Although Isabella had been mentally prepared, the scene that appeared in her field of vision was still far beyond her expectations.
"This...this is really incredible..." she sighed from the bottom of her heart.
However, Allen, who was standing next to her, remained calm and composed, as if he had already guessed such a situation.
Compared with the previous pictures with gaudy colors, dense portraits, and depressing images, Master Mikael's real works obviously look much more comfortable, and his brushwork is more smooth and natural.
The bald, red-skinned, scar-covered god of darkness has long since disappeared.
What replaced it was the image of the God of Darkness, which was exactly the same as the statue enshrined in the Temple of Darkness, with a handsome appearance that was difficult to describe in mortal words.
But that wasn't what surprised Isabella the most.
What surprised her most was that in this mural, the God of Darkness and the Goddess of Light stood side by side. They did not look like life-and-death enemies who had been fighting for many years, but comrades in arms who were fighting together.
"Lord Messenger, this..."
"The situation here is more complicated," Allen sighed softly, "I can't remember it clearly."
After he finished speaking, he raised his right hand again, and black mist emerged, changing the mural back to its original appearance.
Isabella blinked, looked at the mural that had returned to its original state, and then looked at Allen next to her.
"Sir Messenger, why do you want to change it back?" She asked politely and curiously, "This is an opportunity for our Dark Temple to rectify its name... I think, with your relationship with Bishop Howard, it should be no problem to keep it.
…”
Allen raised a finger to stop her from continuing.
“Now is not the time,” he said calmly, “You know, the reason why I planned this trial is to completely shake the Braden citizens’ faith in the Church of Light.
"Because of this, I cannot make my relationship with the Dark Temple public to the public yet."
Isabella shook her head, expressing confusion.
Allen smiled and explained:
"Under such circumstances, if my identity is just an ordinary person, then my position is consistent with the believers of the Church of Light. I am the embodiment of justice, a hero who stands up, and a warrior who exposes scars;
"But if my identity is the messenger of the Dark Temple, then this trial will lose its original meaning and will be understood by the public as a conspiracy used by the Dark Temple to deal with the Light Church. After this, the Light Church uses the names of the victims of the conspiracy to
The identity continues to confuse right and wrong and deceive the people, and our efforts during this period will be in vain."
Hearing this, Isabella stopped asking any more questions.
But for some reason, she felt that the appearance of the messenger in front of her was very similar to the God of Darkness on the short-lived mural just now.
"Maybe this is just an illusion..." she thought secretly.
I heard Allen continue to say: "Isabella, hold my arm, I will take you somewhere."
"Yes." Isabella nodded and followed suit.
Immediately, the shining hexagram pattern appeared on the ground again, and the two people gradually disappeared into the room.
…………
Capital, dungeon.
After the trial, Archbishop Yaconelga was escorted by the bailiffs and placed in the death row.
This cell was located deep underground. As he imagined, it was dark, damp, and lifeless.
The space here is small and depressing, with only a few dim kerosene lamps as light sources. Under the weak light, the shadow of the dense barbed wire surrounding it looks particularly eerie.
This dungeon is very famous in the Braden Kingdom because it once imprisoned many famous figures. A king who was forced to abdicate, two deposed queens, five princes who once held national power, and more than ten people who once
Prime Ministers have all stayed in this dungeon.
In the past few decades, in order to climb to a high position, Aknelga has also used all kinds of tricks to send more than one superior or competitor to this prison.
But he never thought that one day he would have to spend the rest of his life here.
"Things that begin with injustice must be consolidated with sin (1)," Archbishop Nerga sighed silently when he was put in the cell. "Perhaps this is the punishment given to me by the goddess of light."
When the bailiff left, the kerosene lamp went out and the prison fell into darkness.
An unfamiliar darkness.
A frightening darkness.
Archbishop Nerga has not experienced the feeling of being in darkness for too long.
Hagia Sophia is a bright building that shines in the sunlight during the day and is bright under the moonlight at night.
The light of the church gave him an inexplicable sense of security.
He felt that only by staying in the glory of Hagia Sophia could he sleep peacefully, and the ghosts of those who had been killed by him in the past would not come to trouble him.
Because of this, when he arrived in the dungeon today, he realized that he was more afraid of the dark than he thought.
"Darkness..." he muttered, "bloody darkness..."
Unknowingly, a strange thought came to his mind. Ever since he took office, he has been determined to kill all the believers in the Dark Temple. Is it because he wants to set an example and promote the belief of the Goddess of Light, or is it because he is hiding in the dark temple?
Your deepest fear of the dark?
At this moment, he suddenly saw a shining six-pointed star appear on the floor of the cell. Then, accompanied by a bright magical halo, two people appeared in front of him.
The first thing Nelga saw was Alan York. He was still the same as during the trial, wearing black clothes, handsome appearance and cold expression.
The only difference is that Allen's eyes are not blue at this time, but black.
Then, Nelga moved her eyes towards Allen and saw a tall and beautiful woman with long silver hair.
Then he was shocked.
"You...you..." Nerga pointed at the silver-haired woman and said in a trembling voice, "You are the saint of the Dark Temple...you are Isabella!"
When he recognized Isabella, he almost reflexively called the guards, wanting to quickly put this evil believer into prison and send her to the stake.
But he quickly realized that he was in prison, a loser and a prisoner.
In just one day, he lost the power to order soldiers.
"Exactly." Isabella said in a naughty tone with a mocking smile on her face.
Beside her, Allen sneered and said: "Nerga, don't even think about calling the soldiers. I have sealed this cell with a magical barrier. No one can enter the cell without my consent."
You can’t even go out.”
"Divine enchantment..." Upon hearing this familiar term, Archbishop Nerga sighed helplessly.
However, after a moment, he suddenly realized a serious problem: "How come you two appear together? Are you Allen too..."
Nelga originally guessed that Allen was also a believer of the God of Darkness, but he noticed that Saint Isabella was always standing half a step behind Allen, and the way she looked at Allen seemed to
Full of awe.
If he remembered correctly, within the Dark Temple, the high priest and the saint had the same status. They were both leaders of the Dark Temple. Only the legendary "messenger" could have a status superior to the two.
In addition, when he used the golden piece of paper to check Allen's identity, the strange black mist in the fireplace also made him doubtful.
A bold guess suddenly appeared in his mind.
"Are you the messenger of the God of Darkness?" He stared closely at Allen's black eyes.
"What do you think?" Allen asked with a smile, noncommittal.
Nelga felt a pain in her heart.
He finally knew where his retribution came from.
It turns out that for every blood debt he has committed before, someone will eventually come to demand compensation!
"Alan York, I thought you were a gentleman, a warrior who dared to fight injustices for the common people," he hissed, "I didn't expect you to collude with the followers of the evil god! You are not qualified to judge me! You are not qualified to judge the Archbishop of the Church of Light!
"
"Trial," Allen chuckled and shook his head, "I don't want to judge you. That is Howard's business. Besides, the trial is over. You will soon become a sinner of the Church of Light and be burned at the stake.
.”
"Then you now"
"I'm coming to you now, and I don't want to discuss with you anything related to faith, justice, regulations... these abstract concepts, they will only complicate simple problems," Allen bent down slightly and stared into his eyes.
, said to him, "In contrast, for the Dark Temple, 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth' is the best way to deal with you."
When Nelga and Allen's black eyes looked at each other, he only felt countless illusions surging in his mind.
He saw the statue of the God of Darkness falling to the ground and turning into countless fragments;
He saw the black Gothic buildings engulfed in flames on the white snow;
He saw the people gathering in front of the deliberately vilified God of Darkness, insulting and abusing him;
He saw the knights of the Church of Light wearing helmets and armor rushing into the dark temples and arbitrarily killing the unarmed believers of the God of Darkness inside;
He saw the dark saint Isabella who was stabbed several times on the battlefield and bleeding profusely;
He saw "Crazy Axe" Ariel, who was covered in blood and crazy;
…
In the end, the picture stayed at decades ago.
At that time, Yak Nelga was still a young boy in a small village.
The small village is located on the northern border of the kingdom. The weather is cold, the land is barren, and the villagers are struggling to make ends meet.
Because of its remote location, there are usually only two types of visitors there: priests of the Church of Light and knights of the Church of Light.
The former is responsible for preaching and the latter is responsible for collecting taxes.
Because of the existence of the former, Nelga has known since she was a child that the goddess of light is righteous and the god of darkness is evil;
Because of the existence of the latter, although Nelga believed in the goddess of light, she rarely had enough to eat.
For this reason, when he was young, he specifically asked the visiting priest: "Why do I believe in the goddess so devoutly, but I am still often hungry?"
The priest replied: "Because you are still young, and your faith is not pious enough. When you grow up, if you become a clergyman like me, you will not have to pay taxes, and you can even collect taxes from others."
From then on, Nelga kept these words in mind and regarded "becoming a clergyman of the Church of Light" as his primary goal.
Then, one day, a group of sloppily dressed people in black came to this small village.
According to the priest's description, Nelga knew that these people came from the evil Dark Temple.
The one holding the mirror at the head is the high priest of the Dark Temple, the worst one among them.
Nel was horrified.
Especially when the worst high priest handed him a piece of bread, he felt that he was about to be abducted by the devil.
But he didn't dare to refuse, and even pretended to be happy.
Because he was afraid that if he refused, these evil god believers would skin him and eat his flesh, as the priests said.
So, in the next few days, he followed the people from the Dark Temple. Although he pretended to be calm on his face, he was extremely nervous in his heart.
Although during this period, the Dark Temple not only did no evil, but even took good care of him.
Finally, when the team approached the Northern Tribunal in the ice field, Nelga met the priest who had told him the story.
He slipped out of the team without thinking and tipped off.
The Church of Light took the opportunity to set up an ambush and severely damaged the Dark Temple. The high priest was also seriously injured in the battle.
At the end of the battle, Nelga picked up a broken scimitar from the ground, cut off the head of the seriously injured high priest, carried it, and limped towards the team of the Church of Light...
…
He knows that this merit is enough to prove his pious faith and enough for him to join the Church of Light...
…
Now, many years have passed, although Nelga has long understood that the believers of the Black Temple are actually ordinary people, not the man-eating demons in the story.
But instead of letting them go, Nerga intensified his efforts to kill them all.
Because he has always been very afraid that one day, they will come to him for revenge.
Just like today, come to him for revenge.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
…………
Nelga took a deep breath and finally returned from the illusion to reality.
At this moment, he only felt that his legs were weak, his head was dizzy, and his temples were aching.
Then he raised his head and saw Allen's deep black eyes.
I only heard Allen say softly:
"The goddess of light has set seven punishments for your seven deadly sins, and I also intend to give you seven kinds of fear for your seven evil deeds.
“Because of your slander and slander, you will fear your words;
“Because you repay kindness with evil, you will fear food;
“Because of your double-dealing, you will be afraid of emotions;
“You will fear the gods because you destroy their images;
“You will fear the temperature because of your wanton arson;
“Because you kill innocent people, you will fear death;
"Because you blaspheme the darkness, you will fear the darkness.
"These fears will take root in the depths of your soul. Even after you die and go to the purgatory of the goddess of light, they will follow you all the way and never fade away."
Allen's voice was very light and plain, but Nelga felt that every word had a mysterious power, engraved on his own bone marrow, imprinted in the depths of his soul, like an invisible shackles that he could not break free for life.
.
After he finished speaking, Allen stood up straight again and said to Isabella beside him: "Let's go!"
As he spoke, a bright six-pointed star appeared on the ground, and the two figures gradually disappeared.
The wind is light and the clouds are calm, and I no longer care.
Yaqnelga collapsed on the ground, looking at Allen's leaving back, and said in a hoarse voice:
"So you... you are not the messenger of the God of Darkness. The messenger can never have such authority. You are..."
Before he finished speaking, Nelga felt a strong fear sweep through his body, making him tremble involuntarily.
The source of fear is what he said.
"Because of your slander and rumors, you will be afraid of your words."
Allen's words took effect.
Every word he said was a rule, an oracle, and an inviolable law.
Nelga wailed in despair, not daring to say another word.
At this moment, an urge arose in his heart to hit him against the prison wall.
But as soon as this idea came up, it was completely suppressed by another strong fear.
"Because you kill innocent people, you will die in fear."
Allen's words echoed in his mind again.
Nelga pulled her hair and screamed like a wild beast.
The thought of "suicide" was like a restless beast, rampaging in his heart, but was stopped time and again by extreme fear.
In the violent mood swings, he will be irritated and become extremely excited at first, but as time goes by, he will become exhausted and discouraged.
About ten minutes later, it was time for dinner, and the jailer brought him a piece of black bread on a plate.
Seeing this bread, he remembered the black bread that the former high priest of the Dark Temple had given him. Unknowingly, panic arose in his heart. He jumped up in fright and knocked over the plate in the jailer's hand with a slap.
"Because you repay kindness with evil, you will fear food."
Allen's voice echoed again.
With such fear, he spent a night in extreme hunger, his stomach growled non-stop, and his body became limp and weak.
But hunger was not his greatest source of suffering.
What caused him the most pain was the darkness.
Opening his eyes, closing his eyes, burying his head, covering his face... No matter what, his vision was completely filled with darkness.
Boundless and nowhere to hide.
He grasped the iron railing with his spasmodic hands, suppressing the frightened sobs in his throat. His body could not help but tremble, and big tears rolled out of his eyes.
But he didn't dare to speak, didn't dare to beg for mercy, and didn't even dare to commit suicide.
In his mind, there was only this sentence left
"Because you blaspheme the darkness, you will fear the darkness."
…………
(1) From Shakespeare's "Macbeth".
ps: This is a two-in-one chapter of 5,000 words. For the sake of the continuity of the plot, there will be no chapters.
ps1: Thank you for the 20,000 tip from Ai Wan for a walk in the breeze and drizzle (it feels really good to pay it all in one go).
ps3: Please give me monthly votes and recommended votes!