Chapter 148 : Authority
Chapter 148: Authority
Blood dripped onto the ground. Corleon hunched over, his arms propping him up as his whole body trembled.
It felt as if something within his head was being torn apart and gnawed at—chaotic and disordered.
“So this is what it feels like to be assimilated by a higher level of Mystery,” Corleon thought.
It was like a tsunami crashing into a water tower already filled to the brim.
The seawater rushed in and instantly burst the tank apart. The water inside was swept away by the surging tide, constantly eroded and churned.
When the tsunami finally receded, the water that once filled the tank had become a part of the sea, and the tank itself lay shattered in fragments.
The Monastery constructed a seven-tiered system of Mysteries.
No Mystery, Low-grade Mystery, Intermediate Mystery, High-grade Mystery, and Top-grade Mystery.
These five tiers were levels of Mystery that scholars had explored.
Knights, scholars, and nobles—those with special Blessings—essentially belonged to the High-grade Mystery category.
However, this only represented their upper limit.
Like scholars, who had to explore Mysteries not just once, but countless times. If they were fortunate enough not to be erased by the Mysteries, only then could they develop a resistance to the High-grade Mystery.
Nyx himself belonged to the scholars who had reached Intermediate Mystery.
For knights, the level of Mystery was tied to the one who conferred their title. A knight once conferred by Sir Helvin could only attain resistance to Low-grade Mystery, whereas Royal Knights conferred by the emperor of the Southern Autlinsmann Empire could reach resistance to High-grade Mystery.
As for nobles, their level of Mystery correlated with their rank—Lords and Barons corresponded to Low-grade Mystery, Viscounts, Counts, and Marquises to Intermediate Mystery, and Dukes, Grand Dukes, Kings, and Emperors to High-grade Mystery.
These levels of Mystery did not mean they had become some sort of Mystery themselves, but rather that they possessed resistance to Mysteries. It protected them from the effects of such forces—like interference from Lucid Dreams. Corleon, for example, had only glanced from afar and was already on the verge of assimilation.
Take Knight Wolf, who had now voluntarily confined himself in the Church. His liege, Pegiraov, had reached Intermediate Mystery, and the Holy Relic he wielded belonged to the High-grade Mystery level.
Since he was the wielder of the Holy Relic, he could barely withstand its power. But once he truly unleashed it, he would begin to be assimilated by the Holy Relic’s High-grade Mystery.
And once fully unleashed, the assimilation could no longer be halted.
Neither ceasing its use nor sealing the Holy Relic could reverse the process.
There were only two ways to stop or even reverse the assimilation of a Mystery.
One was to be overridden by a higher-grade Mystery.
Just like when Corleon dispelled the cost of using Magic from Oscar.
Oscar, with the Blessings of various professions, barely reached High-grade Mystery resistance. The price he paid for using Magic was at the Intermediate Mystery level. Though it could affect Oscar, he did not care.
Because his own resistance meant that assimilation at the Intermediate level could not kill him.
Corleon used a Blessing of a higher Mystery level to drive away the price of Mystery for him, and since this Blessing was constrained by Corleon, it would not affect Oscar, who also possessed High-grade Mystery resistance.
But Knight Wolf only had Intermediate Mystery resistance, and to override the assimilation from a High-grade Holy Relic would require a Top-grade Mystery.
That was beyond Knight Wolf’s ability to resist.
The other way was to destroy the Holy Relic.
This was something Corleon could help Knight Wolf achieve, but Knight Wolf would clearly never agree.
Erebus had been bestowed upon him by his liege; he would never allow such Honor to be destroyed.
He would rather endure the assimilation torment of Erebus.
And in the same way, Knight Wolf, who was being assimilated by Erebus, would eventually transition from a knight into something mysterious.
That was why Corleon wanted him to remain in the Church voluntarily. Here, Corleon could suppress his Mystery and prevent this walking Mystery from annihilating others.
Those under the Commandments of the Church of the Sanctuary naturally possessed a degree of Mystery.
The lowest-tier Monks belonged to Low-grade Mystery. One tier above, Priests and Temple Warriors belonged to Intermediate Mystery. The third tier, Bishops, belonged to High-grade Mystery. Saint Knights like George belonged to the fourth tier—Top-grade Mystery.
Corleon was a special case. Not only did he possess High-grade Mystery through Commandments, but he had also come into contact with higher powers through the Light Orb.
He had drunk the Faith stored within the Light Orb more than once, drawing upon the utmost power he foresaw in the Revelation—that was Top-grade Mystery.
With the protection of the Light Orb and the guidance of Revelation, Corleon would not end up like Knight Wolf, who began losing control after a single touch, affecting both body and will.
Yet ultimately, having played with and touched Mystery, Corleon had been tainted by it.
Not only did he possess Mystery beyond the Top-grade level of a Bishop, but he had also taken on the characteristics of Mystery itself.
Gradually, his will began influencing the Church, barring ordinary people from entering for worship.
This was both a self-imposed restraint and a means of protecting the ordinary.
Otherwise, if he walked the outside world and a sliver of Mystery leaked, it would instantly assimilate and erase all life that laid eyes on him.
Humans, beasts, even ants.
Only plants affected by Earth Veins could survive in his presence if not directly targeted.
Like Knight Wolf, now in the Church—his body and armor continued to swell, a mechanism of self-preservation from High-grade Mystery under the assault of Top-grade Mystery.
And that was only because Corleon wasn’t targeting him.
But the one who had once met Corleon’s gaze and caused his eyes to burst instantly—that was a power beyond the five levels of Mystery: Authority.
This was a presence only speculated upon by scholars.
Naturally so.
Top-grade Mystery could still be withstood for a time by scholars possessing High-grade resistance.
But Authority-level Mystery could assimilate and erase existence instantly with a single glance.
Not just the person—but all traces of their existence in this world.
Once existence was wiped from the world, no words or records of them could remain.
That was Authority—the existence that exercised the power of this world’s laws.
They were the essence of this world.
Scholars speculated that the countless curses binding this world were, at their core, influences from this level of Mystery affecting the world at a fundamental level.
Corleon agreed with this hypothesis.
He had used a Divine Word of Top-grade Mystery to rewrite the foundational behaviors of Oscar’s being.
In a way, it was a curse upon Oscar’s very self.
Back when they were still at the narrow Flower Church, Nyx had told Corleon—
That scholars knew of certain existences capable of cursing the world, such as the Seven Deadly Sins recorded in the Holy Scriptures, the Lords of Dominion in the Space of Annihilation, and gods that no longer existed.
At the Monastery, once Corleon gave the word, even the formerly restrained Oscar and the three scholars who followed the taboos no longer pretended. Excited and anxious, they wrote down everything they knew about the Lords of Dominion and the Seven Deadly Sins.
From Oscar, Corleon learned that a fragment of Gluttony’s will had escaped the seal. Ever since, he had been searching for Gluttony’s presence.
He suspected Gluttony might be within the Church Nation. After all, in just a few months, the Church Nation’s lands had been consumed and ravaged to such a degree. Besides Gluttony, there was no other existence among those Corleon knew of in the current world who could be responsible.
But Corleon had never been able to pinpoint its exact location.
Now, he had found it.
And in that instant, his eyes had been destroyed by a force of a higher level of Mystery.