“Ding…ding…”

The melodious sound of the bells echoed in the sky, and the entire holy city was shrouded in the glory of the setting sun. In the distance, petals could be seen falling in all directions, as well as Pegasus knights flying through the air. Of course, the most eye-catching thing was the giant metal ship that appeared and disappeared above the clouds.

"Why……"

A hunched figure leaned on a chair. He raised his head and looked at everything in front of him with confused eyes, but he just sighed deeply. It contained infinite frustration and sadness. Compared with the lively and festive scene around, this place seemed to be shrouded in shadows and a dark place completely abandoned by the gods.

Just like himself.

Brand closed his eyes. The knight commander who had once enjoyed great reputation in the temple had now become a completely different person. His golden hair had turned dry and yellow, like weeds that were about to wither in autumn, and his carefully groomed hair had become unkempt, looking like a bird's nest. Although the clothes he wore were still luxurious, the stains on them showed that they had not been washed for a long time.

For Brand, his current life is like hell.

Since the nightmare last winter, Brand's life has been completely changed. His beloved daughter died tragically, and his holy sword and power were taken back by the goddess. Not only that, Brand was put under house arrest by the temple after that. After all, he attacked the angel in public at the New Year's Festival and attempted to harm a Holy Knight. No matter what, the temple must give a result.

Although Brand had his reasons, this matter was of great importance after all. More importantly, the Temple still had to see Fang Zheng's attitude - but this old man just ran away, leaving the Temple no chance to use Brand as a token of loyalty.

Finally, under the order of the Pope, the Temple had to act impartially. They stripped Brand of his title of Knight Commander and revoked all his preferential treatment. However, the Temple did not do anything too drastic. Apart from asking Brand to move out of the inner area of ​​the Holy City, no one else took the opportunity to do anything.

But even so, Brand suffered a great blow. Although the temple did not charge Brand with "collusion with heresy", the various cults used this incident to make a fuss, which led to Brand's reputation in the Holy City getting worse and worse. Although he has many friends, when it comes to issues such as faith, everyone's position is still very firm.

Besides, Brand's actions at that time were not completely without problems. He used his power to overwhelm others as soon as he arrived, and also tried to deal a heavy hand to Fang Zheng. Everyone saw these things, and the Temple could not wash itself clean even if it wanted to. If it dared to say that Paladin Brand was just a little hot-tempered and actually had good intentions... well, I'm afraid the goddess would appear and tear down its lair.

The Temple doesn't know whether the Goddess will do this, but it is an established fact that the Goddess took back the Blade of Justice and power bestowed on Brand. This also shows the attitude of the Goddess. Then, as the spokesperson of the Goddess, the Temple cannot go against the Goddess!

Under such circumstances, Brand was also in a state of panic. His servants and family members were all devout believers. After hearing the news that Brand had been labeled a heretic by the Temple, they were so scared that they ran away. In just a few days, they were all gone. Brand was also disheartened. He packed up some of his things and left his original home, finding a place to live in the outer city.

After that, Brand spent almost every day drinking. He had been in a daze these days, so much so that Brand had no idea how much time had passed...but he didn't care.

“Haha…”

Brand reached out and tried to pick up the bottle on the table to pour himself another glass, but perhaps because he drank too much, his hands trembled slightly, and the bottle began to shake, and the wine poured out and scattered on the table. Brand held the bottle tightly and tried to pour the wine into the glass, but after several failed attempts, he roared and threw the bottle against the wall next to him.

But the unfortunate bottle did not break into pieces. Instead, a hand emerged from the dark shadows and quietly grabbed the bottle, placing it gently on the table. At the same time, a sweet laugh emerged from the darkness.

"Look, how pathetic! The former blade of justice has now turned into an old man who can't even hold a bottle of wine..."

"How many times have I told you to get out of my house!"

Brand stared at the figure fiercely, stretched out his hand to grab at his side, trying to pull out his weapon. But after grabbing in vain, he realized that his weapon was gone.

“Huff, huff, huff…”

Looking at Brand's actions, the figure chuckled again.

"You weren't like this before, Father..."

"Don't call me that!"

Hearing this, Brand's face suddenly changed. He stood up, staggered back, and leaned against the wall with a grim face, as if he had seen some terrible monster.

"I am also really surprised. I didn't expect that the famous Blade of Justice would have such an interest and thought about his own daughter. Is this the reason for your fall? It seems that the goddess is really sharp-eyed. If you are allowed to stay in the temple any longer, something bad might happen at any time. By then, what will the temple become?"

"Stop, shut up... It's not like that! That's you..."

"Really? Father..."

The slender figure walked up to Brand, reached out his hand, and stroked his face as if he were caressing a lover.

"Is this really not what you want? If it's not what you want, why didn't you stop at that time? Father was very rough at that time, and he kept going inside... He made my belly bulge. I still remember what father yelled at that time? Do you want me to repeat it again?"

"……Shut up……"

"...Oh, my dear daughter, I love you so much, I finally got you, you are mine, I love you, let me take you to experience the joy of heaven..."

"……Shut up!!"

Brand roared, and this time a surging wave of air burst out from his body, causing the black shadow to retreat. But the black shadow was not angry because of this, on the contrary, she laughed again.

"As expected of the former Knight Commander, even though you have been deprived of your holy power, your strength is still outstanding..."

"Stop teasing me. I've made up my mind."

This time, Brand let out a long sigh.

"I'll join. Is it okay if I join? Damn it, I never thought that I would fall into hell one day... So, if I join hell, can you really guarantee to bring Connie's soul back?"

"certainly."

The shadow chuckled.

"The power of our Lord is beyond the imagination of a Paladin like you who can only roll around in the main plane. It is your honor that the Lord has chosen you, Paladin. Don't think that you are great just because you have worked hard for the goddess. The battle in hell is far beyond your imagination. But before that, I need you to do one thing... to prove your determination and will."

"……What's up?"

“It’s very simple.”

As he spoke, the shadow reached out his hand and placed a dagger on the table. It was a dagger that looked a bit dirty, with the sheath tangled up in a mess of threads, and even the handle looked like it had been corroded by flesh and blood, and had melted into the metal to become one.

"You may know that the Temple will hold a banquet tonight to celebrate their great victory in the North, and the legendary savior will also appear. What I need you to do is to sneak into the banquet and find an opportunity to pull out this dagger in front of him... Don't worry, it has the mark of our Lord, and the temple's detection spell will not detect its existence."

“…”

Looking at the dagger in front of him, Brand said nothing, and the shadow pushed the dagger towards him.

"Why, are you still hesitating? Don't forget who brought you to this point. Don't worry, he is our only target... We can make a contract. You should know that we devils are very obedient to our agreements."

"……I see."

Hearing this, Brand reached out and grabbed the dagger.

"Leave this matter to me."