Chapter 61: Meeting With Cedric

Chapter 61: Chapter 61: Meeting With Cedric

Krono stepped away from the broken priest. Elmond collapsed onto the cold marble, wheezing as the dark magic suffocated his lungs. Krono did not look back. He walked toward the open oak doors of the sanctuary. He could already hear the heavy clanking of metal outside. The terrified villagers had not just run away. They had immediately alerted the local garrison.

​The courtyard was no longer empty.

​Heavy iron boots stomped against the cobblestones. Over two hundred Holy Knights had formed a massive perimeter around the church. They wore thick silver armor adorned with the glowing golden crest of the Cathedral. Every single knight held a blessed broadsword pointing directly at the sanctuary doors.

​At the front of the formation stood Commander Vael. His sword burned with intense white holy fire.

​"Hold your ground!" Vael shouted to his men. "Do not look directly into the eyes of the demon!"

​Krono stopped at the top of the stone steps. He looked down at the sea of silver armor. He looked completely bored.

​"You are completely surrounded, demon spawn. The villagers warned us of your arrival. There is no escape. Submit to the Cathedral, and we will grant you a swift death. Resist, and we will burn you until your soul shatters."

​Krono slowly tilted his head. A dark, chilling laugh escaped his pale lips. The sound echoed across the silent courtyard. It did not sound like a trapped victim. It sounded like a predator finding its next meal.

​"A swift death," Krono repeated mockingly. "You humans always offer the exact same thing. You hide behind your fake righteousness and your glowing swords. You think your armor makes you kings."

​Vael gripped his burning sword tighter. "Archers! Draw!"

​Fifty knights in the back row pulled their heavy longbows. Blessed silver arrows aimed straight for Krono’s chest.

​"Your Cathedral is a parasite," Krono said, his voice easily carrying over the clanking armor. "Your King sits on a throne of stolen gold. The nobles gorge themselves while the farmers starve in the mud. The entire Human Partition is built on pathetic lies."

​"Silence your blasphemy!" Vael roared.

​Krono took a single step forward. The air pressure in the courtyard instantly multiplied. Several knights stumbled to their knees, gasping for breath as a suffocating wave of dark miasma rolled off Krono’s shoulders.

​"But it is not just the humans. I went down into the deepest pits of the Abyss. I saw the Demon Kings. They are mindless brutes ruling over endless dirt. I went to the Dragon Partition. I saw the ancient Dragon Lords. They are obese, gluttonous lizards hoarding broken trinkets."

​The holy fire on Vael’s sword began to flicker and die. The sheer density of Krono’s dark magic was actively swallowing the light in the courtyard.

​"Every single ruler in this world is completely unworthy. Human kings, demon lords, ancient dragons. They all believe they are untouchable. They all believe their crowns are permanent."

​Krono raised both of his hands. The sky above the village instantly turned pitch black. The midday sun was completely eclipsed by a swirling vortex of abyssal energy.

​"I have returned from the dead to correct this mistake. I am not here to negotiate. I am not here to conquer a single city. I am going to tear down every single throne on this planet. I will pull the crowns from their heads and feed their empires to the void."

​The knights began to tremble violently. Many dropped their heavy shields. The terrifying aura pressing down on them was infinitely stronger than any holy magic they had ever felt.

​"I am the Usurper. And your Cathedral is the very first obstacle in my path."

​"Fire!" Vael screamed in absolute panic. "Kill him now!"

​Fifty silver arrows flew through the air.

​Krono did not even blink. He simply snapped his fingers.

​

The blessed arrows froze in midair, instantly rusting and crumbling into gray dust. The fine powder blew away in the cold wind.

​Before Vael could issue another order, Krono vanished from the top of the steps.

​He reappeared directly in the center of the knight formation.

​"Let us begin the overthrow," Krono whispered.

​He slammed his fists into the cobblestones. Giant spikes of pure black ice erupted from the ground in every direction.

Slice! Slice! Slice!

The razor-sharp spikes pierced through the silver armor like wet paper. Dozens of knights were instantly impaled, their screams echoing into the darkened sky.

​Vael swung his broadsword at Krono’s neck. Krono caught the holy blade with his bare hand. The blessed metal instantly shattered into a dozen useless pieces. Krono grabbed the commander by the throat and lifted him high off the ground.

​"Tell your Bishop, The Usurper is coming for the capital."

​Krono threw the commander aside like a broken toy. The surviving knights broke formation and fled in absolute terror, dropping their weapons as they ran for their lives.

--

After that, Krono walked past the impaled holy knights without a single glance downward. The village square was completely dead quiet. Every single resident had fled into the surrounding hills the moment the slaughter began.

​"You always did love a grand entrance, little brother."

​A lone figure stepped out from the deep shadows of the old blacksmith forge. He wore a heavy leather coat and gripped a half-empty bottle of cheap red wine. He wore no armor and carried no holy symbols.

​Krono stopped in the middle of the dirt road. He stared at the man.

​"Cedric," Krono said. His voice remained completely flat.

​"I watched the entire spectacle from the bell tower," Cedric said, taking a slow, heavy sip from his bottle. "I saw you freeze the archers in their tracks. I saw you shatter Commander Vael’s blessed sword with your bare hand. And I saw you walk out of the sanctuary alone. Is the old man finally dead?"

Krono replied coldly,

​"He is suffocating on my miasma. He will expire before the sun sets."

​Cedric chuckled bitterly. "Good. I hope it hurts. I really do."

​Krono stared at his second brother in silence. Cedric had aged terribly. Months ago he was just fine.

​"You did not try to stop me," Krono observed.

​"Stop you?" Cedric laughed loudly, "Haha, Why in the world would I stop you? I have been praying for someone to kill that arrogant hypocrite for ten long years. It turns out the only person capable of doing it was the son he murdered."

​"He traded my life for a High Priest robe," Krono said.

​"He did much more than that. He traded our entire family for Cathedral favor. He was completely heartless, Krono. When he sent holy executioner after you, I couldn’t stop him."

​"I see...."

Cedric continued,

​"He struck me directly across the face with his golden staff. He told me that emotional attachments were a sin against the light. He said your sacrifice would guarantee our family a place in the eternal kingdom. He stood there smiling while the inquisitors lit the torches beneath your feet."

​"It was a profitable smile, Isn’t it." Krono noted.

​"Extremely profitable," Cedric agreed, taking another heavy drink of the cheap wine. "He got his grand sanctuary. He got his expensive silk robes and his heavy gold coins. But he lost everything else. Our mother died of severe grief less than a year later. Father called her weak. He refused to hold a proper funeral for her because she wept for a tainted soul. I threw my sword into the river that very same night. I refused to serve a god that required burning children. I have spent the last ten years drinking his expensive wine and waiting for him to rot."

​"Your wait is over, Cedric. You can leave this miserable village now."

​Cedric looked deeply into Krono’s pitch-black eyes. He saw the endless, terrifying void swirling behind them. He sighed heavily and shook his head.

​"I will leave. But you need to know exactly what you are walking into, Krono. You just declared war on the entire world. The Cathedral will not just send local, incompetent knights after you anymore."

​"I welcome their grand armies," Krono replied coldly.

​"It is not just armies," Cedric warned, "Our dear older brother heard about your little transformation."

​Krono’s expression remained entirely unchanged. "Valerian."

​"Yes," Cedric nodded firmly. "Valerian. The golden child. The perfect, obedient son. He did not run away like I did. He completely embraced the father’s heartless madness. He used your death as a stepping stone. He joined the Holy Executioners."

​"So he is a blind zealot," Krono said.

​"That’s an underestimation. He is a prominent Demon Hunter now. He is one of the highest ranking military officers in the capital. He wears the Platinum cross. He wields the blade. He has personally slaughtered a dozen Archdemons in the northern wastelands. He is entirely ruthless, Krono. He truly believes he is the living instrument of divine judgment."

​"Then he is just another fool standing in my way," Krono stated flatly.