Basilio answered as if he knew an obvious fact, that he knew the location of the Eternal Church's headquarters. The fallen one, who was only a head, glared at Basilio with bulging eyes.
"Don't be ridiculous! It's not a place that the likes of you could find out!"
"Hmm? Ah. I suppose it's natural for you to think I don't know. Unfortunately, I've been steadily tracking you all for the past several decades. Did you think I came into this city and did fixer work for nothing?"
Since the fallen one still had a half-believing face, Basilio decided to let him confirm it directly.
"Your headquarters is in the Trinity Building in District 17, isn't it?"
"How, how did you...!"
It wasn't difficult for the face filled with disbelief to be colored with shock. At that sight, Basilio shrugged his shoulders and made a snorting sound.
"Hmm? I was just guessing, but it seems it was really true."
'Oh no!'
The fallen one belatedly realized that Basilio had turned his suspicion into certainty based on his reaction.Normally, he wouldn't have been fooled by such probing words and would have gotten past it, but now he was in a state with only his head remaining because of Osian.
Moreover, due to the continuous physical and mental pain from being tortured with holy light, rational thinking like usual was impossible.
"Well, it's true that I had a vague idea. It's just that there were more than five suspected places, so I was wondering how to narrow it down. I tried District 21 with the guy I killed, but that wasn't the answer."
So Basilio had confirmed by casting fishing lines one by one to other fallen ones among the five candidates he had in mind.
"If there had been about five high priests, it would have been neat with one question per person, but there are only two here. Still, I was lucky. Who would have thought I'd pick the right answer on just the second try."
"This, this! To mock me like this!"
The fact that he had been caught by such a childish trick left a huge wound on the fallen one's pride.
But no matter how much he tried to struggle, since only his head remained without even regeneration possible, all he could do was spout crude curses.
"Well, I'll listen to as many curses as you want. Still, since you're about to go, it's fine as a last word, isn't it?"
At Basilio's words, the fallen one belatedly recognized his situation. The reason he could remain alive even with just his head was because he had value as a hostage.
Now that they had found out the location of the Eternal Church's headquarters, he no longer had any value as a hostage.
The fallen one, whose lips trembled finely from fear of the approaching pain, soon looked at Osian with a much more resolute gaze as if he had made some kind of resolution.
"Yes. Since you have no more business with me, you'll kill me. Isn't that right?"
He instinctively sensed that no matter what kind of persuasion he attempted here, he could never convince those two people, Osian and Basilio.
They hate him. No, beyond him, the church itself. As a high priest, it was an indescribable humiliation, but he was clearly the weaker one now.
Therefore, instead of persuasion or threats, he firmly revealed his strong will.
"However, even if you kill me here, I will not die. The Eternal One has granted me power, and though my flesh may crumble here, I will resurrect and return again. Blood never hardens, and thus it symbolizes eternity. That is the source of life. No matter how much you try to trample and eliminate it, it will not disappear—that is faith."
Osian didn't even let out a hollow laugh at the fallen one's shameless words. The sight of him showing some kind of resolution in the face of crisis was too disgusting.
What he had done in this room was never something a human would do. He was already a monster who had abandoned his humanity. Moreover, a monster who believed without doubt that he was a much better human than existing humans.
"It seems you think you won't die."
So Osian lifted the guy's head and aligned it exactly to his eye level.
"Yes. The Red Eternity watches over me. Having received greater power, I am different from those incomplete believers that you cut down. Therefore, I am not afraid."
From what he was saying, it seemed he knew where the spirits of the believers went after reaching physical death.
Everything about how the dead eternally belong to the Red Eternity. The fact that he had no fear despite this was probably because, being a high priest, he received special treatment different from other believers.
Osian didn't like the confident look in the fallen one's eyes.
"No. You should be afraid."
"Are you trying to scare me?"
"Scare? It seems you're misunderstanding something."
Therefore, he decided to take this opportunity to teach him properly.
"Do you really think that the outer god called the Red Eternity is truly eternal?"
In common perception, gods would be eternal and immortal beings. But Osian knows that even gods can be killed if one tries to kill them. The Red Eternity is the same. He's just insanely tenacious with life force, but that's not complete immortality.
If he were truly immortal, he would have already devoured this world. No matter what unknown power exists that prevents outside beings from freely entering this world, how could they stop an undying monster from entering at will?
Yet the Red Eternity didn't freely enter this world. He only coveted it, slowly spreading his influence from the shadows.
It's a ridiculous story. If he truly had nothing in the world to fear, there would be no reason to move like such a coward.
What this meant was simple.
"It seems you don't know that even that monster you call your great god can clearly reach death."
"Shut up! How dare you blaspheme the god!"
"Calling a guy who was just born strong in the outside world and grew up a god—isn't that ridiculous too?"
"He is eternal! If he wished to come to this world, this continent would at any time...!"
The fallen one couldn't finish his words because Osian swung his sword and cut off his tongue. It was exquisite swordsmanship that cut precisely only the tongue.
"I didn't speak to you to have such an argument. I'm just trying to correct the delusion you hold."
The fact that receiving the Red Eternity's power doesn't make one immortal.
Osian channeled the power of starlight into the hand holding the fallen one's head. The flames of starlight spread from the fallen one's hair across his entire scalp.
Crackling pure white flames wrapped around the fallen one's head like a lantern.
The fallen one screamed. That scream was so terrible it couldn't be compared to any beast's sound. But the scream couldn't spread outside in the end, swept away by the starlight's flames, only echoing within his mouth.
"Your soul won't even reach Red Eternity. The grace he bestowed, that power too, cannot protect you from this force."
The fallen one couldn't hear Osian's words, but he could feel what he was trying to do with these hot starlight flames.
This intense flame resembling heavenly light was not simply burning his head, but burning away some connection linked to Red Eternity.
He could feel the power granted by the god disappearing.
No. This can't be. The Eternal said so. That he was omnipotent. That he could make everyone live eternally.
That great one's power is disappearing so futilely to just one fixer? Is this happening in reality right now? How can this be? Why is this reality?
Then was I wrong? Even everything the god told me? Have I been believing something wrong? Then what did I come here for?
-Thud. Thunk!
His hair completely burned away, and the fallen one's head fell from Osian's hand and dropped to the floor. His skin melted down, and the bones and muscles inside also sizzled and burned.
Within that, the fallen one looked toward where Osian would be standing with his completely burned eyes. As if wanting some kind of answer.
But Osian gave no answer. He simply trampled the guy's head with his foot.
-Crunch!
With a chilling sound, pure white sparks spread in all directions.
Where Osian lifted his foot, only pure white ashes remained. His soul couldn't return to Red Eternity. The power of the stars burned everything away.
But he couldn't find rest either. As a fallen one, he no longer belonged to this world's laws. His soul couldn't belong anywhere, couldn't even wander the nine heavens, and simply disappeared.
Basilio, who had been silently watching the scene, clapped softly.
"Impressive. I knew that power was adverse to the fallen ones, but I didn't know you could do this much."
Osian didn't answer those words, but inwardly he was thinking similarly. In the game, its efficacy wasn't properly shown. Now that it had become reality, it was different. The moment Osian tried to burn the fallen one, he instinctively felt he could do this.
Perhaps that's why. Why outside beings including Red Eternity extremely dislike the existence called knights. The reason they've been working secretly on the continent for long years trying to cut off the lineage of knights is probably for this reason.
"At first, I was going to send you away and handle the matter myself. But seeing this, I realize my thinking was wrong. Rather, I'd like to ask a favor. Will you help?"
Just then, Grace Seeker, who had finished organizing the entire ballroom, arrived at the scene.
"My goodness."
She couldn't continue speaking at the horror spread across this space. Even she, who had seen many terrible sights, couldn't hide her emotions for a moment—the devastation in this room was that horrific.
"Is it all over?"
"Yes. But it's not completely over."
Grace gracefully greeted Basilio, who wasn't originally there.
"It's nice to meet the legendary Basilio of the industry."
"Isn't this Grace Seeker, the head of the Blood Brotherhood? You two being together—I don't understand what's going on."
Basilio said this and shrugged his shoulders.
"But well, it's not something I need to worry about. There are more important matters, and if I can get help from skilled fighters, that would be even better for me."
"In Basilio's case too, are you related to this incident?"
"You could say that. I've been tracking their traces for a long time. From inside the city to outside. I've traveled all over the continent. So how about it? Since I know about their information, if we join forces, things would flow more smoothly."
Basilio didn't say things like it was dangerous so she should step back in this situation. He had just seen with his own eyes how terrible pain Osian inflicted on the fallen one.
Telling such an Osian to step back because it was dangerous, or that this was his business so don't worry about it, would be unreasonable. Rather, he was deeply inclined to receive help if he could get any.
Grace was secretly impressed that this was remarkable.
Even fixers, if they were skilled enough to be called legends of the industry, would naturally have to harbor arrogance. But Basilio showed flexibility that was overflowing.
Grace had no particular reason to refuse either. Whatever the case, knowing that the enemies were no ordinary individuals, having even one more skilled person would be helpful.
Above all, listening to Basilio's words, it seemed he had accumulated considerable information about the Eternal Church while tracking them for a long time.
Information superiority was more important than anything, so Grace couldn't help but covet Basilio's joining.
Of course, her worries weren't few either. Wasn't Basilio one of the fixers who maintained mysticism, never revealing his identity even once? Even now he was speaking like a comfortable neighborhood uncle, but the aura emanating from him was never friendly.
"Well, I'm not asking for an answer right away. I'm not saying let's immediately attack their headquarters either. Of course, we can't afford to be leisurely either. They have eyes and ears too, so they must have received news that one of their missionary sites was attacked."
Basilio turned his back.
"Since the night is deep today, let's end the talk here. I'll expect an answer at the office tomorrow."
The moment he was about to leave with those words, Osian moved.
"You!"
Grace's eyes widened in surprise. It wasn't that Osian had called Basilio to stop, but that he had drawn his sword and placed it on his shoulder.
With the momentum to cut his neck if he made even the slightest wrong move.
Weren't the two of them colleagues from the same office? Grace thought Osian was making a very sudden move. Basilio also seemed puzzled, as if he hadn't expected Osian to do this.
"Hmm? Why is my junior pointing a sword at me?"
"I have one thing to ask."
At Osian's razor-sharp voice, Basilio burst into hearty laughter.
"That's one's own freedom, isn't it? Ask away as much as you want."
Osian spoke without lowering his guard toward Basilio.
"Why does the power you wield resemble that of the fallen ones here?"