"However, Your Grace, I beg you to let Father Mia redeem himself through meritorious service! I believe he'll catch this vampire and deliver him into your hands!"
Bishop Rosen hurriedly proposed a way to make amends.
Father Mia, who had nearly been driven senseless with anger by Bishop Rosen's despicable words, did not dare drag him down with him. After all, this was the difference between a county magistrate and a mayor.
He could only follow the path Bishop Rosen had laid out and do his utmost to defend himself.
"Yes, Your Grace, I know Norton. I know this vampire. I can catch him! I beg you to give us another chance!" Father Mia pleaded over and over, his aged face full of terror.
Archbishop Adam looked grimly at the two men kneeling on the floor, wagging their tails and begging for mercy like dogs. "Redeem yourself through meritorious service?" he said coldly. "His Holiness the Pope has personally asked about this matter. The deaths of two Holy Knights have left you no chance to redeem yourself!
"Besides, if even two Holy Knights couldn't catch him, do you think you can do it alone?"
Archbishop Adam said no more and walked straight out of the cabin.
"Archbishop Adam, Your Grace, no, no, no, Bishop Rosen was also invol-guh!"
In despair, Father Mia crawled on his knees toward the departing Archbishop Adam, crying out as he defended himself and tried to drag Bishop Rosen down with him.
But before he could finish, the two church knights standing behind him each seized an arm and forcibly pulled his body upright.
A greatsword plunged into the vertebrae in Father Mia's neck, severing his neck, piercing his chest, and finally emerging from his lower abdomen.
"Gurgle..." The faint sound of bones shifting and Father Mia's final struggles before death gradually faded, and the room fell silent again.
Father Mia died at the age of sixty-nine.
He could be considered the shortest-lived priest in all these years.
Bishop Rosen could not be bothered to spare so much as a glance at Father Mia's corpse. He rose from the floor and hurried out toward Archbishop Adam.
In fact, even if he had not shifted the blame onto Father Mia, he would not have died.
First, a bishop's life or death had to be judged by His Holiness the Pope before a final conviction and execution could be carried out.
Second, he belonged to Archbishop Adam's faction. A low-ranking bishop was equivalent to a mayor, a person of some standing, and Archbishop Adam would not let him die so easily.
But two Holy Knights had died, and someone needed to take responsibility. Although they were only low-ranking Holy Knights, they were still Holy Knights whom only His Holiness the Pope could command!
Father Mia, who held the lowest position, was obviously the best candidate.
"Your Grace," Bishop Rosen said quietly, standing respectfully behind Archbishop Adam at the door.
"Say no more. From now on, this matter is no longer our concern. His Holiness has already sent the Holy Judgment Order. From now on, the vampire has nothing to do with us."
Archbishop Adam waved a hand and spoke indifferently.
"The Holy Judgment Order???" Bishop Rosen was visibly shocked to hear the name, so much so that he could barely get the words out.
"Haven't they been absent for over a hundred years? Why..."
"His Holiness is old." Archbishop Adam turned around and looked Bishop Rosen in the eye.
"He's already two hundred and fifty-three, the oldest pope in all these years. Although the sun continues to fade with each passing day, he can't wait any longer."
Bishop Rosen shut his mouth.
He understood, but he could not say it. Archbishop Adam could discuss the pope, but he could not. That was the difference in their status.
But he knew what Archbishop Adam meant.
Although vampires had always been regarded as unclean by the church, they were actually the creatures that most fascinated those at its very top.
The archbishops and the council of elders in the upper ranks of the church even described vampires as perfect beings.
After all, eternal life was the dream of every human.
It was also His Holiness the Pope's greatest pursuit.
But by the same token, it was an obstacle to Archbishop Adam's advancement!
"Don't let anyone find him."
Archbishop Adam fixed his cold gaze on Bishop Rosen.
He had sat in the archbishop's seat for far too long and had long since grown tired of it. He had not spent so long plotting and amassing power over so many years just to make empty threats!
So His Holiness the Pope could not be allowed to live forever!
That was also one of the reasons Father Mia had died.
"Fuck you, Mia!"
Father Mia's good cleric Norton had no idea that Father Mia had already ascended to heaven. Norton, who had made him his lifelong enemy, still could not stop thinking about Father Mia. Perhaps that was the only proof that Father Mia had ever existed in this world.
Angry curses rang through the dark cave. Norton lay on the floor, clutching his stomach and writhing back and forth as he cursed.
Beside him, two corpses drained of blood had turned pale, and golden armor lay scattered across the ground.
Why had Norton ended up like this?
Simply put, the food was poisonous.
That was right. Although he had carefully drunk a little beforehand and confirmed that the church had not poisoned the blood, he found that something was still wrong after he drank it all.
Caution had been useless.
A searing pain arose in Norton's stomach, as though he had swallowed sulfuric acid, tormenting him to the brink of death.
It was the first time he had felt such intense pain since becoming a vampire.
The agony even drove Norton to cut his stomach out with his greatsword and throw it aside, hoping to ease the pain.
But even after Norton had nearly emptied out his internal organs, the searing pain showed no sign of abating, and there was not a trace of the blood he had drunk in his stomach.
This vampire's digestive system was downright monstrous!
"Ahhh..."
Shrill screams rang endlessly through the cave, accompanied by the sounds of Norton thrashing about.
"Just what the hell is this? Mia!!!"
"You poisoned the blood!"
"I was so stupid, really! I only knew those two church knights were damned biological weapons made specifically to deal with vampires. I never expected their blood to contain poison meant for vampires too..."
Norton was like Xianglin's Wife possessed, his pain mingling with his wails.
Even cutting out his organs could hardly ease the pain, so he could only bear it.
The cave was pitch-black, and Norton's pain drove him to dig his fingers into the hard rock floor.
"Hah!"
Norton's mouth hung open as he gasped for breath, repeatedly banging his head against the ground in an attempt to ease his pain.
He did not notice that the rock his head was striking had begun to crack.
The teeth in his open mouth also seemed to be growing slowly, becoming sharper and sharper. His skin seemed to be shrinking as well, and his body grew increasingly gaunt.
And seemingly because his body had grown gaunt, his fingers had shriveled, making his nails start to protrude.
At last, the painful torment finally began to ease.
Norton's eyes, squeezed shut from the pain, finally opened.
Two scarlet gleams appeared in the pitch-dark cave, leaving faint trails as Norton moved.
Sharp-fanged and red-eyed, withered and unclean!
The blood of those two Holy Knights had actually allowed him to pass straight through the year a newborn vampire's body needed to transform from a corpse into a vampire!
But without a doubt, it had also completely disrupted Norton's plan to take revenge on the church.