349 The Grand Ancestor of Dekan Arrives

Inside the spacious church, only one person sat in the last row of seats.

Sunlight streamed through the church's stained glass, refracting a soft halo that illuminated his surroundings as bright as day.

He sat in this inconspicuous spot, as if all the hustle and bustle of the capital city today was nothing more than a children's game to him.

"Does anyone here intend to resolve this peacefully?"

As he spoke, Dekan rose to his feet, pulled his cloak to the side to cover his right shoulder, revealing a unique imperial-style black suit beneath the heavy noble cloak, and then bowed gracefully to Ikatinos and Olivia.

His hair remained crimson, but his appearance had been transformed by Mie's disguise, making him look unlike anything anyone had ever seen before.

Inside the church, imperial officials and Chaos cultists couldn't help but exchange glances, seemingly trying to confirm whether anyone recognized this distinguished imperial nobleman.

However, the result was that no one knew of his existence.

Even though they didn't know who this person was, the Chaos cultists in the church all sensed something was wrong with him.

From the perspective of the Chaos God Church, this guy seems more like someone who's here to cause trouble!

Finally, a fearless follower of the Persecution took two steps closer to Dekan, wanting to test whether he was just putting on an act.

Dekan smiled slightly, standing still and unmoved, seemingly unconcerned about the offense of the ignorant.

"What a pretentious guy!"

Just as the Chaos Cultists charged toward Dekan with a roar, Ikatinos coldly raised a finger.

In an instant, the cultist was knocked to the ground, vomiting blood and falling unconscious.

Immediately, all the forces of the Church of Calamity within the church became wary of Ikatinos again, as if the situation, which had just eased, was about to explode once more.

Everyone knows that fighting now would bring no benefit.

But Ikatinos's demeanor didn't seem to suggest she wanted to have a proper conversation with the Church of Calamity!

And since she helped this man, it's hard not to suspect that he was in cahoots with her!

However, at that moment...

Oh? You know me?

Dekan turned back to look at Ikatinos with great interest, as if he had discovered a sensible junior.

"I... have heard a legend about you."

Ikatinos lowered her stance slightly and answered humbly.

This shocked everyone in the Imperial army present!

The short conversation seemed to reveal a lot of information.

Ikatinos's demeanor didn't resemble protecting her subordinates at all; rather, it suggested she was afraid to let anyone offend this red-haired man!

At the same time, she was also trying to flatter a legendary remnant of the empire, attempting to win his favor!

In all the years of the Empire, no one has ever seen the absolutely domineering Empress Ikatinos lower her stance so much in front of anyone!

Actively withdraw from the limelight, and remain utterly devout!

Meanwhile, on the Chaos God Church's side, Menelaus frowned slightly and made no statement for the time being, clearly in a wait-and-see state.

After all, he was happy to see Ikatinos unable to make a move.

While there was still a chance that a fight wouldn't break out, Menelaus wanted to see just how capable this random red-haired Tuxedo Man in a tuxedo really was, and what his true intentions were.

Menelaus remained unmoved, and the other three bishops did not make a move either, so the Chaos Cultists dared not rush forward to their deaths.

However, soon some people began to suspect and speculate whether the man was an actor hired by Ikatinos for a staged performance.

Despite her aloof and arrogant personality, Ikatinos is also someone who will stop at nothing to achieve her goals!

In a desperate situation, no one knows whether she would temporarily set aside her dignity for the sake of victory!

Perhaps she wanted to fabricate someone whose status was above hers and Olivia's, thereby deceiving all the Imperials present into standing firmly on her side!

Gradually, a few intelligent people began to look at Pritzker, the Abyss Mage, who was sitting in the church.

As the third person present after Menelaus and Ikatinos, Pritzker was believed to have maintained absolute neutrality throughout.

If Pritzker had clearly sided with either side, the advantage in today's battle would have been significantly tilted in that direction.

However, the current stalemate suggests that this guy isn't helping either side, or that Pritzker is determined to remain neutral until he's certain of a win.

This guy's most outstanding skill is seeing through lies and distinguishing truth from falsehood.

Even though Pritzker was only at the eighth rank many years ago, he was able to accurately judge the truthfulness of a ninth-rank powerhouse's words.

Pritzker, now at the ninth rank, is even said to be able to see through the authenticity of gods.

And as the price for this ability, he himself would produce obvious Magic Power fluctuations when he lied, making him easily detectable.

Therefore, Pritzker is undoubtedly the best indicator for determining truth from falsehood at this time!

"..."

Pritzker's expression was grim; he was clearly annoyed by the increasing number of gazes directed at him in the church.

For a dignified commander of the First Army, a ninth-tier powerhouse, to be used as a public magical artifact is undoubtedly an insult.

Even the red-haired man who was the culprit who caused all this in the church looked at him with great interest.

However, when Pritzker met the red-haired man's gaze, he couldn't help but shudder.

The red-haired man's eyes were different from the others.

Everyone else at least had some respect for him, a ninth-tier mage, but this red-haired man seemed to have discovered an interesting toy.

In the red-haired man's eyes, Pritzker deeply felt that he had absolutely no respect for him!

It was as if even a ninth-tier expert was nothing more than an ant.

The commander of the First Army Corps is naturally a magical artifact.

As for Pritzker himself, he was nothing more than Pritzker's possession!

What Pritzker found most unacceptable was that he clearly recognized that the red-haired man was not bluffing, but genuinely looked down on him!

Pritzker took a deep breath, as if he were about to explode in anger.

Then, as if deflated, he lowered his head and shrank back as if avoiding everyone's gaze.

He didn't make any comment about everyone's gaze, but the red-haired man's attention made his scalp tingle.

Normally, being humiliated to this extent would also anger Pritzker, and might even affect his stance.

However, Pritzker was too preoccupied with anger at that moment.

A sense of reason, known as "discretion is the better part of valor," overwhelmed all his emotions.

Simply because Pritzker discovered that the Queen had not lied!!

This mysterious red-haired man indeed possesses a status and story that even Queen Ikatinos had to treat with utmost respect!

Everyone in the church who observed Pritzker's strange reaction was shocked.

They had anticipated that Pritzker would not go against his own position and make any statement that might help either side distinguish truth from falsehood.

Even if a fight breaks out and becomes uncontrollable, Pritzker is the one with the best chance of escaping. He should be the most composed person on the field, without a doubt.

No one could have imagined that Pritzker would be so apprehensive!

They seemed to be afraid of this red-haired man!

On the church bulletin board, Menelaus remained silent, while the other bishops' expressions had already turned displeased.

At this moment, they truly couldn't understand the situation.

All signs point to this man being very likely a hidden bigwig in the empire.

His suggestion that neither side should resort to force was indeed in the interests of both sides.

But what if this is a scam set up by Ikatinos?

Then everything that follows will be done with the Chaos God Church being led by the nose.

The Bishop of Falsehood Carlos behind Menelaus frowned more and more deeply, his eyes fixed on the red-haired man the entire time.

Despite the increasingly convincing identity of the red-haired man, constantly dispelling the possibility that "it's a hoax," Carlos still felt a sense of déjà vu with this style.

It seems to be an instinct stemming from the victim.

This forced Carlos to recall a fraudster who should have vanished from the world completely.

The first time Carlos was victimized was when "Clay" used passive resistance as leverage to extort 5,000 Gold Coin from him.

Carlos's blood pressure was about to explode that time.

When Carlos later learned that the Bishop of Corruption Fahim had died, their entire plan had failed, and that Clay's Bishop's Token had long been taken by Dekan, and that the 5,000 Gold Coin were merely a form of "telecom fraud" by Dekan to induce Carlos to reveal the key information that would lead to Fahim's demise, Carlos was so angry that he couldn't sleep well for a whole month.

Carlos had only recovered from his sleep for a couple of days when, for some reason, he became the target of the Lord of Calamity's daily curse again!

From then on, he truly understood what it meant to never be able to sleep well again!

Under intense torture, Carlos grew to hate the Lord of Calamity, even thinking that if he could capture the Lord of Calamity one day, he would fight to the death with Lord of Calamity, even if it meant mutual destruction!

And if anyone manages to defeat the Lord of Calamity, he will repay them if given the chance!

Later, Carlos witnessed Dekan's triumphant defeat of the Lord of Calamity at the Hero Festival, and his feelings became incredibly complicated.

He knew he was going to kill Dekan, yet he couldn't help but feel a little bit of goodwill towards Dekan. All the past grudges seemed to be wiped away, and he even thought that if possible, he would try to save Dekan's life at the end of the Philoven Kingdom.

As a result, Carlos thought he could make it to the arena to help the Pope control the situation during the final battle in the Philoven Kingdom.

But for some inexplicable reason, I was struck down by that familiar curse again!

It was Dekan who took action.

Carlos finally understood: Dekan was truly the Lord of Calamity!

I've been fooled by this beast again!!!

Carlos had had enough of being persecuted and completely fooled by Dekan!

He would rather die than suffer such humiliation again.

Even from a logical and common-sense perspective, the red-haired man being so sincerely and respectfully revered by Ikatinos in the church should not be Dekan.

But Carlos felt more and more determined that he couldn't bear to lose another hat-trick to Dekan.

Carlos, who had suffered greatly from this, was absolutely certain that Dekan's skill was in making lies appear as seamless as the truth!

Consider it a gamble!

He also wanted to test whether the other party was indeed Dekan!

Near the back aisle of the church, the red-haired man strolled leisurely to the middle, then looked at the front of the church's bulletin board and asked:

"Alright, I think Queen Ikatinos has agreed to my proposal. So, what about Princess Olivia? What is your statement?"

Although he appeared to be asking Menelaus a question, he was completely ignoring Menelaus and was asking Princess Olivia as if she were invisible.

The entire church became incredibly quiet at that moment.

It was as if everyone was holding their breath.

Princess Olivia's answer may determine whether the situation will develop as the red-haired man wishes.

Just as Princess Olivia was about to speak...

Carlos's pupils contracted sharply; in that instant, he seemed to have realized a possibility—

In case that Isabel's mission failure wasn't as the intelligence suggested, where she failed to form a contract with the Ice Princess, resulting in the Ice Princess taking the [True Word Blood Pact], then...

Instead, Isabel wanted to enslave Dekan, but ended up with the wrong name, race, and gender, becoming Dekan's slave.

At this point, Princess Olivia is already Dekan's woman, and she must obey Dekan! Therefore, she will definitely cooperate with Dekan in his act, completely deceiving everyone!

Even though this reasoning contained many absurd, incomprehensible, and unprovable aspects, Carlos's intuition kept telling him that if the guy in front of him was Dekan, they would all be doomed!

Before Princess Olivia could even give her answer, in the blink of an eye, Carlos activated [Void Illusion Realm] with a vengeful glare, locking onto the red-haired man in the distance.

Instantly, the red-haired man vanished from his spot amidst a slightly distorted vortex, imprisoned in Carlos's Illusory Space!

Even if it might provoke Queen Ikatinos to retaliate, Carlos was willing to take the risk!

Because, as long as we lock this guy up and test him with Carlos's top-tier eighth-order killing move, we can determine whether he is Dekan!

"They really dared to lock me up? Doesn't that trigger the death conditions?"

Dekan thought to himself, he remembered that during his eighth time in the Demon Realm Prison, the Jailer, the Carster of Illusion, had imprisoned him in the same way.

The moment he saw Carlos make his move, Dekan felt as if the space around him had been completely shut off.

The entire sacred and ancient church, including the bulletin board and rows of seats in the distance, vanished in an instant.

The environment he was in now was a boundless space filled with a thin mist.

"Dekan...! I know it's you!"

From somewhere, came the sound of Carlos gritting his teeth.

"I don't understand what you're saying,"

Dekan maintained the composed demeanor of a red-haired nobleman, lightly tapping the ground with his cane as he spoke in a slightly cold voice:

"But I presume you're prepared to bear the consequences."

His authority seemed unshakeable, and his cold gaze into the void seemed to be proclaiming Carlos's death sentence.

Carlos hesitated and did not make a move immediately. It was clear that Ikatinos was not in a hurry to fight Menelaus in the church outside the Illusion Barrier.

Instead, they once again reached a stalemate.

Therefore, Carlos was unwilling to use the [Void Illusion Realm] ability to attack Dekan so quickly.

Although attacking Dekan will inevitably force Dekan to reveal his abilities and true identity, Carlos will also be taken away by the pain feedback!

It can be said that their abilities are mutually restraining.

However, in this stalemate that has occurred both inside and outside the Illusory Space, Carlos has undoubtedly gained the upper hand!

Because he could keep dragging it out, leaving Dekan locked up inside like that.

If Dekan doesn't make a move soon, even if he's concealing his identity, it naturally shows that this red-haired man isn't very strong. The aura he's projecting is seriously inconsistent with his actual strength, and there's nothing to be afraid of! It's all just bluffing!

The one who should be anxious is the other party!

"Call..."

After a brief silence, Dekan sighed; he was genuinely unsure if Carlos would make a move against him at this moment.

It seems that Carlos's hatred for him is much greater than imagined, even though he himself did not do much wrong.

Regardless of whether Carlos makes a move or when he does, Dekan has already prepared a way to deal with Carlos.

The name of Bishop of End Menelaus, like that of the former Pope Agamemnon, is merely an alias in this world. No one can discover the true names of these Chaos God, so the Dekan Gospel has no effect on them.

But for a regular customer like Carlos, who was on the death list, Dekan could do whatever he wanted.

He silently took out the [Dekan Gospel] and began writing Carlos's identity information on it.

"It really was you!!"

Carlos's voice echoed within the Illusory Space.

He knew he was about to be cursed, but he wouldn't lift the [Void Illusion Realm]!

Although this curse of the Lord of Calamity is tormenting, it is not very powerful, unless Dekan uses the highest intensity curse, which is a mutual destruction curse.

However, if Dekan were to curse Carlos with all his might, just like he did during the final battle in the Philoven Kingdom, then once Carlos releases him, the pale and weak Dekan will be unable to continue his act!

Outside the Illusory Space, inside the church.

Just as Carlos was about to convey to Menelaus the information that "the red-haired man is Dekan," he discovered that Ikatinos had already locked onto him by [Inner Demon Nightmare]!

Carlos suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.

Carlos was nearly driven to madness by this spell during the attack on the capital.

This spell can dispel all layers of curses on the target, and each layer of curse dispelled will cause the target to fall into a nightmare on a mental level, which is a manifestation of painful memories they have experienced!

However, this spell also has a weakness: it requires stacking a high number of curse states to trigger an extremely terrifying mental attack.

Even with Ikatinos's magic, she can only stack one layer at most instantly. To achieve higher levels of curses, she must stack them slowly, and these layers are preventable, self -Purification, and controllable.

Judging from the current situation, Ikatinos must have made a coordinated plan with Dekan, with Dekan applying the curse and Ikatinos then following up with the control!

However, the [Inner Demon Nightmare] triggered by a single curse is nothing to fear!

Even if Ikatinos could stack one layer instantly, it would only be two layers!

He had withstood three levels of the [Inner Demon Nightmare] back then, so one level of the [Inner Demon Nightmare] could only control him for a short while, and it wouldn't be enough to overwhelm his mind.

Once the [Inner Demon Nightmare] is dispelled, Menelaus will naturally protect him, and will not give Ikatinos another chance to regain control!

And at that time, he could convey the truth to Menelaus in just a short while!

In the next instant, Carlos was surrounded by holy light. In this sacred church, as if Goddess had descended to punish him, the curse of the [Dekan Gospel] arrived as scheduled.

This pain far surpassed the agony he felt when the Lord of Calamity cursed him daily.

But it's still far from the time when he was cursed with all his might by Dekan during the great battle in the Philoven Kingdom!

Without a doubt, Dekan made a foolish move under these circumstances.

He used a moderately powerful curse, attempting to destabilize Carlos's [Void Illusion Realm] without affecting his own performance!

However, Dekan underestimated him!

Under Dekan's persecution, Carlos became absolutely certain that he had developed resistance to this pain and curse!

This is far from enough to open up the [Void Illusion Realm]!

Ikatinos's [Inner Demon Nightmare] has arrived as scheduled.

Carlos closed his eyes as if he had undergone a trial.

We'll get through this soon, and then it'll all be over.

Just as Carlos was thinking this...

Suddenly, Carlos froze completely, as if he had turned into a statue.

Next, his shoulders and lips began to tremble, his eyes were bloodshot and looked like they were about to burst, and he fell to the ground like a wooden stake.

His tragic state, though he wasn't dead yet, was even more heartbreaking than someone who died with his eyes wide open!

The spot where the red-haired man had disappeared has reappeared.

He remained as calm and composed as ever.

By this time, Dekan had already withdrawn the [Dekan Gospel], as if nothing had happened.

She even feigned a slight sense of regret over Carlos's miserable state, while praising Queen Ikatinos as a sensible child.

The sound of swallowing saliva could be faintly heard in many places inside the church.

If what was said before was merely a performance without any substance...

Now, he has finally proven his Terror methods that are beyond the comprehension of ordinary people!

Without warning, he instantly killed the Bishop of Falsehood Carlos!

Even if it seemed he hadn't done anything, and it all appeared to be Ikatinos's doing.

But everyone knows that it was this red-haired man who did the dirty work!

Even someone like Ikatinos, a top-tier ninth-order cultivator, couldn't achieve such a terrifying level!

At this moment, Menelaus's expression finally turned serious.

He knew perfectly well that Ikatinos was incapable of instantly killing Carlos; otherwise, she wouldn't have been defeated in the first place.

The one who truly caused Carlos's sudden death must have been this red-haired man!

Even Menelaus couldn't deduce what the man had done in the Illusory Space.

While there is a possibility that the red-haired man is indeed in cahoots with Ikatinos, and can use an uncounterable and distance-insensitive method to instantly stack layers of curse on Ikatinos.

But if that were the case, Menelaus would not dare to act rashly.

Even a god couldn't withstand the incredible teamwork of these two!

Let's set aside the question of where Ikatinos found someone capable of stacking curse layers so illogically in such a short time.

Menelaus couldn't imagine anyone in the world who could do such a thing.

Unless there exists someone more skilled in curses than Ikatinos, the pinnacle of curse magic in this world!

This is obviously impossible!

Far away.

Dekan looked at the barely concealed confusion in Menelaus's eyes and couldn't help but laugh sarcastically to himself.

Ikatinos even brought in the patriarch; it would be strange if you could figure it out.

"Master, thank you for helping me bear the backlash again."

Dekan sensed his Master's weakening aura and, feeling a slight pang of guilt, telepathically replied.

This time, his Master once again helped him withstand the main backlash.

"Fine..."

The Master's thoughts were faint, yet they carried a hint of satisfaction.

Clearly, she had been holding a grudge for a long time about Eve being bullied.

"But you really are a beast..."

Even the Master didn't know that when Dekan and Ikatinos were discussing how to deal with Carlos, they would make it sound so simple—"One curse from me, one curse from you, Carlos will be gone on the spot."

Now she has witnessed it with her own eyes.

Dekan had indeed instantly placed ten layers of the [Dekan Gospel] curse on Carlos.

Because he is in the Dekan Gospel.

Nine sheets of carbon paper were stuffed in!

******

Author's Note:

I'm so sorry for the Xi Zhi updates these past two days. I've been putting in extra effort to update... Sigh, both my parents tested positive, and although I don't have symptoms yet, I feel like I'll be close to them too. I'll write as much as I can while my body is still relatively healthy...