The center of the temple was dark.
It was a dim black, and for some, it was a cozy shadow.
Tehra smiled brightly.
“Oh my, there’s blood on it.”
“Does it matter?”
“Not at all.”
Grohst appeared with blood scattered all over his body. Tehra didn’t bother asking why. As mentioned, it wouldn’t be an issue for what they were about to do.
It was a variable that the saintess and holy knight of the Divine Order arrived at this time, but it wasn’t a big problem.
After all, the preparations had been completed years ago, and only the execution was left.
“Let’s begin. Outside is chaotic.”
“Let’s do it.”
Grohst sat on the throne at the center of the depths.
Although it was called a throne, its appearance resembled a torture device.
Tentacles spread out everywhere, spikes grew from the backrest, and shackles hung over the limbs.
“Humans evolve in pain.”
Tehra caressed Grohst’s back. Then, he sat on the throne.
Woosh, the tentacles and spikes of the throne dug into Grohst’s body. He only slightly furrowed his brow and didn’t express any further pain.
“Promises must be kept.”
“Of course.”
They had to, for each other’s sake.
“I told you I would make you a superhuman.”
Click, the shackles bound Grohst’s body. Tehra’s dark divine power seeped into the throne.
In that moment, tendons appeared all over Grohst’s body.
Tehra’s eyes narrowed.
“The world calls us heathens. But that word has a flaw. It’s not wrong, it’s just different. The existence of our god proves it through this divinity and power.”
“Kkh…!”
Crack, crack, Grohst’s body began to twist slightly.
“As there is a saintess for the Divine Order, there is also a saintess for us. They call us witches, but this means our god also has the power to create those who represent it.”
“Kh…!”
“Then we can create other things too, can’t we? The only reason they are our natural enemies. There must be a way to counter that.”
The first-class knight, the devourers who trampled the divinity and teachings of Ashanta.
They were the most powerful enemies that had suppressed the teachings throughout history. The previous generations fled from them, but Tehra was different.
Adaptation and evolution, research and fruition.
She was the kind of person who found answers after much agony.
It was always such an easy story.
“We could just create it. The great knight who acts on the teachings.”
Crack, crack, crack―!
“Gaaaaah!!!”
Finally, unable to withstand the pain, Grohst screamed.
His body twisted violently, and his form began to change.
He became a grotesque mass of flesh. Then, snap, his new body began to take shape.
His skin glistened like obsidian. His body hair fell out, and his oral structure disappeared, leaving his mouth smooth, while underneath his eyelids, only pale white filled the space.
What was completed could never be called a human; it was some kind of avatar.
Tehra felt a faint pleasure.
“Congratulations on your rebirth.”
[Ah…!]
There was also pleasure in the resonance of Grohst’s elasticity spreading as vibrations.
He trembled slightly, and easily broke free of the shackles that had bound him.
He stumbled to his feet but soon stood in a firm stance.
He looked down at his hands, repeatedly opening and closing his fists, then exerting his strength.
Mist began to form over his black body and transformed into armor. A helmet with horns and armor flowing like a mane. He was the Black Knight.
[Ooh…
Haha…!]
Tehra looked at him with satisfaction.
If it came down to pure physical strength, could he be defeated?
‘At least, I could not defeat him.’
Thus, creating a Black Knight required a lot of thought. After all, it was making an uncontrollable weapon with one’s own hands.
In that regard, Grohst was the perfect candidate.
He had insatiable greed and was trapped in self-loathing.
For that reason, he didn’t hesitate to make self-destructive choices.
A person with a fragile will who could be brought down with just a small push, yet one who could accept immense power.
“Coincidentally, a place to test that power has appeared.”
At the whisper, Grohst’s gaze turned to the outside of the headquarters, where it was like a battlefield.
Before long, a massive greatsword formed over his hand.
[Ah, I see. This is the perfect battlefield.]
Thud, as he struck the ground with the greatsword, the earth rumbled. He dragged the greatsword across the ground as he headed outside. Creak, creak, the greatsword scraped the ground, making an unpleasant noise.
Tehra briefly watched his back before humming cheerfully and turning around.
‘Well then…’
It was time to prepare for the guests.
The excitement surged within her.
She was getting farther from the battlefield.
Following the path opened by Big Ten, they were now almost at the headquarters’ doorstep.
At that point, a foul odor pierced their noses.
It was the divine power of heathens, a divine presence only those who bore divine power could feel.
Usher pinched his nose. So did Bersia.
There was no more time to waste, and they quickened their steps.
At the entrance of the headquarters, they encountered a translucent black curtain.
“Entry is restricted.”
“It’s a curtain you can enter, but can’t exit.”
If they pressed it down with divine power, they might be able to break the curtain itself.
But as always, that would cause an even bigger aftermath.
After a brief hesitation, Usher decided to go through it.
After all, he knew it would disappear once the witch was killed.
“Let’s go. We must deal with the witch first.”
Usher entered the curtain first.
A brief, uncomfortable sensation passed by, but it was momentary.
He turned around and reached out.
“Now, Saintess, hurry…”
That was when it happened.
KWAANG!
“Gaaaah!!!”
Something shot out from inside the curtain and struck the center of the battlefield.
Usher jumped in surprise, his eyes widening in shock.
It couldn’t be helped.
“What… is that?”
A knight clad in black armor appeared.
With his appearance, the atmosphere of the battlefield changed drastically.
It wasn’t just about presence.
The anomaly that occurred when the Black Knight raised his hand created that change.
[Ughhh…!]
The corpses that had collapsed on the battlefield groaned and began to rise.
The skin of the pale, dead bodies, and their unfocused eyes. The soldiers who were dead had become undead.
Big Ten was thrown into confusion.
“What is this…!”
It happened right after.
[Sweep them.]
With a grim resonance, the undead screamed and charged in all directions.
They made no distinction between friend and foe. Mercenaries from the Sandstorm and Big Ten’s mercenaries were all attacked by the undead, and once they died, they were revived as undead.
Like a plague, the number of the dead kept growing, devouring the living.
Usher struck the curtain with a bang, but once inside, there was no way to exit.
‘Gester!’
Usher saw Gester. With his father on his back, he gritted his teeth and fought his way through the undead. Alongside him were Jeren and the commanders of Big Ten, who were all in danger.
The Black Knight, who had caused all this chaos, removed his helmet.
Usher’s expression twisted.
‘Grohst…?’
His skin was blackened and shiny. His mouth had disappeared, and all his body hair was gone.
But it was definitely Grohst. He couldn’t be mistaken.
Had he really made a vile contract with heathens?
His teeth ground together, and anger threatened to overwhelm him.
It wasn’t just the inside that was a problem; at this rate, all of Baern’s pillars might fall.
He had to stop Grohst, but how could the curtain block his path at a time like this?
The feeling of despair shook Usher’s heart.
At that moment,
“This is bad.”
Bersia muttered.
She hadn’t entered the curtain yet, and her gaze was still fixed on Grohst.
Usher felt an ominous sensation and spoke out.
“No, you can’t!”
Bersia shouldn’t face him.
Though she had been beaten by Therbion, Grohst was originally one of Baern’s top knights in swordsmanship. If he had become a monstrous entity, it was unthinkable that he was not far more dangerous than before.
Though it was her own body, Bersia, who couldn’t even use magic, and with only swordsmanship on a talented level, had no chance against Grohst.
Thus, Usher stopped her, but it was a shallow judgment.
“I won’t go.”
Bersia smiled bitterly.
Usher didn’t understand her reason immediately.
However, what happened next was something he would witness with his own eyes.
Sss-
“You don’t want it to end by someone else’s hand, do you?”
“Saintess…?”
“I thought about it for a while. But no matter how I think about it, this seems like something very important for the knight.”
She brought the blade to her own neck.
What was she trying to do? A surge of anxiety rose as Usher’s heart raced.
Sss!
With that sound, her head spun.
Everything before his eyes turned white, and Usher felt a sharp pain on the back of his neck.
A warm sensation flowed down his neck, and he touched it.
When his sight returned, the scene before him was like this:
“Eh…?”
Her body returned.
Before his eyes, Bersia was smiling faintly in her original form.
“This really works.”
“What…?”
“This is the first rule: my body changes in response to a crisis. I wondered if this would work. And it really did.”
Bersia was inside the curtain.
Usher was outside, with his original body.
She spoke.
“It wasn’t a deep wound. Hurry and heal it.”
Without realizing it, Usher prayed for healing.
The wound on his neck healed.
The shock hadn’t quite faded.
At that moment, Bersia placed her hand on her lower abdomen and spoke.
“The curse, it’s grown this much. It turns me on when I look at the knight.”
“Saintess…?”
“Did you hold back? All I can think about now is sex.”
“Ah…! The curse!”
“I’m glad it’s here. If not, I might have jumped you right away.”
Even as Usher felt his heart stop, she remained playful.
It was clear she was trying to act this way on purpose. The smirk on her face proved it.
She then pointed her chin toward the battlefield.
“Stop getting turned on and go. I’ll handle the inside.”
Finally, Usher understood her intent.