Tears of the Holy Mother, Yasol Goes to War

Deep within the Tear Knight Governor's Residence, the Holy War Hall had not closed for months.

Twelve long Holy Oil lamps hung from the vaulted ceiling, their pale-gold flames shining on the Holy Silver Sand Table at the center.

The Sand Table showed the underground Sacred Flame network beneath the Tear Knight Defense Line, old battlefield seals, post roads, Source Furnace nodes, corpse pits, and Holy Silver isolation belts.

Eighteen Holy Silver nails were driven into different points on the Sand Table.

Each nail marked a place contaminated by a Grayblood Vein Bed.

The Sacred Flame inspector's voice had gone hoarse. "The seven Main Sacred Flame Towers on the Tear Knight Defense Line still maintain ninety percent brightness. One hundred and ninety-one secondary Sacred Flame nodes remain usable. The surface defenses are barely stable for now. The problem is underground: the Grayblood Vein Beds are contaminating everything in reverse."

A Grayblood Lesion was rot at a single point. Grayblood Vein Beds had sunk roots into the earth, spread, and linked together. They were a hundred times more dangerous.

Grayblood Vein Beds contaminated corpse pits beneath the Sacred Flame. They consumed the ashes of battle from forty years ago and brought the buried bones of knights, Demonic Beast remains, Holy Silver fragments, and lingering battlefield hatred back as Grayblood Monsters.

Yasol sat on a high seat of Pig Iron, wearing the Mask of Mercy.

For three months, he had watched every change in the points of light on the Sand Table with his own eyes.

The Holy War Hall was quiet. The main Tear Knight Defense Line still glowed on the Sand Table, while beneath the eighteen Holy Silver nails, gray-red patches swelled and shrank.

The Tear Knight Defense Line had not fallen. The Grayblood Vein Beds had pinned it down.