Chapter 213: The Deadlock Broken (Part 3)

  "Who exactly are you waiting for?" "What are you going to do?" The crowd of ministers looked at Ethan, roaring in anger.

  "I said, it's someone who can make things clear for me. Please rest assured, everyone, it won't take long." Ethan replied lightly.

  No one dared to move. This person's two hands were still placed on the necks of the Chancellor and the Queen. Given the strength he had displayed, and with two living people of such stature as shields before him, no one could possibly rescue the Chancellor and the Queen from his hands. Although the ministers didn't know why this person would take hostage the Chancellor and the Queen, who had been speaking up for him, they knew that they could not let them be harmed under any circumstances. Not even the slightest possibility.

  But Rodhart and Javi both knew. They both knew that Ethan would absolutely never harm the two people in his hands, but they still couldn't move.

  Even though they knew this, they couldn't show that they didn't care. After all, this was not a place where they could do whatever they wanted. The others present were all loyal and important ministers of the Empire. And although they could command the Paladin Order, it didn't mean the Paladin Order was a machine in their hands. These people were commanded and controlled by them only because of their identities: one was a Cardinal whose grace benefited all people, the other was the loyal acting commander of the Paladin Order. If they were to reveal intentions that were completely unbecoming of these identities, the influence of these identities would cease to exist.

  And the reason Ethan did this was naturally aimed at this very point of theirs. It had to be said, this method seemed strange, but it was practical and effective. It was indeed the most effective method in this situation.

  "I didn't expect you to use this method... I have to admit, you seem a bit smarter than I imagined." Bishop Javi said slowly, his gaze growing colder and harder, even with an unconscious glint of cold light. Although the situation was still under control, he vaguely sensed a strange flavor, a flavor of things going off the rails. These flavors made his nerves suddenly begin to tense up.

  "A bit smarter?" Ethan looked at Bishop Javi, smiled, and said: "You still think everything is in your grasp? Let me tell you. This deadlock is already broken." He turned to look at the ministers, revealing a smile, and said: "Please rest assured, everyone. As long as you don't act rashly, the Chancellor and the Queen will be fine. I'm just asking everyone to wait, for at most half a day. Perhaps at any moment. I guarantee that Her Majesty the Queen and the Chancellor will be safe and sound."

  The people standing around Cardinal could feel the air around him grow cold and shrink, as if countless sharp ice needles were emanating from his body, crisscrossing, piercing, and fighting each other in the surrounding air.

  "Waiting for someone? Waiting for who? Reinforcements? Impossible." Javi chuckled, but the smile was a bit stiff and sharp. He used a great deal of effort to suppress the killing intent that was about to erupt. The smile on the other person's face made him extremely uncomfortable. He could feel the confidence and strength expressed by the other's calm expression were beyond what he knew in his own heart.

  "People who think they have everything under their control usually don't end up well. Have you forgotten?" Ethan replied lightly.

  The corners of Bishop Javi's eyes and his hands twitched nervously. He felt a long-familiar, violent impulse surge in his chest. He wished he could immediately disregard everything, rush forward, and smash that composed face to a pulp.

  But he was immediately startled. This impulse seemed to be one he only had when he still had that former identity. Since gaining his current identity and name, he should have long since transcended and abandoned all of his past, but now it had reappeared. And all of this was because of the person before him.

  A greater, more turbulent wave of anger and killing intent suddenly swept over him, almost making him lose control. It was a hysterical killing intent that came from feeling terror and fear.

  Weren't you already completely defeated by me? How can you appear here now? And use such a calm expression to mock me? Why do I still have that uncontrollable impulse from before? Is it because I also feel that you are once again standing above me? No, absolutely not. This kind of thing is absolutely not allowed.

  When a person who thought he had long since surpassed his former state and infinitely scorned his former self suddenly discovers that he seems to be about to be beaten back to his original form and return to that state he had always despised, the resulting terror and anger are far greater and more uncontrollable than when he has to face any new environment.

  "We can't let him stall like this. You order the squad captains and the mages. I'll give the signal, and we'll move. He absolutely wouldn't dare to harm them." Javi said softly to Rodhart beside him, his voice already a bit agitated and out of control.

  Rodhart shook his head slightly and replied in a low voice: "What if he really uses the two of them as shields? Even if we're sure he wouldn't dare, the other squad captains won't think so. If my teacher were here commanding, they would definitely obey the order. But in the current situation, they will have reservations... It's not certain we can command them..."

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  "A few of them will make a move. As long as we can force him to let go of them."

  "If we really act rashly, disregarding their lives, even if we succeed, the ministers will become wary and suspicious of us. The key is that if the people of the Paladin Order become suspicious, our advantage will be completely gone... Besides, you said Sandro is already dead, and although His Majesty and my teacher's fates are unknown, they probably won't return in a short time. Why don't we just..."

  "Go. Now." Javi's voice and expression lost control at the same time. A kind of impulse and ferocity he had never shown before appeared on his face. This voice and expression were no longer directed at Rodhart, but a sudden outburst and venting, so everyone else saw and heard it too. The surrounding swordsmen and ministers looked at him in astonishment.

  Rodhart first looked at him, even more astonished. Then he slowly returned to his usual composure, said nothing, and just nodded slowly.

  "What's wrong? My lord Bishop, are you trying to order them to use force? Don't you care about the safety of the Chancellor and Her Majesty the Queen?" Ethan also saw the almost uncontrollable anger on Javi's face and was a bit surprised. This didn't seem to be this person's style.

  "You won't harm them. I know." Javi snatched a long sword from a nearby swordsman, pointing it at Ethan from a distance. The white light on the sword flared up again. His injuries were not severe, and he had almost completely recovered in this short period. He laughed in anger. The sword qi, like a great river blocked by a dam, accumulated and gathered violently on the sword in his hand.

  He was going to risk it, even if it would indeed damage his identity to some extent. But the other party would have to let go, would have to tend to the lives of the two people in his hands first. Even if the situation would become chaotic, at least it could maintain the integrity of the situation. To ensure the situation was still whole, complete, unbroken.

  But the surrounding ministers all panicked and began to shout: "My lord Bishop, no, please stop!"

  Ethan frowned at the somewhat abnormal Cardinal, and said with a frown: "How can you be so sure I won't harm them? Don't you recognize me as the number one most wanted fugitive on the continent? That devil who kills like slaughtering chickens? Or is there something you know that everyone else doesn't? Or are you yourself..."

  There was no verbal answer. The answer to him was the sword in Cardinal's hand. That sword instantly once again became that convergence of a great river, a roaring sea, flashing lightning, and violent thunder—a white light that stabbed toward Ethan before him.

  If one were to speak purely of technique, grace, and spirit, this sword was naturally not as good as the one Cardinal had used when he first charged in to kill, because although the person wielding it was the same, his mentality had completely changed. But the berserk killing intent and killing aura contained in this sword made it harder to defend against than the previous one.

  Although the target was only Ethan, the momentum, killing aura, and lethal force of this sword were unstoppable and unchangeable. Whatever was in its path, be it a mountain or a wall, was within the killing intent of this sword. And naturally, Sophia and the Queen before Ethan were also.

  But at the very moment this sword light emerged, four other sword lights also stabbed out from four different directions and angles from the side, converging mid-way to intercept Bishop Javi's sword. A flurry of sword qi and blades clashed and tore at each other in an extremely short time and an extremely small space, and then all five swords stopped together.

  Although these four sword lights were not as dazzling or magnificent as the one in Cardinal's hand, they were still impeccable in precision and strength. The key was that the four swords coordinated perfectly, which was why they were able to intercept Cardinal's sword without any harm.

  The ones who struck these four swords were four Paladin Order squad captains. Their purpose in striking was naturally very clear. Even before Cardinal's sword had fully emerged, they had sensed his momentum, killing aura, and that it had nothing to do with the concept of "rescuing people." Although nominally they were under the command of Bishop Javi and Rodhart, the one to whom they were truly and completely loyal was only Commander Roland. And they were all clear-headed and sharp-judged individuals, so they would naturally make a move at such a critical juncture.

  But after intercepting this sword, the expressions on their faces were also full of astonishment, because they had all seen this kind of sword before. Although its power, momentum, and sword stance seemed different, the sword intent and spirit transmitted through the clashing and intersecting blades could not be hidden.

  "My lord Bishop, please calm yourself." General Thomas and the old Minister Jason roared. Even though their martial skills were not very high, the weight of the killing intent and killing aura in Cardinal's sword just now was so heavy that even a bear could probably have sensed this was a strike without any reservation. If it had truly struck, the first to be shredded to pieces would absolutely have been the Chancellor and the Queen before him.

  Javi, at this moment, had turned his head to glare furiously at Rodhart. Although this interception by the four men was not on his orders, Rodhart had not signaled the squad captains to attack together as he had said.

  "My lord Bishop, please calm down a bit. This will only make things worse... Why don't we wait and see a bit longer."

  The one who said this was Rodhart. His expression was now the same as the old ministers around him. It was a look of anxiety and concern, and very natural, as if he had been like this from the beginning.

  Even you can see the situation is wrong? Are you going to betray me? Anger piled up relentlessly. Javi could feel a pool of boiling magma in his chest, about to erupt, to explode, and blast everything around him to ashes. His hand had already slipped into his robes... He almost spat out each word through the fire in his chest: "No need to wait..."

  "That's right, no need to wait." A voice came in from outside. Bishop Javi's hand froze instantly, and even the furnace fire in his heart that was about to erupt was instantly frozen into a block of ice.

  It was an old man's voice, and it also carried a very obvious taste of fatigue. If one were to only listen to this voice, probably no one could feel any vigilance or hostility, but it was this voice that made both Javi's movements and his heart freeze at the same time.

  Everyone's attention was turned to the hall's entrance. A huge, strange creature was descending from the sky, spreading a pair of giant wings. The voice came from it.

  This was indeed a very strange creature. In terms of its shape, it seemed to be some kind of flying animal like a bat or a bird, but anyone could see that this was not a living creature. Although its body was entirely flesh, bone, skin, and feathers, they were all mixed into a lump, as if many animals had been completely melted by some unknown method and then poured into a mold to be cast. And although this creature's aura was not strong, the faint stench of corpses and the terrifying magical fluctuations coming from it still revealed its true identity.

  Such a monster could not naturally speak. The one speaking was an old man sitting on top of it. The old man was dressed in ordinary priest's robes, but he wore a golden skull mask on his face.

  Everyone was silent. Inside and outside the huge sleeping chamber, it was terrifyingly quiet, as if everyone here had forgotten even how to breathe. But the reason they were so silent, so shocked, so astonished, was not just because of the monster, nor because of the old man with the skull mask. In truth, the combination of these two things was already enough to make the vast majority of people forget to breathe. But something that could make the Paladin Order swordsmen forget to breathe was, of course, a hundred times more horrifying.

  On this monster, piled from corpses, beside the old man who was presumably a Necromancer, were, shockingly, Commander Roland and His Majesty the Emperor. Although their expressions varied, anyone could see that they were not being held hostage or controlled, but were indeed with this Necromancer.