Knights Templar

"All right."

Angela looked at the two sisters, who lay on the ground, vomiting desperately, but the same mocking smile remained on her face.

"There's no use putting on an act now. You've absorbed all his blood. No matter what you do, you can't take it out of your bodies and give it back to him."

"W-why...?"

Mina finally managed to catch her breath and asked painfully.

"Why did you do this?!"

"Why, to keep you alive, of course. I went to great trouble to find two servants, and I'm not about to let them die just like that."

"We're not your servants!!"

Perhaps because she had held it in for too long, Mina finally exploded.

"My sister and I had nothing to do with you at all. Why did you treat us like this?! What did we do wrong? Why should we be treated this way?!"

Li Lin narrowed his eyes slightly.

Indeed, Mina's questions were perfectly reasonable. What had they done wrong? They had done nothing wrong. Their superiors had ordered them to investigate the ruins, and the two young priestesses had no room to refuse. Along the way, they had treated Angela fairly well, too, and there was no reason they had to suffer such a thing. Yet now, not only had they been turned into the necrotic creatures they hated most-at least, that was what they believed, and Li Lin had no interest in explaining the difference between undead and necrotic creatures to them—they had even been forced to feed on their own kind.

What had they done wrong? They had done nothing wrong.

But what did any of that matter?

No sooner had Mina finished speaking than everything blurred before her eyes. A tremendous force pressed down on her, and the next instant, Angela was sitting on her chest, a small hand clamped tightly around Mina's throat, pinning her to the ground.

"Why?"

For the first time, Angela abandoned her usual mocking tone and asked the question with icy coldness.

"Why? What do you think you are? You're already dead. The elder sister was an idiot who got possessed before she even saw the truth about the god she worshipped. And the younger sister? She was a fool to let herself be used like that. That's right, you should have died long ago. You were already dead! I gave you a second life. I'm the reason you're still in this world! Everything you have belongs to me! Your bodies, your souls, your thoughts, all of them! You may die only when I allow it! If I don't allow you to die, you must live! Whether you like it or not! That is an order, and you must obey!!"

Dead silence fell.

After saying her piece, Angela seemed satisfied and turned to leave. Mina slowly got to her feet, her eyes unfocused, clearly still reeling from the shock. Fina stood beside her, watching her sister anxiously and glancing hesitantly at Angela. Since Angela had "brainwashed" her earlier, she was not as averse to her present situation as her sister was. Although she had felt some instinctive disgust when she realized she had drunk human blood, she had not truly felt any aversion. Mina was different. Although she was deeply averse to having been possessed by a god, she was not necessarily any happier with her present situation.

Li Lin paid no attention to the argument between the women. As he saw it, none of this was a problem. If Mina really couldn't come to terms with it, he could simply kill her. It was no great matter. He was clearly more interested in the knight's armor glowing red-hot before him. He studied the holy emblem on the outside of the charred remains and compared it with the one in his memory. When the two sides had first met, Li Lin had noticed that the holy emblem they wore seemed different from the one he had seen. He had intended to examine it closely, but the paladins had attacked at once, leaving him no chance to do so. Now that they were dead, however, he could examine it as much as he liked.

"It really is strange..."

Studying the holy emblem closely, Li Lin soon found the difference. The God of Justice's holy emblem was a sword standing upright in the middle of a set of scales, symbolizing justice and fairness. But in the middle of this paladin's emblem was a broken wand, which looked particularly odd. It was no wonder Li Lin had noticed something wrong. He was a mage, after all, and was especially sensitive to anything related to magic. Perhaps his mage's intuition had subconsciously detected the problem the moment he first glanced at the emblem.

"What holy emblem is this?"

He asked Fina in a low voice. Upon hearing his question, Fina immediately left the tense atmosphere as though clutching at a lifeline and hurried over. She lowered her head and looked closely where Li Lin was pointing, then her eyes widened in surprise.

"It's the holy emblem of the Knights Templar!"

"The Knights Templar?"

Though he did not know exactly what they were, they certainly had not existed a thousand years ago.

"They're..."

Fina seemed unsure how to explain. She hesitated for a moment, then gathered her thoughts and answered.

"They're the most powerful paladins in the temple. I heard that only the most experienced and powerful paladins have a chance of becoming members of the Knights Templar. And... I also heard..." The girl paused, stole a glance at Li Lin, and continued.

"I also heard that only paladins who have hunted down and killed a mage can hold that title."

Hunting mages.

No wonder they had responded so skillfully before. After fighting a mage a few times, one could become familiar with their methods. Combat between warriors might vary according to individual styles and techniques, but mages basically followed the same pattern: first protect themselves, then strengthen themselves, and finally kill the enemy. But as long as one could withstand their spells until they had exhausted their magic, a mage was a lamb waiting for slaughter, to be dealt with however one pleased. If Li Lin had not first killed all their horses, deafened them with the Great Sound Spell, and then used Death Cloud Mist to strike mercilessly and force them to attack, things might have become troublesome had the paladins withdrawn into their shells like turtles.

But for now, at least, it was over.

"The Knights Templar... They aren't usually stationed at the temple, are they?"

Li Lin thought back carefully. When he had met Bishop Kelen, he had also taken a good look around the temple. There had indeed been several knights guarding it, but none like these Templars. Fina answered his question timidly.

"That's right. The Templars are only stationed at mage towers and Magic-Banning Prisons. Their sole task is to guard mages who have strayed from the righteous path... and when they discover signs of evil, they put them on trial to decide whether to eliminate or imprison them."

So, simply put, if they think a mage has turned evil, they can kill them outright?

Li Lin frowned slightly. Though there were only a dozen or so Templars, they did not look weak. According to the information he had obtained earlier, the former Wensains had now become a prison—a "Magic-Banning Prison" specifically for holding mages. Thinking of the Templars who had suddenly appeared, he supposed these men had just finished escorting prisoners and were on their way back. That would explain why they were so sensitive to magic.

At that thought, Li Lin turned and walked toward the unfortunate knight whose blood the sisters had drunk, leaving him barely clinging to life from blood loss. At the same time, he silently congratulated himself on making the right decision. If he had burned the whole group to ashes, he probably would not have had this opportunity.

Silently reciting an incantation, Li Lin reached out, drew a dagger from the knight's waist, and plunged it into his heart. He murmured to himself, and soon rings of light radiated from his body and swirled around the dagger. The knight's body began to tremble slightly. Soon, amid piercing screams, a translucent figure emerged from the knight's corpse. He stretched a hand toward the sky in despair and uttered an unbearably mournful prayer. Even Mina was startled by the wretched cries and involuntarily turned to look at Li Lin. He showed no particular reaction, his expression unchanged as his hands continued to make various gestures. With each gesture, the soul's cries grew more agonized. Angela looked as though she were enjoying a beautiful symphony, but by now the sisters had covered their ears. Even an ordinary person could not have endured the pain in those cries, much less vampires with their sensitive hearing.

As Li Lin continued his gestures and incantation, the translucent soul gradually stopped wailing. He let his arms hang hopelessly and turned his face toward the sky, but before he could react further, he drifted apart and vanished like a bubble in the air.

Li Lin remained focused on his incantation and did not rise until the figure had completely disappeared.

"All right, let's go."

With that, Li Lin turned and boarded the carriage. He offered no explanation, so naturally the others had no idea what he had done.

After watching Fina follow Angela into the carriage without the slightest hesitation, Mina, who had stood silently where she was, let out a long sigh. Then she followed in her sister's footsteps and climbed aboard.

The driverless carriage set off again. On a distant hillside, an elderly mage in a black robe watched it speed away, an inexplicable light flashing in his eyes.

Such powerful magic, such tremendous power.

Perhaps he can help me achieve my goal.

With that thought, the black-robed mage turned and disappeared into a cloud of black mist.