Chapter 20: The Fields of Desecration
The border between the new Kingdom of Sin and the Holy Territory was a vast, rolling plain known as the "Fields of Grace." For centuries, it had been a place of pilgrimage, blessed by the First Saint. Today, however, the grass was turning a sickly shade of grey, and the air hummed with a discordant vibration. On one side stood the Crusade of the Eclipse—twenty thousand Holy Knights, their silver armor gleaming under a sun that struggled to pierce the violet haze. On the other side, there was only silence.
Standing at the forefront of the Sinful Army was Duke Silvermane. He didn't have twenty thousand men. He had only a few hundred "Corrupted Knights" and the four Goddesses of Ruin. But behind them, the very shadows seemed to be alive, undulating like a dark ocean.
Cyan Valerian was not on the battlefield. He sat miles away in his throne room, his consciousness linked to the scene through the [System Skill: Sovereign's Vision].
"Look at them," Cyan's voice echoed in the minds of his followers. "They carry banners of light, thinking they are the protagonists of this world. Show them that in my kingdom, heroes are nothing more than fuel for the abyss."
On the Crusade's side, a High Paladin named Lord Valerius the Brave stepped forward. He raised a golden mace that radiated a blinding warmth. "Servants of the Dark! In the name of the Holy See and the Goddess of Light, I command you to perish! Your 'King' is a cancer upon this earth, and today, we are the cure!"
With a thunderous roar, the twenty thousand knights charged. The sound of their hooves was like a mountain collapsing. They believed their faith would act as a shield. They were wrong.
"Duke Silvermane," Cyan's mental command was cold. "Begin the 'Harvest'."
The Duke didn't draw his sword. He simply slammed his fist into the ground.
[System Skill Activated: Frost-Rot Eruption.]
The earth didn't just crack; it screamed. Massive spikes of black ice erupted from beneath the charging knights. This wasn't normal ice; it was a parasitic crystal that shattered upon contact, releasing a fine, violet dust. The horses stumbled, and the knights were thrown into the dirt.
But the horror was just beginning. The violet dust didn't kill them. It entered their lungs, their eyes, and their wounds.
"My... my skin!" one knight screamed as he watched his silver armor turn black and melt into his flesh. "Help me! The Light... I can't feel the Light!"
High Paladin Valerius tried to chant a purification spell, but as he opened his mouth, a shadow blurred past him. Elara appeared, her daggers moving with such speed they were invisible. She didn't kill the Paladin; she sliced the tendons in his wrists, forcing him to drop his holy mace.
"Your Goddess isn't listening, little hero," Elara whispered in his ear, her voice a lethal melody. "She's too busy hiding from my Master."
Suddenly, the sky above the battlefield tore open. A massive rift of violet energy appeared, and Cyan Valerian stepped through the air as if descending a flight of stairs. His presence alone caused the holy banners to burst into black flames.
[System Notification: Fear Aura Level 5 Activated.] [Result: 80% of the enemy forces are now in a 'Paralyzed' state.]
Cyan landed in the center of the battlefield, surrounded by thousands of knights who were too terrified to move. He looked at Lord Valerius, who was crawling toward his mace.
"You speak of 'cures', Paladin," Cyan said, his purple eye pulsing with a terrifying brilliance. "But you don't even know the disease. The disease is your stagnation. Your refusal to accept the darkness that lives within every human soul. I am not the cancer. I am the evolution."
Cyan reached out his hand toward the fallen army.
[System Ultimate Skill: Mass Desecration - The Rebirth of the Fallen.]
A wave of violet energy swept across the Fields of Grace. The knights who had died from the ice spikes didn't stay dead. Their bodies convulsed, their bones snapping and reforming into jagged, monstrous shapes. They rose as Sin-Wraiths, their armor now part of their mutated bodies, their eyes glowing with the same violet mist as Cyan's.
The living knights watched in utter despair as their brothers-in-arms turned into the very monsters they were sworn to fight.
"Kill them," Cyan commanded. "Not with blades, but with the truth. Show them the glory of the Sin."
The battle turned into a massacre—or rather, a conversion. For every knight that fell, a new Sin-Wraith rose. The twenty thousand men of the Crusade were being consumed and added to Cyan's ranks in real-time.
High Paladin Valerius looked up at Cyan, his face twisted in a mixture of agony and forced adoration as the corruption reached his heart. "I... I see it now... the beauty... of the void..."
"Good," Cyan said, stepping over the Paladin's body. "Go back to the Holy City, Valerius. You and the survivors. I want you to tell the Pope what you saw. Tell him that his 'Crusade' has just provided me with my first legion."
Cyan looked toward the Holy City on the horizon. The System interface flickered in his vision:
[Quest Update: The Desecration of the Faith - Progress 40%.] [Next Objective: Capture the Holy Saint's Sepulcher.] [Reward: Sovereignty over the Concept of Life and Death.]
"Isabella, Lilith," Cyan said as the goddesses appeared by his side. "The first gate has fallen. The world is screaming, and I want to hear every note of its song."
As the sun set, the Fields of Grace were no longer green or silver. They were a charred, purple wasteland, and the twenty thousand knights were now a silent, kneeling army of shadows, waiting for their King's next word.