Chapter 275 : Chapter 275
Chapter 275. The Accusation
The image was somewhat blurry. The background seemed to be inside Saint Arcadia Academy. At the center of the image stood a boy of thirteen or fourteen. He wore the academy uniform, and his eyes were as fierce as a lone wolf’s.
Black hair. Red eyes.
“Everyone present, have you ever thought about this? Black hair and blood-red pupils. In this world today, how many normal humans could possess such bizarre physical traits?” the Pope said in a calm tone.
“If the Holy Church’s secret tomes are not mistaken, then when high-level hell demons descend into the present world and forcibly twist themselves into human form, their most fundamental physical traits are precisely like this!”
Prime Minister Moran stood beside the main table and rubbed his chin, speaking at just the right moment. “To condemn a meritorious servant of the realm based solely on an old photograph from many years ago, along with the color of his hair and pupils… Could this not simply be a coincidence?”
Then the Pope struck his scepter heavily against the floor.
“That is not all.” The Pope looked toward Sylvia. “Several months ago, an extremely terrifying fluctuation of hell power erupted over Winter City in the Northern Territory. At minimum, it was an Aether leakage on the level of a Grand Duke of Hell! We used the highest-tier Divine Revelation Spell to lock onto the source. The core coordinate ultimately obtained was inside Winter City’s inner city!”
With the two accusations layered together, the entire hall erupted into an uproar.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A series of metallic friction sounds rang out. The twelve accompanying Holy Knights of Judgment drew their enchanted longswords in unison. Holy battle aura flowed along their blades, and in an instant, they surrounded Logaris from all sides.
The situation took a sharp turn for the worse.
The Northern Territory guards wasted no words. They directly pulled back their bolts and loaded their weapons. Dark gun barrels aimed at the heads of the knights of judgment.
Clang!
The piercing cry of a sword tore through the air.
Sylvia directly drew 【Star’s Judgment】.
She stepped forward and stood directly in front of Logaris. Killing intent filled her silver-gray eyes as she coldly swept her gaze over the Holy Church knights surrounding them.
“Everyone, just because of some stale old account dug up from who knows where and so-called evidence from a Divine Revelation Spell, you want to harm someone in the great hall? You are looking down on us far too much!”
Sylvia turned her wrist, and a sharp wind pressure surged from the blade of Star’s Judgment. “Whoever dares take one more step forward will be treated as declaring war on the Northern Territory.”
The cardinal shouted sternly, “Your Highness Sylvia, sheltering a demon is equivalent to heresy!”
“Heresy?”
A cold laugh came from the edge of the great hall.
Elena, one of the kingdom’s only two seventh-tier knights and known as “Dawnblade,” stood up. She did not even draw her sword. She merely took one step forward.
Boom.
An indescribably terrifying pressure descended in an instant.
The hundreds of nobles in the hall felt as though a heavy hammer had smashed into their chests. Their breathing suddenly stopped.
Several knights of judgment who were closer to her were directly forced down onto one knee.
“I think Her Highness is right.” Elena’s cold gaze stared straight at the Pope above them. “This so-called Divine Revelation Spell is nothing more than a trick your Holy Church shut itself away to tinker with. Trying to arrest someone based on one-sided testimony alone is far too forced.”
She snorted coldly and tore away all pretense without mercy. “Logaris is the realm’s newly ennobled Count of Mechanism. He is also a great contributor who turned the tide at the Southern Territory defensive line and saved tens of thousands of the kingdom’s soldiers. Your Holy Church has made such a grand show of arresting someone here today. What do you take the kingdom’s laws for? And are you trampling the kingdom’s dignity beneath your feet?”
Elena’s attitude was extremely firm. She was Sylvia’s swordsmanship mentor and was famously protective of her own. Although, in principle, she could not act in internal affairs, this kind of occasion did not count as internal affairs.
The scene completely froze.
On the left side of the main seat, First Prince Dorg still sat steadily in place. He lifted his white porcelain teacup, lowered his head, and leisurely took a sip of black tea, completely ignoring the drawn blades and sword shadows before him.
Seeing this, Prime Minister Moran immediately put on the appearance of a peacemaker and walked between the two sides. “Everyone, please calm down. You must not resort to violence. There must still be some misunderstanding here that has not been clarified. Damaging the harmony will benefit no one.”
Pope Gregory VII looked at Sylvia, who was shielding Logaris, and Elena, who was exerting pressure, then snorted coldly and planted his scepter into the seam between the tiles.
“The Holy Church never wrongs the innocent, and it will never allow filth to hide its true form.”
The Pope reached into his Spatial Ring and took out an object. It was a pure-white jade cup carved from some unknown material, and the body of the cup was covered in densely packed ancient divine script.
Holy light spilled outward from the bottom of the cup, and even the surrounding air was purified to the point that visible ripples appeared.
“This is a holy relic of the Church, the 【Holy Grail of Purification】.” The Pope held the cup, his gaze passing over Sylvia and stabbing straight at Logaris. “It can cleanse away all disguises of bloodline. Count Logaris, you only need to drip a single drop of blood into it. If you are a pure human, the cup will contain a pool of clear water. If you carry a demonic bloodline, the Holy Grail will surely be devoured by black flames.”
The Pope’s voice abruptly rose, resounding beneath the dome. “If you refuse, that will be equivalent to confessing your guilt on the spot! The Holy Church will immediately notify the world and launch a holy war at any cost!”
Logaris lowered his eyes slightly and said nothing.
The Minister of Finance immediately jumped out. He had long resented the Northern Territory for taking over the Southern Territory’s defense, and now he shouted loudly, “For the safety of the kingdom, Count Logaris should simply undergo the test! A straight body fears no crooked shadow. Why hide and evade it?”
Moran walked up to the Holy Grail. He did not rush to echo the others. Instead, he turned to look at Chief Diviner Moros behind him.
He wore a gentle smile without the slightest flaw, and his tone sounded extremely fair. “Your Holiness, this concerns the reputation of a newly ennobled count of the kingdom. We cannot afford the slightest carelessness. Moros, examine it for everyone. See whether this Holy Grail is truly as the Holy Church claims, possessing only the function of identifying bloodlines and no other hidden spellwork.”
Moros’s scalp went numb. But since the prime minister had instructed him, he could only brace himself and step forward.
He held a high-tier detection crystal emitting blue light in both hands and carefully circled the Holy Grail, examining it from every angle. Cold sweat soaked through his inner clothes.
A moment later, Moros put away the crystal and respectfully reported, “Prime Minister, this subordinate has confirmed it. This is indeed an extremely pure holy relic of light. It contains only an ancient and singular bloodline identification law. There is absolutely no hidden formation that could injure someone or alter the result.”
Only after hearing this did Moran turn around, looking at Logaris with sincere eyes. “Count Logaris, as you can see, since the diviner has already confirmed the holy relic’s safety, if you are innocent, what harm is there in undergoing the test? It only requires a single drop of blood, and it can completely silence the Holy Church and all the mouths of the crowd, returning absolute innocence to you.”
Both sides pressed him step by step.
Logaris pushed the rimless glasses on the bridge of his nose.
And just at that moment, the Commander of the Royal Capital Guard and Elena, who had been sitting in the corner the entire time, both changed expression at once by virtue of their seventh-tier instincts. The two seventh-tier combatants drew their swords instantly. Dazzling pillars of battle aura crossed into the shape of a cross and struck fiercely toward a certain patch of empty space inside the hall with thunderous force.
Riiiip!
A spatial rift was torn open directly from the inside by a pair of aged hands. A figure had just stepped halfway out when he ran headlong into two violent streams of seventh-tier sword aura.
“Good heavens, are you trying to kill someone?!”