"Koranda's move is coming soon..."
Up to this point, Koranda had already shown many suspicious points. So, to prevent complications from arising, she would most likely act very soon.
For example, tonight.
Loren also didn't plan to expose Koranda. If he truly attracted too much attention, his own actions would beco much more troubleso, like seizing the Justice Card.
If Koranda died, Loren just needed to say the word, and the Justice Card would still be his. However, by then, many people would have seen the Justice Card. Even if they had no idea what it was, the Observer's symbol on the back of the Tarot cards wasn't sothing convenient for others to see.
The existence of the Perpetual Observer was a taboo that surpassed even the Witches. Even for Loren, getting involved could very likely lead to trouble.
Therefore, Loren's plan was to go along with her sche, wait for Koranda to make her move. She would definitely find a way to deal with the other Church mbers, then focus on dealing with Loren. That would be Loren's opportunity.
Kill her directly, then take the Justice Card.
...
Loren waited all night, but Koranda did not make a move. Instead, she was diligently cleaning up the Greed Worshippers, even searching the entire Royal Capital.
Even with overwhelming combat power, the Church still lost quite a few people. After being busy all night, the morial service was scheduled for the next morning. The Church originally intended to invite Loren to preside over it, but Loren found an excuse to decline.
If Koranda was really going to act, a crowded place like a morial service would be the perfect opportunity. So, Loren wouldn't put himself in a dangerous situation. He just had Gwen infiltrate the morial service.
Loren himself stayed hidden at ho. He created so more small items imbued with the Goddess of Love's power. These things had no actual effect; they simply carried the Goddess of Love's power.
With these, even if sacrificial rituals started simultaneously in multiple locations, Loren could respond imdiately.
Given Koranda's level of caution, when it truly ca to the final mont, she definitely wouldn't start the sacrificial ritual in just one place. For this reason, Loren had already distributed these items in advance to Movila's clones. If sothing really happened, she could imdiately throw these items into the sacrificial rituals.
By now, Loren had already equipped all his gear and had the Witches hide.
During this ti, Loren also found ti to construct a hidden safe room in the basent. It wasn't very realistic to set up physical protection in a short ti, but magical protection was maxed out.
Even if the entire villa was destroyed by a sacrificial ritual, the basent wouldn't be affected in the slightest.
Only one crow, transford by Movila, was left inside the house to report the situation to Loren at all tis.
"Many Church mbers have arrived at the border of the Gedlan Kingdom, seemingly guarding the gates to prevent the mastermind from escaping..."
"Is that really the case? They wouldn't be trying to sabotage my rituals, would they?"
Loren was sowhat suspicious of their motives.
On the surface, there seed to be no problem with them doing this. But Loren was well aware that the rituals he used to resist the sacrificial rituals were set up at the edge of the Gedlan Royal Capital. Loren had reason to suspect that after discovering this, Koranda interrogated so Church mbers who participated in setting up the rituals, naly the Bishop's subordinates.
After all, the casualty list from the morial service included many of the Bishop's n. Compared to others, the mortality rate among the Bishop's subordinates was suspiciously high. Loren couldn't help but suspect there was a problem here.
"You guessed correctly, they're moving!"
As soon as Loren finished speaking, Movila reported their next action.
"They accurately located the places where you set up the rituals and began destroying them... Soone tried to stop them, but they were directly killed!"
"As expected..."
Loren stood up, gripping the hilt of the Requiem.
This was happening simultaneously in multiple places. Their organizational strength was terrifyingly strong. At the sa ti, they had almost destroyed most of the rituals Loren had sent people to set up. Even if they didn't destroy them all, the rituals would have lost their effectiveness.
"Gray Mist suddenly appeared at the morial service, a large group of people were instantly devoured... No, it's not that simple, several hands stretched out from the Gray Mist!"
"Are those hands very large, similar in color to the Gray Mist, with many densely packed mouths in the middle..."
"Yes..."
"Those are Hands of Greed, summoned through the God of Greed's ritual. The combat power of the Hands of Greed is not low. It seems this is Koranda's confidence in dealing with the Pope and the others..."
Loren walked out the door. Movila continued reporting the situation:
"The sa thing is happening in various places across the entire kingdom, with the Royal Capital being particularly severe..."
"Begin your action..."
Loren pushed open his front door. This ti, he had already carved the runes needed for the ritual in front of his doorstep in advance, so he didn't need to take off his black robe again.
Only the rituals in the Royal Capital were destroyed, so Loren could still use rituals to suppress the sacrificial rituals in other places.
Even if not for the sake of the common people, simply to prevent Koranda from growing stronger through the sacrifices, Loren would block the rituals.
Just like last ti, Loren stood on the runes and activated the ritual. It was at this mont that Gray Mist suddenly materialized in front of Loren.
"Why is there still a sacrificial ritual here..."
Upon seeing the Gray Mist, although Loren didn't understand, he still responded imdiately. He instantly threw a crystal imbued with the Goddess of Love's power into the Gray Mist. With these items, Loren didn't even need to throw out the True Love Amulet.
After the crystal entered the Gray Mist, it emitted a series of teeth-grating "crack" sounds, as if soone was trying to forcefully bite a diamond with their teeth, but the result was their own teeth shattering.
After devouring the crystal, the Gray Mist didn't slowly retreat like before; it directly dissipated.
"Your backup plans are more nurous than I imagined."
Koranda appeared before Loren. Her expression was very unpleasant. Things had now gone beyond Koranda's expectations, so she had no choice but to appear personally.
"I considered that you might have other ways to stop the sacrificial rituals, but I didn't expect it to be this easy. At the very least, it should have cost you sothing."
Loren didn't reply. Instead, he questioned Koranda:
"Actually, your injuries aren't as severe as you made them appear, right? Whether it was crouching to tie your shoelaces at my doorstep or unintentionally spilling blood, it was all to set up a ritual, correct?
"The main body of the ritual isn't here. What you set up was just a transfer ritual, which is why it was so easily dealt with."
Koranda instantly flashed to a position right in front of Loren. Magic was already charged in her hand—precisely the Flesh Bloom she often used:
"What if you know? The scope of your ritual this ti far exceeds the last one; the burden must be significant, right? So, do you choose to sacrifice yourself for others and continue the ritual, or abandon the ritual and let those innocent victims be sacrificed?"
Koranda didn't dismantle the rituals in other places not because she didn't know about them, but because she wanted to keep those rituals to interfere with Loren, thereby seizing the opportunity to strike at him.
"Why would you think this ritual has a burden?"
By the ti Koranda reacted, the Requiem was already stabbed into her neck.
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