The Truth of the Polluted Pascal Bloodline, in an Era Without Paternity Tests

Killing a Legendary is an incredibly difficult task.

The Legendary of killing a Legion Commander of the Extraordinary Legion is almost impossible.

If the opponent is also an exceptionally powerful priest, blessed with Deities Divine Art, with all three buffs, even suicide would be difficult.

One possibility in Ryan's mind had nothing to do with the war.

Facing Count Pascal's scrutiny, Ryan forced himself to speak:

"What I'm referring to as a possibility requires many conditions to be met."

"First of all, the grudge between you makes that Cleric Awen unwilling to let you go easily, and he even wants to kill you, Earl."

"Secondly, even if the war is impossible to win now, Cleric Awen is unwilling to face defeat easily. This requires the Pope on the Holy Mountain to put enough pressure on Cleric Awen. It is even possible that if he fails, he will be judged and killed by the Pope."

"The grudges between you must be significant enough, and the pressure from the Holy Mountain must be direct enough, leaving no room for compromise or negotiation."

"This is due to Cleric Awen's own circumstances."

"Then, Your Excellency, I'm afraid we'll need to provide you with sufficient support. This support may come at a great cost, because if we fail in the end, you'll have to personally go to the Imperial Capital to explain to His Majesty the Emperor after returning to the Empire, and you'll also be suspected of maintaining contact with the Church of Dawn."

"I cannot guarantee success; on the contrary, if we fail, the war will face entirely new difficulties, and they may be able to rise from the ashes."

"These are the conditions you need to meet: the means to kill him, and the consequences from the Empire."

"In addition, conditions from a third party are also required."

Gerald.

Ryan wouldn't reveal everything, but now that he's shown his sincerity, Count Pascal can't just offer nothing in return.

After all, if he really failed, Ryan would also have to bear the responsibility from within the empire. The nobles and the emperor suspected that he was also colluding with the Church of Dawn, and the situation would be even more troublesome for Elector Volvo.

Most importantly, the defeat in the war shattered the legend of Ryan's invincibility, which was an unimaginable blow to his reputation, after all, he was the Baron who killed the Silvermoon Werewolf Monarch.

Count Pascal remained silent for a long time, then looked up at Ryan and asked:

"How did you manage to get your army to that plain?"

He needed a secret because he would also tell Ryan a secret, and for this purpose, there was even a written contract to prove the authenticity of both parties.

Ryan took out the Dragon Emperor Crown and began to explain. He naturally understood the Earl's idea: both sides needed to know some of each other's secrets to be considered equal.

In any case, the two things are based on the same principle. After examining the words, Ryan could not determine the power of the contract.

Or rather, the contract doesn't even know about the Spirituality Panel.

"Between Pascal and Aven Griffith lies a shameful past!"

Count Pascal, through gritted teeth, revealed the darkest history and truth of the Pascal Count Family.

"Dignity has been trampled upon, honor stolen, and all glory has become a joke and filth."

That was before the world underwent drastic changes, before the War of the Deities Across Planes had brought unprecedented impact to the Norris Continent.

In the Danube Province of today, on the former Pascal Plateau, a powerful branch of the Church of Dawn, which ruled the human world in place of the sun, practiced Mute Ascetics under the stern command of the Sun.

The reason they were there was because Gargoyle were born from Magic-Immunity Stone encased in Agate. The Mute Ascetics were inherently connected to Gargoyle, and in addition, they needed the extraordinary factors contained in the Agate to hone themselves.

Of course, the only connection this matter has to the Mute Ascetics is that Reverend Aven Griffith was the priest assigned to the Mute Ascetics there.

He was a priest, yet he followed the Mute Ascetics, practicing devout prayer and faith in the great Dawn.

However, as Mute Ascetics, he was clearly heretical, because it was impossible for him to be completely devoid of desires other than asceticism, just like Mute Ascetics.

His desires included entering the Eternal Kingdom of Heaven and becoming a servant at the feet of the great Lord of Dawn. Before that, he was still a human being, no matter how devout his faith.

What was Norris Continent like more than a hundred years ago, before the War of the Deities Across Planes began?

Under the doctrine of the Dawn, the nobles' territories were oppressive.

However, the Church of Dawn has ruled humanity for far too many years, and the power and privilege of that long period have bred desire and corruption.

The repressed nobles were filled with a lewd desire for rebellion, after all, rebellion in a transcendent world was an impossible thing.

Of course, in that era, such things were commonplace, and were even part of social civilization.

However, due to various factors such as morality, rules, honor, and dignity, and most importantly, the extreme oppression under the rule of the Church, the nobles clung tightly to the purity of their bloodline no matter how chaotic things became.

Especially within noble families, inbreeding accounts for more than 90% of marriages within the same surname, solely to ensure the purity of their bloodline.

There is a vast chasm between Deities and mortals, but... Gargoyle, also known as Stone-winged Beast, are from the Pascal Gargoyle Family, who are called Human Angels. They are so close to the Deities, yet they exist as mortals.

The Pascal Count Family had a close relationship with the Church because of the Gargoyle, and also with the Church.

Various conditions and factors resonated under these circumstances, and so, from some unknown point in time, Pascal's bloodline became tainted.

Many children of clergy and Pascal Family women became members of the Pascal Family, and because of their connections with the clergy, these children were more likely to receive favor and power.

He was favored by nobles and clergy, possessing both Royal Authority and divine power.

"Your Count Clayton Family, is now known as the most fertile bloodline and is envied by the nobles, but before the War of the Deities, the Pascal Bloodline held that title."

The count spoke with a gloomy face throughout, which did not surprise Ryan. At that time, nobles often married within their own families, and the infant mortality rate was probably very high. However, if they married outsiders, they were more likely to survive. After all, nobles and clergy enjoyed the best things in the world, as well as the supernatural Healing Art of priests.

The environment led to an era where information could hardly circulate, so these dark matters did not become widely known, and even the clergy and Pascal Family probably did not know about them.

The nobles of that time had no idea about inbreeding, nor did they have any extraordinary means to conduct paternity tests.

Moreover, due to the chaos at that time, most women probably didn't know who their fathers were.

The Church was corrupt, and Royal Authority was rising.

This simple sentence encompasses everyone in the entire world, everyone!

Every nobleman and every commoner slave was affected by this statement in an unimaginable way.

For the Pascal Count Family, the impact of the Church's corruption lay in this: in the fact that their ancient lineage and nobility had been trampled upon.

The rise of Royal Authority had an impact on the Pascal Count Family, particularly on the Earl himself.

Ryan also learned that, as he had previously understood, those Pascal Bloodline were not killed by the curse of the Church. The Church's silence was also explained. To admit such a thing would be to admit their own corruption and depravity, and to admit that their faith in the Lord of Dawn had mutated.

They are believers who have abandoned all human desires and devoutly serve the Lord of Dawn.

It's no wonder that Count Pascal didn't tell anyone about this, not even the Emperor. In reality, Count Pascal was the nobleman with absolutely no irreconcilable conflicts between the Empire and the Church of Dawn.

It's not that we don't want to speak, but that we can't speak, and we dare not speak.

"After the War of the Deities Across Planes ended, all the nobles in the empire became Blasphemers. Every noble reaped enormous benefits and extraordinary attainments from the Divine Essence."

This is why Ryan could only collect one or two copies of the Knight Breathing Technique in Otherworld Plane, but on the Norris Continent, almost every noble family in the empire had their own Knight Breathing Technique.

"It was during this process that my father and I discovered the pollution of the bloodline. The bloodline of the vast majority of people in the Pascal Family was no longer pure Pascal. In fact, Pascal's bloodline had been diluted to the point that it could not withstand the benefits of bloodline sublimation brought by the Divine Essence."

"This includes many of my brothers, who are just bastards with Pascal's blood, not Pascal Family's blood."

If they can't even occupy half of the territory, they certainly can't be of Pascal Bloodline; they can only be considered relatives of the maternal relatives.

Within a noble's territory, what is a maternal relative? For example, if a knight marries a noble's daughter, what are his descendants?

He was a servant of a nobleman.

Count Pascal's eyes had turned somewhat bloodshot; every memory was a disaster for him.

Fortunately, even in this chaotic situation, no one dared to make any moves against the eldest son.

This wasn't because those clergy members had a conscience, but because back then, when counts and nobles in the empire inherited their Noble Title, the Cardinal Archbishop would bathe and prepare for half a month before the count was crowned in full view of everyone.

That requires the involvement of Divine Art, equivalent to... Dawn version of paternity testing?

"My father died when this happened; he was a Legendary."

"The nobles all believed that the problem arose when they were controlling the Divine Essence within their bloodline, and that they were killed by the Divine Essence."

Because of the Gargoyle, even Count Pascal received countless benefits and became a powerful Legendary.

And this Legendary died of anger.

And this was done in front of the current Count Pascal.

This hatred... Ryan suddenly had no reason to persuade Count Pascal. If he were to speak, the very first word he uttered would likely turn the Frozen Earth Territory and the Earldom into irreconcilable enemies.

Following this, the imperial Royal Authority challenged the Church of Dawn, and Count Pascal betrayed the monarchy, leading to the first wars waged by the empire against the Church.

"I killed all the clergy; otherwise, how could Imperial House Columbus have trusted me?"

Pascal laughed self-deprecatingly. In the vast land of the empire, he was the most ruthless killer of the Church, even monks and nuns were all killed. At that time, the population of the Danube Province was dwindling, and it was only later that it was replenished by the Otherworld.

"After killing them, I obtained the Church's internal register. For the next hundred years, I had no time to curry favor with the emperor. I spent all my time killing clergy who had left the Danube Province, as long as they had ever been Danube Province."

The Pascal Plateau Roster of the Church of Dawn is Death's list.

"I killed all the clergy and squandered the vast wealth that the Pascal Family had accumulated."

"Only Aven Griffith remained, who was judged and banished to the Abyss for his atonement."

"Is that atonement? Whose sins are being atoned?"

Count Pascal looked at the Gargoyle in the sky outside. They were incredibly powerful and brought immense authority to the Pascal Family.

"He cannot atone for the Pascal Bloodline."

After saying this, blood trickled from between the count's teeth. The count looked at the Gargoyle outside, then turned to look at Ryan.

"Did you know that Gargoyle do not belong to the Pascal Family? Only the Mute Ascetics could command these human angelic Stone-winged Beast, and not under the guise of control, but as companions. The Mute Ascetics's training was to transform himself into Gargoyle so that he could become a true angel after entering the Eternal Kingdom in the future."

"My father and I achieved complete control over the Gargoyle; I am the Monarch of the Gargoyle."

"The Pascal Family's extraordinary Gargoyle Legion belongs only to our bloodline."

"Do you know how I did it?"

"The benefit of blasphemy was the sublimation of our bloodline, which truly separated us from the peasants in life, but at that time it did not allow us to control the Gargoyle Legion. At that time, the Empire had not yet declared war on the Church, and the Mute Ascetics were extremely powerful."

"I used blood."

"I killed all those bastards within the Pascal Family, fused their blood and bones into the Gargoyle ' bodies, extracted their souls, and sealed them inside the Gargoyle, condemning them to eternal confinement in a dark, endless prison. Within the Gargoyle' bodies, composed of Magic-Immunity Stone, neither magic nor Divine Art can detect their trapped souls, and they are unable to transmit any information."

"The Magic-Immunity Stone instinctively stops everything."

"That was a sacrifice."

"The Gargoyle Legion will also die, and after the Gargoyle die, those bastards have a chance... to be freed."

"But... their souls have already been sold to a Great Being. Even if they are released, their souls will be taken away by the Great Being. After experiencing the despair and madness of no response, their souls will become excellent materials."

"In exchange for that Great Being's return from the Northlands."

Count Pascal produced the rhomboid red Agate.

"Of course, even so, they may come back to life in a strange way and become the servants of Great Being."

"This is too easy for Aven Griffith."

"The Eternal Void’s Despair Seal is the cage I prepared for him. There is no one who can save him. He will collapse in despair amidst endless exile and Dead Silence."

"This is the method I discussed with that [The Eternal One of the Void]."

The hatred had been suppressed by Count Pascal for over a century, and now Ryan finally understood the time when this Imperial House member, Loren Columbus, who ignored the Wyvern Legion commander, was finally coming to understand.

Faced with such hatred, how could there possibly be time to consider political exchanges within the empire?

However, what Ryan meant by "possibly" was precisely politics.

Always believe that war is an extension of politics; if war cannot kill a person, then politics certainly can.

"War is no longer an option to kill that Cleric Awen, but does the Earl believe that Lord Gerald's 'Moonlight' could do it?"

After listening for half a day, Ryan finally spoke.

Lord Tiffany, known by the title "Moonlight," came south from the the North kingdom as a knight before the War of the Deities Across Planes, and occupied the land of the present-day Gerald Noble Territory.

In that era, his ability to do this proved only one thing.

He lacked nothing except for having children.

Among these, combat effectiveness is particularly crucial.

"Two days is the time I'm giving them to break down in morale."

"But how many people will starve to death in Gerald Noble Territory in two days?"

"If slaves starve to death, who will cultivate the land and produce goods for them? If servants starve to death, who will clean their houses and discipline the serfs? If those around them starve to death, what will they use to maintain their dignity and honor?"

"Gerald have a romantic bloodline? Just how much do they admire and respect their ancestor who led the Kingdom Army to fight to the death in the Northlands more than a hundred years ago instead of marching south?"

"If they lose the war, they will lose everything. Their serfs will starve, their servants will starve, and their dignity will starve to death."

"The glory and responsibility they bear will be reduced to a joke by hunger, and the entire South land will see Gerald's honor become trampled garbage."

Dignity and glory, everything that nobles are proud of, is what Count Pascal is doing now. He wants to cleanse Pascal Bloodline of all filth and reclaim the glory and dignity of the count's family.

"I can make them lose all their future, or I can make them keep all this wealth."

Ryan was willing to communicate with Pascal about this because, of course, if it succeeded, he would gain control of Gerald.

Moreover, it achieves multiple benefits; from now on, Count Pascal will likely be his most steadfast noble ally in the empire.

"As long as they kill Cleric Awen and help us destroy this Crusader Atonement Army, they will become friends of the Empire."

"If all three conditions are met, then this matter is that simple."

Ryan waved his hand and looked at Count Pascal.

"I will go and talk to them. The first thing I will do is sell them some of the food that is rightfully theirs, so that this war can drag on for three days or more."

"Don't worry about arousing suspicion. I raided several knights' manors on that plain before and left letters for them. By now... those two counts should have seen them."

Ryan's lips curled up slightly, and Pascal looked at him in surprise before suddenly laughing.

"They all say that everything you have now is because you are Deities favored by the gods."

"And the Great Being who favors you is a devil."

"Because only they did not slumber because of the Northlands."

(End of this chapter)