C245 - Villain (2)
The sound of a sword piercing a neck was heard. It was followed by a dull thud. Vitura's head fell to the ground.
Lani stood frozen in the same motion she had finished swinging her sword. Her head was tilted.
It had only been a second, not even half of it. But the brief moment after completing the motion felt like an eternity to Lani.
Oh, Sir Vitura.
She wished this eternity would never pass. She wished everything would come to a complete halt.
Because now she would have to mourn the horrific puppet of the Zipple Clan, not the man who had gloriously sacrificed himself for the children of Ayula.
Hot blood splattered Vitura's neck onto his face. Some droplets fell into his eyes. Blood and tears ran down his eyelids.
"Father!"
Lani cried out with a hoarse voice as she looked at the fake holy king.
But her cry had actually been for the true Holy King, Miklan, who was probably in Ayula's embrace now.
"Father, Father! No, this can't be happening. This can't be happening! Father, why is this happening?"
Lani lunged forward and embraced the fake Holy King. She immediately began her sacred healing spells, but the damage to the fake Holy King's neck was beyond any human effort.
Undoubtedly, Vitura had ended him for good. The crown of the dormant volcano lay on the ground, completely drenched in blood.
Amidst the clash of swords, the grunts and shouts of the holy knights, and the gasps of the anxious crowd, Lani's desperate cry stood out above all.
Both loyal knights and traitors, as well as the people, felt a dreadful premonition at Lani's cry.
It didn't matter whether they knew the holy king was a double or not. Death shook them all.
"Your Majesty, the king has fallen!"
"It was Commander-in-Chief Vitura Veltor! Your Majesty was..."
"Holy ones, heal Your Majesty immediately!"
It was one of the captains of the Creed Guardians who had sought out the Saints. He knew the holy king was dead. He had only shouted because the Saints in the procession were also Zipple's puppets.
Now that Vitura and the fake holy king were dead, there was only one way out for those who had sided with the Zipple. They had to secure the survivors of the biological golem experiment at all costs.
If they couldn't get rid of the most crucial evidence that troubled the Zipple, there was no way they would escape their involvement in the holy king's death.
The entire world had witnessed the death of the holy king. Therefore, the Zipple could only offer to protect those who would play a crucial role in cleaning up this mess.
"Out of my way, out of my way! We must tend to His Majesty!"
The saints in the procession behind the carriage started joining the battlefield. But this only added to the chaos of the crowd that had just witnessed the murder of the fake Holy King.
In front of Lani, a battle unfolded between the Golden Shield Knights and the Creed Guardians Society.
"Creed Guardians! Capture all the heretics!"
It was then that Lani ceased portraying her grief with the fake holy king in her arms.
"Golden Shield Knights! You must not hand them over to the Creed Guardians. There must be a reason why Vitura and the Creed Guardians wanted them dead, even at the cost of high treason!"
"Lani Salome, did you say treason? His Majesty was attacked because you couldn't protect him, lass. How dare you accuse us of treason, you cursed witch?"
"Golden Shield Knights, follow the orders of Lani Salome! Stop the traitors! Protect the holy subjects around Lani!"
The loyal Golden Shield Knights reestablished their formation. These men were handpicked by Vitura. Their solidarity was notable, even through the horrific chaos.
"Golden Shields, look at yourselves. Your current actions are the very definition of treason. Leaving aside the heretics, shouldn't you at least make way for the saints to tend to His Majesty? His Majesty may still be alive. If he dies due to lack of treatment, all of you should..."
"His Majesty has perished due to the covert attack by Vitura Veltor. All those who followed his orders, including yourselves, will pay for the death of His Majesty the king."
"Bring them down!"
Despite being outnumbered, the Golden Shield Knights overwhelmed the Creed Guardians.
However, the Golden Shield Knights couldn't help but feel anxious.
A tremor began to spread from the outskirts of the city square.
A group of heavily armored knights headed towards them on horseback. It was a understandable response, given the extreme nature of the circumstances. And naturally, they were all pawns of Zeifl.
"Kid," Murakhan whispered to Jin. Both of them were in the midst of the crowd.
"Yes?"
"Should we intervene if the Religious Fanatics' side is pushed back? If anything happens to her, not only would my promise to help be in vain, but Vitura's sacrifice would also be in vain."
"That will never happen," Jin said.
"How can the Religious Fanatics stop them all?"
"They can't, if there's no one left in the holy kingdom to help Lani." At the end of Jin's sentence, another group of Sacred Knights and Creed Guardians troops arrived at the scene.
There were at least a hundred Sacred Knights, and quite a long row of soldiers marched in to control the people.
"Kill the traitors and capture Lani Salome and the heretics!" shouted the newly arrived captain. The Sacred Knights swiftly charged in wedge formations, and the soldiers pushed back the crowd with the shafts of their spears.
But the people would never accept this. Even an idiot could tell that the Creed Guardians were the traitors.
If it were simply a clash between the Creed Guardians Society and the Golden Shield Knights, the people would have had a different opinion.
But the murder of the fake holy king by Vitura played a decisive role.
"We must protect His Majesty's daughter!"
"You won't take Lady Lani away! You have already harmed His Majesty! Don't you dare lay a finger on Lady Lani, you filthy Zipple pawns! Are you not ashamed before Ayula?"
"Stop them, stop them with your bodies!"
Suddenly, the people in the city square began rushing toward the battlefield.
The Holy King and his daughter were always loved by the people. And in their eyes, the Creed Guardians were God-forsaken bastards who murdered a father before his daughter's own eyes on a festival day.
Moreover, Lani and the Golden Shield Knights had only acted sensibly and with common sense since the incident.
But the Creed Guardians seemed shamelessly desperate to capture the survivors. Not only that, they even demanded that the Golden Shield Knights make way for them, claiming they needed to tend to the holy king, who was clearly dead.
Jin and Vitura had shared a conversation the night before.
"It's true that the Zipple and Kinzelo have absolute control over the leadership of the holy kingdom, but they don't have it over the people. Thanks to their alliance breaking, they haven't been able to dull the citizens' senses at this point," Vitura said.
"We'll need the Holy Kingdom subjects to identify with us," Jin responded.
"I will attempt to portray the most atrocious villain they have ever seen."
What Jin didn't know was that by this point in his past life, the people of the holy kingdom had already been dulled and brainwashed. That's why no one cared when Lani consumed herself.
Lani and Vitura grew tired of their lone struggle and quietly left the holy kingdom, after which they disappeared.
But this time, the story changed thanks to Jin. And now, the perfect conditions were in place to reveal the truth.
"How dare you! Don't you realize how grave a crime it is to side with the heretics? Get out of the way! Move aside! I warn you, move!" The confident shouting captain of the Creed Guardians began to frown.
The Sacred Knights of the Creed Guardians who arrived as reinforcements were blocked by a crowd of people.
All the people filling the city square rushed to shield Lani. The soldiers who had been pushing them with their spears were being pushed back. The Sacred Knights could do nothing but repeat the same words over and over.
"I told you, move!"
If it weren't for the Manifestation Festival. If it had been any other day, they would have pressed forward, regardless of the innocent citizens' blood spilled.
But if they did it now, the consequences of such an action would have a much greater impact than the testimonies of the biological golem experiment survivors.
There were too many eyes watching.
Several hundred journalists from all nations were scrutinizing them as well. Killing their own people before those watching eyes was the very definition of madness.
They would never recover from it, not even with the Zipple behind them.
"Lady Lani, the Golden Shield Knights stand with you."
"Don't worry. Fight against them. Secure the children of Ayula who have been dragged to the Zipple Clan's laboratories!"
"Ayula herself will bring punishment down upon you!"
There are not many things in the world as terrifying as an enraged crowd. The Sacred Knights of the Creed Guardians dared not approach them. They could only look around.
Lani was no longer crying.
But there were dried marks of blood and tears around her eyes. She quickly wiped them away. Her gaze landed on Vitura's head on the ground.
She had a faint smile on her face.
Amidst the countless voices and noises of the city square, Lani slowly knelt beside the fake Holy King.
Death will take you to rest, you who toiled in the dark and heavy world. Your soul will be free in Ayula's vast embrace. All your past suffering will turn into good humor that lightens your heart.
It was a whisper of prayer.
But it was like a breeze of wind. Just as blades of grass kneel before the blowing wind, the people of the holy kingdom began to sit in their places and close their eyes.
"All your past suffering will turn into good humor that lightens your heart."
"The burden you leave behind will be carried by those like you, to become the substance of the next morning. Those who share your burden will be people like you."
All the citizens of the Holy Kingdom knew this prayer.
It was a sight to behold. Even outsiders were moved by the prayer. They closed their eyes and bowed their heads in condolence.
The Golden Shield Knights also sheathed their weapons and knelt. Soon, the Sacred Knights of the Creed Guardians stopped looking around and joined the prayer.
If it weren't for the steel fragments and blood on the ground, no one would have believed that a battle had taken place right here moments ago.
The prayer was coming to an end when a man quietly approached Jin.
"Lord Jin," he murmured.
"Hello, Deano."
Deano Jaglun was now a renowned young journalist. He came to the holy kingdom immediately at Jin's call and began writing articles.
"The record left by Mirtual Sila is ready to be published. I highlighted its similarities with the tragedy of Kollon and focused on the real losses of the holy kingdom," Deano said.
"Good work. Any chance the Zipple will slip away?"
"None. There is too much evidence we can use to establish the involvement of the Zipple leadership. A few scapegoats won't save them. The fact that Kinzelo has Karl Zipple in custody is the key point, as you said, Lord Jin."
Deano gave a faint smile and continued. "This incident may well put an end to the days when people considered the Zipple Clan benevolent."