They

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Duke Rimmenwolfe's expression darkened.

"It's very simple my Lord." The dark haired man said. "We need you to bring the torch to the rebellion against the Church."

"And to die a futile death?" Duke Rimmenwolfe dismissed the idea. "I would rather spend my life trying to protect my people…"

"Do you really think you are protecting your people when you are letting the exact enemy you fight against be their figure of superior authority?"

The man chuckled.

"You don't have to be such a coward, my Lord."

His dark, glittering eyes caused Duke Rimmenwolfe to be intrigued.

'Not to mention getting in here, he talks so confidently about defying the Church as if it were a simple concept.'

"Just where do you get this confidence from?" Duke Rimmenwolfe gave up and invited the man to have a seat.

"The Church has nearly seized all assets of the Dukedom, has the power to throw the people against us, and an army of Knights with swords pointed at our necks."

Duke Rimmenwolfe laughed in self-mockery. He was considered as a competent Lord, yet he let the Church steal away his people right in front of him.

He did not consider himself worthy of being a ruler, he would have killed himself in shame a long time ago if not for his family.

"Duke Rimmenwolfe." The dark haired man sat across the table. "You are an excellent leader. The problem is you are a lone man with a few knights against a kingdom of believers."

"But here is the problem, all the other nobles feel the same way you do, since all communications between nobles are interfered with by the Church, you can't help but feel isolated and alone."

"The Church uses this to pose a sense of superiority by insisting that you are alone."

"And what are you getting at with this?" Duke Rimmenwolfe was patiently listening to the man, all his points seemed very convincing so far.

"Alas, my Lord." The man smiled. "You are not alone."

"What do you mean?" Duke Rimmenwolfe sarcastically asked. "Of course I am not alone, my Knights are there to support me!"

"Other than that, my Lord." The man chuckled. "Who else is there for you that you are aware of?"

"Well…" The Duke thought about his butler, but remembered that the Butler was a devout believer of the Church.

His children were studying at the capital, his wife was a bothersome thing that married him for political purpose.

He had no one else but his Knights.

"Ah…" Duke Rimmenwolfe felt the sense of loneliness in him that had pervaded him ever since. "I really was a fool…"

"Lord Rimmenwolfe, please don't worry too much." The man laughed heartily at Duke Rimmenwolfe's sad face.

"There are four other organizations in your territory that have been trying to help House Claris even decades back."

Duke Rimmenwolfe narrowed his eyes at this statements

"Which organizations…?"

"The slums, the Dark Ones, the House of Commerce, and of course, yours truly, my Lord." The man smiled. "We had been waiting long for a chance such as this to strike back at the Church."

Duke Rimmenwolfe's smile went stiff.

"Just, who are you exactly?"

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Drop the stones!" Rodric ordered.

The ex-prisoners threw rocks all around the Knights non-stop.

The barrier mages only used their magic to protect the Knights and soldiers against the burning oil.

Mana was very finite and was a very precious resource for fights. Sometimes, entire battles were decided by how much mana the other side's mages had to spare.

With seven mages who were not doing rotations, the Knights' side could not put up a barrier against the endless stones thrown by the ex-prisoners and the soldiers and knights would have to rely on shields and armor to protect against the stones so the barrier mages can conserve mana in case the burning oil drops down again.

Rodric felt proud that he had managed to outwit the enemy in the fight.

But that did not last long.

"Rodric!" One of the ex-prisoners came running at him. "Enemy Reinforcemments have appeared at the rear!"

"Then just throw stones at them!" Rodric said as he handed a few stones the others had chiseled off the thick stone walls.

"But Rodric!" The man said. "They have crossbows and fire mages!"

"WHAT?!" Rodric cursed.

Fire mages were unparalleled at ranged combat if one was in the defensive position. They did not have the best range but they could melt through armor and bake soldiers manning the battlements.

Rodric could almost feel his body going cold when there was another ex-prisoner that came up to him and spoke.

"Rodric." The man nodded. "It's time to go."

Rodric breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good, prepare to move out using the emergency tunnels, meet up with Lucas at the Southern Air ducts and find a place for us to hide." Rodric ordered.

The two ex-prisoners nodded and ran off to inform the others and soon, the barrage of stones subsided into nothing and they poured the last of the burning oil before hitting the tunnels and ran off south.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sir Rodwell walked along the alleyways of the residential area and saw a bunch of Templar Knights standing guard in front of the Church being swarmed by believers of the Sun God.

"MY LORD, PLEASE! WE COULD BARELY BREATHE!" The people were trying to push away the knights into the Church.

"THE CHURCH IS WITHIN THE PROTECTION OF THE SUN GOD!" Another commoner yelled. "SURELY THE MERCIFUL SUN GOD CAN SPARE US SOME AIR!"

"YES!"

"SUN GOD!"

"LET US IN!"

"PLEASE! MY DAUGHTER IS…"

"SAVE US!"

It did not take long before one of the people kicked away the Templar Knight and the Knight retaliated by using fire magic and completely vaporized civilians around him.

Sir Rodwell's face went stiff.

It took the civilians a few seconds to realize what happened and went into a rage, throwing punches and kicking the Templar Knights.

The Templar Knight was about to use his magic again when a crossbow bolt was suddenly lodged to his throat and he was pommeled by angry and desperate civilians.

Rodwell looked behind him and saw a lady wearing a cloak, dark hair poked below her ears and her dark eyes glimmered with mischief and satisfaction.

She didn't even try to hide the crossbow on her hand.

"Sir Rodwell if I am correct." The lady curtsied elegantly with her cloak. "If I am correct, you should be on your way to the former grand magus' house?"

Rodwell was taken aback by this.

"You're all part of this too?!" Rodwell could not help but exclaim.

"Everyone is all part of this." The lady laughed softly. "Everyone hasn't realized it yet though."

Rodwell looked at the civilians who were ramming their shoulders at the door with two dead Templar knights at the sides.

'The civilians were not informed that the main vent was blocked and that air supply was running low.'

Rodwell thought.

'It was done so that it would not cause a panic among civilians…'

"Now that I think about it, the civilians were not informed that the Church controlled the mast majority of the Auxiliary Altars and Auxiliary vents…"

Rodwell gave the lady a suspicious look.

The lady put her hands up and shrugged.

"Not me." She shook her head.

"They had apparently overheard a Templar Knight complain about such things when he was having a headache while walking around in the low-airflow regions of the suburbs."

"What was the Templar Knight doing in the suburbs?" Rodwell was confused, Templar Knights would never abandon their luxury and patrol in such a dreary place.

"Reportedly, the Church dispatched a few dozen knights to search for what they so call 'Demonic Child'." The lady spat hatefully. "As if it was our fault we were born with hair and eyes in the shade they hate most."

"Seriously…" Rodwell rubbed his head. "How long have you been planning this?"

The lady gave him a naughty smirk and laughed at him.

"We've been planning a lot of scenarios and situations like these for generations, each year the plan is revised an updated." The lady proudly spoke.

"If you had the power to defy the Church for generations, why did you wait all this time to act?" Rodwell was slightly angry at how they watched thousands of people die without them doing anything bout it.

"We didn't have the power to defy the Church until now." The lady blinked her eyes innocently.

"Then what gave you the power now?" Rodwell asked, puzzled.

"I don't know." The lady shrugged. "They said it was an enchanter and a shadow. Not that I know what in the world is a 'shadow'."

"Seriously…." Rodwell grimaced.

'Just how long had we been fighting the Church alone and here comes these people that just bullies the Church in the shadows…'

Rodric could not help squeeze his hand into a fist at the thought.

'Just who are they…'