13 Mink Street

Chapter 133: Kill

“Pavaro, I’ll give you one last chance. It’s not too late for regrets.”

“It’s too late, because you already know very clearly that I’m not the same kind of person as you. Even if I say I want to submit now, would you dare accept my submission?

“Faith is the greatest thing in this world. It can bind together different genders, different regions, different peoples, different nations, even different races, like family, but for those who were originally on the same road, those who betray faith will be the most irreconcilable enemies in this world.”

“You misunderstand, Pavaro. I mean that if you kill yourself now, we will spare your family.”

Mr. Pavaro shook his head. “No need.”

“You can bear to let your family be implicated because of your stubbornness?”

“If I’m gone, my two daughters’ Bloodspirit Powder will no longer be supplied. The corruption on them won’t be controlled. They will soon die from excessive contamination.

“I know my wife very well. She looks strong, but her heart is extremely fragile. If she loses me and then loses our two daughters, she will lose the courage to go on living and choose death. So your threat has no meaning to me at all.”

“You could have received sufficient Bloodspirit Powder every month. Your two daughters could have lived lives like normal people. You rejected all of that yourself.”

The God of Order cast His own daughter into the jaws of a monstrous beast to preserve the dignity of Order. That is the Light of Order. Unfortunately, there is no light left in your eyes.

Tirsen raised the whip in his hand and gave the order to the four men beside him. “Suppress him.”

The four members of the Order squad immediately closed their eyes, placed their hands on their chests, and began chanting. Bits of black walls appeared and condensed before them. Then, in an instant, those pieces formed an open cage that swept down over Mr. Pavaro.

The two black flames over Mr. Pavaro’s hands immediately shot out, but did not fire outward. They struck the ground in front of him instead, and the recoil shoved his body backward. Before the cage could fully imprison him, he slipped out of its binding range.

Yet Tirsen was already behind him, a mocking smile on his face. “Still thinking of running?”

The whip cracked across Mr. Pavaro’s back. There was a string of bursting sounds and a dense spray of sparks. Then, the whip coiled around Mr. Pavaro’s waist.

“Order—Immolation Curse.” Black runes surfaced across his body and began to crawl along the whip. As they neared the grip, Tirsen hesitated for a brief moment before ultimately releasing the whip. This was a curse issued with a man’s very life. Once the runes formed a link with the target of the curse, Mr. Pavaro would simply die, but his curse would also take effect.

Tirsen would not be killed by such a curse, but it would be extremely difficult for him to completely cleanse it. In fact, it was very likely that he would have to live with it for the rest of his life.

Freed from the restraint, Mr. Pavaro suffered backlash from his interrupted Art, but he could not spare attention for it. He slapped both hands onto the ground, and a black Starlight appeared. “Order—Forest of Black Mist.”

Black mist abruptly surged out, swallowing Mr. Pavaro’s figure.

The four members of the squad took up a formation again and resumed their chanting. A power that could scour away all illusion and concealment rapidly washed through the black mist, and the recently hidden Mr. Pavaro was forced to reappear.

Tirsen locked onto Mr. Pavaro. One hand grabbed downward, then rose back up. At that moment, a black vine ripped from the ground, its razor tip stabbing straight for Mr. Pavaro. The man could not evade in time. The vine directly pierced his left shoulder, and kept growing. It quickly lifted Mr. Pavaro’s whole body into the air.

The four black-robed men stopped maintaining their formation, but their chanting continued. A dagger appeared in each person’s hands, and a shimmer of black protective light shrouded each of them, as if they had received a blessing. They charged into the mist that had yet not fully dispersed. They were going to kill Mr. Pavaro, who was pinned down and restrained. While they were at it, they would also destroy his body and completely erase any spirituality that might remain.

However, at this moment, the first black-robed man rushing forward suddenly realized he had stepped on shards of glass. He looked up in shock and saw a faint green haze spreading.

Mr. Pavaro, impaled in the air, laughed. “This is a source of corruption that I extracted from my two daughters and refined even further. It’s a toxin that can invade the soul. Earlier, it was already sprinkled in the mist.”

Hearing that, all four black-robed men instantly stopped moving and began to seal their bodies while chanting to perform purification on themselves.

The toxin was not as terrifying as imagined. In the past, Mr. Pavaro’s two daughters had reached their current state because their treatment had been delayed after they had been corrupted. For priests, as long as the corruption was handled in time, there would basically not be any problem at all. In theory, they could even wait until after killing Mr. Pavaro, though it would take them some time to purify themselves. Thus, they had plenty of time.

In fact, each of the four black-robed men had assumed their companions would go ahead and kill their target, allowing them to pause and purify themselves first. The awkward part was that they all had the same thought.

After this happened, they then thought their companions would stop purifying and go kill the target, letting them continue the purification. Even more awkwardly, their companions all thought the same again.

So the four members of the Whip of Order squad stopped. Gentle black light shrouded their bodies as they purified themselves, leaving Mr. Pavaro hanging in the air, as if set aside. Mr. Pavaro did not find this strange at all. How could people who had lost their faith face death without flinching.

A moment later, he slapped the black vine in front of him, trying to burn it off with flames that seeped from his palm.

Tirsen grabbed downward again, then lifted. A second vine burst from the ground and stabbed at Mr. Pavaro. There was no time to dodge. He could only force his body downward at the cost of tearing open the wound. Mr. Pavaro managed to free himself. He dropped down, and narrowly avoided being pierced by the second vine.

Upon landing, the left side of Mr. Pavaro’s upper body was drenched in blood, his left arm hung uselessly at his side, yet he immediately pressed his right hand to his brow. Black mist surged from his body once more and drifted toward the distance.

Tirsen strode forward and caught up to the shifting mass of mist, his voice turning cold.

“Order—Cage.”

***

“Woof.” (This Inquisitor is no good.)

“Meow.” (Compared to the Inquisitor who sealed you, of course he’s no good.)

“Woof.” (He’s on the administrative track. He’s weak in a fight.)

“Meow.” (That’s true. What he studies and what he has mastered basically serve an Inquisitor’s daily work.)

“Woof.” (Yes. These people from the Whip of Order mostly only master things related to fighting.)

“Meow, meow, meow.” (So when choosing Arts for Karon this time, we need more practical armor-buff Arts that can raise physical qualities and reaction speed. In this kind of situation it works very well. Order has Armor of Order in its Arts, though its effect can’t compare to the Armor of Light of the Church of Light.)

“Woof.” (I have something better I can teach.)

“Meow?” (Armor of the Heretical God?)

“Woof.” (Not something I created. I know Armor of the Sea God. I stole it before.)

“Meow.” (That’s very good. Karon’s deep foundation can fit the fluidity of Armor of the Sea God perfectly. It can continuously replenish water.)

“Woof, woof.” (We also still lack a close-range offensive Arts. For mid and low level fights, that set is still the best. This Inquisitor suffered from that, and got pinned down hard.)

“Meow.” (Blade of Darkmoon?)

“Woof?” (An Arts from the Darkmoon family? You even know that?)

“Meow.” (Back then that family’s stupid kid wanted to chase me. He gave me the Art.)

“Woof.” (And then?)

“Meow.” (I accepted the gift, told him I was very moved, and then rejected him. He left very sadly.)

“Woof.” (Even the strongest families can’t avoid producing idiots like that.)

“Meow.” (Blade of Darkmoon paired with Armor of the Sea God... both consume a lot of spirituality, but that just happens to suit Karon.)

“Woof, woof.” (Yes. And also, if the two of us are at his side and he still can’t beat others, it’s not his grandfather’s face that gets lost, but ours first.)

“Meow.” (But what suits him best is still the orthodox Arts of Order. Still, he has to wait until he truly grows up before he can bring out their real effect.)

“Woof.” (What suits him best is actually... his own Knights of Order.)

“Meow, meow?” (This Inquisitor is going to die. No, is someone else coming?)

***

The Order Cage locked down the black mist that tried to flee. When the black mist dispersed, Mr. Pavaro was revealed.

Tirsen raised his arm and spoke in a heavy voice, “Spear of Punishment.”

A Spear of Punishment floated above his head, radiating a destructive aura. “It’s over, Pavaro.”

However, just as Tirsen was about to swing his arm forward, a ring of pink light suddenly erupted before him. A female phantom appeared within it, chanting, “God said: I will choose to walk into the cold sea, leaving warmth to my sisters.”

Seawater seemed to appear out of nowhere. It hung suspended in the air, wrapping Tirsen and everything around him. He was not too alarmed. Three walls silently formed around his body to defend him, and he directly chose to detonate the Spear of Punishment in place.

BOOM!

Tirsen dropped back to the ground. The explosion left his mind a little dizzy, but his body had not suffered much damage thanks to the defenses he had prepared. Also, the barrier that had tried to trap him was broken.

Yet Mr. Pavaro was no longer in sight.

The four black-robed men rushed up behind Tirsen. He glanced back at them with a sweep of his eyes. Just as he was about to scold them, Mr. Pavaro’s earlier words surfaced in his mind, “We are not the same kind of people...”

“It’s people from the Mios faith. His accomplices have appeared.” Tirsen raised his head to look at the moonlight. Because it was raining, the moon was hard to see behind the clouds. The night was quiet. Only the cat and dog running along distant eaves brought a little movement and life.

“Keep chasing.”

“Yes, Captain.”

***

“Annie, you shouldn’t have come,” Mr. Pavaro said. “The ones hunting me aren’t only those people back there.”

“Since I’m here, say something useful.”

“My plan failed, because the Expositor presiding over my trial is the one standing behind them.”

“Is that useful now?”

“Put me down and leave York City. You still have a chance to live.”

“More nonsense.”

“I have no other way.”

“Actually, you stopped having a way long ago, from the moment you first chose to report this upward.”

“Yes.”

“The smartest option was simply to leave York City and submit a report in a different country, but that wasn’t realistic either. Your investigation already alerted them, and if you hadn’t investigated, what could you report?”

“Annie, you’re also starting to say nonsense.”

“The chapel up ahead is a Church of Abyss. I’ll take you there.”

“It’s useless. The Church of Abyss doesn’t dare interfere in the internal affairs of Order.”

“Why do I feel like when you say that, you sound a little proud?”

“Do I?”

“You do. Also, what was your purpose in escaping? Did you have any other plans?”

“The reason was to try to escape and look for an opportunity to report in an overseas district.”

“You already admitted earlier that this reason was nonsense.”

“The real reason is probably that I didn’t want to sit there and wait for nothing. Even if coming out meant certain death, death might also be a kind of release. So you shouldn’t have come out. Sorry, Annie.”

“I have a feeling we don’t have much time left, so I want to pick some useful words to say.”

“Say it.”

“I already handed our investigation notes to the person you arranged to come.”

“The person I arranged?”

“Mhmm. A very handsome young man.”

“Oh, him. He wasn’t arranged by me, but I know he’s not ordinary. I also have to thank his lighter.”

“It doesn’t matter. At least we know that after we die, there will still be someone investigating. Even if hope is slim, there’s still a little hope left.”

“You’re right.”

The Church of Abyss chapel was right ahead. A city river lay between it and them, and there was a pedestrian bridge over it.

Annie supported Mr. Pavaro as they reached the bridge. When they reached the middle, a figure in a black uniform appeared ahead. Black lightning was printed on the uniform, along with many monstrous beasts that had been sealed and suppressed by the Order religion throughout history.

This was... an adjudication uniform.

Mr. Pavaro spoke, “Adjudicator Luke.”

Luke raised a hand. A black sword appeared in his grip, and a hoarse voice was heard, “Is your accomplice this believer of the Mios faith?”

Annie smiled. “Yes. I work at a pastry shop. Because I’m old, while others charge forty rels, I only charge twenty. Even so, my business isn’t very good. I can only earn a little extra by helping clean the shop.

“Adjudicator sir, have you ever been to a pastry shop? We’re half a soul. Other than the most direct kind of entry, the other services can all be negotiated.”

“Heh.” Luke let out a short laugh. The sword in his hand floated up.

Mr. Pavaro said, “What were you thinking, Annie? Why would the Adjudicator lower himself to a place like yours? He would find it beneath him. Unworthy of his status.”

Annie nodded. “Yes, I must have offended him without realizing it. Our place is filthy, after all. But tell me, why would such a spotless Adjudicator choose to appear here and block our way?”

Mr. Pavaro said, “Because the Adjudicator himself is filthier than you could ever be. Compared to him, your dirt is so clean it would make him uncomfortable.”

“Pavaro, do you know why I came out, even knowing that I would most likely die alongside you? It’s because I’m not like you. I always believed that within the Church of Order’s pitch-black depths, nothing but corruption was hidden.

“Until I met you.”

“Don’t worry,” Mr. Pavaro said, his gaze unwavering. “Order will judge them. I believe that.”

Luke did not respond to anything the two said. Instead, his voice sank, “Order—Sword of Judgment.”

The black blade abruptly split into layers of overlapping sword phantoms.

Mr. Pavaro placed a hand over his chest and began to chant, “With my absolute loyalty, I recite Your great name. I beseech You at this moment, open Your eyes, let Your gaze descend upon this world: Forbidden Art—Eye of Order.”

A black vortex unfolded behind him. Deep within it, a tightly shut eye could vaguely be seen. A similar scene had once appeared in the performance hall of Allen Manor, though far more clearly than at this moment. Before, the Eye of Order had almost opened.

Luke showed no concern. He even deliberately paused to wait until the vortex behind Mr. Pavaro slowly dispersed.

Mr. Pavaro collapsed to his knees, blood streaming from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Even uninjured, a forbidden Art of that level would have been beyond him. In his current state, it was impossible.

“Pavaro, you are truly a fool.”

Kneeling on the ground, his speech already slurred, Mr. Pavaro replied, “I only wanted to hope for a miracle. And to leave no regrets.”

Annie began her chant, “The divine has spoken. When the seas swallow this world, all filth shall be buried beneath the depths.”

Water from both sides of the bridge surged upward, forming two towering barriers that crashed toward Luke.

The Adjudicator merely extended a hand and gave a light push. The sword phantoms pierced through the barriers in an instant. They tore through Annie’s body and continued towards Mr. Pavaro, who was still on his knees. Holes opened all across their bodies. The power of the Sword of Judgment destroyed flesh while simultaneously shredding their souls.

There had never been a possibility of reversal. The moment Luke appeared, the outcome had already been decided. With Annie’s death, the summoned waters lost control. They collapsed back onto the bridge in a torrent.

A ring of black light formed around Luke, completely pushing the water back. His clothes were not even damp. Annie and Pavaro’s bodies, however, were swept from the bridge and carried downstream.

Luke lifted his hand. A black chain emerged.

Yet before he could cast it into the river to retrieve the corpses, an elderly voice sounded from behind him. “In those years, there was an agreement. The various Churches would step back for the sake of peace and stability, and for the Church of Order. And now the Church of Order presses directly upon our door?”

Luke turned. Before him stood an old man clad in red and black robes. “The Church of Order is cleansing traitors. If we have caused a disturbance, I ask for your understanding.”

“Oh? Is that so? I had no intention of appearing, but when I sensed the aura of a forbidden Art, I feared that if I remained absent, this hall would not see the sunrise. Next time something like this occurs, Adjudicator, please send formal notice in advance. It’s a simple courtesy.”

“Of course.”

“Good.” The old man turned and returned to the hall. That was all he could say. The Church of Order was powerful now, overwhelmingly so.

Luke looked toward the direction the bodies had drifted. They were already out of sight.

Tirsen appeared upon the bridge. “Adjudicator, what of the two?”

“They are dead.” Luke’s eyes held undisguised disdain as he looked at Tirsen.

“The bodies?”

“Taken by the river.”

“Why did you not retrieve—”

“I killed them. You may recover the bodies.”

“... Understood.”

Black mist enveloped Luke and then dispersed.

Tirsen clicked his tongue. “I can’t stand his loftiness.”

He glanced at the four subordinates behind him. “What are you waiting for? Go retrieve the bodies.”

***

Far downstream, Pu’er rode on Kevin’s back along the riverbank, the dog sprinting with all his strength.

“Faster. Faster. Just ahead. They’re floating just ahead. Charge! Meow!”

“Woof!”