I turned to Reinhardt, my arms always crossed.
"And the third?"
He haussed his eyebrows.
"He who died under my murderous intention."
Selene, who was still wearing the little boy in his arms, looked down.
Reinhardt sighed.
"Death for good."
"HM?"
He looked at Selene before resuming.
"Selene's resurrection capacity ..."
I raised an eyebrow.
"It only works once every two years."
I blinked.
So using it on Reinhardt, she can no longer use it on anyone before a long time.
Selene said nothing, her gaze fixed on the mercenary's corpse.
Weighing tension floated in the air.
After a moment of silence, Reinhardt motioned to follow him.
"Come. I'll show you something."
Selene, always carrying the child in his arms, followed him in silence.
I walked by their side.
We were crossing the ruins of the bastion, along collapsed walls, avoiding rotten boards.
And the more we advanced, the more I felt a particular atmosphere.
A mixture of despair and resilience.
The children hidden in the shadows observed us with caution.
Like wild animals ready to flee to the slightest sudden movement.
With each step, I perceived the smells of burned wood, rusty metal and stunned bread.
Some children clung to Selene's clothes, their trembling little hands.
Others observed Reinhardt with admiration, as if he were an invincible hero.
A reminder of the past
Then, seeing their emaciated faces, their empty looks, a shiver crossed my spine.
Because…
I have already seen that before.
A painful memory dates back to the surface.
My family.
My house reduced to ashes.
The holy knights, draped with white, but with red hands of blood.
The cries, the flames, the smell of the burnt flesh ...
And me ... Only survivor.
My fingers cried out on my sword's guard.
These children ...
They are like me.
I closed my eyes for a second, then expired slowly.
Calm down, Arhon.
We arrived in front of a large room, a kind of improvised refuge.
Wasted mattresses covered the floor.
A stone chimney crackled gently.
And basically, against a wall, a bunch of food and medication.
Selene gently placed the child on a mattress, caressing her dirty hair.
Reinhardt leaned against a wooden table and looked at me in silence.
Then I released the Darius Venmorm contract.
I threw him on the table in front of him.
He looked down, crossed the lines of the document.
Then he laughs yellow.
"Hah ... this damn pork."
He torn the contract in half and threw it into the fireplace.
"Darius is the real danger of the City of Pleasures. Not us."
I haired an eyebrow.
"And you think I don't know?"
Reinhardt crossed his arms.
"So why did you come?"
I smile slightly, sitting on a wooden bench.
"Because I have a plan to make it fall."
A tense silence settled.
Then Reinhardt burst out laughing.
Selene hugged her lips, suspicious.
Reinhardt stared at me, a smirk.
"You…"
"You're really not afraid to play with fire."
I shrugged my shoulders.
"When you want to shoot down a monster, you sometimes have to become worse than it."
And in my mind, a plan was already formed.
I put my elbows on my knees, observing Reinhardt.
"Tell me ... What was your rank, from the time when you still serve the holy knights of Solaria?"
Reinhardt fixed me for a moment, before responding in a calm tone.
"Captain of the third division."
I haired an eyebrow.
"Captain, huh?"
It was not an insignificant row. A captain in the army of holy knights had a great influence and unity under his orders.
He commanded several squads, participated in strategic decisions, and above all ... he had access to sensitive information.
I crossed my arms, reflecting.
That explains why he was able to survive after his forfeiture.
It was not just a simple performer, he understood the policy of the kingdom.
How did the royal army of Solaria work?
The army was divided into several branches, each with separate roles:
1. The Holy Knights - The Elite of the Army, those who were blessed by the light and followed the absolute dogma of the Holy Kingdom. They formed the armed arm of royalty and the church.
2. The order of the Paladins - even more limited, this order brought together the personal guards of the royal family and the executors of divine missions.
3. The regular army - composed of soldiers trained in combat, but who did not necessarily have a divine blessing.
4. Inquisitors - A special section responsible for eradicating heresies and traitors in the kingdom. They were feared even among the knights.
The fundamental principles of this hierarchy were simple:
Absolute obedience to the Church and royalty.
Immediate punishment of heretics and traitors.
Protection of the faithful and expansion of solar faith.
Military laws were relentless.
A deserted knight is a traitor.
A failure knight is a shame.
A knight who betrayed is a suspended dead.
I sighed slightly, tapping the bench on which I was sitting.
Then I let go of the information in a neutral tone:
"Ah, and by the way ... I killed a sacred knight a few days ago. Vincent, his name was."
Reinhardt freezed instantly.
His eyes moved slightly.
"… Vincent?"
"Yeah."
A heavy silence settled in the room.
Even Selene, who caressed the hair of a sleeping child, raised his head.
Reinhardt passed a hand in his hair, visibly tense.
"Shit..."
I leaned my head slightly.
"Isn't something going?"
He gave me a serious look.
"You don't realize what you just triggered, right?"
I shrugged my shoulders.
"Tell me always."
Reinhardt hugged his teeth.
"The royal army will never let this pass. Vincent was not just anyone."
I haired an eyebrow.
"So what?"
"So ... they will investigate. They will send a unit to track down his assassin. And if it is the Inquisition that takes care of the case ..."
He did not finish his sentence.
I immediately understood what he insinuated.
The Inquisition ...
A unit that left no survivors behind it.
TSS ...
I had a slight smirk.
"So they will come."
Reinhardt stared at me intensely.
"You don't realize how dangerous they are."
"Oh that if, I realize very well."
I supported my hand on my sword's guard, a smile that is both calm and threatening on the face.
"But if the Inquisition sets off ..."
I leaned my head slightly.
"So that means it's time to offer them a good show."
The Solaria inquisitors were not simple knights. They were the embodied fear.
Where the holy knights represented justice and the order of the kingdom, the Inquisition was the invisible hand that crushed dissidents and heretics.
Their credo? "Purify by light, erase by fire."
> There was no forgiveness, no possible negotiations with them. Only submission or death existed.
The Inquisition only responded directly to the goddess Solaria and the High Sacred Council. Even the generals of the royal army avoided mingling with their affairs.
When an inquisitor was sent on a mission, it was already too late.
He didn't come to discuss.
He didn't come to judge.
He came to execute.
The reports said that a single unit of inquisitors could destroy an entire village in one night, without leaving the slightest survivor.
Calcinated bodies found in the morning.
Buildings collapsed, consumed by burning light.
No trace of combat, as if the victims had never had time to retaliate.
Their violence did not only come from their power ... but from their method.
When the Inquisition captured someone, there were several types of punishment:
1. Total excommunication - The soul of the target was damned and erased from any memory by a prohibited ritual. It was as if she had never existed.
2. The sacred pyre - a public execution where the condemned man burned alive under a blessed flame, unable to be extinguished.
3. Divine purge - A group of inquisitors entered a city and massacred all those deemed guilty or accomplices.
No one knew exactly how they worked. Their faces were always masked, and their real number remained unknown.
Some said that the Inquisition had infiltrated spies everywhere, even among the nobles and the merchants.
There was an infallible sign to know that an inquisitor approached:
A heavy silence moved before the massacre.
Animals were fleeing.
The torches and the lamps went out.
An icy wind was blowing on the scene.
Then the cries started.
Some inquisitors were handling divine swords, others used sacred flames, but the most terrifying ... were those who killed without raising their hand.
They simply whispered a word, and their enemies were collapsed lifeless.
It was said that the most powerful of them could kneel a man with a simple look.
Their next target: me
Now that I had killed Vincent, there was no doubt: the Inquisition was going to be sent.
The question was: how long before they find me?
A smirk appeared on my face.
That they come ...
I can't wait to see if their light can turn off my darkness.