Silver Robe

Isolde lowered her head and glanced at her palm. Unicorn's Last Wish was burning through her flesh, searing her nerves.

Anyone capable of becoming a dungeon guardian naturally wouldn't be stupid. So, she wasn't surprised that Silver Robe had seen through her disguise.

A low laugh slipped from Isolde's throat. Drawing on the trace of unicorn sanctity within her, she spread the Suppression of her domain and slowly straightened.

She raised her fingertips and gently brushed them past her cheek.

The face belonging to "Yu Lingye" began to peel away.

Her originally short hair grew like spilled ink, falling once more over her shoulders as pale, delicate features gradually emerged.

She wiped the deliberately feigned frailty and panic from her face, leaving behind only coldness and a trace of unconcealed mockery.

Meng Yinyin's basic mage mark vanished, replaced by dark-red Stitch-Soul Thread that slowly grew from her left wrist like bloodthirsty centipedes.

[Witch's Mask has been removed.]

[Current identity: Soulweaving Witch · Isolde.]

Above them, the Silver Robe Inquisitor's gaze finally stopped.

When he saw the Stitch-Soul Witch's mark on her wrist, the calm expression on his face finally gained a hint of life.

"An evil witch... actually accepted the Moon-Crowned Unicorns' last wish and became their proxy?"

He tightened his grip on the bone staff, and a thread of anger, almost as if he had been insulted, entered his voice.

"A witch covered in filth thinks she deserves to touch Holy Radiance?"

"Filth?"

Isolde raised her hand, and Unicorn's Last Wish in her palm burned fiercely.

Blue glimmers seeped between her fingers as if they possessed a will of their own, weaving a sorrowful, regretful air through the space.

"You ground their bones into your staff, forged their horn cores into seals, and even the ever-burning Holy Lamps use grease scraped from their corpses."

"And now, standing atop their countless bones, you point at my nose and call me filthy? Silver Robe, do you know that you are the most nakedly ugly thing here?"

Silver Robe's expression did not ripple, but his eyes abruptly turned cold, as though a lofty god were looking down upon an ant that did not know its place.

"Holy beasts are messengers of light. Their power should have existed to shelter the people. If sacrificing holy beasts could bring peace to the entire continent, then that would be mercy permitted by the gods."

He paused, then slammed his staff heavily against the air, sending ripples of force spreading outward. His tone allowed no doubt.

"But now they are filled with hatred and have unleashed curses. Since they chose to rebel against order, it proves evil has already grown within their bones. Since they have become a hidden danger, the Holy Court, sheltered by the Holy God's radiance, has the duty to eradicate and suppress them completely!"

Isolde laughed at that, her laughter filled with utter absurdity and mockery.

"What an impeccable line of rabid-dog logic."

Isolde stepped forward, her sole crushing the patterns woven from holy light as Soul Threads slithered slowly across the ground like snakes.

"You slaughtered them, melted them down, and drove them alive to the brink of despair. Then, when they finally could no longer endure it and abandoned the light to fall into the abyss, you point to that darkness and righteously declare yourselves correct."

"Silver Robe, stop gilding your own face. What justice are you? You only create the wound first, then use the blood that spills from it to prove the victim's filth!"

At last, a cold flicker of anger surfaced in Silver Robe's eyes.

"Witch, you do not understand what order is! Without the Holy Court, this continent would have long been swallowed by the undead and darkness! The weak need rules. They need someone to make those difficult choices for them! The foundation of Holy Radiance has always been mercy!"

Isolde snorted, and the ridicule at the corner of her lips could no longer be suppressed.

"You make the choice of who dies. Others bear the pain. In the end, all the credit goes to your Holy Court. You put unicorns on pedestals not because you respected them, but because they had enough value for you to exploit in order to satisfy your hypocritical mercy."

Silver Robe was completely enraged, a dangerous halo radiating from his body.

"They were born to bear Holy Radiance, so they should also sacrifice for the people. Since they have become a hidden danger, what the Holy Court does is strangle disaster in its cradle!"

At those words, Isolde suddenly raised her eyes, and every trace of warmth vanished from them.

"Then listen closely: it was not the unicorns' hatred that created darkness. It was your butcher's blades that created hatred first!"

"Your slaughter forced them alive into becoming curses!"

Her five fingers clenched sharply, dark-red Soul Threads gathering power in her hand.

"Whoever planted the seed of sin will bear the final wrath! That is karmic retribution. That is what is right!"

The Silver Robe Inquisitor finally tore away his gentle disguise. Complex holy runes layered over the entire Stillbone Prayer Room, as though divine punishment had descended.

"Stubbornly unrepentant!"

Facing this nearly destructive buildup of magic, Isolde showed no fear. While he was still chanting, she flung out a skyful of Soul Threads.

However, the instant the threads struck the holy-light domain, they let out piercing sizzles, several of them burning apart at once.

Scorching backlash surged into her body, and fine bloody cracks split across the back of Isolde's hand.

Silver Robe raised his staff.

"Holy Judgment: Heaven's Spear!"

Above the prayer room, three spears of holy light tore through the void, their tips locking onto Isolde at the same time.

Without the Castle's home-field enhancement, Isolde's physical defenses were as fragile as paper before such a killing move.

If she couldn't evade it, she would die!

In that instant with nowhere left to retreat, the survival instinct from her previous life stretched her mind to its limit.

Almost unconsciously, she flung out [Soul-Binding Thread], wrapping it around a thick bone pillar at the far end of the prayer room.

Her five fingers yanked hard, and the pulling force of the Soul Thread violently swung her entire body to the side.

Almost at the same moment, the first spear of holy light grazed her shoulder and crashed into the floor tiles.

Boom—!!

Violent holy light exploded outward. Although Isolde had avoided being pierced directly by the spear, the horrifying blast wave hurled her away.

"Ugh...!"

In midair, she let out a pained grunt.

The exploding Holy Radiance was like scorching branding iron, mercilessly burning her flesh. Half her shoulder was scalded raw, blood pouring down it.

[HP decreased: 10%]

Isolde rolled to the ground, pulled out a recovery potion, bit open its seal, and swallowed it along with her blood.

However, Silver Robe's attack was not over. The other two spears bent slightly in midair and once again locked onto where she had landed.

Ignoring the burns on her shoulder that had yet to heal, she barely evaded again with the help of her Soul Threads while activating [Weakness Mark].

Gray scouting motes darted wildly through the raging holy light before finally stopping at the unicorn horn core atop his staff, the source continuously providing support with holy power.

[Weakness locked.]

The suppressed fury in Isolde's chest ignited.

Since her current attributes were not enough to overpower Silver Robe head-on, she absolutely could not let him keep controlling the pace.

If brute force wouldn't work, then she would flip the table!

This was the Holy Court's home ground, but it was also the prison of those slaughtered vengeful spirits!

She activated her self-created skill. Soul Threads frantically gathered in her palm, and through the transformations of [Truth Mastery], the threads in her hand became a silver-glowing longsword.

"You use their bones as weapons, so how do you have the nerve to call yourself light?!"

Silver-blue afterglow wrapped around her soles as Isolde shattered the holy runes beneath her feet and charged forward.

Silver Robe swung his staff to block. With a deafening clang, savage holy light burst forth, splitting the web between Isolde's thumb and forefinger and nearly knocking the Soul Thread sword from her hand.

"Witch, you can only see the pain before your eyes, yet you cannot see how many innocent lives their sacrifice has saved!"

"Sacrifice?!" Isolde was knocked back five or six steps, a striking streak of blood seeping from the corner of her lips.

She casually wiped away the blood, and savage madness flared in her eyes as well.

"Sacrifice is chosen by oneself! Being dragged onto the altar by you is called slaughter!"