Azure Scepter

Page 175

A moment later, a muffled rumble came from the distant horizon, and dazzling flames, like flowers, suddenly exploded in circles in the distant night sky. The bright stars seemed to be obscured at this moment, and yellow, blue, red, and green fireworks bloomed one after another, as if the moon was adorned with rings of flowers.

Amidst the fireworks filling the sky, the water sprite Fusada gently lifted the hem of her skirt and bowed deeply, as if performing a magic trick to take her final bow.

That wasn't an exploding barrel at all; it was just a giant firework!

The man from Trier was stunned; his previously serious and cold expression was now nothing but utter dumbfounded disbelief. Edith's pupils constricted as she stared blankly at the beautiful fireworks in the sky, completely speechless. Noy, overwhelmed by her emotions, caused her spirit-formed body to flicker as if due to a faulty signal...

The orange flames shone on Fytia's face, and she blinked involuntarily before looking at the water sprite in the garden in disbelief.

In the golden pool of blood, the water sprite pointed at Trier, laughing so hard she almost fell over: "You believed it! You believed it! You actually believed it! Hahahaha~~"

Amidst the magnificent bursts of light and color, the water sprite's smile grew even more radiant. At this moment, she seemed to truly be just a thumb-sized fairy from folklore, active in the garden, sipping the morning dew.

"This is the most fun I've ever done in my life." The water sprite looked up, smiling as she gazed at the starry sky.

She was laughing when she collapsed to the ground and stopped breathing.

From the moment Laurence Rosevier's life box shattered, she knew that Laurence Rosevier had committed suicide, and she chose the same path.

Chapter 334 A Belated Warning

With the successive deaths of Saint Seil, Losevie, and Fusada, the Blood Plague Crisis, a disaster that wiped out nearly one-tenth of the population of the Southern Duchy, has finally come to an end.

The death toll from this crisis may be devastating, but time will eventually heal all wounds.

A week later, it was early August, and a messenger attached to a corpse found Trier and delivered the news that the Duke had awakened from his serious illness.

"Someone is plotting to murder you! My lord has instructed me to entrust you with the life-saving casket at all costs, otherwise, you are doomed!" the messenger of the Sunset Sage said sternly. "They are not engaging in trivial matters!"

Trier looked at the messenger with a speechless expression. He had thought that the messenger of the Sunset Sage's words were a riddle full of profound meaning, but after talking for a while, he realized that the other party seemed to have simply arrived too late.

Looking at the other person's extremely threatening expression, Trier said with a complicated expression, "That was several weeks ago. The Duke has been dead for almost three weeks, and his body has long since decomposed."

After a moment's consideration, Trier patiently gave the messenger a summary of what had happened a few weeks earlier.

“In short, you can relay all of the above information to the Sunset Sage,” Trier concluded. “However, normally this information would have spread in the coming weeks anyway.”

The messenger nodded listlessly, then turned and left the basement.

However, when he reached the top of the steps, he suddenly turned around and asked, "Excuse me for being presumptuous, but what was the final fate of that sealed demigod of the Dream Realm?"

Before he could finish speaking, the scepter in Trier's hand, inlaid with a giant sapphire, suddenly began to vibrate, and a violent magical wind even blew the messenger off balance.

Trier slammed the scepter down, forcefully suppressing its rampage, then gave the messenger a slightly eerie smile: "That's a secret."

Rewind to the moment when Fusada committed suicide.

Under the moonlight, the water sprite's corpse slowly turned into ashes.

Trier glanced at the new gold notification on the information panel, then deliberately left the crowd and walked to the ruins of St. Sergius Cathedral in the distance.

With all the powerful enemies eliminated, only one enemy remains.

He lowered his head, searched for a moment, and then found the faceless knight statue in the ashes.

Trier didn't rush to pick up the statue. Instead, he first used the blade of his sword to carve the names of the people on the back of the statue before slowly picking it up.

The moment he grasped the Faceless Rider statue, the crowd suddenly spoke up: "I restrained Fusada's spellcasting. I have not betrayed our oath—I do not ask for divinity or divine office. I only hope that you can keep our original contract—give me freedom."

Trier remained silent, quietly sensing the location of the others. When he confirmed that they were still nearby, he breathed a sigh of relief.

To be honest, what he's most worried about now is that the people who have regained their freedom will choose to flee to other sub-dimensions. If that happens, it will be much more difficult to catch them.

“I am a paladin, and of course I will abide by the contract,” Trier said in a hoarse voice. “It’s just that I need some time to rest before I can carry out the contract.”

"Are you injured?" the crowd suddenly asked.

Trier couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Untimely cunning, well-timed recklessness, and a mind seized by fear and greed—these traits combine to perfectly constitute the current bewildered masses.

He deliberately did not respond.

After a moment of silence, he said in a deep voice, "I advise you not to be too greedy."

"Greed?" The crowd's voices suddenly lowered. "I'm not greedy. I'm only doing this to protect myself. Trier, once you fully recover, you will definitely kill me. You and I both know that..."

“Have you ever thought about why I would reveal my weakness to you?” Trier asked earnestly.

"It's just arrogance after a great victory." The crowd sneered. "Others may think you are a cunning old lich, but after spending a long time with you, I don't think so. You are just a paladin who has had a special encounter. Although you are intelligent, you are still an inexperienced young man. It is normal for you to be arrogance."

The speaker's pace quickened and his tone became increasingly firm, until finally, his tone was almost that of a maxim.

Trier's lips twitched slightly; the crowd was indeed adept at deceiving themselves.

“Even if I am truly weakened, what can you do against me?” Trier asked. “There are three legends nearby. Even if you are at your peak, it would be difficult for you to kill me.”

“Trier, I warned you that words have power,” the voice of the crowd said quietly. “Yet you still swore your holy knight’s oath, and now I will use your oath to strip you of it.”

Before the words were finished, a brilliant and dazzling halo suddenly appeared from the fireworks.

Almost simultaneously, a faint sense of weakness suddenly welled up in Trier's heart.

[Warning: You have been afflicted with the special curse "Curse of the Commons"]

[Divine resistance in progress... You have been immune to the negative effects of curses, including reduced attack and defense, and increased failure rate!]

[Warning: You have killed Saint Seir... You have broken the contract!]

[WARNING: Your alignment is shifting dramatically; current alignment: Chaotic Evil!]

[Warning: You have broken your oath!]

Trier glanced at the information panel and almost laughed in anger—the effect of this curse was too outrageous! It was clearly the others who voluntarily broke the contract, but he was the one who broke the oath.

Is there any reason for this?

Enraged, he suddenly drew his sword and unleashed a 9-ring Holy Slash at the crowd in the sky.

Even if a paladin breaks his oath, he can still use the Holy Slash!

A red and black wave of flames instantly swept across the fireworks and light wheels in the sky!

In the satellite town dozens of kilometers away, people exclaimed in surprise, thinking it was some new fireworks display.

However, the beings in the sky were in dire straits at this moment. The Nine-Ringed Saint struck down, and it was directly and severely injured, its consciousness even becoming blurred.

At this moment, everyone was both shocked and frightened. Then, to its astonishment, it saw Trier suddenly reach out to it, and in the next instant, the burning black and red flames seemed to turn into a sticky net, pulling it violently towards the ground!

"come over!"

It's an instantaneous soul-binding spell!

Under the attack of the Holy Slash, all of their original defenses collapsed, and they couldn't even resist the pull of the spell with their own resistance!

In a state of shock and anger, the crowd hurriedly tried to say Trier's name—as long as they said Trier's name, this directly released soul-binding spell would have no effect!

However, Trier was faster. He suddenly clenched his five fingers, and the next moment, a meteor-like fireball suddenly fell, shrinking and condensing within a few microseconds. When the fireball reached his palm, it had already transformed into an enormous blue gem.

"Trill!" the blue gem roared.

The next instant, the gem shattered, and the weakened figures of the group reappeared.

Trier picked up the knight statue inscribed with the name of the Lord and swung it violently at the Lord's fireball.

The Holy Slash!

The Soul-Binding Technique has been activated again!

Theoretically speaking, to trigger the Soul Binding Technique by touching, one needs to write down the true name of the person being bound; simply writing down their name is useless—and indeed, it is.

The crowd was struck by the Holy Slash once again, and their initial dizziness turned into a near-death experience of their consciousness collapsing.

Soul-Binding Technique!

Without hesitation, Trier cast another Soul Binding spell, turning everyone into sapphires once again.

“Trier…” the crowd called out weakly.

The sapphire shattered again, and Trier unleashed another Holy Slash upon the crowd.

Soul-Binding Technique!

Black flames scattered, and in the scorching light, everyone was completely transformed into a sapphire.

—Less than two weeks after regaining their freedom, they were sealed away again.

Trier glared at the sapphire in his hand, then glanced at the information panel.

[WARNING: Your alignment is shifting drastically. Current alignment: Chaotic Evil!]

[WARNING: Your alignment is shifting significantly. Current alignment: Chaotic Evil...]

[Main Class Available: Mortal Hunter (Hidden Demon Class).]

[Main Class Available: Soul Reaper (A variant of Paladin Oathbreaker)]

The time traveler took a deep breath, but his anger still raged. He had no choice but to take another deep breath to barely suppress his fury.

—I never expected that I would fail at the last minute.

Although Oathbreakers can also use the Holy Slash, they will lose many feats that increase their survivability. The new feats that Oathbreakers gain are mostly necromancy spells, but the problem is that they already know how to use those necromancy spells.

"This is a huge loss," Trier thought. "From a well-rounded warrior who can fight and take on all the damage, I've become a glass cannon. I still need to find a way to restore the oath. I remember the Church of Radiance has a relic that can restore a paladin's oath. I might consider borrowing it then, but the alignment has shifted too far now. I might need to find another way to resolve the alignment issue."

"But thinking about it dialectically, chaos and evil also have their advantages. I can take advantage of the time before the holy relic arrives to solve some problems directly and brutally—for example, by killing all the disobedient nobles."

"The most important thing now is to completely annihilate the free will of the masses, then bind the divine office to this gem, create a scepter, and thus evade the strikes of the Azure Law."

Trier quickly calmed down after a series of thoughts. He sighed and then put the sapphire back into his backpack.

"Once the scepter is finished, I will be able to take a break for a while."

"Then I need to find clues about becoming a Planeswalker. Once I become a Planeswalker, I can start planning the Divine Descent and wait to reap the rewards."

Trier looked up at the fireworks, then shook his head.

P.S.: This volume is finished.

end

Chapter 335 Intermission

With Neu's help, Trier regained initial control of Wilt in less than a week and made arrangements for the future.

Because of the significant shift in allegiance, the Paladin's primary role could not be restored in the short term. Therefore, Trier abandoned the original, moderate power transfer plan and instead adopted a more efficient, bloody, and less intrusive method.

—Through a large amount of undisguised violent purges, public executions, selfless sharing of the wealth of the losers, and a series of intimidation tactics, promises, lobbying, and framing of onlookers, the time traveler finally took advantage of the opportunity to arrange the formal funerals of his uncle and grandfather to successfully establish his ruling position in front of the noble class of the entire Southern Duchy, and also arranged the date for his inauguration as duke.

Of course, this large-scale massacre in a short period of time also had some negative effects. Apart from those who responded to Trier's call from the beginning, all the other nobles, from top to bottom, were in a state of panic. Under the influence of fear, many people who knew they would not be pardoned turned into bandits on the spot. After plundering their territories, they chose to flee their hometowns.

There were also some onlookers who were caught in the middle, who might have initially chosen to pledge allegiance, but due to Trier's excessively bloody and brutal methods, they subtly formed a faction of resistance centered around Count Bortard. Although, due to the short time available, the resistance had not yet assembled an army, and had only taken measures to seal off the border, this measure alone had already made many people sense the impending civil war.

For an ordinary southern duchy struggling to survive, the already gloomy days seemed to have become even more difficult.

A blood plague rages, the dead rise, famine looms, order collapses, and now civil war is on the verge of breaking out, while the nobles continue to fight for power.

However, for some scholars who have observed the spread of the blood epidemic, the development of events is quite the opposite of what appears to be the case.

The spread of the blood plague, which was originally uncontrollable, seemed to suddenly slow down or even disappear completely over time. For individual patients, the blood plague, which originally had an extremely rapid onset and a very high mortality rate, seemed to have had its toxicity greatly weakened overnight.

Even more strangely, the equally prevalent cold rash plague suddenly disappeared from the entire Southern Duchy, and the Red Death, which used to break out every year, was completely silent this year—as if an invisible hand had directly strangled all the plagues within the Southern Duchy.

As a matter of routine, Trier converted all the faith points he had accumulated that day into a super-enhanced version of "Delay the Outbreak of Plague," which he then released to the entire Southern Duchy.

This was no easy task, so after releasing the divine power, Trier let out a long sigh and slumped into a chair.

The sky outside the window was overcast, and the sun shone through the thick clouds, casting a few weak, silvery-gray rays. Cold rain drizzled down on the streets and alleys of Wirth.

“I’ll rest for three minutes, then continue trying to transfer the divine authority to the sapphire that the All-Transformation is on. I should be able to succeed in two weeks at most.” Trier stared at the rain outside the window, his gaze unfocused. “Hopefully, delaying the outbreak of the plague will be effective.”

Suddenly, Trier's gaze sharpened, and he turned to look at the doorway.

A wet cloak lay on the floor, and Princess Edith had somehow entered the room.

Since the deaths of Losevie and Fusada, Edith had been actively suppressing opposition and endorsing Trier as a princess. However, as time passed, those who had previously been blatant opponents either went into hiding or fled far away to seek refuge with Count Bortard. As a result, Edith's workload had recently decreased.

"What's wrong?" Trier shook his head, regaining his senses from his grogginess, and then asked.

Edith put down the holy emblem in her hand, her lips slightly pursed: "Trier, I'm sorry."

"Huh?" The time traveler was quite puzzled. He raised his eyebrows in confusion. "Have you encountered some difficulties?"

The princess shook her head, then took a deep breath: "You broke your vow."

Upon hearing the princess's words, Trillen immediately felt a pang of guilt.

Perhaps his actions over the past few months had indeed gone too far, but then he realized something was amiss—Ever since the night of Eraf's massacre, Edith had long lost her moral fastidiousness; surely she wouldn't be dissatisfied with his behavior during this period...