CHAPTER 134

The bait sent by the Saint.
Hearing those words, Bulldog looked up at Bloody Crown, his expression unchanging.
Not a single emotion was visible.
That fact made Bloody Crown smile even wider.
It would have been better if he had at least flinched or asked what he was talking about.
Instead, his complete lack of emotion revealed that he was deliberately trying to maintain his composure.
“Are you trying to use the No-Named murderer as bait to find my location?”
Bloody Crown wore a constant smile, as if he found the whole thing amusing.
Bulldog offered no response.
“It would be troublesome if you plan to deny it. I’m not so naive as to miss something like that.”
“...Are you planning to use me to lure out Harua?”
When Bulldog posed the question, Bloody Crown began to walk at a leisurely pace.
“Yes. That is your objective, after all.”
Use Bulldog to draw out Harua and his party.
Use that as a pretext to give the Regular Army and the Holy Church a justification to move their forces.
That was their goal.
Bloody Crown had seen through it all.
“I may want to get my hands on the Saint, but I can’t just give the Regular Army and the Holy Church a reason to act.”
“Then for what…”
Knowing all that, Bulldog asked, why had he been brought here?
“Our followers are already on their way to your home.”
At that moment, Bulldog’s eyes began to widen.
From the moment he brought Bulldog here, Bloody Crown had been preparing something else.
“There’s no need to give the Saint a pretext. Your own rash actions will be enough.”
“You’re going to take my family hostage?!”
“Haha, that’s right. Oh, and I heard you requested protection from the Regular Army.”
As Bulldog shouted, his face froze.
He had considered the possibility that the Radiance Faith might go after his family.
That’s why he and Harua had arranged for his family to be protected by the Regular Army.
He thought he had a reliable safety net.
But Bloody Crown’s words changed everything.
“The Radiance Faith is everywhere.”
Bloody Crown’s mouth stretched wide into a grin.
“We have excellent followers who have managed to survive even amongst the ranks of those horrid Transferees in the Regular Army.”
There was a Radiance Faith mole inside the Regular Army.
And they were targeting Bulldog’s family.
Watching the flustered Bulldog, Bloody Crown lowered himself to meet his gaze.
“I shall bestow a grace upon you as well.”
A red thread materialized at the tip of Bloody Crown’s finger.
It immediately wrapped itself around Bulldog’s neck.
“If you fail to bring the Saint here in time, you and your family will become Apostles all at once. Of course, the same will happen if you go and run your mouth somewhere you shouldn’t.”
While Bulldog clutched at his neck, Bloody Crown slowly backed away from him.
“Now then, you may be on your way. I will always support your choice.”

Bulldog remained silent.
Just as the followers approached to drag him away, his lips parted once more.
“I heard you’re suspected of reviving the Seven Deadly Sins as Apostles.”
Bloody Crown’s gaze snapped back to Bulldog.
There was no reason for that topic to come up now.
“A strange accusation. Why would we do such a thing?”
The Regular Army was pursuing the Radiance Faith, but they hadn’t gathered any concrete evidence related to that yet.
So Bloody Crown shamelessly denied it.
“Right, I see. But then, why is the Apostle of Envy here?”
At Bulldog’s question, Bloody Crown’s eyebrows shot up.
He couldn’t make any sense of his words.
“What are you talking about?”
“You know. The Apostle of Envy. I saw him clearly on my way in.”
“Hah, what…”
Just as Bloody Crown sighed, about to dismiss him, something flashed through his mind.
The No-Named murderer.
And what her Ability was.
The No-Named murderer could change her appearance into anything.
Even if she died, her Ability wouldn’t deactivate, and the corpse would remain in its transformed state.
So what would happen if she changed her appearance to that of the Apostle of Envy?
It would establish that the Apostle of Envy was here.
The Seven Deadly Sins were wanted by every nation.
Anyone associated with them could be arrested, and that included the Regular Army.

“Ha.”
A dumbfounded laugh escaped Bloody Crown’s lips.
Even he hadn’t imagined they would use the No-Named murderer like that.
“Did you risk your life for such a stunt? You’re a stubborn one. But what good will it do? There’s nothing you can do about your family.”
He had given them their pretext.
But regardless, Bulldog was finished.
If he didn’t bring the Saint, he would lose his family and everything else.
“In the end, if I get my hands on the card known as the Saint, neither the Regular Army nor the Holy Church will be able to move rashly. If we hold the Saint and join hands with Black Dawn, things will become irreversible.”
Ultimately, Bulldog had no choice but to bring the Saint to the Radiance Faith.
“You’re well aware that once someone becomes an Apostle, they can’t be revived, correct?”
The leisure in Bloody Crown’s demeanor vanished.
The Regular Army would treat the No-Named murderer as one of the Seven Deadly Sins regardless of the reason and would hunt the Radiance Faith down relentlessly.
This time, even the general public would find it hard to support the Radiance Faith.
With rumors circulating that Black Dawn had recently caused a massive earthquake, their public image was at an all-time low.
Being associated with them would bring unavoidable and fierce criticism.
“Let me tell you one important fact.”
Bulldog paid no mind to the red thread around his neck.
“We never sent my family to the Regular Army.”
“...What?”
As Bloody Crown expressed his confusion, Bulldog’s body began to be enveloped in a brilliant light.
“The place we sent my family was the Void World. The family sent to the Regular Army was a decoy from the start.”
A decoy devised by Harua and Bulldog that day, considering the possibility of Radiance Faith spies within the Regular Army, with the help of Ririran, the master of space magic.
“And the same goes for me.”
He clutched his own stomach and revealed a chilling smile.
“I guess you didn’t expect me to have magic carved into my organs, did you?”
Bloody Crown’s eyes slowly widened.
Carving magic into one’s organs meant cutting open one’s own stomach.
Naturally, one would die during the process.
But with Resurrection magic…
…the story changes completely.
No matter how meticulously they searched his skin, body, and clothes…
…no one would have thought that magic was carved into his internal organs.
The space around Bulldog distorted.
Bloody Crown screamed, calling for his combat followers.
But faster than he could react, someone stepped out of the warped space.
It was a man.
With deep black hair and snow-white skin.
A man with somewhat somber-looking eyes.
But the smile on his lips was brighter than ever.
“It’s been a while, Bloody.”
Harua.
And with him, the Holy Knights and their commander, Aigis.
THUD—
Finally, cracking her knuckles, was Regular Army Lieutenant General Anastasia, followed by her troops.
Everyone was there.
And they weren’t the only ones.
All the Radiance Faith branches positioned around the Holy Land…
…were being simultaneously raided by the Regular Army and the Holy Knights, under the command of Lieutenant General Inferno.
The Regular Army and the Holy Church.
Holding both colossal organizations in the palm of his hand, the Saint, Harua, gave a bloodthirsty smile.
“Did you enjoy yourself while it lasted?”
At Aigis’s command, the Holy Knights drew their swords in unison.
At Anastasia’s signal, the Regular Army soldiers armed themselves as one.
“It’s time for your beating.”
It was time to demolish the Radiance Faith.

It was a common mistake made by clever people.
The belief that they are always in control of the situation.
A situation can change at any moment due to unforeseen variables.
That’s why it’s far easier to have a rough outline and adapt as you go, rather than trying to control everything.
Bloody Crown believed he could control every aspect of the situation.
That’s why he was arrogant, and why he made a mistake.
Just like now.
As he desperately tried to escape through the flood of his own followers.
“Protect the Archbishop!”
This was the hidden sanctuary of the Radiance Faith.
As such, it was filled with carefully selected followers, men and women who would gladly give their lives for Bloody Crown.
With no regard for their own lives, they charged forward desperately to protect him.
As hunters who hated and preyed on Transferees, their combat prowess was not to be underestimated.
They were worthy of being called the elite combatants of the Radiance Faith.
However.
KWWAAAAAAAAAANG!
That was only if we weren’t overwhelmingly more powerful than them.
Anastasia’s fist slammed down, and a swath of the Radiance Faith’s elite fighters was swept away.

Her fists were not something their elite could hope to block.
With every step Anastasia took, the elite combatants’ bodies exploded and were wiped out.
Then, Aigis made her move.
Wielding a greatsword larger than her own body like a windmill, her advance was like that of a tank.
Aigis’s body was completely covered in divine power.
Each time the woman, bathed in pure white light, charged, the Radiance Faith’s forces were mowed down.
“Apostle Transformation!”
“Everyone, transform into Apostles!”
Unable to cope, the Radiance Faith combatants all began to transform into Apostles.
Thanks to that, our side faltered for a moment, but that was all.
A Lieutenant General of the Regular Army and the Divine Lord were more than a match for them, even in their Apostle forms.
Tap—
I walked through their midst, the heels of my shoes clicking on the floor.
None of the Radiance Faith fighters could block my path.
Lululio came to a stop beside me, twirling her spear.
“Lululio.”
Up ahead was Bloody Crown, desperately trying to flee.
I pointed a finger at his red crown.
“Blow him away with all your strength.”
“You got it, sir.”
Lululio’s spear flashed with light.
As a brilliant light erupted, her muscles swelled for an instant before she hurled the spear.
TWUKWANG!
With a deafening explosion of light, the followers trying to protect Bloody Crown were obliterated.
Bloody Crown himself was caught in the blast and thrown back.
He gasped for breath and slowly turned to face us.
The aura of leisure he always carried was gone.
“I see.”
Bloody Crown breathed out, a look of understanding on his face.
“If it’s come to this, what choice do I have?”
Bloody Crown placed his hand on a nearby pillar.
KUGUNG—
The pillar cracked, and something revealed itself from within. It was a grotesque monster with spikes protruding from all over its body.
“Ganibal.”
The one who immediately recognized it was Anastasia.
Ganibal, the Apostle of Gluttony.
As his head rolled out from inside the pillar, a red crown formed above it.
“Grrr-uh-guk.”
At the same time, a blood-curdling gurgle echoed from his mouth.
It was the real Ganibal, transformed into an Apostle.
“Lord Harua.”
Aigis had appeared by my side before I knew it.
She too had judged Ganibal to be a threat.
“I’ll take care of that one.”
Anastasia let her Lieutenant General’s jacket flutter as she stepped in front of us.
She had already defeated Ganibal once before.
We decided to leave him to her.
“Lady Aigis, Lululio.”
“Yes.”
“!”

Our target was Bloody Crown.
“Let’s end this quickly.”
I imbued my fists with divine power and slammed them together.