Lars, still warm, suddenly slumped onto Antonio’s shoulder, whose face instantly turned pale and whose legs went weak.
“I thought you all had some backbone…”
The assassin’s voice rang out again, and the bloodied claws slowly withdrew from the storage locker.
Before Antonio could even think of what to do next, a blood-red gaze pierced through a tiny hole and locked onto him!
The assassin had found Antonio.
It was over… Antonio gasped deeply as over forty years of his life flashed like a slideshow in his mind.
He wanted to scream, but found that his throat was so tight with fear that no sound came out!
But soon, he realized the assassin seemed uninterested in him. Light footsteps echoed again in the safe house, filled with disdain:
“In the end, you’re all just cowards desperate to cling to life…”
Truth glanced at the half-visible trembling backside beneath the table and nearly laughed aloud.
She had initially hoped to find a few with some backbone to help her clean up Deya City, but these nobles were clearly all the same.
Might as well treat them all as expendable, and let Tia take charge of them.
Moreover, to keep them in line, Truth had decided to eliminate a few useless pests first as a warning.
Before making her move, she had “cordially” interrogated the bank manager.
Manager Lyman, after witnessing Truth decisively deal with Ross and Milton, wisely played along and handed over a list of fourteen pests within Deya City as a sign of loyalty, pointing out these fourteen as the greediest and most rebellious.
“This list is absolutely accurate, and I promise I can help you uncover the key evidence of their corruption!” Lyman said, his face pale.
“And what about you? Are you one of the pests too?”
“Well…”
Before he could explain, Truth immediately executed Lyman as the fifteenth pest.
She still remembered how the Deya Bank had once tried to use her to settle accounts, and with the Law Enforcement Bureau chief’s denunciation, she suspected the bank vault was already riddled with holes.
As for the list’s authenticity, she didn’t care. She only wanted to pick a group to establish her dominance.
In the safe house, Truth had just killed the fourteenth pest. Then she casually circled the table, her crisp footsteps causing the nobles to tremble each time.
Under the table, aided by the faint cold light outside the door, they could clearly see the assassin’s blood-stained blue long dress… wait, blue long dress?
The Ninth Saintess?!
“For NPCs like you who have no real value, I won’t waste words. You only need to know one thing…”
Truth spoke as her right hand’s phantom claw reached toward the center of the table. In the dim light, one noble clearly saw her shadow cast on the wall—a small figure with a terrifying claw.
That claw slowly extended to the center of the table, and Truth arrogantly declared:
“That Deya City belongs to our Church!”
In an instant, the claw pierced through the fragile table and stabbed precisely into someone’s head.
“Cough…”
The fifteenth pest’s eyes rolled back and mouth hung open, dying right there beneath the table.
Only then did the others realize the assassin was killing with clear targets!
And that Deya City belonged to the Church?!
The overwhelming weight of this statement exploded in the minds of everyone present.
“Impossible.”
Antonio, still hiding inside the locker, shook his head in terror. He had just glimpsed through the hole the assassin’s rare silver-white hair and that very familiar blue long dress.
Impossible, absolutely impossible. How could the Saintess continuously assassinate so many people like a demon? It had to be someone else impersonating her…
Right, it had to be someone from the Church!
While Antonio was lost in wild speculation, Truth suddenly resumed her usual sweet voice, the voice of the Saintess:
“Alright, that’s it for tonight. I hope none of you will miss the meeting after Sunrise!”
With all her targets eliminated, there was no pause. Truth left the safe house, her footsteps fading into silence.
Nowadays, the clergy profession was universally acknowledged as powerless in battle, so Truth exploited this to kill recklessly—it was convenient.
She could casually toss the aftermath to the Church of the Goddess of Life and let them spin the story however they liked.
“The meeting after Sunrise… so it really is… the force behind the Ninth Saintess…”
Antonio fell into deep contemplation, as did the others. They never expected the assassin to disguise herself as the Saintess to kill them. Was this a warning?
Truth’s intimidation was remarkable—she had been gone for five minutes, yet none of the nobles dared to emerge from hiding.
Now, all of them questioned their very existence.
At first, they believed that after offending the Ninth Saintess, she would at most seek outside help from the Royal Capital to manage Deya City…
The Eighth Saintess Meri had done just that in Water Marsh City.
She had brought in a senior Arbiter to handle decision-making and combined with her influence, the Eighth Saintess thrived there.
So they assumed the Ninth Saintess would do the same, but the reality was…
The upper class of Deya City finally understood a mystery that had long puzzled them: why nobles in the Royal Capital, with their high-tier—even royal-tier—combat abilities, still feared those Saintesses who were only fifth or sixth rank?
The Saintess might forgive their crimes, but the Church power behind them would not!
Antonio and the others also realized the assassinated nobles shared a common trait—they all showed rebellious attitudes toward the Saintess and held more influence than the survivors.
Just like the seven-rank Fire Dragon that intimidated everyone during the Divine Selection Ceremony, the Ninth Saintess used the simplest and most brutal method to subdue all of Deya City’s nobles.
Finally, unable to stand the stench of Lars’s corpse and the urine smell in his own pants, Antonio was the first to step out from hiding.
……
“So, you came all the way from Deya City overnight?”
Just before sunrise, at a military camp near Southwatch Fort, the fully armored Kavel was commanding the Third Demon Hunter Squad to head to Deya City for support when he encountered the Saintess’s chosen Hero Candidate—Reg.
“Yes, it was the Goddess’s oracle, so I came here without stopping.”
Reg explained, though he didn’t want to admit he was actually fleeing from his family’s pursuit and had run overnight to Southwatch Fort.
“Because your family is searching for you, right?” Fifth-Rank Demon Hunter Kavel said.
“Ah… this…”
Reg, caught off guard by the immediate revelation, instinctively turned his face away, unsure how to answer.
It was embarrassing—what was with Southwatch Fort?
How did this Demon Hunter and the Saintess’s guard earlier see through his secret so easily?
“The Sun Family came looking for you here a few days ago.” Before Reg could ask, Kavel addressed his question.
“How do you know I’m the one they’re after?”
“Your makeup skills are terrible. Anyone with experience can tell. Plus, the Hero Candidate status—only a select few can be candidates, and the Sun Family practically monopolizes that.”
But that’s not the main reason. Mainly, I was fishing for information just now, and you didn’t deny it.”
“…”
Reg gave Kavel a look of disbelief, though unfortunately, he couldn’t see Kavel’s eyes behind the helmet.
“So, you’re taking me to claim the reward?”
The Sun Family had issued a search notice across all Sylvia, promising at least 100 gold coins for any lead on Reg, not to mention a bounty for capturing him alive.
“No.” Kavel flatly denied.
“I only obey the orders of the Goddess and the Saintesses. Nothing else concerns me. The Goddess’s oracle now commands me to teach you and have you participate in the Demon Hunter Competition.”
“So even if your family comes looking, they must get past me and the Goddess first. I’ll do my best to teach you the knowledge and combat skills a Demon Hunter should have before the competition begins.”
Relieved, Reg breathed easier—just so long as he wasn’t dragged back to his family.
“Then I guess I’ll have to call you ‘Teacher.’ By the way, how good a teacher are you? Have you taught anyone else before me?”
“There was a student named Rachel. She possessed the rare Eye of Sin Mark, a once-in-a-century prodigy.”
“Prodigy? How should I get along with her? I know most prodigies have quite unique personalities.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. I just received notice from the Sixth Saintess. She has been urgently reassigned to the Northern Border for training.”
Northern Border?! Reg was shocked—there were mostly Beastkin there, and hardly any demons.
What kind of training could Demon Hunters get there?
So he cautiously asked:
“Are you sure… she’s not being exiled?”
“Well, if that’s the case, she deserves it. To have angered two Saintesses is no small feat.”
Kavel didn’t know the details of what Rachel had done.
He only knew the Ninth Saintess wanted to send her to the chopping block at the marketplace, and the Sixth Saintess wanted to dump her at the Northern Border.
His student definitely had some serious issues.
Truly a prodigy once in a hundred years.