Chapter 45 – A Quiet Place for Fire
Part 2: A Name Carved in Stone
Bishop Denan lay half-sunken into his bed of white sheets and stale prayers.
The crypt chamber was lit by dying candles—too many for one man, not enough to reach the corners. Dust moved with the torchlight like it feared being seen.
Ariz stepped from the stairwell, quiet as breath.
Denan's eyes struggled to focus.
"You… You're not a deacon," he whispered.
Ariz stopped at the foot of the bed.
"No."
"I—I know you. That face. From a report—years ago. A child. No shadow. A false name."
Ariz said nothing.
Denan coughed, voice rattling in his chest. "We thought… we were stopping a curse. I gave the order because they said—"
"Because it was easy."
The bishop's mouth opened. Closed.
The silence between them became weight.
Then Ariz lifted one hand, palm open. A blade of living shadow grew from it like smoke folding into steel.
"No sermon?" he asked quietly.
Denan's voice cracked. "You think this changes anything?"
Ariz stepped forward, not breaking eye contact.
"It doesn't change anything," he said.
"But it ends something."
The blade pierced the bishop's heart—clean, slow, and silent.
No scream.
Only the sound of lungs giving up.
And then, peace.
Not for the bishop.
For the space where his name used to be.
[System Notification: Target Execution – Confirmed]
✔ Priest Kallis – Eliminated✔ Knight Remal – Eliminated✔ Bishop Denan – Eliminated
[Objective Complete: Third Church Destroyed]
System Signature: Holy Suppression Reversed
[New Skill Unlocked: Umbra Lance Lv. 1]➤ Type: Shadow Magic➤ Effect: High-velocity impalement➤ Bonus: +2 Magic Power, +1 Control➤ Divine Targets: Extra spiritual decay damage
"It does not fly.It decides where it should be."
Ariz lit the cathedral with shadow-oil taken from its own reliquary.
He walked its halls one last time, watching flames eat the velvet banners, the sacred books, the painted walls.
No one came to stop him.
By the time the bell tower collapsed, he was already gone—walking east.
No one knew his name.
Not here.
Not anymore.
Only the glow in his violet eyes, and the dust that whispered behind his steps.
[System Notification: Travel Suggestion – Activated]
New Route Unlocked: Bloodmoon Continent – Umbrakin Echo Identified
You have fulfilled the debt of your birth.Now go and become what they thought they erased.