Are Gloves Not Something You Throw Away After Using?

### "What are you smearing on me? And what are these carvings?"

At the same time, in an arcane laboratory resembling the Flesh Workshop on the outskirts of the Great Lecture Hall, Dick lay bound to an experimental table, naked except for an oversized pair of underwear, and could not help asking.

It was not that he was overthinking it. The situation was simply bizarre.

Four Man'ari female ritual priests dressed like cultists surrounded the muscular man with his hands and feet bound. As they smeared some kind of viscous grease over the powerful muscles he had built through years of training, they used something like magical engraving knives to inscribe tattoo-like markings across his chest, arms, and legs.

It made Dick feel as though he had become the male lead in some trashy film.

Still, considering he was a vindicator with muscles for brains, the half-demonized Eredar apprentices naturally did not laugh at such a stupid question.

One of the horn-broken Man'ari answered:

"It is a special enhancement for you as the ritual's 'protagonist,' sacrifice! You do not need to know what these precious oils and complex engravings represent. You only need to know that they will temporarily enhance your perception, control, and acceptance of energy.

"This will allow you to receive fel energy in a more perfect state.

"You are lucky!

"The supreme Enlightener personally selected you as the fel vanguard we are to shape. The others who were not chosen were greatly disappointed, but none of them dared defy the Enlightener's command."

"His body is indeed more suitable than those skinny, hollow weaklings."

Another Man'ari priest stroked Dick's astonishing muscle definition as if caressing a stone sculpture carved by blade and axe. She murmured admiringly:

"As expected of a high-ranking vindicator! Such a battle-hardened body can become the perfect vessel for fel power. What a pity that vindicators are all fools brainwashed by that hypocritical Holy Light. It is difficult for us to recruit qualified candidates like him."

"I understand all that, but why is his 'gun' so big?"

The third Man'ari priest stared curiously at the exaggerated bulge beneath Dick's underwear. Suppressing a strange stir within herself, she said to her sisters:

"Is that normal? Perhaps he used some vulgar magic to enhance his... Ahem. It is not that I am interested in such mundane things. I am only worried that magic like this might affect the perfect shaping of the fel vanguard.

"We are going to use the fel vanguard as a champion in the assault on the Seat of the Triumvirate!"

"Just admit you're curious. Don't dress it up with all that grand reasoning! We're curious too."

The oldest Man'ari fel priest mercilessly exposed her sister's insincere lie. Sighing, she said:

"I have lived for over three thousand years and had many lovers, but this is the first time I have seen a male so 'naturally gifted.' Relax, sisters. That is a 'blessing' from a god of fertility, a completely natural 'Holy Gun.'

"Hmm, now I understand. No wonder those vulgar guards used to call him 'Dick.' I thought it was some dirty nickname between men, but it turns out they were simply speaking the truth out of jealousy."

"Benefactor above!"

The youngest ritual priest said with faint terror:

"Can something that horrifying really fit inside..."

"Enough!"

The elder could not listen any longer.

They were all demon-worshipping cultists, but they still needed some dignity. Did they not see what they were doing right now? They could not let the filthy thoughts in their minds defeat their loyalty to fel power!

Look at how ignorant they were. They were a disgrace to the Awakeners' Cult and the Enlightener!

Thus, she removed her hand from Dick's leg and sternly rebuked them:

"Tonight is the Awakeners' moment of glory, and we bear the vital task of shaping the fel vanguard. If you do not want the Enlightener's punishment to fall upon us, if you do not want to become blood feed for breeding demon hounds, then focus yourselves, sisters!

"Finish strengthening the vessel's engravings quickly, then inject him with Fel Blood. We must do so before midnight arrives... Hm?

"What the hell is happening outside?"

All four ritual priests, burdened with this important task, heard the clamor and explosions coming from deep within the lecture hall. It sounded like someone roaring, accompanied by the chaos of magic detonating, like ripples spreading across a lake after a stone had been thrown into it.

The elder's expression immediately changed. She grabbed the demon bone staff adorned with skulls beside her and shouted to her three sisters:

"This must be chaos caused by the servants of Archimonde the Betrayer. I will go take a look. You continue working! Complete the markings as quickly as possible! We cannot delay this great undertaking."

Under her command, the three sisters hastened their work. Soon, the special grease covered Dick's entire body. They did not even spare his "Holy Gun."

The stuff felt sticky on his skin, but within minutes, it seeped beneath it.

Dick could feel his body heating up, while the magical engravings resembling obscure tattoos were swiftly completed.

His chest, arms, legs, neck, and back had all been covered in incomprehensible patterns.

He could barely recognize some of them as following the oldest Argus arcane wisdom, enough to be called "orthodox." But when the priests brought over several jars of viscous demon blood reeking of sulfur, Dick knew he had to resist.

Once this stuff was poured into his body, no amount of devotion to the Holy Light would keep him from walking the path of fel power to the bitter end.

Almost at the very instant he secretly pinched the magical engraving knife the priests had used for the tattoos between his fingers, a scream rang out beyond the laboratory. Accompanied by the vicious roar of a demon hound, a massive arcane barrage struck the sealed door like heavy artillery, instantly tearing the steel gate apart.

The elder priest guarding outside was reduced to ash by that opening blast. The demon hound she had summoned was soon driven from the material world amid shrieks, and then a familiar figure burst through the smoke and strode into the laboratory beneath Dick's astonished gaze.

Grand Chancellor Galasum of the academy wore a cruel sneer as he looked at the three ritual priests rushing toward him.

As a high-ranking Arcane Mage, he casually flicked his fingers, summoning rotund arcane elementals into the material world. Within less than ten seconds, the approaching priests were reduced to charred corpses amid explosions and blazing fire.

But Galasum had not come specifically to save Dick.

He was merely following Headmaster Archimonde's instructions to destroy the Great Lecture Hall's magical defense nodes. This laboratory happened to contain an arcane energy node.

It was entirely a coincidence.

The Grand Chancellor was followed by the Twins he thought highly of. Each held a magical blade; one controlled blazing fire, while the other unleashed frost. Their Argus Ice and Fire People combination was visually striking.

Yet after killing the Man'ari ritual priests, all three people who had stormed into the room froze.

Grand Chancellor Galasum stared in astonishment at Dick bound to the experimental table, while Dick stared back at him with a speechless expression.

But the Grand Chancellor reacted quickly. He turned and roared at the terrified Twins:

"You! You betrayed me? You dare betray Lord Archimonde? You... Wait! If Diakum is still alive, why would he come here?"

"Because I informed on you beforehand, Grand Chancellor! Archimonde was merely putting on a pathetic monkey show. Commander Kil'jaeden gave me secret orders to eliminate Archimonde and Sarkir tonight!

"This is your last chance to switch sides!"

Dick shouted:

"Has Archimonde treated you that well? Is he worth staking your life on for this doomed rebellion? Sarkir already knows about his ridiculous plan. He is trapped in the Great Lecture Hall right now, about to face the trial of 'Demon Warriors.'

"Unfortunately, I do not think he can win..."

Pfft.

The moment Galasum's attention was drawn by those words, the Twins instantly understood the crazed signal in Dick's eyes.

The sisters exchanged a glance without the slightest hesitation. Oreses flung out an ice blade, accurately freezing the chains binding Dick, while Saloras summoned flames to crash down. In the collision of fire and ice, where extreme heat and cold fused, the chains shattered in an instant.

Freed at last, Dick twisted around and pushed himself upright. Bare-bodied, he launched into a horn-locking charge and slammed into Grand Chancellor Galasum, who was swinging his magical blade, like a cannonball.

He truly could no longer use the Holy Light.

But even stripped of the Holy Light's enhancements, Dick was still a high-ranking vindicator. Through his frequent sparring matches with the Five Little Powerhouses, he had recovered the skills that belonged to him as a warrior. Opening with a charge, he swung both fists and landed a vicious punch squarely on the Grand Chancellor's nose as he chanted at high speed.

No matter how powerful a caster was, they could not keep chanting after having their nose broken.

The interrupted lethal spell could only transform into an Arcane Burst through his deeply ingrained casting instincts, blasting Dick away just as he gripped his small blade and tried to press the attack.

But he had overlooked one thing: Dick was not fighting alone in that moment.

The instant Galasum freed himself from the warrior's entanglement and rose while clutching his bleeding nose, he felt arcane energy rising behind him, a mingling of searing heat and bitter cold.

Amid the magical upheaval caused by interwoven ice and fire, he turned around in despair and saw the two most outstanding spellcasting prodigies the Arcane Academy had produced in recent decades. Their teeth gritted and faces twisted with fury, they transformed their strongest magic into lethal fists and smashed them simultaneously into their mentor.

A Pyroblast Fireball half the height of a person erupted like a miniature sun, while a rapidly spinning orb of frost turned everything in its path into a frozen hell.

Caught between the attacks from both sides, Galasum felt unbelievably "blessed" in that instant. At the same time, he was shocked that Headmaster Archimonde truly had a keen eye for talent. The sisters he had personally praised as "exceptional geniuses" had not disappointed his lavish praise.

Working together and relying on their innate telepathic bond as twins, they had devised this killing tactic in just a few seconds.

"NO!!!"

The ambitious Grand Chancellor was frozen in place first, then took the full impact of the Pyroblast Fireball.

Yet even then, he did not die.

Clearly, a high-ranking Arcane Mage had his own means of preserving his life. Though the mingled explosion of flame and frost blew away nearly half his body, he still survived when the ice shattered.

Seeing the two disobedient students before him panting and temporarily weakened, Galasum bared his teeth and prepared to turn their alluring bodies into living bombs, punishing them for their shameless betrayal.

But once again, he overlooked the fact that the Twins were not fighting alone either.

Pfft.

Before the arcane chant for the living bombs could finish, his own sharp magical blade pierced through the back of Galasum's skull in a vicious suppression strike, its point emerging from his mouth.

Behind him, Dick, covered in frost and scorched by flames, gripped the ornate magic sword Galasum had knocked away earlier with both hands. With the deadliest and most precise killing blow, he ended this ambitious person's abruptly arrived final performance.

Galasum's broken, lifeless body crashed onto the frozen floor.

Even in death, his eyes remained filled with disbelief, madness, and terror.

Perhaps this had not been part of his plan. Perhaps, before dying, he was still thinking of Lord Archimonde's supreme promises.

But it was all over.

Death would take away every grievance, leaving only endless disgrace.

Dick pulled out the bloodstained magical blade, stepped forward, and placed it in Saloras's hand. She had destroyed her own weapon to increase her spell's destructive power. Then he helped the weakened, frightened sisters to their feet.

His voice was low but carried an encouraging force as he said:

"Just now, you completely cleared yourselves of every accusation and became warriors who set things right. Now I need you to calm down and recover as quickly as possible!

"I am going to retrieve my equipment. I know where it is. Stay here and wait for me. Do not run around!

"Otherwise, the Assassin Court might mistake you for rebels and execute you. If you encounter them, give them my name."

"But what comes next?"

The more rational younger sister, Oreses, grabbed her sister's wrist and asked between breaths:

"What do we do next? Archimonde's followers have already started fighting the Awakeners' cultists. Neither side will spare us!"

"Wrong. I will not spare them!"

Dick casually picked up a torn robe from the ground and draped it over himself. Without looking back, he said to the sisters:

"If you are afraid, leave first. But take Galasum's head with you. That is the only way to prove your allegiance to General Elodus, who is handling the suppression and executions outside.

"Do not be afraid, children.

"Not a single cultist here will escape tonight. The net has already been cast."

"Are you not leaving?"

Saloras looked at the luxurious magic sword in her hand, then at Galasum's unclosed eyes. Gritting her teeth, she said:

"Perhaps you should leave with us?"

"No. Unless I see Archimonde's soul scattered and his spirit extinguished with my own eyes, unless I know Sarkir's ambitions have been shattered, I am going nowhere! That is why I came here."

With those words, Dick vanished into the increasingly chaotic corridor outside.

The sisters fell silent. Saloras forced herself forward and found high-grade recovery potions amid Galasum's exploded and scattered belongings. She drank one bottle and tossed another to her sister. Then, suppressing her nausea, she stepped forward and used the academy chancellor's beloved magic sword to cut off his head.

The potion was very effective. Stimulated by its bitter taste, their depleted mana quickly recovered to a level sufficient for continued combat. Saloras placed Galasum's head into a sack, then took her sister's hand, preparing to break out of this dangerous dead end.

But before they could take a step, Oreses grabbed her hand from behind.

"We are staying! Listen to me carefully!"

The more rational younger sister said seriously to her elder sister:

"If we leave now, at most we will become warriors who set things right and offset our former crimes. But our studies will be doomed to end. A stained life awaits us, and our best possible destination would be teaching at some lower branch of the Arcane Academy, with no hope for advancement.

"Perhaps we will spend our lives with a man we neither love nor hate, and perhaps we will have children who drive us mad.

"But is that the life you want, Saloras? Do you remember the oath we made when we left that small-town school on the Antoran Wastes?"

"We were going to rise above the rest... We could not remain unknown like our mediocre parents who died young..."

Saloras immediately understood her sister's meaning.

She hesitated, glanced at the head in her hand, and said:

"Rather than live an entire life with a stain, we should gamble everything alongside Commander Diakum!

"Since we have already set foot on this path, we must walk it to the end. If we can assist Commander Diakum in killing Archimonde and Sarkir, earning extraordinary merit in the war to destroy the demon worshippers..."

"The harder the times, the more valuable the achievement, Saloras."

Oreses picked up her magical dagger and said in a low voice:

"Even for Eredar who possess Eternal Life, opportunities to change one's social standing only come a few times. We have already wasted one! Even geniuses like us may not receive more favor from fate.

"Do not worry.

"If you die here, I will follow you.

"We came into this world together, and we will certainly leave it together. We will never walk alone."

"We would rather die gloriously than live in mediocrity!"

Saloras made up her mind as well.

She kissed her sister's forehead, then led her to her feet and walked out the door.

Just as they used magic to kill several of Archimonde's followers, they saw Dick approaching in full armor with sword and shield in hand. Foul-smelling Fel Blood dripped continuously from the cursed blade he carried.

Dick looked at the sisters in surprise.

But recalling the choices this pair of sisters made in the official history, he understood their determination. He said nothing more and simply waved for them to follow.

"Stay alive!"

Looking at the "octagonal cage" ahead, where arcane and fel energy burst and splashed while the exits had been sealed, he said to the sisters with sword and shield in hand:

"Fight to survive until dawn. The Holy Light and I will grant you a glorious future!"

While chaos erupted at the Great Lecture Hall in Oronaar City's old district, the Arcane Academy made its move as well.

Vindicator Malderan, appointed by Archimonde as the academy's "temporary security chief," led his warriors throughout the academy in a purge of confirmed Awakeners' cultists.

Massive arcane guards, driven forward by the vindicators as vanguards, demolished the buildings where the cultists were hiding. Then, beneath the protection of shining Holy Light, the vindicators charged in and slaughtered them in the name of the Holy Light.

But cultists would not simply sit and await death. Once they realized their plan had been exposed, they decisively brought forward the "Xibi Xibi" moment.

A large number of demons were summoned through rituals they had prepared in advance. Demon hounds tore and bit their way about, Fel Imps filled the sky, and vicious demon guards rampaged everywhere. For a time, the night became cold and mad. However, Ms. Vilara, the Archon of the Arcane Academy, had prepared for this long ago.

Almost the instant the demons appeared, the arcane defenses around the student dormitories, staff residences, and teaching buildings activated.

The hunters of the Assassin Court personally led by Talgas also joined the hunt. Argon, one of the "three giants of the academy" and the high-ranking Enlightener, was the leader of the Awakeners' Cult. He had to be captured or killed here.

General Elodus was personally handling matters in Oronaar City, but during an event of this scale, Talgas, a high-ranking official who theoretically had nowhere left to rise, needed to make his presence felt as well.

"The five recruits Dick personally trained are truly fierce!"

From high above, the head of the Assassin Court watched as the Five Little Powerhouses formed an assault formation and took the lead in charging into the residence of the high-ranking Enlightener, guarded by demons.

Those brutal demons of the starry sea had even left his elite hunters and assassins at a loss, but the Five Little Powerhouses knew exactly how to defeat them.

Relying on their already impressive coordination, the five recruits unexpectedly became the brightest stars on the battlefield.

Just as Talgas surveyed the battlefield, Vindicator Malderan strode over.

Putrid blood still dripped from his warhammer, while his shield was covered in vicious claw marks. He had clearly gone through a fierce battle.

"With you and Archon Vilara controlling the situation, the academy's outcome is no longer in doubt. I am taking the vindicators to support Commander Diakum now."

Malderan said:

"He went deep into the enemy's nest alone. It's too dangerous."

"I advise you not to go, Warden Malderan. This is not merely a warning between comrades, but also because you are related by blood to General Elodus."

Without looking back, Talgas waved his hand and said:

"Dick made a brave choice. He understood what Commander Kil'jaeden's secret order meant. If he wanted to atone and wash away his stain, he had to undergo a trial.

"If he returned alive, he would naturally deserve the title of hero. But if he unfortunately died in battle, then he would have died where he belonged.

"Most importantly, the Grand Executor gave him the chance to practice his own code of righteousness, and his current status truly is that of a guilty man.

"He has a stain!

"And the Enlightener's reputation is far too lofty. It is destined that the ugly truth of the Awakeners' Cult must be kept from the people, lest they bear unnecessary mental burdens while already worrying over the necessities of daily life.

"Commander Kil'jaeden's meaning is that a flawed hero who personally experienced darkness and survived is far inferior to a perfect holy statue hanging on a wall.

"Since he calls himself an 'atoner,' he should have been prepared to die in repentance before setting out.

"You seem not to understand what I mean, but believe me, Diakum understood all of this before he departed. This was his voluntary choice."

"You had planned to abandon him from the start?"

The old warden did not understand such twists and turns.

But he had roughly guessed that Commander Kil'jaeden had already decided to conceal the truth of tonight. Under such circumstances, Dick, who had participated in nearly the entire affair, was inherently a risk.

"But he has already repented! He has taken real action to sincerely correct his mistakes! He deserves a chance to return to the true faith!"

Malderan said angrily:

"My morality, my profession, my faith, and my promise all forbid me from standing by and watching Diakum die! I must go!"

"I gave him the chance to choose. He decided to go die himself. If you want to take part as well, then go alone! Don't drag the young people who have just earned merit and have bright futures ahead of them into this vortex."

Talgas said somewhat impatiently:

"This is why I hate dealing with wardens. Every one of you is too rigid. Diakum is an exception, but only an exception."

"Yet this is what the Holy Light taught us..."

With a trace of disappointment, Malderan turned away. As he descended the steps, he asked softly:

"If there were no Holy Light, what would the Eredar have left?

"It was never us who proclaimed the Holy Light's glory. It was never the Holy Light that needed us! We endure because of the Holy Light; it is only through the Holy Light's blessings that we possess everything we have.

"That is what I believe.

"I believe Diakum thinks so too."

"Ha, a devout believer and a martyr. No wonder the two of you became friends."

Talgas said with faint mockery:

"Then hurry and set off. Though I also believe miracles must exist, considering the two heavyweight opponents Diakum faces tonight...

"If you delay any longer, I'm afraid you won't even make it to his funeral."

P.S.:

Thanks to "Huo Zhengtinghao" for the two Silver Alliance donations, but I truly don't have enough chapters saved up, so I can only owe them for now and make them up later. Don't worry, brothers—I've already discussed it with Old Huo. This old author's reputation is on the line; I will definitely make up the bonus chapters I owe.

Love you all.