Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

Chapter 601 Holy Light Offering

"As long as there is dragon blood, holy light will burn within it. This is a meme. It awakens with the birth of a dragon, but the destruction of a dragon will only cause it to lie dormant. As long as hatred remains, the flames of vengeance will never be extinguished. This meme is beyond the capabilities of our Advanced Magic Research Society. I apologize, sir."

“I understand that you are just the advocates of the rules, not the ones who govern them.”

Daring to avert his gaze from the last wisp of burning dragon blood, he placed his hand beside his ear and nodded repeatedly into the air.

“Scholars, if you want to remove the meme, why not try the only key? After all, the one who tied the knot must untie it,” Bold said, placing his right hand on his left elbow and pointing at Lyle beside the Nameless One. “Only that uncrowned king can achieve such a meme through brute force. Isn’t the Plague Doctor a purist? Why not let him try to persuade him?”

"..."

"You can't avoid it. If the dragon wants to be resurrected, it must face that paladin. I don't understand. You already have the only solution, so why don't you use it?"

"The only solution might be wrong; we can't gamble with Lyle..."

"But you've already stepped one foot into the abyss. Is the lich's obsession so easily quelled?"

"How dare you... Is this how you usually talk to a professor?"

"I will be more active."

"...Thank you for your support, Mr. Bold."

"It is my pleasure to serve you, sir."

……

That was a curse that Mr. Raymond had placed on the dragon, something Lyle had long anticipated. Lyle already knew the solution, but the thought of standing against Mr. Raymond made his legs go weak.

Perhaps the scholar still has a solution...

Perhaps Mr. Dragon has a solution...

Perhaps the dragon priests still have a way...

This thought persisted until that person stepped through the portal.

"Mr. Anonymous, why are you looking at me with that hesitant expression?"

He tapped his chin with his ring finger and stood next to Lyle.

"I'm thinking about how to tell you bad news without lowering your opinion of me."

"Thank you, Mr. Anonymous. I think you can skip the thinking now."

Wuming shrugged indifferently, his gaze fixed on Lyle's face, a series of simulated galaxies unfolding behind him.

"Want to play tarot cards? I recently learned how to cut the deck."

"...What is the use of cutting the deck for divination?"

"I don't know, but it's a pretty useless method to increase the mystery of divination. It's a simple psychological effect. I hope you will take my next prediction as something important."

"You can tell me directly, just use the normal method to inform me."

"Really?" Nameless stroked his chin, feigning skepticism. "If I told you directly, would you be able to accept death so easily?"

The nameless man spoke coldly, gripping Lyle's heart tightly. He swore that from this moment on, he would hate prophets.

"Am I going to die?"

“No, you won’t,” the nameless arm reached over Lyle’s shoulder and pointed behind him, “behind you, everyone except Bold will die in this academic research. This place will be set ablaze by holy light, and things will go as far as you can imagine, as long as you… maintain your current mindset.”

The dragon priest, along with two dragons, his teacher, and the elder who accepted and helped him, will all... die?

"No...it can't be...they're all top-tier figures...some even possess immortality...how could anyone in this world be able to..."

The nameless face drew closer, and its eyes, like glass mirrors, made Lyle scrutinize himself.

"Raymond Melok, the Angel of Light, the King of Paladins, really, no?"

Lyle inhaled a breath of cold air, feeling the chill in his lungs. He opened his tightly closed eyes and began to move his clenched lower lip.

"What if I change my approach? What if I change my methods? What if I try to resolve this dispute? What if I take the initiative to confront Mr. Raymond? Will the outcome be different? Tell me, Mr. Nameless."

"You know in your heart how to get Raymond to give up the slaughter without needing divination."

"...The last wish of the pure. Mr. Raymond will certainly follow it."

"...Foolish idea, Lyle. Look at those guys, those old remnants of bones and souls, all they have left is the obsession with resurrecting dragons. But you are not. You are young, you have a future, a bright future. Abandon humanity, and the choice will become simple. Are they really worth it? Dead corpses with barely any soul left, are you going to sacrifice for them? Why should you solve every problem? You are just an ordinary apprentice, a lucky child. These burdens do not belong to you... You are just..."

“Then I wouldn’t be myself.” Lyle’s eyes were fixed on Nameless, the deep shadows gradually being replaced by the brilliance of light. Lyle smiled a little shyly. “I am an evil god, a mad god with a twisted will. I know it’s stupid to think like this, I just want my mentor to have peace. Evil gods are all blind and foolish, right? Thank you very much for thinking of me, Nameless.”

……

"Teacher, I want to ask Mr. Raymond for help."

Lyle's sudden interruption brought the scholar and the black dragon priest's conversation to a complete end.

The scholar desperately wanted to refuse him, even to the point of impulsively and rebuking his student in a fit of rage. But he found himself powerless; he was burdened by the sin of betraying the dragon, and the obsession with resurrecting it bound his soul. He reached out, but the King of Magic was now weaker than an over-enhanced apprentice.

“Lyle…” The idea was so tempting, so alluring that this dried-up skeleton would desperately pursue that desire. Dragon priests were remnants of an era, and now, they once again realized their own powerlessness.

"Lyle! Don't go!" A thunderous roar echoed, and the bone dragon spread its wings and howled. "How can I bear to see my student suffer such humiliation! Dragon Father, I resign!"

The dragon kicked away the flesh and blood at its feet from its claws, intending to grab Lyle back into its palm.

"Sylvit!!!" The Twilight Dragon blocked the dragon's path with its own body.

The dragon was bound to the altar by the black dragon priest and the twilight dragon, roaring furiously.

"Let me go!!! I'm going to beat Raymond up!!! I'm going to subdue him!!!"

However, in reality, due to the severe damage caused by the dragon transformation experiment, the dragon, now only at the fifth level of its chain, could not even break free from the pressure of the dragon priest.

“Let’s go back to Andrei.” Lyle said apologetically to Mr. Bold and the Nameless, and stepped into the portal that had been opened earlier.

After parting ways with Lyle, Nameless and Bold walked down Andrei’s corridor.

You lied to him.

"I do not have."

“You guided him to believe that he had to sacrifice himself to save others. Now I believe you really were a cult leader before.”

"I don't care."

"Let me guess, you have already foreseen the future destiny, which is why you guide Lyle towards an ideal destiny. This destiny requires him to be prepared to die and to have a spirit of dedication. This bright will will win Raymond's favor."

"I bear no responsibility."

"Mr. Anonymous is also a hypocritical and despicable person."

"Just something funny."

"I knew you had to come along, even though you were busy with your research. I'm really looking forward to seeing how things develop."

"I bear no responsibility."

Chapter 602 Crime and Punishment

Andrei's nights were as noisy as ever, but Lyle could not maintain his usual mindset as he pushed open the golden door.

"Holy Light Chapel".

People who are confused go to church to pray, but Lyle is not like that; on the contrary, his expression is very firm.

The new doors seemed to be made of marble blessed by the holy light; they were somewhat heavy, but Lyle could still manage to push them open with a bit of effort. The scraping sound of the doors moving echoed in the empty chapel. Lyle opened his eyes in the light and saw those familiar figures.

With myself included, everyone who had filled out that club application form was now present.

Lofdi approached the colonnade, knelt on one knee, and listened to the holy light.

Elian sat on the first bench on the right, praying. Lyle could only see her back as she bowed her head.

On the platform, the knight in dark gold armor turned halfway around, his divine light shining like the sun rising on the horizon. Mr. Raymond held a scroll in one hand and extended an invitation to Lyle with the other.

"Welcome back, Lyle the Pure, you've arrived just in time for the service."

Lyle silently joined the procession of the Holy Light, sat down next to Elian, closed his eyes in meditation, listened to the prayers, received the Holy Communion from Mr. Raymond, and obediently completed the worship service under Raymond's guidance.

“This is the happiest worship service I’ve had since I came to Andrei, Lyle.” As the ceremony of holy light ended, the tall Raymond sat down next to Lyle, removed his helmet, and looked up at the angel window in the center of the chapel with his skull burning with holy flame.

Two pure beings sat down side by side.

“I participated in the ritual to resurrect the dragon, no, I presided over the ritual to resurrect the dragon. I failed, the Holy Light burned him to death, and my mentor dragon lived for less than a minute.”

Raymond turned his head, his soul flames were golden, and his gaze lingered on Lyle's face, carrying a warm temperature.

“You have done something remarkable, Lyle, and I am pleased. But you should stop, dragons, all of them deserve to die.”

Just like hearing the judge's final verdict, Lyle's hand trembled. He covered his face with his hands, ran his fingers through his hair, and combed the messy hair from his forehead back, mustering his courage once more.

“I hope you can take back the curse, Mr. Raymond.”

“That’s not a curse, Lyle.” Raymond rested his elbows on his knees, his fingers interlaced against his chin. “After my death, my memories became fragmented and disjointed. I don’t understand why George was hostile to me, nor why the Holy War failed. But the reins that restrained the dragon have always been in my hands. I hold onto that power tightly, and I will not forget it. You call it a curse? It’s not such a malevolent power; it’s punishment, it’s retribution.”

“I defeated that monster, plunging my spear into his heart. I heard his roar, I heard his curses. I did what I had to do. I handed over the right to judge Yemotar to the Holy Light, and I let the Holy Light condemn his sins.”

"Light, tell me, what punishment should this monster receive?"

Raymond looked at his palm; his hand was trembling, the emotion transcending life and death and reaching his own bones.

"The light answered me, and for the first time I was surprised, for the first time I was enraged. The Holy Light judged Yemotar's sins and brought down his punishment. And you have seen the consequences."

"You brutal dragon father, Yemotar's bloodlust and slaughter of humanity are so heinous that the entire dragon race must be buried with him!!! The torment the dragons are enduring now!!! The same pain he inflicted on my own people!!! And now you want me to forgive their sins!!! Countless souls wail in the void!!!"

"What do you know?! You fool who's under our protection?! Why did the liches rise to power?! Because of the Crusades?! Do you even know about the slaughter the dragons inflicted on us before the Holy Light came? You don't know, because we endured it."

"My only regret is that I woke up too late. Otherwise, I would have destroyed that beast before he did all this!"

Raymond cradled Lyle's head in his hands, black tentacles lunging at his radiant body. Twisted shadows burned and shattered, as if receiving a baptism, the angel of light embracing his descendant.

Glossy feathers drifted down from the air, and behind Raymond, ten locks and ten wings filled Lyle's field of vision.

"You don't need to worry about these things, Lyle. I'll handle everything. There won't be any troubles or anxieties. Just get some rest."

As the Lich Crown touched Raymond's fingertips, its power began to wane. Amidst Raymond's gentle whispers and the falling feathers of light, the Lich Crown, like a drunkard, began to languish contentedly. Black shadows crept up the edges of the Lich Crown, and the sinister magic sent a jolt through the magical artifact. A raging storm of magic, centered on Lyle, scattered the falling feathers.

Lyle was still held in Raymond's grasp, but his mind was perfectly clear.

"Mr. Raymond, I understand your meaning, but the Dragon Priest and the Dragon Master are innocent. They served the dragon who rebelled against their father, and they protected their weaker kind. What crime have they committed! Not to mention the Dragon Master! He was merely a dead lich; he had nothing to do with the sins committed by the dragons!! Is loving dragons a crime?! They are all innocent victims of the Holy Light's punishment!!!"