Chapter 93: He wants to end this quickly

When the report from the northwestern outpost was placed on the desk, Rhea had just changed into her second pair of gloves that morning.

The scent of blood clinging to the fragment of purple talisman was extremely faint, almost completely masked by the preservation spell, but she still noticed it.

Rhea did not touch it directly. Instead, she had a Judicator place it in the center of a recording Magic Array.

Light quickly appeared above the desk, recreating the final scene preserved inside the talisman.

Hundreds of Crimson Tail tribespeople lay around the ancient maple tree.

Golden strands of Fate were being pulled from their bodies and converging toward Aldric.

He stood in the middle of the sea of fire with both arms spread wide, laughing as though the screams around him were songs of praise offered in his honor.

Kiyome appeared at the edge of the projection.

She was maintaining the barrier, preventing the survivors from escaping the Magic Array.

The memory lasted only a few seconds before fading.

No one in the room spoke.

Lathel, who was sitting near the window, had seen everything as well.

His hand unconsciously tightened around his notebook, but for a long time, he did not open it.

Rhea asked:

"What condition is the survivor in?"

The female Judicator standing opposite her immediately replied:

"He’s out of immediate danger. His left arm couldn’t be saved, and his soul was damaged because part of his Fate was extracted. The Healer said we’ll have to wait until he wakes up before we can determine the lasting effects."

"When was the report sent?"

"Two hours and seventeen minutes ago."

Rhea looked at the timestamp on the envelope.

"It reached the Judicator district twenty-eight minutes ago. The message transmission array on this route only requires one hour."

The female Judicator paused.

The distance between the outpost and the Holy City was nowhere near enough to explain such a large discrepancy, especially when the report had been marked urgent and transmitted through the Church’s own communication array.

"Someone held it back," she concluded quietly.

"Forty-nine minutes."

Rhea pushed the envelope aside.

"Enough time for Aldric to leave Crimson Tail and reach his next target."

Another Judicator spread a map of the region across the desk.

"The torn talisman retained a fragment of audio from just before the memory ended. Kiyome said, ’There’s another tribe to the east.’ The outpost compared the routes around Crimson Tail. White Horn is the only tribe close enough for them to reach today."

Her finger stopped over a hilly region between two rivers.

"The White Horn Tribe has more than six hundred members. Most survive through livestock herding and mana-stone mining. The military teleportation station can take us to the western gorge, and from there it will take less than ten minutes."

"Prepare immediately."

Rhea stood.

"Twelve Judicators and three Healers come with me. Bring array-breaking spikes, mana-sealing shackles, and soul-stabilizing medicine. Contact the eastern outpost and order them to evacuate the White Horn Tribe immediately."

"Yes!"

The Judicators in the room moved at once.

Within minutes, the map, talisman fragment, and every report had been collected.

No one asked whether Rhea needed authorization from higher up.

If they waited for the proper procedures, there would be nothing left to do except collect bodies.

Rhea turned toward Lathel.

"You stay here."

He looked at her and used sign language.

I can stay.

Rhea nodded, then turned toward her subordinate.

"Prepare another protective cloak. Lathel is coming with us."

His hand immediately froze in midair.

A young female Judicator standing nearby glanced up slightly, but after seeing Rhea’s completely calm expression, she silently lowered her head again.

Lathel signed more slowly.

I just said I can stay here.

"I understand."

Rhea stepped over and personally fastened the protective clasp on his collar.

"You know this involves you, so you don’t want to remain on the sidelines."

Lathel: "..."

He shook his head and reached for his notebook, but Rhea had already taken his wrist and started leading him toward the door.

"No need to explain. Aldric has already targeted your Fate twice. Leaving you here alone would be even more dangerous."

That final reason was, unfortunately, completely reasonable.

Lathel could not immediately argue with it.

Only after they reached the corridor did he manage to pull his hand free and continue signing.

I meant you should be careful. He’s stronger than before.

Rhea watched his movements for several seconds before turning to the person behind her.

"He’s reminding us not to hold back. The longer Aldric remains alive, the more people will die."

The Judicator nodded seriously.

"I understand."

Lathel turned to look at her.

She avoided his gaze, clearly unwilling to get caught in the middle of this argument.

Lathel signed to Rhea again.

I didn’t say you have to kill him at all costs.

"You think we need to push him to the point of death to stop this."

Rhea tightened her grip slightly around the hilt of her greatsword.

"I think so too."

Pandora burst out laughing inside his soul.

"She isn’t misunderstanding you. She’s simply removing the parts she doesn’t like."

Lathel stopped signing.

After the group had walked some distance, Rhea noticed his silence and turned toward him.

"Tired?"

Lathel looked at her, then chose neither to nod nor shake his head.

Rhea reached her own conclusion.

"You’re exhausted by all of this and don’t want to keep talking about Aldric."

She turned toward the others.

"He wants to end this quickly."

All twelve Judicators immediately increased their pace.

Lathel closed his eyes.

Pandora was laughing so hard that her voice kept breaking apart.

"Congratulations. With only a few hand movements, you’ve just encouraged the Judicator Legion to execute the protagonist."

’I’m not signing anymore.’

"A wise decision. If you continue, she might declare that you want his head displayed above the Church gate."

Lathel felt that possibility was disturbingly realistic.

...

By the time the Judicator unit stepped onto the military teleportation array, Aldric had already seen the first pillars of smoke rising from the White Horn Tribe.

He had not rested at all since leaving Crimson Tail.

The Fate he had just absorbed continuously increased the mana inside his body, but the lingering thoughts of the dead were also beginning to merge with his own mind.

Sometimes Kiyome heard Aldric laughing to himself.

Mixed into that laughter seemed to be the voices of the people he had killed.

The guide hired by the merchant guild had been injured by a magical beast along the road.

The bite on his leg was not life-threatening, but it slowed the group down.

Kiyome had just taken out medicine when Aldric used his wand to block her hand.

"Don’t waste it."

The guide immediately looked up.

"Lord Aldric, I can still walk. If you just bandage it..."

Red light from the tip of Aldric’s wand pierced directly through his chest.

The man convulsed, his fingernails scraping across the ground as a thin strand of Fate was pulled from his body and absorbed into Aldric.

Kiyome watched him die.

Her hand slowly tightened around the medicine bottle.

"He was one of my merchant guild’s people."

"He became a burden."

Aldric stepped over the corpse.

"Wasn’t he still useful in the end?"

"One person barely provides any Fate."

"One person, ten people, or a thousand people are all numbers."

Aldric continued walking.

"I’m helping you get closer to your goal."

Kiyome did not answer.

She put away the medicine and followed him, but for the first time, she deliberately kept her distance.

The White Horn Tribe had already received a warning from the outpost.

Unfortunately, the message had arrived too late.

The main gate had only just opened to let the final convoy leave when Aldric appeared on the hillside.

He made no attempt to hide his intentions.

He raised his wand immediately.

A massive Fireball flew over the wooden wall and exploded in the middle of the road, overturning the wagon carrying the elderly and children at the front of the convoy.

Screams erupted instantly.

Warriors with white horns rushed forward to protect the wagons, while those behind them tried to turn and flee toward the forest.

Aldric looked at the chaos and smiled.

Red light began spreading beneath his feet.

"Raise the barrier."

Kiyome remained still.

He turned toward her.

"Didn’t you hear me?"

"If I use the nine talismans, we’ll be trapped here until the ritual is complete. Rhea will arrive before we finish."

"Then use another method."

Aldric raised his wand.

The strands of Fate he had just absorbed from Crimson Tail immediately spread outward, burrowing into the ground before connecting into a massive red network.

It was nowhere near as stable as Kiyome’s barrier.

The entire structure constantly trembled under attacks from inside.

But it was enough to completely seal the escape route.

"I don’t need to hold them for long."

Aldric looked at the White Horn tribespeople being forced back by the red curtain.

"Only a few minutes."

A young warrior with an ice spike driven through his thigh still forced himself forward and wrapped both arms around Aldric’s leg.

"Run..."

He was trying to buy time for the people behind him.

Aldric merely looked down, grabbed one of the man’s white horns, and snapped it violently.

The sound of breaking bone came with a scream.

"Who do you think you’re saving?"

Aldric held the broken horn and slowly drove it back into the warrior’s shoulder.

"They’re all going to die. Struggling only means they’ll have to listen to it for longer."

Kiyome watched the warrior collapse, her face turning pale.

She did not raise a barrier.

She did not use her fan to kill the remaining people either.

But when an axe flew straight toward Aldric, the fan in her hand still opened instinctively.

Purple foxfire struck the axe aside.

Aldric turned toward her, his smile slowly widening.

"I knew you wouldn’t abandon me."

Kiyome said nothing.

Inside her spatial ring, the half-burned cloth fox she had picked up from Crimson Tail suddenly seemed heavier than usual.

Aldric stepped closer and lowered his voice.

"If you stop now, everyone from the Lynx Tribe, the Spirit Deer Tribe, and Crimson Tail will have died for nothing."

"Stop using them to pressure me."

"I’m only telling the truth."

He touched the tip of his wand to the ground.

"You’ve already paid such a great price. You can’t stop now just because of a few hundred more lives."

Those words made Kiyome stand motionless for several seconds.

That was enough time for Aldric to complete most of the Magic Array.

Red runes spread beneath the feet of the White Horn tribespeople, while the System’s notification sounded inside his mind.

[Ding!]

[Detected a life community possessing stable Fate.]

[Number of targets within range: 637.]

[Compatibility of current medium: 71%.]

[Proceed with conversion?]

Aldric raised his hand.

"Conver..."

BOOM!

A terrifying explosion erupted from the west.

The red Fate network caved inward.

Then a crack appeared, stretching from its highest point all the way down to the ground.

Kiyome immediately turned her head.

This was not her barrier, but she still recognized the icy mana pressing down on the entire valley hard enough to make the earth tremble.

"Rhea."

The second sword strike fell.

BOOM!

Three red array nodes burst into flames at the same time.

The crack widened.

Wind poured in from outside, carrying mana so cold that even the flames burning throughout the tribe were forced lower.

Aldric gritted his teeth.

"Her again."

With the third strike, the red network completely shattered.

Rhea stepped through the falling motes of light.

The twelve Judicators behind her immediately spread out.

Six began destroying the remaining red array nodes.

The others raised barriers around the White Horn civilians and opened an escape route from the valley.

Lathel was kept in the middle of the formation.

The moment he saw the injured people pinned to the ground, he tried to step forward.

Rhea raised a hand and stopped him.

"The Healers will save them."

She pulled her greatsword from its holder.

Her gaze swept over Aldric before stopping on Kiyome.

A brief trace of disappointment appeared in her eyes.

Then it disappeared completely.

"I already gave you a chance to choose."

Kiyome could not meet her gaze.

Aldric stepped forward.

The Fate he had recently absorbed erupted around his body like golden flames.

"You think bringing a few Judicators is enough to stop me?"

Rhea did not answer him.

She turned toward Lathel.

When she saw that he was neither signing nor opening his notebook, she calmly said:

"I know. You don’t want to hear him talk anymore."

Lathel: "..."

Rhea lowered her center of gravity and tightened both hands around the hilt of her greatsword.

"Neither do I."

The ground beneath her feet shattered.