"How is the situation?" Bloed asked.
Charise shook her head with a grave face.
"Very bad. We never expected the duke to take such a drastic measure, so he caught us unprepared."
"I can't believe the duke is so crazy." Madeline gritted her teeth in rage. "Does he think the churches will let something like this pass? He will be hanged like the criminal he is!"
"Quite the opposite." Bloed shook his head. "I fear the duke will end like a hero after everything ends."
Charise, Madeline, and the others were startled and looked at Bloed without understanding what he was speaking about.
Bloed sighed. "… I have been thinking about it for a while. No matter what the goal of the duke is, using living humans as sacrifices will turn him into the enemy of the world. I don't think he is idiotic enough to do something like that. Thus, he must surely have something he is relying on."
Charise, Madelina, and Javelin furrowed their brows in thoughts, but they were unable to connect the dots so quickly.
Instead, it was Liu Ying who seemed to have noticed something.
"The church of slaughter?"
"Yes." Bloed nodded. "Think about it. We know that the duke and the church of the slaughter are allies, but the duke will never admit something like that. If my guess is not wrong after the duke accomplishes his goal, he will send his men to kill the members of the church of slaughter, he probably will go to the frontlines personally, fighting heroically and ending like a hero."
"Are you saying that the duke is planning to betray the church of slaughter? But these crazy men are not that stupid, how can they be fooled so easily?" Javelin asked.
Charise shook her head with an expression of realization. "No, the church of the slaughter knows about the duke's plan. In fact, they agreed to it."
"Huh?"
"Think about it, Mr. Javelin." Charise smiled softly, but an ice-cold rage was burning behind her smile. "Why would the church of slaughter agree to cooperate with the duke? What did the duke offer to them?"
"You can't mean…!" Madeline and Javelin were aghast.
Charise nodded. "The duke offered his citizens and the destruction of the city as payment. After everything ends, the duke will end like a hero, while the church of the slaughter will retreat with few casualties and its name will resound through the continent as one of the biggest dens of criminals, growing quickly in power. It's a win-win situation for both of them."
Bloed nodded. Although there were still several parts of the puzzle he did not understand yet, he had now a basic outlook of everything.
Both the duke and the church of slaughter were acting in a sick play where only the innocent citizens will suffer.
That was so…
"… repugnant." Liu Ying finished Bloed's thought.
Still, there was something Bloed did not understand.
What is the duke planning to get with all of this? Why did he do something so cold-blooded and risky?
Why did he need so many sacrifices?
What about the Blight?
No matter how much Bloed thought about it, this plan was not something someone sane would agree to. It could go wrong in many ways.
And how Bernard and the other people in Auspicious Night fit in this plan?
Probably with the same doubts than Bloed, Charise sighed.
"Unfortunately, we did not manage to get any information from Bernard. So we will have to do with what we have now."
"What is the plan then?" Madeline stared at Charise and Bloed. Charise waved her hand softly, creating a magic circle that turned into a miniature tridimensional image of the city.
"We are not sure about the duke's plans, but it's obvious the giant magic circle is the key. This magic circle has covered the entire city, therefore, it needs a very powerful source of power. According to my calculations, the main node of the spell should be here." Charise pointed to the city hall. "If we destroy it, the spell should stop."
Bloed thought for a moment and looked at Charise. "Can you show me the spell they are using?"
Charise was startled, but she quickly agreed. With a wave of her hand, the projection of the city vanished and was replaced by a tridimensional image of a magic circle.
"According to my observations, this should be the spell they are using. I have seen this spell several times before, so I'm almost one hundred percent sure."
Bloed frowned briefly. He had been analyzing the spell since it appeared, and if he was not mistaken...
"Regina, did you see the whole magic circle when you were on the clouds? Can you show it to us?"
Regina thought for a moment before extending her hand. Instantly, a magic circle made of energy appeared over her hand. But the group noticed that although this magic circle was similar to the one Charise showed, it was slightly more complex.
"As expected." Bloed nodded and observed the spell fixedly. The next instant, his mechanical blue eyes lit up dimly, and his ESP ability, [Enhanced Bran Capacity] was put into action.
"What are you doing?" Charise wanted to ask, but she was stopped by Regina and Liu Ying.
Not even three seconds later, Bloed eyes returned to normal.
He then asked Regina to use energy to make a map of the city and pointed to three places. One was the city hall, and the other two were in the north and south of the city respectively.
"Charise is right. The magic circle that is being used was the one she showed us, but it has been modified slightly. It has three main nodes instead of one. If we destroy only one or two of them, the remaining one will still keep the spell working, fueling the spell without a problem."
The group was startled.
"Are you sure?"
Bloed nodded.
"My knowledge of magic circles is first-rate. Although I can't use magic, I'm sure not many people in the world know more about magic circles than me."
The group looked at Bloed in astonishment. What he just did was beyond just 'first-class'.
He literally decoded a spell he saw for the first time and found its weakness in just three seconds!
However, something like that was not difficult for Bloed. Bloed's ESP ability was perfectly suited for this kind of analysis, plus his knowledge about magic circles was gotten from Chorius's library, the demigod bird they met before leaving the Exiled Lands. Each book in Chorius's library was incredibly valuable, and the knowledge in them was very depth. In other words, Bloed's theoretical foundations on magic were very solid.
Normally, Charise and the others would have found it hard to believe that someone of Bloed's age could do something like this, but they had already gotten used to Bloed's unusualness. Moreover, someone who a demigod called master surely must have one or two things he was exceptional at.
"In other words, we need to destroy the three nodes if we wish to stop everything, huh." Charise frowned briefly.
Obviously, the three nodes would be strongly protected. Destroying the three was going to be a difficult task.
Fortunately, the number of demigods in this place matched the targets.
"Mr. Bloed, Miss Regina, your group will take care of the node in the north. Mr. Sebastian, you and Moonlight Glow will destroy the node in the south."
"Are you not afraid of me betraying you guys?" Sebastian, who had been silent until now, stared at Charise coldly.
"You can try," Charise smiled gently. "But I hope you are prepared to bear the consequences."
Sebastian grunted, reluctantly accepting Charise's orders.
"Then, the church of fate will take care of the node in the city hall," Charise said. "Any objection?"
When she saw nobody objecting, Charise nodded.
"Then, start moving. We can't let these villains succeed."
With these words, the operation tonight started.
...
P4TRE0N: patr-eon.com/aidnovels