Chapter 768 : Earth Grievance

Frisland, in the northern part of the Main Continent.

While fierce conflict surrounding the Great Wild Rite continued unabated in the Ancestral Valley of the New Continent, if we rewind time slightly to when the confrontation there was just beginning, another drama was quietly unfolding on the Main Continent.

Late at night, high above Aransdel, beneath the black canopy of the sky, two massive steel warships were floating in midair. These Radiance Church aerial sanctuaries, bristling with heavy weaponry, now stood locked in confrontation at a height invisible to the naked eye. Weapons of all kinds were armed and on standby, alertness levels near maximum—open conflict could erupt at any moment.

Wearing ornate cardinal robes, Amanda, the Redemption Cardinal of the Radiance Church, now stood on the prow of the Annihilation Nun. Her gaze was heavy as she stared ahead—where on the deck of the Sacred Law Judicator, Inquisition Cardinal Saint Kramar mirrored her expression, locking eyes across the void.

“All units to battle stations… Hmph. I knew nothing good could come from your arrival here, Sinner Olivia…”

Kramar’s voice rang out through soul-speech, aimed across the several hundred meters of distance to Amanda. She replied with her own extraordinary method, matching his tone.

“Sinner? Hah… So you’ve not only stripped me of my saintly title, you’ve gone so far as to pronounce judgment. Have you completely cast aside the Cardinal Council? Are you now defying the Holy See itself, Vambas?”

“The Holy See? That den of enablers that shelters heresy and allows the upper ranks of the Holy Church to be corrupted by cults? Don’t make me laugh! The Cardinal Council is a den of fools like you, utterly paralyzed! If I still cared about that failed institution, how could I possibly fulfill the sacred duties the Holy See entrusted to me?”

Kramar shouted, waving his scepter as emotion overtook him.

Amanda, unflinching, answered back plainly.

“You disregard the lives of hundreds of thousands, even millions, and insist on launching a massive purification operation. You’re carrying out brutal eradication against innocent followers of the Lord—is that your so-called sacred duty, Vambas?”

“Silence, Olivia! You self-righteous mediocrities who sit on your moral high horses to win the hearts of the masses—you are in no position to judge me! You and the rest of the so-called Redemption Faction are all soft-tongued incompetents! With Frisland in its current state, if not for purification, what method is left? Or are you planning to wait until this crisis spreads across the entire continent before you come to your senses?!”

Kramar roared, pointing his scepter directly at Amanda, raising his voice to near-rage.

“Or perhaps… you, Redemption Cardinal, have already been corrupted by cultic forces. The banner of love you so proudly bear is actually a flag waved by evil gods! Have you become, like Unina, a heinous traitor to the faith?! If that’s the case—come! Try to stop this purification by force! I’ll judge you with my life, Olivia!”

It was a declaration. But Amanda, hearing this, did not immediately respond. Her expression remained calm, and after a brief pause, she looked at Kramar and said quietly.

“Wake up, Vambas. Even if you succeed in launching your purification, it won’t stop the Nether Coffin Order’s plot. In fact, your actions are exactly what they anticipated—it will only accelerate their plan.”

Kramar paused slightly at her words, then replied firmly.

“You think I’ll believe such glib nonsense? You won’t deceive me with flowery words.”

“This isn’t wordplay,” Amanda replied seriously, her gaze sharpening.

“Think carefully, Vambas. What happened to all the grievant spirits generated by decades of religious injustice in Frisland?”

“…The grievant spirits of Frisland’s religious persecutions? Why are you asking about that? Of course they were… huh?”

As Kramar started to respond, a flicker of realization suddenly crossed his face. His previously focused gaze clouded with confusion. The words he was about to say were interrupted, and his expression reverted to fanaticism.

“The grievant spirits from Frisland’s religious injustices were secretly eliminated by those treacherous Inquisitor Lords! They were deceivers and criminals who shamed the Inquisition! I was right to personally erase them!”

He spoke with conviction, as if nothing were amiss. Amanda blinked at his answer, then sighed.

“Your perception… is still the same, I see.”

Elsewhere, at the railing of the Annihilation Nun, a small bird stood quietly, observing everything.

And down on the city streets far below the dueling steel sanctuaries, Dorothy, seated on her hotel balcony, furrowed her brows as she watched the events unfold in the skies above.

“That divine forgetfulness sure rewrites cognition fast… Things just got more complicated…”

Dorothy muttered, deep in thought, then her mind drifted to moments earlier.

…

In the depths of the Nether Realm, within the Nether River.

While Kapak had successfully escaped, Nephthys and Kramar’s half-soul had not yet returned to the physical world. At this time, Dorothy, through Nephthys, had just finished explaining her plan to "Kramar".

After listening, “Kramar” nodded slightly.

“To trick the cultists into summoning us through a fraudulent spirit ritual… and to have me use Sacred Law to facilitate someone’s escape… Such a far-fetched idea. But Revelation symbolizes wisdom—clearly, you are of the ancient Church of Revelation’s legacy. I hope it works…

“I wonder if I myself can be summoned out through my contract with you. But the divine curse upon me is extremely strong. Most likely, even if you escape, I will still be trapped here.”

He sighed. Nephthys quickly responded.

“You don’t have to worry about that. Even if we can’t get you out this time, we’ll find another way to bring you back to the material world.”

“Oh? More backup plans… Your strategists truly are resourceful. I hope they succeed. I must return to the material world—otherwise, a devastating calamity will occur! I must prevent it!”

His voice grew grave. Nephthys raised a brow at his tone, then—prompted by Dorothy’s guidance—asked.

“The calamity you speak of… are you referring to your other half still in Frisland? The one whose mental state seems dangerously unstable?”

“Yes… but not entirely.”

“Kramar” replied directly. After a pause, he continued as Nephthys looked puzzled.

“This all begins at the very start… You, or rather, the one behind you—do you know the history of Frisland, especially the era of religious terror after the Muddy Stream War? About the Inquisitor Lords—and how I brought their reign to an end?”

Looking at Nephthys, Kramar posed his question. Though she was confused, under Dorothy’s guidance, she nodded. Seeing that, Kramar resumed his account.

“Decades ago, before I was elevated to Inquisition Cardinal, I was sent to Frisland to investigate the region’s rampant religious persecution. I nearly single-handedly dismantled the Inquisitor Lords who had ruled for centuries. At the time, most of them were condemned, and the cases were resolved swiftly. These Lords, in the name of the Lord, had carried out horrific purges. The evidence was irrefutable, except for one thing.

“That one issue… was the grievant spirits. Despite so many false charges, wrongful deaths, and tormented souls, there had never been any recorded spiritual calamity—no outbreak of wrathful spirits in Frisland’s entire centuries-long terror regime. Normally, such lingering hatred would give rise to great catastrophes, as often seen in Ivengard.

“But in Frisland, not a single such incident was recorded. It was as though none of the wrongly executed victims left behind any spiritual grievance. This was the only reason I hesitated in issuing final judgment. The Lords clung to this, insisting that the absence of wrathful spirits proved the righteousness of their verdicts.”

Within the Nether River, Kramar recalled his past with quiet intensity. Nephthys then asked curiously.

“So in the end, how did you pass judgment on them?”

“One of the Inquisition’s final methods… Soul Trial.”

With a solemn expression, Kramar continued his story.

“Directly extracting the soul of the accused and passing judgment on it, without the aid of special Silence mystical abilities, was essentially like sentencing someone to death before holding their trial. It’s not a method we normally use lightly. But since the investigation had reached a deadlock, we eventually decided to proceed. We conducted Soul Trials on several of the most prominent Inquisitor Lords.

“The final outcome was that, once in soul form, those Inquisitor Lords openly confessed to secretly dealing with the grievant spirits of the wrongly executed. From that, we concluded that the religious terror in Frisland had indeed generated grievant spirits over the centuries, but they had been quietly suppressed by the Inquisitor Lords themselves. This added yet another layer to their crimes, and nearly all of them were ultimately sentenced to capital punishment.

“After passing judgment and ending the centuries-long religious terror in Frisland, I believed the matter had been resolved. But I hadn’t expected…”

As “Kramar” spoke, his expression and tone grew more solemn. Nephthys, sensing this, asked curiously.

“Hadn’t expected what? Were those Inquisitor Lords falsely accused?”

“No. They weren’t. Their crimes were conclusive. My judgment of them wasn’t wrong. It’s just… the matter was far more complex than I had imagined. There were deeper forces at work.”

Kramar replied, his focus drifting off into the deep shadows of the Nether Realm beyond the Nether River.

“Early last year, I personally led a review and reorganization of the Inquisition archives. During that process, one case file caught my attention.

“It was a report submitted by a local court. Two years prior, Pritt’s Serenity Bureau operatives had apprehended a cultist group in Tivian. These cultists had been caught attempting to conduct a soul-trading deal not far from the Bureau’s headquarters, and were swiftly arrested. Under interrogation, they revealed themselves to be part of a faction called the Dead Sleep Society—a subordinate group under the Nether Coffin Order, tasked with capturing valuable souls in the New Continent for the main organization. Due to internal betrayal, they were exposed and captured.”

As Kramar continued, Nephthys' expression subtly shifted, her lips twitching as if connecting the dots.

“According to the cult leader’s confession, their base of operations was in New Jacques, where they had operated in service of the Nether Coffin Order. During this time, they had apparently received assistance from a mysterious figure affiliated with the Church. The Serenity Bureau soon relayed this intelligence to the Holy Church, and Tivian Diocese forwarded the information to the New Continent’s Itinerant Inquisitors.

“These Inquisitors were already investigating traces of heresy in the region. The Bureau’s report helped them quickly narrow their search and apprehend a suspect: Coyat Dino, head of the local Inquisition in New Jacques.”

Nephthys, listening closely, then asked.

“So… what was so special about this Coyat Dino?”

“He once worked under me. He was directly involved in the Frisland Great Rehabilitation Judgment. Back then, his responsibility was none other than arranging the ritual space for the Soul Trials—he constructed the ritual arrays himself.”

Kramar’s gaze returned to her, and his tone became grave. Nephthys stiffened, realizing what that implied.

“He… he was the one who laid out the Soul Trial arrays? Which means the trials held for the Inquisitor Lords were prepared by someone affiliated with the Nether Coffin Order. If he was already one of theirs back then…”

“Then those Soul Trials may have been compromised… the results might not have been accurate…”

Kramar picked up from her thought, then continued grimly.

“After reviewing Coyat’s case file, I immediately realized the implications. I secretly dispatched trusted agents to Frisland to reopen the investigation and coordinate with local institutions. But before long, my agents went completely silent.

“That’s when I realized the situation was far more serious. I personally prepared to go to Frisland, using a routine inspection order from the Holy Mount as cover. I traveled first to Falano, gradually approaching my destination: Stinam, the site of my agent’s disappearance.

“There, I found the investigation notes he had left behind, and uncovered the full truth of the Nether Coffin Order’s plan.”

Kramar spoke rapidly now, and Nephthys listened intently as the horrifying picture unfolded.

“The grievant spirits, they’re the core of the plot. For centuries, the countless innocents wrongfully executed by Inquisitor Lords didn’t vanish without a trace. The Nether Coffin Order had secretly sealed them.

“Over the years, they’ve observed every major trial held by the Inquisitor Lords, quietly intervening to ‘clean up’ by sealing the grievant spirits underground before they could manifest. That’s why no spiritual disasters were ever recorded in Frisland. Because the spirits were prevented from surfacing.

“With this deception, they fueled the Inquisitor Lords’ brutality, tricking them into intensifying their purges, believing they had divine justification. The result was a religious nightmare that lasted hundreds of years.

“And all of this was to build something, to use the countless grievant spirits as raw material for a massive ritual. Sealed in the earth, cultivated over centuries, these spirits were charged with hatred and sorrow. The Nether Coffin Order created a vast earthbound grievance collective, gradually merging it with Frisland’s land itself.”

Nephthys gasped slightly, and Kramar pressed on.

“This spiritual disaster, which should have happened many times over, has been deliberately postponed and merged into one massive catastrophe. It’s like a massive bomb buried beneath Frisland, needing only a suitable fuse to be detonated.

“I still don’t know what the cult’s ultimate goal is with such a scale of disaster. But whatever it is, it must be stopped.”

“The fuse… Don’t tell me…”

Nephthys murmured. Kramar nodded.

“Exactly. The fuse designed by the Nether Coffin Order… is the purification that my other half is about to unleash. When a million innocents are killed in Aransdel under the name of purification, their unjustly slain souls will resonate with the buried grievant spirits, igniting the ritual and unleashing disaster across Frisland, perhaps even the entire continent.

“When I investigated Stinam, I discovered that it had been selected as the fuse site—meant to draw the Holy Church’s future purification as the ritual’s trigger. Thankfully, I arrived before the ritual was complete. I immediately attempted to destroy the ritual’s fuse points. But the Nether Coffin took countermeasures—tying the city’s populace to the ritual nodes, using them as hostages.”

“But… I refused to be manipulated. Before the Earthbound Grievance Ritual was fully constructed, I purified Stinam, ignoring the cost in lives. Since the ritual was incomplete, the purification wouldn’t trigger the grievant spirits. I had to stop it before it could become a fuse.

“But then… something went wrong. My purification was interrupted by two of the Nether Coffin’s Gold-rank members. I was forced to retreat. You know the rest. They summoned divine curses, I was forced to sever my soul, and both my half-soul and Stinam were erased from memory… until now.”

Kramar’s face remained grim as he finished. Nephthys swallowed hard and asked.

“So… if your half-soul starts the purification, it will trigger the Earthbound Grievance Ritual?”

“Correct. It’s been so long, I now have every reason to believe the ritual is complete. A new fuse point has been chosen, and it’s clear now that it’s Aransdel.

“They lured my half-soul there. If the purification begins, the Earthbound Grievance Ritual will activate, and disaster will fall. This is why… under no circumstances can the purification in Aransdel be allowed to proceed!”

Kramar’s voice was fierce, resolute. Nephthys stood stunned for a moment, then heard Dorothy’s voice in her heart and asked.

“So… all those food shipments laced with corpse fragments circulating across Frisland… they’re just a decoy by the Nether Coffin Order? Their real goal is to draw your half-soul into executing the purification? The corpse fragments were just bait?”

Under Dorothy’s guidance, Nephthys posed her question to “Kramar.” He did not respond immediately, but after pondering briefly, he finally replied.

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

“That… I’m not entirely sure either. It could be merely bait… but I can’t say with complete certainty…”

Kramar answered while still in thought. Nephthys nodded thoughtfully, then asked another question.

“Then… there’s one last thing I want to know. What exactly was the ‘unexpected incident’ you encountered during your purification in Stinam?”

Nephthys asked frankly. Kramar remained silent for a moment, then began to answer.

…

Back in Frisland, the moment just as the Annihilation Nun had arrived in the skies above Aransdel, when Amanda and Kramar were first meeting face-to-face.

While the two cardinals of the Church negotiated heatedly in the skies, a tense confrontation was also unfolding on a high rooftop in the city’s cathedral district, beneath the cover of night. There stood Archbishop Sinclair of Frisland—and opposite her, the legendary nun, Vania.

“Now that Lady Amanda has finally arrived in Aransdel, all thanks to you, Sister Vania, you’ve won this city a sliver of hope from that madman Vambas.

“I imagine Lady Amanda is negotiating with him above even now. If you wish to join the effort, I can help send you up there. After all, one more voice of reason might help. Even if Vambas can’t be swayed, you could help Lady Amanda forcibly stop him.”

Sinclair’s tone was casual as he spoke to Vania. But Vania calmly responded.

“No need. I trust Lady Amanda will do her utmost to persuade the Inquisition Cardinal. But the one I truly wish to persuade right now isn’t him. It’s you, Archbishop Sinclair.”

“Me?”

Sinclair looked surprised, then chuckled and shook her head.

“Hah… I don’t see what there is to persuade me about, Sister Vania. Haven’t I always been on your side, trying to save the people of Aransdel? Or is there something about my actions that displeases you?”

She smiled as she posed the question. But Vania replied coolly.

“Yes, there are things I find displeasing, Archbishop Sinclair. If you were truly trying to help me save the people of Aransdel, I wouldn’t mind them. But the unfortunate truth is… you never had such intentions to begin with.”

At her words, Sinclair’s expression froze. The faint smile on her lips slowly faded.

“…What are you trying to say, Sister Vania? What have I done to earn your disapproval?”

Coldly, she questioned her. But Vania answered steadily.

“More than a few things, really. Just as the Inquisition Cardinal mentioned earlier. Corpse-tainted grain circulated within your jurisdiction for an extended period, yet you knew nothing. Cultists operated openly under your nose, and you did nothing. And now, when the fate of the city hangs in the balance, you remain motionless when you should be seeking solutions. There is much I find objectionable about you…”

Her tone deepened, words slowing with intensity. Her gaze grew colder as she stared her down.

“Of course, all of this assumes you are still an Archbishop of the Holy Church. But if you long since turned your back on the Church and pledged yourself to the cult instead… then perhaps I should applaud your efficiency in serving your master.”

As the night wind stirred her robes, Vania glared coldly at Sinclair. She paused slightly—then the smile returned to her face, and she spoke again.

“I’ve always heard that Sister Vania is… different. Touched by miracles. When we first met, I didn’t see what made you so ‘legendary’… but now, I think I’m starting to understand. Tell me, when exactly did you start suspecting me? Was I too dramatic when Vambas arrived?”

Grinning, Sinclair addressed her openly. Vania answered calmly.

“Maybe. But perhaps it was even earlier, long before you noticed. There’s no such thing as a perfect disguise. Yours is good, but full of holes nonetheless.”

She was right. She, or rather, Dorothy, had begun suspecting Sinclair much earlier. In fact, she’d picked up on something even before Kramar had issued his warning.

Back at the welcoming banquet Sinclair hosted for Vania, the two had shared a private conversation. Sinclair, under Dorothy’s suggestion via Vania, had complained about being unwilling to report matters to the Inquisition Court due to internal strife. Vania, following Dorothy’s lead, deliberately steered the conversation, encouraging her to consider reporting to another strong investigative branch of the Church.

And in that moment… Sinclair had brought up the Court of Secrets—and even named Cardinal Artcheli.

But the problem was, Artcheli had already entered the Forgotten Zone of Stinam an hour before that. Dorothy had confirmed this through her informants aboard the Twilight Devotion. And once Artcheli entered Stinam, she should have been completely erased from memory by the divine curse that cloaked the zone.

Yet Sinclair not only remembered Artcheli, he could even be guided to bring her up.

That alone proved something was wrong.

The whole line of questioning had been a trap set by Dorothy, and from that moment forward, she knew Sinclair was not to be trusted.

“Archbishop Sinclair, you were once a colleague of the Inquisition Cardinal. A trusted Inquisitor of the Holy Church. What brought you to the point of openly falling into heresy? Can you give me an explanation?”

Vania questioned sternly. Sinclair let out a cold laugh.

“Vambas’ colleague? Hah, don’t lump me in with that lunatic! That man has nothing but madness in his skull. Purification at the drop of a hat! To him, a city’s worth of lives is worth less than dirt! Stinam was destroyed by his hands! He’s a butcher! A demon! Don’t compare me to him!”

Her voice grew louder and more unhinged with each sentence, until she was shouting outright. Vania could see the growing frenzy in her eyes. She met her gaze squarely and said:

“The Inquisition Cardinal purified Stinam to stop the Nether Coffin Order’s scheme. And you, Archbishop Sinclair, you are helping them complete that ritual. You’re paving the way for the destruction of Aransdel, even all of Frisland. Is your evil not far greater than his?”

“You don’t understand! Sister Vania, this isn’t destruction… it’s salvation!”

Sinclair shouted back, throwing open her arms, face twisted with madness.

“This is the salvation bestowed by our great Nether Father! The living are weak… they cannot endure the tyranny of the Radiance! All the suffering of this world… only death can bring eternal release! Unlike the Three Saints who sit atop the heavens in silence, indifferent to our pain for a thousand years—the Father has promised us a world beyond death! A land where all are equal, free from sickness and fate! I love the people of Frisland… I am simply bringing them salvation ahead of time. The Father has already prepared paradise for us in the Nether Realm!”

With unprecedented fanaticism, Sinclair spoke to Vania, her expression becoming increasingly twisted.

“So long as the Radiance continues to reign in the heavens, arrogant beings like Vambas—aloof and deaf to the cries of the masses—will never cease to exist. I’ve come to understand… I no longer cling to the dull dichotomy of life and death. The Father once said: the tyranny of the sun has cruelly ruled the world for thousands of years, and even now its poison remains. It is the root of all suffering and calamity in this world.

“Sister Vania… I can see the goodness in your heart. You’re not like Vambas. I admire you. So come… join me in the Nether Father’s embrace. Join me… in extinguishing the dying sun, and ending the tyranny of Radiance once and for all!”

Sinclair reached out his hand toward Vania in a gesture of invitation. But Vania, facing his twisted expression, remained silent.

Just then, Dorothy’s voice sounded in Vania’s mind at just the right moment:

“Last April, Inquisition Cardinal Kramar discovered the Nether Coffin Order’s conspiracy in Stinam. To prevent the activation of their Earthbound Grievance Ritual, Kramar immediately decided to purify Stinam.

“At the time, Kramar’s decision was met with fierce opposition from Archbishop Sinclair. Sinclair couldn’t bear to see Stinam’s citizens suffer, and was firmly against the purification. She set out from Aransdel in haste, intending to save the city.

“However, by the time Sinclair arrived, Kramar’s ritual had already begun, and nearly half of Stinam had perished in the purification. Sinclair, seeing the people under her care perish in agony, had a mental breakdown. In her madness, she attacked Kramar. Kramar, unwilling to strike down her former friend immediately, hesitated—and the purification was interrupted. When Kramar finally subdued Sinclair and prepared to resume, two Gold-rank members of the Nether Coffin arrived.

“Kramar was forced to retreat. Sinclair, now in the enemy’s hands and spiritually shattered, was corrupted at an accelerated pace. Her faith collapsed. Her mind twisted. She was turned into the Nether Coffin’s hound… continuing their plot from the shadows.”

What Dorothy had just recounted to Vania was the story she had learned not long ago from Kramar’s half-soul in the Nether Realm. Sinclair was the “unexpected variable” Kramar had once referred to.

After hearing it, Vania exhaled lightly. She looked straight at Sinclair and said resolutely.

“Please… wake up, Archbishop Sinclair. You’ve been corrupted by the Nether Coffin’s heresy. The things you said just now were not your own will. Please, come to your senses!”

“Come to my senses? Hah… I’ve never been more clear-headed than I am now,” Sinclair sneered. Then, throwing her arms open wide, she shouted.

“You’re the one who needs to wake up, Sister Vania! But I suppose words alone won’t make you see. Allow me to enlighten you by other means!”

As she spoke, faint glimmers of light and dangerous spiritual fluctuations began to emanate from around her. Vania could tell—she was preparing to fight.

Just as both sides took their stances, ready to engage, a brilliant burst of light exploded overhead, driving back the shadows across the city below.

Following the light came a deafening roar, accompanied by overwhelming spiritual pressure from the heavens. Sinclair, bathed in the glow and sensing the power, laughed loudly.

“They’ve started! As expected… Redemption Cardinal and Vambas are fighting! So in the end, she really did resort to force to stop him!”

Vania, sensing the spiritual clash above, paused briefly, then addressed her again.

“Lady Amanda has made her move… and with her there, the Inquisition Cardinal won’t be able to complete the purification of Aransdel. Without Aransdel’s purification to act as the catalyst, your grievant spirit bomb buried beneath the city won’t detonate. The Earthbound Grievance Ritual won’t begin… You’ve failed.”

Sinclair’s smile didn’t fade. Instead, she replied with a mocking laugh.

“So you know about the Earthbound Grievance Ritual too? You really do know more than most… just as the intelligence said, you and that revived Church of Revelation have a suspicious connection… always digging up secrets.

“But this time, even your precious Church of Revelation will be caught off guard. You think that if Kramar doesn’t proceed with purification, we’ll have no backup plan? Wrong. You must understand. Amanda only came here because I let you summon her. I didn’t call her here to stop Vambas. I brought her here to die alongside him. The more wings of Radiance we clip today, the better for our future operations.”

She shouted toward Vania, voice loud and proud. Vania then replied solemnly.

“So what you’re saying is… you have a way to forcibly activate the Earthbound Grievance Ritual even without Kramar’s involvement? Or you have another ritual altogether?”

“What else?”

Sinclair snapped back. She turned to the city in the darkness below, casting her gaze over its many households, then continued.

“Do you think we spent over a year lacing food with corpse fragments and distributing it across all of Frisland just to bait Vambas into starting a purification? If that was the plan, we’d only need to tamper with Aransdel—why target the entire country?”

She swept her arm wide over the darkened cityscape, and then proclaimed.

“Come then! Witness it for yourself, Sister Vania—the ancient ritual of Corpse Consumption! The supreme rite of the Father! The grand ceremony laid upon this land includes far more than just one ritual!”

…

At that very moment, above Aransdel, just as Kramar and Amanda erupted into conflict, the Nether Coffin Order launched their operation in response to the spiritual resonance.

Deep within the Cursed Forgotten Zone, in the desolate city of Stinam, beneath thick, oppressive clouds, lay a hidden underground chamber.

The air was thick with the stench of blood. Crimson human bones and skulls were piled and strewn across the room. In the center, a massive Silence ritual array had been constructed entirely from blood-soaked bone. At its heart stood a towering throne, and upon that throne sat a monstrosity.

It was a bald, eyeless male head, eyes tightly shut, marked with a black handprint upon its face. From the severed neck extended a blood-drenched spinal column, coiled upon the throne to support the head. No other part of the body remained.

Suddenly, the previously slumbering head opened its eyes. With a raspy voice, it spoke.

“…The time has come… Hurry… Let me embrace death fully… Let the Corpse Consumption begin!”

“Yes… Lord Jerak!”

Obeying one of the Three Lords of Nether Coffin, the Death Curse Jerak, the cultists stationed around the chamber rose in unison. Wearing executioner’s hoods and cloaks, they gripped blades of various kinds and gathered reverently around the throne, prepared to deliver death to their revered leader.

Thus began the second great ritual interwoven with the land of Frisland—not just the Earthbound Grievance Ritual, but also the Corpse Consumption Ritual.

If Kramar attempted purification to stop the Corpse Consumption, he would trigger the Grievance Ritual. But if he refrained or failed to purify, the Corpse Consumption would proceed as planned.

This was the Coffin’s contingency after the failure in Stinam—a dual-path scheme. Whichever of the two massive rituals activated first, it would eventually lead to the other being triggered in turn.

In the end, the two rituals would run in tandem, and with just one ignition, the Nether Coffin Order would achieve their goal in Frisland.