"Behold the measure of humanity!"
The priest's voice rang through the vast temple hall, echoing off marble columns that reached toward a vaulted ceiling painted with scenes of divine creation.
"How much we may endure! How we may triumph, suffer, or utterly fail!" His arms spread wide, encompassing the thousand believers kneeling before him. "Yet our Divine Lord Crach enacted all things greater than we could ever imagine."
The faithful listened with eyes closed in reverence, their lips moving in silent prayer.
"Who gave us humanity, the knowledge. When the Void reigned supreme, He stood alone and crafted the Three Realms—that which holds our life, our consciousness, and our eternal souls. From His own divine essence, He wrought two absolute Lords, beings of power akin to His own glory."
Among the kneeling worshippers, one figure seemed out of place—though only to the most observant eye.
Richard Jurin knelt with the others, his head bowed, his eyes closed in apparent devotion. His expensive coat and polished boots suggested nobility, but his posture mimicked the common faithful perfectly.
Too perfectly.
What type of manipulation is it? Everything is a lie. What type of mindless person are they, those who believe in those scammers? And now I am protecting this idiot. My knees are almost going to break now.
"But these Lords," the priest continued, his voice dropping to convey tragedy, "soon turned their gaze in doubt upon the Great Lord's boundless compassion for humanity. They raised their spears against the children of light and declared the Great War upon our benevolent creator."
Richard subtly opened one eye, scanning the crowd with practised efficiency.
Mostly genuine believers. A few pickpockets are working the crowd. And...
His gaze locked onto a man moving through the kneeling faithful with purpose. Something about his movement was wrong—too focused, too determined.
There.
The priest's voice rose to a crescendo. "By the grace of Lord Ikzalious, the rebellious Lords were struck down for our salvation! But in that righteous killing, Ikzalious paid the ultimate toll—He surrendered His heart's love for humanity. And what is our penance? We stand idle, witnessing the creeping destruction of all He built! We must return to the path of light with me! We must—"
The suspicious man drew a knife and sprinted toward the priest.
Richard was already moving.
The fake priest and the followers didn't notice them.
"Halt!" His voice cut through the temple like a blade. "I have you, you idiot!"
He snapped his fingers.
SNAP.
Reality shattered like breaking glass.
The temple vanished. In its place stood the ancient Colosseum—towering stone walls, crumbling archways, sand-covered arena floor stretching out beneath an impossible sky.
Richard's personal dimension.
"Illumina Sword Form."
A weapon materialised in his hand—a blade of pure, concentrated light that blazed like a captured star. Its brilliance illuminated the ancient arena with harsh white radiance.
Richard levelled the sword at the would-be assassin. From the towering walls surrounding them, figures began dropping into the arena—dozens of them, all wearing the distinctive insignia of the New World Order.
"The Order surrounds you," Richard said calmly. "If you make any hostile movements, the consequences will be severe. Surrender now."
The man's face twisted with fanatical rage.
"You devils!" He spat the word like a curse. "You cannot comprehend the truth! There are impure souls in that temple—blasphemers who mock our Lord with their false worship! These churches, these priests, these empty rituals—all of it is a mockery!"
His body began to swell grotesquely as he spoke.
"But everything will change soon," he continued, his voice becoming distorted and inhuman. "Our true Lord has arrived!"
A symbol burned into existence on his forehead—the mark of Satrin, the Dark Lord.
Thick, unnatural tentacles erupted from his back, tearing through his clothing. His human form began to collapse and reform into something monstrous.
Near Richard, a young girl in Order robes gasped.
"What is that?!" Kaeli—fifteen years old and newly promoted to field duty—stared at the transforming creature with wide, terrified eyes. "Did you promote me just to face monsters?!"
Richard glanced at her with a slight smile. "Indeed, little lady. Welcome to the Order."
"All units, attack!" Richard commanded.
The Order members charged as one, their weapons raised. Swords, spears, mana-enhanced projectiles—all struck the transforming creature simultaneously.
"HAIL DENKEN!"
The possessed man's voice was no longer human. It had become something utterly monstrous, echoing with the power of the Dark Lord himself.
His transformation is completed.
The human form shattered completely. Bone, sinew, and corrupted shadow coalesced into a towering abomination—easily fifteen feet tall, its body a nightmare of wrong angles and impossible anatomy. The Dark Lord's symbol pulsed with hateful crimson light on its forehead.
The creature swept one enormous arm across the arena.
The motion seemed almost casual.
CRASH.
Four Order members were instantly crushed against the Colosseum walls. Their shields splintered like kindling. Their bodies went limp and silent, falling to the blood-soaked sand.
The remaining members stumbled backwards, their defensive formation shattered by the overwhelming force.
Richard assessed the situation instantly. Power level far beyond standard corrupted. This is a true vessel—multiple sacrifices have empowered it.
"Arcane Shield!"
Layers of shimmering blue energy wrapped around his body, forming a defensive barrier. Simultaneously, he thrust his free hand forward.
A focused beam of light erupted from his palm, striking the monster's eyes. The creature bellowed, momentarily blinded. Its tentacles lashed out wildly, tearing huge gashes in the stone floor.
Richard darted forward into close range. His Illumina sword struck the monster's leg, cutting deep into corrupted flesh. The light burned the wound with holy fire.
But the damage healed in seconds—thicker, blacker tissue replacing what had been destroyed.
The monster's fist came down where Richard had just been standing.
BOOM.
The impact created a crater in the arena floor.
Richard fired two rapid energy bolts from his free hand, targeting the Dark Lord's symbol on the creature's forehead. The bolts struck true, causing feedback energy to ripple through its body.
The creature shuddered but didn't stop.
A tentacle shot out, impaling an Order member who'd been attempting a flank attack. The man's scream cut off abruptly as the appendage pierced his chest.
Richard barely dodged another strike, landing near where Kaeli stood frozen in terror.
"Kaeli!" His voice cut through her paralysis. "This enemy is too strong! Our normal attacks aren't enough! Use your dimensional powers, or none of us are leaving here alive!"
Kaeli's entire body trembled. She was just a girl—fifteen years old, barely trained, facing a monster that had already killed experienced warriors.
But she saw the bodies of her fallen comrades.
She saw Richard fighting alone against impossible odds.
She made her choice.
Kaeli dismissed her fear and rushed toward the towering monster. She raised both hands, channelling every ounce of mana she possessed.
"LUMIA!"
Multiple bright portals tore open in the air around the creature—six, seven, eight of them, each one a gateway to a realm of pure mana.
Intense, raw energy flowed from the portals, converging on Kaeli's outstretched hands. The power coalesced into a concentrated sphere that blazed with barely contained force.
She hurled it directly at the monster's head.
BOOM.
The impact was catastrophic.
The monster's head simply ceased to exist—not torn off or destroyed, but annihilated in a silent explosion of light and dark energy that briefly illuminated the entire arena like a second sun.
The headless body staggered.
Its remaining tentacles continued to lash out instinctively, attacking nearby Order members without direction or purpose.
Richard seized the opportunity.
He executed a rapid sequence of strikes—his light sword moving so fast it left after-images in the air. One slash, two, three, four—each one precisely targeted at the creature's vital points.
In a fraction of a second, the massive body disintegrated.
Its parts scattered across the blood-soaked arena sand as a decaying black mass that began to dissolve into foul-smelling smoke.
Silence fell over the Colosseum.
Kaeli stood alone amidst the debris, her chest heaving with exhausted breaths.
In her trembling hand rested the creature's severed head—now shrunken to merely human size, its features twisted and lifeless.
She stared at the Dark Lord's symbol still visible on its forehead, her expression shifting from fear to anger.
"How do they worship Lord Ikzalious while bearing the mark of the Dark Lord?" Her voice shook with fury and confusion. "These creatures blaspheme everything we stand for!"
She grabbed the head tighter, her fingers digging into the corrupted flesh, attempting to crush it.
Richard appeared beside her instantly and caught her wrist.
"Hold on!" His tone was sharp."That's evidence. We need it for the investigation. We can use it to find other dark order members."
Kaeli looked at him with anguished eyes. "Richard... do you even worship any of the Lords? Do you believe in anything?"
Richard's expression softened slightly. He released her wrist and smiled—a genuine smile, not his usual smirk.
"I held the Lord of Knowledge in my arms when he was just a baby," he said quietly. "I used to carry him around the palace gardens while his mother painted. And the Lord of Life? He was my childhood best friend. We used to sneak out of formal ceremonies together to explore the forbidden archives."
Kaeli stared at him for a moment.
Then she burst out laughing—a slightly hysterical sound that echoed through the arena.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! You've definitely lost your mind, Richard!"
"I'm telling the truth," Richard protested, looking genuinely annoyed. "Why doesn't anyone ever believe me?"
He turned and walked away from the debris, shaking his head in frustration.
The Colosseum dimension began to dissolve, returning them all to the temple. The real world reasserted itself—marble columns, painted ceiling, shocked worshippers who had no idea what had just happened in the dimensional space.
Richard surveyed the scene. Several Order members were already tending to the wounded, both their own.
Another vessel of the Dark Lord, appearing in broad daylight. That's the third one this month. Something's changing. The Dark Lord's influence is growing stronger.
A portal tore open in the air near him.
Richard turned, expecting to see Kaeli returning from disposing of the creature's remains.
Instead, it was Freya—Dr. Arthur's wife, looking worried and out of breath.
"Freya?" Richard's jovial demeanour vanished instantly. "What's wrong?"
"This is an emergency." Her voice was tight with concern. "We found a boy at the hospital. Richard, he's a Maripian."
Richard's eyes widened in shock.
The Maripians—the Reader race of the World of Knowledge. A bloodline that had been hunted nearly to extinction after the Great War because of their revolt against the Knowledge Lord.
"Where did you find a Maripian in Barniglos...? Take me there, now." Richard said immediately.