Nobody moved, not even the Grand Duke, for he knew that if what Sylvester said turned out to be true, he'd lose one of his greatest weapons, Einarr. But he was a man with a devious mind, and there was no way he'd ever let something ruin his plans.
The flames continued to consume Einarr's body as he gazed toward the approaching horse. His hand remained clenched in a fist.
Not far from the Duke, Sylvester saw through everything as he smelled the feelings that the Grand Duke was entertaining. But he didn't do anything as there was someone better equipped to do so.
Standing, Sylvester shouted towards Sir Dolorem. "Were you successful, Sir Dolorem?"
The aged knight lifted his hand and clenched his fingers, finally revealing his thumb as a sign of affirmation.
Sylvester chuckled, knowing very well that the man was likely tired beyond words and didn't have the energy to shout. But, Sir Dolorem being Sir Dolorem, the man would rather die than return without completing his mission.
Meanwhile, Einarr just watched expectantly, his eyes hazy and on the verge of tearing up. It was unknown what kind of life the man lived or what his story was. Even Sylvester only knew what was common knowledge among the top brass of The Patch.
Sadly, for the bad luck of the Patch and, to that extent, all of Sol continent, the nobles open their mouths too freely in the presence of the benign and affable Bright Mothers. However, that was where Sylvester thrived, as his secret intelligence operation grew at a formidable speed.
"Lord Bard here is the package." Just then, Sir Dolorem reached them and stopped the galloping horse.
As Sir Dolorem turned the horse slightly, a person was seen sitting behind him. Much shorter than Sir Dolorem, covered with a piece of cloth from head to toe.
"Lady Hilda, you're safe now." Sir Dolorem voiced and removed the piece of cloth, revealing a red-headed, middle-aged woman with blue eyes and a face worth turning one's head. She looked around in confusion and some fright.
"F-Father?" She noticed Grand Wizard Einarr and chirped excitedly. Her face lost all worry, and excitement took over her.
Sir Dolorem helped her get off the horse, and she jumped into the arms of the deadly Grand Wizard. And just as the man held his daughter in his arms, tears silently slid down his eyes.
"Hilda… For fifteen years, I waited for this day… I missed you." Einarr mumbled in a low voice. "Thank you for being strong all this while."
Hilda hugged him tighter and cried her eyes out. "I only saw you once when I was young, but I made sure never to forget you. Mother used to tell me what you were doing to get to us… But she could not make it."
Sylvester decided to ask them right away to increase Einarr's fury. "What did the Grand Duke do to you?"
Einarr let Hilda go and glanced at the Grand Duke. "That demon! While I fought for my beloved King of Sorrow, he sent men to kidnap my daughter and wife. He held them in secrecy, threatening to kill them if I didn't do what he desired. I… I sinned… I betrayed my king! Yet, he refused to free my family and me and forced me to join his side."
Sylvester sighed and looked at the Grand Duke behind him, blazing in fire and anger. "You sure are one evil man. Holding Einarr hostage and now starting a plague on the world."
Woosh!
The Grand Duke tried to send a blast of fire toward Sylvester in rage. "I did no such thing! I'm no fool to start a plague and become an enemy of the entire Sol!"
Sylvester easily swung his spear fast and dissipated the fire. "Oh, but you did exactly that. I know it, so don't you dare lie again. Nobody in your 'kingdom', not even Grand Wizard Vinland or Einarr, knew that you commissioned that Dark Wizard for this specific task."
"Those are baseless accusations." The Grand Duke argued, not jumping to attack anymore.
Sylvester continued hitting the Grand Duke with facts he had uncovered through the help of wonderful Bright Mothers. "You did it, so you could use the chaos to climb the social ladder and become a king. Why is it that none of the commoners and slaves that serve in your castle have fallen sick, even when they go outside the castle every single day? Why is it that The Patch, even after being the closest to the Sorrow Kingdom, has less average casualties than Riveria or Gracia? How is it that no commoner noble in your land perished from the plague?"
Questions hit the Grand Duke stronger than Sylvester's spear. He backed up a few steps, showing signs of anxiety. Furthermore, Sylvester smelled the scent of fear and much more.
"You had the cure, and only then did you start the plague. I saw the reports from Saint Medico. The plague had no single origin point. It came into existence simultaneously in different regions of Sol, as if planted. And what do you know, each of those villages was raided by the Widowmakers some days ago." Sylvester finished revealing his findings and raised his spear up.
"As the appointed Cardinal Suprima of the Sorrow Kingdom and The Patch, I judge you guilty. Therefore, the sentence shall be death — now!"
Boom!
Sylvester lunged and struck his spear down from the air toward the Grand Duke's head. But the man jumped back in the nick of time, letting Sylvester's spear fall to the ground and creating a deep dark ravine.
Sylvester didn't waste a moment and kicked the ground to rush towards the Grand Duke. He was faster than the ambitious noble, and on top of that, the fire didn't affect him much.
Before, he was held back by the fear that Einarr would attack. But now, he could go all out and focus on one target.
"If I kill you right now, I still win!" The Grand Duke shouted. "The Duel is still ongoing!"
"I never said it isn't!" Sylvester promptly replied and paused chasing the Duke and began to prepare to launch his Holyfire Purge technique, a destructive ability that could cause wide-scale destruction.
Slowly, the ground started to shake, and cracks began to appear as the halo behind Sylvester's head formed. The land was already scorched after their battle, and now it was breaking apart with streaks of light coming out as if sharp walls of blades.
Sir Dolorem, Einarr, and Hilda were quick to get away from the area under the effect of Sylvester's magic, so he went all out.
"Hah! You think you can kill me with this?" The Grand Duke laughed and flew a metre in the air and made his way towards Sylvester at full speed, aiming to tackle him down.
Sylvester smirked. "No, I was just warming up for what is to come!"
The Grand Duke didn't bother listening to Sylvester's warnings seriously. He just slammed himself onto Sylvester's chest and dragged him along while still flying through the constantly changing landscape under Sylvester's magic.
Boom!
Boom!
The Grand Duke purposefully slammed himself into numerous blocks of earth that rose due to the Hellfire purge. He intentionally hit Sylvester on the ground too, dragging him close to the surface.
As a result, Sylvester turned into a bloody mess as his skin was chipped off, and several wounds covered his front, from his face to his feet.
But Sylvester didn't utter a word and stared into the Duke's eyes. Then, he proceeded to hold the Duke's skull, locking it in his arms. "It's not me who is stuck with you!"
Suddenly, Sylvester's eyes turned crimson, and the halo turned red behind his head while his chants began to echo aloud. His both palms caught the Grand Duke's skull in between.
?Enemy of mankind, this is my answer.
Today, I purge you for being world's cancer!?
"W-What?" The Grand Duke exclaimed and suddenly stopped flying.
Thud!
Both of them fell onto the ground in a crash landing, but even then, Sylvester didn't let the man go and kept the Grand Duke's head stuck between his palms. He held the man tight, pressing hard enough that any ordinary man's skull would have busted open by then.
"What are you doing?" The Grand Duke panicked a little and extinguished the magical fire surrounding him since it did not affect Sylvester.
Sylvester didn't answer in words but in his hymns.
?Betrayals, murders, and crimes many more.
God has watched over your sinful rotten core.
You live in a sea of sins with no nearby shore.
Committed crimes are such that I can't ignore.?
Crack!
"Aaargh! It's cold!" The Grand Duke roared in extreme pain as the veins in his eyes turned bright blue. He kicked his feet to be released, but his physical strength was less than his foe.
Sylvester kept staring at the man's face with his emotionless crimson eyes. The halo behind his head spewed such coldness that even the ground underneath them began to freeze with ice.
?O' Grand Duke, flows in your veins rotten mud.
You should've died in the womb as a little bud.
But you dared to live and bring upon evil's flood.
So face now, my Song Of Ice And Blood.?
"Aaa… Argh! Don't!... Noooo~"
The Grand Duke of the Patch, Victor Zee Maverick, seethed in pain as every single drop of blood in his veins began to freeze solid. He could feel the sensation of losing control over his limbs as they froze completely.
"I-I won't allow this!" The Grand Duke covered himself in flames once again.
But it didn't help, and he continued to kick his feet for freedom. However, that was one thing he could not have that day.
Coldness apparent in his voice, Sylvester whispered in the Grand Duke's ears.
"My lord, You may possess fire, but my light possesses the lord's true ire. For I can not only burn hotter — but turn you into ice and shatter!"
Crack!
The entire body of the Grand Duke froze, and cracks appeared, large and deep. They continued to grow and left the man in more agony.
"S-Stop this! Make it stop!"
Sylvester stood up instead and began to walk away while the Grand Duke continued to scream in pain.
"Aaargh! Please!"
Poof!
The cries fell on deaf ears, and before another cry could be uttered, the Grand Duke's body exploded into fine particles of snow with varying colors: some red, some white, and some yellow.
The man disappeared from existence, turning into ice finer than ashes. He didn't get burned, and in the church's book, that meant the soul was headed to hell. So the Grand Duke received a fate worse from Sylvester's hand than he would have gotten from the Church.
However, Sylvester's crimson halo didn't disappear and instead intensified, nor did his eyes change color. His previously stoic expression vanished, replaced by a face of intense fury as his brows furrowed and his eyes narrowed.
He began to walk towards his army, towards the Dark Wizard who battled with Bishop Lazark.
But, to the surprise of all, Sylvester passed by the Dark Wizard and continued on his way to the Peasant Army.
"Where are you going, Lord Bard?!" Sir Dolorem questioned from a distance.
Sylvester's eyes remained focused on a slender woman with red eyes among the peasant army, wearing a pink noble gown too big for her size.
"It is my utter shame — that still lives the killers of Shane!"
________________________
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