Chapter 101: Hyde, Murdered by Heretics?! (5)

Around the age of 14, just before her social debut, Milione Archibald suffered a severe fever.

A burning heat filled her head, her vision would intermittently black out, and she’d awaken days later.

The Archibald family summoned the most renowned healers and apothecaries, but Milione’s illness showed no signs of improvement.

It was then that Milione’s older brothers, Alter and Oscar, embarked on a long journey for their sister. Upon their return, Milione’s condition greatly improved.

However, from that day forward, a small ember smoldered within Milione’s heart.

A tiny ember, like one barely clinging to a twig, yet one that could ignite into a raging inferno, consuming everything in its path, if a strong wind blew or someone poured oil on it.

‘I am a flame.’

Milione believed that one day, this ember would engulf and consume her entirely. That’s why she was drawn to fiery people.

People capable of burning everything down.

In contrast, Hyde was a noisy and frail man.

A weakling like a blade of grass, yet he acted as if he had nine lives. She found his posturing amusing and was curious to see how he would die.

There wasn’t a single trustworthy person in the world.

Milione truly believed this and eagerly awaited the day Hyde’s mask would fall.

When that day came, she would laugh at his pathetic, exposed ugliness─.

It would surely be entertaining.

“But he wasn’t supposed to die like this!”

Milione was enraged, staring at the headless corpse on the bed.

It felt like an uninvited guest had barged into a play she was anticipating and turned it into a chaotic mess.

“You faker!!! You’re not Lust!!! Aaaaaaaaagh! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!”

Her vision reddened, her body burned, and the ember within her, smoldering since that fateful day, began to grow.

Now, nothing could stop her─.

Just then, the strange man before her spoke.

“If you wish to kill me, I will gladly let you. Kill me. But I dare say, you will regret it.”

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!”

“But you noisy, foolish girl, Milione. I am I. I have no need to prove or explain that I am real. And I did not kill this man. You may not believe me, but this is the truth.”

The man’s voice cut through the flames of her rage, unusually clear.

Milione, who was about to lose herself to the flames as always, was pulled back to reality.

The man continued,

“Corpse Viscount Korps killed this man. He and his lackeys snuck into this room like thieves and stole his head.”

“Lies!”

Milione couldn’t comprehend the situation.

The man in the red cross mask raised a finger.

“You know I, Lust, never lie. My words are always true, containing not even a feather’s weight of falsehood.”

“…….”

“Foolish girl, Milione. Didn’t you worship me, Lust? And didn’t you look down on that imbecile Hyde? So why are you angry for him? Think. Even if this man died by my hand, would you have any reason to be angry?”

“─Because I…”

Milione was speechless.

She didn’t know why she was so angry.

Wasn’t it Lust, the man of fire, whom she worshipped, not the lying Hyde?

“─I…”

Lust raised his finger, pointing it at Milione.

“One cannot walk two paths at once. Foolish girl. A time will come when you must choose. And this man is truly not Hyde. Look closely at his body.”

“Not Hyde?! What do you mean?!”

Grrrrrrrrrr-

Milione couldn’t maintain her composure any longer.

Just as she felt like she was about to snap, Lust vanished.

A breeze blew in through the open window, which she hadn’t noticed before.

Now, Milione was alone.

With the cooling corpse.

“…….”

Examining the body, Milione noticed that this man’s physique was slightly different from the Hyde she knew.

“He said this wasn’t Hyde?”

Hyde was a frail man, like a blade of grass.

This man’s body looked too strong and healthy.

And now that she looked closely, his height was also slightly different.

“What the… This isn’t Hyde’s body! Who is this? What’s going on?”

A strange sense of relief washed over her, mixed with bewilderment, like the chill of melting ice.

“Who the hell is this guy, lying dead in someone else’s bed?! You bastard! Take this! And this! And this! Why are you lying dead in Hyde’s bed?!”

Wham! Wham! Wham!

Milione punched the corpse in the ribs.

The bones cracked, but she didn’t care.

Dead men tell no tales.

Now Milione knew that Lust hadn’t killed Hyde, and that Hyde was still alive somewhere.

“Of course Lust wouldn’t kill Hyde! And that tenacious bastard Hyde wouldn’t just keel over and die so easily! Even if he dies, he has to die in front of me! Yes! That’s it!”

Milione thought she understood why she was so angry.

She was furious that she had missed the chance to witness Hyde’s death.

“Hyde. You have to die in front of me!”

---

No one in the world could stop the enraged Milione.

She was an asymmetric force, an unreasonable natural disaster.

However─.

There was one voice she would listen to.

The voice of Lust.

Honed over years of training to become a clergyman, my voice maintained a pleasant decibel level.

The wavelength of my voice seemed to penetrate even Milione’s rage.

The ability to control Milione─.

That’s what made Lust the leader of the Blood Crusade.

Like just now.

“People get angry without thinking. If I had stayed there any longer, even I couldn’t have stopped her. In those situations, running is the best option!”

How to deal with an enraged Wrath?

Run.

That’s it.

There was no other way.

It was a good thing I had left the window open.

It seemed she thought I had killed Hyde.

The thought process of simple-minded people like Milione was predictable.

Time passed.

News of Hyde’s “beheading” spread throughout the city since morning.

It was amusing that a living person was being treated as dead.

I was safely hidden behind this cross-marked coffin.

“This isn’t bad, considering the situation.”

As evidenced by the headless corpse, Sodomi was so dangerous that one couldn’t even guarantee their own safety.

It was better for Hyde to be “dead” for now.

Those thugs wouldn’t target a dead man.

I headed towards Viscount Korps’ mansion.

A crowd in red robes, men and women, young and old, stood before it, silently awaiting my command.

I addressed them,

“Advance like a cock piercing a virgin’s cunt!”

Someone raised their hand.

“The Crusade, follow Galatea!”

“Hans, the Second Baptizer, will also join!”

“Lord Lust is with us today!”

Their morale was high.

But they didn’t shout or scream.

They simply flowed into the mansion like a silent wave, subduing and capturing everyone in their path.

“Galatea! How dare you trespass into the Viscount’s residence! Do you know that I, Ultima, am a Silver Plaque Knight?!”

The one-eyed maid frowned, seemingly having discovered us while sweeping the mansion’s hallway with a broom.

“You’re just a Bronze Plaque Knight!”

Swish-

Ultima drew a decorative sword from a nearby display. Galatea, the First Baptizer, moved like lightning, slashing her across the waist.

“Urgh!”

Head Maid Ultima, severely wounded.

The woman who called me a fool was captured without much resistance.

I walked down the path created by the red robes, heading towards the Viscount’s bedroom.

He hadn’t shown his face despite all the commotion.

He must be a heavy sleeper.

Knock, knock.

I knocked on the door, but it wouldn’t open.

It was locked tight.

Like the coward he was, he’d used the best locks.

How was I supposed to open this?

As I struggled, someone asked,

“Doesn’t Lord Lust seem a bit hesitant?”

“Is Lord Lust lacking in strength, perhaps?”

Damn.

The sturdy door was causing me embarrassment.

Then Hans, the Second Baptizer, shouted,

“You fools! Look closely! A door is like a woman’s womb…! Lord Lust is knocking on the mansion’s womb! He’s ravishing the door!”

“O-Of course! My insight is still lacking!”

“As atonement, I’ll reread The Way of the Beast 54 times!”

I said to Hans,

“Someone understands my will. I shall grant you the first honor of entering this door.”

“T-Thank you!”

Hans kicked the door. The door, secured with numerous locks, screamed as it burst open.

Inside, Viscount Korps trembled.

“Knock, and the door will be opened. Viscount Korps, I needn’t explain who I am. Nor do I need to explain what will become of you.”

“Hee! Hee!”

Viscount Korps trembled with fear.

I thought he might draw a sword and resist, but he seemed to lack the will, and the strength.

Such a coward.

This man tried to have me beheaded?

I spotted a blackened skull in the fireplace.

A human skull. I didn’t need to ask whose it was.

“I, Lust, am omniscient. But I do enjoy hearing people’s confessions. So I ask you, foolish Korps, why did you kill Hyde?”

---

Viscount Korps felt dizzy as the red wave surged through his door.

Leading them was a man with his face painted black and marked with a red cross.

He looked unusual, exuding the aura of a terrifying criminal.

‘That…that’s Lust!’

Viscount Korps had heard rumors about Lust.

He wore a red cross on his face and committed horrific acts, right?

Even to Korps, who had seen and met all sorts of heretics in Sodomi, the rumors sounded like tall tales.

Exaggerations, he thought.

But now, seeing this man painted in red, he realized the rumors weren’t entirely false. Some of them must be true.

Korps reached under his bed.

He would draw his sword, fight back, and escape through the secret passage─.

Just then, the man with the red cross bowed, and a man wearing a tall mask appeared behind him.

The moment he saw him, Korps’s mind went blank.

He felt overwhelmed by a strange force, as if he had stepped into a scene from a religious painting he’d seen in the Grand Cathedral as a child.

‘This…this man is the real Lust! The man with the red cross was impressive, but this man is on a completely different level!’

Korps admitted that the rumors were wrong.

They had underestimated him.

“Why did you kill Hyde?”

The masked man asked.

Korps knew lying was pointless.

“I…I killed him because I didn’t like him. He was the reason for my nightmares!”

“Hyde was truly a priest of God. And the only one who can deal with him is I, Lust. Therefore, Hyde will not die. He is immortal.”

Korps didn’t understand what the man was saying.

But one thing was certain: this strange man would cause far more deaths than any villain he had encountered before.

He felt dizzy, his heart constricting.

‘My dreams were truly premonitions! The strangers finally came and captured me! What will happen to me now?!’

Death.

No, perhaps death would be a mercy─.

Lust spoke,

“Korps, summon the fakes you associate with. The con men, the robbers, the murderers, the apostates, the heretics, and the witches. Gather them all under the black moon.”

“…W-What?”

“A council of sins. The Crescent Moon Conclave will convene tonight─. And from this day forward, you are my chair.”