Chapter 182
The train came to a halt.
Aloken, the bishop of the Blood Heaven Cult, was completely neutralized.
Metin, with heavy steps, approached to check the fallen Aloken's condition.
'…A massive explosion caused by a sanctified zombie. It's on a whole different level from Exorcism.'
The Hellhound that Aloken had worn was utterly annihilated, and Aloken himself was vomiting black liquid, his reason having evaporated.
It was a textbook symptom of a Core being destroyed. The smell alone confirmed it. He would never be able to use black magic again.
'I had wanted to capture him myself, though.'
In the end, it wasn't Metin the Inquisitor, nor Lete of Efnelle, who caught Aloken, but the necromancer.
With complex feelings, Metin fastened handcuffs around Aloken's wrists.
Meanwhile, Lete, who had tightly bound the female inquisitor and thrown her into a compartment, approached Simon.
"Well, this time I have no choice but to acknowledge your skills."
"..."
Simon was lying flat against the train ceiling, panting heavily.
"You saved all the passengers on the train… huh?"
Lete suddenly stopped speaking.
Something was wrong with Simon. As he weakly set down the crown, his whole body began to tremble. Then, with shaking hands, he tried to pick the crown up and put it back on his head.
Thunk!
Simon, through sheer transcendental willpower, set the crown down again. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
"Don't come any closer!"
Startled by Simon's shout, Lete flinched and halted.
It was the first time he had ever yelled at her so forcefully.
"Take this and get away!"
Simon threw the crown. Lete caught it instinctively and held it to her chest, her expression blank with shock.
"What's going on?! You have to at least say something!"
"Gghk…! I don't have time to explain, just get away! Now!"
She wanted to cast a healing spell, or at least a blessing of mental stabilization, but Simon was adamant about keeping her away.
Reluctantly, she backed away step by step, then turned around and ran.
'What the hell is with this crown?'
Simon couldn't hold out for long. With his eyes rolling white, he let out a bestial roar and charged toward Lete on all fours like a beast.
"...!"
She was caught in an instant. As Simon's arm reached for the crown, Lete, startled, held it tighter and turned her body away.
CRASH!
The impact echoed. Simon was sent flying, rolling across the train ceiling.
[See, I knew this would happen.]
Prince approached with a nonchalant expression, one hand on his hip.
"You…!"
As Simon tried to get up again, Prince rushed in, grabbed his hair, and slammed his head into the floor with a loud bang. Lete screamed in panic.
"Hey! What are you doing?!"
[Priest, stay out of this.]
Maybe due to the heavy impact, Simon's body slumped. Then, a faint, deranged laugh leaked from his lips, and his once-golden pupils returned to their original color.
"…Thanks, Prince."
[You're laughing? If you get hurt from pushing yourself like that, Feer's gonna chew me out!]
"The opponent was too strong, I had no choice. And please, take the crown away. I'm losing my mind."
At that, Prince turned and approached Lete.
As she looked between Simon and Prince, clutching the crown with a guarded expression, Simon gave her a nod as if to say it was okay. With a reluctant look, she held the crown out.
Prince snatched it and placed it on his own head.
[If anything happens, call me right away. Got it?]
"Yeah, thanks."
Sssssss.
Prince's entire body darkened along with the crown, and as if his soul were dissipating, his body turned to smoke and vanished. What remained was merely the corpse of an ordinary zombie.
"He, he vanished?"
"He just returned to his original place."
Simon groaned and sat down on the spot. Only then did Lete rush over in a panic.
"Are you okay? Should I cast a healing spell…?"
"I'm fine, just give me a blessing that energizes the body."
Lete cast a long-lasting blessing. Finally, Simon staggered to his feet. Lete supported him and spoke with concern.
"Ah, don't push yourself. If it's too much, how about getting some rest?"
Suddenly, Simon shoved her hard with a loud smack.
She fell on her butt with wide eyes, then, wearing a slightly hurt expression, she snapped in anger.
"I was trying to help you! You wanna die or something—!"
"There's no need for such a forced act."
She turned her back. Metin, the Inquisitor, was dragging Aloken's limp body as he approached.
"In the name of the great Goddess Dave, I swear neither you nor Priest Lete will suffer any harm."
"..."
But Simon only touched the mask on his face. He still didn't reveal his identity. Lete was racking her brain, unsure what to do.
Should she deny her association with Simon? Or help him and beat this guy down once and for all?
Just then, Metin opened his mouth.
"You, though a necromancer, risked your life to protect the people here. In the end, you saved hundreds of lives. We inquisitors, myself included, were pathetic. I admit it. We were no match for even a single necromancer."
He tore the inquisitor badge from his chest and threw it aside.
"So I will forgo your inquisition."
The strange turn of events left Simon and Lete speechless.
"You deserve a great reward on Heaven Island for saving so many lives, but you're a necromancer. You won't receive any recognition here, and despite knowing that, you still saved everyone. On behalf of all inquisitors, I thank you."
Metin bowed deeply.
"Thank you."
Simon finally withdrew the Darkness he had drawn forth. Of course, he didn't let down his guard.
"Will you be okay?"
Lete asked, looking at Metin.
"You might fall into a slump."
A priest's holiness stems from their faith.
But once doubt begins to fester in the 'faith' that serves as the medium for holiness, the doubt grows like a snowball and becomes irreversible.
When a certain event damages a priest's belief, they can no longer use holiness like before. This condition is known as a 'holiness slump'.
There were countless cases in the Holy Federation where priests, affected by war or unreasonable orders from superiors, fell into slumps and gave up their roles. Especially for someone like Metin, who had strong convictions and passion, it was easier to fall into a slump.
"Still, it doesn't matter. What's wrong is wrong."
So said Metin, as he looked at Simon.
He hoped Simon would say something, but the latter kept his mouth shut. Truly meticulous, he thought.
Simon turned his back and descended into the compartment.
The situation was more or less under control.
Lete, a student of Efnelle with absolute authority, and Metin, the sole surviving inquisitor, joined forces to calm the passengers and subdue the remaining Blood Heaven Cult followers.
The captured cultists were tightly bound and thrown en masse into the cargo compartment, while Aloken and the female inquisitor were personally sealed with magic by Metin and hung on the torture wheel.
"Don't go anywhere, keep a good eye on them. Senior Ellen."
"Of course, leave it to me!"
Ellen saluted as she spoke. Lete and Metin returned to the engine room.
"You're back, both of you?"
Having removed his mask and donned his white robe again, Simon had resumed his identity as a novice priest and greeted them with palms together.
"Ugh, I could kill you. You disappeared like a damn wisp."
Lete chuckled as she spoke.
"I'm not quite sure what you mean, priest."
"Fighting's all done~ and you shamelessly show your face again like nothing happened. Where were you, huh?"
"I had to go where I was needed. I was in the rear car, handling the remnants."
Watching the two of them shamelessly lying to each other with such camaraderie, Metin gave a dry laugh.
"Well, shall we head in?"
The three entered the engine room. The corpses had already been cleared, so it was clean. In the center of the room was a permanent holy magic circle that could control the train.
"Priest Lete, do you think you can operate it?"
"Let me take a look."
To Simon, the magic circle looked dizzyingly complex just by glancing at it, but Lete, seemingly feeling confident, began carefully analyzing its composition.
Meanwhile, Metin began explaining.
"We've regained control of the train, but the threat from the Blood Heaven Cult isn't over yet."
Simon nodded.
"We don't know when the cult's headquarters will send a pursuit team."
"Yes, they intend to offer up all the passengers on this train as sacrifices. Now that contact with Bishop Aloken has been severed, the headquarters will surely realize it and send reinforcements."
"So, the plan is to move the train and escape."
"Correct."
Metin held up a bag in his hand and gave it a shake.
"While Priest Lete checks if the train can be moved, let's review the Blood Heaven Cult's intelligence."
Inside the briefcase were the cult's confidential documents. Simon's eyes widened.
"Where did you get these?"
"They were in Aloken's subspace."
The two of them began carefully reviewing the documents for anything that could be a clue.
As Simon laid out the documents, he quickly noticed something strange.
"All of these directives have a bishop-level signature. But none of them are signed by Aloken, even though he claimed to be a bishop."
All the command papers bore a bishop's signature, just not Aloken's.
"But this one."
Simon pointed to a directive on the far right.
"Request for the operation to seize the holy train. This is the only one with Aloken's signature. Even then, the final approval came from another bishop."
"I see."
It strongly suggested that Aloken was little more than a puppet. Perhaps, despite being a bishop, there were ranks among them, or Aloken, a newcomer to the role, was recklessly trying to gain merit and ended up planning this stunt.
'Hmm.'
Simon quietly dissected the documents.
– Infiltrate and subvert the Inquisitor "Sarah Crawford".
– Prepare to seize Holy Train No. 1631, under Sarah Crawford's jurisdiction.
– Assassinate Inquisitor "Odel McFerdin", Sarah Crawford's fake lover, and acquire his biotechnical mask.
– ...
Sarah Crawford was the traitor inquisitor that Lete had captured. Up to this point, Simon had heard some details.
He turned to the next page.
– Seize of the Holy Train complete. Transport to headquarters.
– Convert captured passengers into Blood Zombies.
– Leak intel to the Inquisitor General Office. Full evacuation of headquarters personnel.
Simon's hand froze.
What kind of nonsense is this? Leak intel to the Inquisitor General Office on purpose?
With a rapidly hardening expression, Simon turned the page.
– Inquisitor General and war hawk "Leight" raids the scene.
– Leight secures evidence at the scene that the Blood Heaven Cult is backed by the Dark Alliance. Public sentiment turns strongly anti-necromancer.
– Induce war between the Holy Federation and the Dark Alliance.
'…Wow.'
Simon felt his lips go completely dry.
'This is escalating on a completely insane scale.'