THE LORD IS TOO OVERBEARING

Basil looked at Caaden's headless corpse and the shining pendant in its neck coldly. He had figured out what Caaden had about to do even before he had told her to step forward.

Other than a God's Tear Amulet, Paladins were also given a Pendant of Judgement by the Church to ensure their safety. It was yet another Artefact that was only produced by the Church, and worked like a Curse that only Demons were good at.

As its name suggested, Pendant of Judgement gave "judgement" to the one who was being targeted by the owner of it—Paladins. Regardless of the Principle one practiced, upon being "judged," one would lose the ability to use Mana or Qi.

In other words, Pendant of Judgement was no different from a Sealing Rune. Although as far as Basil knew there had been no limit of who the Artefact could seal, it could only be activated once the owner was within a meter from the target.

Caaden had tried to approach Basil for this reason. She had misunderstood Basil as any normal hotheaded, naive teenagers, and believed that she could trick Basil with her sincerity.

Unfortunately for her, Basil was an experienced veteran. He had ever tasted the judgement a Pendant of Judgement gave in his past life when he was still a nameless Knight, and because of that, he had learnt how to avoid it at all cost.

"AAAAHHHHHH! Basil Pacifer, how dare you kill her!"

Turning his head to Caleb, Basil found that Caleb was already dashing at him. He sneered lightly, then swung his sword forward to block Caleb's sword.

Clank!

Fire sparked due to the clash, and Caleb's hands trembled due to his rage. Glaring at Basil furiously from under his helmet, he overwhelmed his body with Miracle, then muttered a chant under his breath.

"[He, who hath sin shalt repent, and dare he not, may Gods bestow mercy upon his soul. God's Mercy]!"

Caleb's entire body shone in a blinding golden light, and the Miracle that overwhelmed his body became even more potent. Basil quirked his eyebrow at the scene, before touching the Fragment in his Mindscape.

Boom!

The Pacifer Seal that Basil had hidden after killing Cadmon once again appeared in the middle of his temple, and the Mana he was exuding got instantly several times denser than before. Despite so, he only used four of his Magic Circles.

"Know my name, Basil Pacifer! I am Caleb!"

"A dead body needeth not name."

Basil smiled softly at Caleb's heated declaration, then swung his sword strongly. Caleb, despite having Miracle overwhelming his body, was still thrown away helplessly; he couldn't match Basil's strength.

Basil kicked the ground once, creating a small crater in the process, and chased after the flying Caleb.

"This Lord can feel a tainted presence." He was strangely intrigued by the Miracle Caleb was exuding. "Hm? What am I talking about?"

Of course, since he had strengthened the connection he got with the Fragment inside him, he wasn't completely himself despite having a full control over his body.

Nonetheless, he was still intrigued by the Miracle Caleb was exuding.

Boom!

Caleb bumped into the wall of the underground bunker, but he didn't just bump into it; he had actually been slammed into the wall head first by Basil. Basil had his hand on Caleb's head as the helmet covering Caleb's head was slowly disintegrating.

"Y-You! What have you done?! My connection with the Gods!"

"Oh, so that is the case?" Basil looked at Caleb in interest and astonishment. "Your Gods—no, the Four Heroes are sharing their Authority ... Intriguing." Tightening the grip on Caleb's helmet, he crushed it to pieces, and grasped Caleb's head in return.

"Y-You... What are you actually?!"

"What am I?" Basil tilted his head, then frowned lightly. "Who knows? I don't even know myself ... For the time being, I will categorize myself as a human."

Basil properly observed Caleb's face, and immediately understood why Caleb had been so enraged at the death of Caaden.

Brown hair, attractive face, fair skin, and the way his face looked playful despite how serious he was—even without a blood tie check, one could easily tell he was Caaden's brother.

"How does it feel losing someone you love?"

Caleb gritted his teeth, and glared at Basil from the gap between his fingers. "You fiend! The Church will punish you heavily for this!"

"Hoh? Not your Gods, but the Church, huh?"

"Of course, the Gods will also punish you in hell!"

"Then, what is the need of punishing evil if Gods can punish the doers in hell?" Basil smiled in amusement.

"That's because the Gods told us to do so!"

"Then, is killing me also something your Gods told you to do?"

"..." Caleb opened his mouth but no words came out. He racked his brain for an answer, and only after a few seconds did he open his mouth. "The Church, as the Gods' representative has a right to order us to kill you, the Gods' offenders!"

"Who did deem me as an offender?" Caleb was silenced once again, and Basil continued with a small smile. "How can you tell the Church is telling you the Gods' word? Who has you listened to for all this time? Your Gods or the power thirsty Great Pontiff?"

"Shut up!"

Basil's smile vanished, but one could see from the glint in his eyes how amused he was with the entire situation. He let go of Caleb's head, allowing Caleb to fall down the ground, and looked at him neutrally from above.

Caleb, thinking that his chance to end Basil had finally come, stood himself up then swung his sword at Basil.

Clank!

It was much to his surprise and utter bewilderment that his sword was easily deflected by the Magic Barrier covering Basil's entire existence. He widened his eyes, and was about to step back when he gasped for air then keeled over.

"Kuhak! The Miracle!" Caleb breathed difficultly as if he was choked by something. "My connection—I can't feel my connection with the Gods." Looking up to Basil, at his Pacifer Seal, the color drained from Caleb's face. "Y-You—did you severe the connection?"

"I can't do something like that, nor do I know how to do it," Basil answered neutrally. "You are simply left behind ... By the Gods you have worshipped."

Caleb widened his eyes in surprise as his pupils dilated in horror. He had only been able to use Miracle after establishing a connection to his Gods, and as a Paladin, Miracle was crucial to him; without it, he had only one fate—die helplessly.

"Walking aimlessly is sometimes many times better than being a follower." Basil looked at the distraught Caleb in disinterest.

He didn't lie when he said he didn't severe Caleb's connection with his "Gods." He had merely tried to investigate the source of Miracle that had been filling Caleb's body with the help of Pacifer Seal, but the Miracle abruptly disappeared the moment he did so.

Though his attempt had definitely something to do with it, Basil couldn't be blamed for it.

Raising his sword, Basil weakened his connection with the Fragment, thus hiding his Pacifer Seal. Aiming his sword at Caleb's neck, he swung it in one fluid motion.

Swish!

"My problem was with your late sister, but you can only blame your fate for that."

Thud.

As he had said in the beginning of his fight with the Paladins, only one of them who was involved on that day—the day of Iliana's death—and that person was Caaden. She had been the Paladin who had stayed beside Eugene the longest in his past life.

He had also seen her dead body just a few meters away from Iliana on that day, thus indicating that Caaden had also been the one who had dealt the heaviest damage to Iliana.

Of course, Basil didn't actually hold any grudge on her—his grudge was on Eugene—but he couldn't spare anyone who was unfortunately with Eugene the moment he decided to kill him. He couldn't leave behind a single eyewitness.

"Master, the three students have been successfully taken care of."

Basil dematerialized his Magic Circles, then turned to the side to look at Kuzo, who was kneeling on the ground. Kuzo was full of injuries—his clothes were burned, but other than that, he was fine.

"Take this Catalyst."

"Thank you, Master!"

Taking a pill of Morning Dew that Basil gave him in his hands, Kuzo immediately gulped it down. He immediately felt his Core heating up, before it furiously absorbed Qi from the surrounding in the next moment.

"This is..." His body also warmed up as his injuries slowly but visibly healed. "Is this a High Grade Catalyst?" His eyes widened in shock, and he quickly turned his head to Basil.

"It's just an exceptional Upper Middle Grade Catalyst—not even close."

"To have such an effect on me... It's heaven defying, Master..." Realization suddenly dawned upon Kuzo, and he widened his eyes once again. "Is this a farewell gift, Master? I'll pay you back a hundred times, so let me remain your slave!"

Basil was already aware of Kuzo's rather exceptional devotion to him, but he couldn't hold his eyes from twitching at Kuzo's word. He scoffed softly, then waved his hand mildly at Kuzo.

"You are on the verge of breaking through to Green Core Stage. As your Master, of course, I want you to get stronger—that's what the Catalyst for."

"O-Oh! I'm glad, Master!" One might think that Kuzo was disappointed because he remained a slave, but his face really conveyed how genuinely happy he was.

Turning his gaze from his weird Assassin—he didn't want to call Kuzo his slave—Basil looked at the 3 meters tall Orc Warrior, who had somehow survived the fight with the Paladins.

—You are more capable than I thought, Demon.

—You are way stronger than I expected, Human.

They stared at each other silently: Basil looked at the Orc Warrior coldly, and the Orc Warrior looked at Basil cockily.

When Kuzo and the other Demons expected a fight to break between the two, the Orc Warrior laughed and Basil smirked silently.

—It was nice cooperating with you.

—It was fun cooperating with a sick human like you. Now, fulfill your promise!

The promise the Orc Warrior was referring to was to release them from the underground bunker after everything ended.

Basil nodded his head simply, then waved his hand lightly. "Let us not meet again." As Basil said it, the ground below the Demons shone in red light, while the ground below him and Kuzo shone in blue light. "Enjoy the explosion."

Flash!

As Basil and Kuzo disappeared from the underground bunker, the Demons remained there. The Orc Warrior, being the smartest Demon there, had realized what was about to happen to them, and he was panicking because of it.

—How dare you deceive us, lowly human?!

BOOM!

The bunker exploded in the next moment, erasing everything inside the bunker.

Basil, who had reached the surface, felt the ground rumbled while he was looking at the destroyed small village above the underground bunker coldly.

"Though I am not too fond of humans, I am still one ... I can't let you kill them on your whim."