A Good Show

A young priestess who had been standing quietly at the edge of the altar suddenly pulled a waterskin from her sleeve. Before anyone could recover from the upheaval, she hurried to Dave's side, pulled out the stopper, and splashed him hard!

"Uh..." Caught off guard, Dave was drenched. Before he could react, golden-red flames burst across him. The young man who had looked so resolute moments ago let out a harrowing scream, stumbled, and fell flat!

"Rona and Lada are watching," Little Ai said softly. She brushed a few pale-gold strands from her forehead, revealing a pale face faintly flushed, then looked down at Dave. "Do you think they feel even a little comforted now?"

The red-gold flames had spread over Dave's entire body. Divine lights of various colors flashed through them. They left no wounds, but anyone could tell from his screams that he was in terrible shape...

Even the slowest onlookers could see something was wrong. That mysterious power rising around him was tormenting... their hero?

The power was pure and immense, and there was a trace of anger in it!

The Holy Church Coalition's clergy were thrown into disarray. They recognized that power all too well. No matter how they looked at it, the force that had erupted from Dave after he was drenched again was unmistakably divine!

What was going on!?

"This..." Bishop Mofu was stunned. He stared at Dave rolling frantically across the ground and shook his head in disbelief. "Divine punishment! Why? Why would a God-Blessed be punished by a god!?"

Clang!

A sudden peal of the bell cut through everyone's thoughts. They looked up to see the white-robed man who had seemed utterly terrified moments ago leaning comfortably against the iron bell behind him, one hand over his mouth as he whistled a jaunty tune.

"Oh, my!" Mo Tan seemed to have only just noticed that everyone was looking at him again. He rubbed his nose sheepishly. "What on earth is going on?"

That's what we'd like to know!

We're going to lose our minds with all these twists and turns...

"Haven't I told you several times?" Mo Tan shrugged. "I still had something to say... We haven't even started confronting each other face-to-face. Why make such a fuss about arresting me? Look what happened to our classmate Dave... Tsk, tsk. He must be medium-rare by now, right?"

Confrontation, my ass! If you wanted one, why did you make us think you were scared out of your—ah!

"Never mind. Now, let's hear a few words from our hurriedly arriving representative of the Holy Church Coalition, servant of the Sun God, second-year student at Pading Knight Academy, and member of Warm Sun Squad—our classmate Ai Fanye." Mo Tan spoke to the crowd, but his mocking gaze remained fixed on Lange, whose face had been livid for some time.

Little Ai glanced at Dave, still rolling desperately before her with astonishing tenacity, then turned to face everyone. "My name is Ai Fanye. I'm one of the victims Dave mentioned earlier. I really should have died outside the city, but unfortunately, Dave didn't finish me off that night. That's why I'm still alive!"

An uproar swept through the crowd...

The slim, delicate-featured girl might not have drawn much attention before, but Pato City was only so large. Someone was bound to recognize her. Within seconds, the crowd was in turmoil!

She was alive—and she had just said something with staggering implications!

"So in a way," Little Ai said, her gaze on Dave remarkably gentle, "perhaps he really is my benefactor. It's a pity I still can't rest in peace."

"Classmate Fanye!" At last, Lange acted. Amid the deathly silence, he turned a "kindly" gaze on the young priestess beside him. "I'm so glad to see you survived. But I am concerned about your state of mind. After all..."

He looked up at Mo Tan, who stood with folded arms as though watching a show, then said gravely, "You may have been led astray. Malicious people never hesitate to manipulate simple, kindhearted people like us."

His meaning could hardly have been clearer...

That fellow in the bell tower is obviously bad news. How do we know he hasn't controlled you by some unknown means?

"I know exactly what I'm saying," Little Ai replied with a shake of her head. "And I'm willing to answer for every word."

"But you just obeyed that blasphemer!" Lange pointed at Dave and barked, "You attacked a God-Blessed! A man favored by a god!"

Something strange happened. After Lange's shout, Dave's screams abruptly quieted. The red-gold flames around him softened too, as though wavering in confusion...

"Yes..." A glimmer of clarity returned to Dave. "I'm God-Blessed. I'm favored. I'm so devout... God won't hurt me..." he rasped.

His words were dazed and sounded rather strange to everyone else, but the punishment Bishop Mofu had spoken of seemed to dim all at once.

"Look, everyone!" Lange raised his voice. "A believer cannot be brought down so easily, even by such a carefully planned and malicious attack!"

The crowd began to waver again...

Doubts had taken root, but Dave still seemed more trustworthy than the madman who had apparently been toying with them all along.

"Is splashing someone with Waters of the Gods a malicious attack?" Little Ai asked Lange, puzzled. "Only blasphemers and cultists would be harmed by it."

Seeing the crowd nearly settled again, Lange grew more composed. He shook his head with a kindly expression. "Who knows what you splashed on him? And speaking of blasphemers and cultists, the fellow in the bell tower seems a far better candidate. Classmate Fanye, please forgive us for being unable to trust you."

That "us" was carefully chosen. In one word, Lange tied his position to the crowd's, and his words immediately struck a chord with many of them.

Besides, the divine light punishing Dave had almost gone out...

"What can I do to prove it?" Little Ai asked calmly. It was hard to imagine that not long ago, she had been a shy, introverted girl.

"I'm afraid you can't prove it now," Lange said, shaking his head. "Not unless you and that blasphemer place yourselves in the guards' custody at once and stop causing a disturbance. What happens afterward is beyond an old fool like me."

Little Ai fell silent. Up in the bell tower, Mo Tan raised an eyebrow and was about to speak...

"I think I can prove it for her," came a mutter from below the altar, loud enough for all to hear. Everyone looked over. Wasn't that the young Half-Orc priestess with mammoth blood?

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Lange felt his composure slipping. Could someone tell him what this "little" girl, who looked like a berserker, was up to?

"Well..." The young mammoth priestess lowered her head bashfully. "I was beside her when she filled the waterskin, so it shouldn't have been fake."

Lange shot back, "How do you know she didn't switch it afterward!?"

"Tsk, tsk. Switch it," Mo Tan said with a soft laugh. "Well said."

"Uh..." That question genuinely stumped the young mammoth priestess. She stood there blankly for a while. Just as Lange began to smile, she suddenly clapped her hands. "I have some real stuff right here!"

Huh!?

Under everyone's astonished gaze, she picked up an enormous bucket from beside her feet and grinned at the young nuns nearby. "I filled a cup for myself too. Lots of people saw me, and I've been with everyone the whole time. Right?"

Holy crap. That's one huge "cup"!

Even Mo Tan was startled, let alone everyone else...

Several clergy members who were close to the young mammoth priestess nodded woodenly, confirming that she was telling the truth.

"Then I'll try it!" She liked to show off and had a straightforward nature. Without another word, she picked up the bucket—I mean, cup—and strode toward Dave.

Lange's eyes went red. "Wait—"

Splash!

"Aaaagh!" Dave, who had barely suppressed the punishment with some mysterious power, received a thorough drenching. He could hold on no longer. Flames exploded around him until he looked like a moving, human-shaped holy fire. He ran two steps before collapsing with a thud, while wisps of deathly pale mist rose from his body.

"Whoa!" The young mammoth priestess jumped back. "He's on fire! Wait... What is that aura?"

"Power of an evil god!" Bishop Mofu retreated several steps and glared at Dave. "He's a cultist!"

Even ordinary citizens could now feel the sinister chill within it!

There was no hiding it anymore!

"Guards! Surround him!" Lange roared without hesitation. "We've all been deceived! I never imagined Dave Sager would..."

"Would follow your arrangements perfectly," Mo Tan cut in with a wild laugh, "and still be exposed! How does it feel to defend him at every turn, only to fail at the last hurdle, Lord Lange?"

"You were right." Lange immediately bowed deeply to him. "I was blind. Once this is over, I will certainly..."

"Forget 'once this is over.'" Mo Tan covered a yawn and waved a lazy hand. "I'm bored with this. Cole, it's your turn."

Cole? Who was that?

Before anyone could react, a young man in plain clothes darted from the crowd onto the platform. With a sweep of his hand, he sent a sheet of water flying.

"My name is Cole Shulen." Standing before Little Ai, Cole addressed Lange coldly as smoke began rising from him. "Unfortunately for you, I'm still alive too. It's been a long time, Lord Lange..."

Mo Tan took a sheet of black paper covered in gray-white characters from his pocket and smiled. "I found this in Lord Lange's room at city hall. Want to guess what it says?"

It hardly mattered anymore...

From the moment Lange started smoking after being splashed with Waters of the Gods, the citizens and clergy who felt that sinister chill from him needed no further explanation.

The way Lange had defended that supposed hero said it all!

"Die!" Driven into a corner, Lange wasted no more words. Deathly pale mist coiled around him as he lunged at Cole, the nearest person, with a claw aimed at his head. "You cannot withstand my power!"

Cole had been about to pull Little Ai away, but his body suddenly stiffened. Rooted to the spot, he could only watch Lange's hand close in.

"Wall of Verdure!"

A woman's shout rang out nearby. A spinning emerald magic barrier caught Lange's claw just before it reached Cole's head, while elemental vines whipped toward his arm.

Ledo appeared on a nearby balcony, her long staff pointed at Lange. "It's enough for you to die alone! Don't you dare touch my nephew!"

At the same time, the Pading Knight Academy instructors who had been watching the ceremony closed in on Lange and launched their attacks!

"Sweeping Warwheel!"

"Flameflow Hand!"

"Meteor Arrow!"

"Human Cannonball!"

Bishop Mofu and many members of the Holy Church Coalition began preparing divine spells of their own!

But...

"Weak! Feeble! Not worth mentioning!" Lange stood his ground with a sneer, taking the entire wave of attacks head-on. Then he shouted, "In the name of the Whispering God! Believers, show them what true divine power is!"

At his words, nearly a hundred figures burst out from the crowd. They looked like ordinary students, merchants, farmers, elders, and instructors. The only thing they shared was the fanaticism twisting their faces as each murmured softly.

"You cannot stop me..."

"Die trembling..."

"Offer your soul to our lord..."

"Tremble in fear..."

"Your attacks mean nothing..."

In the first clash alone, seven or eight Pading Knight Academy instructors fell. They never even knew what had killed them!

The sudden assault tore a gap in the encirclement that had been aimed solely at Lange!

"You're too slow!"

Thud!

In the blink of an eye, he appeared behind a temple warrior and drove a gray dagger, seemingly conjured from nowhere, into the warrior's heart.

"Light of Devotion!" Though Bishop Mofu was advanced in years, he remained the Holy Church Coalition's strongest member in Pato City. He swept out a golden curtain of light toward Lange.

But then...

"Your divine power is frail and paltry!" Lange shattered Moff's light with a casual swat. In a flash, he appeared before City Lord Naji, who had collapsed to the ground, and kicked him toward Moff.

At that moment, Mo Tan leaped from the bell tower and charged in alongside Bayes, who had been waiting below. Laughing manically, Mo Tan cried, "What a good show!"

"I wouldn't call it that." Bayes smashed a would-be cultist blocker with his twin warhammers, drawing blood, then glanced toward Ledo and muttered, "Since when was Cole her nephew...?"

Five seconds later!

"Stay back!" Crouching on the ground, Lange gripped City Lord Naji and Bishop Mofu by the throats—the two most influential men in Pato City. He grinned savagely. "Take one more step and I'll kill these two useless fools!"

Bayes stopped instinctively, warhammers raised, his face dark as thunder.

Then...

Mo Tan curled his lip, took a huge step forward that nearly put him in the splits, and said, "Go on. Kill one. Let's see it!"

Crack!

One thick neck and one thin neck snapped.

"You thought I wouldn't?" Lange tossed the two corpses aside and grinned at Mo Tan.

"No." Mo Tan smiled back. "You called them useless fools yourself, didn't you? Go ahead and kill them."

Bayes stared at them, utterly dumbfounded. The two men fell silent for a moment, then suddenly threw back their heads and laughed together.

One stood wreathed in sinister shadows, fanatical and overbearing.

The other was a madman who treated the world as his stage, brazen and unrestrained.

The End of A Good Show