The seed had been planted.
At most, it would take ten days to bloom.
During that time, Abel would freely indulge in his buried violence and vile desires before ultimately making an extreme decision.
He would kill his father, Emperor Ludwig, and proclaim himself Emperor.
And if the Crown Prince—the very face of the Empire—ended up like that, there was no way the citizens would quietly stand by and watch.
The riots would only grow increasingly severe.
And all of it would accelerate the Empire’s collapse.
That, above all else, was the wish she had dreamed of for such a long time.
Throwing open the window through which she had entered, Charlotte declared toward an unseen opponent,
“Now then, resist if you can. Eugene Carter, Edel Ribenia.”
Let me see just how far the cards of Abrel and Paladion can go.
As a child of Alu, I’ll be watching.
---
Wednesday, April 13th, late evening.
After finishing all our daily duties, we gathered inside the Chairwoman’s office.
There were three participants:
Eugene Carter, Michel Bernhardt, and Rubia Magnus.
I intentionally did not call Francia.
Partly because there was a high possibility she would end up in danger, but more importantly because I didn’t want to turn her into a murderer.
She had already once cut down humans who had practically become no different from Demonic Beasts, but even so, facing actual humans was an entirely different matter.
Especially since the Bernhardt direct bloodline were the true root cause behind her suffering—the genuine enemies she hated most.
She surely understood that Michel had nothing to do with it, but I still couldn’t completely rule out the possibility that Francia, consumed by rage, might try to slaughter every single Bernhardt.
It was regrettable to proceed with the infiltration without her strength, but this time, I had decided to do exactly that.
“You made the right decision. We’re not going there to escalate the situation.”
Saying that only the three of us should go after Thursday’s classes ended, Michel unfolded a map of Centre.
It was a map distributed exclusively to pro-Bernhardt forces, with the buildings inside Bernhardt territory carefully marked.
A staggering sixty percent of the enormous central city belonged to Bernhardt territory, and there were easily over a hundred buildings within it.
“Since it’s so large, infiltrating itself won’t be difficult. But the security around the important buildings is tighter than most Academies.”
Among them, she pointed to two buildings.
One was the Second Villa, the private estate of Mikhail Bernhardt, Head of a branch family and Vice Head of the Main Family.
The other was the Sixth Villa, which had no listed resident.
“It seems they’re mainly staying in the Fifth Villa these days, so we probably won’t run into them.”
Michel said there was an item there we absolutely had to retrieve.
“That item… is it the will?”
“Yes.”
At that, Rubia widened her eyes in shock and asked,
“…You kept the original inside Bernhardt territory?”
“The darkest place is beneath the lamp.”
Smiling bitterly, Michel pulled out her copy and lightly tapped it.
“I never intended to use it this soon.”
What’s certain is that this is Bernhardt’s final chance.
“Although it already feels like the outcome has been decided… I still want to confirm it.”
“…After securing the original will, do we retreat?”
“We should.”
“Even if that means failing to achieve your goal?”
“…….”
Michel Bernhardt.
Within the family, she had been ostracized as a heretic, and because Bernhardt’s influence was so overwhelming, she had never once been treated well outside the family either.
Even after becoming Chairwoman of Karbenna, that treatment remained unchanged, and due to her political stance, she spent a long time at odds with Edel while also being pushed aside within the internal factions.
Power struggles, political conflicts—
Michel never really cared about any of those things.
Twenty years ago and even now, what she desired had always been something truly small… something insignificant.
Quietly observing the worry written all over my face, Michel finally answered with a faint smile.
“…At that point, I’ll have to live while believing in the words you told me.”
That answer was the best possible response both to my current self and to my past self.
So naturally, I could only return the same smile.
“……Very well. We’ll go together, Michel.”
---
Mountain region of Nifrel Province.
Following faint memories, she drifted forward almost as though floating.
Clank, clank.
At the entrance of the old village stood a thick iron fence.
A short warning notice was attached to the chain-locked gate.
“…….”
Kwa-ddeudeuk!
Crushing the gate with both hands in a single motion, Karen Rosefield stepped inside.
With every step she took, voices that should no longer exist poured into her ears like torrential rain.
Most of the villagers had been killed by the people of the Church, but she herself wasn’t entirely free of blame.
At least five people had lost their lives to her when she lost control.
Her younger sister Riley, whom she used to gather herbs with.
Uncle Fred and Aunt Laura, who ran the butcher shop.
Uncle Terrence, who worked as both a carpenter and farmer while raising five children.
Scott, the altar caretaker who had been especially close to her parents, and his daughter Lena.
All of them had died by her own hands.
“…….”
With every step she took, it felt as though the weight crushing her shoulders doubled.
Eventually her body tilted forward, and she finally collapsed onto both knees, lowering her head deeply.
Strangely enough, no tears came.
Of course not.
She had killed precious people with these very hands.
Whether she had gone berserk or not didn’t matter.
She was the one who killed them, and now that she remembered it, she no longer possessed the right to cry.
Even so—
She still wanted to leave behind at least an apology.
Karen silently offered her prayers for a long time.
Time flowed endlessly onward.
For nearly an hour, she remained there in silence, reflecting upon them one by one—
Until a voice reached her ears.
“I thought you’d come here eventually, Karen Rosefield.”
The voice flowing into her ears belonged to a man she could hardly call welcome.
Without even turning around, Karen slowly rose to her feet.
Placing her left hand on the handle of the halberd strapped to her back, she spoke with restrained hostility.
“…Luke Honorlight.”
In contrast, the Executor of Light, Luke Honorlight, wore a bright smile utterly devoid of hostility.
“I expected you to come kill the Archbishop first, so I waited there. But no matter how long I waited, you never appeared.”
“…So you came all the way out here personally to persuade me? To beg me not to kill the Archbishop?”
“…….”
Realizing he held no hostility whatsoever, Karen crossed her arms and spoke firmly.
“We both know I owe that man nothing. And if you’re about to say you don’t want the Church’s central pillar to collapse… the cracks are already far too large for that.”
“Thanks to you.”
“What, are you trying to hold me responsible for the Mallet Allied War? If so, you’ve got the wrong person—”
“Responsible? Quite the opposite. I’m actually grateful.”
After saying that, Luke slowly began walking forward.
“I no longer care what happens to the Archbishop. It no longer matters either way. I wouldn’t come all the way here over something so trivial.”
“…Then why?”
“Come with me first. There’s something we need to verify together.”
The two arrived at the center of the old ruins that had once symbolized the village.
Standing before the altar entrance where no trace of any Demonic Beast remained anymore, Luke drove his trademark silver cross into the ground.
At once, blue mana light burst forth from the earth and spread outward like branching roots.
Walking calmly along the glowing traces, Luke began speaking.
“Including Nivas of Illusions, the Empire has seen the greatest number of SS-Rank Demonic Beasts in recorded history over the past twenty years.”
Davios of Slaughter, whom you personally fought not long ago, was one of them.
“My duty has been to travel the borders, predict future appearances of Demonic Beasts, and devise countermeasures.”
Upon reaching the brightest and most concentrated point among the dozens of glowing traces, Luke pulled out a small cylindrical artifact from his robe.
“…A Mana Receiver.”
“Before coming here, I had my direct subordinates among the believers install markers in advance. Twenty locations in total—we’ve already placed them at all the Empire’s major sites.”
Now finally understanding what he intended to do, Karen nodded and asked,
“You’re trying to predict where the next catastrophe will occur? Using Nivas’ mana information?”
“Correct.”
The moment he infused a tiny amount of mana into it, the artifact activated immediately.
The Mana Receiver rapidly absorbed the blue mana light spread throughout the ground before rooting itself firmly into the earth and unfolding.
Twenty of the many mana stones stored within the cylinder floated into the air, emitting faint light.
“At the end of my journey, I arrived at one fundamental question, Karen.”
Quietly observing the scene, Luke slowly turned his head.
“Why exactly do Demonic Beasts hate humanity?”
“…….”
“Though the meaning has become distorted, the god worshipped by our Ribenia Orthodox Church, as well as Paladion—the primary faith of foreign nations—in other words, the Guardian Gods… they are ultimately gods created solely for humans. The value of every other lifeform is incomparable to that of humanity.”
Because the evil known as Demonic Beasts existed, we were able to unite our strength together. In that sense, one could even say the spread of Demonic Beasts was part of their divine plan.
“But even considering all that… the current situation feels far too excessive.”
“…What exactly are you trying to say?”
Only now had he finally reached the true point.
With a hardened expression, Luke Honorlight asked his longtime comrade,
“Have you ever heard of a god named Alu, Karen?”
Along with the name of a being who might very well lie at the root of every catastrophe.