The massacre ended, leaving behind a scene of utter devastation.
Young Raymond wiped the blood off his sword expressionlessly, seemingly oblivious to the corpses of his comrades scattered on the ground.
At the end of the scene, he is clearly seen walking to a very hidden side door of the pass and personally activating an ancient mechanism, causing the heavy stone door to slowly open a crack.
The terrifying figure of the Fallen Knight Balg, riding a skeletal warhorse, silently rode into the depths of the Lor Swamp on the other side of the pass, under the unhindered gaze of young Raymond!
The stone gate then slammed shut behind him.
The video abruptly ended there, and the light from the black crystal dimmed.
Inside the banquet hall, you could hear a pin drop.
Dead silence!
Absolute silence!
Count Ferdinand's elegant, fake smile vanished completely, replaced by extreme solemnity and a hint of lingering fear. He looked at Raymond as if he were looking at a dead man.
The gray-eyed envoy Eker's face beneath his hood was deathly pale, even more bloodless than his usual frozen mist. His gray-white eyes trembled violently as he stared intently at the spot where the light screen had disappeared, as if he could not believe what he was seeing.
His earlier defense of Raymond now seems so ridiculous!
The envoy with the ebony staff gripped the staff so tightly that the veins on his hand bulged, and his face was so gloomy it could drip water.
A fallen knight who colluded with the Inquisition's most wanted criminal, personally slaughtered church knights, and secretly released a high-ranking criminal who escaped from the human kingdom...
This is not a simple dereliction of duty or cover-up; it is blatant betrayal!
This is the most thorough blasphemy against the faith in the Holy Light!
And at the eye of the storm, Raymond Iron Ridge...
This veteran, known for his rigidity and fortitude, seemed to have lost all his bones at this moment. His tall body swayed violently, and he staggered back half a step, crashing heavily into the back of the chair behind him with a dull thud.
His white beard trembled violently, and his eyes, once as sharp as a hawk's, were wide open, almost bursting open, filled with disbelief, horror, the fear of being completely stripped naked, and... a despair of impending doom.
He stared intently at Alfonso, his lips moving, but he couldn't utter a single syllable.
All his carefully constructed defenses, all his sophistry, all his reliance crumbled instantly before this cold crystal that recorded the dirtiest secrets of the distant past.
Alfonso slowly stood up, his silver armor gleaming coldly in the deathly silence. His legendary aura, like a solid iceberg, crashed down, enveloping the entire banquet hall.
He looked down at the dejected Raymond, his voice like that of a chilling abyss, each word carrying the weight of a final judgment:
"Raymond Ironridge, now what do you have to say?"
Those eyes, once as sharp as a hawk's, now held only the horror of a completely torn disguise and a despair that seeped into the bone.
“No…impossible…” Raymond hissed, hissing, like a leaky bellows, each word laced with a dying struggle and disbelief. “This…this is a forgery! It’s slander! Alfonso Lin! You’ve fabricated such ancient and malicious images to frame me! Where…where did you get them?!”
He suddenly looked up, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Alfonso, as if trying to pierce through him with his gaze and find the source of the fatal blow.
This was his final and deepest source of confusion and resentment.
How was that dirty deal, buried deep in the dust of history and thought to have been completely obliterated by time, unearthed and turned into a guillotine hanging over his head?
Alfonso remained standing, his silver armor gleaming with a cold, hard light. His legendary aura pressed down on everyone's hearts like an invisible mountain.
Faced with Raymond's hysterical questioning, his face remained expressionless, his silver-gray eyes unfathomable, filled only with cold indifference.
"Forgery?" Alfonso's voice wasn't loud, but it cut through the deathly silence like a blade tempered with ice, carrying a hint of all-knowing mockery. "Raymond, do you think erasing all traces can bury the past? The reckoning of the Holy Light never loses its power with time. As for the source..."
He tilted his head slightly, his gaze seemingly piercing through the luxurious dome of the banquet hall, landing on a certain spot.
"The stars and moon revolve, each with its own trajectory. All those who have touched 'Star Moon Black Gold' have their image imprinted in the endless river of time and space."
Alfonso's words were calm, yet like a stone thrown into a deep pool, they stirred up a tidal wave in the hearts of everyone present!
Starry Night Black Gold!
One of the founding relics of the Church of the Star and Moon, it is said to have been bestowed upon the first pope of the Church of the Star and Moon by the goddess of the star and moon herself.
Anyone who possesses this sacred object can glimpse the mystery of the stars and moon within it.
Most of them can learn at least some spatial magic from it.
Back then, the Holy Light Church expanded its mission and squeezed the Star Moon Church out of the central region of the Holy Dragon Continent. They also tried to seize all of the Star Moon Church's Star Moon Black Gold.
However, the last Pope who remained in the Monster Mountain Range gave most of the Star Moon Black Gold to various powerful figures on the Holy Dragon Continent, not limited to dragons, elves, and demons of the Order!
Therefore, the Holy Light Church eventually had to abandon its idea of completely expelling the Star Moon Church from human territory. After obtaining a small amount of Star Moon Black Gold, it secretly allocated the Thirty-Six Towns of the Monster Mountain Range to the remnants of the Star Moon Church.
They truly hadn't expected that the Star Moon Black Gold would possess the ability to trace the afterimages of time.
Raymond was struck dumb, his entire body instantly stiffening!
His pupils suddenly shrank to pinpoints as details he had never delved into before suddenly surfaced in his mind.
He did indeed have a black gold star and moon hidden in his hand!
That was the spoils that fell into his hands as payment for his secret dealings with Balger over the years.
Even if the Church collects such sacred objects from the Star Moon Church, it does not allow its high-ranking members to privately practice the Star Moon magic contained within them!
Therefore, after obtaining this Star Moon Black Gold, he never showed it to anyone, and dared not use its power!
Alfonso did not tell the people present that the true value of the Starry Night Black Gold lay in the fact that it was a 'sub-currency'.
All holders will have their important temporal and spatial imprints passively recorded and transmitted back to the 'mother coin' controlled by the Star and Moon Church.
Ellen Ben, following the guidance of the mother coin, discovered the list of holders of the scattered Star Moon Black Gold.
The last pope of the Star Moon Church probably didn't have good intentions when he gave Star Moon Black Gold to powerful figures from all sides.
The conspiracies of the Star Crescent Church were none of his concern; he only needed to deal with his own troubles!
He paused, his gaze like a tangible icicle piercing Raymond's pale face.
"And that one in your hand... its true owner is not you. It once belonged to the fallen knight Balg, who fought alongside you and whom you released from the pass! It records the final imprint of its true owner! That's why the people of the Star-Moon Church were able to extract its image and hand it to me. This is the irrefutable proof that you cannot deny!"
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