Chapter 2844: Loot Lost

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Three Mischief Encampment

"Shit," I cursed as I severed the arm I had used to wield the blade of Breath of Erosion, cutting off its soul pathways before regrowing them from scratch. I made sure no residue remained.

Dredre could have cleansed it cleanly and painlessly, but I didn’t have the luxury of time—I needed to secure my spoils before any unforeseen interference made that impossible. Unlike Peyote whose entire faction was destroyed for a millennium now, Konjur and the Emissary had the backing of the entire Faith Order.

Once my arm had fully regenerated, I turned my attention to Konjur. He was still resisting, doing everything he could to slow the erosion eating away at his divinity. Even now, he refused to give up. It was obvious what he was waiting for—reinforcements from the Faith Order.

I had already ensured he couldn’t call for help making use of the Sandalphon’s song. But that likely wasn’t the only way. Just as he had sensed the Emissary’s distress when the flow of faith from the Card World to their headquarters was disrupted, the Faith Order could very well have realized that something was wrong with him.

I didn’t know how, and I couldn’t be certain—but I had a feeling my troubles with the Faith Order wouldn’t end with Konjur and the Emissary of Light.

"If you had Breath of Erosion, why didn’t you use it from the start?" Konjur asked the moment my gaze settled on him. He had suddenly grown talkative now that his life was on the line. Then again, he had always been talkative—only now, it was too obvious because of the desperation in his demeanour.

"If you’re asking something that obvious, I’m guessing you’re desperate to stall for time," I replied with a sigh. My earlier hunch felt clearer by the second. Trouble from the Faith Order was far from over.

Which meant I had to finish things here—fast.

Even though Breath of Erosion was the perfect counter to faith, the only reason I had Konjur pinned was because of the Sandalphon’s song. It severed his control over faith, making it impossible for him to consciously use his faith. There was still a portion born from pure devotion that moved on instinct to protect him—but without his control, it could only react, not act.

The truth was simple: Konjur was at my mercy because of the combination of Breath of Erosion and the Sandalphon’s song. He knew it too. Yet he still asked that question. That was how desperate he was to stall—because every passing second increased his chances of survival.

I didn’t give him that time.

Without hesitation, I invoked the Blood Fate Plunder Rule on him. The moment I did, his instinctive faith surged to defend him—but I had already prepared for that. I had gathered enough Breath of Erosion from Dredre for this exact moment. Against it, that protective faith decayed into nothing before it could interfere with the ritual.

I wasn’t optimistic about this. The sacrifice I had prepared was tainted by Breath of Erosion. There was a real chance the ritual would fail—after all, that same erosion could just as easily eat through the ritual itself.

The problem was simple: the sacrifice was impure. I had never attempted a blood fate plunder with an impure offering before. But I had no choice. Without the Breath of Erosion restraining him, I didn’t have the strength to use Konjur as a sacrifice at all.

As I began the ritual, Konjur, in his desperation, started speaking, "Every time I underestimate you, you find a way to make me reevaluate my judgment of you..."

I ignored him.

Focusing entirely, I activated my soul pupils and pushed the blood fate plunder forward, reinforcing it with my own celestial force—doing everything I could to keep the Breath of Erosion from corroding the ritual before it could take hold.

There was another reason I reinforced the ritual with my own celestial force. Devils don’t truly die outside the Dark Realm, which makes them unusable as a sacrifice. But that changes when a celestial being was involved. A celestial being can kill devils beyond the Dark Realm—and so can other devils.

As long as the ritual was backed by my own celestial force, Konjur could be treated as a valid sacrifice. Borrowed celestial force from the Card World wouldn’t have worked—it had to be mine.

I pressed on, guiding the ritual through my soul pupils, trying to keep the Breath of Erosion from interfering. But that was the flaw—it wasn’t an external contaminant. It was part of the sacrifice itself.

I tried to force it. I pushed harder, bending the ritual to my will—

Boom!

Konjur’s body and divinity detonated like a humanoid piñata. Fortunately, the blast was contained within my double domain. The space between us stretched infinitely, keeping the explosion from reaching me. The same protection extended to the Emissary of Light—I wasn’t about to lose both pieces of loot to a single misstep. That would’ve been a devastating blow, not physically but mentally.

At least I had salvaged something. The halo horn—condensed pure faith—was already in my possession. Without it, I would’ve had nothing to show for killing an Angel of the Faith Order.

But with Konjur gone, the Emissary’s value had just skyrocketed.

I wasn’t after their strength—I wanted their ability to gather and wield faith. Not for myself, but for Saintess Catherine. With it, she could seamlessly replace the Emissary of Light’s role in the Card World. He had built his legend on miracles. If Catherine couldn’t replicate those same miracles, then over time, the cracks would widen—and the truth would surface on its own.

Yes, I would have dealt with the Emissary of Light by then. Whether his followers tried to recall him wouldn’t matter. What mattered was control. The southern stretch of the Southern Region and the entire Empire were going to be the starting point of my world domination campaign.

For that, I needed Saintess Catherine not just to replace the Emissary of Light, but to inherit his authority in full. To get the masses to follow her will without a hint of doubt.

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