Betrayal & Schemes(1)

"P-Poisoned? W-When?" The Duke was startled. Blood and internal organs left his mouth every time he coughed.

The young man that just appeared continued talking indifferently, "Before the ritual started I put mana poison inside the magic circle. Each time you absorbed the souls from the magic circle, you were absorbing a part of the poison. The amount you absorbed each time was negligible, so you did not notice it, but now that you absorbed enough, it has finally erupted, killing you slowly."

The Duke paled and staggered several steps back. Finally, he heaved a sigh, and his shoulders hunched.

"Son, why?"

"Do you need to ask?" The young man sneered, "Look at what you have done to the city. Do you think you are still suitable to be the Duke? You have become insane, father, so it's time for me to replace you."

The Duke fell silent. At some point, he stopped coughing and his face regained a bit of color.

"I always knew you were ambitious…"

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"...Benjamin. But I never thought you would betray your own father."

"Please, father. This would not have happened if you remembered your responsibilities as the Duke," The young man, who revealed to be Benjamin said indifferently, "Now, if you still have a bit of sanity left on you, stop resisting. The poison in your body doesn't have an antidote, and with how much it has spread now, whatever you try is useless. Just die quickly so I can become the new Duke and bring back peace to this place."

The Duke stared at his son with a trace of disappointment. Then, he chuckled, "My son, I know I'm going to die. I felt it when the poison first erupted. However, resisting is not useless. In fact, it already achieved its objective."

Benjamin frowned. But before he could understand what his father meant, blood-red mana started to ooze from the Duke's skin.

The mana was like a cursed flame that burned with sins. It seemed ominous and cruel, and carried the power of a Demigod.

Then, the Duke smiled, "My son, the little bit of time I gained while resisting the poison will be useful... to kill you!"

When these words sounded, the Duke roared. Instantly, his mana turned into a horrifying Dragon-like fiend that opened its mouth and attacked Benjamin!

The fiend was so powerful that our main character group paled. It had already surpassed the power of a Rank 10. It was an attack on the level of a Demigod!

However, Benjamin did not panic. When the dragon-like fiend was about to touch him, one of the clerics beside him opened his mouth.

"[Heavenly Flames]"

Instantly, a small white-hot flames was shot from the person's fingertips and completely ignited the dragon-like fiend whole. The flames burned so fiercely that the fiend the duke created was instantly turned into nothingness!

"What!?"

Before he can move, all of the Clerics raise their hands and casted their spells, unleashing tens of flaming balls of white all advancing towards the duke!

"CHURCH OF THE RISING SUN!" The Duke cried in fury and fear, creating a barrier of mana in front of him. The barrier managed to stop all of the white ball of flames, but it was destroyed in the process.

Behind the barrier, the Duke looked at one of the Clerics with bloodshot eyes.

"Archbishop! You were supposed to stop the other churches and organizations from interfering with the plan! I should have known you and my son betrayed us when the Church of the Golden Dawn and Midnight Order appeared here!"

"Betrayed you?" The cleric shook his head in response, "No, I don't think so. Our church never cooperates with despicable villains like the Church of Carnage. Bunch of lawless heretics that kill innocent lives and make use of something as vile as the Blight which you are currently using."

"YOU!" The Duke growled furiously, but then, he shook his head and started to laugh. "How expected of religious hypocrites like you! I should have never trusted your church's words... Are you going to help my son to take my place as the Duke?"

"Mr. Benjamin is the legitimate heir of the duchy. We are just doing what we need to do."

"Hehehehe... I see you came prepared." The duke chuckled self-deprecatingly.

At that moment, a voice came from the clouds.

"My lord!"

An injured man then appeared in front of the duke with a blood color spear in his hand. He was Yoga, the Demigod that had been fighting Samara, who also appeared beside the main characters. Even Terroriser had appeared at some point.

"Hey Brian, what happened to Mini?" Nogla asked his friend.

Terroriser grinned, "He just ran like the pussy he is."

"My lord, are you alright?" Yoga asked with concern. When he saw the Duke cough a mouthful of blood, he glared at Benjamin and the clerics of the Church of the Rising Sun in hatred. "Mr. Benjamin, do you know what you are doing!?"

"I'm just doing the right thing," Benjamin replied calmly, "Killing the monster that hurt the citizens of this city is my duty as the future duke. You should come to my side too, Yoga. Why would you follow a man without a future like my father?"

"Hahaha, you are crazy," Yoga laughed in disdain, "Are you doing this to become the new Duke? Mr. Benjamin, although I respect you, you can't be even one hundredth as good as your father when it comes to governing this duchy. I will never serve someone useless like you. I prefer to live on the deeper floor of the Dark realm rather than serve you!"

For the first time since he appeared, Benjamin lost his calmness. An angry expression appeared on his face, but instantly, he recovered his composure.

"Is it so? That is a shame. Although I was expecting something like that."

"Stop talking! Yoga," The duke growled, "Help me to kill this bastard!"

"As you order, my lord!" Yoga roared and kicked the ground, appearing in front of Benjamin in an instant!

But the Archbishop of the Church of the Rising Sun moved too. His index finger moved in a circle, creating a barrier in front of Yoga. Then, he waved his hand to create a sword of light that attacked.

But while Yoga was distracting the Archbishop, the Duke moved. With a wave of his hand, he summoned hundreds of blood-red spears.

"DIE!"

When Benjamin saw that, he shook his head.

"How pitiful."

Then, he unsheathed the sword on his waist.

...and slashed towards the spears.

The slash seemed strangely slow, but for some reason, it was completed before the spears could arrive in front of Benjamin. And when the slash finished, all the blood-red spears had been slashed into two.

Seeing this, the Duke opened his eyes wide. But this didn't get unnoticed by his son.

"Are you surprised? I broke through to the Demigod realm a few days ago. And unlike you who relied on a dirty and despicable method breakthrough, I did it by killing monsters in the Dungeon for many years now."

The Duke staggered another two steps, "I-Impossible... Y-You don't have that talent!"

Benjamin shook his head slowly and didn't bother to explain it, "Don't give me because I look young. I'm look like in my 20s but I'm 53 years old and you suppose to know that, father! Did you even forgot what is my birthday is? And why in the hell did you think I registered as an adventurer in the first place? Nah, whatever." he said in disdain, "Currently, the knights of the church of the Rising sun are helping the city guards and Adventurers kill the believers of the god of Carnage and the soldiers that allowed this atrocity. Give up, father. The battle has ended."

"You... Bastard!" The Duke snarled and created several more blood-red spears, but Benjamin just shook his head and took a step forward. That step put him in front of the Duke.

Calmly, Benjamin wielded his sword, destroying the blood-red spears around the Duke and stabbing towards his heart.

Spurt!

The sword pierced the Duke's heart, exiting through his back.

"Even if both of us are Demigods, I have been a bit much longer and more experienced than you. Moreover, with the poison in your body, you can't show even thirty percent of your strength. This is your end, father." Benjamin said.

"My lord!" Yoga cried, but he was being suppressed by the Archbishop. In the end, he could only watch how the Duke was killed.

The Duke vomited a mouthful of blood. He glared at his son with a look of rage, and then, he took a decision.

With a thought, he released the power of the creature in his chest! He let it go berserk!

But one second later, his eyes opened wide. A flash of realization appeared on his face. Staring at his son, he started to laugh in resignation.

"No, y-you motherfucker, don't."

But Benjamin's gaze was completely indifferent. Pulling back the sword in the chest of his father with his sword pulling the creature out of his chest.

Without giving him even half a second, Benjamin instantly cuts the creature to millions of pieces at near the speed that almost everyone barely even reacts.

After cutting the creature without leaving a trace, he put his sword back to his sheathe before he waved his hand again.

And the head of the duke flew away.

Ting!

The sword of Benjamin let out a soft metallic din when it returned to its sheath, breaking the silence after the duke was beheaded.

When the head of the duke fell to the ground, Yoga screamed.

"BENJAMIN!!!!!!"

His voice was filled with anger and hatred. His mana erupted uncontrollably, helping him to escape from the demigod of the church of the rising sun at the cost of an injury on his abdomen.

Then, he rushed towards Benjamin.

"DIE!"

But before he could reach him, several chains of light coiled around his arms and legs.

It was a spell from the Archbishop!

"GET LOST!" He bellowed, breaking the chains using brute force. But in the short instant when he was caught by the chains, he felt something piercing his chest.

It was Benjamin's sword.

"Ugh!" He grunted. His body stopped abruptly, and his eyes looked at the Benjamin in disbelief.

Benjamin pulled back his sword and looked at Yoga indifferently, "Shame. You are a good warrior, but too loyal to my father. If I let you live today, you will surely try to kill me later."

Yoga panted briefly and looked at the blood on his chest. Then...

"ARRRRRGHHHH!!!"

Ignoring his wound, he raised his spear swords and struck it towards Benjamin. But the injured Yoga could not be faster than Benjamin.

With a flash of light, Benjamin moved past Yoga, and Yoga's head flew through the air.

Just like that, another demigod had been killed.

The main characters looked at the scene with a complicated expression. Two demigods. Two people powerful enough to dominate a part of the world had died in one night.

At some point, Matilda's group had arrived too. They were also looking at the scene with surprised and confused looks.

After Benjamin killed Yoga, he put his sword back in its sheath and walked towards the Archbishop.

"Thank you for your help, Cardinal. How is the situation in the city?"

"Don't worry, Mr. Benjamin," The Archbishop of the Church of the Rising Sun nodded calmly, "The knights of the church are hunting these terrorists behind all of this. The situation is under control."

"Thank you, Archbishop." Benjamin smiled gratefully. Then, he turned towards Team 6. "Ah, Mr. Vanoss, been a while."

"Um... hi."

Then, turning his gaze towards the Sherene and Matilda, his expression became ice-cold.

"As for you, I will ask the headquarters of Midnight Order and the Church of the Golden Dawn for an explanation."

"An explanation?" Sherene, who had recovered enough to stand up again, asked with a frown.

Benjamin nodded indifferently, "That is right. The actions of your organizations tonight have contributed to the chaos in the city. Several good men died due to your rash actions."

The group was startled. One second later, Matilda's chilling voice sounded.

"What is the meaning of this, Mr. Benjamin? I guess the purpose of our actions is clear. Are you going to ignore our contributions!?"

"Your help, Miss Matilda, was unnecessary," Benjamin replied, "As you can see, we already had a plan to deal with the situation. Your actions instead only added to the chaos."

"Sophistry!" Matilda bellowed. But when she was going to continue speaking, a hand stopped her.

It was Sherene. She was looking at Benjamin and the people of the church of the Rising Sun with narrowed eyes.

"Stop it, Miss Matilda. Can't you understand the situation?"

Matilda was startled, but quickly, a look of realization appeared on her face. At the same time, Marcel in the background sighed.

The church of the Rising Sun had backed Benjamin to become the new Duke, so now Benjamin was giving all the credit of tonight to the church of the rising sun. At the same time, he took advantage of this opportunity to suppress the other two organizations.

Still, the situation was not so simple. When Marcel spied the conversation in Auspicious Night, he learned that an Archbishop of an unknown church was helping with the Duke's plan.

Now, he learned from the duke that the archbishop belonged to the church of the rising sun. And although in the end, the church of the rising sun did not truly cooperate in tonight's incident, he could not help but feel disgusted by them.

The church of the rising sun knew about what was going to happen tonight. Benjamin knew it too. But they did nothing to stop it. Instead, they used it for their own gain.

It was a scheme where Benjamin became the new duke and the church of the rising sun the second biggest winner.

As for the people that were sacrificed tonight? They were just helpless victims of a power struggle.

Sherene stared deeply at Benjamin before turning around, "Let's go back. Tonight's show has ended."

The others nodded. When they left the City Hall, Julian could not help but show his unwillingness.

"Are we really going to leave like this? So many people died tonight just for that bastard to become the Duke!"

Sherene, gazing at the night sky and the two moonlight with her green emerald eyes and opened her mouth, "Many innocent people die unjustly every day, Mr. Julian. This time at least, the main culprit was killed. As for Mr. Benjamin... Although I admit he is despicable, the truth is that he killed the Duke. We don't have any reason to find any evidence about his schemes, finding him guilty nor attacking him."

Hearing her words, Julian fell silent, unable to answer. Although he did not want to admit it, he knew Sherene was right.

The real world was like that.

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The next day, Orazvil City was shrouded by a gloomy atmosphere.

3,708,917 of people died during the night. Men, women, children, and elderlies; killed mercilessly.

As for the Adventurers Guild, about 80% of every adventurers sacrifice their lives on protecting the city.

Most of the church of Carnage's men were caught or killed in the end, but some of them escaped. The main culprit, a demigod or an ancient Demon named Pablo, was never found.

The son of the Duke, Benjamin Orazvil, announced that his father was partially responsible for the situation. According to him, his father became crazy because of his impending death and colluded with the villains of the church of carnage to commit a blood sacrifice and increase his lifespan.

Fortunately, Benjamin had discovered his plan and stopped him with the help of the church of the rising sun, foiling the dead duke's plans.

After explaining the situation, Benjamin announced he was going to become the new duke. He also thanked the Church of the Rising Sun for their timely assistance and criticized the Church of the Golden Dawn for adding more chaos to the city.

Finally, he announced that as thanks to the church of the rising sun for their timely assistance, he will make the church the official religion of the duchy.

Like that, the massacre of Orazvil City came to an end.