A Good Show

A small Cleric, who had been quietly standing by the edge of the altar, suddenly took out a water skin from her sleeve. Before anyone could react to the sudden turn of events, she quickly scurried over to Dave and, with a flick of the wrist, poured the contents over him!

"Ugh..." Caught completely off guard, Dave was drenched. Before he could even process what had happened, a burst of golden-red flames erupted, and the young man, who had just moments ago been wearing a face of unwavering determination, let out a heart-wrenching scream, staggering and collapsing to the ground!

"Rona and Lada are watching," Ai gently brushed a few strands of light golden hair from her forehead, revealing a pale face flushed with a hint of color. She looked down at Dave and whispered, "Do you think they might feel a little bit of relief now?"

The crimson-gold flames now enveloped Dave's entire body, accompanied by flashes of divine light in various colors. Although these flashes didn't leave any visible wounds, it was clear to everyone that Dave was in dire straits.

At this point, even the most oblivious onlookers could sense that something was terribly wrong. The mysterious power that was now rising and burning was tormenting... their hero...?

The power was so pure and surging, with a faint hint of rage!

The Holy Church Coalition's clerics were in utter disarray. Their understanding of this power was much clearer. No matter how they looked at it, the power that had suddenly erupted from Dave after being doused with water was indistinguishable from the divine power they knew!

What on earth was happening!?

"This..." Bishop Mofu was completely stunned. He watched Dave, who was now rolling around on the ground in agony, shaking his head in disbelief, and muttered, "Punishment! Why? Why would a God-Blessed be punished by the gods!?"

Dong~~

Suddenly, an ear-splitting bell rang, interrupting everyone's thoughts. They subconsciously looked up and saw the white-clad man, who had just been looking pale and as though he wanted to write the words 'panic-stricken' across his face, leaning comfortably against the iron bell behind him, whistling a cheerful tune with one hand cupped to his mouth.

"Oops, oops!" Mo Tan, as if only just noticing that the crowd below had turned their attention back to him, rubbed his nose with a somewhat embarrassed expression. "What exactly is going on here?"

We also want to know what's going on here!!

Everyone was about to be driven mad by all the surprises...

"Didn't I say it several times already~" Mo Tan shrugged. "I still have things to say... the face-to-face confrontation hasn't even started yet, has it? Why the big fuss about arresting people? It's made Dave... tsk tsk... he must be medium-well by now, right?"

Confrontation, my foot! If you really wanted a confrontation, why did you make us feel like you were panicking so much that you almos-!

"Alright, alright, now let's have Ai Vanye, from the Holy Church Coalition, a servant of the Sun God, a second-year student at Pading Knight Academy, and a member of the Warm Sun Squad, say a few words." As Mo Tan spoke, his playful gaze remained fixed on Lange, whose face had turned ashen.

After glancing at Dave, who was writhing in agony before her, his life force surprisingly tenacious, Ai turned to face everyone and said softly, "My name is Ai Vanye, and I am one of the victims that Dave mentioned earlier. In fact, I should have died outside the city, but Dave didn't finish me off that night, and that's what kept me alive!"

The crowd erupted in an uproar...

Perhaps this slightly thin, fair-faced girl didn't have a strong presence, but Pato City was only so big. There was bound to be someone who recognized her. In just a few seconds, the crowd was thrown into turmoil!

She wasn't dead, and she had just said something incredibly informative!!

"So, in a way," Ai's gaze toward Dave was very gentle, "he might actually be considered my savior. It's just that I still can't rest in peace."

"Vanye!" Amid the silence, Lange finally began to act, casting a 'kind' gaze toward the small Cleric beside him. "I'm glad to see you're alive, but I'm a little worried about your mental state. After all..."

He looked up at Mo Tan, who was standing with his arms crossed, looking down as if he were watching a play, and said in a deep voice, "You might have been subjected to Guile. Some malicious people never hesitate to manipulate those of us who are simple and kind."

The implication was obvious...

That guy in the clock tower clearly wasn't a good person. How could they know if she had been manipulated by him using some unknown means?

"I know very well what I'm saying," Ai shook her head. "And I'm willing to take responsibility for every word I say."

"But you just listened to that blasphemer!" Lange pointed at Dave and shouted sternly, "Attacking a God-Blessed! One who is favored by the gods!"

An odd thing happened. After Lange's shout, Dave's cries of pain suddenly subsided, and the crimson-gold flames on his body instantly softened, as if hesitating and confused about something...

"Yes..." Dave's consciousness immediately regained a trace of clarity, and he hoarsely roared, "I am God-Blessed, I am favored, I am so devout... the gods would not harm me..."

Although his words were full of confusion, and the content sounded somewhat strange to others, the punishment that Bishop Mofu had spoken of seemed to dim all of a sudden.

"Everyone, look!" Lange suddenly raised his voice. "The faithful of the gods will not be easily defeated, even in such a carefully crafted and malicious scheme!"

The crowd began to hesitate again...

Although doubts had arisen in their hearts, no matter how they looked at it, Dave was more trustworthy than that madman who seemed to be constantly toying with them.

"Sprinkling him with some Waters of the Gods, can that be called a malicious scheme?" Ai looked at Lange in confusion. "Only blasphemers and cultists would be harmed by it."

Seeing that the situation had almost stabilized again, Lange immediately appeared much calmer, shaking his head with a kind and benevolent expression. "Who knows what you poured on him just now? And if we're talking about blasphemers and cultists, I think that guy in the clock tower seems more like one, right? Vanye, please forgive us for not being able to trust you."

The use of 'us' was quite skillful, instantly tying his position to that of the masses. Sure enough, Lange's words immediately resonated with many in the crowd.

And the divine light of punishment on Dave's body had almost completely extinguished...

"What do I have to do to prove it?" Ai looked at Lange calmly. It was hard to imagine that she had been a shy and introverted girl not long ago.

"I'm afraid you can't prove it right now," Lange shook his head. "Unless you and that blasphemer immediately accept the guards' custody and stop causing a disturbance. The rest is not something that a useless old man like me can be responsible for."

Ai fell silent, and Mo Tan in the clock tower raised his eyebrows slightly, just about to speak...

"I think I can prove it for her." Unexpectedly, a rather loud mumble came from below the altar. Everyone looked over and, well, wasn't that the Half-Orc Cleric with mammoth blood!

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Lange felt like he was losing it. Who could tell him what this 'little' girl, who looked like a berserker, was up to!

"That..." The mammoth Cleric lowered her head shyly. "I was next to her when she was filling the water, so it shouldn't be fake."

Lange immediately retorted, "Then how do you know she didn't switch it out later!?"

"Tsk tsk, switch it out~" Mo Tan suddenly chuckled softly. "Well said."

"Uh..." As a result, the mammoth Cleric was truly stumped. She stood there for a long while, until Lange began to smile involuntarily, before suddenly clapping her hands. "I have the real stuff here!"

Huh!?

Under everyone's astonished gaze, she picked up a huge bucket from beside her feet and said with a cheerful smile to the few small nuns beside her, "I filled a big cup for myself at the time, and a lot of people saw it, and I've been acting with everyone all along, right?"

Holy crap, what a big 'cup'!

And that's not even mentioning the others; even Mo Tan was a little surprised...

Several clerics who usually weren't on good terms with Little Mammoth nodded woodenly, proving that she wasn't lying.

"Then I'll give it a try!" This girl loved to show off and had a pretty straightforward personality. Without another word, she grabbed the bucket... I mean, the cup, and dashed towards Dave.

Lange's eyes went red, and he hurriedly exclaimed, "Wait..."

SPLASH!

"Aaaaaaaah!!!" Dave, who had barely suppressed the power of retribution with some mysterious force, was drenched. He couldn't hold on any longer and spontaneously combusted on the spot, like a walking, talking holy bonfire. After taking a couple of steps, he collapsed to the ground with a thud, while wisps of ghastly pale mist rose from his body.

"Whoa!" Little Mammoth immediately hopped backward. "He's on fire! Wait... what's this aura?!"

"Power of an evil god!" Bishop Mofu immediately took several steps back, looking at Dave grimly. "He's a heretic!"

Even ordinary citizens could now sense the chilling coldness it contained!

There was no hiding it anymore!

"Guards! Surround him!" Lange shouted decisively, "We've been deceived! Who would have thought Dave Sager would actually..."

"Would actually be exposed after perfectly following your arrangements?" Mo suddenly burst into wild laughter. "How does it feel to put in so much effort only to fail in the end? Lord Lange."

"You were right." Lange actually gave him a deep bow. "I was blind. I will certainly..."

"Forget about 'afterward'." Mo yawned, covering his mouth, and waved his hand lazily. "I'm bored. Cole, it's your turn."

Cole? Who was that?

Before anyone could react, a young man in ordinary cloth clothes suddenly darted from the crowd to the stage and tossed out a sheet of water...

"My name is Cole Shulen." Cole stood in front of Ai, coldly saying to Lange, who was already starting to smoke, "It's a pity I'm still alive. Long time no see, Lord Lange..."

Mo Tan then opportunely pulled out a piece of black paper covered in grayish-white characters from his pocket, and smiled. "This was found in Lord Lange's room at the city hall. Anyone want to guess what's written on it?"

Actually, it didn't matter anymore...

From the moment Lange started smoking after being splashed with the Waters of the Gods, the citizens and clerics who felt the chilling coldness emanating from him didn't need any more explanation.

Lange's previous actions to defend that 'hero' were the best proof!

"Die!" Finally driven to the brink, Lange didn't say another word. His entire body wreathed in a ghastly pale mist, he lunged at Cole, who was closest to him, with a claw aimed at the top of his head. "You are powerless to resist my might!"

Cole, who had been preparing to drag Ai away, suddenly froze, unable to move an inch, and could only watch as the other party reached for him.

"Wall of Verdancy!"

A delicate shout came from not far away. Lange's claw, about to strike Cole's head, was blocked by a swirling, emerald green magic barrier in mid-air, and at the same time, elemental vines frantically wrapped around his arm.

Ms. Ledo's figure appeared in a nearby pavilion, her slender staff pointing directly at Lange. "It's enough for you to die alone! Don't even think about touching my nephew!"

At the same time, the Pading Knight Academy instructors, who had been observing the ceremony, also began to surround Lange, all taking action!

"War Wheel Sweep!"

"Flame Stream Magic Hand!"

"Meteor Arrow!"

"Human Tank!"

Bishop Mofu and a large number of Holy Church members also began preparing divine spells!

But...

"Weak! Powerless! Insignificant!" Lange stood his ground and laughed coldly, actually withstanding the wave of attacks head-on. He shouted, "In the name of the Whispering God! Believers, let them see what true divine power is!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, nearly a hundred figures scattered from the crowd and attacked. Each of them was dressed normally – students, merchants, farmers, old people, instructors, everything. The only thing they had in common was that their faces were now filled with fanaticism and ferocity, and they were all whispering something.

"You cannot stop..."

"Die trembling..."

"Offer your soul to my lord..."

"Tremble in fear..."

"Your attacks are insignificant..."

In just one exchange, seven or eight Pading Knight Academy instructors fell, and they didn't even know how they had died until the very end!

And in this sudden, unprepared assault, a gap appeared in the encirclement that had originally been targeting only Lange!

"You're too slow!"

Pfft!

In the blink of an eye, he appeared behind a paladin, sending a gray dagger, which had appeared in his hand at some point, into the latter's heart.

"Light of Piety!" Although Bishop Mofu was old, he was still the strongest member of the Holy Church Coalition in Pato City. He raised his hand and cast a golden curtain of light down on Lange.

But unexpectedly...

"Your divine power is fragile and insignificant!" Lange casually shattered the light cast by Mofu with a slap, and in a flash, he appeared in front of City Lord Naji, who had already collapsed to the ground, and kicked him towards Mofu.

And at this moment, Mo Tan also jumped down from the clock tower, along with Bayes, who had been standing below for half a day, and rushed towards the scene, laughing maniacally, "What a show!"

"I wouldn't say that," Bayes muttered, glancing in Ledo's direction as he used his two warhammers to brutally smash a cultist who was trying to stop him until they vomited blood. "When did Cole become her nephew..."

Five seconds later!

"Don't come any closer!" Lange snarled, crouching with his hands gripping the necks of the City Lord and the Bishop, the two most influential figures in Pato City. "One more step and I'll kill these two pieces of trash!"

Bayes subconsciously stopped, holding his warhammers high, his face as dark as water.

Then...

Mo Tan curled his lip and took a huge step forward in a split stance: "Go on, kill one and let me see!"

Crack!!

One thick and one thin neck snapped in response!

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

"Nope," Mo Tan returned the smile. "Didn't you say they were trash? Kill them, kill them~"

Under Bayes's dumbfounded gaze, the two were silent for a long moment before suddenly throwing their heads back and laughing wildly.

One was surrounded by swirling shadows of evil, fanatical and overbearing.

The other was like a mad demon playing with the world, unrestrained and flamboyant.

Chapter 40: The End