Chapter 134: I have already conquered death

What kind of situation was this supposed to be?

One teammate got schemed to death right at the start, one had such low combat strength that she was getting beaten down by elite knights, and the only reliable one had been drugged by her own side and couldn’t even use magic?

With teammates like this—how was she supposed to fight?!

At this moment, Anasha really wanted to just throw her sword onto the ground and shout:

“Do whatever the hell you want, I’m out!”

But obviously, she couldn’t.

Josuna and Perleti were still in the enemy’s hands—and he hadn’t killed them yet.

“If you have conditions, just say them. No need to drag this out.”

“Oh? Looks like Miss Anasha understands the situation pretty well.”
Fakenna smirked. “But the problem is… I’m the one with the advantage here. Shouldn’t that line be mine?”

He glanced toward the steady stream of knights emerging from the camp. Among the crowd, he even spotted an old acquaintance.

“If this keeps going, the only ending waiting for you is death. I know you’ve suffered a lot of injustice. I can help you.”

Fakenna looked as if he had just heard the greatest joke in the world.

He laughed at himself, the mockery in his eyes instantly replaced by firm resolve.

Suddenly, he raised his hand and shouted loudly toward the surrounding knights:

“Well then, sorry about this—but I’m definitely going to make a mess of things! Watch closely!”

“I—Fakenna, Captain of the Third Legion Knight Order—swear to seek justice for those comrades who died in vain, sacrificed as pawns by the nobles!”

Boom—

Before his words even settled, a thunderous explosion erupted in the distance.

Even from miles away in the outskirts, the shockwave—carrying scorching heat—was still clearly felt, rattling eardrums and tightening chests.

Anasha’s entire body trembled as she struggled to lift her head.

In the far distance—

A towering column of black smoke rose into the sky like a pitch-black pillar piercing the heavens.

Even from so far away, one could imagine how fierce the fire in the city was. The burning heat seemed as if it could ride the wind and scorch her face.

“You bastard—what did you do?!”

“Nothing much. Just blew up the noble district—along with the church.”

Fakenna shrugged, speaking as if it were nothing at all.

“Now, make your choice. Carry out your mission and fight me, then lose everything under the orders of the local nobles… or go save those nobles and end up branded as a deserter.”

A knight led over a horse.

Fakenna leaned down, grabbed Perleti, and pulled her up—not roughly—before tossing her onto the saddle.

Then he mounted in one smooth motion, one hand gripping the reins, the other pressing down on Perleti’s shoulder.

Looking down at Anasha from above, he gave her one last glance—

Then turned and rode off openly with Perleti.

The knights behind him split into two lines and followed.

No one dared to stop them.

Anasha felt like she was about to grind her molars into dust.

She turned back to look at the hesitant knights behind her, a deep sense of helplessness rising in her chest as she pressed down Josuna, who was about to chase after them.

“Calm down. There’s no point in chasing them now.”

“Are you kidding me?! She’s been taken, and you—you’re all just standing here watching?!”

“I know. But it’s useless. With our current situation, we simply can’t defeat Fakenna.”

Anasha let out a quiet sigh, her gaze lowering unconsciously.

She patted Josuna heavily on the shoulder, her tone growing firmer—as if trying to convince both Josuna and herself.

“Let’s go save people first.”

The moment she turned—

Her steps abruptly froze.

Her pupils shrank.

A familiar figure appeared in her line of sight.

“Has that captain already left?”

Mephistopheles stood beneath the shadow of a tree not far away.

Her black robe made her already slender figure look even thinner. Her gaze swept over the scattered corpses and weapons on the ground, a faint trace of disappointment appearing on her face.

Her tone was calm—like she was commenting on the weather, not someone who had just been decapitated moments ago.

Anasha’s eyes moved back and forth between the Mephistopheles before her and the corpse on the ground.

Her expression was filled with disbelief.

“Weren’t you dead?!”

“Don’t be so surprised. Just a puppet. Whether one dies or two, it makes no difference to me. The one you’re seeing now is also a puppet.”

“Though… the situation now is a bit troublesome.”

When Mephistopheles said this, her gaze wasn’t directed toward the path Fakenna had taken—

But toward the black smoke rising from within Brest City.

It was like a beacon.

From the moment it rose, what happened in Brest could no longer remain a secret hidden by the nobles.

—

On the other side, atop the horse—

Perleti slowly adjusted her posture, trying to make herself more comfortable.

She turned her head to look at Fakenna beside her and spoke calmly:

“You made such a huge scene… are you trying to let surrounding cities see what’s happening in Brest? But I don’t think that’ll work. The local nobles can easily cover it up as an alchemical accident. At most, it’ll just cost them more time—or more gold.”

“If you can think of that, how could I not?” Fakenna replied lightly. “I buried explosives throughout the city a week ago and arranged for quite a few of my men to move to other cities ahead of time.”

“If things didn’t turn out this way on your side, the plan would’ve gone ahead regardless.”

“So… you want more people to know about this… to prove the danger of the beastmen to the Empire?”

Perleti voiced her guess.

From beginning to end, she had never truly understood what Fakenna wanted.

Even now, she still didn’t.

Fakenna shook his head.

His voice carried a trace of sorrow—yet also a conviction almost like faith.

“No. Even if those counts and dukes learn what happened here, their choices won’t be any different from the nobles of Brest.”

“What I truly want… is to tell the truth beyond the borders to every single person.”

“Every nation strictly controls information among the lower classes—the Empire especially so. For many people, their first impression of the Church of Gluttony is nothing more than cannibalistic heretics.”

“But only those of us who live on the fringes know the truth.”

“The Church of Gluttony… is the last remaining utopia in this world.”

“I want those oppressed commoners to understand that, when facing the oppression of the nobles, they still have a direction—a path to resist.”

Listening to Fakenna’s voice, Perleti found it hard to calm her heart for a long time.

“You want more people to rise up against the Empire? That’s insane. Setting aside whether mere rumors can awaken ordinary people, what you’ve done here already guarantees you’ll die in this place.”

“Heh…”

Fakenna let out a low chuckle.

“Dying here was always part of my plan.”

“Death itself—I conquered it twenty years ago.”

“The reason I’ve lived until now isn’t luck…”

“…it’s because death is afraid of me.”