Chapter 183: The Church Sent a Holy Beast to Judge Me

Raven woke before the third bell because someone was standing outside the door.

The room was still dark except for a thin gray line around the curtains. Valeria slept in the other bed, though Raven had already learned that sleeping and being defenseless were entirely different things for her.

He remained still and listened.

One person. Young, judging by the breathing. No heavy armor, only the faint scrape of fabric whenever whoever stood outside shifted their weight.

Raven slid one hand beneath the coat he had left beside the bed and closed his fingers around the knife.

Across the room, Valeria opened her eyes.

Raven pointed toward the door.

She didn’t ask.

Two knocks followed.

"Yes?" Raven called.

"Message for Raven Ashford."

Male voice.

Young.

Raven sat up.

"Leave it outside."

"I’m required to deliver it personally."

Valeria pushed the blanket aside.

"Always reassuring."

Raven approached the door but didn’t open it yet.

"From whom?"

"Church of Eternal Light."

That explained the hour.

It didn’t improve the situation.

Raven opened the door only far enough to see the hallway. An acolyte stood outside, perhaps eighteen or younger, dressed in plain white robes bearing the insignia of the local temple. He carried no visible weapon and held a narrow strip of parchment in both hands.

"Delivery."

Raven didn’t immediately take it.

"Where is Saint Veyra?"

The acolyte blinked.

"Still on the road."

"The notice said before the third bell."

"There was a delay."

Raven accepted the parchment.

Only one sentence had been written on it.

[Remain available for ecclesiastical inquiry.]

There was no arrest order, accusation, or direct threat. It was exactly the kind of wording an institution could later point to while insisting that nobody had technically been forced to do anything.

"Anything else?" Raven asked.

The boy hesitated.

"Do not leave Bellcross."

Valeria spoke from inside the room.

"That sounds considerably less voluntary."

The acolyte stiffened when he recognized her.

"Lady von Nacht."

"Good morning."

Raven folded the parchment.

"Who gave you this?"

"Brother Halven."

"He’s traveling with Elise?"

"Yes."

"Tell him I received it."

The boy bowed and left.

Raven waited until his footsteps disappeared down the corridor before closing the door.

Valeria held out her hand.

He passed her the message.

She read it once.

"Are you going to obey?"

"For now."

"You really are changing."

"Don’t start."

"We haven’t even had breakfast."

"Exactly."

---

Roland appeared when Raven was halfway through his second plate.

He looked at Raven first, then Valeria, and apparently decided there were questions about the previous night he had no desire to ask.

"The Saint?"

"Delayed," Raven said.

Valeria passed him the parchment.

Roland read it and placed it beside his plate.

"’Remain available.’ Elegant way of saying don’t move."

"It isn’t a formal order."

"That makes it more elegant."

Raven continued eating. His appetite had remained noticeably higher since Predatory Regeneration became a regular part of his body. Injuries, mana consumption, constant Trait usage, and accelerated recovery all required fuel.

Roland looked at the plates.

"I’m still surprised you aren’t wider."

"I spend more too."

"That answer works for far too many things with you."

Raven finished the last bite and stood.

"We aren’t waiting here."

Roland froze.

"Didn’t we just agree not to leave Bellcross?"

"I’m not leaving Bellcross."

Raven gestured toward the windows.

"I’m leaving the residential area."

Valeria understood immediately.

"If something goes wrong, fewer civilians."

"Yes."

Roland picked up his bow.

"I love how our morning walks always end with us needing weapons."

"Not always."

"Name one."

Raven considered it.

"No."

"That’s what I thought."

---

Bellcross faded gradually into farmland, small fenced plots, and low stone walls that had been rebuilt so many times they probably contained pieces from several generations.

Raven chose the area precisely because of its terrain.

Good visibility.

Available cover.

Few civilians.

Two routes back toward town.

A small rise to the east.

He wasn’t expecting a fight, but that wasn’t a reason to choose bad ground.

Valeria walked on his left while Roland remained several steps behind.

"I still don’t understand why we need to be out here," Valeria said. "Elise doesn’t have the reputation of someone who attacks crowded inns."

"I don’t know her."

"Neither do I."

"Then we agree."

She smiled.

"The way you win arguments is depressing."

Raven stopped.

The birds nearby had gone quiet.

Not all of them.

Only the closest ones.

Predator’s Instinct reacted with a thin pressure at the edge of his awareness. It didn’t feel like an ambush exactly. More like attention.

Something was watching them.

Roland noticed the change in Raven’s posture.

"What?"

"Something’s following us."

His hand moved toward the bow.

Valeria scanned the fields.

"Human?"

"I don’t know."

They moved another ten steps before Predation reacted as well.

The sensation was different from hunger or recognition. It felt almost like interference.

[Foreign Biological Signature Detected.]

[Classification Attempt...]

[...]

[Classification Incomplete.]

Raven frowned.

Valeria noticed.

"System?"

"Predation."

"What did it find?"

"Something it doesn’t understand."

Roland looked toward the trees.

"I love when you say things like that."

Claws scraped across stone somewhere ahead.

Four steps.

A pause.

Then the creature emerged from behind one of the low walls.

Its basic anatomy was canine, but everything else looked as though someone had decided an ordinary dog was insufficient. Nearly a meter and a half at the shoulder, it had long legs, a narrow muscular torso, and four pale eyes arranged in two pairs around its skull. Natural white plates covered its neck, shoulders, spine, and forelegs.

Not metal.

Something closer to polished bone.

At the center of its chest, protected behind several translucent plates, a golden gland glowed faintly.

The creature didn’t growl or bare its teeth.

It simply looked directly at Raven.

FORGE reacted.

[Penance Hound.]

[Estimated Level: 31.]

[Existence Rank: ELITE.]

[Biological Classification: SACRED.]

Raven read the final line again.

Sacred.

Valeria cursed.

"You know it."

"Yes."

Roland slowly raised his bow.

"Should I be relieved?"

"No."

The gland in the Hound’s chest pulsed, releasing a wave of mana through the air.

Predation responded immediately.

[External Sacred Authority Evaluating Host.]

[Multiple Assimilated Biological Signatures Detected.]

[Classification Conflict.]

The Hound tilted its head slightly.

Another pulse followed.

[External Classification Tendency: CORRUPTED.]

Raven stared at it.

"It’s wrong."

Roland turned toward him.

"Are you arguing with a sacred beast?"

"Its classification is incorrect."

Blood began gathering around Valeria’s hand.

"I’m sure it’ll accept a formal appeal."

The Hound bared its teeth.

Raven reached for the Mk.I.

"Apparently not."

The creature attacked.

---

Predator’s Instinct reacted first.

Raven followed.

Burst Step.

The Hound tore through the space he had occupied a fraction of a second earlier, its claws striking the stone wall behind him hard enough to shatter an entire corner.

Elite.

Not merely fast.

Strong.

Valeria launched three Blood Threads.

The Hound twisted before they could fully close around it. The gland in its chest pulsed, and when the threads touched one of the white plates, they hissed and immediately began losing cohesion.

Valeria severed the technique before wasting more mana.

"It resists Blood Magic."

"How much?"

"A lot."

The creature shifted toward her.

Raven saw the movement in its shoulders.

"Right."

Valeria moved.

The jaws snapped shut where her waist had been.

Roland fired.

The arrow struck the creature’s flank and bounced away.

"The plates are a problem too."

Raven pulled out the rifle.

"I know."

He retreated while activating the system. Blue filaments lit along the Mk.I as mana began circulating through its six cooperating systems.

The Hound stopped thirty-five meters away.

All four eyes moved directly toward the weapon.

Then it shifted.

Raven fired.

BOOM.

Dirt erupted.

The projectile missed by more than a meter.

The Hound was already attacking from another angle.

Raven opened the breech while moving away.

"It sensed the charge."

Valeria formed a Blood Javelin.

The Hound dodged before she released it.

"It senses mine too."

Raven watched the movement rather than the attack itself.

Every time the Hound detected concentrated mana, it moved toward the side with the weaker signature.

"Do it again."

Valeria looked at him.

"You just watched me miss."

"I don’t want you to hit it."

The Hound moved again.

Raven lowered the rifle for the moment.

"I want to see where it escapes."

Valeria understood.

Blood gathered over her right shoulder, deliberately more visible than necessary.

The Hound immediately changed direction toward the cleaner space.

Raven memorized the response.

"Again."

"You’re using my magic as a scarecrow."

"Yes."

"How romantic."

The second concentration formed on the opposite side.

The Hound reacted.

Same pattern.

Raven didn’t need to become faster than it.

He needed to understand which options it preferred.

Roland saw it too.

"What do you have?"

"Nothing yet."

"That face says otherwise."

The Hound charged Raven.

He lowered the rifle.

"Now I have a target."

---

Raven ran toward it.

Valeria’s eyes widened.

"Raven?"

He didn’t answer.

The Hound was superior to him physically. Faster, stronger, and considerably more durable.

A prolonged direct exchange would be stupid.

That didn’t mean a short one was useless.

Predator’s Instinct tracked the Hound’s right foreleg, shoulder, and head. Before every sharp change of direction, its weight shifted slightly onto the outer limb.

Raven couldn’t react after it moved.

So he stopped trying.

He moved first.

Burst Step.

The jaws passed beside his shoulder.

Raven rotated.

Kinetic Acceleration.

His heel drove beneath the Hound’s ribs.

THUMP.

The creature shifted half a meter.

Nothing more.

But it had moved.

That was enough.

The Hound answered with one forepaw.

Stonehide spread across Raven’s forearm.

Impact.

The force punched through the defense anyway and threw him into a low stone wall.

Rock collapsed around him.

Pain spread through his ribs.

Predatory Regeneration reacted.

[Muscular Trauma Detected.]

[Minor Rib Fracture Detected.]

[Regenerative Response Initiated.]