Episode 187
Using Shub’s abilities to delve into someone’s mind is the most reliable way to extract information. However, every time Dale uses this power, he faces significant risks. It’s not something he can use recklessly.
Especially since, right in front of him, stood a master of information extraction rivaling Shub.
“Well, well, you’re just spilling everything, aren’t you? Did you oil your throat or something?” Master Baro chuckled. The shadowy judge of the Shadow Tribunal, also a high priest of the Shadow Church, screamed in agony. His finger bones twisted grotesquely, making a sickening crack as they rotated 360 degrees.
“Did you betray the Shadow Goddess, the Church, and the Tribunal for such a trivial reason?” The Shadow Lord spoke, ignoring the screams.
Mars, the high priest, whimpered through his pain, “We all know it! The Shadow Goddess doesn’t truly love us!”
“What, did you think the goddess would reserve a special spot in heaven just for you?” Master Baro laughed incredulously.
“You know it too, my lord! The truth of this world! It will end in ice, and only darkness will remain! I was terrified of that winter, that endless winter!” Mars cried out desperately, while Dale remained silent.
“So you tried to escape an inevitable truth?” Dale finally spoke after a long pause.
“Did you submit to the Golden Emperor, the Lord of Lies, and willingly become his herald?”
“That’s what it means to be human!” Mars shouted defiantly. Dale took a deep breath.
“Even knowing the end is near, even when faced with an unavoidable fate and harsh truth… to never give up on the slightest possibility, to struggle and resist—that’s what it means to be human, isn’t it?” Mars cried out passionately.
“The Golden Lord showed us!” At the mention of that name, Dale’s expression hardened.
“At the end of the universe, the warm rays of spring, the singing birds, the radiant sun! Even if it’s a false daydream, the beauty he showed us was irresistible!”
“Well, if you love spring so much, you should’ve gone to the eastern empire. The sun’s blazing there, and you’ll get more than enough of it before you die,” Master Baro mocked, while Dale remained silent.
Truth is harsh, and lies are sweet. Among those who choose to be heralds of lies, how many can truly face the world’s truth and still hold firm?
“Even if everyone perishes, I believed it was a lie worth fighting for! No, it’s not even a lie.”
“It’s a delusion,” Dale replied coldly, finally understanding the power the Golden Lord wielded.
What he offered was a golden ideal. Even if it was a fleeting dream before the impending truth, its beauty was enough to make one willingly become a herald of the king.
“With such grand ideals, you spilled the truth over a little pain from twisted fingers?” Dale sneered. Mars fell silent.
“This world will end in ice, and only darkness will remain,” Dale said, embodying the ancient darkness and cosmic winter within him.
The Shadow Lord’s very existence was akin to the world’s winter.
As Dale’s circle accelerated, the chill of the apocalypse began to spread around him.
“It’s a winter no mere human can resist.”
“A-ah…!” Mars’s face froze in terror.
“Monster! You’re the real monster!” he cursed desperately.
To him, the being before him was no longer human. It was an evil god, a demon king.
With ancient darkness and the chill of the end, the harbinger of the universe’s winter.
Before the cold that consumed his body, Mars’s screams ceased. His body disintegrated at a molecular level, vanishing without even realizing he was dead.
At least the man before him understood the false ideals, but not their weight.
Finally, Dale understood the true enemies of the Shadow Lord.
Those who, knowing the weight of truth, willingly stood against it, claiming allegiance to the Lord of Lies and his heralds. Ironically, it was a testament to humanity.
A lie aspiring to be truth. At least in his lie, there flowed a blood more genuine than truth.
“There’s nothing more to gain from this man,” the Shadow Lord declared coldly.
“Summon all the judges of the Free City Alliance.”
Master Baro shrugged at the command. “Well, well, you’re quite the dark lord, aren’t you?”
A summons was issued to the Shadow Tribunal governing the cities of the Free City Alliance, including Harlem.
A mysterious figure, claiming to be the new head of the entire Shadow Tribunal, had moved.
While it’s true that the high tribunal members were loyal to the Shadow Lord, the lower ranks couldn’t possibly know his identity.
Thus, the Shadow Lord remained a mysterious figure, with Master Baro acting on his behalf.
Judges and assassins operating in the shadows of the Free City Alliance gathered in one place, wearing bird-beak masks and coats.
Typically, criminals and assassins avoid gathering in one place. Yet, Master Baro’s presence left them no choice.
The strongest in the Shadow Tribunal, the most formidable assassin serving the Shadow Saint of the high tribunal.
He personally summoned the tribunal members, and who would dare defy him?
Moreover, there was a robed man who even that presence willingly bowed to.
“Those who claim the name of the Shadow Tribunal,” a voice echoed ominously from beneath the hooded shadow.
“I am here as the new head of this organization, to restore the tribunal’s disrupted order.”
From within the shadowy cloak, Dale continued.
“Therefore, before anything else, reveal the truth about your separate dealings with the high tribunal.”
Rebuilding the organization starts with removing internal corruption. Just as Mars had been, it was time to root out the traitors within the high tribunal.
“From now on, the only high tribunal you will serve is me.”
The Shadow Lord spoke, and none of the judges present dared to object.
“We pledge our loyalty to the new high tribunal!” One assassin in a bird-beak mask knelt, followed by the others.
Finally, the intangible body of the tribunal began to bow before the Shadow Lord.
After unifying the Shadow Tribunal within the Free City Alliance, Dale’s envoy headed to the Duchy of Saxon.
An expert in covert operations, known as the Mountain Assassin, and as the “Grave Walker,” carrying out the Shadow Lord’s orders.
Dale’s message reached his father, and immediately, a purge swept through the high tribunal residing in the Duchy of Saxon.
“It’s a misunderstanding! I never…!” The Duke of Saxon’s personal guard, the “Grave Guard,” rooted out and executed the traitors within the high tribunal. Resistance from the high-ranking assassins was futile. In fact, they couldn’t even resist.
“Put away your swords, shadows,” the Shadow Saint, one of the tribunal’s dual heads, did not wish for further bloodshed.
High-ranking assassins in bird-beak masks knelt, while the Grave Guardians swung their swords at the traitors.
A storm of blood ensued.
The Grave Walkers, protectors of the tomb. The two organizations the Duke of Saxon and his son prided themselves on.
Amidst the bloodstorm, the Shadow Saint smiled coldly.
Following Dale’s orders, Sir Bale of the Grave Guard, who stood by her side, spoke.
“There’s no need to worry, my lady.”
“Ah, I know,” the Shadow Saint replied with a quiet smile.
“I simply follow the Lord’s will, and they did not.”
Those who remained loyal to the Shadow Saint survived, but their numbers were few.
“And the Lord has decreed that the high tribunal no longer needs ‘thinkers.’”
There were survivors who trembled, still loyal to the Shadow Goddess, and the Shadow Saint spoke.
It was as she said.
The Shadow Lord’s envoy, the Mountain Assassin, had requested the following from the Black Duke:
─ Execute everyone in the high tribunal except the Shadow Saint.
As Dale had said, it was time to uproot the traitors and fanatics.
The high tribunal, the superior tribunal, and the lower tribunal.
Dale’s long-term plan was to reorganize the Shadow Tribunal into a more efficient intelligence network.
A network that moved solely for the Shadow Lord.
In the grand court, it was no longer a matter of individuals driven by religious conviction. Dale himself had become the embodiment of the high court, with Master Baro and the Shadow Saint at his side to assist him.
Below them, the judges of the “High Court” would oversee the subordinate organizations, much like Mackie had done. They would act as messengers, conveying the will of the grand court—the will of the Shadow Lord—to the lower courts.
However, while he remained in Harlem and the Free City Alliance, there were still a few matters Dale needed to resolve.
One of them was Jack the Knife.
What Dale had taken down was merely a small fry. Although he had managed to extract some information about the Syndicate from Jack’s mind, the most crucial pieces were still missing.
Yet, finding those answers wouldn’t be too difficult.
The isolated county of Wallachia, nestled within the Free City Alliance, stood alone.
It was perfectly reasonable for a noble to visit another noble with proper decorum. Especially when a grand noble like the House of Saxon decided to stay in a mere county during their travels.
After all, to catch a tiger, one must enter the tiger’s den.
And so, it was around this time that the “Black Prince” of Saxon arrived in the county of Wallachia.